Pokemon: Spiritual Master

Many people at the scene had never seen the legendary "Dragon of the Dao Trio"—the ice dragon Kyurem.

They didn't know how powerful Kyurem was, since the near ice-frozen Opelucid City had been stopped by Johan's intervention.

But seeing the current scene, they could roughly appreciate several degrees of ice dragon Kyurem's might.

Frozen world!

A genuine frozen world!

If it weren't for Wyndon Stadium's Dynamax barrier blocking it, perhaps Wyndon Stadium would have already become a world of ice and snow, with temperatures plummeting to levels ordinary people couldn't endure.

But even with Wyndon Stadium's Dynamax barrier, the seeping cold still caused the entire stadium's temperature to drop by more than ten degrees, from the originally slightly warm early autumn temperature straight down to near winter.

Even more exaggerated—

The Dynamax barrier that could withstand the energy impact aftershocks of Dynamax Pokémon and Champion-level Pokémon energy collisions was now covered with frost, having lost the energy flow fluctuations it had when resisting energy impacts.

Simply put, the Dynamax barrier seemed frozen!

"Quick! Quick! Move, emergency barrier reinforcement, fill with energy, pull the values to maximum!"

The event organizers' staff were also frantically taking action.

If they didn't hurry to reinforce it, the Dynamax barrier would really explode!

This was the first time Wyndon Stadium, the largest and most well-equipped stadium in the Galar region, had encountered such a "crisis."

Large numbers of staff rushed in to reinforce the barrier.

After a brief commotion, the audience focused their attention back on the stadium interior.

Their gazes passed through the frost-covered Dynamax barrier and the snow-filled sky, falling on the field—that silver-clad world.

When the audience finally saw clearly that Perrserker that Giovanni had just summoned, they all gasped.

Frozen!

Solidly frozen into an ice block.

Even a Champion-level Pokémon could be directly frozen into an ice sculpture?

Moreover—

Perrserker was a pure Steel-type Pokémon!

It had natural resistance to Ice-type moves, or Giovanni wouldn't have chosen it to counter Johan's Ninetales.

But—

It was still frozen?

In the audience seats, Flint said with an exaggerated expression:

"Using Teacher Johan's favorite phrase—legendary Pokémon, terrifying indeed!"

"Not all legendary Pokémon are this exaggerated, right?" Lucian clicked his tongue.

"No." Steven suddenly said in a serious voice: "It's not completely frozen!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a crack appeared on the thick ice covering the frozen Perrserker on the field.

Then the cracks grew larger and larger.

"Bang!!"

Countless ice crystals scattered, and Perrserker broke free from the ice crystal restraints.

"Oowoo~!"

Seeing this, Ninetales' expression immediately became serious.

It knew its ice-sealing ability was limited and couldn't compare to Kyurem. It should have frozen several more layers just now!

Now it had to focus with 200% concentration, or it might actually lose. Feeling the power of earth control flowing through its body, Ninetales thought.

Johan noticed the traces remaining at the corners of Giovanni's Perrserker's mouth.

"That's... a berry?"

A Pecha Berry that removes frozen status?

Or something else?

If it was a berry, to be able to remove the freezing from Ninetales' ice power, that Pecha Berry's quality must be incredibly high.

"Meow!"

Breaking free from the ice crystals, Perrserker called out roughly, shaking its body as large amounts of ice crystal dust fell from its metal-like hard fur.

As a "Viking warrior," Perrserker wasn't afraid of cold.

It was just angry about being frozen right after entering—the anger of a "warrior."

Clang!!

Perrserker waved its claws, and the black, solid, slender sharp claws immediately converged into a black short sword.

Feeling Johan's "determination," Giovanni's eye twitched.

One thing—Johan's guess was actually correct.

Perrserker was indeed what Giovanni used to counter Johan's Ninetales, not just because Steel-type resisted Ice and Fairy-type and had a quadruple advantage over Ninetales.

But also because—

This Perrserker was indeed a "Viking warrior"!

The Galar region had extremely cold areas, specifically the Crown Tundra zone, where many Pokémon with resistance to Ice-types lived.

Just as Cynthia would bring Garchomp to Mount Coronet to train and cultivate Garchomp's resistance to Ice-types and cold, Pokémon living in ice and snow naturally had better resistance to cold.

This "Viking warrior" not only resisted Ice-types but also had extremely strong resistance to cold. Ordinary opponents' Ice-type moves couldn't even cause it much damage.

But even so, it was almost frozen by Ninetales.

"Perrserker, Fake Out!" Giovanni called out sternly.

"Meow!!"

Perrserker roared, showing no fear whatsoever from nearly being frozen by Ninetales. Upon hearing Giovanni's command, it charged at Ninetales at extreme speed.

