Lance had considered the possibility that Dylan had already surpassed him. After all, this junior's growth was simply too fast.
So fast, in fact, that Lance even suspected Dylan's Viridian Force might be accelerating his Pokémon's growth.
But Lance had always believed that as long as Dylan didn't use broken, god-tier mythical Pokémon from legends, he could still put up a real fight.
And then…
Lance was served a harsh dose of reality—a very targeted one.
His Dragon army was extremely weak to Ice. Lance knew that. His team? Nearly all of them had Ice-type weaknesses.
In Lance's mind, his ideal team lineup looked like this:
Ace Dragonite, Giant Dragonite, Mega Gyarados, Dragonite Mk II, Dragonite Mk III, and Salamence.
Wonderful. Apart from Mega Gyarados, every single one had a 4x weakness to Ice. Even Mega Gyarados was weak to Freeze-Dry specifically.
Lance was also in the process of training a Garchomp and Hydreigon. In fact, he was already allocating resources to find Mega Stones for Salamence and Garchomp.
Once he had those, he'd swap out Gyarados and finalize his ultimate dragon team.
A full team of pseudo-legendary dragons—perfect, right?
Six Pokémon, all 4x weak to Ice. So what?
Lance never saw that as a problem. Type matchups were just matchups. To him, true strength transcended typing.
His Dragonite were strong. His Dragonite were unstoppable.
So what if you threw Blizzard or Ice Beam at him? He'd have Dragonite charge in with a Dragon Rush and smash those Ice moves head-on!
That was the way of the dragon! That was true power!
But Dylan had given Lance a serious wake-up call. All of his Dragonite had gone down.
At the end of the day, it all came down to that glaring Ice weakness—Dragonite just couldn't take more than two, maybe three hits before collapsing.
Lance's spirit was shaken.
Since the day he became a trainer, he'd never suffered a defeat like this.
Even when he was younger, less experienced—it had never been this bad.
The final battle didn't fare any better. Facing Dylan's Articuno, Lance gave it everything he had—but his efforts still ended in a loss.
"Dragonair is unable to battle. Articuno wins," Leaf announced, glancing at Lance's silent figure.
"Challenger Lance has lost all six Pokémon. The challenge has failed."
Leaf declared the final result. For the record, Dragonair was Lance's sixth Pokémon. The fifth had been Dragonite Mk III, who got frozen stiff by two consecutive Blizzards from Articuno.
Lance was speechless, while the spectators were stunned.
"He got… shut out…"
"Dylan really didn't hold back at all. Couldn't he have used one Ninetales to throw Lance a bone?"
"Four Alolan Ninetales? What kind of god-tier setup is that? I feel bad for Champion Lance."
"Yeah, Dylan hit way too hard. This wasn't like that match against Galar's Leon, but I bet Lance would've preferred facing those dragon legends instead."
"Dylan is totally the strongest!"
The crowd buzzed with whispers, though none dared raise their voices too much—not with Lance still down there.
From the look on his face, Lance's mood was definitely not great.
And understandably so. Even though his personality had mellowed in recent years, he was still a proud man.
Being shut out in a full-team battle—Lance couldn't even imagine this happening.
It was brutal.
"What an exhilarating battle that was, Lance!" Dylan beamed as he walked up to Lance. Articuno landed behind him, wings folded gracefully.
"…"
Lance twitched.
Exhilarating? Was this guy serious?
"Looks like that lineup I built especially for you worked a little too well," Dylan said cheerfully.
Lance's face darkened further.
Yup. Dylan absolutely needed to be strung up from a lamppost!
"Hah, just kidding," Dylan chuckled. "Lance, I had a blast. I'm really looking forward to our next battle."
He held out his hand.
He really had enjoyed himself. Lance's dragon team was the perfect target for Dylan's type-advantaged Ice squad.
He got to savor that sweet, sweet feeling of a matchup win.
"Hmph! That won't happen next time," Lance huffed, but still shook Dylan's hand with good sportsmanship.
He could accept defeat—especially to someone like Dylan. The only thing that stung was how badly he lost.
But that was fine. He planned to rethink his team—and come up with a proper way to handle Ice-types.
"Of course."
Dylan's smile deepened.
With the battle over, Dylan invited Lance to relax in his garden. Lance accepted.
But there was no doubt that their match—and its outcome—was about to stir up a storm across the Kanto region.
The clear blue sky reflected in the calm surface of a small lake. A Slowpoke sat by the water's edge, lost in thought as always. Dylan and Lance reclined on a picnic mat, enjoying the breeze.
"This place isn't bad," Lance commented as he looked across the lawn, where Pokémon played and trained in harmony.
A rare smile tugged at his lips.
He liked peaceful, natural settings like this.
"You should come by more often," Dylan said.
"Once I take over as Johto's Champion, I probably won't have time."
Lance shook his head. He was set to officially assume his new title in a few days, and the job would be demanding.
