Indeed, the enlightened Nemona had performed brilliantly in this third round. Step by step, she had created opportunities in her own way, allowing Decidueye to land a rather impressive hit on Ceruledge.
If not for Ceruledge's unimaginable tenacity—allowing it to counter and deliver a lethal blow the moment Decidueye and Nemona let their guard down.
If not for Ceruledge possessing a move like Bitter Blade that enhanced its staying power.
If not for the fact that Lucas had no obsession with keeping Pokémon on the field and instead intended to fully display his strength, giving Nemona a brand-new goal to strive toward.
With Nemona's current strength, she might have actually been able to take out a few of Lucas's Pokémon.
But unfortunately, all of those "ifs" were real.
After confirming that Decidueye was unable to battle, Lucas raised his hand and recalled Ceruledge.
Clearly, he intended to rotate again.
"Thank you for your hard work, Decidueye." At this moment, there was no discouragement on Nemona's face—only a sincere smile.
Wasn't this something worth celebrating?
Compared to the past, when the peak had seemed even higher than Glaseado Mountain—something Nemona could never reach no matter how she looked up, hidden behind layers of clouds.
Now, she had truly touched her teacher's back.
Just realizing this gave her far greater motivation than any victory could.
Thus, with a smile on her face, Nemona threw her fourth Poké Ball together with Lucas.
"Goodra!"
"Dragonite!"
A late-bloomer Pokémon—or, to put it simply, a battle between pseudo-legendaries!
Earlier, Geeta's Dragapult had put tremendous pressure on Goodra. Now its opponent had become Lucas's Dragonite.
What kind of battle would unfold between the two?
Many spectators who had watched the morning's Champion assessment and rushed over again in the evening had exactly this question in mind.
At the same time, as Director Clavell's sharp whistle signaled the continuation of the battle, both sides acted simultaneously.
"Rain Dance!"
"Dragon Dance!"
"Groooar!"
Goodra let out a long cry toward the sky. The heavens above Sun Square darkened rapidly. Clusters of gray-white rain clouds gathered swiftly, completely blocking the setting sun that had been about to sink.
Pitter-patter raindrops began to fall, eliciting exclamations from the audience.
Many of them hadn't brought umbrellas!
Unlike the noisy crowd that scattered to take shelter, Dragonite instead danced joyfully within the curtain of rain. Its mysterious and powerful dance, performed through flight, was perfectly displayed before everyone's eyes.
If this had been a Contest, such movements combined with Dragonite's natural ecology would undoubtedly have received excellent marks.
Red light waves rose across Dragonite's body, signaling the completion of the first stage of Dragon Dance. Its Attack and Speed had each risen by one stage.
Nemona knew very well that having Goodra set up rain hadn't only given Lucas's Dragonite a chance to boost itself—it had also empowered its already proficient Flying-type moves.
But even so, Goodra had still used Rain Dance.
Because fighting in the rain was also a very suitable environment for Goodra's ecology.
In the rainwater, the mucus on its body would remain constantly moist. Even without the Hydration ability's effect of curing status conditions, it could effectively increase Goodra's bulk and even improve its mood.
Moreover, even without that ability, as a pure Dragon-type, Goodra's favored Water-type moves could be fully utilized in the rain.
The instant both sides finished their setup and weather control, their first clash began.
"Dragon Claw!"
"Surf!"
Goodra raised its dragon head. Its twin-tail-like antennae swayed as its body instantly rose in height!
Beneath it, a massive wave surged into existence. Under Goodra's control, it crashed fiercely toward the diving Dragonite!
Facing the giant wave coming at it, Dragonite—which feared neither natural typhoons—had no reason to dodge.
"Bo-woo!" Its gentle, kind dragon eyes instantly sharpened. Dragonite let out a long roar. Green energy glowed on its claws. Ferocious energy talons tore through the air. As Dragonite flapped its wings and flew toward the giant wave, it smashed down with full force!
Bang——!
