"Go, Mega Salamence! Hyper Beam barrage!"
Drake's roar echoed from the back of his Altaria. Orange-yellow beams of light shot out, transformed into Flying-type moves by the influence of Aerilate, their power significantly enhanced.
"Mega Sharpedo, retaliate with Hyper Beam!"
Facing the offensive from the Elite Four member, the powerful Shelly could only do her best to intercept it. Even though Mega Salamence had been fighting for a long time, its strength still far surpassed that of Mega Sharpedo. The moment the two attacks collided, Mega Salamence gained the upper hand, eventually crushing Mega Sharpedo's offensive. Fortunately, Mega Sharpedo nimbly dodged before the Hyper Beam could land. Sea water splashed in all directions, constantly battering Mega Sharpedo's body.
"Mega Salamence, Hurricane barrage!"
Several tornadoes coalesced, sweeping up the seawater to become water spouts that trapped Mega Sharpedo within.
"Damn it! Crawdaunt, use Hyper Beam to clear the way!"
Seeing Mega Salamence prepare its final assault, Shelly had no choice but to order her Crawdaunt to break away from its own opponent and strike alongside Mega Sharpedo. The orange-yellow beams shot out, destroying two water spouts in succession and giving Mega Sharpedo a chance to escape.
However, in the next second, Mega Salamence caught up with startling speed. Hyper Beam began to charge. At this moment, Mega Salamence was like a fighter jet, forcefully suppressing the combined efforts of Mega Sharpedo and Crawdaunt.
Standing on the deck, Shelly's expression grew increasingly grim as she surveyed the battlefield. If this continued, it wouldn't be long before she and her subordinates were wiped out by the Hoenn League's encirclement. Right now, Shelly could deeply empathize with how Matt felt earlier.
Unlike Matt, Shelly had no intention of fighting to the death, nor would she place all her hopes on that blue crystal. Ten minutes—that was the time limit Shelly set for herself. If the battlefield didn't change once that time passed, she would lead her team to break through the encirclement. In her view, whether she was punished by Archie afterward or forced to find another way to steal the crystal back from the League, anything was better than this kind of war!
With that thought, Shelly began a silent countdown in her head. But these ten minutes felt like the last ten minutes of a class, passing agonizingly slowly. Having finally reached the nine-and-a-half-minute mark, just as Shelly was about to order a retreat, a large number of dark shadows surfaced from the sea.
"Mega Salamence, use Hurricane barrage! Buy time for the others to retreat!"
The moment he saw those submarines, Drake ordered the people at the rear of the encirclement to pull back to avoid being caught in a pincer attack by Team Aqua. Giving up the pursuit of Mega Sharpedo and Crawdaunt, Mega Salamence spread its wings and flew into the sky, continuously unleashing Hurricane to forcefully stop Shelly's subordinates from chasing the League Trainers.
"Attack together! Crush the Hoenn League and seize that blue crystal!"
"When we obtain the blue crystal, that is when Team Aqua will realize its ideals and lead the entire world toward a beautiful future!"
Archie's voice rang out, casually painting a grand vision that excited the members of Team Aqua. A large number of Water-type Pokémon entered the sea, rushing forward as fast as fish to rendezvous with Shelly's subordinates before launching an attack on the Hoenn League together. Now possessing the numerical advantage, the members of Team Aqua felt extremely confident.
"Retreat and defend! Hold the line in front of the blue crystal!"
Seemingly intimidated by Team Aqua's offensive, Drake issued a retreat order for the first time. The enemy advanced as the League retreated. With the Hoenn League pulling back, Team Aqua's offensive became increasingly arrogant, yet Drake remained unmoved. Instead, he fixed his gaze tightly on Archie's position.
Given the League's current distribution of power, Archie could completely abandon his subordinates and flee if Drake launched a premature final assault. Therefore, to lure the enemy deeper, Drake didn't mind retreating further to pull Team Aqua into a deeper position while waiting for the most critical reinforcements to appear.
While Drake watched Archie, Archie also kept a close eye on Drake. From the moment he appeared, Archie had prepared for the League to focus their fire on him. Consequently, he had immediately dispatched all of Team Aqua's Psychics. If anything was out of the ordinary, Archie would know immediately.
"No problem, leave this to me."
After speaking, Gu Yuan ended the communication and vanished from his spot. The moment Gu Yuan moved, a large number of Psychics charged out from the forest, only to be intercepted by the prepared Team Aqua Psychics the moment they reached the sea.
However, while those people were tied up, Gu Yuan suddenly burst forward.
"Now is the time! Launch the final attack!"
As Drake's voice rang out, several dark shadows emerged from the sea. As the most powerful force in the Hoenn region, how could the Hoenn League not have its own submarines?
"Mega Salamence, Dragon Rush!"
Sitting on Altaria's back, Drake commanded Mega Salamence and his other Pokémon to attack Archie.
"As I thought. Then let me see if this great net of yours can catch a big fish, or if the big fish will tear the net apart."
Watching the changes around him calmly, Archie showed no signs of surprise. He silently released his Pokémon. The light of Mega Evolution surged as Mega Sharpedo and Mega Swampert appeared on the sea one after another. Their Champion Rank auras spread out, clashing with the charging Mega Salamence.
"As expected of the leader of Team Aqua, your strength is indeed outstanding. I just wonder how long you can last under the combined efforts of myself and Elite Four Drake."
Glacia's voice rang out, accompanied by a bone-chilling wind. As the Hoenn League's Ice-type Elite Four, the moment Glacia's Pokémon appeared, the sea surface—which usually struggled to freeze—instantly turned into a massive continent of ice that continued to spread toward Archie.
"What?"
"Does Steven Stone look down on me so much? He didn't even show up himself, sending an old man and a woman instead."
"What is this? Are you letting me bully the elderly and women?"
Facing the pincer attack from Drake and Glacia, Archie spoke with disdain. Not at all affected by Archie's shallow provocation, Drake and Glacia simply narrowed the encirclement, giving Archie no chance to leave.
Gu Yuan, floating in the air using his psychic powers, watched the exceptionally calm Archie and felt that the man had other schemes.
"Get ready, Alakazam. Be prepared to use Teleport at any moment."
Just as Gu Yuan finished speaking, a strange mutation occurred.