Chapter 554: The God-Speed Dragonite and Guzma Behind Bars

Scizor, huh.

Luo Mu suddenly felt like laughing.

He recalled the scene in the Sun and Moon anime when Ash faced Guzma in the semi-finals of the League Conference.

It seemed that this unlucky Scizor made its bewildered entrance just as Golisopod triggered its Ability "Emergency Exit," only to be immediately knocked out by a fully charged, four-times super-effective Fire Blast from Litten.

The moment Guzma sent out Scizor, Luo Mu realized he intended to engage in a speed battle with Luxray.

In the games, Scizor's Speed stat isn't important; that merely indicates Scizor's lack of agility.

At least based on the few Scizor Luo Mu had seen, every single one moved with great speed.

Especially those Scizor holding the Ability "Light Metal," which is nearly useless in the games; their swiftness far exceeded that of ordinary Pokémon, even mitigating their usual lack of agility.

Their pair of scythe-like fists could easily dance into afterimages, unleashing consecutive strikes of tremendous power.

Guzma's Scizor also had a record of defeating Ilima's Mega Kangaskhan using shameless tactics.

Naturally, Luxray wouldn't need much effort to deal with Scizor, but Luo Mu still raised his hand to recall Luxray and switched to his second Pokémon.

"Dragonite, compete with him in speed."

A flash of red light passed, and Dragonite, who had previously blown away a Skull Grunt with a single Whirlwind, appeared.

"Dragonite, is it—"

Guzma naturally recognized this Pokémon and knew it was the one that had bullied his underlings.

In Guzma's view, Luo Mu's act of swapping Luxray for Dragonite only confirmed his suspicion.

Luxray must have released all its electricity in one go and was now unable to continue.

Luo Mu was merely forcing himself to save face, which was why he recalled it.

"Bullet Punch!"

Gradually regaining his confidence, Guzma once again displayed his familiar arrogant smile, clenching his fist as he issued the command forward.

Clad in crimson armor, with two pairs of translucent wings on its back vibrating at high speed, Scizor narrowed its eyes, flashed forward, and ambushed Dragonite.

Those terrifyingly huge pincers shone with dazzling silver light, as bewildering punches wrapped in powerful wind pressure assaulted Dragonite fiercely!

Boom! Scizor's swinging scythe-fists rained down upon Dragonite's abdomen; any ordinary Pokémon would surely have staggered back repeatedly, clutching its stomach in agony.

But Dragonite's expression didn't change in the slightest; it merely lifted its right claw slightly and smashed it toward Scizor.

It was a Dragon Claw executed without any seriousness; Scizor simply flashed backward and successfully dodged.

This confirmed to Luo Mu that Guzma's Scizor indeed possessed the "Light Metal" Ability, specializing in speed.

If it were Luo Mu himself, he would probably prefer the "Technician" Ability.

At the same time, Guzma also confirmed that Scizor completely overwhelmed Dragonite in both speed and agility, making his tactics even bolder.

Now, the only thing he worried about was Luo Mu choosing to have Dragonite take flight and execute ranged attacks, which would be particularly troublesome for Scizor, unable to fly due to its body weight.

But as long as he used a rapid assault to deprive Dragonite of its ability to fly before that happened, it would be fine.

"Aim for its wings!"

Guzma directly chose to use a dirty trick.

"That's too underhanded!" Kiawe and the others exclaimed with indignation.

But Guzma, as if he had heard their words, retorted, "As long as you win and don't break the rules, any method is a path to victory."

"Compared to that guy Kukui, this is a lesson I, the great me, am teaching you bunch of brats; remember it well!"

Meanwhile, Scizor had already flashed behind Dragonite as if by magic.

That pair of dragon wings, not large yet capable of lifting Dragonite into the air, were exposed defenselessly before Scizor's eyes.

"Now, X-Scissor!"

Sensing the opportunity, Guzma issued the command without hesitation.

Not even thirty seconds had passed, yet Scizor, having unleashed a series of moves like a tempest, already felt its armor heating up slightly, requiring the high-frequency vibration of the wings on its back to dissipate heat.

But this single strike would decide the victory! With full concentration, Scizor crossed its arms, forming an emerald-green cross-shaped blade of light that flew toward Dragonite's back, which was right before it.

And Luo Mu finally issued his first command.

"Extreme Speed."

Whoosh! Scizor only felt a wild surge of wind before it, with swirling dust nearly blinding its eyes.

Even while squinting, the move Scizor had honed thousands of times still flew out smoothly.

But just at the instant it was about to touch Dragonite's back, the X-Scissor swept past Dragonite in mid-air without pausing, flying toward an empty spot.

And that so-called silhouette of Dragonite was merely an afterimage left behind by speed pushed to the extreme!

