With Electric Terrain boosting it, the move's power was terrifying.
Lightning and Muddy Water collided head-on.
Bzzz—
The filthy water flash-evaporated. The bolt punched straight through the wave and crashed unerringly into all four opponents.
Swampert, Copperajah, Noivern, Gogoat—every one of them was shocked.
Swampert roared in pain.
Then the lightning broke apart into pure energy and flowed back into Miraidon's body.
Its HP bar shot back to full.
"What?!" Rika's expression changed.
"What incredible voltage," Geeta said, eyes narrowing.
At the same time the lightning exploded, Iron Valiant moved.
He ignored the Hurricane screaming in from above and calmly tracked Noivern's flight path.
"Psycho Cut!"
His right blade flared green; a razor-thin wave of psychic energy tore through the gale and shot precisely into the tiny gap between Noivern's wingbeats.
"Dodge it, Noivern!" Hassel shouted.
Noivern twisted its body midair, barely slipping past the slash by a hair's breadth.
But the Hurricane was broken. Iron Valiant had forced it out of position.
On the other side—
Just as Geeta's Gogoat was about to charge, Gast's silhouette flickered.
"Will-O-Wisp!"
A ball of ghostly blue fire ignored the dying wind and burned straight into Gogoat's flank.
"Baa!"
Gogoat bleated in pain; flame crawled over its fur. Burn status.
"Such precise control," Geeta thought immediately. This Gengar was far beyond an ordinary ghost-type.
Rika's Muddy Water had been vaporized by lightning. What little slurry was left splashed over Jason—more of an annoyance than anything.
With 195 base HP, he didn't care.
He even shook himself, flinging the mud off.
"Appetizers are over," Jason said.
Round one: clear win for his side.
"Don't get cocky!" Rika barked. "Swampert, lock onto that Ditto!"
Jason was the brain; take him out and the enemy would lose their trainer's commands.
"Future Sight!"
Swampert's eyes glowed with psychic light. An indescribable mass of energy formed over its head, then shot skyward and vanished.
In a few turns, that attack would crash down, dealing massive Psychic damage to its chosen target.
It had locked onto Jason's true body.
"Oh? You wanna play that game?" Jason grinned.
With that bomb hanging over his head, his body lit up midair.
"Transform!"
His hands turned into cannons; flames rose along his helmet.
He became Armarouge.
Fire/Psychic.
"He transformed!" Poppy cried. "It's Armarouge!"
"Hmph." Rika wasn't impressed. "My Swampert's Water/Ground. Your Fire is useless."
"Is it?"
Jason raised his right arm cannon.
"Armor Cannon."
Flame energy roared into the barrel.
"Miraidon—give me juice!"
"Rrnn!"
Miraidon understood. A bolt of electricity shot into the cannon alongside the fire.
Flame and lightning fused into a monstrous fire-electric blast aimed straight at their Steel shield—Copperajah.
"Poppy, look out!" Geeta called.
"Copperajah, Heavy Slam!" Poppy ordered in a panic.
Copperajah charged with surprising speed for its size, trying to meet the blast head-on.
But Miraidon was faster.
It flashed forward, interposing itself between Copperajah and the shot. The elephant's Heavy Slam crashed into Miraidon's armor instead.
Boom!
Miraidon was shoved back a few steps—but completely unharmed.
The fire-electric cannon shot streaked past it and slammed full on into Copperajah.
"Wha—!" The bronze giant staggered backward, armor scorched black.
"Ugh!" Poppy stomped her foot.
Elsewhere, burned or not, Gogoat still lunged.
Head lowered, it charged at Gast.
"Too slow."
She didn't even consider trading blows. Her body sank down and vanished into the floor's shadows; Horn Leech hit nothing but air.
Up above, Iron Valiant and Noivern were already locked in a furious duel.
"Dragon Pulse!"
"Air Slash!"
"Psycho Cut!"
"Boomburst!"
Two blurs clashed in the air, explosions of energy bursting with every pass. With superior speed and close-range pressure, Iron Valiant had Noivern on the back foot.
And then—
"It's coming!" Rika shouted.
The Future Sight orb that had vanished into the sky plummeted, locked onto Jason.
Boom!
Psychic force detonated squarely on him.
When the smoke cleared, he was still floating where he'd been. His armor didn't even have a hairline crack.
"What?" Rika's eyes bulged.
Jason brushed imaginary dust from his chestplate.
"Base HP 195 plus Armarouge's high special defense—and that's all you've got?"
He shook his head.
"Barely a tickle."
"Alright, warmup's over. Let me turn things up a notch."
He leveled both cannons—not at the enemy, but outward.
"Iron Valiant, cover me!"
"Gast—Night Shade, keep that Gogoat busy!"
While he spoke, psychic light gathered in his cannons.
"You thought I was your main attacker?" he said.
"Wrong. I'm here to support."
"Light Screen."
He compressed the psychic glow in his arms and then flung it outward.
Vmm—
A translucent, shimmering barrier sprang up in front of Jason's team, blooming outward until it enclosed Gast, Iron Valiant, and Miraidon as well.
Special damage taken by the entire group: halved.
"He put up Light Screen," Larry droned from the booth. "Special moves just got a lot worse."
"Nice one, Jason!" Gast stuck her tongue out at the other side from behind the barrier.
Across the field, the League side's faces darkened together.
Hassel looked sick. His Noivern was a special attacker, relying on Hurricane and Dragon Pulse. With that wall up, its damage output had just been cut to ribbons.
Rika clicked her tongue.
Her Swampert could fight physical, sure—but Muddy Water, her big spread pressure tool, now barely scratched.
"Annoying support move," she muttered.