Amid the shocked exclamations of the audience, the giant wave in front of Dragonite seemed to have hit an immovable wall standing firm amid the storm. After a brief standoff and pause, it was forcefully smashed open with a huge hole by sheer power!
Passing through the splashing water, Dragonite's flight speed did not decrease as it charged straight at Goodra behind the wave!
The airflow from its dive easily tore apart water droplets. Goodra only felt a blur before Dragonite appeared right in front of it!
Using physical moves like Dragon Rush in a dive would actually have been the best way to target a special wall like Goodra.
But after Lucas glanced around at the surroundings, he immediately abandoned the idea.
Although the audience had been forced back by the rain, they were still quite close to the battlefield.
If he chose that, Dragonite's power was strong enough to send Goodra flying.
Hitting someone would be bad. At times like this, it was better to use moves with stronger controllability.
"Dragon Pulse!"
The decision took only a split second. In Goodra's widened pupils, a ferocious, multicolored energy dragon rose within the curtain of rain!
"Endure it, Goodra!"
Knowing that Goodra's speed made it impossible to dodge a Dragon Pulse fired at close range, Nemona immediately ordered.
Unlike when it had faced Dragapult—where the opponent's Ghost typing had completely sealed Goodra's most common tactics, forcing inefficient hit-for-hit exchanges.
Now, Goodra could finally showcase its greatest specialty!
Boom!
Amid the violent explosion, shockwaves swept outward. Many people instinctively covered their eyes; some nearly lost their balance without someone behind them to steady them.
From the thick smoke, Goodra emerged with a few more scratches on its body.
After all, Goodra was a main team member of Champion-level Trainer Nemona. Taking one Dragon Pulse from Dragonite was naturally no problem.
Rainwater dripped onto Goodra, dispelling the lingering pain from Dragon Pulse and easing its mood considerably.
Aside from boosting the power of Water-type moves, the most important effect of Rain Dance was its soothing influence on Goodra.
Sending a Pokémon to actively tank attacks could easily strain the bond between Trainer and Pokémon. Most Trainers avoided it if possible. Nemona had only discovered the positive effects of rain on Goodra by chance, which was why she actively employed this tactic.
After Dragon Pulse exploded, Dragonite's Dragon Claw came smashing down at Goodra again.
This time, Goodra once again chose to endure. The instant Dragonite was about to pull back, Goodra activated at zero frames. Its entire body filled with intense white light, then released a dazzling torrent of pure white energy!
At this distance, even Dragonite had no room to dodge. Moreover, although its flight speed was high, its bodily agility was lacking by more than a notch.
Dragonite was directly blasted into the sky by the energy Goodra had accumulated during Endure.
Fortunately, it had Multiscale. It endured the doubled return damage head-on.
Injury was inevitable. The Dragonite with several new wounds adjusted its flight posture under Lucas's command.
Standing in a puddle, completely unaffected by the rain in her thinking, Nemona stared at Dragonite as it was about to fly past Goodra and shouted quickly: "Power Whip! Grab its body!"
"Groooar!"
Goodra responded swiftly. Its twin-tail-like antennae extended under a cloak of green light. Seizing the moment, the instant Dragonite recovered its flight posture and flew past, they shot toward it like lightning!
Its goal was to drag Dragonite down and prevent it from using its flight advantage.
But the moment the antennae were about to wrap around Dragonite and yank it down for a whipping—
Dragonite's figure vanished!
"Groooar?"
Goodra froze for a moment, completely surprised that the Dragonite it had just blasted away at point-blank range could now burst forth with such speed.
"Bad! Goodra, watch your back!"
When she saw Dragonite's orange figure suddenly appear behind Goodra, Nemona's eyelids twitched. She immediately called out a warning.
Goodra reacted fairly quickly. Its thick tail whipped up a surging current of water.
The rain-boosted Aqua Tail lashed directly at Dragonite!
But this time, it missed again!
In contrast, Dragonite now appeared in Goodra's side blind spot. A pair of massive dragon claws smashed down, violently flipping Goodra over!
This scene left many spectators stunned.
