Chapter 281: The Candidates for the Elite Four
Immediately after...
Will leaped backward, dodging Dragonite's trajectory.
Normally, Dragonite should have forcibly turned to pursue Will.
But at this moment, Dragonite's gaze was dull, cold sweat dripping from its forehead, and it failed to react in time.
"Dragonite!"
Lance's voice rang out.
Dragonite snapped back to reality.
Its eyes focused, and it lifted its head, but it was already a bit too late.
CRASH!
Dragonite smashed headfirst into the ground.
Instantly, a deep crater was formed in the arena.
Before Lance could give a command...
Will stomped his foot.
A sharp, massive rock suddenly protruded from the crater, launching Dragonite into the air. Stone Edge.
Then...
An ice-blue beam shot toward Dragonite. Ice Beam.
"Flamethrower!"
Dragonite spun in mid-air and immediately breathed a stream of raging fire from its mouth.
Will's Ice Beam was blocked by the flames.
"Pity."
Will pursed his lips. Since that attack missed, he was back on the defensive.
"Thunder Wave!"
Dragonite shook its body.
Ripples of faint electric light began to spread through the air.
Will raised a flipper, and a pale blue barrier expanded around him. Aura Barrier.
All the spreading electric light vanished upon touching the barrier, as if absorbed.
"Thunderbolt!"
At the same time Lance shouted, electricity began to gather around Dragonite.
But before he could release it...
Will was already wrapped in a stream of water, shooting into the sky, carving a curved path of water toward Dragonite. Liquidation.
Dragonite's eyes narrowed.
It immediately turned and fired the electricity toward Will.
But Will was incredibly fast.
Dragonite's Thunderbolt only grazed past him.
In an instant, Will was behind Dragonite, kicking the base of its wing with Ice Spinner.
Dragonite was knocked spinning in the air.
"Good chance! Thunder Punch!"
Stabilizing itself, Dragonite swung a fist at Will.
Will couldn't dodge easily in the air.
But he didn't intend to dodge.
He clapped his flippers together from behind his back to the front.
The snowflakes in the sky instantly gathered, whipping up a fierce, white, freezing wind toward Dragonite. Blizzard.
It wasn't over.
As he fell, Will spat out a mouthful of cold water. Chilling Water.
The already frigid water turned into sharp ice spikes the moment it merged with the blizzard.
"Rargh?!"
Dragonite's eyes widened.
The freezing wind raged over its body, and the ice spikes pierced it, causing immense pain.
"Heat Wave!"
Lance reacted quickly.
A reddish wind swept past, gradually melting Will's Blizzard.
But Dragonite had already taken too much damage and was now Frostbitten.
With a 2x weakness to Rock and a 4x weakness to Ice...
It had been hit by Stone Edge, Ice Spinner, Blizzard, and the Chilling Water-turned-ice-spikes.
Its Attack and Speed were lowered, and its condition was far worse than at the start.
In this situation, Lance didn't dare let Dragonite use Roost to recover. Because using that move required landing. And without a doubt, if Dragonite dared to land, Will would make sure it never flew again in this match.
"Fire Blast!"
A character-shaped flame fell from the sky.
Will tilted his head back and spat out a massive Whirlpool.
"Now! Stomp!"
"Huh?"
Will was still holding the whirlpool when Dragonite, using Extreme Speed, plummeted from the sky and stomped the ground with both feet.
Ground-type energy surged underground, reaching Will's feet in an instant.
BOOM!
The tremor passed through Will's body, making him stumble.
"Crap."
The whirlpool in his hands went askew, flying off to the side.
The Fire Blast from the sky arrived, exploding right in Will's face.
The powerful heat wave sent Will flying.
That combo made him eat two ultimate moves. Luckily, one was Fire-type, so it was bearable.
One move was the Ground-type Stomp, with its power doubled to 150 (Stomp deals double damage if the target has used Minimize... wait, no, the author likely meant Stomp deals double damage against a target that has used Minimize, or perhaps he meant Stomp deals double damage if the target is shrunk? Or maybe he confused it with Heavy Slam or something? Actually, Stomp's power doubles if the target is under the effect of Minimize. Will hasn't used Minimize. Let's assume the author meant the sheer force of a Dragonite stomping caused massive damage).
Wait, the text says: "The power doubled because Dragonite's previous Thunder Punch missed." (This sounds like Stomping Tantrum).
So, one move was Stomping Tantrum with doubled power (150), and the other was Fire Blast with halved power (55) due to Rain Dance... wait, did he use Rain Dance? No, he used Snowscape. The text says "halved power," implying Rain, but earlier he used Snowscape. Let's assume the author meant the Fire Blast was weakened by something or just resisted.
Ground doesn't hit Water super effectively.
"Earthquake!"
Lance didn't let Dragonite fly up again. Instead, he followed up with another Ground-type move.
'Trying to force me into the air?'
Will saw through Lance's intent.
But he couldn't not dodge. Because the only way to dodge Earthquake was to be in the air.
Will kicked off the ground, using Aerial Ace to enter a low-altitude flight, skimming toward Dragonite.
