The colossal dragon spread its wings wide, blotting out the sun above the arena. The moment Salamence appeared, a crushing Aura rolled off its massive body like a wave, making the air itself feel heavy. Its sheer size alone was enough to fill the crowd with a deep, instinctive dread.
The spectators felt as though invisible hands had closed around their throats. Breathing became difficult. A few people near the front of the stands stumbled back.
Seeing the situation turn dangerous, the arena staff quickly activated the energy barriers that enclosed the battlefield. The moment the barriers hummed to life, the pressure lessened enough for the crowd to breathe again.
Even so, every pair of eyes in the stadium remained fixed on Salamence, wide with shock and edged with something that could only be called fear.
A pure Dragon-type Pokémon's awakened Dragon Aura, layered on top of the Intimidate Ability, was not simply a matter of adding two effects together. In the presence of Salamence, any Pokémon below the Superior rank struggled to hold its ground — some could barely stay on their feet.
David had never fully registered this when training alongside Salamence. Over the past months, his own Aura had grown continuously, giving him a strength that already surpassed ordinary Superior-rank Pokémon by a wide margin. Combined with his unusual physique — one that, aside from its human appearance, had little in common with an ordinary person — David simply never felt the weight of Salamence's pressure.
It should be noted that the little Zorua was not the only one who had benefited from purifying the Stones over those six months. Each purification session had completely drained David of his Aura power. Yet every time he recovered, his Aura came back stronger. His body and spirit had been tempered again and again, growing more resilient with each cycle.
Calling David a humanoid Pokémon at this point would not have been an exaggeration.
Then again, humans in the Pokémon world were said to have descended from a certain kind of Pokémon long ago, so perhaps David was simply a cross-world variation of that ancient origin — a different kind of atavism.
But back to the battle.
If the spectators outside the barrier were already struggling just from being in Salamence's presence, then Greninja, standing directly across from it on the field, was in a far worse situation. Facing a creature whose wings alone covered nearly a quarter of the sky above the arena, the sheer difference in scale made it almost impossible to summon any will to fight.
In the wild, a Greninja encountering a Salamence like this would have had only one option: flee. But this was a battle, and Kuuki Genichi had no intention of conceding. Under his Trainer's command, Greninja had no choice but to stand its ground.
To its credit, Greninja's quality was exceptional. Once it focused, even with Salamence looming before it, Greninja steadied itself and settled into a battle stance with practiced calm.
While Greninja was collecting itself, David made no move to order an attack.
Partly, this was a matter of caution. The trainers from the Sakura Alliance could not be underestimated so easily. Since the opportunity had presented itself, David saw no reason not to take his time.
Partly, it was for Salamence's sake. Having only recently evolved, Salamence needed a meaningful opponent to gauge its current strength. Greninja, David decided, would do nicely for that purpose.
Not that David was being dismissive out of arrogance. The gap in strength between the two sides was simply that large.
Since evolving, Salamence had become the most powerful member of David's team in terms of raw combat ability — outpacing everyone else in both actual strength and level. Greninja had no realistic chance of matching that.
As for why that comparison was qualified as being "under normal circumstances" — that was because the little Zorua and Kirlia each had their own trump cards that could shift the situation entirely.
And Lucario, of course, shared with David the ability to enter dual Aura resonance — something that had been possible since back when Lucario was still in its Egg.
While several of David's Pokémon could tap into his Aura in some form, those connections were generally one-sided, driven by David's output alone. None of them, except Lucario, possessed Aura power of their own. Only Lucario could truly meet David's Aura with its own — and when two Aura powers clashed and rose together, the result was something far greater than either could achieve alone.
"Greninja, look away! Close your eyes — use Agility, then follow up with Double Team!"
"Quaaak!"
Greninja obeyed immediately and launched into motion.
A Superior-rank Greninja who had completed its ninja training fought just as well without sight as with it. Boosted by Agility, its silhouette blurred across the field, moving so fast that the spectators outside the barrier could barely track it — only the rapid sound of displaced air marked its path.
Just as Greninja closed in on Salamence, its form fractured into twelve identical afterimages, each one moving with equal speed and precision.
It was a masterful use of Double Team — no less impressive than what the little Zorua could pull off.
The images converged on Salamence from multiple angles, their combined presence making it genuinely difficult to pick out the real one.
"Greninja — Water Shuriken!"
Two churning spheres of water appeared in Greninja's hands, spinning rapidly before snapping into shape as razor-sharp Water Shurikens. Greninja hurled them upward, and thanks to Double Team, a volley of a dozen shimmering Shurikens filled the air simultaneously, closing in on Salamence in a dense, spinning barrage.
Hidden within the illusions, the real attack was nearly impossible to identify.
Watching the display, Kuuki Genichi allowed himself a flicker of satisfaction. Raw power meant nothing if it couldn't land. A body that large was nothing but a target. Size, in his experience, was a liability on the battlefield.
What he didn't know was that Salamence was perfectly capable of dodging — and had simply chosen not to.
Rather than stepping back, Salamence shifted slightly forward, chest exposed, and let the attack come.
Bang — Bang — Bang!
A sharp crackling filled the arena.
The spinning Water Shurikens struck Salamence's chest plate — and left nothing but a handful of faint white scuff marks.
"That's impossible!"
The gasp came not from Kuuki Genichi, but from the crowd.
Water Shuriken was a move built for speed over raw power, but for a full-force volley at close range to leave nothing more than surface marks — that was deeply unsettling.
David watched without expression. He had known exactly what would happen.
Years ago, he had used the Lin family's specialized training method to harden and polish Shelgon's shell — time and again, session after session. Then, after he began wearing the Breath of the Sea God, Lugia's energy had been steadily reinforcing Shelgon's body. The strength of Salamence's chest armor was built upon that same shell, carried forward through evolution.
Just how durable Salamence's defenses had become was something David himself couldn't fully quantify anymore. What he did know, without any doubt, was that Water Shuriken had never had any realistic chance of leaving a mark.