Hymer knew that Axel was not going to reveal the secret so he kept quiet and concentrated on the battle.
Salamence was at an absolute advantage. It had 4 times resistance to grass. So, if a grass type attack of 100 power hit it, it would only incur 25 damage. It also had fire type moves that Venusaur was weak against.
Salamence had heard that Venusaur knew some moves that could help it defend against fire type moves but it didn't care. It was a dragon type Pokemon and having 4 times resistance to grass, it was sure to win this battle.
However, it slightly changed after Venusaur used 'Rain dance'. 'Rain dance' lowered the power of fire type moves and with Venusaur having some defense from fire type moves, it would be difficult for Salamence. Suddenly, the battle went from who was going to hurt others to who was going to stand very long.
Venusaur immediately used 'Grassy terrain'. The power of the move was heightened after using 'Rain dance'. Axel had not seen the effect of 'Grassy terrain' and 'Rain dance' together and he was very surprised to see the effect.
The quality of the grass and the area covered had increased. Venusaur could also passively recover by using this move.
Venusaur then used 'Wood thorns' and then 'Field control' to create thorns around and it covered it with wood just like it did with Sceptile. It knew that Salamence had high offensive power and it had to defend itself.
Salamence gave a huge roar and spit out a powerful 'Flamethrower'. The power of the flames had greatly reduced while it was raining but it still hit the wood dome created by Venusaur.
Venusaur was able to defend against the attack. Salamence knew that it had to come up with a good attack if it wanted to break the defense of Venusaur.
So it first used 'Iron defense' which raised the defense of Venusaur and then its head and neck started to glow in blue light. It then gave a menacing roar and then went towards the wood dome created by Venusaur.
BANG!!!
It slammed its head on the wood dome and the dome cracked in multiple places. This was its new move called 'Dragon head'. It was a charge-type attack where Salamence would hit the enemy with its head. It then flew again high in the air and then came again to strike the wood dome.
BANG!!
The dome cracked fully and then…
BANNG!!!
Salamence was flown out backward as it hit the ground with a loud thud.
It was hit by 'Solar beam'.
While inside the wood dome, Venusaur had been storing up the energy for 'Solar beam'. It was not able to create 2 beams as it could as there was not much time but it was able to create one and fire it to Salamence.
Now, Salamence had high resistance to grass type moves but 'Solar beam' was a powerful attack and it was hurt.
It stood up and then gave a roar. It looked very angry now.
Venusaur didn't maintain the wood dome. Axel knew that creating such a thing with 'Field control' would take a huge stamina and doing it repeatedly would be futile.
Salamence opened its mouth and a small ball of sun came out of it and it went to the air. It was using 'Sunny day'. It had already realized that it would have a difficult battle in a rainy environment. So, it decided to change it.
Meanwhile, Venusaur had used 'Growth', increasing its height and defense. Salamence was ready for round 2 but Venusaur did something unexpected. A menacing and huge branch of a tree came out of the ground and then started to bind and hit Salamence.
'Frenzy plant' had multiple blades inside it and it bound Salamence which was obviously hurtful. Salamence was now very angry now. It was getting nowhere with battle.
Venusaur then used 'Wood thorns' and then it pierced Salamence. The tip of the 'Wood thorns' was coated with poison. Normally, 'Wood thorns' would not have pierced Salamence due to it using 'Iron defense'. It was also a dragon-type Pokemon and it had a very hard body.
However, after using 'Frenzy plant' which had multiple blades, Venusaur was able to do it.
Salamence anger reached to peak and then it directly opened its pre-domain.
ROOOARRR
The surrounding was now covered with thick dragon type energy. This pre-domain move increased its special attack power and also powered up its dragon type moves. The pre-domain move was not very powerful as it had just reached king rank status. But it was still something.
Salamence then gave a huge roar and then multiple columns of fire came out from the surroundings and all of them surrounded Venusaur. The heat of the fire should be appreciated as it was a powerful attack. Very soon, the whole surrounding was covered with fire, and Salamence was flying on top of it.
Nobody knew how could a Salamence use such a powerful fire type attack. While the effect of 'Sunny day' was not very high as 'Rain dance' had just been canceled, the power of this fire type move was very high. Salamence had to use its pre-domain move and power up to use this attack move.
When the fire was dispersed, everyone could see the state of Venusaur. It was covered in a huge bubble of water and it had many injuries on its body. It has used the move 'Water sprout' to cover its body with water and decrease the power of fire but it was still hurt in multiple places.
Venusaur then opened its mouth and then 2 balls of sun came out and then both of them flew high in the air. This was 'Sunny day'. Salamence had also used the same move and now the temperature of the surroundings was very hot.
