Chapter 217: Mega Ampharos VS Arcanine

"Two versus two? No, a one-on-one singles battle will suffice. Regardless of victory or defeat, as long as I personally confirm in this battle that you are not deliberately approaching Citron for some ulterior motive, you will pass."

Limone had intended to propose a two-on-two Pokémon battle, but suddenly remembered his own Blaziken could not appear here; after all, he was merely an ordinary electronics shop owner.

Luo Mu raised no objection: "Uh, alright then."

Although he didn't quite understand by what means Limone could discern a person's character through battle, regardless of the specifics, winning the fight should resolve everything.

"My Pokémon is this one, Ampharos."

Limone pointed behind him; where moments before there had been pitch darkness, a dazzling light suddenly ignited, revealing the form of an Ampharos that exuded an endearing, simple demeanor.

His gaze fell upon Ampharos's tail, which shimmered with blinding radiance; due to the dazzling glare, Luo Mu squinted slightly, thinking to himself that a pair of sunglasses would be nice.

"Yare yare."

The Oranguru beside him suddenly reached out and handed Luo Mu a pair of sunglasses, having already donned a pair itself.

Putting on the sunglasses, Luo Mu was utterly stunned; where had Oranguru pulled those sunglasses from?

How did it know sunglasses would be useful and prepare them in advance?

Was this some form of future sight?

Luo Mu cast a meaningful glance at Oranguru and pondered for a moment; originally, he had planned to send out Oranguru to swiftly conclude the battle, but based on Limone's words about judging a person through combat, Oranguru's fighting style, which relied on crushing opponents with intelligence, was clearly unsuitable for this occasion.

To be straightforward, he would let Arcanine take the field; besides, after its recent evolution, it needed battle experience against opponents of comparable strength.

Limone, being an older-generation Trainer, should possess Pokémon whose strength matched that of an Arcanine which had just completed its evolution.

"In that case, I'll rely on you, Arcanine."

As Luo Mu's voice fell, the light of an opening Poké Ball flared, and Arcanine's tall figure appeared upon the battlefield.

"Oh ho~"

Limone placed his hands on his hips, his voice filled with surprise; it wasn't that he didn't recognize Arcanine, but this physique and appearance were different—it was an Arcanine that retained only partial features of its species, the first he had ever seen.

Limone recalled that the name on the reservation interface was Luo Mu, hailing from the Paldea region near Kalos; could this be an Arcanine unique to the Paldea region?

Limone did not press the matter further; upon seeing such a rare Pokémon, he felt a long-dormant fighting spirit ignite within him. Having served as an electronics shop owner for so long, he had nearly forgotten that he too was once a hot-blooded Trainer.

The battle was officiated by a proper human referee; coupled with Limone's appearance, Luo Mu guessed that Citron had likely not yet developed the robot Clemontic.

The referee glanced at both trainers and announced loudly: "The Gym Challenge for the Electric Gym begins now! One Pokémon each, with the challenger attacking first. The match ends when either the Acting Gym Leader's or the challenger's Pokémon loses the ability to battle."

Both Luo Mu and Limone nodded in silent agreement; the instant the referee lowered his flag, Luo Mu softly commanded: "Flame Charge."

Arcanine let out a domineering roar, its powerful howl even affecting Ampharos and Limone; pity its Ability was not Intimidate, otherwise the effect would have been even more pronounced.

Flames instantly coiled around Arcanine's body, their crimson glow illuminating its gray-black mane until it burned red; with a mere "whoosh," Arcanine shot forward at high speed, leaving only a straight trail of fire in its wake.

"Such incredible speed! But no matter how fast, it cannot outrun lightning! Thunderbolt!"

Limone exclaimed in admiration, issuing his command calmly.

Ampharos raised its arms; blinding Lei Guang erupted with a crackle, and surging electric currents shot forth like arrows at tremendous speed, targeting Arcanine directly.

That speed was subtly faster than Arcanine's while under the effects of Flame Charge.

