"Crunch, crunch."
The eerie sound of ice spreading rang out in everyone's ears.
Almost instantly, the cold air released from Vulpix's tails froze the water around the floating platform.
"Sharr!"
Sharpedo let out an extremely furious cry.
Looking closely, even the rear half of its body, which seemed to have come to an abrupt halt, had been trapped by the Ice-type energy. Along with the water's surface and the floating platform, it was firmly frozen in place.
This made the entire Pokémon look as though it had been frozen in midair.
Sharpedo frantically thrashed its body, but to no avail.
Because of its body structure, it had no way to deal with a situation like this. All it could do was rage helplessly.
Unless it could fold, bend, and rotate its head a full 180 degrees with no blind spots. Quite a few Pokémon were capable of movements to that extent, but Sharpedo was clearly not one of them.
"Sharpedo, calm down!"
Suneo immediately shouted.
As a notorious bully of the sea, Sharpedo naturally wasn't the easiest Pokémon to deal with.
If he didn't get it to control its anger, the battle ahead would become extremely troublesome.
As its Trainer, Suneo understood this very well.
Fortunately, Suneo still carried considerable weight in Sharpedo's eyes.
The frozen Sharpedo panted heavily before finally stopping its useless struggle.
However, its teeth, which could even bite through steel plates, were now bared menacingly toward the Vulpix that had landed nearby.
"That's it. Use Crunch on the floating platform!"
Seeing this, Suneo immediately gave another command.
Since Sharpedo couldn't turn around, it would simply tear apart everything blocking its path.
Sharpedo's red eyes suddenly gleamed brightly.
"Sharr!"
It opened its enormous jaws, and its razor-sharp teeth ruthlessly smashed apart the floating platform directly in front of it.
With the platform serving as its support point destroyed, Sharpedo finally regained its freedom of movement.
It whipped its body around, causing the remaining chunks of ice to collide with the shattered pieces of the floating platform, turning into tiny fragments of ice that melted into the seawater.
Just as Sharpedo was preparing to attack that annoying little Pokémon, it looked up and discovered that Vulpix was nowhere to be seen.
"It disappeared?"
Confusion was written all over Suneo's face.
He suddenly looked toward Silas and discovered a faint smile on his opponent's face.
More accurately, that smile had been there from the very beginning.
It made Suneo extremely uncomfortable, as though everything that happened was completely within his opponent's control.
And, in fact, it was.
A faint chill spread across Suneo's face.
He absentmindedly raised his hand.
A pure-white snowflake landed in his palm.
"It's snowing?"
Suneo muttered to himself.
It was September, after all. Johto wasn't Sinnoh, so how could it possibly start snowing for no reason?
"Sharpedo, use Rain Dance!"
His body suddenly trembled, and he immediately issued another command.
Sharpedo had no idea why its Trainer wanted it to do this, nor did it particularly care.
It opened its enormous jaws, and a blue orb of light slowly rose into the sky.
The sunlight continued to shine brightly, while snowflakes continued to fall.
Sharpedo's Rain Dance seemed as though it had never appeared at all.
"How?"
Suneo's brows immediately furrowed.
His abilities as a Trainer were quite good. Seeing the snowflakes, he quickly connected Vulpix's disappearance with the possibility that its Ability was Snow Cloak.
That was why he had ordered Sharpedo to use Rain Dance, hoping to change the weather and reveal its position.
He didn't necessarily need to turn the weather into rain. At the very least, it should have prevented the hail from continuing.
But contrary to his expectations, Sharpedo's Rain Dance had failed.
With both Pokémon at the Advance level, this situation shouldn't have happened under normal circumstances.
"Unfortunately, the hail is appearing because of Vulpix's Snow Warning Ability, not because of a move."
Silas silently thought to himself.
This meant that the two sides' control over the weather was on completely different levels.
If it weren't for the fact that the current season and time of day were extremely unfavorable for Snow Warning, the snowfall produced by the hail would have been far heavier than this.
"Aurora Veil."
Seeing Sharpedo swimming around somewhat helplessly in the seawater, Silas decided to end the battle quickly.
"The pressure still isn't quite enough."
He silently thought.
A brilliant, multicolored radiance quietly spread across the entire sky.
Under the contrast of sunlight and falling snow, everyone was presented with a dreamlike scene.
