Anyone could see the heavy tension between the two men on the field.
"You seem very confident, but…"
Lance let out a cold laugh. His face was full of anger as he stared at Giovanni and Nidoking.
"Even if my Mega Gyarados is badly poisoned, it is still enough to defeat you before it goes down!"
"Gyarados, Aqua Tail!"
The first tick of the Toxic damage had already passed. Mega Gyarados let out a furious roar. Its giant tail carried a wave of water as it swung heavily toward Nidoking.
This was a strike fueled by rage. Its power was even greater than the previous two Aqua Tails.
It was obvious that Mega Gyarados also knew its own condition. It was giving everything it had right now.
"Protect."
Giovanni was very calm. Nidoking's direct combat power could not match Mega Gyarados in a head-on fight.
Giovanni also knew that Lance had a lot of battle experience. If Lance hadn't been unfamiliar with Giovanni's fighting style, he wouldn't have been poisoned so easily.
But now that Lance had suffered once from Toxic, it would be much harder to trick him again.
A green Protect barrier appeared in front of Nidoking. This barrier could block almost any move.
BANG!!
The heavy Aqua Tail slammed into the Protect barrier. Ripples spread across the thin green shield, making it look like it might break.
However, the hard Protect move successfully blocked the Aqua Tail!
Lance's expression was cold. His eyes were as sharp as a blade.
He knew Giovanni was stalling for time. The Toxic effect needed time to work. The longer the battle lasted, the more painful and damaging the poison would become.
Eventually, it would force Mega Gyarados to lose its ability to fight.
"You coward! You're hiding in your shell! How many times can you use Protect?" Lance asked coldly.
Protect cannot be used several times in a row. If a Trainer tries to use it again immediately, the success rate drops. It becomes very likely to fail.
"Waterfall!"
Mega Gyarados growled. Just as the Protect barrier faded, a giant pillar of water shot up from beneath Nidoking's feet. It lifted Nidoking high into the air.
Nidoking tried to keep its balance. It looked down and saw Mega Gyarados covered in water. The giant Pokémon was spiraling up the water pillar like a dragon, closing the distance at high speed.
"Thunder!"
Nidoking's body began to spark with intense electricity. A bolt of Thunder shot directly at Mega Gyarados.
BOOM!
The Thunder hit perfectly. However, Mega Gyarados only paused for a split second. It ignored the pain of the electric shock and continued to charge toward Nidoking.
BANG!
The Waterfall attack, crackling with electricity, slammed hard into Nidoking.
Nidoking roared in pain. Its strong body was knocked away by the force of Mega Gyarados's charge.
The damage from this hit was not low.
Mega Gyarados wanted to chase after Nidoking, but its body suddenly stiffened. A terrifying, deep purple light flashed across Mega Gyarados.
The second tick of the Toxic damage had arrived!
This time, the pain was even more violent than the first. However, the Mega Gyarados that Lance raised had incredible endurance.
It was only affected by the sharp pain for a single moment. Then, it roared with a terrifying face. It seemed to be using the roar to let out the pain in its body.
"Aqua Tail!"
Mega Gyarados's face was extremely scary. It gave Nidoking no time to recover and charged again.
This wild, aggressive style of attacking put extreme pressure on Nidoking.
"Nidoking won't be able to hold on at this rate."
Serena kept her eyes on the battle. she made her own judgment.
This Mega Gyarados was simply too strong. Its fighting power was amazing.
Nidoking's strength had been clearly shown in the battles against Lorelei and the others. But even a powerful Nidoking was being pushed so hard by this Mega Gyarados that it could barely breathe.
This showed just how strong Lance was.
Lance, the Dragon Master, had always been called the strongest Champion of the Kanto League. His strength was truly frightening.
"Yes, but Giovanni can stall for time. A battle is about more than just pure power," Platinum nodded.
In her heart, she was naturally on Giovanni's side.
After all… Giovanni was Damian's father. He was the future grandfather of her child.
The battle on the field continued. Giovanni stayed calm and had Nidoking dodge and defend. However, Mega Gyarados's wild attacks were too strong.
