1,300 meters, 1,500 meters, 1,800 meters... Two hours ter, Julian was nearing the 2,000-meter mark on Mountain.

  His clothes were torn in a few pces, but his stamina remained solid.

  Non-type Pokémon had appeared along the way—not because he hadered their territory, but because he was still oskirts.

  As he moved closer to the ter of the Pokémon's territory, the Dragon-type would iably appear.

  Judging by the territory's sheer size, the yet-to-appear third Dragon-type Pokémon's domain was evehan the bierritories of the two Pokémonite had already defeated.

  At 2,000 meters, mountain winds began to sweep through the area. Though the wind wasn't strong, it still slowed Julian down somewhat.

  As he tinued forward, the path widened and became easier to traverse. Not far ahead, Julian spotted a pool of water.

  Ripples spread across the pool as a head emerged from its surface.

  The creature was mostly blue, with dragon-like horns on its head, resembling a seahorse in form.

  It was unmistakably a Kingdra.

  Upon seeing Dragonite and Julian, Kingdra didn't attack. Instead, it looked at them with a hint of indifference.

  Julian: 'Looks like it's uimating us.'

  A mid-tier Elite Kingdra certainly had the right to look down on him and Dragonite.

  To soak in the Dragon Pool, Julian had to defeat three Dragon-types on Mountain. As the third guardian, this Kingdra was bound to be strohan the first two. Its mid-tier Elite rank made that abundantly clear.

  Dragoepped forward, log eyes with Kingdra by the water's edge.

  Kingdra noticed that Dragonite wasn't even at the Elite level. A flicker of disdain crossed its eyes—not just fo also for the two Pokémon it had defeated earlier.

  However, what happened urned Kingdra's disdain into fury.

  In an instant, Dragonite vanished from sight, reappearing directly in front of Kingdra. A crag Thunder Punbsp;was already heading straight for its face.

  From Kingdra's perspective, it was nothihan a sneak attack.

  Kingdra reacted swiftly, releasing a Hydro Pump from its mouth. Dragonite was forced to abandon its attad dodge quickly to avoid the surging bst of water.

  The moment, Kingdra transformed into a rapid-fire turret.

  One Hydro Pump after another shot toward Dragonite in the air like rounds from a Gatling gun. The frequency, speed, and power of the attacks were enough to pose a serious threat tonite.

  This was Hydro Pump, yet Kingdra wielded it as if it were a water on on overdrive.

  Julian couldn't help but feel that Dyn's cim of defeating this mid-tier Elite Kingdra with his peak pseudo-Elite Samence was too good to be true.

  Julian: 'Cheating must have been involved, right?'

  Dyn: 'I've got the Heart on and spent three days getting to Kingdra, unlike you, who made it here in just one day.'

  Dyn's approach was entirely different. He had taken on one Dragon-type Pokémon each day, allowing his Sameo rest before tag the oppohe following day.

  This pag gave challengers a fair ce of quering Dragon Mountain. After all, if rest periods weren't allowed, it would be nearly impossible for ao pass.

  Uhe relentless barrage of Hydro Pump, Dragonite was forced to focus solely on evasion. It didn't even have the opportunity to terattack, let alone close the distao Kingdra.

  Julian squinted, activating his 'Probing Eyes'. Kingdra's stats and abilities became clear to him in an instant.

  This Kingdra had the Sniper ability. O nded a critical hit, its damage would skyrocket.

  No wo opted for rapid-fire Hydro Pump attacks—more attempts meant a higher ce of nding a critical hit.

  What Kingdra hadn't anticipated, though, was Dragonite's mastery of Extreme Speed.

  Kingdra: 'Is dodging all you do?'

  Dragonite: 'I eat, too.'

  Frustrated by Dragonite's evasive tactics, Kingdra burst out of the water, sending a cascade of droplets into the air.

  It used Agility, dashing across the airborer droplets as if they were stepping stones, rapidly closing the distaween them.

  In a blink, Kingdra was less tha meters away.

  A massive vortex of spinning water formed in its mouth. The swirling current expanded rapidly, f a colossal Whirlpool over 300 meters wide, shaped like an ied triangle.

  The high-speed rotation of the Whirlpool geed visible air currents, creating a powerful su force that began pulling Dragooward it.

  Despite fpping its wings furiously, Dragonite could only slow its movement toward the Whirlpool; it couldn't stop it entirely.

  As the Whirlpool drew closer, the su became even strohreatening to engulf Dragonite pletely.

  "Giga Impact!" Julian shouted,

  The Whirlpool's suade movement difficult, and using ratacks would likely fail to disrupt it.

  Kingdra had already forced Dragoo a precarious position during the first exge.

  Julian: 'Dyn, you must have cheated your ast this. There's no other expnation.'

  Dyn: ┗(▔,▔)┛

  Dyn's Samence: 'Am I really that weak in your eyes?'

  Dragohered all its strength, its body surrounded by white shockwaves of pressed air as it executed Giga Impact. The overwhelming momentum pressed the air further and further, turning Dragoo a meteor hurtling forward.

  With a deafening boom, the attack obliterated the Whirlpool.

  But Kingdra was already gone.

  Dragonite's momentum carried it straight into the pool with a resounding spsh, sending t waves of water into the air.

  The pool briefly turned into a hollow crater, as if a bomb had detonated, with the surrounding water held back by the shockwave.

  H in the ter of the depression, Dragonite remained alert, its sharp eyes sing the area. It could sense Kingdra lurking somewhere beh the surface, hidden but undoubtedly preparing for its strike.

  Suddenly, an icy blue beam shot out from a cealed spot ier. The freezing cold radiating from it instantly turhe surrounding water into ice.

  "Protect!"

  Aype move would deal quadruple damage tonite, and with Kingdra's angle of attack being so precise, dodging or tering in time seemed almost impossible.

  A translut green barrier surrounded Dragos Protebsp;shielding it from the devastating Ice Beam. The attack dissipated harmlessly against the shield, but Dragonite wasn't done.

  Using the momentary advantage, Dragonite charged forward, still protected, aiming straight for the source of the Ice Beam.

  With a thunderous crash, the pool erupted once more as Dragonite collided with its target. A blue-scaled Kingdra burst out of the water, flung high into the air from the impact.

  Before Kingdra could recover, a fsh of goldericity surged upward from beh the pool—a devastating Thunderbolt struck it squarely.

  Dragonite's versatile move pool was one of its greatest strengths, c a wide range of types. Everic-type moves like Thunder were within its arsenal.

  However, this time it had opted for Thunderbolt instead of the more powerful Thuhe reason was simple: Thunder required time to gather energy, while Thunderbolt could be unleashed instantly.

  Given Kingdra's quick reflexes, a slower attack like Thunder would have given it the ce to evade entirely. But Thunderbolt left no room for escape.