Two razor-sharp water blades extended from Greninja's webbed hands. With a sharp flash of brilliant blue light, the hundred fire dragons were instantly cleaved, dissolving back into countless stray sparks of black flame.
"Volcarona, use Fire Blast!"
The kanji-shaped black fireball lunged menacingly toward Greninja. Unfazed, Greninja rapidly spun the long blades in its hands, instantly morphing them into Water Shurikens.
A barrage of massive Water Shurikens erupted from Greninja's palms, colliding violently with the incoming Fire Blast. The water blades sliced straight through the center of the inferno, hurtling forward like a shower of shooting stars to slam squarely into Volcarona's chassis.
"Impossible! This is completely impossible! This is the borrowed power of a deity—why on earth is it this fragile?!" Alder barked, utterly unable to believe his eyes.
The six brilliant pillars of light anchoring Greninja's back reshaped into six colossal geysers of high-velocity water currents. The towering spires tore cleanly through the Precipice Blades rock formations, hammering ruthlessly against Volcarona.
Subjected to the overwhelming, crushing kinetic force, Volcarona was launched high into the air like a thoroughly drenched bird, before crashing heavily onto the dirt below. It thrashed weakly for a few moments before its massive wings draped limply against the ground. The black miasma coiling around its hide dissipated completely.
"I shall remember you, child who wields the absolute authority of Kyogre." The Earth Fiend's voice echoed in a calculating register. "I expect you to offer me an even grander surprise the next time our paths cross."
In truth, the ancient entity harbored zero personal animosity toward Feng Che. With those final parting words, its dark crimson silhouette dissolved, vanishing completely from Alder's shadow.
"Hmph! Do not assume for a fraction of a second that subduing a single one of my partners grants you the luxury to act this arrogant!" Alder growled, his face twisted into an ugly, dark grimace.
"Come forth, Blastoise!"
Blastoise was a colossal, bipedal testudine Pokémon that occasionally dropped onto all fours to anchor its massive frame. Its thick skin was a deep, rugged blue. Its short, heavily muscled forelimbs and hind legs featured segmented, banded wrinkling around the joints, each ending in three sharp claws. Its tail was no longer wave-like, but a thick, blunt blue stub.
The Shellfish Pokémon possessed a cream-colored lower jaw and triangular ears. Its core torso was completely encased within a massive, durable shell that was deep brown across the back and pale yellow across the underbelly, bridged together by a clean white rim. Extruding from the upper crest of its shell were two large, metallic water cannons, which could be fully retracted inside the carapace.
The heavy cannons could discharge high-pressure torrents with enough kinetic force to cleanly pierce solid iron plates, facilitating devastating Hydro Pumps and Flash Cannons. Its rock-solid shell additionally allowed it to execute specialized defensive moves like Iron Defense and Gyro Ball.
As the definitive final form of a regional starter, it was fully capable of mastering Hydro Pledge and Hydro Cannon. Furthermore, despite its lack of a Dragon-type affinity, its baseline genetics permitted it to execute Outrage and Dragon Pulse. This specific Blastoise was colossal in size, its thick blue hide heavily scarred from a lifetime of combat, radiating an immense, terrifying reservoir of raw physical strength.
"Go, Corviknight!" Feng Che countered, deploying his partner.
Corviknight beat its massive, steel-plated wings, launching itself high into the upper reaches to survey the field.
"Yet another Champion-rank Pokémon... even if it has only recently breached the entry parameters of the mid-tier Champion rank," Alder observed, his sinister, dark gaze locking onto Feng Che. If looks had the capacity to slice like blades, Feng Che would have already been thoroughly perforated by the Champion's stare.
"Blastoise, use Hydro Pump!"
The two heavy metallic cannons snapped out from Blastoise's shell, unleashing a pair of colossal water torrents that shrieked straight toward Corviknight's coordinates.
"Corviknight, use Gravity," Feng Che directed calmly.
Corviknight let out a sharp, ringing cry, instantly manipulating the spatial fabric to drop a heavy gravitational field across the zone. Subjected to the sudden multiplication of physical weight, the high-velocity Hydro Pumps lost their forward momentum, dissolving into a weak, harmless spray that fell short of the target.