"Nidoking is unable to battle. Mega Gyarados wins."
The referee announced the result.
It was true—Nidoking finally fell to Mega Gyarados's Aqua Tail.
"Do you see now, Giovanni? If you only use small tricks, you cannot defeat my dragon!"
Lance looked at Giovanni. His voice was cold and arrogant.
"Champion Lance, this is a full six-on-six battle. There is no need to be so impatient. Our battle is not over yet."
Giovanni slowly recalled Nidoking. He replied with a faint smile.
Even though Nidoking lost, Giovanni didn't think it was a problem. He felt that Nidoking had done a great job.
In a full battle, losing one round didn't mean much. Besides, the current situation was exactly as he had expected.
"Only the person who wins the very last round is the winner, right?"
Giovanni threw his second Poké Ball. Nidoqueen landed in front of him.
"You…"
Lance's sharp eyebrows furrowed slightly. He did not like Giovanni's calm attitude, which made it seem like everything was under control.
Lance thought for a moment and recalled Mega Gyarados.
Mega Gyarados was not in good shape. Especially during the fight with Nidoking, the Toxic damage had reached its fourth tick.
By recalling Mega Gyarados, the poison counter would at least reset for a while. Otherwise, the fifth tick of poison would be extremely powerful.
"Since you are so confident, then try the power of this one!"
Lance threw his second Poké Ball with a stylish move.
"Dragonite!"
After a flash of white light, an orange dragon with a somewhat chubby body appeared. It flapped its two small wings and landed heavily in front of Lance.
"Wo—!"
When this Pokémon appeared, the entire stadium erupted in loud, excited cheers.
This was because this Pokémon was the "pseudo-legendary" of the Kanto region—Dragonite!
And Dragonite was Lance's signature Pokémon!
"A Dragonite, huh…"
Giovanni narrowed his eyes slightly. He looked at the deep aura of this Dragonite.
"Wait, he's sending out Dragonite this early?"
In the audience, Platinum looked at the Kanto pseudo-legendary with great surprise.
She was confused!
This was a full battle. He used Mega Evolution for the first Pokémon, and Dragonite for the second?
Is this how Champion Lance fought full battles? Did he show all his best cards right at the start? Was he trying to crush his opponent as fast as possible?
But Giovanni was not a normal opponent. Doing this could easily put Lance in a bad position later.
Did Champion Lance really know how to fight a full battle?
"Don't be so surprised. This isn't Lance's ace Dragonite," Damian said quietly to Platinum.
"Huh?"
Platinum and Serena were both shocked.
"This Dragonite is strong, but it is definitely not Lance's main partner," Damian said with certainty.
"I heard that when Lance first became the Kanto Champion, his team was Dragonair, Dragonair, Gyarados, Aerodactyl, Charizard, and Dragonite," Lorelei spoke up, thinking back.
"So, that means Champion Lance evolved those two Dragonair," Serena understood.
"I don't think so," Damian shook his head.
"Lance likely kept his original Dragonair from evolving on purpose. As for this Dragonite… do you know where the most famous habitat for Dratini is? The Dragon's Den is owned by the Blackthorn family."
Damian smiled as he spoke.
It was true. The Dragon's Den in Blackthorn City was known as the "Home of Dragons." It was the most famous place for Dratini in Kanto and Johto.
Since Lance was from that family, he would never run out of Dragonites!
Also, Lance loved Dragonite very much. So, it was not surprising at all that his team had multiple Dragonites.
For example, in the HeartGold and SoulSilver games, Champion Lance's team had three Dragonites.
Lance was a huge fan of "Dragonite." To Lance, Dragonite was his pride and his soul!
"I wonder if this is Dragonite No. 2 or No. 3," Damian watched the dragon on the field with interest.
One thing was for sure—even if it wasn't the "ace," Lance's Dragonite was undeniably strong.
The base strength of the Dragonite species was very high. Plus, this was Lance's Dragonite.
In this world, no one probably understood Dragonite better than Lance.
The battle continued. Lance's fighting style was very aggressive. He believed in the power of dragons. To him, attacking was the best defense.
