Umbreon hit the ground hard. Lucario touched down a moment later, landing without a sound.
The dust cleared. Umbreon lay on its side, motionless.
"Umbreon is unable to battle. Lucario wins!"
No surprises. Extreme Speed followed by a full-power Brick Break, with a level gap between the two Pokémon. Umbreon's solid defences meant nothing against that kind of disparity.
Gary recalled Umbreon and sent out Gyarados without hesitation. It had a type advantage on paper, Water over Steel, but the level gap rendered that meaningless.
Lucario closed the distance with a single Extreme Speed and launched Gyarados into the arena wall above the spectator stands.
One hit.
Ash wasn't being cruel. He was being efficient. Gary's strongest Pokémon had already been spent, and the reserves coming out now weren't in the same conversation as Lucario. Dragging it out would have been disrespectful.
Gary recalled Gyarados and clipped the ball back to his belt. He stood still for a moment, breathing slowly.
One Pokémon left.
"This is the last one." He exhaled and drew his final Poké Ball. His voice was steady, but there was iron behind it. "I'm counting on you, Blastoise!"
The capsule burst open, and Gary's strongest partner materialised on the field. Blastoise.
If any single Pokémon in Gary's possession could stand against Ash's frontline, this was it. The only one.
"Finally." Ash's expression tightened. This wasn't like the last two. Blastoise was real. After Mega Evolution, it would be a genuine problem for Lucario's current power level.
"This is the last round, Ash!" Gary's eyes blazed. "And I will take down your Lucario!"
He didn't say he'd win the match. He said he'd beat Lucario. The goal was specific and deliberate. One more knockout. Proof that Ash's team could bleed. And if the Pokémon he took down happened to be the same Lucario that had once fought a god to a standstill? Even better. The confidence boost would carry him through the third-place match and beyond.
This final duel mattered.
"Blastoise, Mega Evolve!" Gary thrust his arm skyward. The rainbow orb in his wristband erupted with light, and a Mega Stone surfaced on Blastoise's body in response. Energy spiralled between trainer and Pokémon, and Blastoise's form began to shift.
The timing was intentional. Mega Evolution was best activated early. Unlike Gigantamax, which burned out in three turns, Mega Evolution persisted as long as the Pokémon had stamina. The stat boosts applied to every exchange from the moment of transformation onward. There was no reason to hold it back.
The light faded, and Mega Blastoise stood on the field. The crowd had seen it before, but the sight still drew murmurs of appreciation. The massive central cannon on its back, the reinforced shell plating, the sheer density of power radiating from its frame.
"Then we'll match you." Ash raised his own arm. A Mega Ring sat openly on his wrist now, Key Stone set into the band. In earlier matches he'd kept it hidden in his sleeve, pulling it out only when needed. But Mega Evolution was public knowledge at this point. No reason to be subtle anymore.
"Lucario, Mega Evolve!"
Lucario's Mega Stone surfaced, and light exploded outward. The transformation reshaped its silhouette in seconds. More black across its body. Longer fur trailing from the back of its skull. Darker skin, red-tipped feet, additional aura sensors streaming behind it like banners. The cream fur on its torso lengthened, its frame became leaner, and new spikes emerged from its hands and feet.
Where base Lucario was composed and disciplined, Mega Lucario radiated something sharper and fiercer.
A predator that had shed every ounce of excess and refined itself into pure combat intent.
The crowd had gone quiet. Not from shock this time, but from a kind of exhausted awe. Blastoise, Gardevoir, and now Lucario. Three Mega Evolutions from a single trainer. Every time they thought Ash had shown his full hand, another card appeared.
Some spectators were doing mental math, trying to figure out how many Mega Stones one person could reasonably possess. Others had given up on logic entirely and were just watching.
Up in the VIP section, Steven felt a familiar ache in his chest. Another Mega Evolution meant another Mega Stone.
'Was this one from one of my collection too?'
He couldn't tell. The light during transformation made it impossible to identify the stone's colour. Not that it mattered at this point. Five Mega Stones and three Key Stones, all handed over to Professor Oak for "research purposes.".
The only thing Steven truly cared about was whether his personal Metagrossite had been among them.
'As long as that one's safe, I can live with the rest.'
Far from the stadium, in Cameron Palace, Queen Ilene watched the broadcast from her private chambers.
The palace existed in something close to a hidden world, disconnected from the chaos of modern leagues and tournaments. But their technology was perfectly current. Television, smartphones, live streams. The world reached them just fine.
Ilene rarely watched the Indigo Plateau Conference. Entry-level tournament matches held little interest for someone in her position. But this year was different.
Ash was competing.
If anyone had recognised his potential before the rest of the world caught on, Ilene was among the first. She had seen what he carried inside him long before any of this.
Because Ash had done what no one else could. He'd awakened and saved a Pokémon Egg that had been on the verge of death, an egg that carried extraordinary significance within Cameron Palace. It was believed to be the descendant of the Hero's Lucario, the partner of Sir Aaron himself.
