Scizor, huh.
Lucas couldn't help but smile.
It reminded him of the Sun & Moon anime, where Ash faced Guzma in the semifinals of the League tournament.
If he remembered correctly, it was this poor Scizor that, after activating Golisopod's "Emergency Exit" ability, took to the field looking completely confused, only to get instantly KOed by Torracat's fully-charged quadruple-effective Inferno Overdrive.
The moment Guzma sent out his Scizor, Lucas realized that he intended to engage Luxray in a speed battle.
In the games, Scizor's speed isn't important—in fact, it's usually considered a weak point stat-wise.
But at least from the Scizors Lucas had seen, each one was always shockingly fast in action.
Especially those with the otherwise almost useless "Light Metal" ability from the games. Those Scizors moved far more quickly than the norm, even making up for their natural lack of agility.
Their twin scythe-arms could dance so fast, they'd leave afterimages, with explosive strikes coming one after another.
Guzma's Scizor once even used shameless tactics to take down Ilima's Mega Kangaskhan.
Luxray definitely wouldn't struggle with Scizor, but even so, Lucas returned him and sent out his second Pokémon.
"Dragonite, let's have a speed contest with him."
A beam of red light flashed, and Dragonite—the same one that used Hurricane to sweep away those Team Skull grunts earlier—appeared on the field.
"A Dragonite, huh—"
Guzma recognized the Pokémon, and remembered that this was the one who'd bullied his underlings.
In Guzma's mind, Lucas subbing in Dragonite for Luxray only confirmed his guess: Luxray must have expended all its electricity in the last fight and couldn't continue.
Lucas, trying to save face, had swapped him out.
"Bullet Punch!"
Regaining his confidence, Guzma flashed his signature arrogant grin and issued the order.
Clad in crimson armor, with two pairs of translucent wings buzzing at high speed, Scizor's eyes narrowed. In a blink, it lunged right in front of Dragonite.
Its sinister pincers gleamed with dazzling silver light, throwing punch after punch enveloped in a mighty gale at Dragonite.
Bang!
Scizor's barrage landed like torrential rain on Dragonite's abdomen; any ordinary Pokémon would have staggered back, clutching its stomach in agony.
But Dragonite's expression didn't even twitch. With a relaxed motion, he slightly raised his right claw and swatted at Scizor.
Though Dragonite hadn't gone all out, Scizor dodged back with a flash, easily avoiding it.
This confirmed Lucas's hunch: Guzma's Scizor had the "Light Metal" ability after all, making it speed-specialized.
If it were up to Lucas, he'd probably prefer the "Technician" ability.
Meanwhile, Guzma confirmed that Scizor was completely outpacing Dragonite in speed and agility—he became bolder.
His only worry now was if Lucas told Dragonite to take flight and attack from range; Scizor, unable to fly well due to its body weight, would be in serious trouble.
But as long as Dragonite lost flight ability first, that wouldn't matter.
"Aim for its wings!"
Guzma went straight for the dirty tactic.
"That's too underhanded!" Kiawe and the others voiced their indignation.
But Guzma, as if he could hear their words, retorted, "If it leads to victory and doesn't break the rules, any tactic is part of the path to winning. Rather than Kukui's way, this is a lesson from yours truly to you brats—remember it!"
By this time, Scizor had stealthily zipped behind Dragonite.
The dragon's not-so-large-but-powerful wings, enough to let Dragonite soar, were completely exposed.
"Now! X-Scissor!"
Seizing the moment, Guzma gave the order without hesitation.
Less than thirty seconds had passed since the match began. Scizor, unleashing move after move in a frenzied barrage, felt its armor heating up, forcing its wings to flutter even faster to cool down.
But this next strike would turn the tide!
Scizor, fully focused, crossed its arms; emerald cross-shaped energy blades formed, flying straight toward Dragonite's back.
And finally, Lucas issued his first command.
"Extreme Speed!"
Whoosh!
Scizor felt a roaring gale sweep up before its eyes, the whipping dust almost blinding.
