Chapter 388: Giovanni: "I Am the Strongest Man in Kanto!"
Beedrill??!
Yellow body, red eyes, black stripes on its abdomen, and its signature long white stingers for arms.
No mistake: it was a Beedrill!
One of the favorite Pokémon of the Bug Catchers you'd find along any Kanto roadside. It was a final evolution, but its strength was... how to put it?
Let's just say it wasn't anything to write home about.
And yet Giovanni, Kanto's strongest Gym Leader, now a world-class trainer fighting Kanto's Champion Lance to a dead heat, had thrown out a Beedrill at a moment this critical??
"Did... did Uncle Giovanni bring the wrong Pokémon?"
Even Platinum couldn't help hesitating when she saw the Beedrill.
It wasn't that she looked down on Beedrill. But Beedrill... could a Pokémon like that really hold up in a battle at this level?
Sure, there was a saying: there are no weak Pokémon, only weak trainers.
But the differences in strength between Pokémon were very real.
At the same level, how many Beedrill could one Dragonite beat?
That was an obvious gap in power. That was reality.
Mammon chuckled. Platinum's reaction didn't surprise him.
Without seeing it with your own eyes, who would believe that Giovanni, the trainer who had written The Essence of the Earth, had a Beedrill as his ace?
Oh, right, not anymore. With Groudon on board, Giovanni's ace was now Groudon.
But to Giovanni, Beedrill was still something very special.
"Uncle Giovanni's Beedrill is very different."
Caitlin glanced at Platinum and said calmly.
She had seen Giovanni's Beedrill in action with her own eyes, so she knew exactly how strong it was.
"It's that Beedrill!"
Elsewhere, Wallace was extremely excited, because he remembered: this Beedrill had saved him!
Come to think of it, Giovanni really was his savior. His Beedrill had saved Wallace once, and his Dugtrio had saved him once.
Gym Leader Giovanni! A fan for life!
"Yeah. Mr. Giovanni's Beedrill really is strong."
Steven wholeheartedly agreed. More than once he'd marveled and wondered about it.
How on earth had Giovanni raised a Beedrill to this level of power? In a straight exchange, even Steven's Mega Metagross was no match for Giovanni's Beedrill.
It just defied science!
Leon's Charizard he could at least understand. Charizard was strong to begin with. But Beedrill was truly staggering.
"Gym Leader Giovanni must have put in effort and sweat outsiders can't even imagine, and poured so much love into it. Otherwise Beedrill could never have grown this strong."
Wallace looked deeply moved.
He could just picture it: a young Giovanni training hard alongside his Beedrill, day after grueling day.
"That's true." For once, Steven didn't argue with Wallace. He agreed completely.
To raise a Beedrill to this level, you'd need time, effort, sweat, persistence, trust, and a deep bond. Not one of them could be missing.
"But all that effort pays off. This time, Mr. Giovanni is going to make his name known across the world."
Steven sighed in admiration, watching the middle-aged man in the suit and the Beedrill in front of him.
The Galar region.
Seeing the Beedrill, Rose's expression turned odd, and he looked at Leon.
"Hard to believe, I know, but would you believe it, Chairman? My Mega Charizard Y and that Beedrill, once it Mega Evolves, are fifty-fifty."
Leon looked just as strange as he answered.
"That's impossible!"
Before Rose could say anything, his secretary, Oleana, blurted it out in shock.
Everyone in Galar had exactly one impression of Leon's Charizard: invincible.
And Mega Evolved, Leon's Charizard needed no introduction.
Yet Leon was saying his Mega Charizard Y was only fifty-fifty with this Beedrill?
"It's true." Leon laughed and shook his head, a fierce fighting spirit rising in his eyes as he watched the Beedrill on the broadcast.
"That Beedrill is an opponent you never forget~"
On the field.
"Beedrill?!"
Even Lance couldn't quite keep a straight face when he saw it.
Beedrill? Is Giovanni trying to humiliate me?!
But Lance was Lance. The thought had come up reflexively, and he quickly decided it made no sense.
This Champion Challenge mattered enormously to Giovanni.
Having come this far, Lance didn't believe Giovanni would joke around at a moment like this.
Besides...
With the Power of Viridian, Lance's senses were extraordinarily sharp. Studying the Beedrill carefully, Lance realized:
Its presence was deep and steady, with a chilling undercurrent of danger. This Beedrill was definitely very strong!
Lance's gaze turned cautious, but there was also a thrilling, heart-pounding excitement in it.
"I thought you might take this as an insult, Champion Lance."
Giovanni smoothly drew his left hand out of his pocket, where it had stayed the whole time, adjusted his shirt collar, and spoke with a faint smile.
"If my magnanimity were that small, it would only prove I'm nothing special," Lance said flatly.
"But I am surprised. A Beedrill? Heh heh~"
It was hard to tell what Lance meant by that. Mockery? No. More likely surprise.
Not that Giovanni cared.
"After all, not everyone is as blessed as you, Champion Lance, starting out with a Dratini."
Giovanni looked at Beedrill's back, a hint of wistfulness in his eyes.
"Oh?" Lance's interest was piqued, but only slightly. And he didn't agree with Giovanni.
"Blessed? What right do you have to say that about me?"
Lance couldn't help a cold laugh.
