Age of Elves: I started flashing with my handheld.

"Old Li, after this match, I'll treat you to a meal to thank you for taking care of me over the past few years, and also to celebrate my return!" Chloe invited.

"Emmm, let's call it a day after this match. I doubt you'd want to celebrate." Old Li quickly registered Chloe's information and then pushed the three Poké Balls back to him.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Chloe was increasingly confused by what Old Li was saying.

"It's nothing, you'll find out when you're fighting," Old Li waved his hand, indicating that Chloe could leave.

With the match about to begin, Chloe could only walk away, completely bewildered, holding the Poké Ball.

425. To give the people of the Kachin Iron region a little shock.

"The Ironclad Alliance Challenge is now beginning."

"The two battling sides are Nanfeng, a trainer from the Hoenn region, and Chloe, a familiar face from our Iron League Challenge! Let's give them a round of applause!" The referee in charge of the match was more like a host, also creating a lively atmosphere.

Nanfeng and Chloe walked out of the player tunnel at the same time and stepped onto the battlefield.

"Go Chloe!"

"Keep it up, Xiao Ke! I believe in you!"

"Go, Klopp! We're aiming for the championship this time!!"

..

The stands were bustling with excitement.

The battlefield for the Ironclad Alliance is very similar to the one in the Galar region; it is very large, with large seating areas and incredibly enthusiastic spectators.

Even in a regular match like this, with five or six thousand seats, the attendance rate is over fifty percent!

"So many people support him?" Nanfeng was surprised. Hearing the continuous cheers of support around 03, he thought he was battling a star trainer, and there was even a cheering squad. Several girls dressed in "poor" clothes were holding banners in support, and some were even dancing.

Tsk tsk, it's got that Xiao Mao vibe.

Chloe smiled and waved to the crowd, greeting her hometown folks and paying the highest respect to their support.

The referee's gaze swept over the two men, confirming they were in position, and he announced loudly, "The battle between the two is about to begin. I will now announce the rules of the fight."

"In this battle, each side can use one Pokémon and two support Pokémon, and support Pokémon can only be deployed twice in total."

"When one side's main Pokémon loses its ability to battle, or if an unregistered Pokémon is sent out to assist in the battle, or if an assisting Pokémon is sent out multiple times, the team will be automatically disqualified. I hope you two will remember this." The referee was speaking to Nanfeng, a trainer from another region who was participating in the Ironclad region competition for the first time.

Southwind and Chloe nodded, indicating that they had understood the rules.

"Alright, the match is now officially starting. Both sides, please release your main battle Pokémon!" The referee raised a red and a green flag to signal the start.

Nanfeng and Chloe simultaneously pulled out Poké Balls and threw them into the sky.

With a "thud," the two elves landed in a flash of silver light.

The elf sent by Nanfeng was Xiong's apprentice.

With its grey fur tied back with a white cloth, fists at its waist, and an imposing aura, the bear apprentice had already raised its fighting spirit to its peak. Although Nanfeng hadn't given it much training, it trained with its teacher, Blaziken, and was also taken to learn from the elder brothers of the Tribe. Although its strength hadn't yet increased, its demeanor and style as a powerful figure were already quite impressive.

Now, all it lacks is the accumulation of time and the metamorphosis from cocoon to butterfly during evolution.

The Pokémon Chloe sent out was a Scizor, its red armored body shining brightly in the sunlight. Just from its appearance, one could tell that this Scizor had been trained exceptionally well by Chloe.

Nanfeng had a more direct view because he could see the level of this giant scyther.

Scizor LV82

"Level 82? I've really run into a star trainer." Nanfeng was surprised. A Pokémon that's over level 80 is practically a champion-level Pokémon in the Hoenn region.

And I encountered him in the very first match of the League Challenge in the Ironclad region, oh dear...

So, is this the lowest level in the Kentei area? Or was I just lucky to run into a former champion?

South winds tend to favor the latter.

While Nanfeng was surprised, Chloe felt relieved. Old Li's expression earlier had made it hard for her not to care, so she wondered if she was just unlucky and that her first battle back would be against an extremely powerful opponent.

As it turned out, the opponent sent out a bear apprentice.

The appearance of a rare Pokémon like the Bear Apprentice is certainly surprising, but as for its strength...

