"Drayden, this couldn't possibly be Iris, could it?" Victor asked, a bizarre expression crossing his face.
If that really was Iris down there, where was Drayden supposed to hide his old face? She was getting utterly dismantled by Feng Che.
"Ahem... Yes, that is indeed Iris," Drayden coughed awkwardly, a faint flush rising on his weathered, usually stoic face. Watching his own granddaughter take such a brutal beating was mortifying.
"Iris's strength has already reached the Elite level. She shouldn't be overwhelmed so thoroughly," Victor murmured thoughtfully. "Could this boy be an elite talent nurtured in secret by one of our branch families?"
The two men exchanged a knowing glance, then turned their heads in unison toward the Second Elder.
"Don't look at me!" the Second Elder grumbled, the sunlight gleaming brilliantly off his bald dome. "If I had the skill to raise a trainer that monstrous, I would've woken up laughing in my sleep every day. Would I still be sitting here drowning in worries? My branch has no worthy successor left!"
His own grandson, Poison Dragon, was blatantly ruined goods.
Down in the arena, Iris's Excadrill cast a disdainful sideways glance at Deino, its eyes brimming with contempt.
Oh dear, Excadrill's bad habit is flaring up again, Iris thought with an inward sigh. Her partner was notoriously prickly: whenever it faced an opponent it deemed weaker than itself, its drive to fight plummeted.
Sigh... Every single time I have to face one of these runts, I can never get into the mood, Excadrill grumbled internally. It's like playing house with a toddler. Boring. Completely boring.
Excadrill reached back to scratch its rear, ready to disregard Iris entirely and tuck itself into an idle, spinning drill. But before it could, Deino's attack arrived.
Deino let out an energetic roar and opened its maw wide, unleashing a torrent of Flamethrower.
The flames billowed across the air, expanding into a raging sea of fire. Caught entirely off guard, Excadrill was scorched head-on, its metallic coat blackened by soot. For an Excadrill that took immense pride in its pristine appearance, this was intolerable.
"Excadrill, you see now, don't you? Never judge a Pokémon by its appearance!" Iris began, ready to deliver an earnest lecture, only to freeze when Excadrill snapped a savage, murderous glare straight at her.
She wisely shut her mouth.
As Excadrill's chilling gaze swept over the stands, the entire arena went dead silent.
"That Excadrill's glare is terrifying..."
"I nearly wet myself just now."
"Rumor has it that this Excadrill is absurdly aggressive and holds grudges like crazy. If you offend it, it'll hunt you down morning to night."
Before the spectators could finish their hushed whispers, Excadrill turned its baleful gaze back toward the arena, locking onto Deino with naked malice.
Feng Che had tied the fringe of fur over Deino's brow into a neat little ponytail, pulling back the thick coat that usually obscured its face. It blinked its large, round eyes, looking around at the arena with innocent curiosity. When it realized Excadrill was glaring daggers at it, Deino unhesitatingly glared right back.
Strange, Excadrill thought, a flicker of confusion breaking through its rage. This little runt hasn't even reached the Elite level, yet it isn't fazed by my pressure at all.
It had no idea that Feng Che's Deino had grown up surrounded by genuine Legendaries: Ho-Oh, Lugia, and Primal Dialga. As a pup, Deino had frequently treated Primal Dialga's massive back like a playground slide, sliding down its spine all the way to the floor. The mere aura of an Elite-tier Excadrill was nothing to it.
Opening its mouth wide, Deino blasted another burst of Flamethrower straight at Excadrill.
Seeing the massive mole scramble in such an undignified panic, Deino erupted into high-pitched, mocking cackles.
That laugh pushed Excadrill completely over the edge.
Snapping its foreclaws together and tucking its body, it transformed into a colossal, whirring drill and tore across the arena floor, hurtling straight toward Deino.
"Deino, fire Flamethrower to hold it off, then dodge!" Feng Che commanded calmly.
Excadrill's drill spun at blinding speeds, the vortex of kinetic force shattering the incoming stream of fire into scattered showers of sparks.
Seeing its attack brushed aside, Deino grew genuinely annoyed and ramped up the output of its Flamethrower. The torrent shifted from orange-red into a blinding, incandescent white, the thermal energy skyrocketing by thousands of degrees in an instant.
"Good, Deino! Keep that up!"
Gasps rippled through the stands as the spectators watched the spinning steel drill glow cherry-red from the sheer heat.
Unable to bear the searing temperature, Excadrill aborted its charge and burrowed underground, using the cold earth to cool its molten shell.
Huff... puff... How does this little pest pack so much power?! Excadrill panted beneath the surface. That almost cooked me alive!
Dropping all lingering arrogance, Excadrill prepared to strike from the dark below.
"Clever," Drayden murmured from the observation deck, a glimmer of hope returning to his eyes. "Deino is too small to retaliate underground, nor can it use Earth Power or Earthquake to force Excadrill back to the surface."
"Excadrill is strong, but don't count Deino out just yet," Victor countered, splashing cold water over Drayden's optimism. "The candidate fighting under the alias Tyrant wouldn't deploy Deino without a plan. Don't forget, this Deino is the direct offspring of the previous Hydreigon Alpha. Who would have thought it would end up in his hands?"
"Hmph!" Drayden scowled, falling silent.
Down in the pit, Iris called out, "Go, Excadrill! Stone Edge!"
Jagged stone spires erupted violently from the earth like bamboo shoots after rain, razor-sharp and standing a couple of inches taller than Deino itself. In a heartbeat, the pup was trapped within a dense thicket of jagged pillars.
"Deino, use Bite on the pillars!" Feng Che commanded.
Deino bared its needle-sharp teeth and clamped down viciously onto the nearest stone spire.
With a sickening crunch, the pillar snapped in two, leaving clean, deep bite marks along the fracture. Deino chewed greedily, crushing the stone to powder and swallowing it down in great gulps.
"Am I seeing things? Did that Deino just eat a stone pillar?!"
"No way... Is that an Aggron in disguise?"
"How tough are its teeth?! If I tried that, I'd shatter every tooth in my head!"
The crowd buzzed with utter disbelief at the sound of rock being crushed like candy.
"Deino possess exceptionally sharp teeth and a remarkably omnivorous diet," Iris explained aloud to the surrounding trainers, maintaining her composure. "Certain ores contain trace minerals vital for their growth and development, so they often chew on boulders to supplement their diet."
What Iris kept to herself, however, was that her Excadrill's spires were infused with refined steel-type energy—every bit as dense and unbreakable as superalloys.
What terrifying bite force, Iris marveled inwardly.
Refocusing, she commanded, "Excadrill, use Stone Edge again!"
Massive boulders tore free from the arena floor, levitating into the air before sharpening into colossal stone blades. Spinning with lethal momentum, the razor-edged monoliths hurled downward, crashing toward Deino from every angle.