radicalducati Chapter 475 Ally Switch
Chapter 475 Ally Switch
Chapter 477 Ally Switch
Just as two outstanding detectives from Hoenn and Sinnoh were giving it their all to fight the wave of Pokémon that appeared in the Metal Corridor, their target—the "City Defender" Zero—was sitting cross-legged on a soft chair in the control room, holding a cup of steaming hot cocoa.
His precious attention was not spared for the two undercover police officers who had been accidentally caught in the cracks of the system. Before the "fortifications" meticulously constructed by this sage, those accidental intruders of such a level were merely insignificant errors in the system. The castle had its own perfectly pre-programmed cleaning procedures, and the tragic fate of those outsiders had already been marked on the castle's blueprints.
What he was really watching were the four figures that were tearing apart the castle's outer defenses from the front.
The Four Heavenly Kings of Unova.
The cold light from the monitor screen reflected in Jero's slightly narrowed eyes. The sweet aroma of hot cocoa mingled with the metallic smell of machine oil and circuit boards in the enclosed room, creating a harsh environment where the engineer could only focus on thinking.
"I've found the solution to the most troublesome problem so quickly—" he muttered to himself, his fingertips unconsciously tracing the warm rim of the cup. "That champion, who has no power of his own, is indeed an unpleasant opponent on the chessboard."
The sage's tone revealed no anger, but rather a certain eagerness, as if he were seeing a predator.
After all, how can the indestructibility of a city's defenses be demonstrated without a battering ram of sufficient weight?
The engineer, who once personally sketched the steel arc of the Fanba Suspension Bridge and the deep blue outline of the Boshi Tunnel in Qinghai, felt like a chess player who had been on a winning streak, finally meeting a truly skilled opponent today.
From the police cordon at the exit of Champions Road to the main gate of the castle, there is a 200-meter open area.
This area was originally the front courtyard of the Alliance headquarters. The reason it is now empty is that within the first hour after the castle was raised, it was transformed into a labyrinth of death by the Plasma Group's assault engineering team.
The automated defense system stolen from Team Magma, combined with the weapons and equipment purchased from Team Aqua, creates a landscape where the ground is covered with sensor-based roadblocks and high-voltage electric grids, while the air is interwoven with silent, sweeping crimson laser grids—even the smallest Beandove will be locked onto and shot down by at least three intersecting beams of light the moment it tries to fly over this area.
However, the Four Heavenly Kings easily overcame this obstacle.
They didn't even use any Pokémon; Gadria simply raised a hand, and an invisible psychic barrier unfolded like an absolute domain, deflecting and annihilating all the incoming lasers. Amidst the continuous explosions of the roadblocks, the Elite Four traversed the death zone as if walking on flat ground, arriving at the towering metal gates of the castle.
The door, of course, didn't open. So the four of them stepped onto the transparent staircase—a staircase formed from superpowers condensed in the void.
The gradually rising footholds begin the ascent towards the heavens.
"At least the police behind us have been stopped," Jero sipped his cocoa, comforting himself in a low voice. The Plasma Group's biggest asset at this moment was their local numerical advantage, and having been planning in the underground lair of the Alliance headquarters for many years, he was certainly not unprepared for the surprise attack by the Alliance's high-end combat forces.
No dramatic red button was needed from the evil sage of the Plasma Cluster. The entire castle automatically came to life as the Four Heavenly Kings ascended to the predetermined height.
The earth trembled, and a deep rumble traveled from the ground to every brick and stone.
The long staircases that originally extended gently on all four sides, connecting the ruins of the old headquarters, were simultaneously lifted upwards by the giant hydraulic rods underground. The roar of the metal hinges was like the panting of a giant beast awakening. The outer wall panels that emerged from the ground slid and reassembled like scales, connecting with the mortise and tenon structure extending from the side of the Gothic spire.
Within a few seconds, the raised steps unfolded to both sides into fishbone-shaped temporary combat platforms, forming a huge, hollow inverted pyramid structure. Together with the main body of the castle, it looked from a distance like an umbrella that had been opened and stuck upside down in the ground.
At the same time, countless well-prepared Team Plasma members poured out of the internal passages in an orderly fashion, quickly deploying their defenses along the steeper steps inside the inverted pyramid. While controlling their own stunned expressions at the spectacle before them, they followed their training, relaying commands to their companions and directing their Pokémon to launch a barrage of attacks on the Elite Four members below, taking advantage of their height.
In addition to Pokémon moves, countless high-explosive items were also thrown down, along with a large number of poisonous powder packets containing "poison powder," "hypnotic powder," and "paralyzing powder," totaling about half a ton. The latter turned into a colorful dust storm that obscured visibility in the blast wave, tumbling down towards the intruders below.
However, this attack did not slow down the opponent's offensive.
In the shadow of the inverted pyramid, Lianwu's veteran builders swung heavy concrete pillars into a gray-white whirlwind. The howling Fighting-type energy not only easily shattered the falling solid obstacles but also directly swirled the pervasive poisonous fog upwards. Had it not been for Zero in the monitoring room having a pre-planned strategy, forcing all members to wear filter masks, this counterattack would have been enough to collapse their own defenses. Meanwhile, the other Pokémon of this Fighting-type master formed mobile barriers with their resilient bodies, actively resisting the attack and deflecting and dispersing all incoming energy blasts and flying blades.
