Gengar kept letting out mischievous laughs on the field, its tongue lolling out at the same time.
In contrast, the Gardevoir opposite it was so gentle, beautiful, and elegant.
Compared to that, Gengar looked exactly like a street thug.
Diantha directly grasped the pendant on her chest, and the key stone on it began to glow with seven-colored light.
"Gardevoir, let's go, Mega Evolution!"
The Mega Stone hanging on Gardevoir's chest similarly erupted with brilliant light, then merged with the light erupting from Diantha, enveloping Gardevoir and revealing a huge Mega symbol in the air.
"Gardevoir!"
As the light dissipated, Gardevoir's form changed.
Its figure was slender and elegant, its pink and white skirt flowing and agile. The energy of its Psychic and Fairy types surged, its aura overwhelming the entire field. This strongest posture displayed by the ace of the Kalos Queen shocked everyone watching.
"Is this Diantha's Mega form?"
Shauna's eyes were wide, and she appeared incredibly excited. "So beautiful—Gardevoir."
"It's the Mega form of Diantha's Gardevoir, not Diantha. Humans cannot undergo Mega Evolution."
Tomoyo, standing beside Shauna, corrected her.
"Oh, it's all the same."
Watching the elegantly standing Mega Gardevoir opposite, the wooden plaque pendant on Lucas's chest floated up into thin air. He grabbed the pendant, gave it a sharp tug, and said, "Gengar, let's have some fun. Mega Evolution!"
Gengar curled its tongue to reveal the Mega Stone inside. Two streams of light merged together just the same, but the momentum from Lucas and Gengar was even greater, kicking up an even larger shockwave.
"Waaaaah, I'm going to be blown away—"
Shauna's chubby cheeks were blown into various shapes, and her whole body was leaning backward involuntarily.
Gothitelle jumped out of its Poké Ball, came before Shauna and the others, raised its hands, and opened a Psychic protective barrier.
The Mega Gardevoir on the field also opened a Psychic protective barrier.
Professor Rowan watched this powerful bond of strength, unable to help but be moved.
He now knew why Lucas was able to defeat Cynthia.
The light faded. Gengar stood on all fours, with each foot stepping into a different dimension. A purple-black aura began to coil around its body, and a third yellow-black eye grew on its forehead, forming a sharp contrast with the pure white Gardevoir opposite it.
"Gengar—"
Gengar stuck out its tongue, its eyes fixed tightly on the Gardevoir opposite.
The Champion-level Pokémon stood face-to-face on the field in their Mega states. The ground showed faint cracks due to the tearing of the two powerful energies, and the air was filled with a volatile, explosive tension.
"Gardevoir, Psychic."
Diantha pointed her finger, giving the command first.
Gardevoir gathered light purple Psychic-type energy in its hands, then threw it at Gengar.
"Shadow Ball."
Gengar gathered a dark purple ball at its forehead, then flicked its head, throwing it at Mega Gardevoir.
Boom!
"Gardevoir, we use Shadow Ball too."
Gardevoir quickly threw a Shadow Ball toward Gengar.
"Phantom Force."
Gengar bared its teeth in a grin at Gardevoir, then dove into a dimensional space. Gardevoir's Shadow Ball smashed into the spot where Gengar had just been standing, sending countless rocks flying.
"Stay alert, use Future Sight."
Gardevoir nodded, using its psychic power to scout the surroundings.
"Gengar!"
Gengar emerged from behind it, and powerful Ghost-type energy was spat out from Gengar's mouth, striking Gardevoir on the back.
"Gardevoir—"
Gardevoir was sent flying directly, rolling on the ground several times.
"Psychic!"
Even while Gardevoir was still lying on the ground, the psychic power had already been unleashed.
"Gengar!"
Gengar was knocked back, crying out in pain.
That hurts!
In the middle of being knocked backward, a black hole appeared behind Gengar, and the powerful psychic power flew out from within it.
"Dark Void!"
