"Crush the opponent! Gyarados!"
"Suicune! Prepare for battle!"
Two Poké Balls were thrown almost simultaneously. In a flash of white light, a ferocious, massive Gyarados and a graceful, elegant Suicune landed on the battlefield.
"Gyarados, huh?"
Lucas narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at the savage, violent-looking Gyarados before him.
This wasn't unfamiliar at all.
Gyarados had always been one of Lance's favored Pokémon, especially back during his full-team battle against Leon.
That particular Gyarados had truly shone—after Mega Evolving, it had unleashed overwhelming might and taken down two of Leon's core Pokémon on its own.
"Suicune…"
Lance furrowed his sharp brows slightly, his aggressive, piercing eyes flickering faintly. As someone from Johto, he had naturally heard countless legends about Suicune—the embodiment of the north wind.
"To face a legendary Pokémon like Suicune as my first opponent… how interesting."
Soon, the corners of Lance's mouth curled upward, revealing chillingly white teeth.
"One of the Three Legendary Beasts—Suicune. What an enchanting, elegant form."
In a corner of the stands, Wallace stared at Suicune with sparkling eyes, gently cupping his cheek in rapture.
As someone who revered the art of Water-types, he had almost no resistance to a Pokémon as noble and graceful as Suicune.
"A pure Water-type Suicune versus a Water/Flying-type Gyarados—this matchup is really hard to predict."
Steven spoke thoughtfully, completely ignoring his friend muttering incomprehensible nonsense beside him.
From a purely type-based perspective, neither side had a clear advantage.
"It'll depend on how Lucas has trained this Suicune, but…"
Leon spoke up, his gaze fixed on Lance.
"It looks like Lance isn't planning to use Mega Evolution on Gyarados."
Cynthia nodded in agreement. In Lance's last fight against Leon, Gyarados had also been his lead—but he had Mega Evolved it immediately to boost its power and suppress his opponent.
"He's probably saving Mega Evolution for a later core member. After all, even Mega Gyarados doesn't really gain much advantage against Suicune."
After Mega Evolution, Gyarados becomes Water/Dark, which doesn't give it much of an edge against Suicune. Holding back Mega Evolution was a sound decision.
On the battlefield—
"Let's greet our opponent first, Suicune."
Lucas snapped his fingers and launched the first attack.
"Blizzard!"
The white streamers around Suicune fluttered as icy blue light gathered in its mouth. With a long, melodious cry, a bone-chilling blizzard erupted, roaring toward Gyarados.
An Ice-type Blizzard dealt neutral damage to the Flying-type Gyarados!
"Don't embarrass yourself with such petty tricks!"
Lance sneered coldly, swinging his right arm down with commanding force.
"Gyarados, Aqua Tail!"
"ROOOAAR—!"
Gyarados let out a thunderous roar, its massive tail glowing with watery light as it rose high and smashed down toward the incoming blizzard.
Aqua Tail!
The overwhelming force tore open a gap in the raging snowstorm, but the water swirling around Gyarados instantly froze under the icy gale.
"Earthquake!"
Without the slightest pause, Lance barked another command.
Using the momentum, Gyarados slammed its tail into the battlefield. The ice coating its tail shattered as the entire arena trembled violently, shockwaves rippling outward almost visibly.
"Extreme Speed!" Lucas's gaze sharpened.
Suicune lightly tapped the ground with its hooves and dashed straight toward Gyarados.
Though the Earthquake continued to shake the ground violently, it seemed to have no effect whatsoever on Suicune.
Its agile, elegant movements flowed seamlessly, every step a display of effortless grace.
Seeing this almost unbelievable scene, the entire stadium erupted in shock.
"What insane balance!"
Blue couldn't help but shout out in disbelief.
"This is absurd! How the hell did Lucas train it? Borrowing force, dispersing force, maintaining balance so perfectly—ignoring Earthquake entirely?!"
As a monster-level prodigy himself, Blue could clearly understand why Suicune was able to "ignore" Earthquake.
But this was something that should have existed only in theory!
Simply jumping would have been enough to avoid Earthquake—yet Lucas's Suicune chose the flashiest, most shocking method imaginable, stunning everyone present.
"Gyarados, Rock Slide!"
Lance coldly watched Suicune approach, unfazed by its display.
If dodging is your specialty, then I'll seal off your movement entirely—let's see how flashy you can be then!
Gyarados roared as countless sharp stone blades formed before it and shot toward Suicune at high speed.
"Dodge!"
Suicune vanished instantly from where it stood. Extreme Speed—a move that sharply boosts speed.
Under its enhancement, Suicune became even faster.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Every Rock Slide missed, detonating across the battlefield in a chain of explosions.
Lance's eyes tracked the pale-blue afterimage racing around the field, searching for Suicune's position.
"Shadow Ball!"
Lucas suddenly issued the command.
Suicune reappeared behind Gyarados, firing a dark purple Shadow Ball straight at it.
"Gyarados, Body Slam!"
Lance reacted almost instantly.
The Shadow Ball shot forward like lightning, but Gyarados ignored it completely, swinging its massive tail down toward Suicune!
"I knew you'd do that! Suicune!"
Lucas's lips curved into a faint smile.
Lance had been waiting for this counterattack—how could Lucas not anticipate it?
The Shadow Ball struck Gyarados and exploded, yet its Body Slam showed no sign of slowing.
BOOM!
Gyarados' massive tail smashed into the ground, cracking the battlefield apart.
