Seemingly influenced by the pervading power of Mega Evolution, Maestro left its Pokeball. He then watched the fight with curious eyes instead of dozing off as the power seemed to resonate with him as a Pokemon that was capable of Mega Evolution.

  Harrison then called out Nova so the new Luxio could learn and understand the power a proper Luxray possessed.

  He then immediately contacted Travis on his Poketch to inform him of the high-level battle so it wouldn’t be misinterpreted by the League as a natural disaster or an attack. It wasn’t necessary to inform the authorities every time a battle occurred especially one which had nothing on the line such as this one but he anticipated the battle to be devastating enough to change the landscape. This wasn’t a good thing especially near Jubilife as the Pokemon here were relatively weak and might react accordingly to the strength of the two which would create a lot of difficulties for the Rangers.

  Harold applauded and said, “I definitely didn’t expect this but it should’ve been obvious with the changes that Kalos and Hoenn have been undergoing lately”

  “The world is changing at a faster pace than you can comprehend, Old Man”, Rachel retorted with a menacing grin.

  “Mega Evolution will start spreading to every other region and all the new challengers will be greater than what the League can handle. Even Champion Stone has already been dethroned”, she continued.

  “Even Steven Stone and that monstrous Metagross? Damn, I really must be getting old then if Hoenn has changed this much”, Harold jested.

  Either the Delta Episode is nearing or it has already concluded, Harrison thought. The problem definitely concerned him but he was not in Hoenn and without enough strength, he could only leave it to the protagonist of Hoenn. Which should turn out to be fine as he already defeated Steven, one of the greatest Champions. Even if Rayquaza had a horrible track record when it came to fighting Deoxys, Harrison mused as he thought of Rayquaza getting struck down and unable to bypass the island-wide barrier.

  Although he had a lot of questions, Harrison decided to ask later so he didn’t interrupt the momentum of the battle.

  “That raises a lot of questions but for now, let’s start the match”, Harrison said to initiate the match.

  The two Pokemon on the field stared each other down while awaiting their Trainer’s commands and as soon as the battle began, they charged with frightening speed. Despite the level disparity, Mega Sceptile was far faster than Luxray and struck first.

  “Leaf Blade!” “Night Slash!”, both Trainers ordered.

  Mega Sceptile slashed with the sharp leaf on its arm but it was deftly countered by Luxray’s Night Slash. Using his other arm, he attempted to strike but the slash was stopped by Luxray’s Crunch. Mega Sceptile then attempted to disengage but Luxray held the dragon in place with its firm grip.

  “Discharge!”, Harold commanded.

  Immediately, Luxray unleashed an intense flare of electricity that scorched the ground black. The two Pokemon were then engulfed in arcs of lightning which reacted violently yet Mega Sceptile didn’t waver.

  “Scale Shot!”, Rachel shouted at Mega Sceptile.

  The dragon nodded and shot four volleys of scales directly onto Luxray while both were still bathed in lightning. Luxray stopped its move and agilely avoided most of the scales. The ones that landed had been mitigated by the electric charge which still remained in the lion’s fur.

  Mega Sceptile stepped back from the lion. It now seemed to be faster and stronger along with being absolutely unscathed despite being directly struck by a move of Luxray’s type.

  “Lightning Rod”, Harold concluded with a smirk.

  As expected of a Veteran Ace Trainer, Rachel thought.

  “As a word of advice, neither abilities or immunities are absolute. They can also be surpassed or developed into something greater even if both are meaningless in front of Luxray”

  He then resumed the fight.

  “Charge!”

  “Bullet Seed!”

  As Luxray boosted the strength of its electric current, Mega Sceptile unleashed a barrage of seeds from its mouth. Without disturbing its charging process, Luxray let off arcs of fluctuating electricity that deflected each and every seed.

  “So that’s where Luxio got the move from”, she commented as Evergreen failed to interrupt.

  Luxray growled in response and Harold laughed sheepishly.

  “Actually, Luxray got it from Nova, not the other way around”

  Nova roared in pride.

  “Then there must be flaws I can exploit. Evergreen! Prepare with Dragon Dance!”

  “Wild Charge!”

  Right as Mega Sceptile began his mystical ritual, Luxray lunged forward and cloaked itself in electricity. Before the move could strike, Evergreen evaded at the very last second in an unnatural instinctive manner and went over the lion.

  That must be Detect, Harrison thought.

  The dragon then swiftly sent down an Energy Ball onto Luxray’s back. The lion didn’t even turn its head and crushed the ball with Psychic Fangs which extended beyond itself through the psychic capabilities innate in the move.

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  Solid defenses, Rachel thought with a frown. She had not managed to gain ground even once.

  “Outrage!”, she shouted which surprised Harold.

  Utilizing the buff from Dragon Dance, Mega Sceptile erupted with draconic energy and began its rampage. Luxray could not evade the frenzy as Mega Sceptile recklessly charged forward with its superior speed.

  “Play Rough!”

  With each draconic slash from Evergreen, Luxray countered brutally with Fairy Energy and the exchange grew more and more heated as Mega Sceptile refused to relent from its frenzy. And although the Fairy Energy mitigated the power of Outrage significantly, Luxray wasn’t as adept with the fairy move and began to falter in its defense. As the sheer might of Mega Sceptile began to pull through, Luxray merged into lightning with Volt Switch and struck the dragon before emerging behind it.

  “Ice Fang!”, Harold ordered, attempting to catch the dragon while it was unguarded.

  “Leaf Storm!”, Rachel shouted.

