Chapter 397: Heart of the Evil Dragon

The smoke cleared.

In the dirt pit, Fraxure lay flat on its back, mouth slightly open, exhaling smoke, a pair of swirly-pattern eyes strikingly obvious.

The excitement on Iris's face froze.

"F-Fraxure…"

No trainer can be happy when their Pokémon collapses right after evolving, let alone losing a head-on clash. The gap in combat power between two Dragon-types was so obvious it seemed to spell out her failure as a trainer.

Actually, that wasn't wrong.

Calming down, she realized that although Triple-Headed Evil Dragon had displayed power far beyond Milotic's, the real reason Fraxure lost was that she had thrown away her caution.

The sudden evolution had blinded her into believing Fraxure now had the strength to clash head-on with Triple-Headed Evil Dragon.

If she had played it safe with Dig like she did against Milotic, she might still have had a fighting chance — Earth Power wouldn't get lucky enough to catch Fraxure every time.

Unfortunately, there are no "ifs."

"Congrats on evolving. You did great."

She returned Fraxure to its ball, offering soft comfort while a hint of regret showed on her face.

She had planned to use this evolution as a chance for a thrilling battle against Triple-Headed Evil Dragon, to connect with its heart through her ability during the fight, and to try sharing that feeling with Baimu.

Perhaps she could pull him into that mysterious, ineffable state of mind, letting him fully experience Triple-Headed Evil Dragon's emotions.

She never expected being slightly outmatched to ruin everything.

What a shame!

Iris couldn't help sighing, but when she looked toward Baimu in the distance she froze again — she found him gazing up at Triple-Headed Evil Dragon, his expression blank as if in a daze.

This was…

Before she could examine it closely, he had already come back to himself and turned his gaze toward her.

"Did you feel something just now?"

Iris, whose sixth sense was quite sharp, asked without hesitation.

Baimu hesitated briefly at her words, then nodded.

He wasn't sure if it was because he'd been thinking about it too much, but at the moment Triple-Headed Evil Dragon threw its head back and howled, he thought he heard someone shouting beside his ear: "I am the strongest ace!

!"

The sudden voice startled him, but when he listened carefully it was gone, as if it had all been a hallucination born of his absent-mindedness.

"Was it an illusion?"

He conveyed his feeling to Iris and asked the question.

Her eyes lit up. "Of course it wasn't an illusion! That's exactly the hazy feeling of being able to hear your Pokémon's heart! I was the same way at first!"

"At first? How first?"

"Um, around seven… eight years old?"

Iris awkwardly scratched her hair, and Baimu across from her was a bit speechless too.

The signs at seven or eight only bore fruit at eleven — at first glance it was only about three years, but how could he wait that long? Then again, he'd only mentioned it yesterday and the signs had already appeared today.

Maybe he could speed up the process in between?

Besides, Iris had wasted a long time at Xia Ka's Pokémon Academy back then — a girl so unsuited for school nearly had her talent buried.

"Saaa!"

Triple-Headed Evil Dragon's cry suddenly rang in both their ears.

Baimu and Iris looked up, and immediately saw the creature gazing at them with a sulky look, as if asking: are we fighting or not? I've been waiting forever!

The two came to their senses and said:

"Let's continue."

"Mm-hm, continue! This feeling might not just appear once!"

Iris promised him while tossing out a Poké Ball. "This strong opponent is up to you! Dragonite!"

Boom!

White light flashed.

The fierce-looking Dragon appeared, its small wings — a pair utterly mismatched to its body — flapping gently, yet enough to hold its massive form suspended in midair.

It gazed at Triple-Headed Evil Dragon, its fighting spirit gradually rising.

"Roooaar!

The spirited roar transformed into a tangible sound wave that spread forward.

Back at the Phantom Tower, Dragonite had already wanted to battle this seemingly very powerful creature, but the environment and timing hadn't been right.

Now, at last, that wish was fulfilled!

"Finally here, little tyrant Dragonite!"

The moment Baimu saw Dragonite, he understood it was most likely the strongest Pokémon on Iris's current team.

Back in the Unova era it had once matched Ash's Charizard in a fight; although it never finished because of N, its strength had at least been proven.

Having traveled with Iris for so long, it had surely grown in every aspect again.

A perfect opponent for Triple-Headed Evil Dragon.

"Nasty Plot."

He didn't launch an attack, choosing first to make up for the Special Attack drop from Draco Meteor.

"Saaa!"

Triple-Headed Evil Dragon scrutinized Dragonite's body, as if searching for an opening, and then an orange stat-rise glow lit up across its surface.

One had to say, since the anime has no fixed percentage stat changes and places great emphasis on move proficiency, as Triple-Headed Evil Dragon gradually grew more skilled with Draco Meteor, the drop in Special Attack was alleviated to a certain degree.

