"Dragonair, Mist!"
"DRAG!"
Taking advantage of the moment while Gardevoir had pulled back, Dragonair activated its orb again, releasing a soft, foggy white glow.
Mist began to rise, quickly enveloping Dragonair and covering most of the battlefield.
Gardevoir frowned. She could clearly feel her Psychic energy, which had spread across the field, being forcibly pushed back.
Mist could do that?
Gardevoir was surprised, then immediately increased the intensity of her Psychic energy, trying to pierce through the Mist and forcibly lock onto her opponent's position.
However, Dragonair's Mist clearly wasn't ordinary. As Gardevoir's Psychic tried to penetrate, it felt like it had run into a mass of soft cotton, and was slowly bounced back.
"Use Psyshock."
"Garde!"
Sato's voice rang out at the perfect moment, giving Gardevoir a new plan of attack.
If pure Psychic wasn't effective, then convert it into tangible energy waves. Direct physical damage!
The purplish-red energy wave carried an imposing pressure as it whistled toward the wall of Mist.
There was a faint hint of resistance, but Psyshock quickly punched through the Mist and shot straight at Dragonair.
Unfortunately, Mist was one of Dragonair's most refined weather moves, and with that came mastery.
Mist's special function was to create a localized weather domain that Dragonair could sense perfectly.
As Psyshock came flying in, Dragonair had already dropped altitude, calmly watching the move pass overhead.
As for why it hadn't changed the weather earlier… it wasn't just because the orb needed a cooldown. Dragonair had also been hoping it could strike Gardevoir directly with Thunder.
But clearly, Gardevoir's speed had far exceeded expectations; not to mention that Teleport was practically a cheat-level move.
If lightning couldn't hit, what else could you do?
Now, it would have to settle for a battle of attrition.
Psychic detection was useless, Mist was thick like glue and completely impenetrable. Psyshock couldn't accurately land on Dragonair inside either.
Gardevoir frowned, a dangerous glint flashing in her eyes. A drawn-out war of attrition was not her style.
The next moment, her whole body surged with purple light. Her black gown swayed and floated around her.
A terrifying wave of Psychic energy erupted, sending out visible ripples toward the Mist.
Then came containment, suppression, compression…
Even though Mist was intangible, Gardevoir forcibly locked it within a spherical Psychic field, shrinking it down with brute force.
"Domain-type" move? Hmph~ She would just lock down your entire domain!
"Garrr…~"
Gardevoir's blood-red pupils gleamed so brightly they were almost blinding. Her hands slowly came together at her chest.
As she moved, the Psychic sphere began to shrink rapidly. Inside, the Mist grew denser and churned violently.
Suddenly, a flash of blue and white streaked across the outer edge of the Mist, but vanished again just as fast.
Dragonair was panicking. It knew that if it tried to escape, Gardevoir would catch it immediately.
But if it stayed… the shrinking Mist would eventually reveal its position, and then it would get caught anyway!
'L-Lance! Lance, where are you?! HELP!'
Dragonair screamed internally. It had moved to the edge of the Mist to get Lance's attention.
But on the other side, Lance's face was just as grim. He wanted to channel Dragon Force to support Dragonair.
But Gardevoir's Psychic sphere was too overwhelming. It actually blocked out most of Dragon Force's signal, turning his support almost meaningless.
As the Psychic sphere closing in on the Mist shrank further, Dragonair's figure gradually became visible. The outcome of the battle seemed all but certain.
Then, the Mist dispersed…
Dragonair's enormous body -far larger than others of its kind- reappeared in full view.
It stared through the Psychic sphere at Gardevoir, its eyes showing a blend of fury, fear, resolve… and a hint of satisfaction.
The next moment, intense blue-purple energy enveloped Dragonair's entire body, then took the form of a dragon's head.
Within the shrinking space, Dragonair coiled upward in two tight loops, then dove straight down.
It planned to use Dragon Rush to break through the Psychic sphere by force and smash Gardevoir with everything it had!
In a blink, Dragonair collided with the Psychic sphere.
Crack… Crack… c-crack…
Unlike Gengar's Spatial Barrier, this sphere wasn't designed for invulnerability. Dragonair burst through quickly, charging at Gardevoir with full momentum.
At that moment, Gardevoir's eyes dimmed slightly; a mild backlash from the broken sphere.
Seeing Dragonair rushing straight at her, Gardevoir's gaze flared again. A wave of overwhelming Psychic energy surged across the battlefield.
◓---
In the audience stands, a young Trainer from the Hoenn Region stared at the match without blinking.
Watching Gardevoir unleash wave after wave of overpowering attacks, crushing her opponent into helplessness, he felt both admiration and confusion.
"Psychic-types usually specialize in versatility. Shouldn't it be easier to win using status moves or strategies?"
Norman glanced at the boy who had come with him from Hoenn, and gently patted his shoulder.
"When someone's strong enough… brute force becomes the simplest path to victory. All the strategies and setups in the world mean nothing when you can one-shot your opponent."
The young Trainer's eyes widened. Just as Norman finished speaking, Gardevoir used Psychic to slam Dragonair into the ground, overpowering it.
In that moment, the boy fully understood Norman's words.
---◓
"DRAGONAIR IS UNABLE TO BATTLE. GARDEVOIR WINS. ELITE FOUR LANCE, PLEASE SEND OUT YOUR NEXT POKÉMON!"
With the referee's official announcement, the match between Sato and Lance finally reached its match point.
Lance had only one remaining Pokémon who had not yet appeared, most likely Dragonite.
Sato, on the other hand, still had Gardevoir, who was barely injured, and one last Pokémon in reserve.
In this final moment, Sato had once again pulled the advantage back to his side.
"Incredible… I already overestimated you! …And you still managed to force the match to this point."
Lance, for once, didn't immediately send out his last Pokémon. Instead, he spoke to Sato.
Sato grinned. "Might want to raise that estimate a little more~"
"TAHAHA…! Then… let me drag your Zoroark out first!"
Lance laughed loudly, then stopped hesitating and threw out his final Poké Ball.
A flash of red light… and a chubby, earth-toned Dragonite appeared on the field, looking harmless and gentle~
It wasn't exuding any particularly "terrifying" aura, yet both Sato and Gardevoir could sense something different.
Standing before this Dragonite felt like standing in front of… Fujin's partner.
'…Champion Pokémon?
No… not quite.'
Once Dragonite crossed the threshold, it would become a true Champion Pokémon.
No wonder Lance didn't panic at all, even with only Dragonite left.
"Dragonite, Extreme Speed!"
"Gardevoir, Trick Room!"
---◓---
In the audience stands, the young Trainer from Hoenn suddenly turned to Norman, his eyes wide with curiosity.
"A-Ahem. This Dragonite… probably is a lot stronger than Gardevoir."