Scizor's pupils contracted; before it could react, it was struck by a tremendous force from behind, and the surrounding scenery rapidly receded.

What situation is this now!?

Completely unable to comprehend the current state of affairs, Scizor only felt a dull pain on its back; even its armor, whose hardness rivaled tempered steel, seemed to have dented.

Relying on its wings, which still retained some flight function allowing at least small-scale gliding, to stabilize its posture, Scizor looked left and right with a Solemn Facial Expression.

It hadn't seen Dragonite's movements at all! Since even Scizor couldn't see them, it was even more impossible for Guzma.

But he could still use commands to give Scizor a chance to buffer.

"Tsk, Extreme Speed, huh? Then use Quick Guard!"

The Fighting-type status move Quick Guard can prevent priority attacks from hitting, making it just the right counter to Extreme Speed.

But—

Only a white rainbow flashed past; after a dull thud, Scizor was sent flying high into the air! And the "Quick Guard" stance it had assumed didn't serve the slightest purpose.

"How is this possible!?"

This scene, which overturned his worldview, caused Guzma's expression to change drastically; how could a Pokémon like Dragonite possibly possess such speed!

Compared to Guzma, Kukui, acting as the referee, had a thoughtful look floating in Emperor Yan Di.

Dragonite and Extreme Speed—these were truly memories he preferred not to recall.

During his own Kanto League challenge, he had lost precisely to this extraordinary "Extreme Speed" employed by Champion Lance's Dragonite.

That agility and speed, which defied all logic, along with the way it broke conventional move usage, had opened his eyes wide.

Even now, he was still researching how to make his Lucario execute such an "Extreme Speed."

He simply hadn't expected Luo Mu's Dragonite to also possess this special technique for using Extreme Speed; it was truly surprising.

Unlike the wanton bombardment from Scizor at the start, the moment Dragonite unleashed Extreme Speed, the speed disparity between the two sides completely reversed.

The only difference was that Scizor's attacks had barely scratched the defense, whereas Dragonite's attacks were something Scizor simply could not withstand.

Before the blown-away Scizor could even hit the ground, Dragonite appeared above its head, calmly flapping its dragon wings as surrounding air currents surged.

In the next instant, a windstorm mixed with countless sparks completely engulfed Scizor, forming a shocking flame tornado.

Given the gap in strength and the four-times super-effective Heat Wave, Scizor's fate went without saying; the Scizor that crashed to the ground looked about sixty or seventy percent cooked.

"So amazing!"

Lana covered her mouth with both hands, her face full of astonishment.

The battle was trending almost entirely one-sided, and it had been less than two minutes! Guzma was now practically grinding his good teeth to dust.

Even with his arrogance, he now realized the gap in strength between himself and Luo Mu.

No wonder that guy Kukui looked at me with such eyes! Guzma was already wrestling with whether to make a desperate last stand or flee immediately.

Anyway, neither his brothers nor Plumeria were here; after scrambling and struggling for so many years, he long ago stopped caring about face.

Rather than being brutally crushed three-to-zero like this, it was better to slip away early.

Luo Mu sensed that Guzma seemed to have intentions of retreating and thought, "This won't do; it's only been nearly two minutes, I must drag out the time a bit longer."

He had already tried his best to hold back slightly while maintaining pressure, but alas, neither Scizor nor Vikavolt could take a hit; the person who was supposedly able to reach anywhere on Melemele Island "within three minutes" still hadn't arrived.

He couldn't let Guzma escape just like that.

After a brief moment of thought, a plan struck Luo Mu, and he suddenly called out to stop Guzma, who was already preparing to slip away.

"I heard you think Z-Moves are utterly useless and meaningless, and that trainers who use Z-Moves are trash?"

"Want to compete? If your 'ace' can withstand the Z-Move of my next Pokémon, we can count this battle as your victory."

As if to increase the credibility of his words, Luo Mu recalled his Dragonite, which hadn't quite fought to its satisfaction, and sent out Swampert.

At the same time, he took the Ground-type Z-Crystal given to him by Hala, the Kahuna of Ula'ula Island, from the bag at his waist and shook it in front of Guzma.

As expected, Guzma was successfully provoked, letting out a shout mixed with anger.

"Don't look down on people!"

His feet, originally ready to flee, stuck firmly to the ground again, and Guzma, with a gloomy expression, threw the Poké Ball in his hand.

"Golisopod!"

A huge, upright Wimpod clad in a hard shell comparable to diamond strength, with sharp giant claws capable of extending and retracting freely mounted on its plate-armor-like arms, appeared amidst red light, looking quite handsome.

Kiawe, watching the battle, changed color slightly; it was this very Golisopod that had taken Turtonator's "Inferno Overdrive" without a scratch, then countered with one move to crush Turtonator!

