Chapter 280: The Battle for the Elite Four
"Lorelei's Piplup is getting more and more ridiculous."
"Besides Agatha, it seems no one can match Lorelei."
"I thought Karen might lose, but... this is just crushing."
"The other side should be Lance's win. It all depends on whether Lance's Dragon-types can stop this Piplup. Otherwise, Lorelei is destined to become one of the Elite Four."
"Ooh~ Baby Piplup is the best~ Mwah."
Lorelei's match undoubtedly drew the attention of many spectators from other arenas.
And Lance's fans began to worry.
Judging by Lance's current battle, his chance of winning was 99%.
But that meant...
Tomorrow's match would be Lance vs. Lorelei.
The fans of the trainers in the other bracket breathed a sigh of relief.
After the match, Will left Lorelei to deal with the fans alone. He climbed onto Lucario's head, grabbed his long ears, and ran over to watch Lance's battle.
Luckily, Will had finished his battle quickly.
And Lance's opponent was Flint, Brock's father, a strong trainer in his own right.
So when they arrived, there were still three or four rounds left.
Dragon vs. Rock.
There's no particular type advantage.
However...
Lance's nickname was "Lance the Bird Keeper" for a reason.
Perhaps influenced by Will's first and second lives, the children of the Dragon Clan nowadays were half Dragon specialists and half Flying specialists. In fact, because Flying-types were easier to raise and more numerous, the Dragon Clan was trending toward becoming a Flying-type clan.
Lance's team was a classic example.
4 Dragons, 5 Flying. Plus 1 Water, 1 Fire, 1 Ground (Gyarados, Charizard, Aerodactyl/Dragonite/Garchomp overlap).
If he became an Elite Four member this year, it would be hard to say if he was the Dragon Elite Four or the Flying Elite Four. After all, even though Flying was the dominant type, the two non-Dragons at least had "Dragon" in their names (Gyarados, Charizard), so why couldn't they be counted as dragons?
But...
Rock is super effective against Flying and Fire!
This meant that even though Lance's team averaged Lv. 67 and Flint's averaged Lv. 64, the battle wasn't easy.
Especially Lance's second-strongest, Charizard. Being 4x weak to Rock, it was almost useless.
If not for Gyarados and Garchomp dealing with the Rock-types, Lance might have struggled to beat Flint.
In the end, Lance won.
Garchomp's 1-v-3 performance caused quite a stir. But because it happened after Will's match, it was just "quite a stir."
"That Dragonite and Charizard are strong," Lucario offered his opinion. He was suggesting Will be careful of those two.
"They're okay. Not a big problem. Besides Dragonite, we need to watch out for Garchomp," Will shook his head.
He and Lucario looked at things from different angles. Lucario wasn't analyzing the opponent from Lorelei's perspective, but from Will's.
Dragonite and Charizard were the highest level, Lv. 72 and Lv. 70 respectively, close to Will's level. For Will personally, these two were indeed threats.
But Will was analyzing from the team's perspective.
Charizard, with its Fire typing, wasn't a big problem. Lorelei's team only had one pure Ice-type, Froslass. The rest were part Water and didn't fear Charizard.
Garchomp was the real threat. Although it was 4x weak to Ice... it was strong, fast, could fly, and was extremely skilled with Fighting-type moves. It was a pure assassin-build Garchomp.
For Lorelei's immobile "turret" and "mage" Pokémon, Garchomp was terrifying. If Lorelei's Pokémon couldn't hit Garchomp and let it get close, the Ice-types would be in danger.
In Will's view, the best option was to let the physically defensive Cloyster handle Garchomp.
As for the Dragonite... it had Extreme Speed, was developed in physical and fighting styles, and hit hard.
Will planned to handle it personally.
After all... he knew exactly how Dragonite fought. And he was probably the only Pokémon on Lorelei's team who could react to Dragonite's speed.
The next day.
Before the match started, Agatha came over to greet Lorelei. She looked at Will a few times, her eyes full of anticipation and excitement. Clearly, she had heard the rumors from yesterday and was curious.
Karen was special in Agatha's eyes. Dark-type trainers were the bane of Ghost-type trainers. Agatha viewed Karen through a filter. If they were at the same level, Karen had a high chance of beating Agatha.
But now, Karen's entire team had been swept by Will. How could Agatha not be curious and excited? She always craved battles with strong trainers.
"The next battle is: Lorelei from the Sevii Islands VS Lance from Blackthorn City!"
