"Let's give him a big hand!"
The emcee in shades' passionate, high-energy voice nearly shook the entire Quartz Arena.
"Kanto's strongest man! Dragon Master — Lance!!!"
"Ohhh!!"
As the emcee's voice fell, the whole venue erupted in thunderous cheers and applause.
From the corridor, a cloaked young man with blood-red hair slowly walked out. He had a handsome, aloof face, and beneath his red hair were sharp eyes full of an oppressive aura.
Kanto's head of the Elite Four, Dragon Master Lance!
"Ahhhhh! Lance!!"
"Lance is the real Invincible Under the Heavens! Dragon-type Pokémon are the strongest Pokémon in the world!"
"Damn! Now this is the real match!"
"Too hype! This is way too hype! Giovanni battling Lance, that's the match I wanted to see!"
"Fight! Fight! I want to see it now!"
The entire venue was already completely boiling over, with nearly eighty percent of the crowd excitedly shouting Lance's name.
Kanto Champion Lance represented the words "the strongest" in Kanto.
And Lance was also hailed by the people of the Kanto region as the strongest Champion.
Because Lance was just that powerful!
"What crazy popularity!"
The cheers were so intense that Dawn and Serena's ears were buzzing.
A little tinnitus had set in.
Seeing the audience in the back seats yelling with flushed faces, Dawn couldn't help swallowing hard. It was a little scary.
So this was what fans were like?
"It's not exaggerated. In Kanto, the name Lance is just too famous."
Damian chuckled as he looked at the blood-haired young man standing in the arena, sharp as a blade.
"Born from Viridian Forest and gifted by Viridian Forest, his life is basically a perfect epic."
That's right. In this world, Lance possessed the power of Viridian!
He was a man who came out of Viridian Forest, naturally blessed by Viridian Forest.
But in fact, from his rise to his peak in Kanto, Lance had never received help from the Dragon Master Clan.
He had reached the top through his own talent.
That was also why he had the surname "Dragon," but his name was Lance.
Because in truth, he didn't have much connection with the Dragon Master Clan. Although after Lance became Kanto Champion, he did have some contact with the Dragon Master Clan, and could be considered to have acknowledged himself as one of them.
But strictly speaking, it wasn't the Dragon Master Clan recognizing him. It was him barely endorsing the Dragon Master Clan.
From the moment he debuted, Lance had never met an equal. He was a true prodigy.
"The power of Viridian..."
Caitlin's beautiful eyes narrowed slightly. The power of Viridian was the power Damian once possessed.
And as far as Caitlin knew, the currently known users of the power of Viridian were Damian, Giovanni, and this Dragon Master Lance.
She wondered just how strong Lance really was.
Caitlin naturally wouldn't believe the praise of the general public, just like Hoenn's former Champion Wallace.
Fans would of course say how strong Wallace was, but after actually fighting him, Caitlin felt... well, that was about it.
But this Lance in front of her was probably really strong!
"No doubt about it. Anyone chosen by Viridian Forest isn't weak. Lance is one of the strongest Trainers in the world."
Damian said very firmly.
Because he knew this Lance was the Special manga Lance!
If it were the anime's investigator Lance... wasn't that just a joke?
The anime Lance really was the most ridiculous version. It was already Gen VIII, and his Dragonite still had Hyper Beam, and he even tried using Max Wyrmwind against Mega Gardevoir.
Damian seriously suspected that the anime production team had actually played Pokémon, or that the writer for that battle was Lance's hater.
In the anime's previous World Championship finals, Lance had still been pretty normal. His Shiny Gyarados even suppressed Leon's Charizard, but in the end he still lost to Dynamax Charizard.
Although that battle still wasn't very exciting, Lance narrowly losing also at least lived up to the name of runner-up.
But by Ash's era, Lance was practically treated like he'd offended the writers. His moveset was awful, his bosses were a mess, and as Kanto Champion, he didn't even know about Dragon-type's advantage over Fairy-type immunity?
Lance losing to Diantha was just pure writer-forced defeat.
Damian couldn't understand the anime production team's ideology. Was it because the previous finals were Lance vs. Leon, and they didn't want Lance and Leon to fight again and cause style fatigue, so they forced Lance to job to Diantha?
But if you want to job someone out, at least make the battle make sense, right? They just turned anime Lance into a clown. He couldn't even get the type advantage chart straight, and this was supposed to be the Masters Eight?
"This battle's gonna be great. Watch closely."
Damian adjusted into a comfortable position, ready to properly enjoy the battle between Giovanni and Lance.
The Special manga Lance was nothing like that clownish anime Lance. As one of Kanto's three great bosses, he once later went toe-to-toe with Sinnoh's Creation Trio's Palkia at the Sinjoh Ruins using his ace Dragonite.
