At this moment, the look Zinnia gave Hakuya was rather complex.
What she had said just now might not have been entirely accurate. From Hakuya, she didn't just sense the aura of a Dragon-type Pokémon not inferior to the Lord Dragon God; rather, she sensed a multitude of Dragon-type auras mixed and tangled together.
—There were cyan flames that felt capable of scorching the very soul; destructive energy brimming with the raw power of nature; and even an overwhelming, majestic aura that seemed to stand above all living things, making one tremble uncontrollably with just a single glance.
If her people, the Draconids, proudly called themselves the descendants of Rayquaza, possessing the unique ability to communicate with Dragon-type Pokémon... then the black-haired young man before her was the very avatar of dragons walking the earth, blessed by countless draconic deities.
In fact, faintly, amidst the sense of kinship Zinnia felt toward Hakuya, meeting his gaze also made her heart palpitate with an inexplicable fear and dread stemming from the aura he radiated.
That was a terrifying aura one could only possess after defeating multiple draconic deities.
Both the Avatar of Dragons and a Dragonslayer.
How could such a Trainer possibly exist in this world?
Looking at Zinnia, who had pulled out her Poké Ball but then stood completely still for a long time, Hakuya revealed a confused expression.
Why are all the wild Trainers these days acting like the Riddler?
Are we fighting or not—
And so, after a moment of silence, Hakuya spoke up to ask again.
"Umm... Didn't you say we were going to have a Pokémon battle?"
Hearing these words, the girl, who had been lost in her wild thoughts, instantly snapped back to reality.
"Of course we are!"
Zinnia hurriedly patted her reasonably well-endowed chest, terrified that Hakuya would suddenly change his mind and run away.
"Just like you said, mister! A one-on-one Pokémon battle!"
The battle ultimately took place in the open clearing outside the Sky Pillar.
After all, if they fought indoors, after an intense battle, this tower with thousands of years of history would likely completely collapse.
"Come on out, Salamence!"
Throwing the Poké Ball in her hand, a flash of white light erupted, and a Pokémon with blood-red wings hovered by Zinnia's side. Immediately after, its sharp, piercing gaze firmly locked onto the black-haired young man before it.
Salamence. Dragon/Flying type.
Renowned as a late-blooming Pokémon. Because it possessed a pair of gorgeous, blood-red wings, it used to be called "Blood-Winged Wyvern" in some translations, which admittedly sounded much more badass than "Salamence."
After a few glances, Hakuya roughly gauged the foundation of this Dragon Pokémon.
Its strength was below that of Steven's Metagross, highly likely sitting around the level of a main team member for an Elite Four Trainer.
To be able to raise a Salamence to this level at her age, she absolutely qualified as a genius Trainer.
Therefore, Hakuya didn't skimp on his praise.
"It has a very strong aura. I imagine it must have undergone excellent care and rigorous battle training."
"That's right! This child grew up with me since it was little! We trained together, fought together, and that's how it became the way it is today!"
Zinnia lifted her face and put her hands on her hips, unconsciously displaying the joyful behavior typical of a girl her age.
No one dislikes being praised by others.
Especially when it doesn't sound like empty flattery, but rather a genuine, substantive compliment.
At this moment, even though their age difference wasn't actually that large, due to the powerful aura of the "Avatar of Dragons" and "Dragonslayer" Hakuya exuded, the girl instinctively viewed him as an incredibly formidable senior Trainer. Therefore, hearing Hakuya's spontaneous sigh of admiration, her smile instantly became even brighter and more radiant.
Although he could completely shut it down using Alcremie, Hakuya ultimately chose to send out the little jet plane for a Dragon-type civil war.
"Latias, I leave this battle to you."
"La-woo~"
Having already recovered from her embarrassed and angry state from earlier, Latias nodded and blocked the opponent's Intimidating gaze.
With just one glance, the girl bluntly blurted out her awe.
"It really is a Legendary Pokémon! So cool~!"
