Chapter 387: Giovanni's Mega Slot! Lance's Soul and Pride
Anyone could see the thick tension between the two on the field.
"You really are confident. But..."
Lance curled his lips in a cold, vicious smile, his eyes locked on Giovanni and Nidoking.
"Even if my Mega Gyarados is badly poisoned, it has more than enough time to take you down first!"
"Gyarados, Aqua Tail!"
The first tick of Toxic had passed. Mega Gyarados let out a furious roar and swung its enormous tail, wrapped in surging water, down hard at Nidoking.
It was a blow fueled by rage, even more ferocious than the previous two Aqua Tails.
Clearly, Mega Gyarados knew its condition too, and was now going all out.
"Protect."
Giovanni stayed calm. Nidoking could never win a straight-up slugfest with Mega Gyarados.
Giovanni also knew Lance had vast battle experience. If Lance hadn't been unfamiliar with Giovanni's fighting style, he never would have fallen for the trick so easily.
But having just been burned by Toxic, Lance would be much harder to catch off guard again.
A green Protect barrier went up in front of Nidoking, a move that could block almost any attack.
BOOM!!
The crushing Aqua Tail slammed down on the barrier. Ripple after ripple spread across the thin shield, as if it might shatter at any moment.
But the sturdy Protect blocked the Aqua Tail perfectly!
Lance's expression was harsh, his gaze as sharp as a blade.
He knew Giovanni was stalling. Toxic needed time to work, and the longer it went on, the more savage it became.
Until finally, Mega Gyarados would be unable to battle.
"Cowering in your shell! How many times can you Protect?" Lance said icily.
Protect couldn't be used repeatedly. Each consecutive use made it less likely to succeed, and the odds of it failing grew very high.
"Waterfall!"
Mega Gyarados roared. The instant the Protect barrier dropped, a huge column of water shot up from beneath Nidoking's feet and lifted it high into the air.
Nidoking kept its balance and looked down to see Mega Gyarados, wreathed in water, spiraling up the column like a great serpent, closing in at high speed.
The Water-type Waterfall!
"Thunder!"
Violent lightning crackled across Nidoking's body, and a bolt of Thunder shot straight at Mega Gyarados.
BOOM!
The Thunder hit dead-on, but Mega Gyarados only paused for an instant before forcing its way through the blast and continuing to close in on Nidoking.
BAM!
The crackling, lightning-laced Waterfall slammed into Nidoking.
Nidoking roared in pain as its powerful body was sent flying.
That hit did serious damage.
Mega Gyarados was about to give chase when its body stopped short again, and a terrible dark-purple poison glow lit up across it.
The second tick of Toxic had arrived!
This flare-up was more savage than the first, but the Mega Gyarados Lance had raised really did have formidable endurance.
The searing pain from the poison stalled it for only a moment. Then, its face twisted, it let out a roar, as if venting its agony through sheer fury.
"Aqua Tail!"
Mega Gyarados's face was monstrous. It gave Nidoking no chance to recover and charged again.
That kind of berserk offense put Nidoking under enormous pressure.
"Nidoking can't hold out like this."
Serena kept her eyes locked on the battle and made her call.
This Mega Gyarados was way too strong. Its power was nothing short of staggering.
Nidoking's strength had been on full display against Lorelei and the others, and yet even that powerful Nidoking was being pressed so hard by this Mega Gyarados that it could barely breathe.
That said everything.
The Dragon Master Lance had always been hailed as the strongest Champion in the Kanto League, and his strength really was frightening.
"Mm. But Uncle Giovanni can stall for time. A battle isn't only about raw power."
Platinum nodded. In her heart, she was naturally on Giovanni's side.
After all... Giovanni was Mr. Mammon's father, and her child's future grandfather.
The battle went on. Giovanni calmly had Nidoking dodge and defend, but Mega Gyarados's berserk assault was too overwhelming.
"Nidoking is unable to battle. Mega Gyarados wins."
The referee announced the result.
