High in the sky, Lance's Dragonite let out a piercing roar the moment it received his command.
From its round, sturdy body, a massive surge of draconic energy erupted, condensing around it like a second skin, enveloping its entire form.
In the next instant, a colossal, dragon-shaped energy silhouette blotted out the sun as it took shape in the air.
Then, Dragonite, cloaked in that overwhelming energy, dove downward at full speed.
"Lance's Dragonite has unleashed its signature move — [Dragon Rush]!" the commentator cried, voice brimming with excitement. "How will Luo Yuan respond!?"
Gasps and cheers rose from the stands as the scene played out, electrifying the audience.
To them, it didn't matter who won or lost — as long as the battle was spectacular, they were satisfied.
Luo Yuan looked up at the Dragonite plummeting toward him from the sky. His expression showed no hint of panic.
As a trainer who'd long specialized in Dragon-type Pokémon, Luo Yuan was practically a half-dragon master himself.
So the moment Lance had ordered his Dragonite to ascend, Luo Yuan had already guessed what was coming next.
The reason he hadn't stopped it wasn't because he couldn't — it was because he chose not to.
He wanted a head-on battle. A decisive clash to prove, without question, whose Dragonite was truly the strongest!
"Dragonite!" Luo Yuan called to his massive companion.
The towering Dragonite had already been itching to fight.
With no hesitation, it opened its jaws wide — a terrifying force of energy began to gather in its mouth, pulsing with power.
Even across the field, Lance could sense it — his face shifted immediately.
"What an insane energy surge!"
Just from the aura alone, he could tell — this wasn't on the same level as his own champion-tier Dragonite. It was something more.
What is this monster!?
His eyes locked onto Luo Yuan's Dragonite, shock plain in his expression.
If just the charge-up phase was already this intense, Lance didn't even dare imagine what the actual attack would look like.
He wanted to call out to his Dragonite in the sky, to tell it to change course — but it was too late.
Dragonite had already committed to [Dragon Rush], pouring every ounce of strength into its acceleration. Even it couldn't stop now.
Realizing this, Lance's expression turned grim.
At this point, there was only one option left — gamble.
He would bet that his Dragonite's [Dragon Rush] was stronger than Luo Yuan's move.
If he won, the resulting explosion might just take out Luo Yuan's massive Dragonite in one decisive strike.
With that thought, Lance's eyes hardened with determination.
He raised his arm high and shouted, "Give it everything you've got, Dragonite — [DRAGON RUSH]!"
His will surged into Dragonite like a spark to kindling. The draconic energy surrounding its diving body swelled even further, its speed ramping up again.
At the same time, Luo Yuan's Dragonite completed its brief charge-up.
"[Dragon Pulse]!"
The same move Lance's Dragonite had used earlier — but this was something else entirely.
If Lance's [Dragon Pulse] was like a blade tearing through the sky, then Luo Yuan's was a flood — a tidal wave that crushed everything in its path.
A stream of draconic energy, wider than even the massive girth of Dragonite's body, exploded from its mouth and surged diagonally upward.
It met Lance's diving Dragonite head-on.
One [Dragon Rush]. One [Dragon Pulse].
The two devastating Dragon-type moves collided in midair as the crowd held its breath, caught between awe and tension.
A blinding light flared at the point of impact — it was as if a flashbang had gone off right before their eyes. Vision was obliterated. In that moment, nothing else in the world seemed to exist outside the collision before them.
Then — utter silence.
A beat later, the silence shattered.
BOOM—!
The explosion's shockwave erupted outward in a thunderous roar, rippling across the battlefield and surging toward the stands.
The sheer force of it drained the color from every face in the audience.
But Luo Yuan was ready.
He tapped a Poké Ball at his waist — and in the blink of an eye, Deoxys appeared high above the battlefield.
Just like it had done in Galar, Deoxys' eyes glowed a brilliant blue.
A shimmering wall of energy materialized in an instant.
Five interlocking panels of translucent light snapped together, forming a complete barrier that encased the battlefield and sealed the shockwave inside.
The moment the barrier finished forming, the full brunt of the explosion crashed against it.
The screech of compressed force grinding against the barrier made the audience's skin crawl.
Thankfully, Deoxys was strong enough to withstand it.
The barrier held — for now.
Inside, the light wall acted like a pressure cooker. The massive shockwave from the collision between [Dragon Rush] and [Dragon Pulse] had nowhere to escape.
Though a small portion of it had been absorbed, the rest rebounded off the interior of the barrier, amplifying the pressure within.
And that rebounded force was redirected entirely onto the two Dragonite still inside — Luo Yuan's and Lance's.
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T/N: something keeps removing chapters from the collection and its starting to piss me off
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