For a Trainer who pursued the great Dragon-type Pokémon, being able to see a Legendary Dragon-type with her own eyes naturally filled her heart with unimaginable surprise and joy.
Amidst her excitement, Zinnia could also tell that this Latias was much stronger than her own Salamence.
As expected of a Trainer blessed by numerous draconic deities. His breeding and training abilities are actually this strong.
However, as a descendant of the Lord Dragon God and the chosen Lorekeeper, she wouldn't back down just because her opponent was strong.
"Trainer blessed by the many draconic deities..."
Taking a deep breath, Zinnia lifted her leg, her slender fingers tracing over the Key Stone flashing with seven-colored light on her anklet.
"Now, please receive our Mega Evolution!"
"ROAR——!!!"
Through the Key Stone and the Mega Stone, Zinnia's heart formed a brief link with Salamence.
Seven-colored chains extended from the girl's leg strap, precisely connecting with the Mega Stone hanging in front of Salamence's neck. Subsequently, a brilliant light rapidly enveloped Salamence's massive body.
In the next instant, Mega Salamence—renowned as the "Blood-Soaked Crescent Moon"—let out a deafening roar.
"Mega Salamence really does look badass..."
Although he hadn't figured out what the "dragon's blessing" Zinnia mentioned was, nor when exactly he had been targeted by a whole pantheon of draconic deities... seeing her immediately use Mega Evolution right from the start earned a secret thumbs-up from Hakuya.
Now THIS is a qualified Pokémon Trainer.
Things like Mega Evolution and Gigantamaxing only held true tactical value when activated at full health.
Against an opponent who deeply understood the essence of battling like this, he naturally had to return the utmost respect.
"Latias, use Draco Meteor!"
Hakuya issued his command.
"La-woo——"
Hovering in mid-air, Latias slightly raised her head and focused her mind. An orange-red mass of energy gathered at her chest and abdomen, radiating a dangerous fluctuation that made the surrounding air palpitate.
Opening with Draco Meteor to stack her Special Attack stat had now become their standard, fundamental battle strategy.
When in doubt, fire off a full-power Draco Meteor first!
Looking at the massive sphere of energy light that had already shot into the clouds, Zinnia didn't have the slightest intention of clashing with it head-on.
If she took a direct hit from such a high-power Dragon-type move, her Salamence would absolutely lose its ability to battle in an instant.
Thinking of this, she unhesitatingly chose to temporarily avoid its sharp edge.
"Salamence, use Tailwind and accelerate to dodge!"
Catching the signal that the sphere of light was about to detonate, Salamence rapidly flapped its blood-red wings, riding the air currents swirling around its body to dodge and weave through the air. In the next moment, the sphere of draconic energy that had flown high into the sky exploded with a deafening boom.
Countless glowing meteors, trailing long tails of fire, plummeted downward with a shrieking whistle like fireworks. They continuously slammed into the ground like mortar shells amidst deafening explosions, blasting out plumes of thick smoke.
However, thanks to the speed boost from [Tailwind], as well as the results of Salamence's rigorous daily training, this [Draco Meteor] crashing down ultimately ended up being nothing more than loud thunder but little rain for it.
"ROAR——!!!"
Watching meteor after meteor barely graze past its body, blasting countless deep craters into the ground, Salamence, though breaking out in a cold sweat and wearing a smile of surviving a disaster just like Zinnia, ultimately let its pride as a Dragon-type Pokémon take over. It immediately dropped its smile and let out a furious, provoking roar.
"..."
Immediately after, it saw the opponent raising its head again, preparing to fire.
Commanding her Salamence to dodge another round of Draco Meteor, Zinnia started breaking a serious sweat.
Because in just a few simple rounds of exchanges, the opponent had called for Draco Meteor four or five times.
It couldn't be helped. Whenever he played with the [Contrary] little jet plane, Hakuya couldn't resist falling back on his signature move-spamming commanding style.
However, this time, the speed of this Mega-evolved Salamence somewhat exceeded his expectations.
It actually managed to continuously dodge the meteorites raining down from the sky.
