Chapter 46: The Might of an Archon
As I watched Lance prepare himself for the test, I suddenly felt a gentle nudge on my shoulder, which made me look toward it.
Without too much surprise, it was Iono who strangely looked at me in embarrassment. "Say Luciel…you wouldn't mind filming me again…this looks like a great post to make…the other class were too boring to broadcast."
Is that all? Why is she getting embarrassed then? "Of course."
I nodded as I started to restart my connection with the faraway meltan, but I could still hear what she was saying. "Thanks…thanks you Luciel…but…but I promise…I will fulfill my side of the agreement…just please let me take time to prepare myself…"
I never saw Iono that red, in fact she looked so embarrassed that she actually looked toward my blindfold, which was the only place where I couldn't see her fully. I suppose she has already learned about my blind spot.
But what drew my confusion more was how she turned even shyer when she said she would pay her part of her deal. Didn't she already agree to become my friend? She's already friendly to me…so what could she even be talking about…wait, does that mean that she will become an even bigger friend of mine!
"Yes! I'm excited for you to become even more my friend! But I can wait! Don't worry, I'm super patient! I can even stop thinking if I do get impatient for a bit!" I happily nodded, but Iono only grew more embarrassed.
But right before I had the chance to ask why, I suddenly finished reaching a connection with Iono account, so I stopped talking about me and transferred her to the link.
Iono soon noticed the new application appearing on her meltan and grinned heavily as if she forgot about her earlier shyness. "Good…oh right." As if she remembered something, she waved toward Lance. "Hey mister the archon, can I record you without worrying about you lashing out at me this time if you lose?"
Lance coldly looked at her, but after a short moment of consideration, he nodded. "I suppose that it do was immature of my part to attribute my loss to you last time, as even if you were painfully distracting, I cannot allow any excuse for any defeat, as the only conclusion I should reach is that I'm too weak. So go on, capture all of my future victories."
However, Palmer suddenly intervened in between the conversation. "This is true, any trainer can find an excuse on why they lost, but fewer are those who are ready to better themselves to not allow such a disadvantage to stand in the way of their future victory! Take this as a lesson youngster, if you know that if you know that you possess a weakness in some type of situation, whether it big specialising in an unique type of pokemon, or if you're easy to predict, then the only thing you can blame all of your future defeat are your ego. As only a fool would think that the worst scenario won't happen when it matters!"
…oh…what's an ego? And why should we blame it? Well maybe it would mean that no one would have to blame me for their failure at least, they will just blame it on the ego thing.
I thought as my meltan was fully ready to register Iono performance. And the moment the audience was welcomed, Iono made a perfect spin to introduce herself. "One two three, what is that you see? It's the brightest lightbulb is ready to pull you in her light filled with entertainment!"
…oh, that's not her same introduction as before…why did she change it? Her first one was already quite fine no?
Or maybe she considered it trash, and others too, and I just like it because of my horrible taste? Maybe that's why there were so few watched last time…but it's strange, as I preferred this one a lot much, so if my logic stands right, it would mean it was even worse than last time…so why are there suddenly more viewers?
"So today we do a challenge, but not any normal kind of challenge like trying to outrun a tauros, or convincing a shrooodle that the colour yellow is objectively the best colour without getting mauled by them! No, today we're going on a spiritual lesson, a conflict that transcends age and your depression! Fighting against yourself! Besides doing it mentally, we are tasked to fight in a pokemon battle a hologram copy of our own pokemon that will be controlled by an AI with different difficulty settings! And this will be what our dear archon will showcase to us first! But don't worry, soon you will also be able to witness my incredible performance!"
Despite looking at Iono, a part of my mind stayed confused as to why there was a sudden shift in the number of viewers, there were about 124 right now, yet not a single one was commenting yet…maybe they are just shy? Did Iono send all of her shyness to them to act so confident right now? A little like how I do with my other senses?
Well whatever, I'm sure she would be happier to know other people bother to watch her now.
Suddenly, Iono made a gasping expression. "Wait a minute, do all of you people think that he will lose again like he did against Geeta?!"
Lance tried to look unperturbed, but I could see that his hand on his pokeball tightened when he grabbed it from his belt before opening it to reveal his dragonite who seemed way humbler than his first apparition. I guess he's last defeat humbled him a lot.
But Iono didn't just mention that to insult him, instead she immediately started to give him so praise this time. "Well then dear viewer, should I make you remember that in his last fight he was extremely restricted!? Because on this occasion, he has the full permission to use his archon power! And no matter how high the technology this place is, it is impossible to replicate their might! So be prepared for his rise to the top."
Lance took the compliment well as he had to refrain himself from grinning this time.
