Unlike an ordinary Ninetales, Alolan Ninetales could produce ice particles from its fur and shower its enemies with them. Anyone who angered it would be frozen in an instant. It was an immensely powerful Regional Form of Ninetales.
Compared with ordinary Alolan Ninetales, one with the Snow Warning Ability was an especially rare existence. Watching the Alolan Ninetales on the field, Lu pressed his lips together. "Even you're helping him."
Gongping's Alolan Ninetales answered Lu with a light cry, as though trying to counsel him. Human and Pokémon communicated with each other while Gongping watched quietly from the side.
"Meowth, what's that Alolan Ninetales saying?"
At one side of the spectator stands, Jessie, disguised as a vendor, was a little curious about what the Alolan Ninetales was saying. Meowth listened hard for a while before translating, "This Ninetales says he isn't what you imagine him to be. Stop being prejudiced against him."
"Prejudiced? Why do I get the feeling this girl is completely infatuated with that older twerp?"
Although Lu could not understand what Ninetales was saying, he knew perfectly well what it meant. Stubborn as he was, however, he now believed only one thing: Gongping had harmed Rosa, robbing him of the family member he depended on.
"Sorry, Ninetales. When your child appeared just now, I didn't let you come out."
At Gongping's words, the composed Ninetales shook its head, then gave a few soft cries.
"Although that child of mine has evolved, it still doesn't seem to have amounted to much. There was no need to make a point of meeting."
As Meowth translated this, realization dawned on him. "So that Alolan Ninetales just now was this Alolan Ninetales's child."
Lu's Alolan Ninetales was, in fact, the child of Gongping's Alolan Ninetales and Rosa's Kanto Ninetales.
Several years earlier, Gongping and Rosa had earned a chance to challenge Wallace in an exhibition match, so the two had begun intensive training.
Half the field lay under blazing sunshine, while the other half was swept by a blizzard. Two entirely different kinds of weather raged across the field as Rosa's Fire-type Ninetales faced Gongping's Ice-type Ninetales, leaving the entire ground seething with unrest.
The two differently colored Ninetales each displayed their dazzling moves. For a time, ice and fire intertwined in an exceptionally brilliant spectacle.
Holding the newborn Alolan Vulpix, Lu watched the two powerful Ninetales battle fiercely on the field, an unusual look in his eyes. "They're amazing, Vulpix. You have to become as strong as your mom and dad someday."
Vulpix answered Lu with a soft cry. Times had changed, and when Lu once again met the stern gaze of Gongping's Alolan Ninetales, he wavered slightly inside. Yet he soon stubbornly glared back.
"Weavile, use Metal Claw!"
The same Metal Claw shone brilliantly in Weavile's hands, but Ninetales controlled its Snow Warning Ability, unleashing an enormous storm of ice and snow.
On the dais, Lorelei, who had likewise traveled from another region, adjusted her glasses. "Well, well. If I didn't know he was the Sandstorm King, I'd suspect he specialized in Ice-type Pokémon, just like me."
Bruno scratched his head, looking a little embarrassed. "Gongping has prepared other teams too. This Alolan Ninetales is the core of his snow team. Sometimes I really feel ashamed. I've hardly trained any other Pokémon these past few years."
"Ninetales, use Aurora Veil!"
With the small talk over, Gongping finally launched his offensive, and Alolan Ninetales's very first move was Aurora Veil!
At the call for Aurora Veil, Alolan Ninetales cried out again, and its nine silvery-white tails sprayed dazzling particles of white light. Moments later, a silvery aurora enveloped the entire field. Within it, Ninetales seemed dreamlike and elusive.
Aurora Veil, which could only be used in snowy weather, could reduce damage from opponents. With its Snow Warning Ability, Alolan Ninetales seemed born for this very use.
But Gongping was not finished. Beneath the cover of the boundless aurora, the Blizzard that Alolan Ninetales controlled through Snow Warning formed an enormous silver moon of ice and snow over the entire field.
A silver moon shone over a world of ice and snow!
It was as though the field before them had become a fairy-tale world.
The exquisite spectacle sent many of Gongping's female fans into wild screams. Compared with his wild, rough manner when battling with Sandstorm Pokémon, Gongping was now displaying unexpectedly delicate and dazzling skill.
So handsome!
The Twin-Tailed Girl, Niko, flushed slightly. "I'm so jealous of Lu, getting to receive Gongping's loving call from so close."
"Have you lost your mind?"
The young man in red covered his face, realizing that his younger sister now seemed to have become a mindless Gongping fangirl.
"Moves like these would be among the very best even in a Pokémon Contest. He's truly achieved a perfect blend of spectacle and battling. I never imagined you'd grown so much stronger, young Gongping."
At the Pokémon League headquarters in the Hoenn Region, the television was broadcasting the Kanto Region's competition live. Wallace had been watching the matches to pass the time, but admiration appeared in his eyes when he saw Gongping's Alolan Ninetales lay out such a dazzling field of ice and snow.
When he had received word a while ago that this young man had become a King of the Kanto Region, Wallace had been genuinely delighted for him. Still, he had never expected him to have grown so much over the years.
There was just one thing that was not so good.
He did not seem to smile much anymore, and his personality now seemed a little cold and aloof. Wallace remembered that the young man used to wear a gentle smile no matter when or where he was, giving others a sense of warmth and safety.
Perhaps, if not for that incident, he might not have become that way.
"He and Rosa are both heroes of the Hoenn Region."
Several years had passed, and Wallace's memories had grown a little hazy. Still, he vaguely remembered the two Ninetales, one ice and one fire, fighting together in flawless harmony during an exhibition exchange match back then.
"Is this really the battle style of that Sandstorm King?"
Many spectators could not accept this turn of events. He had clearly followed a wild, rough style, yet now he had suddenly switched to battling like a Coordinator. What was he playing at?
"That moon isn't just decoration!"
Unlike ordinary people, who were focused on the beautiful scene on the field, the Ice-type King, as an Ice-type expert, naturally noticed the terrifying power contained within that moon.
Lorelei also noticed that, aside from the enormous silver moon at the center of the field, dozens of icy mirrors had appeared around it, aligned with the moon. Clearly, Gongping's Alolan Ninetales had reached a first-rate level of control over its Ability.
"With those icy mirrors reflecting the light, some beam moves can be fired faster. Gongping's battle style is wasted on one-on-one matches. In a group battle, working with those Ice-type Pokémon, his destructive power would multiply."
Bruno burst out laughing. "Looks like his training methods put special emphasis on group battles as well as one-on-one combat. Rather than sending someone like him off to be a dean of discipline, you'd be better off making him the Kanto League's sharpest weapon."
"Use Moonblast!"
The silver moon radiated an intense light. Under Alolan Ninetales's control, the light around the enormous silver moon in the air grew brighter and brighter. Finally, Alolan Ninetales spat out a beam, as though flicking the silver moon's switch.
"Weavile, dodge!"
Lu had once heard Gongping mention this move, but he had never imagined that, after these past few years, Gongping had finally completed this complex battle method.
Lu's Weavile tried to evade, but amid the faint reflections of the countless surrounding mirrors, Alolan Ninetales's eyes tracked Weavile's movements. It was as though, no matter how Weavile moved, everything remained under Ninetales's control.
An enormous pillar of light shot out, ricocheting and changing direction between countless mirrors. In an instant, the light swallowed Weavile!
So fast!
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