League Calendar, Year 799, January 10th.
There were no classes scheduled for him at Naranja Academy today, so Lucas had originally planned to spend the afternoon in Los Platos with Nurse Joy, studying the increasingly in-depth medical knowledge she'd been teaching him. After that, he would take the business card Sebas had given him and make a special trip to Levincia.
He had said a few days ago that he would go pick up the car, but he'd been so busy with Nemona's Champion Test preparations that he hadn't managed to find the time.
For the new car, Lucas was currently considering either a Jeep-style off-road vehicle or a pickup truck with decent cargo space. That way, he could handle a wider variety of roads—whether rugged mountain paths or muddy country lanes—and at least wouldn't get stuck just because of a low chassis.
But before any of that, the thing he'd been worrying about still ended up happening.
There was no farm work to handle during winter, so Lucas slept until he woke up naturally. Still in his pajamas and yawning, he walked downstairs.
He was thinking about going for a few laps around the farm later so that the fat he'd packed on in winter wouldn't affect his physique.
But the commotion outside was impossible to ignore.
When he went to the window and looked out, his expression immediately changed.
They came this early!?
He glanced back at the clock, whose hour hand was pointing to ten. Lucas could only wish that all of this was just a dream, that he was still fast asleep and hadn't gotten out of bed yet.
Below, Nemona, fully dressed and brimming with energy, was excitedly commanding Decidueye as it fiercely clashed with Ceruledge, who was wielding twin blazing greatswords.
Decidueye spread its broad wings, nimbly twisting and weaving through the air to avoid the consecutive Psycho Cuts slashing out from Ceruledge's blades.
Under Nemona's commands, Decidueye shifted into a diving posture right after dodging the Psycho Cuts, streaking past Ceruledge while scattering a shower of feathers.
It was using the move Feather Dance, which could effectively dull the sharpness of Ceruledge's blades.
Ceruledge's movements only paused for a moment. The ghostly flames in its eyes flickered slightly, then the fire on its sword edges suddenly flared up, and in an instant, all the feathers around it were reduced to ash.
But the ash and black smoke produced by the burning feathers blocked Ceruledge's wide field of vision for a brief instant.
"Now! Spirit Shackle!"
Nemona's eyes flashed. Seizing the fleeting opportunity, she decisively gave the order, directing Decidueye to unleash a move that posed a tremendous threat to Ceruledge!
"Chuu-nai!"
Decidueye let out a low cry, its actions swift as the wind.
Its wings gave a single powerful beat, and several feathers slipped silently free, then were neatly caught by its claws.
At the same time, the vine-like growths on its body drew taut, transforming into a tough, resilient bowstring. The instant the feathers were nocked against the vine, the string was already drawn to a perfect full moon, power coiled and ready to explode.
Feathers for arrows, vine for bowstring!
"Swish! Swish! Swish!"
The bowstring thrummed three times in quick succession, clear and forceful.
Three feather arrows wreathed in eerie dark energy tore through the air, their speed so great their trajectories were almost invisible.
The arrows traced tricky curves, slicing the air with a sharp whistle as they shot straight for Ceruledge's vital points.
Each arrow was aimed precisely at one of Ceruledge's rare openings, sealing off its paths of retreat.
From drawing the bow to loosing the shot, Decidueye's movements flowed like water, smooth and continuous.
In just 0.3 seconds, it fired three arrows, each at an exceedingly cunning angle.
One arrow targeted Ceruledge's face, one sealed the path of its flaming greatsword, and the last flew as if it had eyes of its own, shooting straight toward Ceruledge's shadow at its feet, leaving it with almost no room to dodge.
This was Decidueye's specialty. Not only did it possess exceptional battlefield awareness and insight, its archery was also exquisite beyond compare.
If it were another Pokémon, they might have grown flustered under Decidueye's assault and exposed even more openings.
But if Decidueye's archery was refined, did that mean Ceruledge's swordsmanship was inferior?
Under the stunned gazes of Nemona and Decidueye, Ceruledge's twin flaming greatswords moved at a speed that was nearly imperceptible to the naked eye.
One blade used its flat to block the arrow that was sealing its greatsword's path, while the other snapped the arrow flying toward its face head-on.
Only the third arrow—relatively less threatening—remained, and it embedded itself into Ceruledge's shadow!
In that instant, Ceruledge clearly felt a strange sensation coming from where the arrow had pinned its shadow to the ground.
