"So, in the end, it still failed to break through?"
On the battlefield, Aven quietly looked at Poipole, which was frozen in the distance.
At some unknown moment, Froslass had already returned to his side, its entire body continuously emitting a chilling aura.
From the stretch of frozen ground extending from in front of it all the way to Poipole's location, it was clear that the earlier blizzard had been cast by Froslass, directly sealing Poipole within the ice.
At the same time, a faint glimmer flickered in Froslass's eyes, as if powerful psychic energy were gathering, causing the surrounding space itself to begin subtly distorting.
"Lass~"
Froslass turned back to look at Aven and shrugged helplessly.
Everything Poipole had witnessed earlier had naturally been an illusion created by Froslass—it couldn't help but wonder whether this was a bit too cruel to Poipole.
"There's no helping it. Life-and-death situations and bonds are the easiest ways for Pokémon to break through their limits."
"If even this can't make it break through, then we can only wait for a natural evolution in the future."
Aven sighed softly. Poipole had long since met all the requirements for evolution; it could even skillfully use Dragon Pulse already.
Yet it still couldn't complete its evolution no matter what. Under these circumstances, Aven decided to give Poipole a push. If it could evolve into Naganadel, it would be a complete transformation!
…
No… I can't fall here.
At this moment, Poipole felt its eyelids growing unbearably heavy, but it knew it absolutely could not collapse now.
Thus, it could only continue to squeeze out every last bit of its strength, endlessly releasing power, desperately drawing upon anything and everything that could be awakened within it!
In the end, Dragon-type energy began surging violently inside Poipole's body, continuously flowing and merging into every part of it, causing its body to slowly undergo a profound transformation!
Suddenly, a faint white glow began to radiate from Poipole's body. The light grew brighter and brighter, until it finally erupted completely, spreading outward in all directions!
Crack—crack—
Listening to the continuous sounds of ice shattering around it, Poipole slowly opened its eyes.
Its gaze landed on Aven, who was frozen in the distance. In an instant, its eyes sharpened, and the white light completely engulfed its body.
Within the white glow, Poipole's form began to change continuously. Its entire body rapidly elongated, while dragon-like wings extended from its back!
When all the light finally dissipated, a black and gold, dragon-shaped figure resembling a hornet appeared on the battlefield, its body adorned with golden patterns. It had a swollen abdomen and an enormous poisonous stinger at the tip of its tail!
Normally, Naganadel was purple with dark purple markings. However, Aven's Poipole was a shiny variant, and thus its evolved form was black with golden patterns, resembling a massive black golden hornet!
This was the Ultra Beast Naganadel, a Poison and Dragon dual-typed, an incredibly powerful Pokémon whose strength bordered on the legendary!
"NAA! GAAA!"
After completing its evolution, the shiny Naganadel let out a thunderous roar.
Immediately afterward, the massive stinger at the end of its tail lifted high. Poison-type energy rapidly gathered, transforming into a terrifying purple energy beam that blasted straight out!
After successfully evolving, Naganadel's strength underwent a world-shaking change, leaping directly from quasi–king level into king level. Moreover, supported by the power of an Ultra Beast, its strength had already approached Champion level!
If Naganadel were to properly stabilize its current power and eventually awaken its Ultra Beasts Aura, it would very easily step into Champion level and become a true guardian deity—because, in a sense, Ultra Beasts were essentially equivalent to legendary Pokémon!
BOOM!
Vast energy swept across the battlefield.
In Naganadel's eyes, all of the Abomasnow were swallowed whole by that terrifying surge of power!
Crack—crack—crack!
But at that very moment, a series of shattering sounds suddenly rang out.
Naganadel raised its head in shock and looked around, only to discover that the surrounding space itself was collapsing!
Startled, before it could even react, its vision blurred. When it came back to its senses, everything around it seemed completely different.
Its gaze swept around rapidly, soon landing on Aven and Froslass. At the same time, many Abomasnow were still standing nearby.
"Naa…?"
Naganadel looked around in confusion.
So… in the end, was it Froslass that arrived in time and rescued Aven?
It wondered silently, though it faintly felt that something wasn't quite right—but it couldn't put its finger on it.
The Abomasnow lying on the ground with poison covering their bodies were clearly the ones it had just defeated, and the ice sculptures and traces of freezing all seemed perfectly normal.
"Naganadel, congratulations on successfully completing your evolution." Aven walked over with a smile.
Naganadel had truly given him a huge surprise. That terrifying Gunk Shot it had unleashed earlier was simply overwhelming in power.
Although Naganadel had ultimately struck empty ground, Aven could still clearly judge the move's might—it was absolutely close to a Champion-level attack!
"NAGAA!"
Naganadel froze for a moment, then belatedly realized that it had indeed evolved. Its eyes slowly widened in astonishment.
Soon after, excitement spread across its face. After so long training under Lord Aven, it had finally succeeded in evolving!
BOOM!
At the same time, a loud explosion suddenly echoed from the distance.
Gardevoir's battle with Lucario had also reached its conclusion.
At present, Gardevoir carried within it the powers of the Lake Guardians Azelf and Uxie.
When fully unleashed, its strength instantly rose to Champion level, and with that single blow, it directly annihilated Lucario!
Immediately afterward, Gardevoir used Teleport to return to Aven's side, clearly worried by the terrifying attack Naganadel had just unleashed.
"Garde…?!"
After teleporting back, Gardevoir looked around in confusion before finally fixing its gaze on Naganadel.
From the energy fluctuations radiating from its body, it was easy to tell that Naganadel had evolved from Poipole.
However, the aura Naganadel now emitted was simply too powerful—and what exactly had that sudden burst of energy earlier been? Who had Naganadel been fighting?
"Gardevoir, I'm fine." Aven smiled and offered no further explanation.
Honestly speaking, his earlier method had been a bit underhanded. Since Naganadel hadn't seen through it, and he had already achieved the result he wanted, it was naturally better not to mention it at all.
As for Naganadel, it hurriedly apologized to Gardevoir. Even now, the silly dragon still believed that it had failed to protect Aven, and that it was only because Froslass arrived in time that Aven had been saved—leaving Gardevoir completely baffled.
(End of Chapter)
(TN: I don't what's this Ultra Beasts Aura is, which was supposed to be Dominant or Overlord aura, so I changed it to Ultra Beasts Aura instead like a legendary aura or something but exclusive for ultra beast.)