Before evolving into a Martial Arts Bear Master, it wasn't worried about losing. After all, it was someone who had fought to the very end and battled the champion.

In addition, after three years of arduous training, his strength has undergone a qualitative change.

Let alone a bear disciple, even a martial arts bear master, I am confident of victory!

It's a pity he was just a bear apprentice.

I won this battle!

Once the referee confirmed that both elves were in position, the flags in their hands immediately fell down.

"The battle begins!"

"A flash of lightning!" As soon as the battle began, Chloe immediately seized the initiative.

Facing a weak opponent, Chloe needs to make a clean and decisive start to her return, crushing her opponent with absolute superiority and showing her hometown folks how much she has grown.

The scyther immediately sprinted forward, its red steel armor making a "thump-thump-thump" sound with each step, much like the collision and friction between the steel tires and the railway tracks during a train's journey.

In just a few breaths, the scyther had already rushed to the bear apprentice's front. Its two pincers were like twin blades, striking with red afterimages, slashing across each other with fierce and terrifying power. Even before it arrived, the sharpness of its claws was already imbued with the intent to tear apart.

As the weaker party, Nanfeng didn't hesitate at all. Almost as soon as the referee's voice fell, he took out his second Poké Ball and released it.

The level difference is almost double, so there's no need for battles, training, or practice. Letting the bear apprentice fight will only result in him being instantly defeated by the opponent, so let's just use the ultimate move directly.

It's time to give the people of the Iron City a little shock.

"Garuda, Precipice Blade!" Nanfeng shouted softly.

The Poké Ball opened in mid-air, and Garchomp made a powerful entrance, descending from mid-air towards Kushner.

Garchomp: Bro, let me carry you!

Bear's apprentice: Brother, I'm all set!

Garchomp's two claws reached for the sky. Before they even hit the ground, terrifying ground-type energy had already gathered in its claws. As it landed, the two claws used the force of the fall to slam directly into the ground.

"Boom!!!"

Before Scizor's lightning bolt could even land, the entire battlefield erupted in chaos!

Tens of thousands of square meters of ground instantly cracked into a fine spider web, and countless rock pillars comparable to sharp swords surged from the ground onto the battlefield, instantly engulfing and swallowing the giant mantis, and then rising into the sky, almost piercing the firmament.

426. I haven't even made a move yet, how did you fall down?

The battlefield was a complete mess.

The audience members in the stands all stood up, their mouths agape, their eyes fixed on the battlefield.

"What move did that Garchomp just use?"

"If I heard correctly, it should be the Sword of the Cliff? But... what kind of move is that?"

"I don't know, I've never heard of it. Is it a newly developed technique?"

"Idiot, that's Groudon's legendary special move! What were you all listening to in class?!"

"Hmm, isn't the focus reversed? This trainer named Nanfeng clearly has such a strong Garchomp, so why is he letting a Kushala be his main Pokémon?!"

The audience was stunned; only those who had heard of the "Precipice Sword" move truly understood the power of Garchomp.

However, what surprised many more people was why, despite having the much stronger Garchomp, Nanfeng chose Kushala Daora as her main Pokémon. What a bizarre situation, prioritizing the casket over the pearl!

On the battlefield, Nanfeng quietly watched, waiting for the battle to continue, because the battle was not over yet, and the Scizor had not lost its ability to fight.

On the other side, Chloe was covered in sweat, frightened by the "Cliff Sword" move she had just made.

He clutched his chest, his heart pounding. Just now... just now he was almost scared out of his wits.

You have such a powerful Garchomp, but you're not using it as your main Pokémon, but as a support Pokémon, so you're just trying to scare people, trying to play dumb to fool them, right?

I've really encountered a ghost!

Chloe gasped for breath, completely banishing the initial thought that Southwind was just a "rookie who luckily acquired a bear as an apprentice." He had just guaranteed that if Garchomp was the main Pokémon, his Scizor wouldn't last a minute.

Fortunately, his constant caution saved him at the last moment in the face of such a terrifying cliff-cutting sword.

When Scizor launched its attack, he already had a Poké Ball in his hand, and when Garchomp appeared and used its terrifying "Cliff Sword," he quickly released the Pokémon inside.