By that math, after Nasty Plot its Special Attack could still rise quite a bit—

Otherwise, it really might not be able to hurt the multi-scale Dragonite.

"Dragon Rush!"

All Baimu hadn't just stood by watching and waiting for the opponent to finish powering up either; the moment All Baimu's words fell, she swiftly issued her command.

"Rooar!"

Dragonite abruptly spread its wings wide, letting the air currents carry itself even higher.

Looking down from above, azure flames ignited across its body; between the fine scales, dragon fire danced like sprites, and in an instant it spread to every part of its body, converging into a roaring energy dragon, its terrifying baleful aura surging toward Hydreigon like a tide!

Roar!

It was as if a giant dragon were roaring across the wilderness in the void.

There was a time when Dragonite wouldn't obey All Baimu's commands at all, only doing what it thought was right; now it could faithfully carry out her orders.

The shrieking energy dragon streaked across the sky in an instant, yet its opponent had long since finished powering up and was waiting.

"Dragon Pulse!"

Hydreigon was seen taking a deep breath, its chest swelling high, as if it would compress all the surrounding oxygen into its lungs.

Immediately after, it opened its three mouths wide, and with all its might spewed the tri-colored flames brewing in its throat straight at the onrushing Dragonite's forehead!

Boom!

The raging flames nearly evaporated all the moisture in the air in an instant; the energy, tangled together like entwining serpents, transformed into a massive tri-colored fire dragon no less imposing than the energy dragon, roaring as it crashed into its opponent!

Boom—!

A deafening, terrifying explosion rang out; the spreading blast sounded as if it would shatter people's eardrums.

Thick dust, carried by the fierce wind, covered most of the field, forcing All Baimu and All Baimu to turn sideways to resist this sand-and-gravel-laden blast wave.

Although it's understandable that clashes of moves need a certain visual impact to let people feel the shock, honestly speaking, the smoke is a bit excessive.

It's extremely inconvenient for the battle.

In the haze.

All Baimu noticed Dragonite flapping its small wings and retreating back in front of her; the wisps of gray-white smoke lingering around it and the patches of blackened scorch marks proved it had taken some damage.

Even with a layer of energy as protection, its physical body taking the hit was undoubtedly at a greater disadvantage; after all, when the energy exploded, Hydreigon would only take the aftershock, while it, being at the center, basically took the full brunt.

Such a loss, such a loss.

And as Dragonite flapped its wings, the smoke from the explosion gradually dissipated, revealing the distant Hydreigon, which was basically undamaged.

This opening strike clearly put our side at a disadvantage.

All Baimu's brows furrowed tightly.

The opposite All Baimu, on the other hand, was very satisfied with this result; Dragonite being injured meant its Multiscale Ability had been broken, so there was no need to worry about the effectiveness of high-powered moves being greatly reduced.

He said: "Dark Pulse!"

Hearing this, All Baimu shouted: "Ice Beam!"

"Rooar!"

An icy-blue orb of light lit up in Dragonite's mouth; a winding, zigzagging bolt of lightning suddenly shot forth, colliding with the three purplish-black beams made of dark rings rushing toward it!

Crash!

Another cloud of white mist exploded open, but quickly dispersed.

Two consecutive attacks failing to gain an advantage, Dragonite's mood began to grow somewhat irritable, eagerly yearning to fight Hydreigon at close range.

All Baimu granted its wish.

"I understand what you mean! Go! Use Dragon Claw!"

"Rooar!"

A jade-green light lit up on Dragonite's claws; the gauntlet-like energy claws emitted a dazzling brilliance, and it suddenly beat its wings, rushing toward Hydreigon at extreme speed!

The speed it burst out with now was actually several degrees faster than before, as if being injured hadn't lowered its condition, but instead caused its condition to improve.

Facing the seemingly berserk Dragonite, Hydreigon chose to unleash its strongest strike.

"Meteor Beam!"

"Sha-sao!"

Ignoring the approaching Dragonite, it resolutely raised its head, condensing a huge orange-red orb of light at its chest and abdomen, and split it into three to send upward.

In an instant.

Hydreigon's three heads simultaneously fired dazzling orange-red energy blasts into the sky!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

It sounded like grenades being launched!

"What's going on?"

All Baimu stared at this scene in utter shock; even she, who came from the Unova Dragon Village and had seen countless Hydreigon, was seeing a Meteor Beam split into three and fired for the first time.

Not only shocked, she also completely couldn't understand the meaning of doing this.

Was it necessary to split the already-scattering Meteor Beam apart in advance?

On the field.

Dragonite had already flown in front of Hydreigon, and without hesitation swung a claw at its middle head!

