Chapter 977: Advancing to the Finals

"Woo—"

Lapras was knocked backward out of the arena, unable to control itself.

Its hard shell scraped wildly against the concrete floor, leaving behind several pitch-black or shattered marks.

Finally.

It lay on its back like an overturned sea turtle, exposing its soft, cream-colored belly, its eyes swirling in spirals on its tilted head.

Porygon Referee: "Lapras is unable to battle!"

"Bastiodon wins a total victory! The Z-Move on the Frozen Pool played a key role!"

The commentator shouted excitedly, drawing a round of applause.

Indeed, no one had expected that All Baimu could instantly freeze such a large pool completely.

Under normal circumstances.

What people saw most often was the surface being frozen to create a walkable layer of ice.

But freezing the whole thing...

One had to know that although this was a sub-venue, the battle arena was comparable to the main arenas of other tournaments; its main feature was its sheer size!

What an incredible power of ice!

Many spectators were marveling at how the Shiny Milotic was both strong and handsome, and that its reputation was well-deserved.

Another group of people, however, had their eyes on Bastiodon.

Spectators familiar with All Baimu knew that while it lacked the gorgeous appearance of the Shiny Milotic, wasn't as cute as Mawile, and wasn't as massive as Steelix.

It couldn't even match the volume of Hydreigon's roar.

But it was All Baimu's true trump card.

In the Ever Grande Conference finals, it had ruled the arena with an absolutely invincible posture, completely crushing Iris's three Pokémon!

Bastiodon was like the protagonist in a superhero movie—always arriving late, but once it arrived, there was only victory!

And now, it had appeared in the match to advance to the top eight.

This was enough to show that Long Ren was a formidable opponent who required All Baimu to go all out!

A great show was about to begin!

The audience looked excitedly at the arena, where Long Ren's smile was gradually fading.

It wasn't that the defeat of Lapras had dealt him such a heavy blow.

It was just that, for someone with his keen senses, the first moment he saw Bastiodon, he suddenly felt as if he were facing Dark Lugia again.

That feeling of staring into the unfathomable, pitch-black seabed, clutching at the terror in his heart...

"Bastiodon, huh."

Long Ren licked his dry lips, recalled the fainted Lapras into its ball, and said, "You've worked hard. Leave it to the others for now!"

The Ice-type Z-Move had indeed exceeded his expectations; there was nothing he could do about such an irresistible force.

As for what came next.

"I choose you!"

Long Ren threw the Poké Ball forward.

Bang!

Light flashed.

The Pokémon that landed in the arena was a short, small ape with gray-white fur and a hairstyle like flames.

"This is!"

The commentator's voice rose abruptly, shouting excitedly: "The Ghost-type Pokémon currently only recorded in Paldea—Annihilape!"

Annihilape, the Rage Monkey Pokémon, Fighting and Ghost type.

The evolution of Primeape.

It is said that Primeape's rage broke through its critical point, thus gaining the powerful strength to break free from the shackles of the flesh!

Through the homophony of its name, it is not hard to discover that this is a Pokémon that was "angered to death" by itself.

All Baimu was very surprised.

So the place Long Ren had been traveling to, as mentioned by Dr. Mu Yin, was Paldea!

Hey!

What a coincidence!

It just so happened that this was a place he wasn't very familiar with.

The timing of his crossing was ridiculously coincidental; it was just a few days before the official release of Scarlet and Violet—it made no sense at all.

Fortunately, he had learned a bit about Annihilape, so he wouldn't be caught completely off guard.

"Better to be safe."

All Baimu took out his Key Stone.

Sending out Bastiodon was to teach Long Ren a lesson, lest he be the one taught a lesson instead.

And in the current tournament rules, there were no regulations prohibiting players from using Z-Moves and Mega Evolution simultaneously.

After all, the Orre tournament rules relied entirely on drawing inspiration from other regional tournaments and large competitions; even the World Championships hadn't called for a "choose one of three" yet, and Orre certainly wouldn't.

Besides, All Baimu was the only one who had both, and since Shan Ren knew, why would he make an unnecessary move?

However.

After this match, there probably would be.

Just because players like Battlers were also strong contenders for the championship, and there were many insiders supporting them.

To reflect the "fairness" of the tournament, it was normal to temporarily add rules.

For example—Gladion's Silvally.

"Goo-roar!"

Bastiodon's body overflowed with colorful light, and in no time, it was clad in an even heavier silver giant armor.

It exhaled wisps of mist, its water-blue eyes shining like stars.

Crack!

Its exaggerated weight caused the ice beneath its feet to shatter, as if it couldn't support the body of Mega Bastiodon.

The Immovable Fortress.

Has returned!

Many spectators immediately became excited.

A Mega Evolved Pokémon! Every one of them was an incredibly powerful existence!

At the same moment.