Even squinting, its carefully trained move flew forward as planned.
Yet just as X-Scissor was about to land on Dragonite's back, it swiped through thin air—slashing only at an afterimage!
Scizor's pupils shrank; before it could react, an immense force slammed into its back, sending the scenery whizzing past in a blur.
What's going on!?
Scizor couldn't understand—only a deep ache in its back told it that even its steel-hard armor had probably caved in.
Using the last bit of flight ability still left in its wings, it managed to steady itself, scanning warily for its opponent.
But it hadn't seen Dragonite's movement at all!
Even Guzma hadn't been able to catch it.
Still, he tried to command Scizor to recover.
"Tch, Extreme Speed, huh? Then use Quick Guard!"
The Fighting-type move Quick Guard is meant to block priority attacks—perfect for this situation.
But—
Just as a gleaming white arc flashed by, a dull thud sounded—Scizor was flung high into the air!
Its Quick Guard stance did absolutely nothing to help.
"Impossible!"
The sight completely upended Guzma's worldview. Dragonite—how could a Pokémon like that move at such speed?
Compared to Guzma, referee Kukui only grew more thoughtful.
Dragonite's Extreme Speed reminded him of the defeat he suffered in his own Kanto League challenge years ago—at the hands of League Elite Four member Lance's Dragonite and that very move.
Back then, that breathtaking burst of speed had utterly shattered his expectations and changed how he saw combat.
Even now, he was still researching how to teach his Lucario such an Extreme Speed.
He never expected Lucas's Dragonite to have mastered that same special technique. What a surprise.
From that instant, the tables turned; Scizor's earlier aggression was nothing compared to the overwhelming speed gap now.
The only difference was that Scizor's attacks no longer broke through, while Dragonite's easily overwhelmed Scizor.
Even before Scizor landed, Dragonite appeared above, calmly flapping its wings as the currents around it surged.
In the next moment, a whirlwind filled with embers engulfed Scizor, forming a devastating vortex of fire.
Against such power—and with the quadruple weakness to heat—Scizor never stood a chance.
…
Scizor hit the ground, looking more than half-cooked.
"So awesome!"
Lana clapped her hands over her mouth in amazement.
The battle had been a complete rout; not even two minutes had passed!
Guzma was about to grind his perfect teeth to dust.
No matter how arrogant, even he now realized the massive gap between himself and Lucas.
No wonder Kukui gave me that look!
Guzma began to wonder—should he struggle to the bitter end, or just cut his losses and bail now?
His crew and Plumeria weren't even here. After years of tough living, Guzma had long ago stopped caring about saving face.
Better to slip away quietly than suffer a humiliating 3-0.
Lucas sensed his intention to surrender and thought: Can't let him run yet. It's barely been two minutes, I've got to stall for more time!
He'd already gone relatively easy—deliberately holding back his strength—but no matter what, Guzma's Scizor and Vikavolt couldn't take hits, and the people supposedly rushing to Melemele Island within "three minutes" still hadn't shown up.
No way could he let Guzma escape.
After a moment's thought, Lucas had an idea. He called out to stop Guzma just as he started leaving.
"I heard you think Z-Moves are useless, pointless—even call trainers who use them losers?"
"Wanna put that to the test? If your ace can withstand a Z-Move from my next Pokémon, I'll count that as your win."
To show he was serious, Lucas recalled Dragonite, which clearly hadn't fought enough, and sent out Swampert.
At the same time, he pulled the Z-Ring—gifted by Ula'ula Island Kahuna Nanu—from his satchel and flashed the Ground Z-Crystal for Guzma to see.
As predicted, Guzma took the bait, yelling furiously.
"Stop looking down on me!"
Deciding not to run, Guzma's feet planted firmly. He scowled and threw out his Poké Ball.
"Golisopod!"
A huge bug clad in a shell as hard as diamond, with retractable, sharp scythe-like arms, appeared in a flash of red light. It looked exceptionally cool and imposing.
