Jin Peng stood dead center, his six Pokémon spread out to either side.
Whu—whu—
A fierce wind tore through, snapping his cloak like a banner.
Now, aside from Lie Ke and Yang Yong—the other founders of the Seven Sages began closing in with their teams.
Jin Peng swept them with a cold stare.
"Where's Yang Yong?"
"What—is he hiding because he's scared?"
The League had kept its eye on the Seven Sages for a long time.
And as an investigator, Jin Peng naturally knew their leader well.
At the mention of him, Luo De sneered. "Jin Peng, you're surrounded, and you still have the spare mind to worry about someone else?"
"Our Leader's busy. He doesn't have time for you."
Jin Peng's brows lifted. "Surrounded?"
"By you lot?"
The contempt in his voice was bare.
Truthfully, in Jin Peng's eyes, among the Seven Sages, only Yang Yong and Lie Ke were worth paying attention to.
"You—!"
Hearing that scorn, Luo De's face twisted with rage.
Jie Ke clapped a hand on Luo De's shoulder. "Don't waste breath arguing. Once we take him down, we'll see how he talks then."
"Right. Take him down first," the others echoed, nodding along.
Then, one after another, they tossed out Poké Balls.
Red light flashed, and Elite Four Tier Pokémon emerged in a steady line.
Five people.
Two each.
Ten Elite Four Tier Pokémon in total.
If their individual strength wasn't enough, they'd make up for it with numbers.
But—watching those Pokémon bare their fangs and flare their power, Jin Peng didn't look worried in the slightest.
"Take me down?"
"You're not qualified."
He said it calmly, then immediately began issuing commands.
A mob of rabble—so what if they'd scraped their way into Elite Four Tier?
"Dragonite, Charizard, Gyarados, Haxorus—[DRAGON DANCE]!"
"Hydreigon—[DRACO METEOR]!"
"Flygon—[DRAGON RUSH]!"
In just a few seconds, Jin Peng fired off three orders in succession.
""""""ROOAAARRRR!""""""
Dragon cries rose one after another.
Four Pokémon began a strange, twisting dance at the same time—and as they moved, their auras surged in unison.
Jin Peng might have said he didn't think much of them… but in battle, he never held back.
Aside from Flygon, which was holding the line, and Hydreigon, which couldn't use Dragon Dance, the rest all boosted with Dragon Dance.
At the same time—Hydreigon lifted its three heads high. A blazing meteor—one large, two smaller—shot into the sky.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
At the apex, they burst like fireworks in rapid succession.
Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh!
Countless shrieks ripped through the air.
The whole sky felt like the end of the world.
An endless rain of meteors plunged toward the earth, as if to erase everything below.
Meanwhile, Flygon wrapped itself in dragon-shaped armor and planted its feet at the narrow pass ahead—then charged forward head-on.
Flygon didn't need a target.
Anything that tried to enter the pass became its prey.
In that state, Flygon carried the courage of one who could hold off ten thousand.
The Seven Sages had more Elite Four Tier Pokémon than Jin Peng did—but in combat experience, the gap between them was painfully obvious.
And on top of that, those ten Pokémon didn't belong to one Trainer.
Their command was fractured—everyone calling their own shots.
"Pidgeot, [AGILITY]—dodge!"
"Empoleon, [HYDRO PUMP]—block the meteors!"
"Rapidash, [FLARE BLITZ]—charge through!"
"..."
Commands flew from every direction.
Some wanted to avoid the brunt. Some wanted to brute-force it head-on. Some wanted to break Flygon's blockade.
Everyone had their own idea—no unified plan.
To be honest, if they'd acted as one and driven their Pokémon straight at Jin Peng without caring about anything else,
Flygon alone would never have been able to hold them back.
As for Draco Meteor—there was ten Pokémon.
Even if only five forced their way through, they'd still come out ahead.
But—in moments like this, people always thought of themselves first.
And that hesitation cost them their best chance to interrupt Dragonite and the others while they were boosting.
"Dragonite—[EXTREME SPEED] into [THUNDER PUNCH]."
The instant Dragon Dance ended, Jin Peng launched the counterattack.
"Hrrm!"
Dragonite was fast to begin with. With Dragon Dance on top of that—and Extreme Speed layered over it—the Seven Sages only saw a yellow blur flash through the air.
One after another, their Flying types let out miserable cries.
Air superiority—that was Jin Peng's first priority.
After all, among his Pokémon, only Haxorus couldn't fight in the air. The rest could all take the sky.
Once those fliers were down, Jin Peng's team could cut loose without restraint.
"Haxorus—go help Flygon. Take some of the pressure."
