Lucario

"Mr. Giovanni, why aren't you going to New Island to take part in the gathering?"

"A title like 'the strongest' is meaningless, really. This world is too vast, with too many secrets neither you nor I know. Once you know how insignificant you are, pursuing the so-called strongest title becomes meaningless."

Giovanni spoke frankly. Gongping smiled wordlessly, then turned to look into the distance, feeling the storm growing stronger and stronger. "Weather manipulation like this should be the work of some Pokémon."

"Is that so? Perhaps some legendary Pokémon has appeared."

New Island had once been Team Rocket's cloning test base. After the base had lain abandoned for so long, someone had suddenly appeared there claiming to be the strongest Trainer. Even if Giovanni was unsure whether that was Mewtwo, he would send people to investigate.

Since he knew Mewtwo was on New Island, Gongping now had a new task for his visit to Yinhua City: keep an eye on Giovanni and deny him and all of Team Rocket any chance to make a move against Mewtwo.

"Mr. Giovanni, since we're the same type of Trainer, how about a battle to exchange pointers?"

Gongping's suggestion surprised Giovanni a little. He looked up at the Sandstorm King, only to find him as calm and composed as ever, and burst into laughter. "King Gongping, are you planning to take the Viridian Gym's test ahead of schedule?"

"No. Seeing a powerful Trainer like you, Mr. Giovanni, I couldn't help wanting to exchange pointers."

The instant their gazes met, Giovanni took out a Poké Ball. "In that case, let's begin. One battle to decide the winner."

The ground suddenly shook. As Giovanni's Nidoking appeared, a savage, terrifying aura swept out, and Gongping immediately narrowed his eyes.

His guess had been right. Giovanni's true strength far exceeded what the anime had shown. This Nidoking was no ordinary specimen caught at random, but a ferocious beast seasoned by countless battles.

"Go, Lucario!"

The red light faded. The moment Gongping's Lucario appeared, the Pokémon slowly floated into the air, staring expressionlessly at Nidoking.

Unlike ordinary rookie Trainers, the battle-hardened Giovanni was no stranger to Pokémon from outside the Kanto Region, such as Lucario. Even so, he noticed what made Gongping's Lucario unusual.

"This Lucario keeps training with Calm Mind even inside the Poké Ball?"

Giovanni was an expert and spotted the issue at a glance. Gongping nodded. "Lucario has had powerful mental strength since childhood, so there's been specialized training in psychic abilities."

Practicing Calm Mind every moment?

Floating in midair, Lucario began to sit cross-legged. Giovanni chuckled at the sight. "Nidoking, a simple Double Team!"

Suddenly, Nidoking split into three afterimages. While Gongping was considering what Giovanni meant by a simple Double Team, Giovanni gave his orders. "Thunderbolt, Flamethrower, Ice Beam."

Electricity, icy light, and flames blasted toward Lucario from three directions at once. After unleashing the elemental attacks, Nidoking split into multiple afterimages again.

Though this was a one-on-one exchange, they were not in a regulation arena. Giovanni therefore had no intention of following the Pokémon League's rule of attacking with only four moves. This was a true battle in the wild, so Nidoking held nothing back, fully unleashing all three elemental attacks.

Three Double Team duplicates using three moves simultaneously-this feat alone was enough to show that Giovanni was already a King-level Trainer. An ordinary Trainer's Pokémon could never achieve such an ability.

Just as the three attacks were about to surround Lucario, an immense blue glow gathered in the Pokémon's eyes. Both hands abruptly grasped, and the three elemental attacks froze in place as though paused.

"What frightening mental strength. Like that Scizor last time, this Lucario is one of your core fighters, isn't it?"

As Giovanni praised Lucario, the Pokémon used Calm Mind. With Confusion controlling both hands, the right hand gently compressed the flames into a fireball, while the left turned the ice and snow into a silver orb of light. The electricity circled around.

Turning that power into a means of attack, Lucario fired the fireball and ball of ice, swiftly breaking through Nidoking's Double Team duplicates. Then, using the glow of the electricity, Lucario flashed away and appeared behind Nidoking.

"Earth Power!"

The ground fractured, and countless stones shot up. As Lucario blocked them, Nidoking's tail swept viciously over with overwhelming force, as though it weighed a thousand pounds.