"Giovanni, you were chosen by Viridian Forest just like me. What's the difference between us? Weedle? Dratini? Complaining the heavens weren't fair?"
"That's whining about nothing. There's no such thing as a free lunch. You think Dratini is some cushy starter for a new trainer?"
Just as Lance himself had said, Dragon types were hard to catch, but once fully raised, they were unmatched!
But dragons weren't only hard to catch. They were hard to raise, too!
Why were pseudo-legendaries like Dragonite called "late bloomers"? Because they grew so slowly.
And Beedrill?
Weedle was weak, and Beedrill wasn't very strong either, but as a beginner's Pokémon, was Beedrill really such a bad fit?
Generally speaking, Beedrill's potential was far below Dragonite's. But for a rookie just setting out on their journey,
which was better was honestly impossible to say.
At the very least, Lance knew the bitter struggles of his early days raising Dratini. But all that was in the past.
All people saw now was the Dragon Master standing at the peak of Kanto: radiant, aloof, and proud.
"Heh heh~ Lance, you really do surprise me."
Giovanni narrowed his eyes slightly at that, studied Lance for a long moment, and couldn't help smiling.
"Hmph!" Lance snorted coldly.
"Well then..."
Giovanni slowly raised his arm. On his wrist was an expensive watch, and set in its band was a beautiful Key Stone.
"Beedrill!"
The Mega Stone on Beedrill shone in sync, and the light of evolution flared.
In an instant, a Mega Beedrill appeared, its momentum unstoppable, all edge and menace, brandishing four arms tipped with lance-like stingers.
The Bug/Poison-type Mega Beedrill!
Lance's eyes sharpened. This Mega Beedrill was very strong!
"Lance, from this day on, the strongest man in Kanto will be me, Giovanni!"
Giovanni lightly turned the watch on his wrist, his upturned lips carrying an indescribable wildness.
"Oh? Don't make me laugh with talk that big."
Lance's expression twisted strangely, then settled into a savage, thrilled grin.
"My dragons haven't agreed to that!"
"Dragonite, Fire Blast!"
Lance's Dragonite Unit Two flapped its wings and took off. Dense fire gathered in its mouth, and a searing blast of flame in the shape of the character 大 shot toward Mega Beedrill.
The Fire-type Fire Blast!
"Brick Break." Giovanni smiled faintly.
Facing the surging flames, Mega Beedrill didn't move an inch. It raised one jousting-lance arm high, glowing with intense white light.
The Fighting-type Brick Break!
BOOM!
Brick Break crashed down onto the Fire Blast, and before the stunned eyes of the entire audience, the powerful Fire Blast was split clean in two.
Lance's pupils contracted.
The surging flames slid past on either side of Mega Beedrill. In the red-hot wave of heat, Mega Beedrill's gaze stayed cold and calm, completely unaffected by the temperature around it.
It swept another lance sideways, and the lingering flames were instantly blown away by the gust.
"Hsss~!"
Gasps rippled through the stands.
"That's way too strong?!"
Serena was genuinely shocked.
Granted, Dragonite's Special Attack was pretty middling compared to its physical Attack, but that was only relative to its own Attack stat.
Dragonite's Special Attack was by no means weak, and this was Lance's Dragonite.
But the way Mega Beedrill brushed it off so effortlessly was absurd!
"Poison Jab!"
Giovanni spoke two more words.
Mega Beedrill raised its lances and blurred into a yellow streak, charging at Dragonite.
"Dragon Claw!"
Lance refused to be outdone and had Dragonite meet it head-on.
Retreat? Not a chance!
Lance understood that this Mega Beedrill was astonishingly strong. That was exactly why he needed to learn as much about it as possible.
Dragonite Unit Two was already worn down, which made it perfect for probing. If it could do some damage to Mega Beedrill, so much the better.
Facing the charging Mega Beedrill, Dragonite showed no fear. Its sharp Dragon Claws lit up, and it swung them straight at Mega Beedrill.
Mega Beedrill thrust its dark-purple jousting-lance stinger straight forward.
Poison Jab vs. Dragon Claw!
BAM!
Stinger and claw collided hard. The deadlock lasted only an instant before Mega Beedrill pushed harder.
Poison Jab shattered Dragon Claw outright and stabbed deep into Dragonite's chest.
Dragonite let out a low roar of agony, and its whole body shot downward like a cannonball, slamming into the ground.
The impact made the whole battlefield shudder.
Lance's face darkened. Shattered on contact? That was impossible. Even his ace Dragonite couldn't break Unit Two's attack in a single blow.
But it had happened. Mega Beedrill's physical Attack was enormous, and on top of that it had its Adaptability ability.
Mega Beedrill's offensive power was terrifying!
"Pin Missile."
The next moment, Mega Beedrill raised its four lance-stingers, white light gathering on them again and again.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
A storm of Pin Missile beams rained down from the sky, pounding the spot where Dragonite had fallen.
The thunderous blasts went on and on, deafening. Even after a long while, the thick dust still hadn't settled.
Mega Beedrill swept its arm, and a powerful gust blew all the dust away.
A cratered, wrecked battlefield came into view, pounded into that state by the Pin Missiles.
And at the bottom of one deep crater lay Dragonite, unable to battle.
Most of the audience stared open-mouthed at the Mega Beedrill hovering in midair, as if seeing this Pokémon for the very first time.
"Holy crap! BEEDRILL!!!"
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