Dark Void absorbed a portion of the Future Sight's psychic power, and Gengar dodged the other part with nimble movement.
Gengar threw the Dark Void at Gardevoir.
"Psychic!"
"Gengar, Shadow Force."
Just as Gardevoir shattered the Dark Void and was caught off guard by the Dark Pulse attack inside, Gengar used a sneak attack to appear behind Gardevoir and slammed into it hard with its head.
Gardevoir opened its mouth, its eyes losing focus.
As a light flashed, Mega Gardevoir reverted from its Mega state, then collapsed on the ground, losing consciousness.
Gengar, which usually relies on Special Attack, used the physical move Phantom Force to defeat Gardevoir.
"Gardevoir is unable to battle, Gengar is the winner, so the winner of this match is Lucas."
Professor Rowan raised the piece in his hand and announced the result.
"Yay!"
Shauna jumped up happily, then charged headlong toward Lucas.
"Good work, Gengar—Ah!!!"
Watching Shauna charging headlong toward him, Lucas widened his eyes, grabbed the Mega Gengar beside him, and pulled it in front of him to shield himself.
Pfft—
Gengar opened its mouth as well, its eyes losing focus.
Shauna rubbed her little head, looked up, and discovered that a light had flashed across Gengar's body, and it had changed from standing on four legs back to its original purple, chubby, two-legged form.
A single Rocket Headbutt had forced Gengar out of its Mega state. What terrifying power—
Lucas swallowed hard.
Refusing Shauna's request to go again, Lucas stepped forward and extended his hand toward Diantha.
"Now, I have the strength to protect her, right?"
Hearing Lucas's words, Diantha looked at the confident smile on his face, couldn't help but smile herself, and extended her hand to shake his.
"Of course, I'm thoroughly convinced."
Gothitelle simply restored the stamina of both Pokémon. Looking at the recovered Gardevoir, Gengar grinned.
"Gengar—"
"Thanks for the match."
Gardevoir stared at the Gengar in front of it, feeling for the first time that it was so annoying.
Gardevoir rolled its eyes and then stopped paying attention to Gengar.
Seeing this, Lucas smiled helplessly.
It couldn't be helped; when Gardevoir meets Gengar, it's only meant to be teased.
It couldn't compare in speed, was just as fragile, and aside from having slightly higher Special Defense, that extra Special Defense didn't matter much against a Gengar that countered it with two types, especially a Gengar whose Special Attack had been boosted by who knows how much.
If it weren't for that extra Special Defense, Gardevoir would likely have gone down the first time it took Gengar's Phantom Force.
"It's been a long time since I've seen such an exciting battle."
Professor Rowan walked over and said, still feeling unsatisfied.
He looked at Lucas, who was standing to the side saying it was just luck. He knew Lucas's strength was great, but he didn't know it was this great, enough to shut out Diantha, who was also a Champion.
While talking with Professor Rowan and Diantha, Lucas received a video call from Cynthia. After he answered, Cynthia's voice came through: "Not bad."
Hearing this, Lucas proudly lifted his chin, aiming his nostrils at Cynthia on the screen. "Of course. Don't you know who I am?"
Diantha, standing to the side: —
"A mere Champion is still easy to handle."
Hearing Lucas's words, Cynthia frowned. However, she knew this was just Lucas's personality. Usually, when he started bragging, you just had to ignore him, so Cynthia stopped paying attention to him.
"It's okay, Diantha. He can even defeat me, so defeating you is even less of a problem."
The smile that had appeared on Diantha's face, as she thought Cynthia would comfort her, froze at this moment.
"Should I say you two are truly a pair? Both of you are so confident."
"Of course." × 2
Diantha: ...
"Is Professor Rowan nearby, Lucas?"
Lucas nodded. "He is."
After saying this, Lucas let the rotom phone float in the air, found a camera angle, and filmed everything around him.
"Cynthia."
"Professor Rowan, long time no see. How is your health?"
"Don't worry. Ever since Lucas came here, my work has become much easier. Now I can even eat two extra bowls of rice at meals."
