Solar Beam was charging.
The footage even cut inside the flower bud for a moment—Rowlet was in there bawling his eyes out.
He was crying so hard it looked like he could water the petals himself.
For some reason, when everyone around the world saw Rowlet crying like that,
not only did nobody feel bad for him… they actually wanted to laugh~
Solar Beam finished charging quickly.
Trapped inside Venusaur's flower, Rowlet had no way to pull another "shedding skin escape".
So—
BOOM!
A golden beam of light shot straight into the sky! Violent energy blasted the dust into the air!
Rowlet took the Solar Beam full-on inside the closed bud!
But in truth, it wasn't that big a deal—Rowlet four-times resists Grass.
Even a Grass-type ultimate move couldn't hurt him that badly.
It was just the sheer impact that left him dizzy and reeling.
The round little owl wobbled through the air as he'd just slammed a whole bottle of bad booze.
Of course, Professor Kukui had no intention of letting such a perfect chance go.
"Now! Use Sludge Bomb!"
"Vaaa!"
Venusaur opened its huge mouth and fired a volley of inky-black sludge bombs like artillery shells,
all aimed straight at the staggering Rowlet midair!
Ash shouted for him to dodge—
But with his head swimming, how was Rowlet supposed to evade a barrage that fast?
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Most of the Sludge Bombs hit dead-on.
Between recoil from two Brave Birds and the poison barrage, Rowlet's already-shaky HP bar plunged even further.
"Use Vine Whip and smack him into the ground!"
"Vaaa!"
Two thick, bundled vines lashed out from Venusaur's sides with a vicious crack.
Green whips hammered into Rowlet's body—
once… twice… three times… then both vines came down from above in a brutal overhead smash!
Rowlet was swatted out of the sky and slammed into the arena floor.
Dust billowed up. His eyes had already turned to spirals.
The referee hurried over to check that he was knocked out, not just asleep,
and then officially declared that Rowlet had lost the ability to battle.
Professor Kukui had finally taken down Alola's mini-raid-boss.
…
"Professor Kukui's Venusaur is really cool too!"
"So you've got your eye on Venusaur now?"
"No, no, no—I still like Rowlet more! A 'mon that's both cute and cracked… who wouldn't love that?!"
Plenty of people, when forced to choose, still preferred Rowlet to Venusaur.
Rowlet just outclassed Venusaur way too hard in terms of looks.
And his power was nothing to sneeze at either! If he hadn't eaten so much recoil from Brave Bird,
the winner here might not have been so clear-cut.
"Stop dreaming. Starter Pokémon are hard enough to get as it is—never mind Rowlet specifically."
"Do you think every Rowlet is an Ash-style Rowlet? And have you even seen its evolved form? Look—Decidueye
"Whoa, what the heck did it turn into?! Hey!! Give me my round birb back!!"
Conversations like that were happening all over the world.
Anyone who started getting starry-eyed over Rowlet had at least one friend ready with a Decidueye picture to bring them back to reality.
[Professor Oak: The battle's back to three-on-three now. Both Ash and Professor Kukui still have one "god-tier" Pokémon in reserve, but looking at the board… Ash is definitely at a disadvantage.]
[Diantha: I agree with Professor Oak! Lance! Shut up. No more talking. No more jinxing!]
[Lance: ???]
[Cynthia: Professor Kukui would also prefer if Lance didn't say anything. Otherwise, even with a guardian deity, he might not be able to win, hahaha!]
[Professor Kukui: Ahem… yes, well… Mr. Lance, it would be best if you didn't say anything.]
[Lance: Oh, I see how it is. Everyone's ganging up on me, huh? Fine! Then I'll say it loud and clear—how does the guy with Tapu Koko lose? I literally can't imagine how he loses!!]
…
Far away in Alola, Professor Kukui stared at Lance's line and felt cold sweat bead on his forehead.
…It should be fine, right? That's the island guardian we're talking about.
There's no way he gets jinxed into imploding… right?
"Professor Kukui, is it okay if I cheer for Ash…?"
Lillie asked hesitantly.
After all, right now, Ash wasn't the Alola Champion yet, nor their future classmate.
Logically, she should be cheering for Professor Kukui.
But seeing Ash fall into a disadvantage like that…
Lillie couldn't help wanting to cheer for him instead.
It felt like there was some invisible thread tying them together.
Even though they'd never met.
And it wasn't just Lillie—Lana, Sophocles, Mallow, Kiawe…
All of them wanted to cheer for Ash, too.
Kukui smiled helplessly at their conflicted faces.
"What are you even talking about? Isn't Ash your future classmate? Our future partner? What's wrong with cheering for him? Besides… he is our Alola's first Champion, you know."
Professor Burnet chimed in.