It's an Alakazam, and its pre-registered move is "Teleport".

So, at the moment the precipice sword descended, Scizor was spared. It was instantly teleported a hundred meters into the air and only slowly fell from the sky after the precipice sword's impact subsided.

"Thump..." The steel footsteps treaded on the ground. As the opponent itself, Scizor was also still in shock. When facing Garchomp's Precipice Blade, it felt for a moment that it would die right there.

"Scizor, use Iron Defense!" Chloe commanded. Not knowing what Nanfeng's other support Pokémon was, he could only be on high alert.

The scyther crossed its two huge red pincers, a flash of silvery-white light, and in the blink of an eye, its defense soared!

"Instant teleportation, that's interesting," Nanfeng commented with a smile.

While the Cliff Sword is incredibly powerful, its attack method is somewhat limited. Emerging from the earth like a rock sword, it's difficult to damage enemies in the air. In fact, it's not accurate to say that all Ground-type moves suffer from this limitation.

"However, even if you dodge the cliff sword, can you dodge the next one?" Nanfeng took out another Poké Ball, preparing to release his second assist Pokémon.

Chloe on the other side was fully focused and immediately took out a Poké Ball as well.

He thought that as long as he blocked the attack of Nanfeng's second assist Pokémon, there would be no more unexpected factors in this battle, and all that would remain was the scyther slaughtering the bear apprentice in a satisfying scene.

"Please, Lugia, use Divine Bird Strike!"

Nanfeng opened his Poké Ball, and a large black bird flew out. With a flap of its huge wings, the entire battlefield seemed to be shrouded in a dark cloud.

Lugia soared into the clear sky, then abruptly turned at its highest point, plummeting straight down. Its massive body carried the airflow, its surface covered in a white mist, much like an airplane leaving behind white vapor trails in the sky.

Even a hundred meters above the ground, the terrifying air pressure had already crushed the entire battlefield.

The scyther was crushed by the air pressure and could not move at all, because it was already embedded in the soil of the battlefield, surrounded by the ravages of the cliff sword.

Chloe didn't move either, not because he was overwhelmed by the air pressure. He was stunned by Lugia before him, his eyes wide with disbelief.

Lugia? Or a black, shiny Pokémon!

I'm going to beat you up!

How to fight this?

His support Pokémon is indeed quite strong, and it's even an Aggron capable of Mega Evolution, but... how the hell is he supposed to fight Lugia, a legendary Pokémon known as the "God of Monsoons and Ocean Currents"?

How to block Lugia's Flying-type Super Special Move "Divine Bird Strike"?

The fact that Scizor and Mega Aggron didn't die instantly from this attack is a testament to Southwind and Lugia holding back.

A hundred meters is just a blink of an eye for Lugia. Chloe didn't release any more support Pokémon until the very end, watching helplessly as Lugia plummeted from the sky like a nuclear bomb.

"boom!"

A massive explosion resounded through the sky, instantly shattering the entire battlefield. The earth collapsed, walls shattered, and terrifying energy spilled out, as if a lid had been put on a giant pot.

Despite the instantly activated energy shield, the violent airflow still blew away many spectators.

The battle is over. Even though no one has yet seen whether Scizor is incapacitated, everyone already knows the outcome.

Under such a terrifying attack, Scizor and Chloe had no chance whatsoever.

Wait until the smoke dissipates.

The scyther lay on the collapsed ground, half of it buried in the mud, its eyes swirling with vortexes. As everyone had expected, it had lost its ability to fight.

Not far away.

The bear apprentice did not move an inch, standing calmly on the only unbroken ground, because the surrounding ground had collapsed and shattered, dropping several meters below the horizon, making it seem as if it were standing on a rock pillar, looking down at the giant mantis.

A master's demeanor!

Apprentice Bear: I haven't even made a move, how did you fall down?

427. Screw your championship dream!

"Scizor is unable to battle, so the final winner is our Iron League's newest challenger, Nanfeng!" Only when applause erupted from the stands did the referee seem to snap out of his daze and announce the battle result. "Thank you to both trainers for the exciting battle."

"Well done," Nanfeng praised as usual, took out a Poké Ball, recalled his bear apprentice, and turned to leave the stage.

Chloe was left behind, looking like a wilted eggplant.