"That's good. If there's anything, you can tell me, or let Lucas help you solve it."
As a senior she had once followed to learn Pokémon knowledge, and a senior in the history of Pokémon research, Cynthia had long regarded Professor Rowan as her teacher.
"Rest assured, I won't be standing on ceremony."
Professor Rowan said with a smile, looking at the woman on the screen who had once studied under him for a long time. Not only in terms of strength but also in knowledge, she could be considered an existence at the pinnacle of the Pokémon world, and Professor Rowan felt filled with gratification.
While Cynthia and the others were chatting, Professor Rowan suddenly remembered something and quickly spoke up: "Oh, that's right, I forgot to mention, Professor Oak will be returning from the Unova region in a few days. He told me he will specifically come over to my Research Institute to have a discussion and exchange ideas."
"Professor Oak?"
"Professor Oak is coming here?"
"Is it that Professor Oak?"
Professor Rowan nodded, "How about it? Do you want to come back and have a good discussion with Professor Oak, and ask him for advice on knowledge of Pokémon history? You know, he is the top scholar who introduced the Pokédex."
Cynthia was extremely interested, "Then when exactly is Professor Oak visiting?"
"As for the time——let me check."
Professor Rowan took out his rotom phone and checked it, "Oh, Professor Oak told me the day before yesterday that he would be coming in five days, so that means in two days."
"Alright, I understand. I will handle things here in advance and then return to the Research Institute."
"Mhm, don't work too hard."
"Rest assured, Professor, I have an assistant."
Lucas, who heard this sentence from Cynthia nearby, couldn't help himself.
Oh, my poor Lucian——it seems you'll have to work overtime again—
"Will Lucas be coming?"
Professor Rowan looked at Lucas. Lucas hesitated for a moment, then shook his head, "If it's about discussing Pokémon history, then forget it. After all, I'm only a Breeder. However, if the Breeding House isn't busy that day, I will make time to come and visit Professor Oak. After all, I received a lot of inspiration from Professor Oak back then."
"I see. Alright then, I'll see you then. It's getting late, would you like to stay for a meal?"
Professor Rowan extended an invitation to Lucas. Lucas shook his head, "I won't trouble you, Professor. There's a whole bunch of Pokémon at the Breeding House waiting for us to go back and cook for them. You know, ever since they came to the Breeding House, they've become picky eaters."
"Hahahaha, that's a good thing. You know, food is the best way to bring Pokémon and Trainers closer together. I'm quite envious that you can handle the relationship with Pokémon so perfectly. Unlike here at our Research Institute, many hot-tempered Pokémon often cause disturbances."
When Professor Rowan finished speaking, he sighed with a bit of mental exhaustion.
"A while ago, it was thanks to Cynthia coming over that they were able to be quiet for a period of time. In the future—"
Before Professor Rowan could finish his sentence, a very loud explosion came from the Research Institute.
Professor Rowan's face fell.
Seeing this, Lucas made a suggestion, "Why don't you let me go take a look? Perhaps I can also help calm them down for a while."
"Their strength—oh right, I always tend to forget, you are also a Champion."
"Then I'll leave it to you."
"You're too kind. Let's go, let me see how hot-tempered they can be."
When Lucas said this, he also looked at Dash, who was standing behind him with arms crossed and dozing off.
Isn't this a coincidence? I really do have a "doctor" here who specializes in treating hot tempers. Usually, it only takes one course of treatment to be completely cured.
You can see the specific effects on Rhyperior, Golem, and Tyranitar.
Especially Rhyperior, who was so moved that it embraced the wall tightly, and it took a lot of effort to pull it off.
"Uncle, what are we going to do now?"
Shauna took a sausage out of her small cross-body bag and handed it to Professor Rowan, "Grandpa Professor Rowan, here you go."
Looking at Shauna's cute little face, Professor Rowan took the sausage and laughed, "Thank you, our Little Shauna. Your name is Little Shauna, right?"