Because of this, Lance pushed for constant offense.
Giovanni was steady and experienced, but his steady style also had a hidden sharpness.
Under Lance's command, Dragonite began a series of wild attacks. However, this Dragonite's pressure was actually not as strong as Mega Gyarados's.
Giovanni had Nidoqueen use a "defense and counter" strategy. He actually found an opening and hit Dragonite with an Ice Beam.
Even though Dragonite was powerful, its Dragon and Flying typing made it four times weak to Ice!
This was Dragonite's biggest weakness.
Although the Ice Beam didn't hit perfectly because Dragonite reacted quickly, it still caused a lot of damage.
This made Lance pull back a bit and start playing more carefully.
After a final, intense exchange, Giovanni purposely showed a weakness. He let Dragonite get close with Dragon Rush, but then Nidoqueen hit it with Ice Punch.
Nidoqueen was badly injured, but Dragonite was unable to battle!
Giovanni temporarily tied the score. However, this was still just the beginning.
Lance sent his poisoned Mega Gyarados back out. It defeated the injured Nidoqueen.
Giovanni's next Pokémon was Dugtrio. Lance switched to Charizard.
Charizard lost, and Dugtrio won.
Lance sent Mega Gyarados out one more time. It traded its last bit of health to take down Dugtrio.
The battle was more intense than anyone imagined. Both sides refused to give an inch. Overall, the situation was perfectly even.
Giovanni's fourth Pokémon was Rhyperior. This was one of Giovanni's core powerhouses. Its strength was exceptional.
Lance thought for a moment and sent out another Dragonite. This was "Dragonite No. 2."
This time, Lance chose to use Dragonite's flying advantage. Rhyperior was very strong, but it was heavy and slow. Also, its Special Defense was low.
This round took a lot of time. But in the end, Rhyperior fell to Dragonite's Hydro Pump.
Lance was leading once again.
But by now, everyone understood that Giovanni's strength was not lower than Lance's. Until the very last moment, no one could relax.
"I really didn't expect Giovanni's strength to reach this level."
In the back, Lorelei frowned. Her cool face was full of focus. Even now, Giovanni was still fighting evenly with Lance.
If someone had said before that a "mere Gym Leader" like Giovanni was on the same level as Lance, no one would have believed it.
But now, the truth was right in front of them.
"It is indeed amazing. I wonder why Giovanni hid his strength before," Agatha said, narrowing her eyes.
But if she thought about it carefully, had Giovanni really "hidden" his strength?
It was more likely that no one had been able to force him to use it all. If he wasn't interested in challenging the League, normal Gym challengers would never make him go all out.
"It's no wonder he could father a monster like Damian. It makes sense now," Agatha laughed in a low voice.
With such a strong father, it wasn't strange that Damian had such incredible talent.
Back on the field.
"As expected of you, Champion Lance. You truly are powerful."
Giovanni smiled slightly as he recalled his defeated Rhyperior.
"You aren't bad either," Lance said flatly.
At this point in the battle, Lance finally acknowledged Giovanni's strength.
"Oh? It's an honor to be recognized by the Champion," Giovanni's mouth slowly curled up.
"However, since I am doing this Elite Four challenge today, I am naturally aiming for the Champion's seat."
"If you have the skill, then try to defeat me," Lance replied. His cold eyes did not change.
The Champion's seat always belonged to the strongest. If Giovanni could beat him, Giovanni would be the Champion.
"That's a statement that fits your personality, Lance."
A thick look of malice appeared on Giovanni's dark face.
"Didn't you want to see my Mega Evolution? I'll show it to you now!"
Giovanni threw his fifth Poké Ball.
The ball opened in mid-air. A flash of white light appeared, and the sound of insect wings buzzing moved quickly through the sky.
The Pokémon slowly landed in front of Giovanni. It held up its two stingers and stared at Lance's Dragonite.
The whole stadium went silent, then erupted in noise. Countless people looked shocked.
This was because Giovanni's fifth Pokémon was actually… a Beedrill?!
---------------------
This novel is already complete.