Chapter 618: Clash Against a Legend

Admittedly, Hearing Nimo, having gained some realization, performed brilliantly in this third match, step by step creating opportunities in her own way, allowing Decidueye to land a quite impressive strike on Ceruledge.

If not for Ceruledge's willpower surpassing imagination, enabling it to counter-attack and deliver a killing blow while Decidueye and Hearing Nimo were off guard despite suffering a heavy hit.

If not for Ceruledge possessing a move like "Spiteful Blade" that enhances its endurance.

If not for Luo Mu lacking that obsession with keeping his Pokémon on the field, instead intending to fully display his strength to give Hearing Nimo a brand new goal to strive toward.

With Hearing Nimo's current strength, she might truly have been able to take out several of Luo Mu's Pokémon.

—But unfortunately, all of these are realities.

After confirming that Decidueye had lost the ability to battle, Luo Mu raised his hand and recalled Ceruledge.

Clearly, he intended to make another switch.

"You've worked hard, Decidueye." At this moment, there was not a trace of discouragement on Hearing Nimo's face; instead, a sincere smile bloomed there.

Was this not something worthy of her rejoicing?

Compared to the past, when the peak was far higher than Glaseado Mountain, a summit so obscured by clouds that no matter how Hearing Nimo looked up, she could never see its top.

Now, she had indeed touched her teacher's back.

Merely realizing this was enough to bring her greater motivation than any victory could provide.

Thus, wearing a smile, Hearing Nimo threw out her fourth Poké Ball alongside Luo Mu.

"Goodra!"

"Dragonite!"

A battle between late-blooming Pokémon, or to put it in more accessible terms, a clash between pseudo-legendary Pokémon!

Previously, Geeta's Dragapult had brought terrible pressure upon Goodra; now, its opponent had changed to Luo Mu's Dragonite.

—What kind of battle would erupt between the two?

Numerous spectators, having watched the morning Champion Assessment and now rushing without pause to witness this evening match, each floated with corresponding conjectures in their minds.

Simultaneously, as Principal Clavell's sharp whistle announced the continuation of the battle, both sides began their actions at the same instant.

"Rain Dance!"

"Dragon Dance!"

"Nuu-gong!"

Goodra cried out toward the sky, and the heavens above Sun Plaza immediately darkened; clumps of gray-white rain clouds rapidly gathered, instantly completely obscuring the setting sun that was already about to dip below the horizon.

Raindrops fell drip by drip, also stirring up exclamations from the audience.

Quite a few among them had not brought umbrellas!

Unlike the noisy crowd retreating three paces, Dragonite, at the same time, danced joyfully within this curtain of rain, its mysterious and intense dance perfectly presented to everyone's gaze through its flight.

—If this were a Contest Spectacular, such movements combined with Dragonite's ecology would undoubtedly receive quite high praise.

Red waves of energy surged over Dragonite's body, signifying that the first stage of Dragon Dance was complete; Dragonite's Attack and Speed had now risen by one stage.

Hearing Nimo knew very well that by having Goodra initiate rain, she had not only given Luo Mu's Dragonite an opportunity to boost but also enhanced its already proficient Flying-type moves, adding wings to a tiger.

—Yet even so, Goodra still activated Rain Dance.

Simply because fighting in the rain was an environment very suitable for Goodra's ecology.

In the rain, the mucus on its body would remain moist; even without the miraculous effect of the Hydration Ability to cure status conditions, it could effectively improve Goodra's own bulk, even enhancing its mood and level of enjoyment.

At the same time, even without this type, being a pure Dragon-type Pokémon, Goodra's proficient Water-type moves could also be fully utilized in the rain.

The moment the boost and weather setup were completed, both sides immediately commenced their first clash.

"Dragon Claw!"

"Surf!"

Goodra raised its dragon head, its twin-tail-like antennae swaying along with it, and its body instantly rose in height!

Beneath it, a massive wave generated out of thin air surged upward; under Goodra's control, it crashed ferociously toward the diving Dragonite!

Facing the giant wave crashing toward it, Dragonite, who feared not even natural typhoons, naturally had no reason to evade.

"Bo-woo!" Its honest and serene dragon eyes instantly turned sharp; Dragonite let out a long cry, its dual claws glowing with fluorescent green light as ferocious energy talons tore through the air, and as Dragonite flapped its wings flying toward the giant wave, it smashed down with a boom!

Bang—!

Amidst the shocked expressions and unified gasps of the spectators, the giant wave before Dragonite seemed to have collided with a wall standing unshaken amidst wind and waves; after a brief stalemate and pause, under the immense power, it was directly smashed open into a huge hole by brute force!

