The dodgeball in his hand slipped from his grasp and crashed to the floor with a loud thud.
That single sound echoed in the dead silence, as everyone felt the air thicken with invisible force.
Razor felt like a small boat in a raging storm, utterly helpless, one wave away from capsizing. Especially terrifying were the three beasts standing at the center of Larry's formation.
One was a hulking steel-clad monster that radiated a brutal, immovable presence.
One was a dragon-shaped nen beast with a silly grin and simple expression, but whose breath felt like it could flatten mountains.
And the third… a shadowy being with a fog-like body, its form ever-shifting, unpredictable, yet undeniably dangerous.
The auras from those three alone were overwhelming. Razor could feel it. Each one of them… was on the same level as Ging. Maybe even stronger.
His shirt clung to his back, soaked in cold sweat. The pressure Larry's Pokémon unleashed in just a few breaths had shaken him to his core.
Since dodgeball required both hands, Larry had only released seven Pokémon to complete the team of eight with himself.
They were: Lucario, Gardevoir, Gengar, Tyranitar, Dragonite, Snorlax, and Happiny.
And the three that nearly made Razor collapse?
Tyranitar. Dragonite. Gengar.
"T-Tyranitar… and so many of them?!"
Biscuit's wine-red eyes narrowed as she carefully scanned the Pokémon Larry brought out, especially the Tyranitar.
Her gaze sharpened, locking on them like a trained predator. She could tell just how strong they were. And it shocked her.
Out of everyone present, Biscuit was the most powerful. And perhaps the only one who truly understood what this level of strength meant.
She had once heard from her friend Pyon that Larry had a powerful Tyranitar, tough as steel, like a walking fortress. But this… this was beyond anything she imagined.
Just the aura spilling off that Tyranitar felt like barbed wire, prickling your skin, making you wary of even looking directly at it.
It wasn't just powerful, it was suffocating. Its presence alone was stronger than Chairman Netero's.
And the Dragonite and Gengar beside it weren't far behind, either. Their energy wasn't as overwhelming as Tyranitar's, but they weren't much weaker. In fact, both of them felt like they were just shy of the Chairman's level.
As for the rest, Lucario, Gardevoir, Snorlax, Happiny, they might not match the center three, but each one was still a formidable threat. Almost all of them gave off power equivalent to Biscuit herself.
Among the whole group, Lucario was the only one Biscuit had personally seen in action before. But the others?
They were completely new.
What she didn't know was that Larry hadn't even brought out everything. He still had Pokémon like Hydreigon, Ditto… and many others kept in reserve.
If he had called all of them out, she might've collapsed from shock right then and there.
"…Is this… the real strength of Mr. Larry?"
Goreinu stared blankly at the crowd of nen beasts, his voice trembling with awe and fear.
He couldn't believe it.
Was this really something a human could do?
A Nen user capable of controlling so many terrifying nen beasts... it was unbelievable. For someone like Goreinu, who specialized in beast-type Nen abilities, it was painfully clear what these creatures meant.
Larry wasn't just strong. He was a symbol. An icon every beast-type user dreamed of becoming. Anyone who walked this path would look up to Larry without question.
And Goreinu wasn't weak by any stretch. His Nen ability allowed him to conjure two massive, gorilla-like Nen beasts: Righty and Lefty.
Righty could instantly swap places with Goreinu himself, while Lefty could force a target to swap positions with another. It was a rare form of spatial manipulation, advanced and incredibly versatile.
Though the exact range limitations hadn't been fully shown in battle, the implications were huge. Goreinu could teleport himself to safety or disrupt enemy formations mid-fight.
For a beast-type user, Goreinu was absolutely top-tier.
But even someone like him had to swallow his pride when facing Larry's Pokémon. The gap between them wasn't just wide, it felt like they were on different planets.
His teleportation tricks? Larry could match those with just a single Pokémon, Gardevoir. And Gardevoir wasn't even using anything beyond her standard teleportation move.
That wasn't all she could do either. With access to a wide arsenal of psychic and support abilities, Gardevoir completely outclassed Goreinu's nen beasts in every category, power, versatility, even elegance.
And she was only one of Larry's many Pokémon.
What was even scarier was knowing there were more Larry hadn't summoned yet. If these seven already overwhelmed the arena, what would happen if he released the rest?
"But… if all the nen beasts are taking the field, then what do we even do?" Gon finally spoke up after managing to recover from the pressure. His eyes scanned the arena and then fell to the floor. There wasn't a single spot left for him to stand.
"This just means we don't need to fight," Killua said, appearing behind him. His voice was low, a mix of awe and lingering fear. "Just leave everything to Larry. We're guaranteed to win."
Originally, Killua had been standing right beside Gon. But when the aura from Larry's team hit, he instinctively leapt back.
That wave of power, it was the strongest killing intent he had ever felt in his life. For a moment, he genuinely thought he was going to die. And that terrifying pressure wasn't even aimed at him. It was just the aftermath, the ripple effect of Larry's arrival on the battlefield.
"If I don't play, how am I supposed to earn a card?" Gon muttered with a bitter expression. The goal of the game was still on his mind.
Killua gave him a sideways glance. Here he goes again...
"Gon, look at the field," he said flatly.
Biscuit couldn't stand it anymore. "Gon! Use your brain for once!" she scolded, stepping up with her hands planted firmly on her hips, her face dead serious. "This isn't a match you can just throw yourself into!"
Even she didn't dare join this game now. And Gon wanted to catch a dodgeball in the middle of that chaos?
"If you step in there, you're going to die before the ball even gets near you!" she snapped. "You think I trained you just so you can get flattened by a nen beast?"
Her frustration was loud and clear, and it left Gon staring at the arena in a daze. He glanced at Killua, uncertain and overwhelmed, his usual fire dimmed by confusion.
Just as Gon hesitated, Larry calmly stepped onto the court with his Pokémon trailing behind him. The match had officially begun.