When Kiawe recognized it, he frowned. It was this very Golisopod that took Turtonator's "Inferno Overdrive" head-on without a scratch—then counterattacked and took Turtonator down!
After Golisopod entered, Guzma shot Kukui a fierce glare.
He realized immediately that it must've been Kukui who told Lucas all that; That guy's just as devious as ever!
But Kukui, who'd just gotten the evil eye, was busy pondering—pretty sure he never actually gave Lucas any tips about Guzma.
Then how did Lucas know so much?
Lucas didn't care about Kukui's internal drama—he checked the time, then addressed Guzma:
"Ready? Need any setup time?"
Guzma almost refused, then smirked instead.
"Even I think you're too cocky now."
"Golisopod, use Iron Defense—again and again!"
No one knew Golisopod's physical defense better than Guzma.
There was no way that Swampert—clearly a physical attacker—could one-shot Golisopod, especially when it resisted Ground moves and had survived so many Z-Moves before.
This time… he had a shot!
As Guzma's side spammed buffs, Lucas made a point not to Mega Evolve Swampert.
That'd be like Leon using G-Max Wildfire on a Farfetch'd—not a fair fight at all.
Once Guzma was ready, he called out,
"Come at me!"
Lucas didn't reply, instead lightly tapping the Ground Z-Crystal on his Z-Ring and softly intoning,
"Tectonic Rage."
The Z-Crystal erupted with golden light, all of it pouring into Swampert's body, sending out waves of incredible power.
"He didn't even use the full dance posture but still triggered the Z-Move?"
"Didn't do that silly dance?"
Kiawe gawked, while Guzma—though scornful—couldn't help but notice.
Lucas just smiled. He certainly didn't have time to explain how he'd asked Calyrex for help and, with Victini's assistance, figured out how to skip the dance and directly trigger a Z-Move.
Now, most of his strength and energy were being poured into Swampert via that beam of light. Swampert could feel the limitless energy flooding his body.
"Suwaaamp!"
Swampert let out a mighty roar, bulging his arms as his muscles reached maximum tension, veins standing out like roots.
And then—
BOOM!
Swampert's iron fists, glowing with Ground energy, smashed into the earth. The entire Pokémon School shook, and the ground split open in a massive fissure leading straight toward Golisopod.
With no way to fly, Golisopod had no hope of resisting—it tumbled helplessly into the pitch-black chasm.
At some point, Swampert also disappeared from view, tunneling underground in a streak of orange-red light and slamming into Golisopod with full force!
Witnessing such an over-the-top Z-Move for the first time, Guzma was practically screaming,
"Golisopod, use Protect—block it, now!"
He even forgot to use his usual "yours truly" self-reference.
But the faint green barrier shattered instantly under the onslaught.
Waves of Ground energy erupted from beneath, rocketing skyward as the Pokémon School trembled!
That shock even disturbed something ancient on Melemele Island.
A flash of yellow lightning zipped from afar, landing in the canopy of a large tree and hiding in the branches, watching intently.
Soon after, the shaking abated. Golisopod, unconscious, lay in full view.
It hadn't even gotten a chance to trigger "Emergency Exit".
Kukui pulled down his hat brim, as if reluctant, but still announced,
"Golisopod can no longer battle. Guzma's three Pokémon are all down—Lucas wins!"
Clap! Clap! Clap!
As soon as Kukui's words fell, a thunderous wave of applause erupted from the surrounding students.
But to Guzma's dazed ears, it only sounded harsh.
He'd lost—with no chance to fight back.
Today's defeat would no doubt haunt him for a long time.
The so-called "strongest" was just a self-proclaimed title after all.
"Next time… I'll win—next time for sure—"
Guzma muttered as he returned Golisopod, staggering away from the Pokémon School.
Kukui opened his mouth to speak, but had nothing to say.
But at that moment, a loud siren wailed from the distance, drawing closer in seconds.
In disbelief, Guzma watched as Officer Jenny stepped out of the police car, flashed her badge, and announced,
"Trainer Guzma! You are under arrest for provoking trouble and endangering public safety!"
…