"Hurry up, I want to see a river of blood!"
Outside the venue, Gold, who was squatting in front of the big screen, pounded his chest fiercely, seemingly ignited by the passion of the battle.
On the screen, Roxanne's Probopass plummeted to the ground upon entering, its near half-ton weight immediately kicking up a cloud of sand and rocks. As for Teacher Azure's Salamence, it flapped its blood-red wings immediately after appearing, soaring into the sky.
"Roaar—!"
Even from a great distance, a sharp, fierce roar was clearly recorded.
"He actually sent out Salamence?"
Unlike Gold, the spectator who just wanted to see a spectacle, Silver, standing next to him, looked grave, intently pondering the deeper meaning behind Aiden's choice.
Based on currently known intel, Master Aiden had seven commonly used Pokémon, and this Salamence should be the youngest. At most, it might only be a little over a year old? Therefore, its overall combat power should be the weakest on the team; sending it out was clearly him going easy on her.
But—
Silver watched the giant dragon in the footage maintaining high-speed movement, frequently flying off-screen, feeling that something was off.
What was it waiting for?
It wasn't until Salamence, flying at a safe distance, suddenly came to an abrupt halt and began to shine with the light of evolution on the spot the next second that he suddenly realized.
So that's it!
Just as the rumors said, Master's Salamence indeed possessed the power to Mega Evolve on its own.
According to Professor Sycamore's early research, the bridge for Mega Evolution should be the deep bond between humans and Pokémon, nurturing a stronger form that broke through limits via this bond.
But later, more and more evidence suggested—this speculation was not rigorous, and Professor Sycamore's reputation, having written the related thesis, gradually declined.
If he had just seen Master Aiden's Salamence before writing his thesis, he never would have come to such a conclusion!
The white light flashed and quickly dissipated, revealing a Mega Salamence with a much sturdier build and an astonishingly imposing presence, shining in the sky above.
"Salamence, Earthquake!"
Perhaps because of Roxanne's earlier words, Aiden didn't choose to show mercy; his very first move was one of Salamence's killing blows.
Mega Salamence let out a roar, instantly erupting with terrifying speed as it slammed toward the ground with all its might. When this energy made contact with the earth, the incredibly powerful Earthquake move would sweep across the entire field, dealing absolutely fatal damage.
"Probopass, Magnet Rise!"
Roxanne immediately reacted, making a calm counter-measure.
Probopass was a Rock/Steel-type Pokémon, so it naturally feared Ground and Fighting-type moves. Of course, there was a solution when facing Ground-type moves, which was to use the magnetic field to make it float, thereby dodging the fatal Earthquake offense.
"Rumble..."
As Probopass began to control the surrounding magnetic field, attempting to use Magnet Rise, a faint sound soon came from inside its body.
But just as its heavy body was about to leave the ground—
"Salamence, suppress it with all your might!"
"Kaa!"
Aiden immediately added a command.
Mega Salamence, which was already crashing toward the center of the field, just lightly flapped its wings and easily positioned itself above Probopass.
Boom—!
Its full-power collision was like a meteor falling, instantly smashing Probopass, which had no time to dodge, back into the ground.
At the same time, the earth immediately responded. A rumble a thousand times stronger than when Probopass had entered echoed loudly. The earth began to boil, and the terrifyingly powerful ley line energy surged rapidly from underground, quickly blasting the field full of holes.
Crackle!
After a dazzling burst of sparks, Probopass, caught in the magnetic force, flew backward uncontrollably, its body heavily crashing into the protective Dynamax barrier around the arena.
Upon falling, Probopass, which had been on the field for less than a minute, rolled its eyes back, revealing swirly eyes and fainting dead away.
Roxanne furrowed her brows, a sense of powerlessness welling up in her heart.
It's over!
She had spoken too big too soon—
She knew there might be a considerable gap between herself and true experts, but she never thought the gap would be this huge!
Probopass was clearly a Pokémon known for its defense; even her cousin Steven's Metagross had to fight her for several rounds before gradually exhausting its stamina.
So why did Teacher Azure take out her ace with a single Earthquake!
There was only one answer—
At this moment, how could Roxanne not realize it?
When her cousin used to let her pester him for battles, he probably went easy on her a lot, which gave her the illusion of "Am I actually a genius?"
And the truth that her cousin didn't directly expose back then to save her face had now turned into a boomerang, giving her the most profound lesson on this most cruel and fierce Masters Tournament stage—
"Probopass's Speed is too slow; if the opponent reacts, you won't necessarily get a chance to use Magnet Rise."
Aiden's voice suddenly came from the front, bringing Roxanne, who was looking troubled, back to her senses.
"If you want to avoid weaknesses, using Terastallization might be a better choice. After all, even if you Dynamax, a 4x weakness is still too fatal."
"After the battle is over, I'll give you a Paldean Tera Orb."