It was as if its shadow had been nailed in place and could no longer move. Even its legs, which it could normally maneuver freely, now felt like they were filled with lead and fixed firmly to the spot.
That was Spirit Shackle's "cannot escape" effect.
Seeing that Ceruledge had finally been drawn into her tempo, Nemona didn't hesitate in the slightest and shouted, "Shadow Ball!"
Decidueye's sharp gaze locked onto Ceruledge. Between its folded wings, a dark-purple energy sphere quickly formed, then plummeted down toward Ceruledge.
Even after doing all this, the calm and composed Decidueye still didn't stop.
It knew that this alone wouldn't be enough to completely defeat Ceruledge.
Decidueye beat its wings and flew straight up into the sky. As it dove, its body spun rapidly, and it once again drew its bow and nocked its arrows.
Only this time, what it was firing was the Sinister Arrow Raid that would bring a close to this battle!
Faced with the barrage of arrows descending upon it and unable to move at all due to Spirit Shackle, Ceruledge showed no signs of wavering. The purple armor covering its body suddenly began to glow with a fiery red light.
The next moment—
Thick smoke laced with scorching flames burst out in all directions, instantly destroying the arrow that had pinned Ceruledge like a motionless puppet and blocking the first wave of the arrow storm, buying Ceruledge precious time.
Because it had drawn itself into the Lava Plume's range, several scorch marks had appeared on Ceruledge's armor.
Fortunately, it was a Fire-type Pokémon and had solid resistance in that area. This wasn't enough to hinder its movements.
The instant it regained mobility, Ceruledge's gaze turned cold. Its body, wreathed in ghostly shadows, slipped straight into another dimension.
Phantom Force!
Behind Decidueye, Ceruledge's silhouette emerged the moment the dimensional passage opened.
Sensing the searing heat behind it, Decidueye's expression shifted. At Nemona's shout, it tried to draw its bow and nock an arrow once more to buy itself some reaction time.
But perhaps it was because it was too nervous; the feathers it shook loose were caught by the reach of Ceruledge's blazing swords and turned directly to ash.
The panicking Decidueye tried to patch the situation, but Ceruledge's blades would not wait for it.
Bitter Blade!
The flaming greatswords, their ghostly flames surging, launched a storm-like flurry of strikes. The sword aura formed by fire descended like an all-encompassing net upon Decidueye.
Under Ceruledge's fierce assault, even though Decidueye did its utmost to erupt in one final Leaf Storm, it was still blasted from the sky by Ceruledge and crashed heavily to the ground, losing consciousness moments later.
Ceruledge, however, simply withdrew its blades and did not follow up on the downed Decidueye. Instead, it turned its gaze to the Audino waiting at the side.
"Taabu-nai~"
Audino supported Decidueye, then tried to call Ceruledge over.
Ceruledge only lowered its head to glance at the scratches Decidueye had left on its armor, then shook its head.
Bitter Blade had already restored some of the stamina it had just lost. As for the scratches on its armor, it would just have Oranguru give it some proper maintenance later.
—If anything, it was Decidueye and Nemona it was thinking about.
Ceruledge's gaze fell on Nemona, who had hurried over to help lift Decidueye up and was now thanking Audino as it used Heal Pulse and Heal Bell to treat Decidueye's wounds and burns.
A barely noticeable change flickered across Ceruledge's expression.
In just a single year, the other party had grown to the point where she could battle it and even briefly seize the advantage for an instant.
That couldn't help but remind Ceruledge of its own rapid growth phase in the past.
It really was just like Luxray and the others said: even after you've claimed the crown you were aiming for, you can't afford the slightest bit of complacency, or you'll have latecomers like Decidueye catching up.
Not to mention, none of them were anywhere near their theoretical peak yet—like Calyrex, for example.
Fortunately, it still had plenty of room to grow and become stronger.
Ceruledge slowly exhaled and noticed Lucas's figure, who had walked out through the door at some point.
Nemona, who was still treating Decidueye, happily waved and greeted him. "Good morning, Teacher Lucas!"
"Good morning, Nemona."
Walking over to Ceruledge's side, Lucas gave Nemona a slight nod, then looked up at Ceruledge and said quietly:
"Your reactions were quick. Well done."
There was a hint of gratification in Lucas's voice. Clearly, he was very pleased with Ceruledge's ability to adapt in the moment.