Although the end result was that Salamence completely lost its ferocious, domineering aura from the start of the battle—looking disheveled and covered in dirt after exhausting all its strength and putting in massive effort just to finish dodging—it truly became the first opponent in reality to survive three rounds of the little jet plane's Draco Meteor attacks without taking any damage.
To a certain extent, the evasion skills of Zinnia's Salamence were even stronger than Steven's Metagross.
"I feel like if this was translated into game stats, this guy's Speed EVs must be completely maxed out."
Hakuya nodded, feeling his commanding IQ being pulled back to normal.
After all, the execution process of [Draco Meteor] involved gathering energy in one breath, firing it into the sky, and then blanketing a wide area with attacks. It couldn't achieve precise, lock-on targeting. Because of this, in the absence of other interfering factors, as long as the opponent's speed was fast enough, it was highly possible for them to snatch a sliver of survival under the terrifying meteorite bombardment.
Once the meteors had completely landed and countless clouds of dust and sand entirely engulfed Salamence's silhouette, Zinnia issued an attack command.
"Salamence, use Dragon Claw to strike back now!"
"ROAR——!!!"
Amidst a deafening roar, Salamence flapped its blood-red wings on its back and accelerated its assault. The surging dust was instantly torn apart by its front claws, which were dyed with Dragon-type energy. In the blink of an eye, the chilling claw blades pierced through the dust cloud and thrust right in front of Latias.
Unlike the rigid turn-based system in the original games, in true Pokémon battles, the disgusting, overused tactics highly praised in his past life—like "Substitute/Protect/Toxic," "Minimize spam," or "Endeavor + Quick Attack"—were very difficult to pull off.
The key to victory relied far more on the Pokémon's own strength, the Trainer's commanding abilities, a certain degree of tactical adaptability, and ultimately, the indescribable power of bonds.
But what completely shocked Zinnia was that, facing their aggressive assault launched by using the dust to block the opponent's line of sight, the opponent was neither hit immediately, nor did she show any signs of panicking and fleeing. Instead, she dodged it with a speed the naked eye couldn't even track.
"Latias, dodge."
In perfect sync with her Trainer's command, Latias turned into an elongated afterimage in mid-air, achieving a flawless dodge in an instant.
The terrifying claw blades crashed down, instantly carving two deep gouges into the ground, proving the sheer power of this attack.
Amidst her shock, Zinnia immediately shouted another command.
"Salamence, don't stop! Use Double-Edge directly!"
The best defense is always a good offense.
To avoid hearing that terrifying Draco Meteor spam operation again, the already anxious girl cranked her offense to the absolute maximum.
"ROAR——!!!"
Adjusting its direction high in the air with a flap of its wings, Salamence, looking like a bloodthirsty dragon god, dove straight down from above.
Its blood-red wings chopped through the air currents along the way like battle axes. Amidst the piercing, shrieking whistle, the entire sky seemed to be torn apart by its diving motion, generating an astonishing sonic boom cloud.
Mega Salamence's ability is Aerilate.
Under the influence of this ability, all Normal-type moves become Flying-type moves, and their power receives a 1.2x boost. Coupled with Salamence's inherent Flying-type STAB, the power of this [Double-Edge] was absolutely not to be underestimated.
In response, Hakuya calmly raised his hand.
"Strike back with Surf."
Latias let out a low croon, and surging water waves dozens of feet high instantly rose from the ground.
The sky-blotting waves actually managed to momentarily overpower the momentum of Salamence's [Double-Edge].
"What?!"
Seeing this scene, Zinnia couldn't help but cry out in shock.
The ocean wave not only perfectly neutralized the impact of the dive, but it also conveniently swept Salamence into the tide.
"Salamence, use Double-Edge again to break free!"
"Too late. Latias, use Psychic to pin it down."
Having firmly grasped the rhythm of the battle, Hakuya gave her no time to react, commanding Latias to use Psychic.
The powerful psychic energy not only turned the water waves kicked up by [Surf] into a Whirlpool, but it also firmly locked onto the struggling Salamence within the tide, subjecting it to the continuous, relentless battering of the surging waves.