Suddenly, Palmer touched a button right beside the arena, which spawned a huge holographic dragonite that looked almost identical to Lance's one, with the obvious exception of being fully blue and showing not a hint of pride in its demeanour…it didn't show any emotion actually.
But before the fight could start, Palmer raised his hand to stop him before grinning toward Lance. "Say, I just thought about it, but I highly doubt that you will have any challenge with the first part, so what do you say we skip ahead to level 6 instead?"
It was clear that this proposition wasn't made out of goodwill or any laziness, but as a challenge. A challenge that Lance didn't hesitate to grab fully. "Excellent, not only would I be able to preserve my time, but I will also be able to show these students how easily I handle this advanced level of light show while they can barely fight the easy level! But you know, if you really wanted to spare your time, you could have easily just put me at the level ten, I would feel less disappointed by your level."
"Eh, let's make a simpler deal then, if you can beat level 6, then I wouldn't have any issue making you face level 10 directly, or perhaps would you want to go to the level 9 to have your revenge on Geeta? I mean, maybe you were able to reach a superior level than before in a single night, I don't know how the archon works." Palmer teased back, but I was still able to notice a small part of worry in his voice. "Or maybe
"Just start the challenge, at this point I'm only wasting my time even more by arguing with you." Lance dismissed his teacher with a wave of his hand, but Palmer didn't grow offended by it, and simply pressed another button as he prepared himself for the spectacle that would unfold.
The moment the fight started, the hologram started to fly toward the real dragonite and he prepared a punch toward its neck.
But despite the immediate assault, Lance didn't grow concerned as he simply raised his hand and…oh, I know where this is going…one instant.
"Knell." The moment his world left his mouth, an enormous pressure appeared on me that made me fall directly to the ground. Of course the same aura also affected the other student, but they were still able to stand because I made sure to cut their sense of touch for a moment so they wouldn't be affected by it.
I did this because I was led to understand that apparently people didn't like to kneel, and I'm sure that Lance doesn't like to make other people suffer like this, so I helped him out.
"Luciel!" Iono suddenly broke character for a reason that I didn't understand to worry about me.
…oh, is it because I momentarily moved the camera, which made her out off the screen? That would make sense, I probably ruined her shot, so it shouldn't be worry but anger!
…oh, the aura disappeared around me…
Acknowledging this fact, I gave back everyone else their sense of touch back before ignoring Iono's hand to stand up by myself. I wouldn't want to dirty her hand after all, especially not after ruining her shot.
But the sight that greeted me was more surprising than I thought, the hologram wasn't affected by Lance's power at all and moved as agile as before.
Iono also looked quite disarmed for a short moment, before going back to her persona. "Wow, look at that! Lance's power is completely useless against the hologram, which is to be expected, as despite looking so realistic, these stay robots and cannot feel emotion, so Lance's archon power is practically useless in this situation."
Indeed, no matter how power was worked, it was clear that they would not be able to be used against his opponents to guarantee his victory, yet Lance only seemed annoyed at best as he stipulated his second order. "Faster, stronger."
Under his new order, his dragonite who was previously forced back by the fast strike of his opponent was suddenly able to replicate with a fast punch directly in the jaw of his opponent. And the impact was so strong that a gust of wind formed right behind the end of the hologram.
"Oh! If he can weaken his opponent, he can boost his own pokemon and punch him straight in the jaw! And he is not done!" Iono exclaimed as the dragon pursued its assault and landed a heavy tail attack in the abdomen of its enemy, which resulted in it propelling against the wall and crashing on the floor.
Lance dragonite snorted before crossing his arms to show his dominance, probably because he finally felt his pride recover from his previous defeat.
"Oh! Clearly, if it were any normal pokemon, it would already be down! Let's see if this knowledge stands true for Lance's opponent!"
There was a small moment of wait, before the hologram stood up despite having a deformed jaw where he received the punch. But clearly, this didn't seem to affect him at all, as it opened wide his maw as gathered in the middle.
Lance snorted at his turn as he understood what it was going for. "An ultrabeam eh, does it really think it can win in raw power? I suppose they were just bragging about how advanced the technology was then! Dragonite, teach the error of its way of daring to oppose me! Use ultrabeam too!"
Lance dragonite took a deep breath as he put his own energy into his maw to prepare for the assault.
"Oh! There will be a beam duel! Everyone, prepare to cover your ears and put on some sunglasses, because you will see something even more brilliant and loud than me!" Iono exclaimed in joy as she proceeded to not follow her own instructions and opened her eyes wide open to witness the beam class.
Oh that's bad…should I…
Before I could continue this train of thought, both dragons finished charging their beam, and threw them both at the same time.
But instead of the beam clash that Iono was expecting, the beam coming from Lance's side easily overpowered the other one and immediately exploded in the face of the hologram, putting it out of order for good this time.
