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A brilliant and resplendent river of thunder poured down onto the Pacific Ocean like a magnificent waterfall. It looked as though the sky itself had been torn open, releasing an entire reservoir of lightning.
Fortunately, any Pokémon within a radius of tens of kilometers had already fled before this devastating move was launched.
The audience watching the live broadcast, the Elite Four observing on-site, and even Marvin himself all stared at this golden waterfall composed of pure thunder, marveling at Raikou's overwhelming power.
If such a tremendous attack were to fall upon a city, it could easily destroy the entire metropolis in an instant.
Legendary Pokémon truly lived up to their reputation as beings possessing the destructive power to level entire nations!
At the same time, everyone was desperately searching for an answer.
Had Lugia been defeated?
Besides waiting for the Thunder Falls attack to stop and seeing the result, there was another way to predict the outcome in advance.
Roy looked toward Chris.
The corners of the young trainer's mouth were still curved upward slightly, wearing an expression that suggested he had everything under control and firmly in hand.
Lugia—a Flying-type Pokémon—was being bathed in the devastating lightning storm summoned by Raikou...
Roy didn't know whether to call it arrogance or confidence.
However, he understood the meaning behind Chris's smile perfectly.
In Roy's imagination, Chris was probably thinking: "That's it? Then I'll finish this now!"
Then Roy saw Chris stretch out his hand and press downward slowly.
"Lugia, Dark Twister!"
When calling out this move, Chris felt like he was commanding some kind of "Dark Battle Beast."
Suddenly, everything changed.
The ocean, which had been dyed golden by the thunder, was suddenly wrapped in darkness. The darkness didn't spread outward but instead began to consume and compress everything, steadily shrinking the affected area.
It was as if a giant beast from the ocean depths had opened its abyssal maw and begun devouring the delicious lightning that fell from the heavens like a feast!
After a short while, Raikou's ultimate Z-Move "Resplendent Thunder: Raikou's Fury" still hadn't stopped pouring down. But the darkness consuming the golden light had forcibly begun to rise against it!
The ocean churned like boiling water. A massive ink-colored twister rose from the turbulent surface, shooting straight up toward the sky!
It surged against the pouring Thunder Falls, attempting to directly block the hole from which the lightning cascaded!
In the next moment, within everyone's field of vision, most of the Thunder Falls disappeared, revealing the majestic form of the golden tiger Raikou.
Then it too was wrapped up and swallowed by the dark storm.
"BOOM!"
The thundercloud that had been pouring down lightning was pierced through by the dark Twister! The massive vortex twisted and extended even farther upward!
Its desire and intention weren't just to punch a hole through the thundercloud—though that dark Twister slowly shrank and dissipated several minutes later.
The Pacific sky gradually regained its calm.
"Where did Raikou and Lugia go?" someone couldn't help but ask.
This question echoed the thoughts of countless viewers currently watching the live broadcast.
Marvin and the three Elite Four members immediately looked down at the gradually calming sea.
The seemingly peaceful ocean was still covered with a layer of black, as if a school of Inkay had dyed the water with their ink. Beneath the surface churned countless undercurrents and whirlpools. Not just people—even Pokémon accidentally caught in those currents would face certain doom.
There was no doubt that Raikou and Lugia were now battling underwater.
Marvin's face darkened as he suddenly remembered something crucial. Although Lugia was a Psychic and Flying-type Pokémon, also known as the "Guardian of Ocean Currents and Storms," it was actually also called the God of the Sea.
Along coastlines both domestically and internationally, there were customs and traditions of honoring Lugia as a sea deity.
This was because Lugia dwelled on the ocean floor year-round and was proficient in Water-type moves.
It simply didn't have the Water typing—probably because Pokémon couldn't possess more than two types simultaneously.
However, Marvin had no options left.
Raikou's location had disappeared completely from his perception range.
Raikou couldn't undergo any bond evolution, and Marvin had never built that kind of deep connection with it anyway. Without that bond, he couldn't sense its condition and therefore couldn't issue commands.
He looked up at Chris, who was gazing back at him with a smile on his face.
That smile seemed to say: "I've won this match. Your Championship title belongs to me now."
Actually...
Chris was thinking something quite different.
"Raikou's ultimate Z-Move: Resplendent Thunder—Raikou's Fury."
"Super-wide coverage area, multiple layers of power accumulation... It feels like firing off hundreds of Gigavolt Havoc attacks simultaneously."
"If I'm not mistaken, the key to this technique is the buildup phase before release. You started accumulating energy for this move right from the moment Raikou entered the battle."
"The so-called dodging and stat-boost stacking didn't just increase Raikou's strength—they also served to disguise your true intention to gather this massive amount of energy."
"Although it requires advance preparation, the power and attack range of this move are more than enough to compensate for needing that charge-up time."
"Very impressive. Your technique is excellent. Therefore, it's mine now!"
Chris thought cheerfully to himself.
He'd been delighted just moments ago that he'd successfully observed and learned another ultimate technique. What made it even better was that he could adapt it for use with Zeraora as well.
This was wonderful! This battle had been absolutely worth it!
As for whether Lugia might lose its ability to battle after taking Raikou's devastating attack head-on...
Chris wasn't worried in the slightest.
The moment the thunder had begun falling, Lugia had already activated Teleport combined with Ally Switch to transfer itself to the ocean floor a thousand meters below. There, it had constructed a defensive barrier using Wide Guard, Protect, and its held Protective Charm, along with the continuous healing provided by Aqua Ring.
By the time Raikou's Resplendent Thunder: Raikou's Fury spread across a thousand meters of ocean surface and then reached down to strike Lugia's multilayered defenses, it was questionable whether it could even cause lethal damage.
In contrast, Lugia's counterattack...
Dark Twister!
The waterspout was formed with the Flying-type move Hurricane as its core. The Water-type technique Whirlpool was added to enhance centrifugal force, while the Psychic-type move Gravity increased the traction and suction power dramatically.
The three elements complemented each other perfectly, churning up the entire ocean. Devouring the Thunder Falls had been almost trivially easy.
Raikou had wanted to resist but couldn't. It felt like fighting against the entire ocean itself. The result was that Raikou had been sucked into the vortex helplessly.
Finally, there was Lugia's unique quality as a Dark-type Pokémon—its "shadow line" ability.
As a pure Electric-type, Raikou's only natural weakness was the Ground type. But here in the ocean, there was no way for it to be struck by Ground-type attacks.
However, with the Dark typing added to the equation, no matter what type advantages Raikou possessed, it still had to suffer double damage from Dark-type moves!
"The battle is over," Chris announced calmly.
The moment those words left his mouth, a sphere of dazzling light appeared from the depths below, rising toward the surface of the dark ocean. Raikou's body floated upward, but its eyes had rolled back into spirals, and its limbs hung limply without strength.
Another black shadow burst from the sea. Lugia spread its wings and soared triumphantly into the sky, its massive form casting a shadow across the entire ocean below!
The victor had been decided.