Piercing through the splashing spray, Dragonite maintained its flight speed unchanged, charging directly at Goodra behind the wave crest!

The airflow stirred up by the dive easily tore through water droplets; Goodra merely felt a blur before its eyes, and Dragonite appeared right in front of it!

Seizing the momentum to use physical attack moves like "Dragon Rush" was actually the best strategy against a special defender like Goodra.

But after glancing around the surroundings, Luo Mu directly abandoned this plan.

Although the spectators had been forced back by the rain, they were still very close to the battlefield.

If he chose that option, Dragonite's force would be sufficient to send Goodra flying.

It would not be good if it collided with someone; at this time, it was better to choose a move with greater controllability.

"Dragon Pulse!"

The thought occurred in a flash; at this moment, reflected in Goodra's widened pupils was a ferocious, multi-colored energy dragon surging up within the rain curtain!

"Endure it, Goodra!"

Knowing that with Goodra's speed, it absolutely could not dodge the Dragon Pulse bursting forth at close range, Hearing Nimo immediately issued the command.

Unlike the period of battling Dragapult, where Goodra's most common tactics were completely sealed due to the opponent's Ghost type, forcing it to choose an inefficient trade of damage for damage.

Now, Goodra could finally unleash its most proficient specialties!

Boom!

Amidst the violent explosion, sound waves swept outward; many people subconsciously covered their eyes, and if not for the people behind them supporting them, they would have nearly lost their footing.

From within the thick smoke, Goodra emerged, its body bearing a few additional scars.

How could it be difficult for Goodra, the ace of Champion-level Trainer Hearing Hearing Nimo, to withstand a single "Dragon Pulse" from Dragonite?

Raindrops fell upon Goodra, dispersing the lingering pain from the Dragon Pulse and greatly soothing its emotions.

Besides boosting the power of Water-type moves, the most important effect of "Rain Dance" was its calming influence on Goodra.

Asking a Pokémon to willingly endure an opponent's attacks is a tactic that easily strains the bond between Trainer and Pokémon; most Trainers avoid it if possible. It was only by chance that Hearing Hearing Nimo discovered the positive effects of rain on Goodra, leading her to actively employ such a strategy.

After the "Dragon Pulse" exploded, Dragonite's "Dragon Claw" smashed down toward Goodra once more.

This time, Goodra chose to endure again, and at the precise moment Dragonite was about to pull away, it initiated its move with zero-frame startup; its body filled with intense Bai Guang, releasing a dazzling torrent of pure white energy!

At this distance, even Dragonite had no room to dodge, not to mention that although its flight speed was fast, its physical agility was lacking by more than a notch.

Dragonite was blasted straight into the sky by the energy Goodra had stored up during "Endure" and then released.

Fortunately, thanks to "Multiscale," it directly absorbed this doubled-return attack.

Injury was inevitable; bearing several new wounds, Dragonite, under Luo Mu's command, readjusted its flight posture.

Standing in a puddle, Hearing Hearing Nimo's train of thought remained completely unaffected by the curtain of rain; instead, she stared at the Dragonite about to sweep past Goodra and shouted quickly, "Power Whip, grab hold of its body!"

"Nu-gong!"

Goodra responded swiftly; its antennae, resembling twin tails, extended under a shroud of emerald light, seizing the exact moment to shoot toward Dragonite like lightning as it recovered its flight posture and swept past!

Its goal was to drag Dragonite down, preventing the opponent from leveraging its advantage in flight.

—But just at the instant the antennae were about to entangle Dragonite and violently drag it down for a whipping strike.

Dragonite's figure vanished!

"Nu-gong?"

Goodra, having missed its attack, froze slightly, completely unexpected that the Dragonite it had just blown away at point-blank range could suddenly unleash such tremendous speed.

"Oh no, Goodra, watch out behind you!"

Seeing Dragonite's orange-yellow figure suddenly appear directly behind Goodra, Hearing Hearing Nimo's eyelids twitched, and she immediately shouted a warning.

Goodra's reaction was fairly quick; its thick tail coiled up a rushing stream of water, and under the boost of the rain, its "Aqua Tail" lashed directly at Dragonite!

But once again, it struck empty air!

In contrast, Dragonite now appeared in the blind spot beside Goodra, its pair of massive dragon claws smashing directly down, violently flipping Goodra over!

This scene left many spectators utterly stunned.

"Despite not having used Dragon Dance that many times, why is this Dragonite's speed subtly even a fraction faster than Chairwoman Geeta's Baxcalibur!"