Aiden casually offered some guidance, ending with a kind gesture.
Back when he was a rookie, he had also received a gift from Steven; that Lucario Mega Stone still played an important role to this day.
And now, it was his turn to pass on this goodwill.
"I understand—"
Roxanne nodded obediently. Perhaps because the situation was too one-sided, or maybe just because she felt a bit embarrassed at being coached, her cheeks visibly turned red.
However, she soon patted her cheeks, forcing herself to calm down.
"Teacher Azure, please continue to instruct me."
"My next Pokémon is Steelix!"
After quickly recalling the fallen Probopass into its Poké Ball, Roxanne threw out an Ultra Ball.
A snake-like Pokémon covered in silver-white steel, as massive as a mountain when raised, appeared before Aiden.
"Steelix, huh—indeed very fitting for a rock enthusiast."
Aiden nodded.
Rock-type Pokémon actually had a very troublesome issue: they were too hard to use for defensive synergy.
Even Steel-types, with maxed-out defense, would have major problems when paired with the Rock typing.
While quite a few type combinations had obvious weaknesses, Rock-type Pokémon were generally not fast. This made them easily exploitable.
But Steelix was different. It directly optimized away the Rock typing; the Steel/Ground combination not only had outstanding defense but also had quite the offensive presence.
Perhaps this was why Onix was particularly favored by Hikers and Youngsters—
Moreover, Steelix had a Mega Evolution, very suitable for Hoenn natives.
Given the Stone family's almost fanatical obsession with rocks, Roxanne definitely already had her own Key Stone and Mega Stone.
Relying on this Steelix, even if she encountered an opponent at the level of an Elite Four's main force, she could still put up a fight.
But unfortunately—
The opponent Roxanne encountered this time was a bit too strong.
"Steelix, unleash your true power!"
"Mega Evolve!"
Roxanne forced her spirits up and roared with all her might. Soon, she and Steelix were enveloped in two bursts of evolution light.
Aiden just waited quietly, not giving any commands during this time.
Salamence also stayed on the ground, waiting excitedly for its next opponent to make a shining entrance.
It wasn't until the evolution light dissipated and Mega Steelix, with its steel armor becoming even harder, reappeared that both sides simultaneously gave commands.
"Steelix, Ice Fang!"
"Salamence, fly up and dodge, then use Flamethrower!"
"Kaa—!"
With Steelix's mountain-like body, flexible movement was naturally impossible.
The advantage of large Pokémon in battle wasn't speed, but the thick skin and massive attack range brought by their tonnage.
However, when facing a Salamence that could fly, its moves naturally weren't so easy to land.
Steelix sprinted forward with all its might, a faint cold air leaking from the gaps between its steel fangs as it opened its bloody maw to bite at Salamence.
But just as it moved, Salamence had already flapped its wings, flying into the sky in a flash, escaping its attack range in the blink of an eye.
It was true that Salamence possessed the "strong person's certification" of a 4x weakness to Ice, but—
The prerequisite was that you had to hit it first.
This was also one of the reasons Aiden sent it out.
Not just Ice-type moves, but the Rock Pokémon Roxanne was best at basically all had moves that countered Salamence.
But whether they could find an opening in battle and land the decisive blow depended on the Trainer's layout.
Obviously, although Roxanne was an academic genius from a Pokémon School, she still lacked intuition in actual combat—
When facing an opponent stronger than herself, she had to use drastic measures to have a chance at winning!
This was the second lesson Aiden was teaching her.
"Kaa—!"
After flying into the sky to dodge Mega Steelix's entanglement, the refreshed Salamence immediately took a deep breath.
In the next instant, a burst of scorching flames erupted with full force from its mouth, forming a spiraling heat current in the air before heading straight for Steelix.
"Steelix, dodge with Dig!"
Roxanne finally panicked a bit, immediately adding a command to try and remedy the situation.
She knew this pseudo-legendary from Hoenn all too well.
Although it excelled in physical attack and gained the top-tier Aerilate ability after Mega Evolution, making moves like Double-Edge and Earthquake incredibly terrifying, in reality, it was a very standard mixed attacker—
Dragon was the proof of ancient kings, and most dragons had a very wide movepool.
Therefore, even as a mixed attacker, it didn't lack offensive options; Flamethrower alone was extremely troublesome for the fully steel-covered Steelix.
But trying to remedy the situation after Salamence had already made its move was obviously too slow.
The flames roared past, arriving a step ahead before Mega Steelix could burrow underground to escape.
Sizzle
The near 1,000-degree heat instantly burned Steelix's steel armor glowing red, making it cry out in pain.
After its body endured repeated roasting, Steelix's stamina drained rapidly in the flames, until it could no longer maintain its Mega Evolution. It crashed to the ground, rolling its eyes back just like Probopass before.
Another direct knockout in one round!