After sending out Golisopod, Guzma glared fiercely at Kukui, who was acting as the referee.

It took him only a moment to realize that Kukui must have revealed these things to Luo Mu; that guy was as sinister as ever! Meanwhile, Kukui, who was innocently being glared at by Guzma, was also troubled, wondering if he had, perhaps, possibly, maybe not actually mentioned Guzma to Luo Mu at all.

Then where did he learn these things? Luo Mu paid no attention to Kukui's dilemma; calculating the time in his heart, he looked at Guzma and asked, "Are you ready? Do you need me to give you time to boost your stats?"

Guzma intended to refuse, but upon second thought, the corner of his mouth twisted.

"Even I, the Great One, think you are being too arrogant."

"Golisopod, use Iron Defense repeatedly!"

No one knew Golisopod's physical defensive capabilities better than Guzma.

No matter what, that Pokémon, which clearly specialized in close combat, could not possibly one-shot a Golisopod that resisted Ground-type moves and had normally endured who-knows-how-many Z-Moves.

This time, there was a chance!

While Guzma was frantically boosting his defenses on his side, Luo Mu made the decision not to have Swampert Mega Evolve.

After all, doing so would be no different from Champion Dan Di having his Gigantamax Charizard use "G-Max Wildfire" against a Farfetch'd.

Before long, the prepared Guzma said in a deep voice, "Come on!"

Luo Mu did not respond, merely lightly touching the Ground-type Z-Crystal embedded in the Z-Ring on his wrist and whispering, "Tectonic Rage."

Infinite light surged from the Z-Crystal, and brilliant Jin Guang flowed entirely into Swampert's body, sending out powerful shockwaves.

"He successfully released a Z-Move without striking the full-power pose?"

Kiawe, watching the battle, wore a face of utter disbelief.

"He didn't perform that old-fashioned dance?"

Although disdainful, Guzma, who possessed ample relevant knowledge, frowned tightly.

Luo Mu smiled without speaking; naturally, he wouldn't idle away time explaining to others that this was a method he had researched to skip the full-power pose and release Z-Moves directly, accomplished by asking Lei Guan Wang for help and then borrowing Victini's power.

Now, more than half of his stamina and energy had been carried away by that light, while the empowered Swampert felt as though endless power was surging within its body.

"Laguu—!"

Swampert roared toward the sky, raising its arms high until its muscles stretched to the maximum, with green veins spreading like tree roots across them.

In the next instant.

Boom! Light carrying Ground-type energy smashed into the ground along with those iron fists, causing the entire Pokémon School to tremble as huge cracks exploded across the earth, spreading directly toward Golisopod.

Unable to fly, Golisopod fell into that boundless abyss without any power to resist.

Meanwhile, Swampert's figure had vanished who-knew-when, diving underground and carrying orange-red light to crash violently into Golisopod! Guzma, seeing such an outrageous Z-Move for the first time, shouted until his eyes nearly burst from their sockets, "Golisopod, use Protect to hold it!"

He had even forgotten to use his usual self-reference, "the Great One."

Yet, to that force, the pale green barrier was like flowers in a mirror or the moon in water, shattering upon the slightest touch.

A surging torrent of energy erupted from underground, with the violently trembling Pokémon School as its backdrop, nearly shooting straight into the clouds!

This aura even startled that ancient existence on Melemele Island.

Yellow lightning bolted over from the distance, landing within the canopy of a large tree to conceal its form, staring unblinkingly at the scene.

Before long, the earth's piercing tremors ceased, and the Golisopod, stripped of its ability to battle, lay exposed before everyone.

It did not even have a chance to trigger the "Emergency Exit" ability.

Kukui pressed down the brim of his hat, seeming somewhat reluctant, yet ultimately announced, "Golisopod has lost its ability to battle; thus, all three of Guzma's Pokémon have lost their ability to battle, making Luo Mu the victor!"

Clap, clap, clap, clap!

The moment Kukui's voice fell, overwhelming applause erupted from the surrounding students.

But to the stunned Guzma, it sounded unbearably harsh.

He had lost, lost utterly, without even a shred of power to resist.

Surely, today's crushing defeat would be something he remembered for a long time.

The so-called "strongest" was merely a title he had bestowed upon himself.

"Next time... next time I will definitely win it back—"

Muttering these words, Guzma recalled his Golisopod and stumbled away from the Pokémon School.

Kukui opened his mouth, yet did not know what to say.

But just then, a piercing siren wailed from the distance, arriving at the Pokémon School within mere breaths.

Amidst Guzma's expression of disbelief, Miss Miss Junsha stepped down from the police car, her demeanor imposing; she presented her credentials and declared to Guzma, "Trainer Guzma, I am now arresting you for 'provoking trouble' and 'endangering public safety'!"

(End of Chapter)