—If it stays trapped in the Whirlpool like this, even though Salamence has decent resistance to Water-type moves, over time, it won't be able to last long before completely losing its ability to battle.
But immediately after, Zinnia's anxious expression suddenly froze.
Because while Salamence was firmly pinned down by psychic power, Hakuya also revealed his Key Stone.
Even though the base-form little jet plane could flawlessly solo the fight without taking any damage, giving the opponent utmost respect had always been his battling creed.
"LA-WOO——!!!"
In the vast clearing, a brilliant light as gorgeous as a rainbow violently erupted.
The moment their hearts linked, Latias's high-pitched croon perfectly overlapped with the black-haired young man's voice.
—Mega Latias!
"It's about time we wrap this battle up. Finish it off with Dragon Pulse."
Feeling the violent tremors radiating from the battlefield, Zinnia's pupils contracted slightly, and an ominous feeling instantly washed over her.
Just hearing the preparatory movements of gathering energy for the move had already triggered such terrifying momentum.
—Why, even after using Draco Meteor so many times, has the power of this Latias's moves not diminished in the slightest?!
Even facing a standard-form [Dragon Pulse], Zinnia didn't believe her Salamence could safely tank it. Let alone now that the opponent had activated her Mega Evolution form. If it took a direct hit, she genuinely didn't dare to imagine what the outcome would be.
"Salamence, interrupt it with Hyper Voice!"
The girl's roar echoed across the battlefield.
But faster than her commanding voice was the massive energy dragon that had already burst forth.
In this moment, facing the energy dragon—over a dozen meters long, its body towering like a mountain range—Salamence, firmly pinned down by psychic power, lifted its head, realizing for the first time just how insignificant it was.
BOOM——!!!
The sand and dust kicked up by the energy collision instantly filled the air. Shortly after, the explosive smoke cleared. Salamence, forced out of its Mega Evolution form, let out a wail before plunging headfirst into the ground, completely losing its ability to battle.
The girl stared at the unconscious Salamence, as if thoroughly stunned by the battle just now.
After a long silence, she finally squeezed a sentence out from between her lips.
"...I lost."
Using a Mega-evolved Salamence to battle a base-form Latias... let alone suppressing her, they couldn't even gain the upper hand at any point during the fight. They were practically helpless the entire time, and the few moments they weren't were only because Hakuya deliberately went easy on them.
As expected, a Trainer favored by numerous draconic deities—one who can even defeat them—is truly absurdly strong.
Zinnia was a straightforward person.
Since she lost, she would naturally fulfill her end of the bargain and no longer stop Hakuya from climbing the Sky Pillar.
"I apologize. As a descendant of the Lord Dragon God, it is the duty of the Draconid people to guard this place. Engaging in Pokémon battles with intruders is one of the rules established by the Lord Dragon God a thousand years ago. Without sufficient strength, one naturally lacks the qualifications to enter."
Zinnia recalled the sleeping Salamence. The slightly dispirited aura she had after her defeat vanished in no time. She lifted her pretty face again, reverting to the flamboyant energy of the wild girl she usually was, and said: "That was a truly exhilarating battle just now! My name is Zinnia. Nice to meet you."
"My name is Hakuya. Nice to meet you too."
"Please follow me next. Because this place hasn't been repaired in far too long, the floorboards are indeed not very sturdy."
Seemingly well aware of the Sky Pillar's disgusting mechanic, Zinnia actively offered to lead the way.
As she spoke, the girl's gaze subtly lingered on Hakuya.
Although she had personally witnessed Hakuya fall from the second floor and land without even spraining his ankle, that was ultimately only a height of just over four meters. If he accidentally stepped on a cracked floor tile on the fiftieth floor, the height difference would be nearly two hundred meters. If someone could fall from that height and still be alive and kicking... she had to admit, she had never seen a Trainer with such exceptionally superb physical fitness.
"Alright."
Hakuya nodded and followed her.