Drayden's thoughts, however, ran in the exact opposite direction of Victor's.
Victor was telling the truth after all. That masked contender really isn't Feng Lu—the Trainer commanding the Kommo-o is Feng Lu!
I misjudged Victor. I honestly believed he was deliberately hiding something from me.
A flush of shame crept up Drayden's weathered face, accompanied by a pang of deep guilt. He had personally met with Vio before, and Vio had explicitly promised never to set foot within the clan's ancestral territory again. Drayden had always trusted Vio to be a man of his word.
Then where did Feng Lu's opponent come from?
Could he be an infiltrator planted by a rival faction?
The heavy stone of anxiety in Drayden's chest rose once more.
Just then, Drayden and Victor caught each other's eyes, only to avert their gazes an instant later. Each saw the lingering guilt and awkward evasion reflected in the other.
Feng Che, this opponent is far from simple, Mewtwo's voice echoed directly in Feng Che's mind. I sense an immense concentration of Dragon Force gathering along that Kommo-o's arm. It has compressed its draconic energy to an extreme degree. I doubt your white Gyarados can withstand this blow head-on.
Having analyzed the mechanics of the Dragon Fist, Mewtwo wasted no time warning him.
By the way, two separate factions have already set ambushes around the perimeter of the Dragon Festival. One group belongs to the Second Elder, and the other appears to be under Victor's command.
Like an attentive informant, Mewtwo rattled off the battlefield intelligence without missing a beat.
Gyarados, take to the sky! Combine Dragon Rush with Brave Bird! Feng Che commanded through their mental link.
He remained steadfast in his philosophy: the finest defense was an overwhelming offense.
Channeling the violent squalls around it, Gyarados let loose an outpouring of pure draconic aura intertwined with howling gales. The twin forces coalesced over its massive frame, weaving a dual armor of roaring winds and dragon power.
Plummeting toward the earth with its strongest combined assault, Gyarados transformed into a majestic, towering dragon of living tempest.
Down below, Kommo-o had brought its technique to peak resonance. It thrust its fist skyward directly toward the descending beast.
In an instant, over a hundred phantasmal dragons erupted from Kommo-o's fist, roaring with lethal fury.
Terrifying atmospheric pressure tore around Gyarados. The very first wave of draconic phantoms condensed from Dragon Pulse was instantly crushed to dust the moment it collided with the crushing downdraft.
Yet wave after wave surged forward without pause, hammering into Gyarados's vanguard and gradually eroding the oppressive wind pressure.
Before the barrier could fully shatter, Gyarados had already slammed down right before Kommo-o.
Relying on raw instinct, Kommo-o curled itself into a tight sphere once more, spinning at extreme velocity to weather the devastating impact of the tempest dragon.
In an instant, an apocalyptic gale swept across the entire arena.
Latias wore a grave expression. Choking down the immense strain, its eyes flashed with brilliant psychic radiance, barely managing to erect an enormous barrier of telekinetic force around the stage.
Right then, violent shockwaves detonated within the enclosure, the howling vortex slamming brutally against the psychic ward.
A massive fracture tore across the barrier with a sickening crack. Escaped squalls blasted through the fissure into the stands, bowling several spectators off their feet.
Latias pushed its psychic output to the limit, finally reining in the raging winds and stabilizing the perimeter.
To think even Latias's psychic power could barely contain the clash between that gale and the Dragon Fist...
In the hands of this masked battler, that Gyarados has evolved into an absolute terror.
Drayden stared at Feng Che with an unreadable, brooding gaze.
The dust began to settle, revealing the outcome of the round. A colossal crater dominated the center of the battlefield.
At the bottom of the pit lay Kommo-o, its armored scales shattered and cracked across its entire body, fallen into deep unconsciousness.
The white Gyarados was also battered and bruised, but it managed to keep itself aloft, battered yet undefeated.
Clan medics rushed forward in a flurry of activity.
When one of the healers stepped toward Feng Che to attend to Gyarados, Feng Che raised a hand and politely declined.
"I can tend to my Gyarados myself."
Feng Che blocked the medic's hands.
The clan doctor offered an awkward smile and turned toward Feng Lu instead.
"I will treat my own Pokémon as well," Feng Lu answered, mirroring Feng Che's refusal.
Feng Che, that doctor is cursing you both in his head right now, Mewtwo remarked with a light chuckle, its tone brimming with schadenfreude and amusement.
Understandable, Feng Che thought back with a faint smile. If I were repeatedly turned away like that, I'd be irritated too.
"What an incredible clash!"
"Both rounds practically ended in mutual destruction."
"It seems everything comes down to the third and final round!"
The spectacle set the gathered dragon masters buzzing with fervor.
"Honestly, either one of them taking the mantle of Clan Leader would be fine by me."
"Both possess monstrous strength."
"And they both seem to wield esoteric arts capable of rapidly restoring their Pokémon's vitality."
Amidst the rising din of speculation, Feng Che and Feng Lu prepared for their deciding bout.
"Come forth, Hydreigon!"
Feng Lu summoned his foremost powerhouse—his very first partner, Hydreigon.
Resembling a ferocious theropod dinosaur, the brute was predominantly deep blue, draped in collars of coarse black fur. Six dark wings sprouted along its spine, and two rows of purple geometric patterns striped its underbelly.
Of its three heads, only the central one held a true brain; the two flanking extremities served as secondary, mindless appendages. It possessed a single heavy tail, devoid of any hind legs, hovering steadily in the air.
"Take the field, Deino."
Facing Feng Lu's trump card, Feng Che released a small Deino.
"Are you kidding me? A Deino?!"
"Where does he get the nerve to think a basic Deino can take down a fully evolved Hydreigon?"
"Is he trying to pull off an underdog miracle? This is the deciding match of the festival, and he's treating it like child's play!"
Feng Che's choice drew an immediate wave of displeasure from Feng Lu as well.
"Are you mocking my Hydreigon?" Feng Lu asked, his brow furrowed with genuine offense.
"Not in the slightest. My Deino told me it wanted this fight, so I let it out," Feng Che replied smoothly, reaching down to pat the little dragon's scruffy head.
"Hear that? You'd better give it your all, or everyone's going to doubt you," Feng Che teased softly.
High in the observation stands, a slight smile crept across Vio's lips.
"The third match... Deino versus Hydreigon. Fascinating. Truly fascinating."
Vio chuckled softly to himself.
"That youngster's Deino isn't nearly as fragile as they assume. After all... it carries the bloodline of the previous Hydreigon Alpha."
Vio's lineage had long held close ties with the wild Hydreigon clan, which was why the core Pokémon passed down through his branch were always Hydreigon and their offspring.
Back when poachers had encroached upon the Hydreigon territory, Drayden's refusal to intervene had been largely influenced by these clan politics. Drayden's faction favored the Haxorus clan instead; yet while formidable, Haxorus was not a pseudo-legendary, leaving their collective strength somewhat trailing behind the Hydreigon lineage.
"Hydreigon, use Flamethrower!"
Seeing that Feng Che had sent out an unevolved Deino, Feng Lu relaxed his guard slightly, opting for a standard Flamethrower to probe his opponent.
All three of Hydreigon's heads snapped forward, unleashing three unified torrents of roaring fire.
Seeing the blaze bear down on it, Deino bounced with giddy excitement on the ground. Opening its jaws wide, it expelled its own blast of Flamethrower.
The fiery stream fanned outward mid-air, transforming into an expansive sea of flames that crashed against Hydreigon's incoming inferno, locking it into a dead-even, crackling stalemate.