Boom!

The powerful, heavy claw strike let out a deep, muffled thud, directly causing Hydreigon to plummet toward the ground like a kite with a broken string.

But what Dragonite didn't expect was that its own legs were bitten by Hydreigon's other two heads, forcing it to crash down to the ground along with it.

At the same time.

The three energy blasts that had risen to the highest point burst like fireworks; countless meteors, trailing long tails of flame, plummeted like arrows with hair-raising shrieks, so densely packed they resembled a meteor shower with an extremely concentrated range!

All Baimu looked at the Hydreigon on the ground, blocked by Dragonite's massive body, then at the rapidly falling brilliant arrows, and immediately understood All Baimu's reason for doing this.

The meteor beam burst from three Meteor Mash explosions had more than triple the power of a single one!

How is this possible!

"Dragonite, dodge it, quick!"

She shouted at the top of her lungs, but the Triple Dragon's bite force was even more terrifying than she had imagined—no matter how Dragonite struggled, there was no sign of it letting go.

Even the fists Dragonite threw were caught and gnawed on by the largest of the three heads in the middle.

By the time Dragonite tried to throw another punch, the meteor beams had already arrived.

Boom boom boom boom—

Countless meteor beams rained down on every part of its body like raindrops and heavy hammers alike—from the back of its head to its wings, body, and tail, almost every single spot was covered.

Under the Triple Dragon's deliberate control, the meteor beams around Dragonite were the densest; even those that didn't hit it exploded on impact with the ground, sending out waves of energy fluctuation that battered the latter's body!

"Woo-oh—!

Willful and tough as Dragonite was, it couldn't help letting out a wail under such a terrifying assault.

"Dragonite! Hold on! Use Roost!"

Iris watched it with deep worry, couldn't help stretching out her right hand and closing her eyes; a flash of Jin Guang immediately lit up at her palm.

All Baimu's eyes went wide. "Dragon Heart is coming!"

Without a doubt, this golden light was the mysterious power Iris was gradually mastering to communicate with Dragon-type Pokémon—using it now was surely meant to soothe Dragonite's emotions—

How does one learn it?

Should he try too?

All Baimu hesitated for a moment, then stretched out his hand as well; but having no idea what Iris was feeling at the moment, he couldn't even imagine it, and could only try calling out to the Triple Dragon in his heart.

Without a doubt, he failed.

This method, which could only be called a flight of fancy, simply couldn't allow him to imitate Iris's essence.

The meteor swarm's rampage had already ended.

Dragonite's back was covered in scorched-black blast marks, looking rather miserable; but at some unknown point, many pure-white feathers had begun drifting down above its body, and wherever they landed on the scorched-black spots, they transmitted a flash of green light, causing the wounds to heal rapidly.

Roost was in progress.

Multiscale had even been broken, yet this guy wasn't taken down by the meteor swarm—pretty tanky.

"... Doesn't seem like something I can learn."

All Baimu watched the scene helplessly, and did not stop Dragonite from continuing to recover.

This battle had been started mainly for the purpose of learning Dragon Heart; if the goal were simply to win, now would undoubtedly be a good moment to strike.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

Although the Triple Dragon had taken a Dragon Claw hit, its stamina was still in fairly good shape.

To be safe, use Roost one more time...

All Baimu was just about to speak when a ripple suddenly stirred in his heart; he seemed to feel an urgent emotion, as if something were urging him to give the order.

If we don't strike now, it'll be too late! Hurry!

A corresponding feeling arose in his heart.

The source of this sensation came from—

Underneath Dragonite!?

Was it the Triple Dragon? Why wasn't it making any sound? Ah! All three of its heads were tightly biting down on Dragonite's fists and claws! It couldn't make a sound!

All Baimu suddenly realized and shouted: "Take it down like this! Outrage!"

The moment the words fell, the urgent emotional ripple instantly turned into excitement, which confirmed to him that his feeling hadn't been wrong—he had truly sensed the Triple Dragon's current mood!

And he'd done it so easily!

On the field.

The Triple Dragon, "pressed" beneath Dragonite, was enveloped in an eerie red mist; its eyes lit up with an eerie red glow, and all three heads exerted force at once, hurling Dragonite high into the air!

Immediately afterward, the six plate-like wings on its back flapped violently, and it charged toward Dragonite at an extremely swift speed!

"Dragonite! Thunder Punch!"

Iris's shout rang out.

Helplessly, in its Outrage state, the Triple Dragon was far faster than the suffered heavy injured Dragonite; the moment the former gave the order, it had already slammed into the latter's chest and abdomen like a launched rocket!

Boom!

A deep, muffled thud!

Dragonite's body was nearly folded in half from the impact!