"That's right, that's right! One person cheering for Kukui is more than enough—and that's me! The rest of you go cheer for Ash! Then I get to hog Kukui all to myself!"
Kukui turned bright red on the spot.
They'd only just started dating, and Burnet's offensive power was already at max.
Lillie and the others lit up at once, then the classroom filled with their shouts.
"Do your best, Ash!"
"As Alola's first Champion, you can't lose!"
"Go, go, go! Beat the island god! Become Alola's strongest!"
"…"
Ash himself had no idea that his future classmates had already defected and were cheering for him instead of their teacher.
People just naturally empathize with the underdog—
as long as they're fans of Ash and not degenerate gamblers, anyway…
On screen—
Ash ran onto the field, picked up Rowlet's green hooded cloak, and wrapped it back around him
before recalling him to his Poké Ball.
That cloak was lovingly made by one of Rowlet's closest friends.
There was no way he was letting it get ruined on the battlefield.
"You're really amazing, Professor Kukui!"
"Heh. If I didn't have a bit of skill, how could I battle Alola's Champion?"
"In that case… It's decided! You're up, Naganadel!"
Ash pulled out a blue, futuristic-looking Poké Ball and hurled it forward.
A tall, purple, wasp-like creature appeared in the arena—
Ash's fifth Pokémon: Naganadel, an Ultra Beast!
Also, one of the Pokémon the Heavenly Tally itself had classified as "god-tier".
[Lance: An Ultra Beast, huh… it looks pretty cool! So this is Ash's second 'legendary-class' Pokémon?]
[Cynthia: Professor Kukui, can you tell us about this Ultra Beast? What exactly is an Ultra Beast?]
[Professor Kukui: In Alola, there's a phenomenon known as Ultra Wormholes. If you pass through an Ultra Wormhole, you can reach another world.
The sky there is dark and dim, and it's not suitable for humans or Pokémon to live in.
So the Pokémon that survive there are incredibly powerful—and we call them Ultra Beasts.
When Ultra Beasts cross over into our world, they become agitated and unstable—maybe because the magnetic fields are different.
And in Alolan legend, Ultra Beasts are said to be enemies of humans and Pokémon!
But looking at things now… either the legends are off,
or… Ash has some kind of mysterious ability that lets him turn an Ultra Beast into his partner.
Personally, I'm leaning toward the latter!]
Kukui's explanation let everyone understand what Ultra Beasts actually were.
They'd thought they were just a rare breed of Pokémon,
but it turned out they were extraterrestrial beings from another world entirely.
And after coming here, they were supposed to be enemies.
Yet Ash… had taken one of these "enemies" and made it his partner.
That was Ash's bond-power. Terrifying in its own way.
[Professor Kukui: I actually haven't seen this Ultra Beast before… so I'm not too sure what its typing or movepool is. Everyone will just have to keep watching!]
(Author's note: I have no idea what the exact timeline is, so I'm just going to assume Alola hasn't discovered Poipole and Naganadel yet.)
Even the local Professor didn't know this Ultra Beast.
That only made everyone more curious about Naganadel.
On screen—
When Naganadel first appeared, he still had a cool, aloof air about him.
But within a few seconds, the excited cheers from the crowd made him crack.
His big purple eyes curved into happy crescents, his mouth quirked up,
and he started zipping around the sky, clearly delighted.
Anyone with eyes could tell—
Naganadel was buzzing because everyone was hyping him up.
That made the whole world smile.
Maybe Ultra Beasts weren't as scary as Kukui had made them sound.
This one was… kinda cute.
"Naganadel, let's do our best together!"
"Naayo!!" (I listened carefully—it really does sound like that!)
"Naganadel, huh… that's going to be a tough opponent. Venusaur, can you handle it?"
"Vaaa!"
Venusaur roared back without hesitation.
He wasn't weaker than anyone. So what if the opponent four-times resisted Grass and double-resisted Poison?
He'd still hit it anyway.
"Naganadel, Sludge Bomb!"
Ash made the first move.
Naganadel pointed his massive tail-cannon at Venusaur and fired a burst of inky sludge bombs like artillery shells!
"Venusaur, Sludge Bomb as well!"
"Vaaa!"
Venusaur opened his mouth and fired an equal volley of Sludge Bombs.
The two barrages clashed midair, exploding into a thick cloud of smoke.
"Naganadel, Dragon Pulse!"
"Naayo!"
Energy gathered again at the tip of Naganadel's "cannon".
A purple-blue dragon head took shape and launched forward!
Dragon Pulse, in the form of a western dragon, soared through the smoke like it was nothing—
"Careful, Venusaur!"
Kukui shouted a warning,
but in that dense smoke, Venusaur had no way of knowing which direction the attack was coming from!
A second later, the massive dragon's head burst out of the haze right beside him
and smashed into his flank!