"Trainers, please send out your first Pokémon!"
The referee's voice announced the start of the duel.
This battle attracted a lot of attention; at least a third of the audience was watching. Another third was focused on Agatha vs. Koga nearby.
"I choose you! Lapras!"
Lorelei sent out Lapras first.
But to everyone's surprise...
"Go, Aerodactyl!"
Lance switched his lead Pokémon!
"Oh... I forgot he had an Aerodactyl." Will raised an eyebrow.
Rock beats Ice.
But it wasn't much better for Lance. Because Ice beats Flying.
Why was Lorelei such a huge obstacle for Lance?
Specifically, for "Lance the Bird Keeper."
Ice beats Dragon, and it also beats Flying. And Lance's team was heavily dominated by these two types.
Dragonite, Salamence, Altaria, Garchomp... all 4x weak to Ice.
If the Bird Keeper could beat Lorelei, Will would hand over Ash's "Type Advantage Master" title to him.
As the battle continued, Will guessed Lance had swapped out his lowest-level Pokémon, Salamence.
But Lapras was impressive. As the first Pokémon out, she took down Aerodactyl and Gyarados one after another.
In the second round, Lance suffered from not knowing Lapras had Water Absorb. He tried a mysterious combo of "Whirlpool, Surf, and Ice Beam" on Lapras. It nearly healed the heavily damaged Lapras back to full health.
However, the combo was creative. It froze Lapras's lower half solid. Given Lapras's body structure, breaking free was hard, so she could only sit there and take hits.
If not for that, Gyarados wouldn't have been able to take Lapras down. But with Lapras's typing, the combo had strong control but no damage; otherwise, Gyarados might have taken Lapras out without a scratch.
After that...
Cloyster defeated Charizard.
Dewgong defeated Altaria.
Froslass defeated Garchomp.
At this point, Lorelei still had five Pokémon left. And Lance only had his ace, Dragonite.
"Does contestant Lorelei wish to switch Pokémon?"
When the referee asked, Lorelei looked at Will. Because last night, Will had said he would deal with Lance's Dragonite.
Will hadn't expected Lorelei and her teammates to be so effective. He had to admit, he had underestimated them.
"I'll go."
Will patted his chest. Since he promised yesterday, he would go out.
The audience was waiting eagerly, anticipating this Ace vs. Ace showdown. Even the finished contestants—Agatha, Koga, Bruno—had all gathered to scout the enemy and see the power of this Piplup.
"Dragonite... be careful. That Piplup knows Extreme Speed." Lance's expression turned serious.
Others might not see it, but could the Dragon Clan miss it? He watched Will's battles on TV often; he had suspected it at first, and later realized it was possible.
But Lance wasn't too surprised. In fact, the entire Dragon Clan wasn't too surprised. Everyone knew Extreme Speed wasn't exclusive to Dragonite. Lucario, Arcanine, Togekiss... many could learn it.
There was even a Sceptile over a hundred years ago who knew Extreme Speed. So a Piplup knowing it wasn't that hard to accept.
"Rargh." Dragonite nodded solemnly.
On the other side.
"This is going to be tough," Will muttered, frowning.
Because his speed advantage, which he was so proud of, wouldn't work in this match.
Dragonite + Extreme Speed. That speed was definitely faster than Piplup + Extreme Speed.
And the key was... Dragonite could fly.
"Dragonite, fly up and use Dragon Dance!" Lance pointed up.
Dragonite instantly vanished from its spot.
Will looked at the soaring Dragonite and shook his head helplessly.
This was the advantage of flight. And it was a tactic Will himself had used in his second life to level up. Using flight to create distance and buff himself, while the opponent could only watch helplessly.
But... Will had played this game before. He wasn't going to just sit there and wait to die.
Since the opponent avoided engagement first, Will could take the opportunity to buff himself too.
He raised both flippers to the sky.
The clouds thickened instantly, and soon, snow began to fall.
The weather move—Snowscape (formerly Hail).
It would boost the defense of Ice-types (since Gen 9) and ensure Blizzard hit.
"It's going to hurt if you get hit." Will grinned slightly, squinting at the Dragonite diving from the sky.
"Just like that! Use Dragon Rush!" Lance's voice rang out.
Dragonite's body began to emit a terrifying murderous aura. The intimidating pressure made Will raise an eyebrow.
But...
The next moment.
Will's eyes glowed with a mysterious blue light.
Dragonite, meeting his gaze, shuddered, its body seemingly stiffening.
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