That's right. In the end, Nidoking fell to Mega Gyarados's Aqua Tail.
"See that, Giovanni? Petty tricks alone will never defeat my dragons!"
Lance fixed his eyes on Giovanni, his tone cold and arrogant.
"Champion Lance, this is a full battle. No need to be so impatient. We're not done yet."
Giovanni unhurriedly recalled Nidoking and replied with a faint smile.
Nidoking had lost, but Giovanni didn't see a problem. He thought Nidoking had done a fine job.
In a full battle, losing one round meant nothing, and the way things stood now was exactly as he'd expected.
"Only the one who wins at the very end is the winner. Isn't that right?"
Giovanni threw his second Poké Ball, and Nidoqueen landed in front of him.
"You..."
Lance's sharp brows knit slightly. He didn't like the way Giovanni talked and acted as if everything were under his control.
Lance thought for a moment, then recalled Mega Gyarados.
Mega Gyarados wasn't in great shape either. Over the course of the fight with Nidoking, the Toxic had already ticked four times.
Recalling Mega Gyarados would at least temporarily reset the poison's escalation. Otherwise, the fifth tick would already be brutal.
"Since you're so confident, let's see how you handle this one's power!"
Lance threw his second Poké Ball with a flourish.
"Dragonite!"
In a flash of white light, a stout, orange dragon landed heavily in front of Lance, flapping its two little wings.
"Woooo~!"
The moment this Pokémon appeared, a wave of wild cheering swept through the stadium.
Because this was Dragonite, Kanto's pseudo-legendary!
And Dragonite was Lance's signature Pokémon!
"Dragonite..."
Giovanni narrowed his eyes slightly, studying the Dragonite and its heavy, imposing presence.
"Wait, he's bringing out Dragonite already?"
In the stands, Platinum stared at Kanto's pseudo-legendary in astonishment.
She was getting confused!
This was a full battle, and he used Mega Evolution with his first Pokémon and sent out Dragonite as his second?
Is that really how Champion Lance fights a full battle? Revealing all his trump cards right away to try to crush his opponent fast?
But Uncle Giovanni isn't an ordinary opponent. Doing that could easily backfire.
Does Champion Lance even know how to fight a full battle?
"Don't be so surprised. This isn't Lance's ace Dragonite."
Mammon clicked his tongue softly and answered Platinum.
"Huh?"
Platinum and Serena both blinked.
"That Dragonite is strong, but it's definitely not Lance's ace," Mammon said with certainty.
"They say that when Lance of the Dragon Clan claimed the Kanto title, his Champion team was Dragonair, Dragonair, Gyarados, Aerodactyl, Charizard, and Dragonite."
Caitlin said thoughtfully.
"So Champion Lance must have evolved both of those Dragonair." Serena got it.
"Probably not." Mammon shook his head.
"Lance probably kept his Dragonair unevolved on purpose. As for this Dragonite, did you know? Kanto's most famous Dratini habitat, the Dragon's Den, belongs to the Dragon Clan."
Mammon said with a smile.
That's right. Blackthorn City's Dragon's Den, known as "the home of dragons," was Kanto's most famous Dratini habitat.
Lance might lack plenty of things, but Dragonite would never be one of them!
On top of that, Lance adored Dragonite to an unusual degree, so it was no surprise at all that his team had more than one.
In HeartGold and SoulSilver, for instance, Champion Lance's team had three Dragonite.
Lance was an absolutely extreme Dragonite fanatic. To Lance, Dragonite was his pride and his soul!
"I wonder if this one's Dragonite Unit Two or Unit Three."
Mammon watched the Dragonite with keen interest. Whatever the case, even if it wasn't the ace,
Lance's Dragonite was undoubtedly strong.
Dragonite's base stats spoke for themselves, and this was Lance's Dragonite.
After all, nobody in the world probably understood Dragonite better than Lance.
The battle went on. Lance's fighting style was extremely aggressive. He believed in the power of dragons: offense was the best defense.
So Lance championed attacking above all.