  Before Luxray could reach Evergreen, the green dragon unleashed a tornado of sharp foliage and shot its tail directly at Luxray. Caught by both, Luxray struggled but managed to mitigate the Leaf Storm with its electricity current and barely deflected the missile tail with a powerful Double-Edge. The lion then winced from the recoil and the dragon took advantage of the opportunity.

  “Dragon Claw!”

  Pouncing on the lion, Mega Sceptile slashed with enlarged blades filled with draconic energy. Luxray countered with Night Slash and then immediately bit into Mega Sceptile’s chest with cold-infused fangs which forced the dragon to flinch. The lion then turned and kicked the dragon back a considerable distance instead of taking advantage of the moment.

  “It’s been a while since Luxray has had such a great fight but all good things must come to an end”, Harold said with a smile.

  “Prepare to end the battle, Luxray”, he stated and Luxray snarled menacingly as it once again strengthened its electric current.

  “Interrupt it Evergreen! Dragon Pulse”, she roared and Mega Sceptile unleashed a beam of draconic energy which Luxray leisurely avoided. The dragon then rushed in with Pursuit but before it could land a blow-

  “Thunder”, Harold stated casually as the sky turned grey with storm clouds and yellow lightning began to fill the air.

  “Detect! Dodge!”, Rachel quickly shouted but it was too late.

  “Domination”, he ordered.

  Before the Mega evolved Pokemon could disengage, it then froze in fear at the Luxray’s gleaming eyes which resonated with great intensity. With a vicious expression and an eerie impulse, the piercing eyes bore into the dragon, forcing it to waver and weaken.

  Giselle’s Alakazam then hurried in a panic and formed a barrier around every trainer.

  With great willpower, the dragon snapped out of its trance but the Thunder already fell from the heavens. The world turned yellow and consumed all vision as a magnificent thunder strike impacted the land and cratered the field, shattering every fragment of earth.

  Once their vision returned, they could only observe Luxray atop a pillar while surrounding it was a deep, deep crater filled with cracks that contained the static charge of the previous Thunder.

  Within the crater, Sceptile returned to its original form and collapsed.

  Stunned in awe, Harrison merely observed the lasting impact of the move.

  He then finally stated, “Evergreen is unable to battle. Luxray wins. The winner is Ace Trainer Harold of Jubilife”

  The black lion roared with pride before leaping off its pillar. It then approached the exhausted dragon and patted it with its paw in acknowledgement.

  “That was a great battle. I can see how your Sceptile got you so far in the League”, Harold stated as he shook her hand.

  “Scep-Sceptile”, the lizard stated as it sat up. Sceptile stared at Luxray for a bit but sighed and scratched his head in defeat.

  Nova then ran towards Luxray and began nuzzling him.

  “Thanks but it seems I still have a long way to go”, she said with a sigh. Her enthusiasm then renewed as she reviewed the battle in hopes of learning from her failures.

  “Anyways, what was the move you called Domination? I’ve never seen Evergreen hesitate that badly”, Rachel asked.

  “Oh that’s a custom move I made by pairing Luxray’s ability Intimidate with similar moves like Scary Face. I always thought that Intimidate could be more useful so I worked on it with Luxray and made it more than just a one-time ability”

  “That’s amazing. I’m surprised you didn’t use it more than once given how effective it was at stopping Evergreen even though he was faster”

  “Ah, it’s only effective once just like the regular Intimidate so I only use it in pivotal moments kinda like your Mega Sceptile and its missile tail. That combination really put Luxray in a bind”

  As the two trainers discussed their intense battle in earnest, Giselle waved goodbye to Harrison as she had to head off to work. He then waved back as Alakazam teleported her to work.

  Before he could join in the conversation, his Poketch rang and he picked up.

  “Man! Good thing you told me earlier. Otherwise, I would’ve thought a Zapdos or Thundurus came roaming by Jubilife of all places! As if that would ever happen though hahaha!”, Travis said as his voice went through the Poketch.

  “Ah, sorry about that. Luxray was raring to go for once and he almost broke his record for Thunder”, Harold stated apologetically to Travis through Harrison’s Poketch.

  “Damn, so that really was from Luxray?! You taking on the Elite Four or something with all that training?”, Travis asked.

  “I’ll consider it but I’m not in a hurry”

  Harold then provided the location for the battlefield so that the other Rangers could repair the damaged field in the forest and resolve any potential issues that could’ve arose from such an intense fight.

  “I noticed your Sceptile didn’t get confused after Outrage. Was that from Mega Evolution or did you do some specific training for it?”, Harrison asked.

  “I’m not completely sure since I did try to train against Confusion but-”

  “It was definitely your bond which solidified with Mega Evolution”, Harold interjected.

  He then turned to Rachel and said, “You were probably too focused on the battle but you and Sceptile were making the exact same face of dissatisfaction when Luxray blocked that Energy Ball. That and your determination to battle probably overrode whatever flimsy Confusion could have occurred afterwards”

  “An unexpected side effect from Mega Evolution”, Harrison said as he eyed Maestro. A greater focus which came at the cost of awareness yet also a resolve which wouldn’t be shaken from something like Confusion.

  “Thanks for the guidance! I’ve learned a lot from this battle and from both of you. Uhh.. also I didn’t mean to use Lightning Rod as a definite way to beat Luxray”, Rachel said both gratefully and apologetically. She also turned to Luxray who just scoffed and returned to conversing with Nova.

  “It’s fine. Just another obstacle to beat and a good lesson to learn. Immunities can be surpassed with overwhelming strength, certain conditions like Gravity with Flying, and many other ways. But some people are a bit too set on Type advantages and forget about everything else as if this was a turn-based thing where you get hit and hit back”, Harold stated with a grin.

  “Yeah, it’s like they don’t know that you can dodge”, Harrison added with a knowing smile.