After all, why had they come to this uninhabited place?
There had been a small incident before. The enemy they'd been fighting wasn't far from where they were now, and they could feel something happening in the immediate vicinity.
Coupled with the familiar feeling they could sense with Aura Force, if you thought about it even for a moment, you could guess what kind of identity this uninvited guest had.
The other Pokémon also became restless because of the loud noise and couldn't fall asleep one after another. They all gathered close to Roy's side and made doubtful sounds.
"Where does this annoying noise come from?"
"It looks like whatever this is must be huge. We can all feel the vibration of the earth here."
"Who is so troublesome, actually coming to bother us at night!"
They could all feel that the power of this vibration was getting stronger and stronger. This feeling would only appear when huge objects moved toward them.
When they all walked out of the cave, they found that Lucario had already left the icy waterfall and was standing in front of all of them.
They were able to feel the extremely intense fighting spirit coming from Lucario, just like when meeting a worthy rival.
Obviously, Lucario had not shown such fighting spirit when Zeraora challenged him. But now, Lucario had already displayed such eagerness even before seeing this enemy appear before him.
This made Zeraora feel very dissatisfied, but there was nothing he could do about it.
His own strength wasn't too weak, but Lucario had never regarded his existence as a rival. So it was reasonable not to feel any kind of fighting intent from Lucario toward him. But for an enemy that hadn't yet appeared before them to make Lucario exude this eagerness to fight in advance—there were only two possible explanations.
One was that they had fought before, but the battle hadn't been decided yet. Or, before this strange existence came before them, Lucario realized that this strange existence seemed to be very powerful—a rival worth challenging.
If you understood Lucario, you would know what kind of Pokémon he was. Although this strange enemy had not appeared before them yet, they could basically guess what kind of identity it had.
"Master, could it be that Pokémon came here following our trail?" Ninetales asked beside him, rubbing her head against Roy.
Roy spoke to them in human language: "Probably, as you guessed. The Pokémon that had some conflict with us before saw traces of our existence, so they want revenge. The one who appeared before us this time is probably that guy."
Roy gave a wry smile. He didn't expect this Ultra Beast to be so persistent, even very vengeful.
If you just looked at the stat values alone, the attributes that Guzzlord possessed wouldn't be lower than the existence of those legendary beasts. But in this world, every Pokémon had its own uniqueness. And the greater the danger a creature posed in this world, the less likely it was to appear in places where humans gathered. They basically only appeared in uninhabited places.
The power of blue Aura was conveyed to Roy again.
"Master, I can definitely defeat him this time. Last time I didn't have enough preparation or time, but now I can firmly believe that I have a 100% chance of defeating him!"
Roy nodded. How could he not trust his own Pokémon? Especially Lucario, who trained so hard.
"Of course I believe in you. After all, they can't see the hard work you put in, but I can feel every step of the way—the hardships you endured."
You could even see the reddish fighting spirit radiating from Lucario's body. It would only show up when he felt very interested in certain opponents—a rival worthy of his full strength.
"I don't want you guys to make a move this time. He will be left to me!"
Roy agreed to this request.
After many days of training, wasn't it for this moment?
Naturally, he would fulfill Lucario's wish.
Although Gigantamax transformation and Mega Evolution could greatly improve combat ability, such an increase in combat strength wouldn't have any real benefits for one's actual growth. So defeating Guzzlord under the most normal conditions now, whether for himself or for proving his training results, would be a very good performance.
Looking at the big trees in the distant jungle being knocked down one after another, and the direction of their fall seemed to be toward them.
It was as if some huge creature was knocking down those trees. Finally, it stopped in front of them, and they finally saw the true face of this Guzzlord. It wasn't the first time they'd met, so after seeing this huge monster, they didn't feel any surprise. It just made Zeraora even more surprised. Why did such an enemy take the initiative to come to their door?
It was obviously the kind of existence that would never bother you if you didn't provoke it—a special Ultra Beast that was better left alone. But now, just because of the commotion that had just occurred, this Ultra Beast had been summoned from afar. What had happened before that made this Ultra Beast hate these people so much?
And Roy explained to Zeraora, as if to answer his doubts about why Guzzlord came directly after seeing a little movement.
"There was indeed a small conflict between us. At that time, Lucario only used his most basic power to severely damage Guzzlord, but Lucario didn't come away unscathed either. So this kind of grudge was formed!"
"Lucario has been grieving because he failed to defeat this Pokémon completely, and has been training himself ever since."