Pokémon: When the World Changed

"A reinforced version of the move Thunder Punch?"

Seeing the lightning wrapping around Druddigon's fist, Ethan's face became serious.

The truth was that the increase in power of that Thunder Punch attack had been far too abrupt.

"Are you all right, Kommo-o?"

Ethan turned his head and spoke to Kommo-o, which had just gotten back up.

"Koomom!"

Kommo-o shook its head and fixed its gaze on Druddigon again.

"Druddigon, again! Thunder Punch!"

Seeing that Kommo-o had stood up, Leader Nico gave another order.

"Druuddgon!"

"Koomom!"

With a low roar, both Pokémon clashed with each other again.

Kommo-o launched the move Focus Punch, while also applying its own combat technique.

Boom, boom, boom!

Both faced off at high speed.

This time, Druddigon did not hold back: its reinforced version of the move Thunder Punch suppressed Kommo-o step by step.

"The effect of Thunder Punch is... causing damage and also having a chance to paralyze the target. An additional effect..."

"I see. This Druddigon's Ability is Sheer Force!"

After thinking about it for a while, Ethan finally understood why Druddigon's Thunder Punch was so strong.

The Ability Sheer Force had the capacity to convert additional effects into pure damage, so it was an extremely powerful Ability.

In addition, in the Pokémon world, there also existed the combination of the Ability Sheer Force with the Life Orb, whose effects overlapped.

The Life Orb increased the power of moves, but in exchange consumed vitality.

The Ability Sheer Force could precisely cancel that side effect of vitality loss from the Life Orb; and under that overlap, the damage of moves skyrocketed explosively.

And, speaking of Life Orb, Ethan inevitably thought of Lucario's life energy training.

The first level of that training consisted of applying healing moves to the Life Orb and using the life energy contained in those techniques to activate the power of the Life Orb.

In the second phase, Ethan planned for Lucario to learn the move Skill Swap, so that it could change its Ability for Sheer Force or Magic Guard, and then continue researching the Life Orb from there.

Right now, Lucario's first-phase training was already close to completion. Because of that, in order to enter the second phase, finding a Pokémon with the Ability Sheer Force and another with the Ability Magic Guard was extremely important.

Regarding the Ability Sheer Force, almost all known Pokémon that possessed it had it as a hidden Ability, while Druddigon was one of the few cases in which the Ability Sheer Force was a normal Ability.

And, in addition, the development of this Druddigon's Ability Sheer Force was clearly quite advanced. It was evident that Leader Nico possessed a development method for that Ability.

"If I could obtain a method to develop the Ability Sheer Force, it would be perfect..."

While Ethan continued thinking, the battle between the two Pokémon was also approaching its outcome.

Facing a Druddigon that possessed the Ability Sheer Force and that had also strengthened its physique to a terrifying level thanks to the mountain of extreme cold, Kommo-o was defeated without any doubt.

And yet, Ethan did not show any special reaction.

Kommo-o's current strength had still not finished growing completely.

The main purpose of this training trip to the Federal League was precisely to train Kommo-o and Garchomp.

And now, although Kommo-o had lost, having managed to fight Druddigon to that level already meant that it had managed to inflict quite a bit of damage on it.

"You did very well. Come back, Kommo-o."

"And now it's your turn. Go, Garchomp!"

Ethan returned Kommo-o to its Poké Ball and immediately released Garchomp.

Seeing that Kommo-o had already been defeated, a serious expression appeared in Garchomp's eyes.

It knew perfectly well the strength of its companion, so it knew that it could not afford to lower its guard either.

"Garchomp, prepare yourself."

Garchomp nodded and began running at full speed.

Next, air blades formed on the wings of its arms, while it quickly lunged at Druddigon.

"What incredible speed!"

"Druddigon, stop it!"

As soon as Leader Nico's voice fell, Druddigon's eyes sharpened.

Then it was seen stretching out both claws, trying to directly catch Garchomp's air blade attack with them!

"Slash!"

Ethan's voice sounded at the same time.

With a white flash, the air blades on Garchomp's hands traced a slash through the air.

Slash!

A sound tearing through the air was heard.

The air blade struck Druddigon directly in the chest.

Garchomp's figure passed like lightning and appeared behind Druddigon.

Only then did the wound appear on Druddigon's chest.

After already accumulating quite a bit of damage during two battles, this time Druddigon was not able to completely block Garchomp's air slash.

"Druddigon, use Dark Pulse!"

After stabilizing itself, Druddigon turned to face Garchomp, while condensing dark energy in its mouth.

Shortly afterward, that Dark-type energy transformed into black waves that spread like a raging tide.

"Garchomp, Dragon Rush!"

At the same time, Garchomp responded by also using its great move.

With a strong push of its legs against the ground, its body became wrapped in dragon energy and shot forward, transformed into the silhouette of a dragon.

The move Dark Pulse and the move Dragon Rush collided with each other, and Garchomp pierced through the opponent's move in a single charge.

"That's it, now continue with Dual Chop!"

Moving swiftly across the field, the energy of the move Dragon Rush still surrounding Garchomp concentrated in its two hands.

Slash!

Two slashes, fast and fierce.

Wrapped in dragon energy, the move took the form of two dragon shadows that rose diagonally.

The move Dual Chop struck Druddigon directly, sending it flying through the air!

After having gone through two consecutive battles, Druddigon finally fell under Garchomp's air blades.

"Good work, Garchomp."

Looking at Garchomp on the field, panting heavily, Ethan smiled.

By this point, Garchomp's cutting power was already very notable, which proved that this training method really fit it perfectly.

From now on, what Ethan had to do was make Garchomp complete Mega Evolution; only in that way could he raise its cutting ability to the maximum.

"You have truly raised both Garchomp and Kommo-o very well. But if you want to pass my test, it will not be so easy."

Leader Nico looked at Garchomp with some surprise and opened another Poké Ball.

Wrapped in white light, a green figure appeared on the field.

That Pokémon had most of its body in an olive-green tone, and a pair of tusks that looked like real battle axes.

Its body displayed several stripes, the sharpest tips of its tusks, as well as the fingers of its hands and feet, were red, while the rest was black, and around its neck, there was a series of aligned spikes.

"Haxorus!"

Seeing that Pokémon, Ethan's expression became even graver.

Although Haxorus was not a Dragon-type pseudo-legendary, its potential was still extraordinary.

Its axe-shaped tusks were its most powerful weapon, with outstanding destructive capacity: even thick steel columns could be cut easily by them.