"Landorus… lost?"
Everything had happened far too suddenly. The trainers present were completely stunned.
Guardian deities had always been viewed as invincible existences in their eyes. Yet now, right before them, a guardian deity had fallen—defeated by Lilligant!
"She won… she really won!"
"As long as they're nurtured seriously, even ordinary Pokémon can defeat guardian deities! His Highness has done it!"
The trainers finally snapped back to their senses, erupting into cheers. It was as if they had gained a deeper understanding of what it meant to be a trainer. Unconsciously, they straightened their backs, pride swelling in their chests at the thought of their own identity as trainers.
"H-Hey, this has to be a joke, right? That was a guardian deity!"
In contrast, the knights of Aspiration City stood frozen in shock, their faces filled with disbelief, utterly unable to accept what they were seeing.
Once upon a time, guardian deities had stood lofty and untouchable in their eyes. A city prospered because of a guardian deities' presence, and they, the knights, were the protectors of those guardian deities!
But reality was now mercilessly reminding them that the era in which guardian deities were invincible had ended. Pokémon nurtured by trainers, ordinary Pokémon, had now gained the power to challenge guardians!
"Is a new era really coming?" Mira raised her head, looking at Lilligant floating in midair. "The era to come… will belong to trainers!"
"The era of trainers, huh?"
A faint smile appeared on Aven's face as a Poké Ball, the symbol of the trainer era—appeared in his hand.
The Poké Ball traced a perfect arc through the air and struck the fallen Landorus, instantly drawing it inside.
Beep—beep—beep—beep~
The Poké Ball shook violently on the ground, as if carrying the weight of an entire era within it.
In that instant, everyone present grew tense. They all understood exactly what this moment meant.
Finally, under everyone's watchful eyes, the Poké Ball stopped shaking. Landorus, a guardian deity, had been successfully captured by a trainer.
"It worked." Watching the Poké Ball seal shut, Aven let out a long breath.
Activating his psychic power, the Poké Ball slowly floated up and landed in Aven's hand, bringing this battle between an ordinary Pokémon and a guardian deity to its final conclusion.
"Lilli… Lilli~"
Up in the air, Lilligant finally relaxed as well.
Moments later, she could no longer maintain her Natural Reversion state. Her figure drifted downward, and Aven caught her gently in his arms.
Though she had successfully borrowed the power of all nature to defeat Landorus, the strain on Lilligant had been immense. She had truly reached her limit.
At the same time, all the Pokémon on the battlefield collapsed onto the ground, exhausted. This battle could be called Lilligant's victory—but it could just as well be called the victory of every Pokémon present!
"We did it—we really did it!"
As Landorus was sealed inside the Poké Ball, thunderous cheers erupted across the field.
Although the battles against Thundurus and Tornadus were still ongoing, the victory on the main battlefield had already boosted their morale tremendously.
Once Darkrai returned, the heavily injured Thundurus and Tornadus would definitely not be able to hold out.
And though it seemed almost unbelievable, now that Lilligant had defeated Landorus, was it really impossible for Thundurus and Tornadus to be defeated as well?
Compared to the excitement on the Pokémon Domain's side, the atmosphere among the sorcerers had long since turned grim. They could never have imagined that the strongest of them all, Landorus—would be the first to fall!
And what made it even more unacceptable was that Landorus hadn't fallen to guardian deities like Darkrai or Heatran, but had instead been utterly defeated by a Lilligant, without even the slightest ability to resist!
"How is this possible?!"
"Even when heavily injured, a guardian deity is still a guardian deity!"
"Could it be… that Lilligant has also reached guardian deity level?"
"Lilligant evolves from Petilil—there are countless of them in the Pokémon world! How could it possibly be a guardian deity?!"
The blue-robed Grand Sorcerer stared in disbelief. What was happening before his eyes had completely overturned everything they believed they knew.
"Brown… what should we do?" The green-robed Grand Sorcerer glanced nervously at the brown-robed Grand Sorcerer beside him.
With Landorus sealed inside the Poké Ball, he could already feel the severed connection between Landorus and the Capture Ring. He had completely lost control over Landorus!
"The battle is far from over."
"Even if we don't know how they defeated Landorus, Thundurus and Tornadus are still standing!"
The brown-robed Grand Sorcerer clenched his fists. As long as they could defeat the remaining forces of the Pokémon Domain, they could still seize Landorus back!
Seeing this, the blue-robed and green-robed sorcerers exchanged uneasy glances. They could sense that the situation on the battlefield was already turning against them. Under such circumstances, summoning Thundurus and Tornadus to retreat might have been the wisest choice.
With hesitation in their hearts, they looked at the images projected by the Capture Ring. The battles involving Thundurus and Tornadus were still raging, and both guardian deities were completely entangled—retreating would not be easy at all.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
From the other two battlefields, thunderous explosions continued to echo.
Lightning and raging winds wreaked havoc across the field, yet were firmly held at bay.
On Tornadus's side, Naganadel relied on speed that was in no way inferior to Tornadus's, tightly engaging it in close combat.
With the Ultra Beast Aura, the Beast Boost ability, and the deadly move Fell Stinger, its combat power continued to rise steadily.
Though companions kept falling around it, each one transferred all of their remaining strength into Naganadel before collapsing, joining the battle in another form!
Already possessing guardian deity-level potential, Naganadel—after absorbing the power of its companions—was now faintly capable of confronting Tornadus head-on, even while Tornadus was trapped in a badly poisoned state.