Wanlong's Chandelure unleashed a crimson crown of flames behind the team, unleashing a devastating barrage of firepower against Team Plasma. The intense heat of the flames dispersed the enemies blocking the four-person team's path, ensuring their advance was clear. Her other Pokémon created a maze of illusions around them, causing flying units attempting to flank them to repeatedly miss their targets and become embroiled in chaotic attacks.
Bisharp is the sharpest blade in this dagger. Under the "Mystic Protection" released by Cattleya's Mystic Eclipse, its "Unyielding" ability transforms into an inexhaustible slash. Each "Dark Strike" sweeps across the crowd like a death knell, precisely erasing Team Plasma's command nodes. Other Dark-type Pokémon also lurk in the noise and shadows created by their allies, each appearance accompanied by the substantial loss of a key member of the enemy team.
And it was Cattleya who united all of this into an invincible force.
She and her psychic-type Pokémon hardly engaged in direct combat, focusing all their attention on maintaining the intricate and complex combat system—continuously reinforcing the transparent psychic staircase beneath their feet, instantly creating barriers to intercept every stray attack, precisely healing the damage to their companions with "Healing Wave," and quietly neutralizing the power of each enemy's concentrated barrage with "Light Wall."
Maintaining multiple telekinetic manipulations simultaneously and precisely controlling the overall situation would have been an unimaginable burden for her a few years ago, before she became a Uranus King. But now, Cattleya has accomplished it. She is now the irreplaceable heart of this mobile fortress, steadily and efficiently supporting the operation of the entire tactical system with her seemingly inexhaustible superpowers.
As the commander, no one could see better than Jero that such efficient division of labor and cooperation could not possibly be a tactic that the four people had casually come up with on the spot.
The radius of the superpower's effect is precise down to the stride, the detour routes to avoid being targeted by crossfire, the interval between each skill release and the decay curve of the energy ripples, even the distance maintained by each team member—all are calculated.
Too close and they'll interfere with each other's performance; too far and their defenses will be weakened. All these problems require a clever mind to carefully measure, calculate, and deduce before the battle.
At this moment, that brilliant mind was about to achieve the effect he desired—the assault team composed of four Heavenly Kings had already approached the white outer wall in the middle of the castle, and began to search for the enemy's command center from the center of the building, which obviously conformed to the algorithmic aesthetics of "binary search from the middle".
In the surveillance footage, Lianwu's veteran construction worker had already tucked the concrete pillar under his armpit, and began to gather his strength. The immense fighting energy gathered at his fist, turning into a vortex of white light—that was the "True Qi Fist" powerful enough to pierce through the city wall.
"Then, as you wish."
Seeing this, the "city defense master" was not surprised but delighted, and a childlike smile appeared on his face as he found his favorite toy.
Outside the castle, the old craftsman's massive fist, wielding the force of splitting mountains and shattering rocks, slammed into the outer wall.
However, a strange delay occurred the instant the fist made contact with the wall. The expected brickwork shattering did not happen immediately; instead, there was a dull, sticky sound, like a fist sinking into clay. A faint blue light seeped from the cracks in the bricks, spreading along the wall like veins. The old craftsman was astonished to find he couldn't pull his arm back—the glowing bricks were solidifying, enveloping his fist like cooled asphalt.
Only then did the accumulated fighting energy finally erupt belatedly behind the wall, causing the entire wall to shatter. Although the clay-like bricks and stones scattered in all directions, they did not fall. Instead, they floated in the air, surrounded by a strange blue light.
"Oh no, retreat now!"
The first to react was Yueju, who was traveling with the Commander of the Slash. She grabbed Wanlong's scarf and tried to pull her companion toward Gadria—only superhumans could instantly construct a spatial escape route.
But it was too late.
The floating bricks, drawn by the eerie blue light, had woven themselves into a vast net, completely enveloping the four of them.
This is clearly some kind of passively triggered spatial displacement device, with an effect similar to the Pokémon move "Touch Terrain"!
The next second, blue light engulfed the field of vision like a tsunami. And when the blinding light disappeared, only the psychic king, who could subconsciously use his superpowers to resist spatial teleportation, remained on the void steps formed by psychic power.
The other three Unova Heavenly Kings—Ichirenbu, Yueju, and Wanlong—have vanished without a trace, like pencil marks erased by an eraser.
Gadria hung blankly in the sky, before her countless Team Plasma members raising their weapons atop the inverted pyramid structure, and the sharp edge of their Pokémon poised to unleash their attacks.
And—the non-main Pokémon left behind by those three teammates at the front lines of battle! They weren't teleported away with them!
No matter how powerful a psychic is without the protection of their fortress, they can no longer maintain their previous invincibility, just like a Pokémon that has suddenly lost its trainer—or like an Elite Four trainer who has suddenly lost more than half of the Pokémon in their possession.
Inside the control room, Jero put down his empty cocoa cup, the ceramic and metal tabletop gently tapping together with a crisp sound.
The game has entered the middle stage.