Annihilape stomped its right foot, shattering the ice, and its entire body flew forward, its right fist clenched and burning with brown-red smoke.

"Close Combat!"

"Zaru!"

It roared loudly, rage surging between its brows, and its fists smashed toward Mega Bastiodon like raindrops!

Bang bang bang bang bang—!!

A series of dull metallic collision sounds rang out, like heavy hammers striking iron blocks!

Annihilape's fist speed was so fast and fierce that it even sparked on the surface of Mega Bastiodon's body!

"A flurry of punches that leaves no room to breathe! What an intense offensive! Annihilape's furious combo—"

The commentator shouted at the top of his lungs.

But soon his voice grew quiet, simply because the figure of the Super Aggron had not retreated a single step from start to finish!

Finally.

As Annihilape threw its final punch with all its might.

A claw suddenly blocked it, emitting a crisp "clang."

"Goo-roar?"

Had it had enough?

Mega Bastiodon looked down at Annihilape, who was trying to pull its fist back but found it couldn't, its expression terrifyingly calm.

It was as if it had just been tapped by a child with a toy hammer.

On the surface of its gleaming giant armor, there wasn't a single dent that Long Ren had hoped for.

At most, there were only some gray-black stains left behind after the explosion of elemental energy.

The commentator shrieked: "Close Combat is almost ineffective! The powerful Filter ability allows Mega Bastiodon to withstand this super-effective blow with absolute advantage!"

Long Ren's scalp began to tingle.

"Bad! Annihilape, use U-turn—"

Before he could finish his sentence.

Mega Bastiodon suddenly grabbed Annihilape's arm, as if it had seen an unsatisfactory toy, and smashed it toward the ice beneath its feet with all its might!

【Brutal Swing】!

Boom!

The already fragile ice shattered instantly.

Annihilape landed face-first, its mind going blank.

Then came a loud boom, and both Pokémon sank together, buried by a large amount of broken ice.

The commentator shouted: "The ice cannot support Bastiodon's attack! Both Pokémon are now like they're swimming in an ice sea!"

Long Ren, seeing this, breathed a sigh of relief.

Destroying the arena was, to a large extent, more favorable to his side, which was lighter and more agile.

He hurriedly shouted: "Jump out, Annihilape!"

Broken ice swirled around its body.

Annihilape struggled to crawl out from the bottom, striking a swimming pose to get to the shore.

All Baimu narrowed his eyes and shouted, "Take it down directly! Don't give it a chance to get off the field!"

The pool water had been frozen by Milotic originally to create a foothold for Mega Bastiodon.

He hadn't expected such a scene to occur.

Is the ice arena like this too?

In the sea of broken ice.

A flash of silver light went from dim to bright.

Before Annihilape could land on the intact ice, it crashed up a massive amount of ice flowers, piercing the bottom of the ice like a sharp ice pick!

Boom!

"Zaru!"

Annihilape flew into the sky along with countless pieces of broken ice.

Long Ren couldn't help but shout: "Annihilape!!"

Unfortunately.

It fell along with the sky full of broken ice, buried deep in the snow and ice once again.

And there was no movement.

"Annihilape is unable to battle!" Porygon Referee gave the result.

The commentator gasped.

"Bastiodon has scored again! What a powerful Pokémon! Even buried in broken ice and in an unfavorable environment, it still easily defeated its opponent!"

The audience began to cheer, waving flags and shouting for Mega Bastiodon.

Its powerful performance was enough to cover up the awkwardness of the latter having no place to stand at the moment.

Besides, for the Steel-type Mega Bastiodon, swimming in an ice sea wasn't a difficult task.

All Baimu looked at the giant monster with half its body exposed from the sea of broken ice and felt relieved.

Surfing wasn't learned in vain.

An ice sea is still a sea!

On the other side.

Long Ren helplessly recalled Annihilape.

During the battle with Dark Lugia, he had taken the opportunity to awaken the latter's self-awareness and then captured it with the help of the Snag Machine.

Although the process was very thrilling, strictly speaking, it couldn't be considered that he had "defeated" Dark Lugia.

Therefore.

When encountering Mega Bastiodon, which gave him the same feeling.

Long Ren only felt that he regretted having too little strength when he needed it; he couldn't just use the Snag Machine to capture Mega Bastiodon, could he?

"Dragonite! I'm counting on you!"

He released his last Pokémon, "Roost!"

"Oh!"

Dragonite landed and quickly recovered the stamina consumed by Milotic to ensure that 【Multiscale】 could be triggered again.

If he didn't do this, Dragonite, which was weak to Rock, would very likely be finished off by Mega Bastiodon.

Just as he thought.

In the ice sea.

Mega Bastiodon slightly opened its steel jaws, and brilliant radiance gathered on its body at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Orange-red radiance lit up, and its Special Attack rose rapidly.

More than half of the sea of broken ice shook wildly.

