Chapter 307: Hurricane Storm
The Shadow Arrow landed clean, but the battle was far from over.
When the arrow struck Diancie, it didn't simply deal damage and disappear — it phased directly into her body, and the shadow of the arrow pinned itself to Diancie's own shadow on the ground, locking her in place. She couldn't step out of it without tearing herself free.
Ash saw the opening immediately. "Again, Decidueye — full volley!"
Decidueye drew arrow after arrow in rapid succession, loosing them across the arena in a dense barrage, each one aimed to overwhelm before Diancie could recover. But Diancie had been through too many battles to be rattled by pressure. The entire point of everything she'd trained for with Ryan was precisely this — keeping a clear head when everything was coming at her at once. Panic was a luxury she'd long since stopped being able to afford.
Diamond Storm erupted around her. The powerful crystalline whirlwind shredded through the incoming volley, scattering the arrows and stripping them of their momentum before they could reach her. Stripped of their power, they fell harmlessly short.
Without pausing, Diancie redirected the Diamond Storm toward Decidueye. Decidueye didn't dodge. Following Ash's call, it drove both wings hard into the ground — and a massive eruption of thick, tangled vines burst upward, forming a wall of Frenzy Plant between itself and the incoming storm.
The Diamond Storm tore through vine after vine, shredding a significant portion of the barrier — but not all of it. Diancie swept the storm around again, destroying the remaining vines completely. But when the last vine fell, Decidueye was gone.
Ryan's eyes narrowed. He located it almost immediately. "Diancie — Moonblast, above you!"
It was the middle of the afternoon, but that didn't matter to Diancie. She drew on her own energy reserves and generated moonlight from within, condensing it rapidly into a brilliant sphere of pale energy above her head.
High in the air, Decidueye had used the cover of the falling vines to climb. It cycled through three rapid Swords Dance boosts, then tucked its wings and dove — Brave Bird at full power, arrow-straight toward Diancie below.
"Hold it — and release!"
The Moonblast sphere pulsed and fired. The beam of dazzling energy caught Decidueye mid-dive, and the collision produced a violent explosion that threw smoke and debris across the entire arena, momentarily blinding everyone.
Ash's hands tightened. "Decidueye—"
"Keep going — Brave Bird, push through!"
And it did. Out of the smoke, still trailing the damage from Moonblast, Decidueye came screaming downward. Ash clenched his fist.
Then a sharp crack rang out across the arena.
A massive pink diamond had formed directly in front of Diancie — not as a wall, but as a platform. Decidueye slammed into it and sprawled across the surface, dazed, its momentum completely killed.
Ryan smiled. "Diamond Storm — converge."
Ash's eyes went wide. "Decidueye, move — now!"
But Decidueye was still seeing stars from the impact. It wasn't getting up quickly. Diancie, calm and precise as ever, didn't waste the moment. She launched the massive diamond skyward. It climbed fast, trailing a high whooshing sound — and then detonated.
The shockwave hit like a wall. Ash and Serena were both knocked off their feet. At the epicenter of the blast, Decidueye dropped from the sky in a slow, helpless arc and hit the arena floor hard, smoke rising from its singed feathers.
It didn't get back up.
Serena steadied herself and raised her hand. "Decidueye is unable to battle — Diancie wins!"
She felt a small pang watching Decidueye's condition, but she'd already developed a deep fascination with Diancie's ability to produce fully formed diamonds from pure energy. That was genuinely something else.
Ash was already jogging across the arena to check on Decidueye, kneeling down with obvious concern. Ryan recalled Diancie with a quiet word of acknowledgment.
"It's okay, Ash," Ryan said. "Diancie has very precise control — she didn't push beyond what was necessary. Decidueye looks rough right now, but there's no serious damage. Some Sitrus Berry and a rest and it'll be fine."
Ash examined Decidueye carefully and exhaled with relief. He helped Decidueye to the side of the arena, then stood and rolled his shoulders. His expression shifted — the way it always did when Ash decided it was time to stop holding back.
"Lycanroc — you're up!"
The Dusk Form Lycanroc leaped into the arena with a thunderous howl, orange fur catching the light, green eyes sharp and ready. Ryan reached for his next Poké Ball.
"Victini."
Victini materialized in a burst of light, immediately flapping its small pointed ears like wings and circling Lycanroc once in a quick, curious loop before floating back and grinning at it with obvious eagerness.
Ryan had deliberately chosen Victini for this matchup. He wanted to see Ash's team pushed hard, and Victini's energy output made it the right tool for that.
"Lycanroc — Rock Slide, lead with speed!"
Lycanroc's body blazed with white light and it launched forward at remarkable velocity. Victini curled inward, a pale red glow building around it — and then golden spheres of flame materialized around its small frame, surrounded by rings of blazing red energy. The V-create fireball launched from Victini's body like a spinning comet, directly into Lycanroc's charge.
"Stone Edge — intercept it!"
Lycanroc pivoted without slowing, and jagged stone spikes erupted from the ground in a line, slamming into the fireball head-on. The raw destructive force of V-create was immediately obvious — spike after spike shattered under the pressure, the line of Stone Edge crumbling piece by piece until only a handful remained. But those final spikes held. The fireball stopped.
And then it exploded.
The entire arena ignited. A rolling sea of fire spread outward from the impact point, swallowing the battlefield in a curtain of heat and light.
From somewhere beyond the inferno, Ash's voice rang out — clear and certain.
"Alright, Lycanroc — show Ryan everything we've got! Continental Crush!"
The ground shuddered. The arena cracked apart. Burning boulders tore free from the shattered field and rose into the air around Lycanroc, orbiting it as the Z-Power surged. Lycanroc threw its head back and unleashed a howl that shook the smoke above the arena.
Then it directed the boulders — and the full weight of the Z-Move, amplified by Victini's own flames still burning across the field, came crashing down in a devastating cascade.
Victini was small and fast. It wove between the falling boulders with sharp, instinctive movements, slipping through gap after gap, barely touched. Ryan tracked every boulder's position as it moved—
And then he saw it.
The boulders weren't falling randomly. They were arranged in a ring. Each near-miss had been deliberate, funneling Victini step by step into the center of a tightening enclosure.
Ash's voice cut through the fire and smoke.
"Now — detonate!"
Every boulder ignited simultaneously.
The chain of explosions consumed the center of the arena in a single, catastrophic burst. Victini, positioned squarely at the heart of it, had no window to escape.
The shockwave rolled across the field like a wave.
(End of Chapter)
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