Utilizing the speed boost from Fake Out, it appeared before Ninetales in the blink of an eye and slapped it away.

Bang—

Ninetales unusually didn't deploy Aurora Veil, because Perrserker had mastered Brick Break, making Aurora Veil quite ineffective against Perrserker.

Additionally—

The "ice wall" power that Ninetales relied on also seemed quite fragile under Perrserker's metal-like sharp claw short sword.

This caused Perrserker's Fake Out to leave Ninetales unable to mount effective resistance before being slapped away.

"Misjudged," Johan sighed inwardly.

At the same time, he felt that Giovanni's state seemed to have changed somewhat, becoming less composed and more urgent.

Well, true.

Although Johan's Pokémon had all taken various injuries and couldn't be summoned for battle, purely in terms of score—

It was indeed 3:0 now.

Moreover—

Ninetales with such strong Ice-type abilities had indeed brought considerable "crisis feeling" to Giovanni, whose Pokémon were mostly Ground-types.

Could it be a comeback?

Johan couldn't help but think this.

It wasn't impossible.

After all, Giovanni's Beedrill hadn't made its move yet, and Giovanni hadn't used any enhancement methods.

If Beedrill swept through—

What Johan didn't know was that what he sensed—Giovanni's state change—was also due to worry about being swept by Johan.

Strange to say.

However—

Since both were worried about being "swept," Johan decided to try his best to see if he could sweep Giovanni.

"Perrserker, Iron Head!"

Taking advantage of Ninetales being restricted by Fake Out, Giovanni launched a pursuit without hesitation.

"Meow!!"

Using Trick Room, Perrserker moved quickly and reached Ninetales again, its head seemingly wearing a hard helmet slamming toward Ninetales.

Bang—

Ninetales was slammed away once more, ice crystals scattering.

But this time, Ninetales had already recovered from the earlier "flinching" and wasn't directly knocked down. Instead, it landed steadily on all fours, crouched down, spread its nine tails, and ice and snow suddenly became harsh.

"Oowoo!!"

Ninetales was a bit angry!

Johan could feel this.

To make the usually quiet and gentle Ninetales somewhat angry, Perrserker had some "ability."

And in that moment, Johan and Ninetales were of one mind.

That was—

Sometimes, being cautious was better to avoid situations like just now. If they had used their strongest move from the start, there probably wouldn't have been any problems.

So—

Johan suddenly raised his arm. In his palm was a snow-white, frost-like stone that seemed to have a hint of pink blush—a Z-Crystal!

More precisely—

An exclusive Z-Crystal, Ninetales' exclusive Z-Crystal, Icium Z!

"That's a Z-Crystal? Teacher Johan is going to use a Z-Move?"

"Huh? A Z-Move? Isn't Teacher Johan going to use Gengar's Mega Evolution? I thought—"

"Ninetales is also very strong, also a legendary Pokémon, and quadruple weak to Steel. Facing pure Steel-type Perrserker, conserving stamina is reasonable."

"I get it—I suspect Teacher Johan didn't bring Ceruledge, or there'd be no need to use a 'trump card' at this time."

"Joke—who would prepare Fire-types when facing a Ground-type specialist?"

"Is this what they call type coverage?"

Noticing Johan's action, the audience endured the cold and stirred first.

Johan didn't disappoint the audience. He immediately gripped the "Icium Z" in his hand and called out:

"Ninetales—"

Hum—

The "Icium Z" in Johan's hand immediately burst with brilliant light, connecting to Ninetales on the field.

In an instant—

A connection seemed to form between Johan and Ninetales, and this connection became substantial as a "bridge" between human and Pokémon.

The next second—

Ninetales' body also burst with holy light. The entire arena, which had already become an ice and snow world, suddenly became bright as if a bright moon was slowly rising, constantly emitting holy radiance and driving away the darkness.

Everyone stared blankly at the rising "moon," shocked by the appearance of a second moon.

It was so bright, so holy, so—

Johan waved his cape, his voice warm and elegant:

"Lunar Dance!"

"Oowoo!!"

With Ninetales' soft call, the bright moonlight power scattered down like spinning butterflies dancing in descent, fluttering down gracefully.

"Meow—"

Perrserker stared blankly at the falling moonlight butterflies, lost in a daze.

The next instant—

Crack crack crack—

Ice crystals formed on Perrserker's body again.

But this time was different from before—there was no cold air drifting, no snowflakes falling. Perrserker was frozen in unknown crystals and lost all movement.

"What Z-Move is that?"

"Ninetales has an exclusive Z-Move? Lunar Dance?"

"No, this move's power—Teacher Johan, your move isn't reasonable!!"