Lance absolutely had the level of a top-tier Champion.
On the field.
"Kanto Champion Lance, huh~"
Looking at Lance on the other side, with that cold, proud aura on his face, the corners of Giovanni's lips couldn't help but rise slightly.
For Lance, Giovanni really had been thinking about him for a long time.
Before Damian took over Team Rocket, the group's thorns in the side were Lance and Lorelei, those two madmen.
Whether it was Lance or Lorelei, their hatred for Team Rocket was far too deep—especially Lance.
That directly led to Lance chasing down every Team Rocket member like a mad dog. As soon as he saw someone from Team Rocket, he attacked, life or death be damned.
A lot of Team Rocket members died at Lance's hands.
Under those circumstances, Giovanni's impression of Lance naturally wasn't going to be good.
Of course, things were different now.
With Damian's rise to power, Team Rocket had already started transforming, and Lance's attitude toward Team Rocket wasn't nearly as extreme as it used to be.
Lance crossed his arms, his cold, sharp eyes like blades as he stared at Giovanni across the field.
The referee entered.
"Now beginning the Champion challenge match between challenger Giovanni and Champion Lance!"
"The battle rules are a full 6-on-6 match! Champion Lance will go first. When all six Pokémon on either side are unable to battle, the other side wins!"
"Battle start!"
The referee announced the rules, then saluted the two of them on the field before slowly stepping out of the battle arena.
The whole venue gradually fell quiet, every gaze filled with excitement.
A Champion challenge match!!
This was extremely rare no matter which region you looked at. Even though a region's Champion was usually the strongest qualified person, and as long as you had the strength, you could become Champion—
actually becoming Champion was never that easy.
The Elite Four challenge was simply too difficult. You had to beat the Elite Four in succession, and then you still had to go through the Champion challenge and defeat the Champion, and only then could you claim that title for yourself.
And now, the Kanto region's Champion challenge was unfolding once again!
Of course, the whispers and gazes of the crowd didn't affect the two men on the field.
Lance still stood there with his arms folded, keeping eye contact with Giovanni before speaking calmly.
"Giovanni, you're really good."
Being able to defeat Lorelei, Bruno, and Agatha in succession was enough to prove Giovanni's strength, let alone the fact that after beating all three, Giovanni had only lost one Nidoqueen.
"You're one of the gifted ones chosen by Viridian Forest too, right? I'll allow you to use the power of Viridian to heal your Pokémon."
Lance said calmly.
"That's not in the rules."
Giovanni let out a light laugh.
"My rules are the rules. Since you're my challenger, this battle ought to be fair."
Lance's tone remained calm, but that calmness was filled with absolute certainty.
"That's some arrogance, Champion Lance."
Giovanni couldn't help but laugh. As expected, that ridiculously arrogant Dragon Master Lance would never take advantage of an opponent.
For Lance, Lorelei and the other two were just preliminary tests to see whether a challenger was worth him personally taking action against.
Only after beating Lorelei and the others in succession would you have the qualifications to stand before him.
Lance said nothing, only silently watching Giovanni.
Giovanni didn't hold back either. Green motes of light lit up in his hand with the power of Viridian, healing the injuries on Nidoking and the other Pokémon.
Once they had basically recovered, Giovanni looked up at Lance.
"I hope you won't regret that decision."
Giovanni's mouth curled, revealing a smile full of malice.
He was, of course, referring to Lance letting him heal his Pokémon. After all, although only one Nidoqueen had lost the ability to fight...
the fact that Nidoking and the others were injured and not at full condition was undeniable. A Pokémon at full health and a Pokémon on the brink of defeat were completely different things.
"Regret?"
Lance let out a cold laugh, arrogantly raising his head as his right hand swept stylishly over his cloak, his blood-red hair flowing.
"Dragons never regret!"
The Dragon Master's overwhelmingly arrogant voice echoed again and again.
At this moment, his expression was proud and self-assured as he looked down at the man across from him, Kanto's strongest Gym Leader.
"Giovanni, do you know? Dragons are legendary sacred Pokémon!"
"They're hard to catch, but if you raise them right, their power will be unmatched!!"
That's right! Dragon power was the strongest!
That was Lance's conviction, and also his Champion's will!
At some point, Lance raised his right hand, an Ultra Ball held in it and pointed at Giovanni.
Sharp edge on full display!
Wild!!
It was a kind of wildness that came from the bones!
Lance was exactly that kind of arrogant man.
His confidence, his pride, his arrogance—all of it came from the dragons that had carried him across Kanto!
"Well then, are you ready? It's about time we get started, Giovanni."
Lance showed an arrogant smile, and those bared white teeth gave off a chill that reached the depths of the heart.
"Come and experience it yourself—my Dragon army!!"
Kanto Champion, Dragon Master Lance—has come to challenge!
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