Arcanine remained completely unfazed; its flame-like pupils locked onto the high-speed incoming current. Without needing Luo Mu's command, Arcanine—having been taught by Luxray and the others—knew that battle situations changed in the blink of an eye, and at critical moments, one must make their own judgments.

The power of a hastily launched Thunderbolt was not high, so—

Simply bite it off!

Fiercely burning flames instantly wrapped around Arcanine's teeth; seizing the perfect moment, Arcanine sidestepped, opened its mouth, and used Fire Fang to directly bite through the Thunderbolt!

"What!?"

Amidst Limone's astonished cry, fire and lightning—two violent energies—collided; a fierce explosion and smoke burst forth instantly. At that very moment, Luo Mu issued his second command: "Flare Blitz."

That voice was perfectly masked by the sound of the explosion; aside from Arcanine and Ampharos, who possessed keen hearing and reacted, Limone did not notice it in the slightest.

Even more intense flames soared skyward; the heat wave stirred up by the fiercely burning flames instantly blew away the smoke. Although Ampharos was already on guard, its scarce battle experience in recent years and dulled battle instincts caused its reaction to lag by a fraction.

In a clash between Pokémon of the same level, a momentary opening like this was enough to tilt the situation toward one side.

Arcanine rushed toward Ampharos at an even greater speed, explosive energy fluctuations permeating its body, making it resemble a flaming meteor.

The air was torn apart wantonly by Arcanine's brute force; Ampharos didn't even have time to set up a defense. Within its constricted pupils, Arcanine's ferocious and majestic figure, along with its wildly swaying flames, descended abruptly.

Boom—!

A roar and detonation even more powerful than the previous clash of moves reverberated outward; Ampharos was slammed directly into the ground beside it by Arcanine, lying on the cracked battlefield, unable to rise for quite some time.

"Ampharos!?"

This series of sudden developments left Limone completely unprepared; he cast a disbelieving gaze toward Luo Mu and the Arcanine, whose gray-black mane was inexplicably tinged with red, his lips trembling.

Something was wrong, something was very wrong.

In his expectations, he was supposed to use Ampharos to conduct a training battle against Luo Mu, a young man with no record of holding a single Mei Hui Zhang, and then stop at an appropriate moment.

Why was that Arcanine completely surpassing Ampharos in every physical attribute?

"Amp!"

Ampharos closed its right eye, struggling painfully to rise; having just taken a solid hit from Arcanine's Flare Blitz, it felt as though its breakfast from yesterday was nearly knocked out of it.

However, this long-forgotten sensation of pain allowed it to regain a slight feeling of battles past.

For a moment, Ampharos felt its blood boiling thoroughly; casting a gaze full of fighting spirit toward Limone, it raised the tail it had kept hidden behind its back, revealing the round stone beneath the red sphere concealed within that tail!

Limone understood that Ampharos had reignited its fighting spirit after a long hiatus; although he, as a Trainer, had chosen to abandon that path due to family responsibilities, only occasionally becoming active at night as the Blaziken Mask, at least today, he wanted to respond to Ampharos's fighting spirit.

Taking out the Key Stone he carried with him, Limone stated in a deep voice: "Mega Evolution!"

Dazzling light enveloped Ampharos; its aura surged abruptly, and its body began to transform under the coverage of the sacred light of evolution.

This series of actions by Limone surprised Luo Mu somewhat; besides Blaziken, he could actually make Ampharos undergo Mega Evolution as well?

This father truly hid his capabilities deep.

He had thought he could easily finish off Ampharos, but who would have expected Limone and Ampharos to suddenly get carried away? It seemed ending the battle would require a bit more effort.

The light of Mega Evolution scattered into fragments that danced through the air; Mega Ampharos raised its dragon head high, and surging energy rippled outward like a storm.

Mega Ampharos's size did not change drastically; flowing white hair grew atop its head, its tail was likewise covered in fur, and even more red spheres had grown upon it.