"Eh, this was your famous level 6? It was barely a challenge." Lance said as he swatted away the dust covering his cape.
"Can you really say that?" Palmer approached Lance with a serious gaze, which made Lance react by frowning at him.
"What do you mean? Didn't you see how I beat it in a matter of seconds? And that was only because I was restricted to this type of opponent. I doubt that anyone else would be able to procure this type for themselves. Otherwise you wouldn't have been able to blink; that I would have won."
"Oh, you better switch up your excuse, as for the next five years, this is the type of opponent you will fight the most."
Lance perked his eye at the answer, but he still understood what he meant by that. "I see, so we will mostly be trained with hologram fights? I suppose it fitting, only I can offer myself a true challenge. So what about you keep your promise then and send me to level 10?"
"Not until you answer my question, did you really think you won without any problem?"
Lance scowled at his insistence, yet he still answered. "Yes, I truly believe it was barely a challenge, as the moment I used my power, my opponent was barely able to replicate."
Palmer looked pensively at Lance, as if he wanted to judge him, but Lance gave him nothing else but his pride to judge, so he gave up. "Well then, if you truly believe so, just make sure to not waste too much time on the tenth round. I know you've probably been spoiled with the accommodation offered here, but these still use a lot of energy. And replicating a copy of your dragonite ask for an extremely high amount of our reserve. Same for replicating the tenth tier's battle prowess. So try to keep your promise true and end it in a flash please?"
Lance and his pokemon grew smug at this information as if it was an accomplishment to cause that much trouble to others.
"Say my dear fan, don't you also find it weird?" Suddenly, I was distracted by Iono who couldn't help but find something weird with the current situation.
Of course, I also found something weird, so I didn't hesitate to also give her my worry. "Well yeah, I also noticed that the teacher acted really hesitant about deploying level ten during his earlier description, yet now he is using it without hesitation…it doesn't make sense."
Iono froze at my answer, and the same for the people listening to us, as they realized that I had a point. But of course I'm sure they all already remarked that, as even if I noticed it then…
But I could continue my train of thought, I was interrupted by Iono's confusion. "I was more talking about how weird their conversation was…but this is also true." She looked at the teacher, who seemed to have also heard our conversation as he was stuck in place with an awkward expression on his face.
…wait…does that mean they really didn't think of that? No…no, it must simply be Iono who acts like she didn't come to such an obvious conclusion because she wanted to make me happy.
"What does it matter? I have little interest in whatever is going on behind the scenes, as long as I stand in front of it, then nothing the shadow can do will be able to reach my light." Lance responded arrogantly without even moving his head from his spot.
But Palmer raised his hand to interrupt him, as he now faced us while scratching his head awkwardly. "Yeah, no…the little girl is right."
…see, I knew someone else was able to guess it before me, because it's impossible that he could possibly refer to me as a girl, even less little one! So he probably figured out that it was Iono who knew it from the start!
She just came up with an even more obvious question to try to distract me! I mean, obviously Palmer was referencing the fact that Lance prides himself on an easy victory despite being forced to use his power right from the start just to breach the gaps in ability. After all, the hologram was way more agile than the pokemon of Lance, and he also struck only at places that would hurt the most, like the wing or places that weren't covered by scales.
Of course their was no shame in Lance using his power to win, but it was also said that they would evaluate our skill as fighter and giving order and how efficient with trained our pokemon…clearly Lance using his power barely fitted that bill, but it was clear to me that even if he fought Geeta again while using his power at the maximum…he would still lose badly.
"Alright, the reason why I was creating such dread over the level tenth was because this one…is way more vicious in its attack, and I'm worried that your pokemon would break at this challenge…" Palmer said in a worried tone. "Sincerely, even you would have difficulty standing up…but at least this time no one would blame you for your defeat…so please don't do it, or else nurse Joy will scream at me."
"I do not have any care about your worry, especially not when the last fight was barely a challenge for me."
"…are you sure? Because just winning level 6 already gives you the top mark for this assignment…doing more won't be of any…"
"I will tell you if I need you to waste my time with pointless warning, so what about you do what you were paid for and obey me."
Palmer gave up trying to convince him and got behind the place to press the button for the next round, but to his surprise, he was interrupted by Lance. "Do not take me for a buffon, I can see very well that you were about to press for the eight round instead of what I asked you." Palmer looked at Lance in surprise, clearly not expecting to be found out, but in the end, he could only sigh as more attempts to deny Lance his request would probably lead up to more problems. It would teach him to try to raise the pride of his student. He only thought that maybe Lance would need it after his crushing defeat…but maybe he should have kept it low. "Now if you insist on being a buffoon, then I would recommend you go work at a circle instead, I'm sure the audience would love to throw pie into your face." Lance's ridiculous statement simply made the teacher finally give up on trying to dissuade him.