"Wow! Gravity can actually be utilized defensively like that?!"
"No way... How can a standard Corviknight master a spatial technique like Gravity?!"
"Just how many rare, highly specialized Pokémon is Elite Four Feng Che hiding on his roster?!"
The onlookers clicked their tongues in sheer amazement.
"Hmph! Let us see how your spatial tricks fare against my Blastoise's ultimate technique! Blastoise, initiate our specialized Rapid Spin strategy!" Alder sneered.
Blastoise hovered slightly before retreating inside its massive shell, its carapace spinning at a manic, terrifying velocity. Concurrently, a colossal deluge of high-pressure water erupted from its cannons, transforming the spinning shell into a whirring vortex of razor-sharp hydro-cutters that sliced effortlessly through the solid earth.
The bedrock fractured violently under the pressure, and from the deep fissures, fresh geysers of water erupted across the field.
This Blastoise can actually map out and pinpoint the exact coordinates of the subterranean rivers hidden beneath the bedrock through kinetic resonance alone, Feng Che analyzed internally. Leveraging the environmental resources through a strategy like this proves Alder definitely possesses the tactical caliber expected of a regional Champion. He isn't as hollow as his recent mental decline suggested; the veteran still knows his way around a battlefield.
"Go, Blastoise! Target the wings with precision fire!" Alder snapped his fingers with a sharp crack.
Hundreds of high-pressure water needles burst from the whirring vortex, tracing complex, high-velocity vectors through the air as they locked onto Corviknight. Refracting the ambient sunlight, the translucent liquid projectiles shimmered with a brilliant, rainbow-colored sheen.
"Precision fire... Isn't that the signature mark of the Sootopolis Gym's elite training style in the Hoenn region?"
"No way... I've followed Champion Alder's high-profile battles for years, yet I have never seen him deploy a specialized tactical variant of this caliber!"
"You guys simply lack the clearance. Champion Alder mastered this advanced marksmanship layout decades ago during his overseas tours," the League investigators murmured excitedly, fully aware that the outcome of this duel would dictate the sovereignty of the Unova Champion title.
When Feng Che had first assumed his position as an Elite Four member in Unova, his public partners had yet to fully breach the parameters of the Champion rank. But given his calculated ruthlessness and vast operational resources, the moment his Pokémon broke into the Champion rank, claiming the throne of the Unova League was an absolute foregone conclusion.
"Corviknight, adjust Gravity parameters."
Corviknight shifted its wings, warping the gravitational density of the localized airspace. Under the uneven spatial resistance, the trajectories of the high-velocity needles warped and skewed, missing Corviknight's chassis entirely.
"Excellent. Go, Corviknight! Counter with Iron Defense into Steel Wing!"
The sixteen steel-plated feathers lining Corviknight's tail detached smoothly, reshaping into razor-sharp, independent metallic blades. The projectiles moved as if guided by a living consciousness, screaming through the air to intercept the spinning shell.
"Hahaha! Blastoise's defensive parameters climb to an unyielding height while maintaining a maximum-velocity Rapid Spin! Your fancy feathers won't be able to scratch its armor!" Alder laughed condescendingly, harboring zero anxiety regarding his partner's core defenses.
"True. Saturated under the passive influence of Iron Defense, breaking through a Blastoise's baseline physical mitigation is a staggering task," Feng Che countered with a genial, knowing smile. "But you see, you've overlooked a fundamental law of physics: the single most fatal flaw of any high-velocity Rapid Spin strategy is the absolute stability of the Pokémon's core center of gravity."
"My Blastoise's rotational center is dynamically shifting every millisecond! Do you truly believe your bird can read the vector?" Champion Alder cold-snapped, the ancient pendant resting against his chest pulsing with an unsettling, dark aura.
"Champion Alder, my Corviknight has absolute command over the localized gravity field," Feng Che replied unhurriedly, his tone dripping with supreme confidence. "Pinpointing a shifting center of mass is child's play for it. If you don't believe me, feel free to watch the show."