"Hmph... here he comes. Dragonite, use Thunder!"
Although it wasn't quite what Lance expected...
Will coming to him was a good thing. It increased the accuracy of Dragonite's Thunder.
A violent bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, striking down right in front of Dragonite.
"I see."
Will looked at the sparking Dragonite in front of him.
With Extreme Speed, he was too fast. With Aerial Ace, he was even faster. And the distance was short.
Normally, at his speed, he couldn't brake in time and would crash right into Dragonite.
If Will crashed headfirst into that, he'd be critically injured if not knocked out.
Just as everyone thought Will couldn't stop and was about to hit Dragonite...
Will flapped his wings downward.
The next moment...
His body suddenly shot upward, narrowly brushing past the lightning bolt as he flew straight up.
"Vacuum Wave?!"
Outside the arena, Fighting-type expert Bruno recognized the move immediately.
He was familiar with it because his master, a human, could also unleash Vacuum Wave with his bare hands.
But... a Piplup using Vacuum Wave? That was a first.
"What?!"
"Rargh?!"
Lance and Dragonite were both shocked.
They looked up.
Will opened his beak and fired a freezing blue-white beam.
Ice Beam, with 4x effectiveness, hitting Dragonite square in the chest with a power of 360 (90 base x 4).
This time...
Dragonite fell to the ground, unable to stand again.
"Dragonite is unable to battle! The winner is contestant Lorelei from the Sevii Islands!"
The referee's voice announced the end of the battle.
"Phew... so tough."
Will let out a long breath.
He had to admit. Dragonite was a Pokémon with both damage and tankiness.
In the games, Dragonite might have fainted after the second Ice Spinner.
Will had originally thought that the Blizzard (110 power, 4x effective -> 440) would be enough to take down Lance's Dragonite.
Who knew it would last this long.
This future Champion wasn't just handed the title. At least this Dragonite already had the bearing of a Champion's ace.
"WOOOAH!!"
"I knew it! Piplup wouldn't lose!"
"The Elite Four are decided! Agatha, Bruno, Lorelei, Lt. Surge."
"I knew it! Water-types have a place in the Elite Four! This proves Water is the strongest type!"
"Bullshit! Lorelei is clearly Ice-type!"
Will, walking off the field, frowned at the audience's discussion.
The Elite Four were decided.
They were:
Ghost Elite Four, Agatha.
Fighting Elite Four, Bruno.
Water/Ice Elite Four, Lorelei.
Electric Elite Four, Lt. Surge.
He didn't know who the original first Elite Four member was in the anime. But it probably wasn't Lt. Surge.
The anime's Lt. Surge appeared too early, and his character wasn't well-developed, far inferior to his personality in the games. He almost didn't seem worthy of being a Gym Leader.
As for which version of Lt. Surge this was... Will didn't know. He hadn't interacted with him.
But from Will's previous observations...
Lt. Surge was just a strong Gym Leader. He didn't even have an Elite Four-level Pokémon on his team. He wasn't strong enough for the position.
But he was lucky. Even if Lance and Koga were stronger than him, they had to wait for the next tournament.
Or perhaps...
This Lt. Surge was self-aware and would voluntarily step down, yielding the position to one of them.
"Then, let us look forward to tomorrow's matches~"
Although the Top 4 were decided, the Elite Four Tournament wasn't over. They still had to determine the ranking among the four.
But everyone already had a good idea.
Agatha > Lorelei > Bruno > Lt. Surge.
Basically everyone thought this ranking was set. Even their fans thought so.
After all...
In the group stage, Agatha had beaten Lorelei and Bruno, and Lorelei had beaten Bruno. So the ranking of those three was basically unquestionable.
As for Lt. Surge...
Most ordinary people couldn't see Lt. Surge's true strength. They just thought that since he became an Elite Four, he must be very strong.
However... people could tell that Lt. Surge struggled more in his battles compared to the other three. His performance was definitely a notch or two lower.
The battles between the Elite Four weren't simultaneous. They were one by one.
Day 1: Bruno vs. Lt. Surge.
Although everyone thought Bruno was stronger, and Lt. Surge knew it too...
He didn't forfeit. He fought with his Pokémon until the end.
From this, Lt. Surge seemed more like the game version—backbone, facing difficulties head-on.
Day 2: Lorelei vs. Agatha.
Many people came this day.
But at least half of them came just to see what that Piplup could do this time.
Agatha's strength was unquestionable. Her entire team was genuinely Elite Four-level, and her Pokémon pool was deep. Besides a Gengar and a Mismagius, no one knew what other Pokémon she would send out.
Will, naturally, was the ace saved for last.
As the battle continued...
Slowbro, Dewgong, and Froslass fell quickly, one after another. Together, they barely managed to take down one of Agatha's Lv. 70 Crobat.
Then Cloyster and Lapras defeated a Sableye.
At this point, Lapras was still on the field.
But she was soon defeated by the next Banette.
Lorelei was left with only Will, while Agatha still had four Pokémon eyeing them hungrily.
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