"Back to square one again, huh..."
In the audience stands, Mark sighed in frustration.
Why was it that every time Boss gained a slight advantage, it got reversed immediately? This match was giving him heart palpitations.
"You're up against Lance here. Back before Sato rose to prominence, he was crushing the entire younger generation of Kanto without breaking a sweat."
A voice came from beside Mark. It was Will, who had somehow arrived at the scene unnoticed.
Mark and Will weren't particularly close, so he just smacked his lips and muttered under his breath.
"…Didn't he stomp the other Elite Four members pretty easily though?"
"It's different. The two on the field are far beyond their peers now. They're even starting to pull ahead of the other Elite Four at the same level."
Joseph picked up the thread, pointing straight to the heart of it.
Even Will couldn't help but glance at Joseph and nodded in agreement.
"…They're too fast," Will murmured, eyes flashing with frustration.
When someone is far above you, you don't resent or envy them, you look up in admiration.
But who could understand the feeling of being slowly outpaced, the gap growing wider and wider? And before you could even recover, another monster zipped past you without even blinking.
It just shatters your mindset!
---◓---
At that moment, Sato finally sent out his fifth Pokémon.
Elegant, beautiful, majestic, exuding unmatched grace… it was the dream of every male… cough!
Gardevoir!
Blood-red eyes glowed with a seductive, eerie charm. A black evening gown hugged her slender waist, and her long, delicate legs seemed to only lightly touch the ground…¹[1]
If they touched it at all.
The moment this shiny black Gardevoir appeared, she instantly reignited the excitement of the slightly fatigued crowd.
Extremely rare + "shiny" + stunningly beautiful… when all three come together in one Pokémon, there's no stopping the uproar.
And amid the noise, the match resumed.
The sky remained dark. Drizzling rain turned the already shattered battlefield even more muddy and slippery.
Yet Gardevoir just stood silently in the rain. The falling droplets were repelled by her Psychic energy, curving around her and flowing into the ground.
Suddenly, a faint white light flashed, and Gardevoir vanished from her original spot, leaving behind only a patch of dry air that was quickly filled again.
Beneath the clouds, Dragonair cautiously scanned the area. Its long body coiled into a ring-like tower to minimize exposure and avoid sneak attacks.
But what came in response was a sudden, untraceable Psychic from above!
"AAAAAIR!"
A scream rang out as Dragonair's body dropped involuntarily.
But quickly, its white wing-like fins expanded dramatically. With two wild flaps, Dragonair stabilized midair.
It spiraled upward for a moment and finally spotted Gardevoir in the sky.
This time, Dragonair showed decisiveness completely opposite to its elegant appearance.
The orb under its neck flashed with a soft yellow glow. Instantly, lightning cracked across the dark sky, and a bolt of thunder lashed straight at Gardevoir.
But Gardevoir's battle sense was just as sharp. In an instant, she formed a thick Light Screen above her head.
The lightning struck down hard, engulfing Gardevoir in blinding electricity. The transparent Light Screen seemed completely ineffective.
On the other side, Dragonair showed no signs of stopping. The yellow glow from its orb grew brighter, lightning crawling through the sky, ready to strike again and again.
At this moment, Dragonair truly looked like the ruler of the storm.
The first bolt of lightning finally faded, but due to the blinding flash, most people couldn't see what had happened right away.
They rubbed their eyes and looked back toward the sky over the battlefield.
'H-Huh? Where was Gardevoir?'
Gone again!
Dragonair nervously scanned the surroundings, instantly regretting not following up with another Thunder.
No matter how strong you are, a single Thunder would never be enough to take her out.
At least two… minimum!
Just as Dragonair was caught in its regrets, the Dragon Force within its body suddenly surged, and Lance's command came through in sync.
{Dodge. Now!}
Dodge? But where?
Dragonair was a bit lost, but still instinctively slid to the side.
The next second, another invisible, intangible Psychic shot past. The sheer force of the gust it generated even knocked Dragonair further back.
'T-That strong?'
A shiver ran across Dragonair's skin, but its sharp battle instincts quickly traced the trajectory of the Psychic to locate Gardevoir...
Or rather, her flash of white light.
Gardevoir vanished again, leaving Dragonair unsure of where she would appear next.
Sensing the energy within its orb, Dragonair began to feel uneasy.
They couldn't keep stalling like this. Maintaining the thunderstorm consumed energy continuously, and Gardevoir was clearly dragging things out.
Soon, the yellow glow around the orb faded, and the storm reverted to a normal rainy sky.
A flash of white light… and Gardevoir reappeared, boldly positioning herself directly in front of Dragonair.
Then, Moonblast!
A phantom full moon lit up behind Gardevoir. The soft moonlight gathered into an energy sphere, then blasted toward Dragonair.
Feeling the Fairy-type pressure bearing down on it, Dragonair instinctively pulled back.
{Iron Tail}
At that critical moment, Lance's command came through, carried by the Dragon Force.
With its anchor restored, Dragonair's eyes sharpened.
Its long body twisted and spun, bringing its glowing, metallic tail down in a perfect arc to clash with the Moonblast like a reverse scissor kick.
Fairy beats Dragon!
Steel beats Fairy!
Moonblast was split in two without mercy, and Dragonair's crisis passed. It exhaled in relief.
…But then, Gardevoir's blood-red eyes blinked softly, and locked onto Dragonair's gaze.
Hypnosis!
Dragonair didn't want to sleep. But Gardevoir forced it into a dream, despite Lance's Dragon Force support.
Dream Eater!
Gardevoir closed her eyes, connecting to Dragonair's dreamscape. In a flash, she drained a massive portion of its stamina.
The next second, Dragonair was yanked awake by the Dragon Force, eyes full of terror, its body feeling noticeably weaker.
In the dream, it had fought Gardevoir for three days and nights, exhausting every last drop of stamina before finally breaking free from the nightmare.
But in reality, not even a second had passed…
A white flash!
And Gardevoir vanished again, retreating to a relatively safe distance.
In top-tier matches, most Pokémon had strong enough willpower that moves like Confuse Ray, Hypnosis, and Attract had limited effectiveness.
But Gardevoir had once possessed the Slumber Domain…
Unless Cresselia or Darkrai intervened, she could be called unmatched!
•
¹.PFFFT! Hahahaha~
[1] PFFFT! Hahahaha~