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Seeing that Haunter could immediately execute such a defensive counterattack under those circumstances, Sato's heart sank slightly.
From the information he had gathered, he already knew that this Haunter was formidable, but now, after actually battling it, he realized he had still underestimated its strength.
From the start of the battle until now, Ayako, who stood on the other side of the battlefield, had not spoken a single word.
She hadn't even opened her eyes, completely allowing Haunter to fight freely without any instructions, as if she wasn't the least bit concerned about it losing to Meowth.
"Stay calm. Use Iron Tail to break its ghostly hands, then attack with Shadow Ball."
Seeing that Meowth was momentarily flustered and unsure how to escape, Sato immediately issued his command.
Upon hearing his trainer's words, Meowth's sharp eyes regained their calm. He stopped his futile struggling.
With a single thought, his long, agile tail was instantly coated in a metallic sheen. In a flash, he swung it with incredible speed, striking the ghostly hand that had firmly grabbed his left forelimb.
Sure enough, under Meowth's Iron Tail, Haunter's ghostly hand—coated in Ice Punch—shattered like an ice sculpture, dispersing into a wisp of black mist before vanishing into the air.
Seeing the frigid ghostly hand shatter under his tail, and feeling his left forelimb regain its normal sensation, Meowth's eyes gleamed with a hint of excitement.
But he hadn't forgotten Sato's orders. He quickly opened his mouth, and a dark energy orb rapidly formed within.
However, just as Meowth broke free, a pair of scarlet eyes suddenly opened from within the ominous, cold black mist that had spread across nearly half the battlefield.
In the next instant, six foul-smelling, purple-black sludge bombs shot out from the darkness, attacking Meowth from various angles. At the same time, two more ghostly hands emerged from the black mist, reaching toward him.
Seeing the incoming Sludge Bombs and ghostly hands, Meowth knew he no longer had time to launch his Shadow Ball. He quickly turned and dashed away.
With his agile movements, he managed to evade Haunter's sludge attacks.
One more thing caught his attention—Haunter's ghostly hands seemed to have a limited range.
Once they extended about ten meters from its body, they lost control, flailing wildly like headless flies.
"A great opportunity! Fire a barrage of Shadow Balls at him!"
Having discovered the flaw in Haunter's ghostly hand technique, Sato immediately gave his order to the panting Meowth.
Meowth, already holding back his frustration from constantly dodging, had also noticed the ghostly hands' weakness. The moment Sato gave the command, he unleashed multiple soccer ball-sized Shadow Balls from his mouth.
In just two or three seconds, Meowth fired seven consecutive Shadow Balls, all aimed at the area where those scarlet eyes had appeared in the darkness.
However, to Sato and Meowth's dismay, the seven Shadow Balls vanished into Haunter's black mist without a trace, as if they had sunk into a bottomless abyss.
Still, the dark mist covering the battlefield did shrink slightly.
"What the hell is this black mist coming from Haunter? It actually negated Meowth's Shadow Balls..."
Closely observing the battlefield, Sato noticed the change in the black mist. His heart pounded as a thought surfaced in his mind.
This golden-ranked Haunter, raised by a Spirit Master Trainer, had already displayed abilities far beyond what Sato knew of the species.
Most shocking was how Haunter seemed to absorb Meowth's Shadow Ball attacks using its black mist.
At this moment, Sato realized he was likely facing an exceptional elite trainer nurtured by a powerful family.
If he didn't bring out his full strength, he stood no chance against this mysterious and beautiful Spirit Trainer.
But Sato wasn't the only one astonished. The audience watching the match was equally shocked, their gazes shifting toward the elegant, seemingly fragile young woman standing on the battlefield.
From the very beginning, Ayako had kept her eyes closed and remained silent. Yet despite that, her Haunter had completely dominated Sato's Meowth.
In reality, the black mist surrounding Haunter was a special gaseous form of Ghost-type energy.
This mist was the result of a newly developed Ghost-type move known as Spectral Terrain, a technique created by Ayako's Spirit Trainer family.
The principle behind Spectral Terrain was similar to moves like Electric Terrain, Grassy Terrain, or Misty Terrain, where a specific type of energy temporarily alters the battlefield.
However, unlike those moves, which primarily boost attack power, Spectral Terrain acted more like an energy-based shield.
Unlike standard energy barriers, this black mist protected its user by nullifying incoming ranged energy attacks. The trade-off was that it gradually depleted as it absorbed attacks.
Ayako's family had conducted extensive research and confirmed that different elemental energies could cancel each other out at specific ratios.
For instance, a unit of Water-type energy could neutralize two units of Fire-type energy. Spectral Terrain utilized this principle, creating a zone where Ghost-type energy absorbed incoming attacks.
One drawback of Spectral Terrain was that it required time to form. As seen with Haunter earlier, it needed to gradually release its Ghost-type energy into a gaseous state, expanding the mist's coverage over time.
Because of this, Spectral Terrain had a unique scaling property—the longer the battle dragged on, the larger and stronger the energy shield would become.
At present, this technique was still imperfect and had strict mastery requirements. So far, only Ayako's exceptionally gifted Haunter and a handful of powerful Ghost Pokémon from her clan had learned it.
Even so, the introduction of Spectral Terrain was a game-changer, significantly compensating for the traditionally fragile defenses of Ghost Pokémon.
Moreover, with the cover of darkness, Ghost-types could now execute ambush tactics even in broad daylight.
There was no time for Sato to think further. Haunter's attack was already underway.
The once-still black mist suddenly surged toward Meowth's position, while the previously uncontrolled ghostly hands now targeted him with precision.
This time, one hand gleamed with Ice Punch, while the other burned with Fire Punch—Haunter was clearly aiming to strike Meowth with a dual-element assault.
Even without testing, Sato could tell that this black mist was an enormous threat. He needed to end the battle quickly.
If he allowed Haunter to expand its mist any further, the situation would only become more dire.
"Stop running! Face it head-on! Use Water Pulse and Shock Wave to destroy those ghost hands, then fire another round of Shadow Balls! Blow Haunter out of that mist!"
With a solid plan in mind, Sato immediately shouted his next command to Meowth.