"Beautiful."
This thought appeared in the hearts of countless spectators.
But beauty often concealed endless killing intent.
Silas fiercely swept his right hand downward.
"Moonblast!"
"Boom!"
Before Sharpedo and Suneo could react, a beam of moonlight suddenly appeared directly in front of Sharpedo.
With a single strike, the slowly swimming Sharpedo was sent flying more than ten meters away.
"Graaagh!"
Sharpedo's pained cry echoed across the entire stretch of water.
"Sharpedo!"
Suneo unconsciously clenched his fists.
What was going on?
Sharpedo was clearly stronger than Tentacool. So why had it suffered even more damage from the exact same move?
Of course, he had no way of knowing that the difference came down to their typings.
Sharpedo had an additional Dark typing, while Tentacool had an additional Poison typing.
As a result, the damage they received from Moonblast differed by a full four times.
But that wasn't even the most important part.
Suneo's eyes swept across every part of the battlefield.
Under the cover of Aurora Veil, he couldn't figure out how Alolan Vulpix was launching its attacks at all.
The dazzling radiance of Moonblast blended seamlessly into the multicolored Aurora Veil.
In other words, his opponent hadn't used Aurora Veil for defense.
He had used it for offense.
"Moonblast."
Silas's voice remained as calm as ever.
To Suneo's ears, that voice sounded like a declaration of his defeat.
"Sharpedo—!"
Amid his powerless cry, the battered Sharpedo was struck once again by the radiance of Moonblast.
This time, Sharpedo was sent almost flying out of the battlefield.
It no longer had the strength to continue fighting, and its eyes began spinning in dizzy circles.
The referee immediately raised the flag in his hand.
"Sharpedo is unable to battle. Alolan Vulpix wins.
"Since both of Suneo's Pokémon are unable to continue battling, the winner of this match is Silas!"
"Whoa!"
Thunderous cheers erupted from the surrounding stands. The roar was no weaker than the cheers Silas had received during the Kanto Pokémon League.
It could only be said that Vulpix's ability to win over fans was truly Max-level, just like its appearance.
Without wasting any time, Silas shook hands with his opponent as a gesture of sportsmanship before returning to the rest area through the competitors' passage.
The resting area was completely empty at this moment. There was no one there except him.
After leaving Vulpix with Nurse Joy to have its condition restored, Silas touched the cold stone in his pocket and fell into thought.
He wondered whether he would encounter an opponent in this tournament who could force Vulpix to fight with everything it had.
That's right. Silas intended to use this opportunity to have Alolan Vulpix absorb an Ice Stone and evolve into Alolan Ninetales.
Having already reached Level 32, Vulpix was actually at a very suitable level for evolution.
Aside from Dragon-type Pokémon, most Pokémon evolved into their final forms at around Level 30.
To put it more bluntly, at Vulpix's current level of strength, its body was actually becoming a limitation on how well it could utilize its abilities.
Not every Pokémon was Pikachu, capable of beating Legendary Pokémon without even evolving.
Silas had also asked the little one what it thought about the matter.
Vulpix didn't really mind. Growing a little bigger sounded pretty good too. It would even be able to pin down its newly acquired underlings with one paw and beat them senseless.
However, it had made what could barely be considered a request to Silas.
It wanted a truly satisfying battle, preferably one in which it could give everything it had.
When Silas first heard his little darling say this, he was actually quite surprised.
After all, Vulpix had never been the particularly battle-hungry type.
Within the team, it had always been the one receiving everyone's care.
Perhaps that was precisely why Vulpix had made this request.
Having grown up under the protection of all its seniors, it had never experienced a truly even battle in the strictest sense.
Against opponents at the same level, the Vulpix that Silas had painstakingly nurtured could easily crush them.
Naturally, as its Trainer, Silas immediately agreed.
Although there was no particular timing required for a Pokémon to evolve, and there was nothing stopping one from evolving in the middle of a meal, there was no doubt that allowing one's partner to evolve without any regrets was something a qualified Trainer ought to do.
"Vulpix."
At that moment, Vulpix, fully recovered, happily jumped down from Chansey's head.
Its little paws had barely touched the ground before it immediately leaped into Silas's arms.
"You really are a mischievous little thing."
As Silas scratched Vulpix under the chin, he gave Chansey an apologetic look.