It used the move 'Energy ball'. Multiple green balls of energy that were spinning at a very high pace were fired towards Salamence. Salamence gave another roar and its red wings started to shine in white and blue light. This increased its speed to a very high level and it was able to dodge those balls very easily.
Those glowing wings were now aiming at Venusaur as it sped up towards it.
---
Ding!
Wood thorns have leveled up to 55. The user can now throw the wood thorns towards its opponent.
---
It had come out at the right time. Venusaur also gave a roar and then pointy wood thorns came out of the ground as they sped up towards Salamence directly.
Salamence was able to change its direction and dodge the move too but 2 beams of yellow light hit it straight to its face as it was once again thrown to the ground.
The move was 'Solar beam'. With the help of 'Sunny day', Venusaur was able to execute it very fast.
Venusaur then used 'Synthesis' to recover its health and it was now all ready to battle again. It then used 'Vine whip' as multiple vines came out of the ground and then bound Salamence.
Salamence was still using the pre-domain move, so its power was still high. It used another new move called 'Dragon tail'. The tail was covered in a blue light and multiple thorns came out of the tail. The tail started to move and it cut down the vines with precision.
The battle went on for 5 more minutes. Venusaur used many moves like 'Razor leaf' and 'Energy ball'. Salamence was able to use other powerful moves. It didn't use 'Outrage' cause it knew that Venusaur had the defense and healing ability to come out of it and the battle to turn to Venusaur's favor. But it used 'Flamethrower', 'Dragon head', 'Dragon rush' and 'Dragon breath'.
Venusaur was hurt the most but due to 'Grassy terrain' and other healing abilities, it was able to continue.
Venusaur was also able to use 'Leech seed'. It used 2 seeds on Salamence. Salamence was fortunately able to get out of it, but this had sucked a lot of health Salamence.
Salamence then used 'Roost' to recover some its Hp but Venusaur also knew that the battle was coming to an end. The 'Roost' did recover a considerable amount of health points but it was a borrowed power and would disappear after some time.
At that time, Salamence's pre-domain move had also come to an end. That was when Venusaur used its own pre-domain move called 'Deep forest emergence' and also used 'Multi flowers' to Salamence.
Salamence used 'Outrage' as it wanted to go all out but Venusaur was able to control it with 'Grassy terrain', 'Field control' and 'Vine whip'.
Salamence was able to hit Venusaur with the full power of 'Outrage' but Venusaur canceled 'Grassy terrain' and recovered 50% of its health which turned the battle towards Venusaur's favor.
By using 'Multi flowers', Salamence was now poisoned, so Venusaur also used 'Sludge bomb' to increase the poison powers and then finished the battle with 'Field control' and 'Solar beam'.
"The winner of the pseudo-king rank section is Venusaur!!!", announced Agnes and the crowd erupted with cheers. The battle was very exciting. Nobody knew who was going to win and that made the battle even more interesting.
The competition had just ended. The crowd started to feel their adrenaline go down slowly. It was a fantastic battle. A grass-type Pokemon had defeated a dragon-type pseudo-legendary Pokemon. This didn't happen every day.
###
Lance turned towards Axel and then said, "Well, I have been holding it for a long time but now I have to say it."
Everybody looked at them. They wanted to know what Lance was going to do now. A dragon type Pokemon losing to a grass type Pokemon was a humiliation for the dragon type Pokemon and also to the trainer.
"What do you want to say?"
"You are a better trainer than me."
"That's it? I thought you knew that.", said Axel jokingly. For a second, he thought that Lance was going to act as a villain now just like in those B-graded movies.
"No, this time I am admitting it and this is serious. You are a far better trainer than I am. I don't know how you trained your Venusaur to be so strong. I am not going to ask how you did it.
Your Venusaur might be the most creative and powerful Venusaur I have ever seen. Yes, you are the best trainer around here and I admit it but it won't be for long."
"What do you mean?", asked Axel.
"I am going to train hard. I am going to train my Pokemons and myself to the limit and be a better trainer than you ever will be. This is my promise.", said Lance.
"Then let's see how good you will become. I would love a challenge.", said Axel.
Lance then turned around and went back. He first reached the stadium and called out Salamence to the ball and went to the Pokemon center to heal it.
###
The bonfire buffet at night had become awkward. Lance and Axel were both not talking to each other. It was not like that they were enemies now. But it was super weird to talk.
Lance was also feeling very awkward. He declared in front of everyone that he was going to be a better trainer than Axel but what was he going to do now? What was his next step? He didn't know and he needed a cool mind to think about it.
He saw Axel coming towards him and passing him a plate of food. He accepted it.
"You know, you said that you are going to train harder than before. It doesn't mean that we are not going to be friends right?", asked Axel.
"Of course not. We will always be friends."
"Good. If you want to get stronger at a faster pace then I suggest you stay here for a few more days."
"Why?"