Mega Lucario Z was an ultra-specialist. Its special attack received a massive boost, while its physical attack was actually weakened compared to its pre-evolution state. This kind of single-direction enhancement was better suited for cross-level battles, where you needed one stat to punch way above your tier.
A balanced improvement was better for drawn-out fights. Both forms had their pros and cons. It came down to the situation.
Against a heavy hitter like Electivire with a level advantage, Ash couldn't afford to use the standard Mega Evolution for a head-on slugfest. And beyond the special attack boost, the Z form also came with a massive increase in speed.
Volkner had already suppressed his shock. A battle was a battle. It wasn't the time to stand around marveling. His Electivire had never relied on long-range bombardment to win fights.
"Electivire, get in close. Thunder Punch."
Electivire excelled at close-quarters brawling. Pressing in was the simplest and most brutal way to neutralize Lucario's ranged advantage. At close range, that special attack boost meant nothing. And level suppression was level suppression. That wasn't something you could just wish away.
Electivire let out a low, muffled roar, its thick arms swinging out as a circle of golden electricity burst from beneath its feet. Its entire figure crushed toward Lucario like a speeding meteor.
Faced with that terrifying onslaught, Lucario closed its eyes.
Electivire closed the distance, its fist wrapped in golden thunder already raised high. The instant before it fell, Lucario gently stepped back. The golden fist brushed past the fur on its chest and smashed into the ground, blasting a crater into the floor.
Electivire didn't pause. Its other fist was already swinging. But Lucario still didn't defend, didn't even open its eyes. Its body simply sidestepped, and the fist slid past its shoulder, the gale stirring its fur.
Electivire accelerated. Its double fists became a sheet of golden thunder, dense shadows of punches covering almost every angle. The sounds of exploding thunder merged into one continuous roar.
But Lucario waded through that storm, every single time seeming to know Electivire's angle and landing spot in advance, dodging the split second before each fist arrived.
The onslaught grew fiercer. The speed grew faster. Yet that graceful figure remained just out of reach. Several times it seemed like a hit was guaranteed, and every time it fell just short.
After a barrage that should have been inescapable, Electivire finally committed to a double-fisted overhead slam, both arms wrapped in violent thunder crashing down simultaneously. No angle left to dodge.
But at the exact moment the fists fell, Lucario leaned back at an impossible angle, finding a gap that shouldn't have existed. And in the instant it retreated, it brought its palms together.
Deep, nearly black-tinged blue energy condensed into an Aura Sphere at point-blank range.
At that distance, Electivire couldn't adjust its posture. It could only cross its arms to block, the residual Thunder Punch force barely condensing into a thin layer of golden light on its fists.
The two forces collided. Golden thunder and deep blue Aura exploded into a dazzling ball of light. The shockwave blew away all the surrounding gravel, and Electivire's massive body was shaken back several steps, the golden light on its arms shattered completely.
A full combo of close-range attacks, and not only had Electivire failed to land a single hit, it was Lucario that dealt damage instead. With a huge level gap between them.
Jay was baffled. He couldn't figure out how a closed-eyed Lucario was continuously dodging a Champion Beginner Electivire's attacks.
Volkner, though, had already guessed. He wasn't unfamiliar with Lucario as a species. He'd battled Cynthia's Lucario several times before, and lost every single time. He knew that Lucario possessed Aura Power, which allowed it to predict incoming attacks.
The more refined its mastery, the stronger the prediction. Even across a huge level gap, a Lucario with masterful Aura control could dodge everything thrown at it.
Ash's Lucario had clearly reached the pinnacle.
Even after Mega Evolution, its overall stats should still be inferior to Electivire's. Electivire wasn't particularly fast, but level suppression alone let it keep pace with Lucario's speed.
Despite that, Aura-based prediction had let Lucario dodge every single attack. Unless Electivire's stamina ran out or Lucario's concentration slipped, landing a hit was going to be nearly impossible.
And the reality was even worse than Volkner imagined. The Z form didn't just boost special attack and speed. It also elevated Lucario's mastery over Aura to a level that rivaled Ash's own god-level Aura control. Using Aura this intensely placed a heavy burden on stamina and focus, but before Lucario hit its limit, Electivire wasn't touching it.
"Dragon Pulse, stacked with Aura Sphere!"