But personally, I could only wonder…what was pie? Surely something bad, otherwise he wouldn't have insulted him with it.
"Well, remember to end it in a flash."
The button for the tenth level was pressed, and a new hologram of a dragonite spawned, looking as emotionless as the previous one.
Despite his earlier bravado, Lance still eyed it seriously, as even if he was still confident in his victory, he still gave credit to the warning as it was still himself that he was going to fight, which was worth his attention.
Palmer also eyed Lance, just in case his student would change his mind, but he still saw how determined he looked and sighed at his loss of pride. At least this time it was against an opponent of the same power as him...even if he would have difficulty of seeing it like considering on which this intelligence was based on.
Of course among this air of tension, was Iono who didn't mind it at all. "Oh! After his quick victory against himself, Lance was able to accede to the next level immediately! With the prowess he showed us, his victory is all but guaranteed…or is it? As our teacher saw the same result as us, yet he still acted as if this fight had only one possible result! His defeat! Anything you wish to comment?" She looked at Palmer who was interrupted before he could press the button to start the match. Clearly he wasn't listening to her directly, as he was more focused on minimizing every catastrophe that could happen.
But seeing the rest of the class looking at him with expectation, he couldn't bring himself to stay silent, as he had only one advice to give. "Please do not attempt this level, no matter what. And this will show you why." After this warning, he took a deep breath before pressing the button.
"Well that was…" Before Iono could finish her statement, the hologram had already bounced toward Lance dragonite. But this time Lance was alert enough to respond in time and ordered his dragonite to meet the hologram with a punch in its face. "Stronger, faster!"
His orders were obeyed by the world, and his pokemon strength grew to a level that would have easily but the disparity between the skill of most opponents…but not this one.
As right at the extremity of where Lance's pokemon threw his punch, the hologram stopped its course, creating only a gust of air that barely had any impact on the enemy.
Before the dragonite could recuperate, the hologram stomped hard on the ground, which made rock fly out from the impact. Without missing a beat, the illusion turned extremely fast in order to give a hit with his tail which made the fragment hit directly at the wing of the dragon.
"Graaah!" Not expecting such a precise move, dragonite's wings were broken at the force of the impact, which caused it to scream in pain, but this was attributed to be a mistake as the hologram used this occasion to hold wide it maw and preparing to throw a purple smoke directly into his mouth without him having the time to react.
But Lance did, as he made an urgent order to avoid his pokemon from exploding from the inside. "Go up!"
Despite having both of its wings broken, the dragonite still floated in the air as if disrespecting the law of gravity, which allowed it to free himself from the grasp of its opponent. But the smoke inside the hologram mouth had already finished converging together to form a powerful beam that drew a deep line in its stomach.
"Oh no! Lance dragonite is in peril! Such an attack should be f…" Iono exclaimed in panic as she could already foresee the defeat of the archon, but Lance corrected her thought with a simple wave of his hand.
Suddenly, he showed a new facet of his power, as all the injuries of his dragonite recuperated to the state it was previously, but with all the anger he accumulated from this humiliation. So in its fury, it threw an ultralaser directly at its opponent.
However, I wasn't unfamiliar with this state, as it made me remember something that I also found strange earlier but never commented on, the way that Clair took to wear her combination in a single second. I sincerely doubt that any amount of training could let someone change in such awkward clothing in a matter of seconds.
But seeing what happened to Lance dragonite, I finally realized that both powers were probably connected, and what Clair did was to return to a state that she remembered and forced it into reality.
But Lance's power and control allowed for much more potential than just changing clothes, and this proved it.
The laser was thrown, but the hologram deflected it with a wave of its hand, even if it lost some scale from the confrontation. Of course, this was a worthy sacrifice in the eyes of the Ia, as now as what happened during the confrontation between Lance and Geeta, his pokemon should be incapable of moving after throwing so much energy.
But the moment it tried to fly to reach his opponent, Lance waved his hand once more, to resume the moment right before he threw his laser, making it already ready to throw again.
If it were able to feel panic, that would be what the Ia would feel right now under such a surprising assault. But it did not, and simply raised its arm to block the blow again, making more of it scale flow off.
Lance had a satisfied grin on his face as he could see the victory in his grasp, as he waved his hand once more to resume it to the previous state to bombard it with as much ultralaser as it could.
Such a situation should have probably made the other student excited at such a show of power…but from what I could feel, most felt fear.
Even Iono stopped commenting as she hugged herself to comfort herself from the sight of the multiple beams raining down on the ground.
…that not some good memory…
…I hope he loses.