"Carracosta, use Aqua Jet!"
Carracosta slammed its heavy forelimbs hard against the earth, sending a violent tremor rippling through the ground.
A deep, subterranean rumbling echoed below before dozens of surging geysers burst upward from the cracked stone.
The jets of water shot two to three meters into the air, catching the light and forming a brilliant, shimmering rainbow.
To everyone's surprise, the gushing water was scalding hot-spring water.
"Who would have thought we'd stumble across a hot spring out here?" Feng Che murmured thoughtfully, watching the steaming water.
"The water seems infused with special minerals capable of relieving a Pokémon's fatigue."
"If this place were developed into a hot-spring resort, it could easily become a premier tourist destination," Mewtwo remarked telepathically, analyzing the subterranean thermal activity with a thoughtful edge.
"There's an active volcano down below, coupled with an underground river network," Mewtwo added.
"What kind of luck do these Team Plasma folks have, anyway? All six of their warships somehow managed to skirt right around the subterranean currents."
"Liepard, use Dark Pulse!"
Liepard parted its jaws, unleashing a concentrated blast of dark energy.
The ground beneath Carracosta's feet shattered instantly under the impact of the attack.
Unbalanced, the ancient turtle plunged backward into the scalding hot water below, sinking beneath the surface with no telling whether it was dead or alive.
N cast a provocative glance toward the remaining Seven Sages, his expression clearly communicating a single word: Pathetic.
The look sent a surge of pure irritation through the Sages.
"Arrogant! Unbelievably arrogant! It seems I have no choice but to teach you all a proper lesson."
"Go, Chandelure!"
Bursting forth from Zinzolin's shadow came a towering Chandelure, its body wreathed in the wailing spirits of the restless dead.
Chandelure was a chandelier-shaped Pokémon.
It possessed a striped, rounded head and yellow, pupil-less eyes.
Atop its head sat a small black spike, crowned by a roaring, towering purple flame.
Beneath its head was a black bobeche, sporting a pair of curled, candelabra-like arms tipped with four flickering purple flames.
Chandelure absorbed the life force of other living beings, burning their spirits away as fuel.
It could lull enemies into a deep slumber by swaying the flames on its arms.
This particular Chandelure possessed an intense, voracious appetite for the powerful souls of humans and Pokémon alike.
"Go, Chandelure! Use Flamethrower!"
Columns of roaring fire erupted across the ground as Chandelure glided effortlessly through the pillars of flame, wearing an arrogant smirk.
"Corviknight, use Gravity!"
An immense wave of crushing gravity washed outward from Corviknight's frame.
Overwhelmed by the sudden, heavy pressure, Chandelure plummeted straight out of the air, crashing hard against the stone floor below.
The fall was devastating; the glass globe on its body shattered into pieces, its ghostly purple flames spilled across the floor in a scattered mess, and its candelabra-like arms bent into unnatural, grotesque angles.
"Strange... why would Chandelure be affected by Gravity?"
"Chandelure should be able to slip seamlessly through shadows or render its body completely ethereal."
Zinzolin stared at his battered, broken Chandelure in utter bewilderment.
At that moment, Feng Che caught a subtle flash of white light reflecting in Liepard's eyes.
"Mewtwo, did Liepard just use Odor Sleuth?" Feng Che asked mentally.
"Indeed it did. Liepard executed Odor Sleuth right on cue. I must admit, N's battle coordination is remarkably sharp."
"Corviknight deployed Gravity just as N ordered Liepard to pierce its ethereal defenses with Odor Sleuth," Mewtwo noted with appreciation.
"Go, Reuniclus!"
Gorm could no longer contain his fury, sending out his next Pokémon.
Reuniclus possessed a pale-green cellular core shaped vaguely like a human form, complete with limbs, though its head dwarfed the rest of its body.
It featured a red mouth and a pair of dark eyes, its maw opening wider than those of its earlier evolutionary stages.
Encased entirely in a gelatinous, cyan cell membrane, it harnessed psychokinetic energy to manipulate arms formed of special fluid, smashing solid rock to dust.
The moment Reuniclus appeared, a swarm of Duosion materialized alongside it, filling the sky and stirring up a bizarre, warping telekinetic storm.
Vast reservoirs of psychic power pooled heavily in the firmament.
"My Reuniclus is the alpha of the Duosion flock; it can summon a multitude of them to fight as one."
"Feng Che, Vio, N—prepare to meet your end!"
The colossal wave of psychic energy surged forward like a razor-sharp blade, hurtling directly toward the trio.
Had those psychic blades struck home, they would have left no physical laceration on the body.
Instead, every single living cell struck by the concentrated energy would instantly burst and fail.
"Liepard, use Dark Pulse!" N commanded without hesitation.
The dark beam erupting from Liepard's jaws crashed directly into the psychic storm, holding the brunt of the assault at bay.
Simultaneously, Liepard vanished, reappearing like a ghost behind the swarm of hovering Duosion to unleash a lightning-fast Night Slash.
One by one, the Duosion plummeted from the sky, instantly knocked out of commission.
Every single falling Duosion bore a tiny, precise wound weeping dark-type energy.
"Damn it... how can the three of them be this strong?"
The Seven Sages eyed Feng Che and his companions with mounting apprehension.
Right on cue, Reshiram and Zekrom descended from the clouds, swooping low to scoop up Feng Che and N before soaring back into the fray.
"Rood, weren't the five of you eager for a proper match?"
"I'll fight all five of you at once—and I'll even fight with one hand tied behind my back!"
Vio cracked his knuckles, rolling his shoulders as the Pokémon recently knocked down by the trio began to stir and rise.
Carracosta surged forward, coating its heavy shell in a rushing torrent of Aqua Jet.
Lilligant channeled the raw vitality of nature, sending a frenzy of thick, spiked wooden vines bursting upward from the soil via Wood Hammer.
Cryogonal whipped up a blinding Ice Beam, leaving long, jagged trails of razor-sharp ice spikes sprouting in its wake.
Chandelure spat out consecutive, ferocious Fire Blast projectiles.
Meanwhile, Reuniclus rallied its Duosion flock, channeling a brilliant wave of Recover that washed over the team. In moments, every single Duosion sprang back to peak condition, spinning wildly in midair to generate an overwhelming surge of psychic might.
"I'm done pretending, folks. The truth is... I'm already a Champion-class trainer."
Vio declared proudly, raising his voice across the battlefield.
"Now that I've reached the rank of Champion, the gap between us is like the distance between the heavens and the earth. Unsurpassable."
Vio shot a sharp glance at his Kommo-o, which immediately bared its gleaming, razor-sharp dragon claws in readiness.
High above, Feng Che and N surveyed the Glacial Chasm, which had transformed into a devastated wasteland scarred by jagged golden lightning and searing white flames.
Kyurem thrashed with manic fury, locked in a brutal three-way battle against Reshiram and Zekrom.
With every flap of its wings, torrents of blizzards and frost swept across the landscape, converting the entire arena into a frozen domain.
Even as Feng Che and N drew breath, thick clouds of white vapor billowed visibly from their lips.