Boom!
With a descent like a crushing fall, a kick once again slammed into Yanmega's face. But this time, the flames were on an entirely different level.
"Yaaannmegg!!!"
Yanmega's shrill scream burst from its body. It was no longer the sound produced by the beating of its wings, but its true cry.
Half of its face was practically burned away!
And Blaziken had no intention of ending it with a single blow. The other leg shot out once more!
Yanmega, which had already descended to half its flying height, was kicked again and again by Mega Blaziken, falling straight from the air toward the ground.
Boom!
Once more, great amounts of debris and watery mist were thrown up; Yanmega, its head scorched, fell into the crater on the ground and lost its ability to fight.
"Blaaazk!" Only after Yanmega fell did Mega Blaziken descend with complete lightness from the air and land gently on the ground; the damp terrain did not even show the slightest indentation.
However, the extremely high temperature of Blaziken's body instantly evaporated all the surrounding watery mist, and even the wet mud on the ground dried completely.
When Mega Blaziken releases all of its power, the temperature inside its body can reach tens of thousands of degrees. Forget the watery mist—even if there were a bar of refined steel in front of it, it could melt it without any difficulty. To use Ho-Oh's Sacred Fire, the temperature requirements are extremely high.
After casting a sideways glance at Yanmega lying in the crater, Blaziken's eyes flashed with a trace of disdain. The multicolored light on its body flickered, the energy of Mega Evolution dissipated, and it slowly walked to Cain's side.
This Yanmega had truly disappointed it; in its view, aside from flying a bit higher, it had nothing worth mentioning.
Nevertheless, Cain understood it well: this Yanmega was probably not one of Brad's original Pokémon, but one he had captured on this continent. Having not used TM moves, the synchronization with its trainer had not reached the optimal level, so it could not be said to have displayed its full true strength.
Brad looked at Yanmega lying defeated on the ground, and an inexplicable anger once again welled up in his heart.
Just as Cain had guessed, this Yanmega was a Pokémon he had defeated and captured not long ago; at the time, he had taken note of its immediate strength and potential.
After all, back then he only had two Pokémon capable of fighting. According to his calculations, a new batch of people was about to be sent here, and having one more Pokémon as immediate combat power was not a bad idea. Moreover, judging by his past self, he believed that no matter how talented the newcomers were, this Yanmega would be enough to place enormous pressure on them.
Who would have thought that he would be so unlucky as to encounter Cain—the most deeply hidden among the newcomers—right from the start, and that Cain would not hold back at all, unleashing his full strength against him.
Now Yanmega had not only failed to fulfill the role expected of it, but had become Blaziken's whetstone, and on top of that, one of those whetstones that are despised after being used.
The fury in Brad's heart was easy to imagine. If not for the fact that his Pokémon had been taken away by that group of people... if not for the fact that the Poké Ball he used to capture Yanmega was the only empty one he had left... if he had been able to gather six Pokémon and establish the most basic tactical system, he would not have ended up in such a passive position against Cain.
Forcibly suppressing the anger boiling within him, even so he did not dare to discard this Yanmega with Champion-level strength.
But at this moment, he had fallen completely into absolute passivity.
Just as he was thinking about how to break this situation, Darkrai, which had disappeared into the shadows, slowly emerged from them.
Upon seeing Darkrai appear, both Haxorus and Feraligatr showed expressions of alertness, fearing a sudden attack.
However, a surprise ambush clearly did not suit Darkrai's character. It extended an arm and, with a serious expression, made a gesture with its finger toward Haxorus.
The meaning was obvious: it wanted Haxorus to step out and fight it.
Blaziken had easily defeated the opponent's Yanmega. Darkrai, which in the past had been able to face Giratina head-on, did not consider Haxorus—no matter how strong—to be a real threat. Only because its own strength had not yet fully recovered—not even to half—did this Haxorus barely qualify as an opponent.
Seeing Darkrai's gesture, Brad narrowed his eyes as he looked at Cain, who still wore a smile on his face.
First Blaziken, now Darkrai; the other side was truly using him as a whetstone, not taking him seriously in the slightest.
But the truth was that he had enough strength not to take him seriously.
Brad felt an unbearable oppression in his chest, but he had no alternative.
Before him there were only two paths. The first was to start an all-out war against Cain, but Yanmega had just lost its ability to fight; Feraligatr and Haxorus, at most, could hold back Darkrai and Mega Gengar. And what about the rest of Cain's Pokémon?
A Slowking and a Champion-level Blaziken were not something a human body could withstand.
That path was a dead end. Only the other remained: to let Haxorus obediently fight against Darkrai. It was not that there was no chance; although the opponent was the legendary God of Nightmares, it was definitely not the true God of Nightmares at its peak.
Moreover, Haxorus was his genuine Pokémon; when commanding it, he was far more at ease than with Yanmega. If he could find a crack in Cain, perhaps he could still turn the situation around.
But, to be honest, Brad was already beginning to regret it.
He realized that the "fat sheep" he thought he had seen had turned around, shed its sheep's skin, and revealed the true nature of a fierce wolf. This boy did not resemble a typical member of the League at all.
He did not know whether it was because he had been away for too long and the way the League trained new talents had completely changed, or whether the person in front of him—with that gentle smile and harmless appearance—was hiding something far deeper.
Either way, whether he could break this situation depended on the outcome of the battle between Haxorus and Darkrai.
But without a doubt, the result would also exceed all his expectations, because he could never imagine the achievements Darkrai had attained in the past.
(End of chapter)