Others thought Teacher Johan was eager to win, so he used enhancement methods on Ninetales early, using a Z-Move that might be Ice Z or Fairy Z.

They never expected it would be Ninetales' exclusive Z-Move—

Ninetales had an exclusive Z-Move too?

Compared to the announcement of Mega Evolution, most trainers with some skill roughly knew which Pokémon could Mega Evolve and which couldn't.

But Z-Moves were different from Mega Evolution.

Z-Moves used attribute-based "Z-Crystals" that almost all Pokémon could use. Instead, it was uncertain which Pokémon had exclusive Z-Moves.

After all, the four Island Guardians all had the ability to "create" exclusive Z-Moves—the difference was only in strength.

"Perrserker!" The shivering, pale-faced referee confirmed multiple times before struggling to wave the flag and announce: "Unable to battle!"

One-shotted!

"Actually one-shotted directly, even though both were freezing—"

"It's different—this move obviously wasn't an Ice-type move."

"Whether Ice or Fairy-type, those are both double resistance!"

"So Teacher Johan is the real 'type disadvantage' master!"

The entire venue shook.

Johan's feeling—

As expected, in battle, tactics, strategies, type matchups, and such weren't as reliable as "level suppression."

Overwhelming power was the true way!

However, Giovanni on the opposite side obviously felt differently from Johan.

After recalling Perrserker, looking at the elegant Ninetales stepping gracefully on the field, Giovanni truly felt—this brat really wants to shut me out!

Otherwise, Johan's enhancement method shouldn't have been used on Ninetales, but should have been used on Gengar.

After all, even if Perrserker had absolute type advantage when facing Ninetales, one undeniable point was that Perrserker was inferior to Ninetales in raw strength.

So even if Giovanni had made preparations, the final situation should have been Perrserker losing battle ability while Ninetales suffered severe stamina consumption.

But now—

The situation had changed because Johan used Ninetales' exclusive Z-Move.

Giovanni smiled.

At this moment, he only had two Pokémon left.

One was Dugtrio that had appeared before, and the other was naturally his old partner—Beedrill.

Dugtrio was already insufficient in strength against Ninetales, plus being type disadvantaged and possibly getting one-shotted—that's why Giovanni had switched.

Then—

"Old partner." Giovanni took a deep breath and threw out his final Poké Ball.

Hum—

Wing vibrations came from the red light.

"Here it comes!!" The commentator immediately perked up, and all the audience also perked up. "Mr. Giovanni's most mysterious ace Beedrill!!"

"Bii!"

Crimson compound eyes immediately locked onto the opposing Ninetales.

Ninetales' originally elegant and light movements slightly stiffened, the fur on its body involuntarily standing up as if feeling an extremely strong threat.

This guy was very strong!

The audience had been anticipating Giovanni's Beedrill for more than just a day or two. Online discussions about Beedrill's actual strength had been everywhere recently.

Now—

Finally!

Giovanni and Beedrill didn't disappoint everyone. Right from the start, it displayed unparalleled speed!

Buzz buzz buzz—

On the field, only the trembling sound of wings against air could be heard, with Beedrill's form almost invisible.

Just this speed alone—

Could almost be called the best in this Master Tournament!

Perhaps because he was "pressed" by Johan, after Beedrill entered, Giovanni unbuttoned his jacket.

Whoosh—

The suit flew off.

Inside wasn't a white shirt, but a tight vest!

In Johan's memory, Giovanni dressed like this only during his second decisive battle with Red on the airship in the special manga!

"Johan." Giovanni laughed heartily. "Come on!"

With that—

He looked at the flickering Beedrill on the field, his eyes focused as he shouted:

"Beedrill—"

"Bii!"

Beedrill suddenly stopped moving and called out in response.

Hum—

The ring on Giovanni's right hand burst with brilliant rainbow light, forming a close connection with Beedrill on the field.

"Mega Evolution!!"

"Bii!!"

In an instant, brilliant light burst from Beedrill's body. The evolution light completely enveloped it, and its silhouette gradually changed within the evolution light.

Mega Evolution!

Johan's expression immediately tightened.

Giovanni's ace Beedrill, plus unreasonable Mega Evolution and "Viridian Power"—

This was getting serious!

Could Giovanni really want to sweep me with a single Pokémon? Johan thought.

That won't do!

Johan's eyes also gradually became sharp as he loosened his collar button.

To avoid being swept—

He took out a Poké Ball, recalled Ninetales, and raised his hand:

"Gengar!"

"Ka-kaah—"

The grinning Gengar immediately floated out from his shadow, bouncing cutely as it landed on the field.

This old man makes his shining debut!

To avoid being swept, then—

Take it down!

—

PS: Wife went out for training, home alone with the kid who cried for mommy at night. The sky is falling...