He was nothing if not diligent. With Rocket remnants still active in Johto, he wasn't about to take it easy.
"True. You've always been a workaholic," Dylan chuckled.
Among all the regional Champions, everyone was reliable when it came to official duties—but when it came to their personal lives?
Only Lance and Cynthia truly lived and breathed their work.
Lance neither confirmed nor denied it.
"The Cup Tournament is starting soon. Now that you're Champion again, which seed did the Chairman give you?" Dylan asked curiously.
"Still eighth."
"Because Johto's League is newly reestablished, huh? And the tournament's about to begin—makes sense they didn't want to reshuffle things last minute."
"Doesn't matter. I'll climb."
Lance's voice was calm.
As Dylan had guessed earlier, Lance hated being seeded eighth.
But that was fine—he'd rise through the ranks once the tournament began.
"Must be nice," Dylan sighed, a little envious. Being ranked first, he couldn't challenge anyone. He just had to wait and see who would come for him.
Hopefully Steven and Cynthia would be "proactive" about that.
"…?" Lance glanced at Dylan in confusion. Nice?
"Anyway, be careful," Dylan added, slipping into his junior role. "The other regions' Champions are no joke. Don't let yourself get upset."
It was a polite reminder.
That said, Dylan wasn't actually worried. Aside from himself and Leon, he didn't think Lance would lose to any of the other Masters Eight.
This wasn't anime Lance—the one with the ridiculous Dragonite moveset of Hyper Beam, Twister, Body Slam… Like seriously, who built that?
And don't even start on the time anime Lance used Max Wyrmwind on a Mega Gardevoir. What kind of Champion even does that?
Dylan understood what the anime was going for. Lance had already faced Leon once, so he had to be eliminated early.
But sacrificing him to Diantha like that? Come on.
"Hmph! My dragons won't lose!" Lance said with a cold laugh, full of confidence.
"Besides, I had a few realizations from today's battle."
Lance went quiet for a moment, thinking.
"The real issue is that your team's too vulnerable to Ice. You should consider one of these."
Dylan pulled out three Poké Balls and handed them to Lance.
"…?"
Lance narrowed his eyes.
"Roaring Moon, Overqwil, and Dragalge," Dylan explained. "All strong Dragon-types—not inferior to pseudos."
"Paradox Pokémon and Ultra Beasts?"
"Exactly."
Lance raised an eyebrow. He was familiar with both categories, especially their Dragon representatives.
"I can't accept this."
His refusal was firm. Lance didn't like receiving gifts—especially from people he considered equals.
"You don't have to be so formal with me," Dylan said.
"It's not about formality."
"Lance, I still remember when you entrusted me with that Dratini."
"That was different. You saved a boat full of people. And I'd already been looking for a good trainer to take that Dratini."
Lance's tone was calm. He didn't mention that he'd recognized Dylan's Viridian Aura back then—and quietly decided to mentor him.
Although… he had been disappointed at the time to learn Dylan specialized in Poison-types.
"Well, now I want to find great trainers for these guys too. You wouldn't want to see them wasting away in my garden, would you?"
"…"
Lance frowned slightly.
"Having them join your team would be the best outcome. And if you're still uncomfortable about it—then take them to the Cup Tournament. Let them prove themselves against Champions. That's all I ask."
Dylan smiled warmly.
"…I see."
Lance was persuaded. He considered the three Poké Balls for a moment, then picked Dragalge's.
He was already training a Hydreigon, so Overqwil and Roaring Moon had overlapping types. But a Dragon/Poison-type like Dragalge? Very useful.
Poison was strong against Fairy, too—which made Dragalge valuable in matchups against those opponents.
"Good choice. Dragalge's already in great shape. Just a little more training and it'll be a core part of your team," Dylan said.
"Thank you."
Lance spoke the words simply.
They chatted a little longer before Lance finally stood to leave.
Oh, and by the way—Dylan also made him change his online handle to "Dodo." Lance didn't get the joke, but since he lost the battle, he agreed.
Even though Lance definitely felt like "Dodo" was an insult aimed squarely at him… well, a loss was a loss.
He'd keep the name for half a month.
Dylan's sense of humor remained as sharp as ever.
But Lance was a man of action. With his new role as Johto's Champion starting soon, he had a lot to prepare for.
Still, their battle had caused a massive stir throughout Kanto.
Lance didn't care about the noise. But the next day, he was ambushed at Indigo Plateau—
By reporters.
"Champion Lance, it's said you challenged the Rota Gym yesterday. Is that true?"
"…No comment."
"Rumor has it you had a full battle with Gym Leader Dylan—and were shut out. Is that true?"
"…No comment."
"And after the loss, it's said Dylan asked you to change your username to 'Dodo' for two weeks. Is that true?"
"…No comment."
"What is your opinion of the Rota Gym and its Gym Leader?"
At that, Lance paused—lost in thought.
(End of Chapter)