No one had been able to hatch it. Not in all the years Cameron Palace had guarded it. The fact that Ash could meant he shared something fundamental with the legendary Aura Guardian of the past. Perhaps he was the next one.
Combined with the ancient prophecy, Ilene had tracked Ash's progress ever since.
He hadn't disappointed her. His growth had been staggering. But as Ash's fame rose, there had been no sign of the Riolu she'd entrusted to him. No public battles, no mentions, nothing. Whispers had circulated through Cameron Palace. Had the Pokémon been neglected? Had its talent failed to recover? Had Ash simply lost interest?
Ilene had never shared those doubts. She'd done her research before handing Riolu over. Everything she'd learned about Ash, from every available source, painted the same picture: a trainer who loved his Pokémon unconditionally. She'd trusted that, and she'd been right to.
Because here, today, on the biggest stage in Kanto, Riolu stood transformed.
Not just evolved. Lucario had completed a second evolution, a form no one in Cameron Palace had ever witnessed in person. Mega Lucario, standing under the lights before tens of thousands of spectators, radiating power that dwarfed anything its species was known for.
"So this is Lucario's Mega Evolution," Ilene murmured, leaning closer to the screen. Her eyes widened. "It looks almost exactly like the final painting."
The realisation struck her. That painting, the one whose meaning had puzzled Cameron Palace for generations, the image of Lucario in a form no one could explain. It hadn't been depicting an unknown evolution.
Mew's foresight had captured the Mega Evolution form centuries before the power even existed in this world.
And Riolu, the descendant of the Hero's partner, had been destined to achieve it.
Still, something nagged at her. The resemblance was overwhelming, ninety percent identical, but there were small differences. Details in the silhouette that didn't quite match her memory. Under normal circumstances she'd chalk it up to time blurring the image. But Mew's vision had been seared into her mind with perfect clarity. She knew what she'd seen, and the Mega Lucario on screen wasn't a perfect match.
She filed the discrepancy away. It was minor. What mattered was that Lucario was alive, powerful, and thriving under Ash's care. Ilene wanted to see him in person, not through a screen. Cameron Palace shared that desire. It wasn't about reclaiming the Pokémon or testing its power. They simply wanted to meet the descendant of their hero's partner, just once.
After the Conference, she decided. 'I'll ask Dr. Cerise to arrange an invitation. Bring Ash and the others to Cameron Palace. Frame it as a vacation.'
She turned her attention back to the screen.
On the field, Mega Lucario and Mega Blastoise locked eyes across twenty metres of scorched arena. The air between them felt dense, charged with competing auras. Neither moved.
For Gary, this was everything. His last Pokémon, his one chance to prove he belonged on this stage. For Lucario, the stakes were different but no less personal. Losing here, after everything, would be unacceptable. If it couldn't win battles like this, the goal of becoming the strongest was just empty words.
Both trainers called their opening moves at the same instant.
"Blastoise, Water Pulse!"
"Lucario, Aura Sphere!"
Blastoise's three cannons roared simultaneously, unleashing converging columns of pressurised water. Lucario cupped both hands at its hip, a deep blue sphere of concentrated aura forming between its palms, and fired.
The two projectiles met at the centre of the field.
The detonation shook the arena. A wall of spray and energy erupted from the collision point, whipping debris outward and drenching the nearest rows of spectators. Blue water and deep indigo aura light clashed and swirled, locked in a stalemate for three full seconds.
Then, gradually, the Water Pulse began to push forward.
Cracks spiderwebbed across the surface of the Aura Sphere. It buckled, then shattered into dissolving particles of energy. The remaining Water Pulse surged through the gap and screamed toward Lucario.
In the stands, Brock and Misty exchanged sharp glances. The same thought hit both of them simultaneously.
Lucario's Aura Sphere lost a head-on clash? Ash's Pokémon didn't lose direct exchanges at equal level. And this wasn't just any move. Aura Sphere was Lucario's signature technique, boosted by Mega Evolution. Even accounting for Blastoise's Mega Launcher amplifying Water Pulse, that shouldn't have been enough to overwhelm it.
Something was off.
The Water Pulse struck Lucario dead centre. Gary braced for the impact, expecting the jackal to be blasted backward.
Lucario's body rippled. The water passed through it like light through glass and splashed harmlessly against the arena wall behind.
Gary's brain stalled for half a second.
'Did that hit so hard it punched clean through?'
No. That wasn't Lucario's body at all.
Afterimage.
Lucario had moved during the clash. While everyone's attention was fixed on the Aura Sphere losing ground, while the Water Pulse was still pushing forward, Lucario had already abandoned its position. The Aura Sphere it fired hadn't been meant to win the exchange. It had been a screen.
A distraction to hold every eye on the centre of the field while Lucario circled at speed too fast to track.
It materialised behind Mega Blastoise. One hand held a fresh Aura Sphere, blazing with concentrated power, pressed directly against the shell.