While Ceruledge did have the edge over Decidueye in terms of raw strength, Decidueye had Nemona—whose talent was exceptional and whose battling instincts were on par with, or even currently surpassing, Ash. That kind of command support was no joke.
For Ceruledge to break out of that situation relying on its own experience was truly a pleasant surprise.
"Fss-ro…"
Being suddenly praised, Ceruledge's body stiffened. If its face weren't fully covered by its armor, it might have already been visibly embarrassed.
It had never been able to resist Lucas's praise.
"I'll give your armor a proper tune-up later."
Lucas patted Ceruledge on the shoulder. Before Ceruledge could brighten up at his words, Lucas's own body froze instead.
—Hot hot hot hot hot!
Screaming internally, Lucas swiftly snapped his hand back without changing his expression, suddenly remembering that Ceruledge had just used Lava Plume and that its armor was still in the middle of dissipating heat!
Fortunately, he'd pulled back his hand right away, so it should be fine if he just quietly had Audino heal him later.
Barely keeping up his composure, Lucas didn't dare touch Ceruledge again. He just gave it a meaningful look, then walked over toward Nemona.
Nemona scratched her chin lightly and lowered her head, speaking in a somewhat dejected tone. "I lost again against your ace, even when you weren't commanding it yourself…"
Nemona had planned to raise her strength as much as possible before the Champion Test and keep her team's condition sharp by battling Lucas's Pokémon.
Yet even after using every move and tactic she could think of, she still hadn't been able to gain much advantage over Ceruledge.
That was inevitably discouraging, and she couldn't help but doubt herself a little.
Lucas shot her a sidelong glance, silently grumbling in his heart.
You sent a Decidueye that's weak to both of Ceruledge's types to fight it. How exactly were you planning to win?
She'd been perfectly normal when she battled Drayton before—doing everything she could to target Dragon-type weaknesses.
Lucas was starting to seriously suspect that Nemona had been infected by Ash back in Hoenn. Why was she so obsessed with playing type disadvantages now?
Was she just looking for trouble?
That was what he was thinking internally, but outwardly, Lucas still spoke to Nemona as a teacher, patiently and gently guiding her. In a roundabout way, he reminded her that even at Champion level, type matchups were still very important.
Who knew what sort of lineup Geeta would send out against Nemona? Nemona only had six options herself; she had to take things seriously.
Still, she was easy to cheer up—or rather, that was just her nature. After a few words, the gloomy air about her vanished and was replaced with her usual vibrant, hot-blooded enthusiasm.
"Next I'll challenge Swampert. That'll definitely put me under a lot of pressure. Should I go with Goodra or Ursaluna for that one?"
After returning Decidueye, whose injuries were mostly healed by Audino and only needed some mental rest, Nemona fired up again.
Lucas, who at last understood just how stubborn Nemona's own tempo really was.
She hadn't taken any of that to heart at all.
And don't go—Swampert knows Ice Punch!
Nemona busied herself challenging the farm's various Pokémon, and Lucas decided to let her be.
Compared to dragging him into battle, freely taking on the farm's Pokémon was actually better for helping her stay in top form.
After all, the opponents she needed to consider next weren't him, but the members of the Elite Four like Hassel, and Geeta herself.
The Champion Test's four Elites plus Champion gauntlet would probably be far more difficult than she was imagining.
Lucas wasn't entirely sure how much of her strength Nemona would be able to bring out then. In hindsight, it might have been better to stop her and have her go through a standard Champion Test instead.
His feelings were complicated. On one hand, seeing Nemona grow to this point under his own eyes and guidance filled him with pride.
On the other hand, he worried whether his interference might have altered Nemona's one-year Champion trajectory.
Lucas did not reject the idea of change, nor would he let himself be bound hand and foot by some notion of the original plot, unless absolutely necessary.
But since this was about Nemona, he couldn't keep his mind entirely at ease.
Nemona's strength was undeniable; she'd already reached that level.
However, the reason it was so hard for any League to produce a Champion under the gauntlet rules was precisely the unique high-pressure environment: not only do you have to fight opponents roughly equal to yourself, you also have to battle nearly five consecutive rounds. Just imagining that pressure was exhausting.
Back when Lucas himself took the Champion Test, he had prepared thoroughly before starting that challenge.
"For the next few days, let's all focus on helping Nemona train and stay in sync."
Lucas sighed softly. Calling over the eager Ceruledge, he prepared to give its armor a good tune-up, then head to Los Platos's Pokémon Center in the afternoon for his lessons.
…