"If special attacks won't do…"
Geeta's decision came in a flash.
"Gogoat—Earthquake."
She issued a new command.
"Rika!" she called at the same time.
Rika understood instantly.
"Swampert, Earthquake!"
The orders hit.
The whole board shifted in an instant.
Gogoat reared and slammed its hooves into the floor. Swampert hunched, slamming both massive arms into the ground.
Twin Earthquakes.
Rumble—
The entire arena shook violently. The floor cracked under the combined force, fissures spider-webbing from Gogoat and Swampert straight toward Jason's side.
It was a massive physical attack.
"Jason, the ground!" Gast screamed.
"Don't panic," his voice was calm.
The shockwaves slammed through.
Miraidon hovered, relying on ion thrusters—never touching the ground. Ground moves didn't affect it.
And they didn't affect Gast either.
"What?" Rika's pupils shrank.
"Two immune… then we take out the other two first," Hassel thought grimly.
Geeta's gaze locked onto Iron Valiant.
"That one."
The full force of the double Earthquake flowed toward the only grounded member of Jason's front line.
Iron Valiant.
Fighting/Fairy.
"Crap!" Gast cried. "Iron Valiant, jump!"
"Dodge?" Jason said, with a hint of laughter.
"No. We're not dodging."
"Iron Valiant!" he ordered. "Now—use that shockwave as a springboard!"
Iron Valiant didn't move aside. He stood his ground, facing the oncoming wave of rupturing earth.
Red light flickered in his eyes as he calculated the exact moment it would reach him.
Now.
The instant it hit, he bent his knees and channeled all his power into his legs.
Boom!
Instead of getting thrown, he rode the force and launched himself up, turning the quake into lift.
He became a streak of white and purple, blasting skyward.
"He jumped!" Poppy pointed, amazed.
"And his target is—" Hassel's face suddenly drained of color.
In midair, Iron Valiant twisted, lining himself up with Noivern, which was still recovering from its last Hurricane.
"Too late! Noivern, get out of there!" Hassel shouted.
"Too late," Iron Valiant had already locked on.
"Now—Spirit Break!"
His blades flared with blinding pink fairy light as he cut a lethal arc through the air, cleaving Noivern's body.
"Graa—!"
Noivern didn't even finish the cry. Its HP was wiped out on impact. The light went out of its eyes.
"Noivern!" Hassel roared.
Iron Valiant flipped midair and landed lightly on the opposite side of the field.
Noivern fell like a stone, crashing down at Hassel's feet.
"Noivern is unable to battle," Larry's lifeless voice announced. "Elite Four member Hassel's first Pokémon is out."
Silence.
Less than three minutes in, one of the Elite Four had already lost a mon.
"Nice one, Iron Valiant!" Gast shouted.
"Hmph," Jason said, lowering his arms.
"Don't celebrate so soon!"
On the League side, Poppy's shrill cry rang out. She'd seized the moment Iron Valiant landed.
"Copperajah, now—Play Rough!"
The huge bronze elephant charged with shocking speed, trunk glowing bright pink like Iron Valiant's last attack.
Fairy move: Play Rough.
"Not good!"
Before Iron Valiant could fully recover his stance, Copperajah slammed into him.
"And finish it! Swampert—Earth Power!" Rika followed up instantly.
Swampert opened its jaws and fired a compressed blast of Ground energy at the staggered Iron Valiant.
Boom!
He tanked Play Rough and then took Earth Power head-on.
His body shook violently; he dropped to one knee, his glow fading. His HP bar had taken a serious hit.
"This is our chance!" Geeta's commands came without a gap. "Gogoat—Horn Leech! Latch onto Miraidon!"
The burned Gogoat lunged again, ignoring Miraidon's crackling aura and slamming into its flank.
"Rrnn!"
Miraidon snarled, ready to retaliate—but Horn Leech's green energy was already flowing from it into Gogoat.
Gogoat's HP started climbing.
"Damn, it's sucking Miraidon dry!" Gast yelled.
In a blink, momentum swung back.
Iron Valiant was hurt. Miraidon was entangled.
Hassel had lost one, yes—but the remaining three League mons were all core pieces.
"Well, well," Rika smirked. "Your tin can's about to fall over. Your legendary's stuck. What's the plan now, challenger?"
Jason looked at Iron Valiant, kneeling and flickering, then at Miraidon locked horn-to-head with Gogoat.
"Tch."
He clicked his tongue, annoyed.
"Being support is exhausting."
As he said it, the red-and-yellow armor around him dimmed. The flames went out.
The Armarouge form dissolved.
For less than a heartbeat, he was Ditto again—
"What's he doing?" Poppy asked, tense.
Under four pairs of Elite eyes, the pink blob swelled and twisted. Blue, rough hide formed; powerful limbs, finned head, huge dorsal fin, thick tail—
Garchomp.
A land shark, majestic and brutal—Dragon/Ground.
"Garchomp?" Rika blinked.
"Dragon/Ground… My Swampert is Water/Ground. Dragon doesn't hit super effective. What's he thinking?"
"No," Geeta said—and for the first time, her face grew truly grave.
Seeing Garchomp, she thought of Cynthia.
And she knew how close those two were. If Jason had been tutored by that Garchomp…
Jason hit the ground with a heavy thud, let out a low roar, and spread his arm-wings—each a massive, clawed blade.
His shark mouth twisted into a grin.
"Game over," he said—voice deep and rough.
He ignored the wounded Iron Valiant. Ignored the entangled Miraidon.
His target: Poppy's Copperajah.
"Dragon Rush!"
A colossal wave of blue Dragon energy exploded around him. He turned into a streaking comet and slammed straight toward the bronze elephant.