"Sorry for the wait!" I said to Lugia. Vaporeon swished his long, azure tail, waiting only for my command. Then, with all the strength I had, carrying the hopes and resolve of Lapras, Gyarados, Dragonite, Golem, and Tyranitar, I shouted to Vaporeon!
"Go! Use Aqua Tail!"
Vaporeon leaped high and spun through a vertical circle. His long, azure tail, condensed from water, swept down at Lugia. Lugia did not flinch, meeting Vaporeon's Aqua Tail head-on with his own slender tail! Aqua Tail burst into a skyful of droplets, while the force of the collision slammed straight into Vaporeon's body.
Lugia's tail was slender, yet its contours revealed solid muscle. When he swung it, he used not just his tail's strength, but his entire body, gathering momentum as though cracking a long whip. That gave Dragon Tail its explosive, staggering impact, like a massive siege engine. Under that terrifying force, Vaporeon's slight body flew up with the scattering droplets, then fell like a rag doll.
"Vaporeon!" Vaporeon was knocked back in front of me, while Lugia merely retreated a little to absorb the recoil. I hurried to check Vaporeon's injuries, but before my hands could touch him, he dragged his battered body upright, swaying on his feet.
"Vaporeon, enough! You're already badly hurt!" I told him anxiously. "I understand that you don't want your friends' efforts to go to waste! But none of them would want you to keep fighting with your body covered in wounds!" Yet Vaporeon only kept his eyes fixed on Lugia, stubbornly gathering moisture from the air again.
Just then, several streaks of white light suddenly flew out of Lugia's body and came before me, forming a slowly rotating circle. On closer inspection, I realized they were ten pure-white Poké Balls.
Watching the slowly revolving Poké Balls,