Silver, who was watching the match, was a bit surprised, but also didn't feel particularly unexpected.
Salamence's Special Attack wasn't weak either, and Steelix was an extremely skewed specialist in terms of stats—
With one rising and the other falling, taking it out directly wasn't impossible. After all, the gap in strength between the two sides was visibly huge.
Was this the gap between a Gym Leader and a truly top-tier Trainer?
Silver couldn't help but fall into thought.
For an ordinary rookie, being able to defeat a Gym Leader and earn a badge was already an honor.
But for himself—
It was far from enough.
Even if his father Giovanni wasn't Master Aiden's opponent, his strength was definitely on par with a host of Champions.
To defeat him, he had to aim for Master, at least possessing the strength to gain Master's approval—
Perhaps it was hard to achieve, but he had to do it.
'I, Silver! Must grow into a powerhouse!'
"..."
Beside him, Gold suddenly scratched his head.
For some reason, as he watched, he felt that this annoying guy next to him had suddenly ignited with passion.
Was it his illusion?
Gold shook his head and looked back at the big screen.
With two absolute main forces falling one after another, the smile on Roxanne's face could now be fully described as ugly.
Even though she had long prepared to lose, losing this embarrassingly was still really hard to take!
However—
Roxanne looked at Aiden on the other side; the gleaming Dynamax Band on his wrist was exceptionally eye-catching.
Had she been swiftly and one-sidedly defeated without even forcing out Teacher Azure's full power?
"..."
"..."
After pondering for a moment, Roxanne's gaze focused, and she made her second request of this match:
"Teacher Azure, my final Pokémon is Aggron."
"Although defeating you is already difficult to achieve, I still hope to see you use your full power at the very end!"
"Please!"
After saying that, she speed-recalled the fallen Steelix and threw another Poké Ball.
Aiden raised an eyebrow.
Such a weird request, he actually—heard it quite often.
As expected, Trainers were a stubborn bunch; if he went easy on them, they would actually feel upset.
But he supposed they were right; going all out was the ultimate respect for an opponent.
So he quickly nodded and took out a specially made white Poké Ball from his pocket.
"Come back for now, Salamence!"
A red light flashed, and the excited Mega Salamence was suddenly recalled.
"..."
But recalling it wasn't for switching—
As the white Poké Ball abruptly expanded, a massive amount of Dynamax energy particles surged from the ground in an instant, until the ball had enlarged nearly ten times, finally reaching its limit.
"Kaa—!"
When Aiden threw the Poké Ball, a giant flying dragon three or four stories tall appeared on the field.
Even in its Dynamax state, Salamence still retained many of its Mega Evolution features, its two blood wings truly turning into giant crescents. Set against the red and black Dynamax aura, it looked full of imposing presence.
"Salamence, Max Quake!"
Aiden shouted mercilessly, and the towering Dynamax Salamence immediately stomped the earth.
Another long-lasting earth-shaking rumble surged up; this time, the momentum was clearly much stronger than before, causing even the surrounding Dynamax barriers to creak and shake violently.
Swept by Max Quake, the newly entered Aggron was completely unable to resist, falling onto the already devastated field in the blink of an eye.
A crisp and clean 3-0, declaring that Aiden had secured his first victory in this Masters Tournament.
Although his points didn't change at all, the immense strength he displayed had already been transmitted to all the spectators in Wyndon via live footage.
Especially the other participating Trainers; they all had to weigh it again in their hearts—
Although winning against Teacher Azure could indeed earn them a lot of points at once, was this really a challenge a human could accomplish?
Why did it feel like defeating a Legendary Pokémon might be easier?
"That's not right! Teacher Azure's Salamence is definitely illegal, right?!"
Gold, watching the match, was now looking ferocious—
What do you mean Mega Salamence can still use Dynamax? This seriously violated the tournament rules, didn't it!
Didn't they say you could only use one special mechanic per match?
"Idiot, Master didn't equip a Key Stone at all, so it's allowed by the rules," Silver couldn't help but retort.
If it violated the rules, Master Aiden wouldn't have needed to use Dynamax; it was already a guaranteed win.
This was just like the regular regional conferences. If the rules didn't say you couldn't use Legendary Pokémon, then you could use them. If a contestant actually had the ability to get one, the others just had to accept their bad luck.
Master Aiden's Salamence just now was the same—
The Trainer didn't use any item; Salamence broke through and evolved on its own, which was essentially a manifestation of the Pokémon's own strength.
If others couldn't do it, that was their own problem; why was Master Aiden the only one who achieved it?
They should reflect on their own problems!
However, saying that—
If his opponent was a freak like this, he felt that no matter how good his mindset was, it would be hard not to break down, right?
Silver shook his head.
He'd let the other contestants deal with this kind of thing!
He hoped the other contestants wouldn't be tortured too badly.
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