Poison Jab, a move that dealt even greater damage to poisoned targets, had become Naganadel's primary means of attack, causing the purple glow enveloping Tornadus to grow ever stronger!
Meanwhile, on the side, the four Lucario used the power of aura to control the overall situation, constantly interfering with Tornadus's movements. With Aura Sphere's lock-on capability, Tornadus's speed—no matter how great—was rendered meaningless.
"NAGA! NAA! DEEEL!"
Naganadel let out continuous roars, drawing out every ounce of its potential through battle.
As the fight dragged on, its Ultra Beast Aura began to subtly transform, pushing its life form even further toward that of a true Ultra Beast.
Ultra Beasts were existences that could rival Legendary Pokémon, and as a Poison-type Ultra Beast, Naganadel possessed terrifying control over poison-type energy!
Suddenly, the seven-colored crystal hanging around its neck began to emit a strange light. Ultra energy surged continuously into the crystal, making its glow grow brighter and brighter.
Once it had absorbed enough Ultra energy, the crystal abruptly released an extremely dense wave of Poison-type energy, rapidly flowing back into Naganadel's body.
This Poison-type energy was clearly different from ordinary poison—it seemed capable of corroding even the air itself, containing a horrifying power of destruction.
"NAGAA!"
As it absorbed this energy, Naganadel let out a deep, resonant growl.
Then, gathering all that power into its tail, it aimed the wasp-like stinger directly at Tornadus!
In the next instant, a brilliant purple light exploded outward, transforming into countless streams of poison that shot toward Tornadus like a rain of arrows, densely blanketing the entire sky!
Whooo—whooo—
From afar, Tornadus felt an overwhelming sense of danger surge within its heart.
Without the slightest hesitation, it summoned a violent gale, forming a massive wind tornado around itself to block the incoming attack.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The poisonous rain poured down relentlessly, instantly submerging the tornado!
The powerful vortex barely held for a moment before being torn apart. The poisonous rain slammed directly into Tornadus's body, waves of explosive energy erupting continuously.
Sizzle—sizzle—sizzle—
The poison carried terrifying corrosive properties, like a powerful acid rapidly eating away at Tornadus's body, while simultaneously detonating the severe poison within it. Purple light completely engulfed its form!
"That poison is terrifying!"
"What kind of Pokémon is that?! Such power… is it another guardian deity?!"
The trainers on Tornadus's battlefield cried out in shock, chills running down their spines as they witnessed Tornadus's miserable state under the poison's corrosion.
If even a guardian deity like Tornadus couldn't withstand this attack, then if they were struck directly, they would likely be corroded away in an instant—vanishing from this world entirely!
"That attack… could it be… Acid Downpour?" In the distance, Aven hugged Lilligant as he watched Naganadel's attack, his pupils shrinking.
Acid Downpour—just the name alone spoke volumes about its power. In truth, this wasn't a conventional move at all, but rather a powerful force known as a Z-Move, originating from the Alola Region.
Normally, Z-Moves could only be unleashed through the combined power of a trainer and their Pokémon, using a Z-Ring and a Z-Crystal. Yet Naganadel had executed it on its own!
But in an instant, Aven understood the reason. Not only did Z-Moves originate from Ultra Beasts themselves, but the mysterious crystal he had once obtained was very likely a special stone similar to a Poison-type Z-Crystal.
And that poisonous swamp he had discovered in Drapion's territory—filled with strong acid, deadly poison, and destructive power—wasn't that precisely the aftermath left behind by an Acid Downpour?
With this realization, everything fell into place. That seven-colored crystal had likely been left behind by Naganadel's parents and contained the power of Acid Downpour itself—now finally awakened by Naganadel!
A powerful Z-Move, unleashed by a Poison-type Ultra Beast like Naganadel… even a guardian deity at full strength would suffer severe damage if it tried to withstand it head-on—let alone the already heavily injured Tornadus!
When the poisonous rain finally dissipated, the entire area had transformed into yet another toxic swamp. Tornadus's body fell straight from the sky, crashing into the mire below, completely losing its ability to fight.
"Go, Poké Ball!"
Seeing this, Aven quickly threw a Poké Ball, capturing Tornadus before it could fully sink into the toxic swamp.
This time, Tornadus didn't even have the strength for a final struggle. It was instantly sealed inside the Poké Ball, which then floated back into Aven's hand.
"Tornadus is down too!"
After a brief moment of silence, the trainers erupted into ecstatic cheers.
All of them stared passionately at Naganadel in the sky, their eyes shining. They had never seen such a Pokémon before, yet they all shared a similar guess.
It looked far too much like Poipole—especially in its shiny form, with that unforgettable white-and-gold coloration.
If this Pokémon truly evolved from Poipole, didn't that mean it was also just an ordinary Pokémon?
Had yet another ordinary Pokémon defeated a guardian deity?!
Hearing the trainers' discussions, Aven smiled and tacitly accepted it. In a sense, Naganadel could indeed be considered a guardian deity—but right now, claiming it wasn't one brought far more benefits.
Thus, both Lilligant and Naganadel had defeated guardian deities through their own strength. The inspiration this gave to trainers was immense. One could easily imagine that after today, the status of trainers would skyrocket.
Across the Sinnoh Region, a storm belonging to trainers was bound to rise. Every faction would elevate the position of trainers to unprecedented heights—because powerful trainers truly possessed the ability to stand against guardian deities!
(End of Chapter)