The rapidly rotating Ultimate Water Shuriken collided with Kommo-o’s armored body.
Metal met metal with an ear-splitting clash that echoed throughout the arena. Spectators winced at the sound, some covering their ears while others leaned forward in fascination.
Despite being locked in Outrage state, Kommo-o struggled to maintain its forward momentum. The sheer force of Greninja’s attack gradually overpowered the dragon, pushing it backward and carving a deep gully into the battlefield as Kommo-o’s claws desperately tried to find purchase.
"What kind of move is that?" exclaimed one Gym Leader in the stands. "Is this something unique to Greninja’s special form?"
The officials and spectators were equally baffled. They had witnessed Greninja’s Aura Sphere variant earlier, which at least had some precedent, but this technique was something entirely new.
This was definitely not ordinary Water Shuriken!
Most impressive was the effect. Greninja’s attack was actively suppressing a Kommo-o that had received both the stat boost from Clangorous Soulblaze and the power increase from Outrage!
Even Elite-level Pokemon would struggle to achieve such result.
The shuriken continued driving Kommo-o backward until it was directly in front of Harrison.
With a deafening explosion, the Ultimate Water Shuriken detonated, instantly engulfing Kommo-o in a cloud of steam and smoke.
The vapor didn’t linger long, quickly dispersed by Dragonite’s Tailwind. As visibility returned, Harrison expected to see John pressing his advantage with a follow-up attack.
Instead, what he saw made his eyebrows twitch involuntarily.
John was holding a handful of colorful crystals, all Z-Crystals!
"What the, where did he get so many Z-Crystals?" Harrison’s eyes widened in disbelief.
Without hesitation, John began pressing them one by one onto his Z-Power bracelet, issuing commands in rapid succession:
"Tyranitar, Ground-type Z-move: Black Hole Eclipse!"
"Garchomp, Dragon Z-move: Devastating Drake!"
"Gardevoir, Fairy-type Z-move: Twinkle Tackle!"
"Blaziken, Fire Z-move: Inferno Overdrive!"
"Greninja, Ultimate Water Shuriken!"
John’s face broke into a mischievous grin. "Welcome to the Z-move show, Harrison! You let Kommo-o use its exclusive Z-move and Outrage, so it’s only fair I respond with a Z-move of my own... or five!"
"TYRA-NITAR!" Mega Tyranitar roared, spreading its arms wide. The ground around it shattered inch by inch, fracturing like a spider web. A massive black hole materialized in front of Tyranitar’s chest, generating a violent suction force that threatened to devour everything on the battlefield.
But Tyranitar wasn’t content to use it as a mere vortex. Instead, it grabbed the black hole with both hands and, treating it like a projectile, hurled it directly at Espeon without hesitation!
The terrifying black hole absorbed everything in its path as it flew, accelerating to incredible speed.
Harrison’s Espeon wasn’t at the bottom of his roster for nothing, though. It quickly used Future Sight to mark its counterattack, then Teleport to dodge.
The evasion was successful, but the situation was far from simple.
The black hole now hovered dangerously close to Harrison himself. To prevent her trainer from being sucked into the void, Espeon gritted her teeth and used Teleport again, this time taking Harrison with her.
Meanwhile, Mega Garchomp burst from the ground, accompanied by a ten-meter-long dark green dragon composed purely of draconic energy? the essence of the Z-move Devastating Drake!
The energy dragon roared as it soared skyward, targeting Dragonite with single-minded purpose.
Not to be outdone, Mega Gardevoir raised her hand gracefully, causing the entire sky to fill with magnificent pink light, as if the battlefield had fallen into a rosy dreamscape.
In the next second, a meteor shower materialized in the pink sky. Unlike Gardevoir’s usual Moonblast, which typically manifested as fist-sized pink stars, the Fairy Z-move Twinkle Tackle summoned millstone-sized celestial projectiles!
Greater power, more numerous stars, wider coverage, and extended duration—Mega Gardevoir pushed her attack to the absolute limit.
Blaziken had also appeared on the battlefield, already in its Mega form. It activated its Z-move, Inferno Overdrive, immediately manifesting a ball of magma at its feet.
With Mega Blaziken’s incredible leg strength? easily capable of propelling it fifty stories high? it prepared to strike. In that moment, the spirits of football legends seemed to possess it: Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar, and Mbappé flashed through its movements one by one. This was no mere Fighting-type Pokemon; this was a master striker!
When Blaziken’s foot connected with the magma ball, the projectile vanished from view. Only a streamlined heat wave lingering in the air proved it had existed at all.
The result became apparent when the wall behind Harrison suddenly exploded, punctured by the magma ball. Mega Blaziken hadn’t missed? its target had been Mega Glalie, hiding in a crevice behind Harrison!
Explosions rocked the battlefield in rapid succession.
Mega Glalie was instantly knocked out of its Mega Evolution, rendered unconscious by the direct hit.
Dragonite managed to evade Mega Garchomp’s Devastating Drake, only to fly face-first into Gardevoir’s Twinkle Tackle, which had filled the entire arena with deadly pink stars.
Dragon-type moves dealt double damage to Dragon-types, and Fairy-type moves dealt double damage to Dragon-type Pokemon.
Dragonite’s evasive maneuvers had been futile. It, too, was knocked out of combat.
Kommo-o couldn’t maintain its Outrage state, weak to Fairy-type attacks, the pink meteors raining from above represented certain doom. With Greninja’s golden shuriken blocking its path forward, Kommo-o had nowhere to go except to faint.
After Mega Glalie and Dragonite, it became the third casualty.
Only Espeon and Dragapult remained.
Dragapult abandoned its stealth tactics, returning to Harrison’s side. It established a Protect barrier, working in tandem with Espeon’s Light Screen to resist the enormous pink stars still falling from the sky.
"Is it over?" Harrison’s teeth chattered as he watched his Pokemon fall one by one. The strength gap between himself and John was widening with each passing moment, and victory seemed increasingly out of reach.
"There’s only one way left..." Harrison gritted his teeth. "I’m sorry, John!"
Suddenly, from John’s peripheral vision, space itself distorted as a Psychic-type Pokemon opened a Teleport portal.
John instantly realized what was happening, at the last moment, Harrison had chosen a desperate gambit, sacrificing Espeon for a final Struggle attack!
Mega Gardevoir turned its head and unleashed Psychic, mental power building up and whipping madly through the air.
Espeon arrived as promised, bringing with it Harrison and Dragapult.
"Junior, forgive me!" Harrison shouted as he threw a heavy punch directly at John.
The two Pokemon flanking Harrison blocked Mega Gardevoir’s Psychic attack with their bodies, clearing a path for Harrison’s fist to connect with John’s jaw!