Giovanni, meanwhile, was steady and seasoned, but there was ferocity in his steadiness too.
Under Lance's command, Dragonite attacked relentlessly, but this Dragonite's pressure wasn't actually as overwhelming as Mega Gyarados's.
Giovanni had Nidoqueen defend and counter, and she even found an opening to land an Ice Beam on Dragonite.
As tough as Dragonite was, its Dragon/Flying typing made it four times weak to Ice!
That was Dragonite's single fatal flaw.
Dragonite reacted in time, so the Ice Beam didn't land cleanly, but it still did a lot of damage.
That made Lance pull back a little and start playing more carefully.
But after one last fierce exchange, Giovanni deliberately showed an opening, letting Dragonite close in with Dragon Rush, and Nidoqueen landed an Ice Punch.
Nidoqueen was badly hurt. Dragonite was unable to battle!
Giovanni had evened the score for the moment, but it was still only the beginning.
Lance sent the badly poisoned Mega Gyarados back out, and it defeated Nidoqueen.
Giovanni's next Pokémon was Dugtrio; Lance switched to Charizard.
Charizard lost; Dugtrio won.
Lance sent out Mega Gyarados again, and it traded one-for-one with Dugtrio at the very limit.
The fighting was fiercer than anyone could have imagined. Neither side gave an inch, and overall, the two were still dead even.
Giovanni's fourth Pokémon was Rhyperior, his core battler, and exceptionally strong.
After a moment's thought, Lance sent out another Dragonite: Lance's Dragonite Unit Two.
This time, Lance chose to make use of Dragonite's advantage in the air. Rhyperior was very powerful, but it was heavy, slow, and had low Special Defense.
It took quite a while, but in the end Rhyperior went down under Dragonite's Hydro Pump.
Lance was in the lead again.
But by now, everyone understood: Giovanni was no weaker than Lance. Until the very last moment, nobody could afford to let their guard down.
"I never imagined Giovanni's strength had reached this level."
Backstage, Lorelei's cool, beautiful brows were knit tight. This far into the battle, Giovanni and Lance were still evenly matched.
Before today, if anyone had claimed that Giovanni, a mere Gym Leader, was on the same level as Lance, who would have believed it?
Yet here was the proof, right in front of them.
"It's astonishing indeed. I wonder why Giovanni hid his strength until now."
Agatha's clouded eyes narrowed. But thinking it over, maybe Giovanni hadn't been hiding his strength at all?
It was just that no one had ever been able to push him to his limits. If he had no interest in challenging the League, ordinary Gym challengers could never make him go all out.
"No wonder he fathered a prodigy like Mammon. It's not surprising after all." Agatha laughed low.
With a father this strong, it was no wonder that brat Mammon was so outrageously gifted.
Back on the field.
"That's Champion Lance for you. Truly powerful."
Recalling the fainted Rhyperior, Giovanni couldn't help chuckling.
"You're not bad either."
Lance said flatly. Whatever else, this far into the battle, he had acknowledged Giovanni's strength.
"Oh? To be acknowledged by Champion Lance is quite an honor." The corners of Giovanni's mouth slowly rose.
"But since I took the Elite Four challenge today, I came for the Champion's seat, naturally."
"If you've got what it takes, come and knock me off it."
Lance's cold eyes didn't change in the slightest.
The Champion's seat always went to the strongest. If Giovanni could defeat him, then Giovanni would be Champion.
"Very much in character for you, Lance."
A thick, malicious look spread across Giovanni's shadowed face.
"Didn't you want to see my Mega Evolution? Then let me show you!"
Giovanni threw his fifth Poké Ball.
It opened in midair, a flash of white light, and the buzz of insect wings swept rapidly across the sky.
Finally, it settled slowly in front of Giovanni, raising its twin stingers and glaring at Lance's Dragonite.
The whole stadium erupted. Countless faces went slack with astonishment.
Because Giovanni's fifth Pokémon was... a Beedrill?!
☆☆☆
-> 20 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Inkshaper
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you