Pawmot's battle prowess exceeded everyone's expectations.
It was just a not-quite waist-high electric mouse—
Yet its momentum as it swept undefeated past Braviary called to mind that famed female champion of Sinnoh, Cynthia.
Her Garchomp's crushing dominance over Elite Four aces was legendary; Pawmot, while far cuter, radiated the same sense of overwhelming power.
The only difference: Garchomp looked intimidating at first glance; Pawmot leaned cute.
Larry wordlessly withdrew Braviary and sent out his second Pokémon.
"Tropius."
With broad leafy wings flapping, a familiar Pokémon entered—a regular for both Lucas and Nemona.
A Grass/Flying type combo, which meant it couldn't be crushed by Electric moves for 4x damage anymore… but also exposed a very nasty 4x Ice weakness.
"Did he really need to go to this length?" Lucas muttered, seeing Tropius. When he'd challenged for Champion a year ago, Larry's lineup had been pure flying types weak to Electric—perfect for him and Luxray.
But now, leading with Tropius and likely bringing Oricorio and Altaria—Larry had specifically trained these to counter Electric's advantage.
Brother Larry, you've become so sly.
The battle began amid Lucas's complaints.
Tropius wasn't as fast as Pawmot, but Larry had a plan.
"Sunny Day."
A glowing golden orb shot from Tropius's mouth, casting a brilliant burst of sunlight.
Chlorophyll kicked in; the leafy wings glowed bright green.
With newfound agility, Tropius dodged Pawmot's Discharge, firing off a volley of Energy Balls like machine-gun fire.
"Break them, Thunder Punch."
Nemona's commands had Pawmot dodging nimbly, and where there was nowhere to dodge, punching explosively through the green smoke to emerge unharmed.
But everyone overlooked the gathering sunlight near Tropius.
With both Nemona and Pawmot's attention drawn by the Energy Ball barrage, Larry decisively ordered, "Now! Sunbeam, three o'clock!"
Tropius roared silently as sunlight condensed before it, golden threads entwining into a ragged, yet oddly beautiful mess, then—charged with Grass energy—the threads burst into an emerald pillar of light punching straight at Pawmot!
Boom!
The pillar rocked the air with its force.
Under Sunny Day, the usually slow-charging Solar Beam was launched near-instantly, and every setup landed perfectly.
But—Nemona and Pawmot still reacted!
"Push it back!"
Nemona's pupils shrank as she blurted the command.
True to its dual typing and martial prowess, Pawmot braced itself, planting its feet, fists glowing red under Iron Fist's boost. With a flurry of blows, Pawmot pushed back against the energy pillar, dispersing it through sheer force.
For a moment, Larry was speechless.
So there was a way to counter that?
Like a signal for counterattack, Nemona and Pawmot immediately went on the offensive.
Strong electric currents forced Tropius closer to the ground. Taking advantage of the big, less nimble target, Pawmot lunged in, cloaked in lightning, knocking Tropius off balance. While Tropius struggled to stay airborne, Pawmot leapt onto its back, fists kindling fierce flame.
A Sunny Day-boosted, Iron Fist-augmented Fire Punch—terrifying even to Lucas's own Tropius at home.
Thankfully, his Tropius had Harvest and didn't need Sunny Day to thrive, so it was safe.
Despite all Larry's careful anti-Electric planning, under Nemona and Pawmot's relentless offense, his team lost ability to fight one by one.
Oricorio, Altaria, and Staraptor went down in quick succession, despite Larry's spirited resistance, to the shock of viewers everywhere.
Larry's last Pokémon, his trump card Flamigo, now stood on one leg in the center of the field. Like Rika, Larry took out his Terastal orb.
"This will mess up my hair, but let's change the tempo."
His face expressionless, as if performing a work task, Larry recited the official catchphrase as he tossed the shining orb atop Flamigo's head.
Truthfully, even though he trusted his longtime partner, looking at Pawmot—only a bit out of breath, lightly scraped from combat—Larry knew this was where his day would end.
—After all, Flamigo's Terastal type was Flying, not Fighting.
"Whoa—Nemona beats her second Elite Four opponent without a single loss!"
"Even I, your commentator Iono, can barely contain my excitement, and I can only report it like this—"
"Could today be the day we witness a young girl ascending to the peak?"
Iono, unashamedly rooting for Nemona after benefiting from her guidance, laid on the praise thick.
Luckily, the competitors couldn't hear Iono's livestream; otherwise, after a one-sided defeat, even a worn-down Larry might have snapped.