"Chansey~"
Chansey smiled kindly.
It obviously didn't mind Vulpix's little antics. If anything, it thought the child was adorable.
"Excuse me for disturbing you. Are you Trainer Silas?"
A calm female voice came from the entrance.
Silas's gaze shifted slightly from Vulpix.
That voice sounded very familiar.
He looked up and, sure enough, it was a "familiar face."
"Greetings, Sea Priestess Maya."
Since she had gone to considerable trouble to help him, Silas naturally couldn't pretend he hadn't heard her. He quickly stood up and returned her greeting with a respectful bow.
Sea Priestess Maya smiled at Silas. She was dressed in her priestess robes, but the staff she had been carrying earlier was nowhere to be seen.
"I sincerely apologize for disturbing you. I was wondering if you might have some time to accompany me and meet my teacher?"
Seeing Silas hesitate, she added,
"Please don't worry. It won't interfere with your next battle. If necessary, I can arrange for your match to take place last."
As one of the organizers, this was something she could easily arrange. It wasn't exactly an unfair advantage.
"Okay."
After hesitating for a few seconds, Silas quickly agreed.
The Sea Priestess herself had personally come to the resting area to invite him. If he refused to go, wouldn't that be rather disrespectful?
Besides, he was also curious about why her teacher wanted to meet him.
Could it be that she had sensed the aura of Lugia on him?
Silas felt that this wasn't impossible.
"Since I already have the title of Ho-Oh's emissary, having the title of Lugia's emissary as well doesn't seem like such a bad thing."
Following Sea Priestess Maya, his thoughts began wandering again.
"Mr. Silas, your Alolan Vulpix is very cute."
Maya suddenly spoke.
Vulpix, nestled in her arms, nodded its little head in agreement.
Perhaps because Maya carried such a strong aura of the ocean, and because Alolan Vulpix had always been rather fond of Water-types, it had developed a liking for this girl it had never met before simply by association.
From an angle Maya couldn't see, Silas fiercely glared at the little one.
This heartless little thing. It actually went and cuddled up to her on its own.
Vulpix stuck out its little tongue, clearly indicating that it had no intention of paying attention to Silas.
The interaction between the Trainer and Pokémon obviously escaped Maya's notice.
When Silas didn't respond, Maya, whose personality had always been rather calm, didn't say anything more. She simply reached out with her left hand and continuously stroked Vulpix's smooth, soft fur.
Before long, after winding their way through the interior of the Ancient Arena, the two arrived in front of an ordinary-looking room.
"My teacher is waiting for you inside. Please, come in."
Maya spoke to Silas as she pushed open the wooden door.
The inside of the room was equally plain.
The most eye-catching thing was undoubtedly the bookshelf packed full of books.
"These are records concerning the history of the Whirl Islands, as well as accounts of the great deeds of the Sea's Guardian. Every priestess who inherits the name Maya must know these things by heart."
The same calm voice came from behind the bookshelf.
An elderly woman with a deeply wrinkled face appeared before Silas.
"...Hello, Priestess."
After hesitating for half a second, Silas still used the same title when greeting the elderly woman before him.
"Hello, Trainer who has been watched over by Ho-Oh."
The old woman's eyes were remarkably clear.
"I can sense the life force within you that makes the ocean rejoice. You truly are a remarkable child."
Silas wasn't surprised that the old woman knew his identity.
In the Pokémon world, with the exception of frauds, every priestess possessed considerable abilities.
Especially these retired elders.
"Maya told me that the Sea Soul Staff produced a very unusual reaction during this year's opening ceremony."
Walking around the room, the elderly priestess explained why she had summoned Silas here.
"I have witnessed such a reaction once before."
"That was...?"
Silas dutifully played the role of the person prompting the conversation, immediately voicing his question.
Of course, he already had some guesses about the answer.
The elderly priestess didn't answer immediately. Instead, she searched through the bookshelf for something.
Before long, she stopped in front of a row of old, worn books.
"If my old memory isn't failing me, you're from Viridian City in Kanto, aren't you?"
The old priestess's eyes suddenly seemed to brighten for some unknown reason as she looked at Silas.
Hearing the rather inexplicable question, Silas nodded in confusion.
"Yes. Why?"
Viridian City... Does it have something to do with Lugia too?
..
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