Chapter 122: VS Blaziken
"I thought that was only a theoretical concept…"
"It actually succeeded?!"
Raleigh looked incomparably excited.
"That's incredible, Big Brother Sora! Seriously incredible!!"
Amateurs watched for spectacle.
Experts saw the true intricacies.
Raleigh specialized in machinery and mysterious science, so he understood exactly how absurdly advanced this technology was.
He simply couldn't comprehend how Sora had managed it.
And in such a short amount of time, no less—completing Magearna's initial upgrade already.
"It was Flash Cannon."
Inside the Shalour Gym, facing the puzzled gazes of the grandfather and granddaughter, Sora calmly explained:
"A Steel-type move."
"What kind of joke is that?!"
"You think this old man has never seen Flash Cannon before?!"
Gurkinn had seen countless Flash Cannons in his life.
But something like that just now?
Never.
"Of course, it's not an ordinary Flash Cannon."
"I modified the move's operating structure based on the original technique."
Thanks to Victini, Sora's Pokémon possessed uniquely overwhelming advantages in energy control.
Not just Volcanion.
Ogerpon and Magearna as well.
Even ordinary Pokémon like Sylveon and Amaura.
This had practically become the standard configuration of Sora's entire team.
And the foundation of this Flash Cannon was precisely the result of Magearna's hard work during this period.
Faster.
More refined.
But that still wasn't enough.
"Magearna."
"Didi du~"
Receiving the command, Magearna raised one arm.
The arm shifted and transformed into a cannon barrel.
The front was narrow, the rear wide, with countless hidden mechanisms concealed inside.
A simple cannon barrel by itself meant little.
What Sora utilized was mysterious science technology centered around Magearna's Soul-Heart.
Many details didn't even require Sora's involvement.
As long as he proposed a concept, Magearna could realize it herself.
That was the power of Soul-Heart.
When encountered by someone capable of mastering it, it revealed its true form—
infinite possibilities.
"When energy is released through Magearna's arm and compressed along the way, its power increases dramatically."
As Sora explained, Magearna raised her arm and fired a silver beam only two fingers thick, instantly blasting a charred hole into the ceiling.
Thanks to her exceptional control, Magearna's move activation speed was already far faster than Sylveon and the others.
The same move that took Sylveon two seconds—
Magearna needed only one.
And that wasn't all.
Even that one second of charge time was further reduced by Sora's modifications.
Her mechanical body accelerated the process again.
Normally, Flash Cannon required four to five seconds of charging no matter how skilled the user was.
But Magearna?
Less than one second.
From Sora's perspective, Alakazam's sluggish Psychic had looked no different from a stationary target.
"Still, judging from the results, this move has quite a few flaws left."
"It failed to one-shot Alakazam…"
Sora sighed regretfully.
"So increasing the speed reduced the power output?"
He wasn't revealing all this merely to show off.
Magearna's modifications were incomplete.
Sora wanted more feedback and ideas.
Ideally, Gurkinn might identify weaknesses in Magearna's current state.
Keeping everything hidden would only lead to closed-door development.
Compared to that, Sora trusted Magearna's potential more.
He believed her growth speed would surpass anyone's imagination.
"Stop speaking in that mocking tone already."
Gurkinn threw out his second Poké Ball.
"You only defeated my Alakazam. Getting smug this early is far too soon!"
BOOM!!
The Poké Ball opened, and scarlet flames exploded skyward before sharply descending toward Magearna, who had just been distracted by the blaze.
"Hm?"
The Pokémon inside the flames moved incredibly fast.
Its speed even surpassed Flash Cannon.
Sora hadn't expected Gurkinn to play such a sneaky trick.
"Magearna, Gyro Ball."
"Dido!"
Facing the descending inferno, Magearna curled into herself like a metallic sphere, directly enduring the attack hidden within the flames.
Fwoooosh~~
The metal sphere was blasted backward.
But midway through its flight, it began spinning rapidly, releasing large amounts of freezing mist from within.
The icy vapor forcibly halted the sphere's momentum, extinguished the surrounding flames, and rapidly lowered Magearna's temperature.
"Hah!"
The flames dispersed.
What appeared before Sora and the others was a humanoid Pokémon.
It possessed a bird-like head, clawed arms wrapped in bandages, and two powerful legs that burned like living fire, scorching the ground beneath it pitch black.
"Blaziken?"
Sora immediately recognized it.
One of Hoenn's starter evolutions—
the Fire/Fighting-type Blaziken.
Level approximately 68.
Without question, this is his ace.
Sora rapidly analyzed his opponent while speaking aloud.
"You alright, Magearna?"
"Dido!"
Magearna, still in metallic sphere form, bounced upward and immediately returned to her doll-like appearance.
Fire countered Steel.
However, Magearna had immediately used a transformed Aurora Beam to extinguish the flames and cool herself down.
Combined with taking the kick in metal sphere form, Magearna hadn't suffered much damage at all.
"Flash Cannon."
"Dodge it!"
Gurkinn's commands were concise and direct.
"Then use Flare Blitz!"
"Hah!"
Just as Sora expected—
Blaziken was too fast.
Magearna's Flash Cannon simply could not hit a rapidly moving Blaziken.
She could only watch helplessly as it continued closing the distance.
Pokémon speed far surpassed human comprehension.
Forget kinetic weapons.
Pokémon could even forcibly dodge lightning itself.
In terms of reaction speed, Blaziken undoubtedly stood among the elite of all Pokémon.
Gurkinn had recognized this point long ago.
That was precisely why he sent it out as his second combatant.
"Multiple Psybeam."
Sora had discovered Magearna's first major flaw.
She lacked mobility.
She wasn't suited for high-speed combat.
"Fortunately…"
I prepared for this in advance.
To counter enemies like Blaziken, Sora had specifically designed entirely new functions for Magearna.
The freezing vapor she released while being knocked away earlier—that was a variation of Aurora Beam, used to stabilize her body under various conditions.
And now—
this move.
"Dido!"
Magearna's originally mechanical body suddenly turned translucent, as though cloaked in layers of mirrored glass.
Then dazzling multicolored light burst forth from her body—
the Psychic-type move, Psybeam.
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