"Mhm, my name is Little Shauna. These are my good friends, Little Tomoyo, Chimecho, Munchlax—"
Shauna introduced her good friends beside her one by one.
Professor Rowan looked at the Pokémon surrounding Shauna and thought that when she reached the age to go on a journey, with this bunch of powerful Pokémon, it was estimated that very few people would be able to defeat her.
But in reality, it was not the case. Two years later, when Shauna went on her journey, she didn't win a single Gym badge throughout the entire trip.
Shauna: Hehe.
"We are going to help Grandpa Professor Rowan deal with the Pokémon matters."
"Oh."
Shauna let out a crisp "Oh," then ran to Professor Rowan's side and happily said to him, "Don't worry, Grandpa Professor Rowan, Uncle is very good at dealing with Pokémon matters."
Looking at Shauna, who was comforting him, Professor Rowan laughed out loud again, his face glowing.
"This is the first time I've seen Professor Rowan laugh so many times, and in such a short period of time."
Cynthia's voice came out.
"After all, Little Shauna is very likable, so it's not strange."
"That's true. I'm already starting to look forward to her journey. Tell me, do you think she will defeat me then?"
Lucas glanced at Little Shauna's potato-like physique, and the clear look in her eyes when she listened to his lectures, "It's probably unlikely. Little Tomoyo might have a chance. As for Little Shauna—she probably has a knack for field battles."
"Field battles? You even know the rules for field battles? Shall we try a field battle next time?"
Cynthia's voice sounded a bit excited.
In Lucas's mind, a scene suddenly appeared of Cynthia expressionlessly catching Shauna's "Rocket Headbutt," looking calm and composed.
He quickly shook his head, "That would kill someone."
"We're here."
Lucas looked at the few Pokémon that were destroying everything around them, while the surrounding assistants were trying to find ways to stop them.
"Garchomp? Tyranitar? Hydreigon? Salamence? Whoa, all pseudo-legendary Pokémon? And they are all hot-tempered species. No wonder they often cause disturbances."
"How about it? Do you want me to help you subdue them?"
Diantha's voice rang out.
Lucas shook his head, "I have plenty of experience dealing with this kind of thing."
Lucas walked up and looked up at the Tyranitar in front of him.
"Tyran?" Little shrimp, what are you looking at?
Lucas squinted and smiled, "Everyone, could you give me some face and quiet down?"
Tyranitar looked at the little one in front of it and smiled disdainfully. Just because you say quiet, I should be quiet? How embarrassing!
"Roar!" Just as Tyranitar raised its hand, preparing to teach Lucas a lesson, the next second, its entire body flew backward, directly knocking into the Garchomp beside it.
"Ma machamp!" Want to spar?!
Garchomp, Tyranitar, Salamence, and Hydreigon collectively faced Lucas.
"Gothitelle, them flying in the air is making my neck hurt."
Just as Garchomp and the others heard Lucas finish this sentence, they saw a figure float up behind him. That figure just raised its hands, and their bodies felt like they were pressed down by a mountain, all of them pinned to the ground.
"It seems you're still not convinced. How about this, I'll give you a chance to challenge me one-on-one."
Lucas looked at the rampaging Garchomp and the others and made a suggestion.
"Then I'll count to three. You choose the first contestant to fight, and we'll start the battle. If you win, you can destroy whatever you want."
As soon as Lucas finished speaking, he shouted "Three!" "Dash, smash them!"
"Ma machamp!" I'm coming!
Dash rushed towards the few Pokémon.
Gothitelle removed the gravity.
From afar, Garchomp's angry roar could be heard. You're unreasonable! You didn't count one or two!
Lucas walked up to them, who had been beaten to the ground, and squatted down, "Don't you know whose territory this is?"
"Dash, keep beating it up. A free punching bag is a waste not to use."
Garchomp: ?!!!
"Roar!" Help!
"Ma machamp!" Take my punch!
"Tyran!" I won't do it again!
Three punches shatter the violent soul; Big Brother, I'm a good kid—
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