And Dragonite, staring at the gradually forming energy light bomb, felt that a crisis was about to descend!

"Oh!"

The moment it finished recovering, it flapped its wings without hesitation to leave the ice surface.

As a flexible aerial unit, Dragonite could completely kite Mega Bastiodon from a distance!

"Extreme Speed!"

Long Ren seized the moment when the Power Gem was fired and gave the order quickly.

However.

The Power Gem didn't attack Dragonite; Mega Bastiodon changed direction the moment it fired and bombarded beneath itself.

Rumble rumble rumble—

The golden-red energy beam pierced all the way to the bottom, causing the entire venue to tremble violently!

Following that, an unbelievable scene occurred.

Mega Bastiodon's massive figure actually rushed into the sky under the terrifying thrust!

A scene like a tokusatsu monster movie truly stunned countless people.

"Bastiodon! Bastiodon has taken off!"

The commentator even stood up, looking up at the sky through the glass.

Dragonite was also frightened.

Its wings still had white light remaining; it had intended to dodge the Power Gem, but ended up dodging Mega Bastiodon's main body instead.

The key was that this guy really flew very fast, and with a boom, it rushed to an even higher altitude!

How high did it fly?

Outrageous!

Dragonite had never fought such a peculiar battle, waiting quietly for Mega Bastiodon, which had no flight ability, to fall.

It couldn't possibly fly, could it?

Long Ren was full of confusion, not understanding All Baimu's idea.

But soon.

Everyone knew the reason why Mega Bastiodon flew into the sky, just because it didn't come down alone.

Coming down with it was a terrifying cold current like smoke and clouds!

【Blizzard】!

Long Ren had good eyes; he saw it immediately and shouted: "Extreme Speed—"

Dragonite started quickly.

But even after flying to the edge of the arena, it could still see a patch of ice and snow falling toward it rapidly.

Without a doubt.

The Blizzard released by Mega Bastiodon from high altitude had spread enough to cover the entire arena!

What an exaggerated range!

And leaving the arena to dodge a skill was a serious violation.

Long Ren intended to change tactics.

Unfortunately, it was too late.

Mega Bastiodon fell with the white snow that looked like an avalanche.

Boom!

The entire arena trembled violently.

Dragonite was also buried by the cold current and white snow; fortunately, Multiscale saved it.

"Oh!"

It quickly broke through the ice and snow, intending to flap its wings and fly up.

But due to the loss of stamina and its wings being covered in a layer of frost, it couldn't leave immediately.

In the distance.

The silver giant beast poked out its head.

Azure dragon flames burned fiercely, spraying toward Dragonite!

Roar—!!

A giant dragon's roar came from the void, and a flaming dragon roared across the arena!

"Hold on! Outrage!"

Long Ren took out a strange bead, but couldn't throw it out for a long time.

Just because Dragonite's wings were frozen, Extreme Speed couldn't be used, and it was too late to use special power at this time.

He could only rely on Outrage to give it a try!

Dragonite's eyes flashed with scarlet light, and it swung its sharp claws at the flaming dragon rushing in front of it!

Boom!

Dragon flames exploded!

Astonishing firelight and smoke rose!

The commentator shouted hoarsely: "Dragon Pulse hit! This move is very effective! Can Dragonite stand up!"

The Blizzard descending from the sky truly stunned countless people.

More importantly, Mega Bastiodon using the Power Gem to take off was simply the number one "stunt" scene of the Orre tournament!

Normally, who would use moves like that?

The audience only felt it was novel.

Of course.

The most important reason was that All Baimu's strength was strong enough, so even if some relatively peculiar scenes appeared, everyone would tolerantly choose to continue praising.

Even to the point of applauding.

Who made Trainers the most strength-worshipping group?

They stared into the arena, waiting for the result.

Not long after.

The smoke cleared.

"Oh..."

Dragonite, with its body pitch-black in many places, knelt halfway, its eyes still glowing with blood-red color.

But immediately, it went out like a light bulb that had lost power.

Its sturdy body also fell to the ground.

Long Ren held the bead he hadn't thrown out in his hand, sighing deeply.

"Should have moved earlier..."

The thing in his hand was called a Tera Orb, a prop that could allow Pokémon to gain Terastal power.

But because there were no charging facilities nearby.

He could only use it once in this tournament.

Long Ren therefore cherished it very much.

The reason he didn't use it for Dragonite at the beginning was that he felt Dragonite's Tera Type was Normal, which had a very weak effect on the Steel type.

At most, it could be used to catch the opponent off guard at a critical moment.

But who could have thought that Mega Bastiodon had a super-large-range Blizzard that descended from the sky?

By the time he wanted to use it again, he couldn't.

And not giving it to Annihilape was because its Tera Type was Ghost.

There was no regret medicine to buy.

Long Ren sighed deeply. ===== CHAPTER 978 =====