Someone asked in confusion, but no one responded to their question.

Lost in thought, Hassel slowly uttered two words: ". Extreme Speed."

As a Dragon-type expert who had also studied and raised Dragonite himself, Hassel saw through the reason for Dragonite's disappearance at a glance.

However, Dragonite's Extreme Speed was clearly far more special than those straightforward versions.

According to Hassel's understanding, this was likely—

As the person who had personally provided intelligence to Luo Mu, Geeta also saw through the underlying mechanism at a glance.

A technique learned from the heritage families of the ancient, long-historied Kanto region; explained in gaming terms, it turned "Extreme Speed" into a buff similar to a speed-boosting status effect.

Dragonite's deficiency in agility would be completely erased, and at the same time, if it wished, the normal high-priority first strike belonging to Extreme Speed could still be used normally.

It was just that both could not be had simultaneously.

It seemed that when facing a Clumsy and Heavy opponent like Goodra, Luo Mu and Dragonite had chosen the former.

At this moment, after consecutively enduring several fierce assaults from Dragonite, Goodra's stamina had dropped to a rather dangerous level.

But Hearing Hearing Nimo simply could not let Goodra use "Rest" to recover; doing so would be no different than lying down and waiting to die.

Whether Dragonite used "Dragon Dance" to strengthen itself or launched a fierce assault before Goodra woke up, directly causing Goodra to sleep forever, were both foreseeable futures.

—Not to mention that Luo Mu would give Hearing Hearing Nimo the possibility of letting Goodra's "Sleep Talk" decide the match in one blow.

Hearing Hearing Nimo chose to go all in!

Just as Teacher Luo Mu had once taught in class, when dealing with a high-speed opponent, you don't necessarily need to be faster than them; there are many solutions, the simplest being to unleash an "area-of-effect attack" that the opponent cannot evade.

Hearing Hearing Nimo issued her command accordingly.

"Goodra, full-power Draco Meteor!"

Goodra lifted its head; surging Dragon-type energy gathered within its body, finally appearing above its head as a deep purple orb of light.

The next moment.

The light orb shot straight into the clouds; the shockwave upon its explosion dispersed the rain clouds Goodra itself had summoned, while transforming into countless deep purple light arrows that fell like meteors, indiscriminately bombarding everything within range.

To ensure hitting Dragonite, Goodra even included itself within the bombardment range of Draco Meteor.

For a moment, the entire Sun Plaza was filled with the "boom-boom" sounds of light arrows striking the ground.

Just as Hearing Hearing Nimo had anticipated, no matter how fast Dragonite's speed was, facing such dense attacks, the only way to dodge would likely be a space-transferring move like "Teleport."

—So Luo Mu directly had Dragonite stop and issued a new command.

"Whip up a storm!"

"Bo-wuuu!!" Dragonite raised its head and roared; the small wings on its back flapped at a bizarre speed, releasing powerful gales centered on itself that transformed into visible streams of milky-white high-velocity air currents!

Following the gale it had created, Dragonite began flying within an area while continuing to generate more gales.

In merely the time of a Zha Yan De Gong, a gigantic storm piercing heaven and earth thus stretched across the battlefield!

Before this terrifying storm, the light arrows of Draco Meteor were torn into fragments the very instant they made contact.

The power of this Hurricane move was so great it could be described as abnormal.

But this was not the end.

Under the control of Dragonite, which had become the eye of the storm, the gale seemed to possess a will of its own; while destroying the Draco Meteor, it rolled directly toward Goodra's direction.

Even though Hearing Hearing Nimo attempted to stop it with "Dragon Pulse," a storm that not even a Dragon Pulse released at Goodra's peak strength could halt had absolutely no chance of being stopped after it had used Draco Meteor and lowered its Special Attack.

It was not until the storm descended from the sky and swallowed Goodra that Geeta finally fully came to her senses.

This move left not only Hearing Hearing Nimo stunned, but even her utterly astonished.

She dared guarantee that even her own Avalugg would have a probability of being swept up by such a storm, rather than remaining in place, immovable as a mountain.

Such power... it was simply like the power possessed only by Pokémon belonging to those who had already become legends, the handful of "Battle Legends" in the entire world!

Previously, from the performances of Serperior, Mimikyu, and Cangyan Cangyan Rengui, one could not yet see the trend, but if after Dragonite, Swampert and Luxray also performed this way...

Then perhaps, the Paldea League would truly give birth to a living Battle Legend in the future!

(End of Chapter)