"Gyarados—[WATERFALL]. Put out those Fire types."
"Charizard—watch the field. Wherever support's needed, move immediately."
Dragonite struck first and struck true.
Jin Peng assigned tasks to the rest in quick succession.
Haxorus's twin blades flashed with a dangerous dark gleam as it charged straight at a Mightyena that was swarming Flygon.
Slash—slash!
Two cold arcs cut through the air—
DUAL CHOP
Haxorus's head-blades carved two deep gashes across Mightyena's belly.
With Haxorus backing it up, the pressure on Flygon eased sharply.
"Rapidash—[FLAMETHROWER]!"
Seeing Haxorus tearing through the field, one of the Seven Sages immediately ordered their Pokémon to support.
But—before Rapidash could act, a lethal sense of danger struck from its right.
Rapidash snapped its head around—and saw a surging wave of water rushing straight at it.
Gyarados.
More precisely, red Gyarados, riding the torrent in.
This Gyarados—was the very one Jin Peng had defeated and captured a few days ago.
With Jin Peng's sheer strength, he'd thoroughly subdued it.
It still hadn't fully integrated into his team—but its combat power was absolutely not something to underestimate.
"ROAR!"
Riding Waterfall's momentum, Gyarados closed in without the slightest hesitation.
Its powerful tail swung, crashing down with terrifying force.
AQUA TAIL
Rapidash saw it coming and didn't hesitate for even a moment. It spat the Flamethrower it had been about to use for support straight at Gyarados.
Blazing fire surged forward on waves of heat, like it meant to incinerate the very air.
But—that inferno met its natural nemesis the very next second.
Gyarados's roaring Aqua Tail slammed into the flames without mercy.
Ssss—ssss—ssss!
Water and fire hissed as they clashed.
Thick steam billowed from the impact, swelling fast.
In only moments, the two Pokémon were nearly swallowed by the fog.
But before the steam could fully hide them, Rapidash was already sent flying.
With a heavy crash, it slammed into a nearby tree—and didn't rise for a long while.
In that contest of force—water versus fire—Gyarados had the advantage.
And just like that, under Jin Peng's full-pressure assault, the Seven Sages began to buckle.
As expected—for a true powerhouse, numbers only mattered once they reached a qualitative tipping point.
Otherwise—no matter how many you had, it was still pointless.
And in this battle, Luo De, Jie Ke, and the others finally understood just how terrifying Dragon Country's four active-duty Elite Four truly were.
In the distance, Yang Yong watched the fight as well, his expression heavy.
"Looks like… the Seven Sages still have a long way to go."
He shook his head with a quiet sigh.
A single Elite Four had them nearly forced to mobilize everyone.
If Lin Feng arrived too… what then?
As that thought surfaced, Yang Yong reached to his waist, preparing to release his own Pokémon and join in.
But the moment his fingers touched his Poké Balls, he stopped.
"Forget it."
"If we're already ready to show our trump card… then I'll conserve my own strength for now."
If Yang Yong sent out his Pokémon, forget defeating Jin Peng—suppressing him completely would be no problem at all.
And if it were only Jin Peng, that would be fine.
But the issue was this: Lin Feng, the Bug-type Elite Four, had come with Jin Peng.
He wasn't here yet—but he was definitely on the way.
So in that case, simply suppressing Jin Peng didn't mean much.
After a moment's thought, Yang Yong drew a precious Cherish Ball from his sleeve.
"Kyurem… let the world witness your power."
An ambition unlike anything before blazed in Yang Yong's eyes.
This would be his first step toward the future.
As the Cherish Ball opened, freezing air spilled outward in rolling waves.
In the blink of an eye—the damp ground, the lush grass, the trees—everything was coated in silver-white frost.
They probably could've never imagined such a scene occurring.
A perfectly good autumn—suddenly covered in winter's snow-white coat.
But the cold didn't stop there.
It kept spreading, racing outward in every direction.
At that moment, every member of the Seven Sages couldn't help but shudder.
And Dragonite—just as it was about to press its attack—abruptly halted.
It stared straight ahead at the abnormal change, more solemn than it had ever been.
Danger.
A stronger warning than even the first time it had seen Guo Yi's Beedrill.
A formidable Pokémon had been released.
And Dragonite wasn't the only one who felt it.
The other Pokémon—and even Jin Peng himself—felt it too.
"What a terrifying presence…"
"What overwhelming dragon pressure…"
"So this is the confidence that lets the Seven Sages dare to work with Team Galactic?"
Jin Peng narrowed his eyes, gaze fixed on the distant source of that crushing sensation.
For some reason—the Dragon Mastery within him was trembling.
Like excitement… and like fear, all at once.