The Confusion surrounding Lucario swiftly activated. In the Calm Mind state, a thin defensive membrane of psychic power formed around the Pokémon. As the tail struck, the electricity generated an enormous magnetic field, allowing Lucario to deftly flash back to the other side. An Aura Sphere slowly emerged in one hand.

But Nidoking roared and swept its tail again, gathering the immense strength of its body into a single point. A powerful current of air howled out. The savagely brutal attack carved a vortex through the air, instantly shattering Lucario's Aura Sphere.

Throughout this process, the light of Lucario's dispersing Aura Sphere was intensely concentrated, like a torch igniting with a whoosh. It trailed unusual energy fluctuations through the air, stirring up a terrifying roar.

"Flamethrower, Nidoking!"

Though Lucario followed a special-attack approach, the Pokémon was still a warrior. In a flash, electricity flickered continuously all around, yet Nidoking seemed unaffected, gathering a mass of intense flames in its mouth.

Lucario let out an angry cry. Power swelled in the left arm, which punched forward with a powerful vortex of air. As Nidoking took a step back, Lucario's Confusion seized control of the flames again, drawing them into the Pokémon's fist instead.

"Lucario, use Aura Sphere!"

A layer of purple flames ignited over Lucario's entire right hand, continuously compressing and merging with the Aura Sphere. Combined with the surrounding electricity, it blazed with intense light. Illuminated by that electricity, Lucario looked particularly striking.

Neither Giovanni nor Nidoking was afraid. Nidoking roared and swung its own fist, meeting Lucario head-on.

Even without using moves, this Nidoking's physical prowess was so formidable that ordinary attacks had no effect. This was also a defining trait of a true King-level Trainer's main Pokémon: a powerful physique!

The sound of their collision was swallowed by the roar of an explosion. Nidoking's terrifying physical strength revealed its might in every muscle, while rolling waves of fire and scattered psychic light swept across the entire scene.

Giovanni and Gongping's battle drew some passersby to watch. It had to be said that every command the two issued during battle was crucial; the Pokémon judged ordinary evasions and attacks for themselves.

Giovanni was strong-stronger than Gongping had expected. As one of his core six members, Lucario relied on overwhelming Confusion and fearsome close-combat prowess, yet still could not secure a swift victory.

Lucario's body swayed slightly, one entire arm charred black, before swiftly regaining balance in midair. Nidoking retreated one step, its foot sinking into the ground. Its body was numb with pain from the impact, and the arm used in their clash had suffered a fracture.

Seeing that Nidoking could not be brought down, Lucario released another torrent of psychic power to bolster strength. Under the control of the surrounding electrical magnetic field, the Pokémon shot toward Nidoking with the speed of a blade leaving its sheath.

So fast!

Nidoking slowly spread its arms. Despite the fracture, its ferocity only intensified. It abruptly leaped forward, avoiding Lucario's flashing attack, and extended its right hand. Its fist became a blade wreathed in bright light, chopping toward Lucario's neck like lightning with the momentum of its descent.

Fierce flames burned along Nidoking's arm, showing that it was enduring its injuries and transferring the power of Flamethrower into its arm.

"Psychic!"

Turning back, Lucario forcefully bent backward to evade Nidoking's burning attack. At the same time, the Pokémon forcibly altered the trajectory of the left leg, swinging it upward from below to kick the descending enemy. As the blow struck, the powerful psychic energy throughout Lucario's body spread fully over Nidoking.

Once Lucario's psychic power ensnared an enemy, it could invade their consciousness, creating various illusions to disrupt them. Already at a type disadvantage, Nidoking finally began to sway.

At the last moment, Nidoking endured the pain, opened its mouth downward, and unleashed another dense mass of flames.

The two forces clashed and scattered soundlessly. Using the recoil, Nidoking leaped backward, but while still in midair, it finally could no longer withstand the strange consciousness constantly invading its mind and was defeated.

Lucario was not in good shape either. Charred patches all over the Pokémon's body showed that Nidoking's terrifying fiery assault had also taken its toll.

Having recalled Nidoking, Giovanni was just about to say something when an intense light erupted over New Island. Like a pillar of light in the sky, it seemed to plunge all of Yinhua City into a world of radiance.

Faced with Mew's appearance, Mewtwo on New Island unleashed its full power!