During Volkner's contemplation, Ash's voice cut through. The command made Volkner freeze. Dragon Pulse stacked with Aura Sphere? Could those two moves even be combined?
Lucario separated its palms, and a deep purple dragon-shaped energy surged outward. The moment it formed, Lucario brought its palms together again, an Aura Sphere condensing out of thin air before being pushed directly forward, embedding itself into the mouth of the dragon-shaped energy.
The deep purple dragon body wrapped around an azure orb, tracing a winding arc in mid-air as it crashed straight toward Electivire, which hadn't yet regained its footing.
"Protect!" Volkner shouted.
Electivire violently crossed its arms, and an emerald-green barrier unfolded instantly. The dragon-shaped energy slammed fiercely into the barrier. The purple dragon body was bounced away, the azure orb exploded, and the shockwave blasted a deep pit several meters wide in the center of the field. Dense smoke instantly swallowed the entire battlefield.
In the spectator stands, Jay held his breath. Brock's brows furrowed. Misty's hands tightened around Togepi. Once you fell into a disadvantage in a duel at this level, the opponent's momentum became inescapable. Getting back up from the quagmire was nearly impossible.
Volkner slowly let out a breath. It blocked it.
Yet halfway through that exhale, the smoke began to disperse. The first thing that came into view was not Electivire's tall figure, but a deep purple radiance.
The moment the smoke fully cleared, the entire Gym fell silent.
Nine deep purple dragons hovered around Electivire, each one's mouth holding an azure orb over half a meter in diameter. They cruised slowly in formation, fine energy patterns flowing across their bodies, encircling Electivire right in the center. Electivire stood at the core with its arms still crossed, and the emerald-green Protect barrier had dimmed to near-invisibility.
Volkner's gaze froze.
"Lucario and I have been working on this for a long time. We can finally use it in this form."
In a normal battle, how many Pokémon could even use eighteen moves total? Most fights were decided in around ten. And wanting to fire off eighteen special moves in the span of a few seconds while simultaneously shaping them into a formation was the kind of thing that shouldn't be possible.
Yet here it was.
If all nine dragons converged on Electivire at once, the combined output wasn't just additive. It was multiplicative.
"The Dragon Pulse just now wasn't to deal damage." Volkner's voice was tight. He'd pieced it together. "It was to force Protect. To buy time for this."
As long as Electivire used Protect, Lucario had the window it needed. And now that Protect had already been used once, using it again would drop the success rate to coin-flip territory.
"That's right." Ash snapped his fingers.
At the referee's podium, Jay's mouth was open, but no sound came out.
Even Misty couldn't help it. "Ash really knows how to hide things. Whose Lucario can release nine Aura Spheres and nine Dragon Pulses at the same time?"
"Don't even mention nine," Brock sighed, a helpless smile on his face. "Even two is a struggle for most Pokémon."
They'd traveled with Ash all this time and still hadn't seen this coming. They didn't even know about the new Mega form, let alone a combination move at this scale.
Volkner's brain was running at full speed, calculating every possible response. Protect had just been used. Success rate under fifty percent. He couldn't gamble on that. Electivire's speed made escaping an encirclement this dense impossible. As for tanking it, the combined power of nine Aura Spheres and nine Dragon Pulses made his scalp tingle just thinking about it.
One option left. Reduce as much damage as possible.
"Electivire, Light Screen!" Volkner's voice was tight but controlled.
But something was burning inside him. Regardless of whether this battle was won or lost, this match had awakened something that had been dormant for a very long time. If he had to sum up his experience in a few words, it would be: worth the trip.
Electivire roared, its thick arms spreading wide. A powerful surge of psychic energy poured out, rapidly converging into a translucent wall in front of it. Light Screen. Halving the damage of special attacks. This was the only defensive option left.
Meanwhile, Lucario raised its right arm high, clenched its fist, and swung it down.
"Awooo!" The cry was stirring but clearly fatigued.
On the field, those nine deep purple dragons holding azure orbs simultaneously raised their heads and roared. An energy shockwave rippled through the air, and then all nine swooped down from nine different directions toward the exact same target.
The entire Gym was flooded with deep purple and azure light.
The instant the nine dragons hit the Light Screen, it shattered. The defensive barrier Volkner had pinned his hopes on broke in a blink, leaving only a few lingering points of light.
Electivire could only watch as that terrifying wave of power rushed straight into its face.