"The Gym Leader is serious, so I must be serious as well," Zhang Tian smiled, his hand touching a Poké Ball at his waist.
"It's best this way. If the opponent doesn't give their full strength, there is no sense of accomplishment in winning," Iris said lightly, her eyes cold and cruel like a ferocious beast's.
"Gym Leader Iris, you are really fierce now. You look much more attractive than usual," Zhang smiled faintly, and an icy, murderous aura rose from him, pushing back against Iris's own. The two auras met in the middle of the battlefield, a visible distortion in the air, and were locked in a stalemate. The audience gasped. Is this really a human being? To achieve such an unscientific phenomenon with aura alone was terrifying. They now had a clearer understanding of what it meant to be a champion-level trainer, the limit of mortals.
Fear and awe, the audience thought, watching the two trainers below.
"3!"
"2!"
"1!"
"Begin!"
The moment the referee's countdown ended, the Dynamax Bands on both Zhang's and Iris's wrists lit up with red light.
"Go, Gammoth!"
"Haxorus, it's up to you!"
Both trainers threw their giant Poké Balls. A red light flashed, and a 25-meter-tall Haxorus appeared before Iris. It landed with a crash, kicking up a cloud of dust.
[Haxorus]
Level: 67 (Elite Four)Ability: IntimidateItem: Dragon Fang
Before Zhang, a Gammoth more than 100 meters high and 200 meters long appeared.
BOOM!
The moment the huge beast landed, the earth shattered, and the entire battlefield shook. For the audience, it was no less than experiencing a small earthquake.
"Aang!" The Gammoth raised its head and let out a roar like an elephant's, so loud it suppressed the cheers of hundreds of thousands of spectators.
[Gammoth]
Level: 69 (Elite Four)Ability: Big MacItem: Leftovers
"So big!" Many spectators turned white with fright, looking at the mountain-like Gammoth with shocked faces. "It must be more than 100 meters high! I can't believe there's such a huge monster in this world!"
"That's a Pokémon? I'd believe it if you said it was a monster from a movie!"
"It's so much more powerful in person than on TV!"
"It's another Pokémon I've never seen before. I really can't see through this Zhang Tian. How many Pokémon does he have?" Iris thought, but quickly cleared her mind of all distractions. It was time to fight.
"Roar!" The Haxorus's Intimidate ability triggered, lowering the Gammoth's Attack by one stage. But the Gammoth's own ability, Big Mac, triggered as well, boosting its Attack by 50%. The two effects canceled each other out.
"Haxorus, let's go! Max Wyrmwind!" Iris commanded loudly.
"Gammoth, Max Hailstorm," Zhang ordered telepathically.
"Roar!" The Haxorus opened its mouth wide, and a terrifying red energy spread towards the Gammoth like a ripple. When it touched the walls of the battlefield, it would bounce back, forming a larger ripple. When two ripples collided, they would also bounce back, forming even larger ripples. Soon, the entire battlefield was filled with a dense, layered web of ripples. The Gammoth couldn't dodge, and it couldn't block.
So, it raised its trunk high, and countless huge chunks of ice fell from the sky, smashing into the Haxorus. Since it couldn't dodge and couldn't block, it would trade injury for injury.
BOOM! BOOM! The moment a house-sized chunk of ice hit the Haxorus, the countless ripples devoured the Gammoth. The Haxorus was four times weak to Ice. Even with its HP doubled by Dynamax, it couldn't withstand the Gammoth's Max Hailstorm. But the Gammoth was not well off either. One ripple would have been easy to endure, but this was an endless wave.
This was the foundation of a champion-level trainer. Since they had reached the limit of mortals and could not advance further, they put their energy into the study of skills. This "Max Dragon-Riding Heavy Ripple" was Iris's masterpiece. No matter how strong the enemy, they could not block her attack. She often relied on this move to win against stronger opponents, or at the very least, trade one for one.
The Gammoth, with its extremely high defense and HP, doubled by Dynamax, and its Leftovers constantly healing it, was able to withstand the attack. But it was covered in wounds.