But it missed!
Suicune leapt high, narrowly evading the attack, then closed in and clamped its frost-laden jaws onto Gyarados' neck.
Ice Fang!
Intense cold surged into Gyarados' body, forcing it to roar in pain.
"Crunch!"
Lucas followed up immediately.
Crack!
Suicune increased its bite force, a chilling sound of bones grinding echoing as Gyarados howled even louder.
Every attack landed cleanly. Supporters of Lance stared tensely at the battlefield, hardly daring to blink.
And then—
"Thunderbolt!"
Lance's calm command rang out.
Lucas frowned slightly. After taking all that damage, Gyarados could still counterattack?
"ROOAAR—!"
Gyarados bellowed as golden arcs of electricity surged across its body.
Suicune instantly sensed danger and tried to retreat—but electricity was faster!
Crackling currents spread over Suicune in an instant!
Blinding golden light engulfed both Pokémon. Struck by Thunderbolt at near point-blank range, Suicune was completely unable to disengage.
Though Gyarados' Special Attack wasn't particularly high, Electricity counters Water—and at such close range, breaking free wasn't easy.
And Lance had no intention of giving it the chance.
"Payback!"
A feral grin appeared on Lance's face.
A malicious Payback—its power doubled when striking after the opponent!
Gyarados roared, its black-tinged head slamming brutally into Suicune.
BOOM!
Suicune was sent flying, crashing heavily into the ground.
"Earthquake!"
Lance commanded again without hesitation, giving Suicune no room to recover.
Gyarados raised its tail and smashed it down.
"Dodge."
Lucas licked his lips and called out.
Despite the pain wracking its body, Suicune forced itself upright and leapt away.
Rumble—!
The Earthquake shook the field violently, but Suicune barely managed to avoid the follow-up attack.
"Hmph."
Seeing the Earthquake miss, Lance frowned slightly and snorted, choosing not to press further.
If Suicune could forcibly recover its footing, continued pursuit would likely be futile.
The heart-stopping exchange finally paused.
Only then did everyone release the breath they'd been holding, and the stadium exploded into noise.
"Holy crap, that was insane! What a god-tier turnaround!"
"No joke—when I saw Suicune land that triple combo, I seriously thought Gyarados was done for."
"Clearly Champion Lance was holding back—he deliberately lured Suicune in. Otherwise there's no way Gyarados could counter that fast."
"These two are monsters… This ticket was absolutely worth it!"
"Go, Lucas oppa! You can do it!"
On the battlefield—
"As expected of you, Cousin. Completely different from my previous opponents."
Lucas exhaled softly, glancing at Suicune as it resumed its battle stance, then smiled at Lance.
Even after taking Thunderbolt and Payback, the damage wasn't severe—and Suicune's triple-hit combo had landed squarely on Gyarados as well.
"Don't lump me together with those second-rate and third-rate trainers, Lucas."
Lance folded his arms, standing tall and proud.
That arrogant bearing—exactly like the peak Dragon Master Lance of old.
Hearing that—
Leon: "..."
Why do I feel personally attacked?
"Alright, I really did underestimate things a bit."
Lucas shrugged.
Suicune had grown immensely stronger thanks to holding the Splash Plate in the past, even surpassing Lance's Gyarados in raw strength.
But most of Suicune's moves were Water-type—against Gyarados, that was a real disadvantage.
Gyarados was a brutal physical attacker, while Suicune wasn't. Attribute disadvantage wasn't the issue; resistance was. Once the opponent resisted Suicune's moves, it became very hard for Suicune to fully perform.
After a moment's thought, Lucas recalled Suicune.
"Switching Pokémon?" Lance asked, unsurprised.
"Yeah—let me give you a different opponent, Lance."
Lucas put away Suicune's Poké Ball and threw another one.
"Salamence! Prepare for battle!"
The Poké Ball burst open midair. Accompanied by a violent dragon roar, blood-red wings spread wide.
Salamence flapped its wings and landed heavily before Lucas.
"A Dragon…"
Ripples passed through Lance's pupils as he carefully studied the Salamence.
As a clan of dragon type specialist, their affection for Dragon-types ran deep.
"It's not over yet."
Lucas's lips curled upward. Salamence had grown rapidly—but it still needed a boost.
He slowly raised his right hand, the pure Key Stone gleaming brilliantly.
Mega Evolution!
"ROOOOOAAR—!"
The Mega Stone on Salamence flared as well, dazzling evolution light enveloping it completely.
Within the light, Salamence's form shifted rapidly—then the glow faded.
A brand-new Mega Salamence appeared before everyone!
Overwhelming dragon might radiated outward. With its crescent-shaped wings spread wide, Mega Salamence slowly rose into the air, its oppressive dragon eyes locking onto Gyarados.
"An excellent Dragon."
Lance's eyes lit up as he praised it.
He was notoriously picky about Dragons—and yet even he had to acknowledge Salamence's quality.
"Then I'll switch opponents too."
Lance recalled Gyarados. A Water-type simply wasn't suitable against Mega Salamence—bad matchup aside, Mega Salamence also dominated the skies.
Pokémon battles weren't about mindless brute force, especially against an opponent this strong.
"Lucas, show me how you plan to handle this."
Lance threw his Poké Ball. It opened midair.
An orange-yellow dragon flapped its small wings, hovering opposite Mega Salamence.
"My Dragonite—Number Two!"
It was Lance's iconic Pokémon—Dragonite!
(End of Chapter)