After the Fairy Domain collapsed, Team Magma’s momentum surged. Amid the refraction of Fairy Light, it swept away a group of Pokémon while Mega Diancie erected another defensive barrier!
The next moment, a secondary explosion occurred in the area affected by the earlier explosion. This time, the blast originated from within the base itself. It was already a miracle that this maritime base had managed to endure such an intense battle for so long. Now riddled with damage, Terrance could faintly see that it was gradually beginning to sink.
If the battle continued, Team Magma’s base would inevitably sink!
Bang!
Suddenly, Mawile’s body was the first to give way under the strain of the high-intensity battle. After trembling all over, it dropped to one knee, only to be engulfed by the explosion of flames, and then sent flying.
With the Fairy Domain gone, Team Magma also found a way to restrict Mismagius’s illusion skills. Under the interference of invisible electromagnetic waves, the effectiveness of Mismagius’s illusion skills was reduced by several degrees.
At this point, the only ones on Terrance’s side that still had relatively abundant stamina were Altaria and Gallade.
Team Magma, however, still had far more combat power remaining.
As countless Mightyena surrounded them and roared, Terrance shook his head. It seemed he could not wait for reinforcements to arrive.
“What I’m actually rather thankful for is that your base isn’t on land, but out at sea.”
Terrance smiled.
Amid the raging Blizzard, an ice bridge was constructed. Terrance and his Pokémon all retreated, widening the distance between themselves and Team Magma as they left the maritime base. Seeing Terrance’s actions, Maxie revealed a cold expression, having guessed Terrance’s intentions.
This battle had been unfair from the very beginning, no matter which side one considered.
For Terrance, Team Magma held an enormous advantage both in numbers and reserve forces. It was virtually impossible for Terrance to capture them alive. If the battle dragged on, one or two of Terrance’s Pokémon might even fall amid the chaos.
That was a price Terrance could not afford.
For Team Magma, however, this battlefield itself was their greatest limitation. As long as Terrance was willing, this battle will have to end, with Team Magma suffering defeat… because as long as Terrance could leave safely, he would suffer almost no loss, whereas Team Magma had already suffered heavy casualties.
Unless Team Magma had some means of preventing Terrance from leaving. But clearly, accomplishing that would be extremely difficult for them.
If they had been on land, Team Magma might still have had a chance to pursue him. But the sea was not Team Magma’s home field, and they could hardly bring their abilities to bear here.
As long as Terrance recalled his Pokémon and retreated through the air with Altaria, Team Magma would have virtually no means of threatening him.
Maxie understood this perfectly, which made him extraordinarily furious. He wished he could hack Terrance into pieces. He had a premonition that Terrance would become the greatest obstacle on the path to realizing his ambitions!
“Fairy Elite Four Terrance, I’ll remember you! Prepare yourself for Team Magma’s full retaliation!”
“I’ll be waiting,” Terrance said.
On his own home ground, even if Team Magma mobilized its entire force, Terrance was confident he could withstand their retaliation.
In the sky, an Ice Moon rose as Fairy energy permeated the surroundings, accumulating terrifying power. At the same time, two more Weezing with powerful auras flew out from the maritime base, staring at Terrance with almost bloodthirsty gazes. It seemed that if Terrance dared make the slightest move, the two sides would fight to the death.
Two more Weezing fused with Life Orbs.
As Terrance fell silent, Maxie waved his hand and turned to leave, leaving only Tabitha and Courtney behind to handle the aftermath.
Team Magma!
This organization was not something a single Elite Four could deal with. The construction cost of this maritime base alone likely had to be measured in the hundreds of millions, with no telling how high the final figure might be. Beneath Hoenn’s peaceful surface, an organization like Team Magma had been nurtured, along with a Team Aqua whose strength seemed no weaker than theirs. There was no telling how many filthy deeds had taken place in the shadows… Thinking of this, Terrance became even more determined to destroy them.
However, even after the Hoenn League dispatched two powerful figures, Steven and Phoebe, they still failed to eliminate these two organizations. If Terrance wanted to destroy them, he would likely need the right timing, terrain, and support…
Terrance had achieved his objective with this operation, but he could go no further. Otherwise, the price would be mutual losses. He had not yet reached the point where he needed to risk his life. Letting Team Magma leave now was also an unavoidable decision.
As countless ripples appeared beneath the maritime base and Team Magma’s submarines descended into the sea one after another, the base suddenly began to break apart. Seeing this, Courtney and Tabitha cautiously kept their eyes on Terrance while slowly retreating and beginning their own evacuation.
…
Fifteen minutes later.
All that remained on the calm sea was the empty shell of a ruined base encased in ice. If Team Magma had withdrawn by submarine beforehand and left only part of its forces behind, Terrance would have had no way to stop or track them. This outcome had been inevitable from the very beginning, because he did not have a single Pokémon skilled in aquatic combat with him. He could only watch helplessly as they escaped.
Faced with the threat of Team Magma’s forbidden methods, Terrance chose to give up. Such Weezing also seemed to be rare even for Team Magma. Aside from using one to destroy the Fairy Domain and prevent Terrance from wiping them out completely, Team Magma never employed such a method again.
The situation had already been decided. Both sides preserved as much of their strength as possible and avoided fighting to mutual destruction. Terrance’s side was wary, while Team Magma likely did not want to disrupt its main plan—capturing Groudon—just to deal with Terrance alone.
“But in the end, I still won…” Looking at the wrecked maritime base, Terrance shook his head. Destroying something like this should earn him quite a lot of merits, right? After all, he had carved a huge chunk of flesh from Team Magma.
Team Magma could no longer take away the maritime base, which had been shattered by the battle, but they had no intention of letting Terrance and the League benefit from it either. Not long after their retreat, black smoke began coming from all over the base as its self-destruct program activated, destroying all its important components.
Had Ninetales not frozen it, the base would already have sunk into the sea.
Around this stretch of ocean, numerous warships were still heading toward the area according to their original orders.
The captain of the fleet’s flagship was a sturdy man in his early forties. When he learned that Fairy Elite Four Terrance had entered Team Magma’s base alone, he broke out in a cold sweat. He had once seen Team Magma’s extravagant maritime base during a mission. Its facilities were no worse than those of any Hoenn League naval fleet. Even a complete fleet might not necessarily have been able to take it down, so in his eyes, Terrance going there alone had been far too dangerous.
What he had not expected was that the fleet would later receive orders to clean up the aftermath and continue the pursuit.
It was only after arriving in the battle zone and seeing the enormous base reduced to ruins that the captain finally understood what earth-shattering feat this Elite Four member had accomplished.
Looking at the young man standing on a floating section of deck with a somewhat regretful expression, the captain remained silent for a long time, not knowing what to say.
At that moment, Terrance was still regretting that he had left Gardevoir in Fallarbor Town to protect Fallarbor Gym, that he had assigned Castform to look after the Power Herbs, and that Tyranitar had been stationed in Oldale Town. Had that not been the case, perhaps today’s battle would have turned out at least somewhat differently.
When he formally met Terrance, the fleet captain even vaguely heard him let out a sigh…
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