After recalling the Absol that had lost its battle capability into its Poké Ball, Riley turned to Yuga and said, "Gym Leader Shimizu, your reputation certainly precedes you."
Yuga's true strength had always been a mystery. In official battles, Yuga's highest demonstrated strength was pseudo-Elite level. Still, he managed to capture a Top Executive of Team Aqua, who was an Elite level Trainer.
As Yuga's fame grew, speculations about his true strength abounded. Some believed he was an Elite level Trainer, while others claimed he was pseudo-Elite level. There was never a definitive answer.
However, Riley felt that regardless of whether Yuga was an Elite or pseudo-Elite level, considering his age and the strength he displayed, he was already someone many aspired to be like.
Coming to the Verdanturf Town was not in vain.
Challenging strong opponents was where Riley found his joy.
With these thoughts in mind, Riley released his final Pokémon.
Type: Fighting, Steel
Moves: Foresight, Counter, Force Palm, Bulk Up, Double Team, Rock Tomb, Blaze Kick, Drain Punch, Focus Punch, Ice Punch, Aura Sphere, Bone Rush, Metal Claw, Close Combat, Flash Cannon, Iron Defense.
As Yuga had guessed, the final Pokémon of the Aura user was indeed Lucario, and it was a Lucario that was extremely close to the peak of pseudo-Elite level.
This should be Riley's trump card.
Seeing Lucario enter the field, Yuga recalled his exhausted Absol. It was practically no different from losing its fighting ability.
Yuga wanted to deal with Lucario easily. Whether it was Gengar, Mismagius, or Lapras, they could easily overpower it.
However, Yuga hesitated and chose to send out Florges.
Yuga's team of Pokémon was currently transitioning to pseudo-Elite level. They needed training more than anything else.
As a Gym Leader, Yuga didn't care about winning or losing. He just wanted his Pokémon and the opponent's Pokémon to both grow, achieving a win-win situation.
Crushing Lucario with Pokémon like Lapras would serve no purpose.
Seeing Yuga release another Pokémon below the pseudo-Elite level, Riley frowned.
Riley didn't believe that Yuga couldn't see Lucario's strength.
Since Yuga chose to send out Florges after assessing the situation, maybe this Florges had something special, just like the previous Absol.
However, what followed allowed Riley to witness the uniqueness of Florges.
Florges stood gracefully opposite Lucario, resembling a queen in the midst of a blooming flower garden.
"Lucario, use Flash Cannon."
Without knowledge of the situation, Riley decided to test Florges's capabilities with Lucario's long-range attack. As a Pokémon with exceptional physical and special stats, even if it was just a test, Lucario's attack couldn't be underestimated.
Under Lucario's control, a silver beam shot towards Florges.
Florges, a single Fairy-type Pokémon, was naturally weak to Steel-type moves, and taking a direct hit wouldn't be pleasant.
However, Florges extended two vines, smacking them into the ground. A huge clump of soil was lifted, blocking the Flash Cannon and protecting Florges.
The silver beam scattered the earth into the air, and dust obstructed both Florges and Lucario's vision.
Then, Lucario saw a scene that he would never forget.
In the midst of the smoke and dust, Lucario couldn't see what lay ahead but looked down at its feet.
One by one, green sprouts broke through the earth, grew, and bloomed into flowers. In the blink of an eye, Lucario found itself surrounded by a riot of colorful flowers.
After all the dust had cleared, Lucario and Riley were shocked to find that the battlefield before them had turned into a sea of flowers.
Countless vibrant flowers swayed gently, and those on the field could almost smell the wafts of floral fragrance in the air.
Everything felt incredibly real.
When Riley looked at Florges again, he noticed a change in its aura.
Standing silently in the center of the floral sea, Florges showed no expression. It was like a regal queen, seeming to hold no regard for Lucario or Riley whatsoever.
Riley suddenly recalled Florges's classification: Garden Pokémon.
This was a Pokémon whose natural habitat was a garden, and within that garden, it was a queen, it was everything.
Lucario gazed at Florges, and Florges gazed back calmly.
At this moment, a gentle pink breeze swept through the flower sea, lifting petals into the air. Suddenly, the sky was filled with a dreamlike petal shower.
However, this petal shower concealed a strong threat.
Under the astonished gaze of Lucario and Riley, those beautiful petals abruptly transformed into sharp blades, slashing towards Lucario.
This flower sea was the secret technique that Florges had been researching all along.
Florges, who spent its days in the garden, wasn't idle. It controlled this territory—the garden—entirely.
The deadly flower sea before them was an extension of Florges's dominion.
Creating such a flower sea was extremely challenging, far more than just a skill. It was a complex combination of 4 different moves. It's foundation is from Grassy Terrain, Misty Terrain, The wind blowing inside is from Fairy Wind, and the flower inside are from Petal Dance. Gigaly, it was Florges's species as a Garden Pokémon and Floral Veil ability that allowed it to control this floral domain.
This level of control wasn't just about manipulating elemental powers; it extended to species-specific abilities as well.
The complexity of this flower sea was beyond imagination.
This was why Yuga dared to pit Florges against Lucario with confidence.
As Yuga Starter Pokémon, Florges currently was the only Pokémon in Yuga's team with a Blue Potential. However, if you thought Florges was weak, you couldn't be more wrong.
Florges was definitely not weaker than any of Yuga's main Pokémon, excluding Lapras.
This was the pride of being the Eldest Sisters.
Could an ordinary Florges achieve such feats?
Now Yuga believed that the system's statement about the four gems being relics of an ancient artificial deity might be true.
Present-day Florges seemed to be harnessing the abilities left behind by Celebi and nurturing its unique powers.
The special Grassy Terrain, the mastery of this mystical floral sea—these were abilities ordinary Pokémon didn't possess.
It was almost as if... it possessed godlike powers.
Perhaps Dragonite and Charizard couldn't reach the same level as Florges because the divine power they absorbed was fundamentally different from what Florges had.
However, Lapras's future was promising.
As petals danced through the air, Lucario sensed that these petals carried not only the Grass-type power of Petal Dance but also the Fairy Wind's influence.
Fairy Wind was propelling the petals' movements.
Lucario crossed its arms in front of its chest and activated Iron Defense, blocking the incoming petals. Its body was pushed back continuously upon impact.
The petals struck Lucario using Iron Defense, producing a harsh "ding-ding" sound that made one's teeth ache.
Thankfully, Iron Defense was a Steel-type move, granting resistance to both Grass and Fairy-type moves; otherwise, Lucario would have been in dire straits.
Here, the reference is to resistance between skills, not the inherent type resistance of the Pokémon itself.
Fairy-type is weak to Steel-type, but it's also strong against Fighting-type, so Fairy-type skills can still deal regular damage to Lucario.