The raging energy sent shockwaves through the arena as Venusaur was blown clean over,
slamming onto his back, flower-first.
And once that huge flower hit the ground, Venusaur found himself stuck—he couldn't flip himself back over.
Kukui's eyes went wide. What kind of nonsense is this?
"Great chance! Naganadel, another Dragon Pulse!"
"Naayo!"
A second purple-blue dragon head formed at the tail.
No frills—just straight-up pressure as it flew toward the downed Venusaur.
"Venusaur, use Vine Whip to flip yourself!"
Kukui's mind spun as he tried to find a solution—
But Venusaur simply didn't have time to execute.
BOOM!
The second Dragon Pulse landed home. Dust erupted.
When it settled, Venusaur was back on his feet—
But his eyes were spinning.
Two Dragon Pulses. That was all it took.
Venusaur was out.
The power of an Ultra Beast was on full display—and it was terrifying.
[Professor Oak: As expected of an Ultra Beast, the Heavenly Tally itself ranks on par with legendaries. That Venusaur already had Elite-level strength, but it still got erased by two Dragon Pulses. That says everything about Naganadel's power.]
[Lance: Yeah. The Professor Kukui we're seeing right now is even stronger than when I fought him! His Venusaur could absolutely match an Elite's ace. But even so…]
[Cynthia: Heh… every time Ash battled legendaries before this, even when he won, it was always a slog. Now he finally gets to experience the joy of being a "legendary user" himself.]
[Koga: I'm jealous… I want a Poison-type legendary to play with too!]
From those two moves, everyone could roughly guess Naganadel's typing—
Poison/Dragon.
Both moves hit hard, and the power was clearly boosted by STAB.
No wonder Koga was jealous. A Poison-type legendary-class Pokémon?
Naganadel looked cool, had his favorite type, and hit like a truck. Of course, he'd want one.
"Looks like now the Professor is the one at a disadvantage."
"Heh, disadvantage? Only on paper. Tapu Koko hasn't even hit the field yet."
"Facts, honestly."
"Ash in Alola is insanely strong! If there were no Tapu Koko, this would be a 100% guaranteed win for him. Shame…"
"…"
A lot of people were sighing for Ash.
Thankfully, this was "just" an exhibition match.
Otherwise, Ash's mental state might've shattered completely.
Six Leagues in a row with no championship… and then he finally rolls up with two god-tier 'mons and still can't take the title?
That's tilt-into-retirement-level frustrating.
On screen—
Kukui recalled his fallen Venusaur.
When Ash had first arrived in Alola, he'd only had a Pikachu.
Every other partner currently on the field was caught in Alola.
And in just that short window of time, he'd already raised a team that could stand toe-to-toe with someone at near-Champion level.
Ash's talent as a trainer… and as a recruiter of absurd Pokémon… really was terrifying.
But Kukui had no intention of just rolling over.
"Your turn, Lucario!"
Kukui's fifth Pokémon: Lucario!
Right now, Ash still had three Pokémon, and Kukui only had two.
Three versus two. "Advantage: me".jpg.
"Naganadel, you good to keep going?"
"Naayo~"
Naganadel spun a circle in the air to show he was totally fine.
He'd barely been touched so far.
"Great! Then let's keep it up!"
Kukui adjusted his cap and grinned.
"I'll take the first move this time! Lucario, Extreme Speed!"
He opened with one of the fastest priority moves in the book.
Lucario's body was wreathed in white light as he turned into a streak, darting across the field!
Naganadel glanced left, then right.
The arena seemed full of Lucarios.
He'd basically turned Extreme Speed into a shadow-clone technique.
"Now—Dragon Pulse!"
At Kukui's command, Lucario appeared behind Naganadel.
Purple-blue energy gathered in both hands, coalescing into twin dragon heads.
Twin dragons bursting from the sea!
Two Dragon Pulses fired at point-blank range—
But a split-second later, Naganadel's body simply… vanished.
The attack whiffed completely.
Naganadel reappeared behind Lucario instead.
The positions had completely flipped.
"Our turn! Naganadel, Dragon Pulse!"
"Naayo!"
The massive tail-cannon locked onto Lucario. A single, huge dragon head launched forward.
If Lucario's Dragon Pulse was "twin dragons bursting from the sea",
then Naganadel's was "a single flying dragon that blots out the sky".
The one Dragon Pulse he fired was bigger than both of Lucario's put together.
It slammed into Lucario's back and sent him crashing into the floor, blasting up a cloud of dust!
When the dust cleared, Lucario was on one knee, barely staying upright,
his body covered in injuries.
Venusaur couldn't handle two Dragon Pulses; Lucario certainly wasn't going to fare much better.
One more would put him straight to sleep.
"Lucario, Aura Sphere!"
"Dragon Pulse to blow it away!"
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