Because Iono's favorite way of praising was to elevate one while teasing another—even numb salarymen would be ruffled by that viral internet speak.
"Well, I guess we're all part of the losers club now~"
Off camera, Rika slung an arm over Larry's shoulder—making Larry look even weaker by comparison.
Dark circles deepening, Larry didn't even have the energy to shake her off. "Let me go, I have work to do."
"Don't be so stiff At least stick around to see Hassel make a fool of himself before you go"
Rika, determined to drag Larry along, pulled him into the third Elite Four room.
Trailing behind, Nemona was tending to Pawmot's minor wounds. Watching Larry's melancholy retreat, she murmured: "Why does Mr. Larry always push himself to work so hard?"
…
Third room—Hassel had been waiting for a while.
At first, he grinned at the sounds of battle from next door, smugly assuming Rika had been thrashed too quickly.
But as the noise faded, his expression changed.
"Is Larry goofing off again? That felt too fast…"
Hassel considered himself, except for that senior, stronger than both colleagues.
He had to admit, though, that Larry's skill at least rivaled his own, not something quickly finished.
A sense of foreboding crept over him.
It only grew as he saw Rika and Larry walk in together.
Trying to pries information out of Rika was pointless—she just looked away, ignoring him.
Soon after, Nemona, freshly rested, followed the pair into the third room.
Though easygoing, Hassel could be reliable when it mattered.
The room's camera was already rolling; Hassel stood grandly, arms spread wide, greeting Nemona with respect.
"Hassel of the Dragons—your strongest obstacle on this climb—will use every ounce of skill to defeat you with all my heart!"
Having been a teacher less than a year, Hassel wasn't acting on behalf of Naranja Academy just yet.
But as Hassel the Dragon, he had no such reservations; he would meet every challenger with his fiercest spirit.
"My first Pokémon—Duraludon!"
A flash of red, a heavy metallic thud—the aluminum-bodied Duraludon appeared.
Steel-type Duraludon and Poison-type Dragalge, both picked by Hassel to counter Fairy types (a bad matchup for dragons).
Still, there was a problem.
Hassel's Duraludon hadn't yet evolved to Archaludon. He should've seen Drayton's evolved form in the battle with Blueberry Academy, and he even knew Drayton's grandfather, Drayden.
Nemona's confusion made Hassel shrug, "Don't look at me like that—it's just that I haven't gotten the item needed for evolution yet."
"But even without evolving, my Duraludon is far stronger than that kid's, trust me."
Duraludon's evolution item, "Metal Alloy", was only produced in Unova. Without going home to inherit his large family estate, it made sense he couldn't get it quickly.
But, as Hassel claimed, his Duraludon was still far superior to Drayton's.
Such was his confidence as the Dragon-type Elite Four.
Nemona understood, and threw out her own, already-prepared Poké Ball.
"It's up to you, Ursaluna!"
With clouds veiling the moon overhead, Ursaluna's intimidating aura clashed violently with Duraludon's in the room.
Many viewers swallowed, watching the tension of the coming clash intently.
…
Unova region, Opelucid City's Opelucid Gym.
As students at Opelucid Gym—all aspiring to be elite Dragon-type trainers—everyone had gathered, called by Gym Leader Drayden, to watch the battle stream on the far side of the world.
When Hassel sent out Duraludon, the room erupted in excited exclamations.
Iris, a trainee, curiously asked Drayden, "Grandpa Drayden, who's stronger—you or him?"
Knowing Hassel well and having sparred with him before, Drayden sidestepped. "Just focus on their battle. That girl has a talent to match—or outdo—you. There's much you can learn here."
While Drayden wasn't looking, Iris wiggled her toes and nodded, fixing her eyes on the screen.
By then, Nemona had already released her Ursaluna—the tension between it and Duraludon about to burst.
Iris's heart pounded at the looming showdown.
But then—the TV stream abruptly cut out.
A moment of stunned silence.
Then, the window that had always shown Iono's commentary in the corner took over the full screen.
Iono's well-made-up profile filled the frame and she leaned in, as if checking if the cut had worked.
Unova could barely receive Paldea's TV broadcast; Drayden had only managed to air Iono's stream, instead.
As a result, just as the room was buzzing with anticipation, everyone was now dumbfounded as Iono cleared her throat and pulled out a fruit basket and several bottles of Moomoo Milk with branded packaging.
Smiling to the camera, Iono announced, reading from a script, "Next up, a brief advertising moment! Allow me, Iono, to introduce the proud sponsor of our livestream…"