This Pokémon's defense and HP are too high, Iris thought, her brow furrowed. And the most troublesome part is that item that can recover from injuries. It must be Leftovers. High defense, high HP, and an item that can continuously recover... it really restrains my Heavy Ripple. It seems this little guy has read my information and knows what I'm good at. Otherwise, he wouldn't have sent out this Pokémon specifically to counter me.
She was right. Zhang had studied her, and that was why he had sent out the Gammoth with Leftovers.
"The Haxorus is unable to battle! The Gammoth wins! Please recall your Pokémon within 30 seconds," the referee announced.
Zhang did not immediately recall his Gammoth. He waited, letting the Leftovers heal its injuries as much as possible. It was a loophole in the rules, but Iris was not angry. In her opinion, exploiting the rules was a skill in itself.
"Come back, Haxorus. You've done your best," she said, recalling her Pokémon. Then she looked at Zhang. "I used to think you were an arrogant person, and that you would suffer a big loss sooner or later. But judging from the battle just now, you have seen my intelligence. It seems you are an extremely careful person. Not bad. Only careful people can go to the end. Arrogance is a fatal mistake." Her tone was full of praise. In her opinion, Zhang was a junior, the best junior of the Great Xia, and she could take care of him, rather than an equal.
"The Gym Leader has won the award," Zhang smiled lightly, not caring about her praise. He didn't care what others thought of him.
"This Gammoth's defense must be around 100, and its HP must be 130," a trainer in the audience said. "And it's an Ice-type. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been able to block Miss Iris's attack."
"Excellent stats. No wonder he sent it out."
"The stats are secondary. This Gammoth has strong combat experience. Did you not see? When it found that it could not block the Heavy Ripple, it did not choose to defend, but to exchange injury for injury. That is not something an ordinary Pokémon can do."
"This Zhang Tian is really terrifying. It feels like each of his Pokémon has extremely rich combat experience, not at all like a young man, but like a veteran trainer who has adventured for decades."
"Come back, Gammoth," Zhang said as the timer was about to end. After more than 20 seconds of rest, most of its injuries had recovered.
"Begin!"
The hail on the field had stopped.
"It's up to you, Azure Rathalos!"
"Hydreigon, let's go!"
A three-headed Hydreigon appeared before Iris.
[Hydreigon]
Level: 68 (Elite Four)Ability: LevitateItem: Dragonium Z
Before Zhang, a green-and-blue Azure Rathalos appeared.
[Azure Rathalos]
Level: 69 (Elite Four)Ability: Rapid BombingItem: Float Stone (Custom effect: also doubles speed)
Although most of the Gammoth's injuries had recovered, Zhang still chose the Azure Rathalos. He felt he might be able to catch Iris off guard. Normally, he would have sent out the Gammoth to continue the fight, as it had a type advantage against the Dragon-type Hydreigon. Even if he didn't catch her off guard, the Rathalos was strong enough to deal with various situations.
"It's the Azure Rathalos, not the Gammoth!"
"Is he stupid? The Gammoth is an Ice-type, which restrains Dragon-types!"
"Tactics?" the more experienced trainers in the audience wondered. It was a small tactic, an attempt to catch the enemy off guard.
"Kind of interesting," Iris smiled. "However, sometimes it can be self-defeating. Your Azure Rathalos is not comparable to the Gammoth in terms of attack power."
"Come on, Hydreigon! Z-Move! Devastating Drake!" she commanded, raising her right hand as her Z-Ring blazed with a blinding white light.
Looking at her actions, Zhang also raised his left hand, and the Bondstone on it lit up with a dazzling light. "Azure Rathalos, let's go too! Kinship Skill: High-Altitude Raid!" For a direct fight, Zhang was not afraid.
SWISH! A white light lit up on the Azure Rathalos, and it rushed into the sky. With its Float Stone, it was extremely fast, reaching an altitude of 1,500 meters almost instantly.
At the same time, a dazzling light lit up on the Hydreigon, and then, as if by magic, hundreds of Hydreigons appeared around the original. This was another of Iris's stunts, the "Ultimate Dragon Shocks the Heavens and the Earth with a Thousand Shadows." If her ace, a Dragonite, were to use this move, it could conjure thousands of figures, not just hundreds. They were just phantoms, but in battle, they could cause a lot of trouble.
The full story so far is available on Patreon!: patreon.com/Zefyrus