"It clearly didn't use that many Dragon Dances. Why does this Dragonite's speed feel even slightly faster than President Geeta's Dragapult!"
Someone asked in confusion, but no one answered.
The pondering Hassel slowly uttered two words: "…Extreme Speed."
As a Dragon expert who had also raised Dragonite, Hassel immediately recognized the reason for Dragonite's disappearance.
However, Dragonite's Extreme Speed was clearly far more special than the straightforward kind.
According to Hassel's understanding, this was probably—
Geeta, who had personally provided Lucas with information, also saw through the details at a glance.
It was a technique learned from an ancient family lineage in the long-history region of Kanto. In game terms, it turned Extreme Speed into a kind of speed-boost buff.
Dragonite's shortcomings in agility would be completely erased. At the same time, if it wanted, it could still use the normal priority Extreme Speed strike.
The two simply couldn't be combined.
It seemed that when facing a bulky opponent like Goodra, Lucas and Dragonite had chosen the former.
At this point, after enduring several fierce attacks from Dragonite in succession, Goodra's stamina had dropped to a dangerously low level.
But Nemona couldn't possibly let Goodra use Rest to recover—that would be no different from lying down and waiting to die.
Whether Dragonite used Dragon Dance to boost or launched a fierce assault before Goodra woke up, the outcome of Goodra never waking again was entirely predictable.
Not to mention that Lucas would never give Nemona the chance to win with Goodra's Sleep Talk.
Nemona chose to go all in!
Just as Teacher Lucas had once explained in class: when dealing with a high-speed opponent, you don't necessarily need to be faster than it. There are many solutions.
The simplest is a large-area strike that the opponent cannot avoid.
Nemona's command followed immediately.
"Goodra, full-power Draco Meteor!"
Goodra raised its head. Massive Dragon-type energy gathered within its body and finally appeared above its head as a deep purple light orb.
The next moment.
The light orb shot straight into the sky. The shockwave from its explosion scattered the rain clouds Goodra had summoned, turning into countless deep purple light arrows that rained down like meteors, indiscriminately bombing everything within range.
To ensure it hit Dragonite, Goodra had even included itself in the Draco Meteor's bombardment zone.
For a time, the entire Sun Square was filled with the "bang bang" sounds of light arrows slamming into the ground.
Just as Nemona had anticipated, no matter how fast Dragonite was, facing such dense bombardment, the only way to dodge would probably be a space-transfer move like Teleport.
So Lucas simply had Dragonite stop and issued a new command.
"Whip up a hurricane!"
"Bo-woooo!!" Dragonite raised its head and roared. Its small wings flapped at a ridiculous speed. Powerful gales erupted from it as the center, turning into visible milky-white high-speed air currents!
Following the winds it had created, Dragonite began flying within an area while continuously generating more wind.
In the blink of an eye, a massive storm piercing heaven and earth stretched across the battlefield!
The light arrows of Draco Meteor were torn into fragments the instant they touched this terrifying storm.
The power of this Hurricane was abnormally strong.
But it wasn't over yet.
Under the control of Dragonite at the storm's eye, the hurricane seemed to gain a will of its own. While destroying the Draco Meteor, it rolled straight toward Goodra.
Even though Nemona tried to stop it with Dragon Pulse, this storm—which even a full-powered Dragon Pulse from Goodra at its peak couldn't stop—had no chance of being halted after Goodra's Special Attack had been lowered by using Draco Meteor.
Only when the storm descended from the sky and swallowed Goodra did Geeta finally snap back to her senses.
This move would have surprised even her, let alone Nemona.
She dared to guarantee that even her own Avalugg had a chance of being swept up by such a storm instead of standing firm like an unmoving mountain.
This kind of power… was simply the kind possessed by the Pokémon of those trainers who had already become legends—battle legends whose numbers could be counted on one hand across the entire world!
From the earlier performances of Serperior, Mimikyu, and Ceruledge, the signs hadn't been obvious yet. But if Dragonite, and later Swampert and Luxray, performed at this level too…
Perhaps the Paldea League was truly about to give birth to a living Battle Legend!