After so long, it finally welcomed a form one step further; the dragon blood sleeping within the Mega Ampharos fully awakened and boiled over, pressing its noble dragon aura down upon Feng Su Gou.

Feng Su Gou narrowed its eyes slightly, showing not a trace of fear in response.

Limone's voice rang out: "You must be a very powerful Trainer; you've made me and my Ampharos feel a long-overdue surge of fighting spirit. What follows is simply our own willful indulgence; please forgive us."

"I can understand."

Luo Mu met Limone's gaze, which brimmed with surging battle intent, and the corners of his mouth lifted.

This was for the best; the Mega Ampharos would surely exert even greater pressure on Feng Su Gou, allowing it to successfully enter that form.

"Electric Terrain!"

"Rock Slide!"

Even more powerful lightning erupted from the Mega Ampharos's body, surging wildly into the field below; electric currents instantly splashed across the arena, and dense Electric-type energy filled the Mega Ampharos's domain.

On Feng Su Gou's side, its forelimbs slammed heavily onto the ground, causing several rocks to shoot up from the earth; carrying a sound that tore through the air, they hurtled straight toward the Mega Ampharos.

The Mega Ampharos remained motionless, as if it did not deign to regard the Rock Slide at all; under Limone's command of "Discharge," thunder exploded, and from the Mega Ampharos as the center, violent electric currents rushed out in all directions.

The Rock Slide falling from above was no match for even a single strike of Discharge; it was instantly shattered into dust, for the power of the Mega Ampharos's Discharge now far exceeded its previous Thunderbolt by several times.

Facing the rampaging electric currents charging toward it, Feng Su Gou also revealed its own ferocious side; violent flames erupted, once again wreathing its body in fire. Unafraid, Feng Su Gou actually intended to clash head-on with the Mega Ampharos.

Thus, a miraculous spectacle was forged here.

Under the referee's dumbfounded gaze, the entire battle arena became an ocean of lightning; a meteor of fiercely burning flames charged through the violent sea of thunder toward the Mega Ampharos. Even when the Mega Ampharos unleashed a terrifying Dragon Pulse during the opening, it could not halt Feng Su Gou's advance.

If one Flare Blitz was broken, it would simply gather itself and launch a second; repeating thus, no matter how terrifying your lightning might be, it could rely on its strength to break through completely!

Limone watched Feng Su Gou, its body covered in scorched marks from the electric currents, gather another Flare Blitz, and murmured, "How is this possible? Why can Feng Su Gou still fight? The side effects of Flare Blitz are extremely terrifying; how can it ignore those side effects and still endure so many attacks from the Ampharos?"

The Oranguru cast a puzzled glance toward Luo Mu at its side; with his status as a young master, there should be many other ways to defeat the Ampharos without trading blow for blow, so why allow Feng Su Gou to employ such a ferocious fighting style?

It was almost as if he were waiting for something.

Luo Mu's gaze followed Feng Su Gou as it charged through the sea of lightning, watching it breach the Mega Ampharos's dense energy attacks time and again to inflict damage, watching Feng Su Gou's gray-black mane gradually turn crimson.

Soon, just a little more; the soaring temperature would once again recreate that form Feng Su Gou had displayed that day.

However, affairs in the world rarely go as one wishes.

The next second, the lightning ravaging the battle arena seemed as if someone had pressed a pause button; then, like flowers reflected in water or the moon in a mirror, it shattered and fell apart, coming to a complete halt.

And the Mega Ampharos, whose posture had been like a Thunder God descending upon the world, unmatched and arrogant, collapsed at that very moment; even its Mega-Evolved form receded like a tide, and it fell into a fainted state.

The Mega Ampharos's stamina had been utterly exhausted by Feng Su Gou through sheer force.

Feng Su Gou, which had been charging continuously, came to a stop, panting heavily, its eyes filled with disappointment.

It had been so close, just a little more.

I don't know how everyone feels about the battle; I'm releasing this early, and there will be another update tonight.

(End of Chapter)