Chapter 529: Sage Art: Verdant Bloom Dominion

Boom!

The Dark Pulse, split cleanly in two, exploded a moment later, unleashing a violent gust of wind.

The sandstorm seemed to grow even fiercer.

But no one in the arena was paying attention to it anymore.

That mysterious new form had just cut Tyranitar's Dark Pulse in half with a single slash.

The sight was almost unreal.

Tyranitar might not have exceptional Special Attack, but it was still a Class Champion-level Pokémon.

Was the difference in rank supposed to mean nothing now?

And Mega Sceptile had simply cut its attack apart.

Across the field, Quincy stared with his mouth hanging open.

"Th-That's impossible!"

Nothing about what he had just seen made sense.

All he could do was stare at Mega Sceptile.

...

By then, everyone in the stands was on their feet.

The stunned silence gave way to an explosion of voices.

"Damn... What the hell is that Pokémon? Did Sceptile evolve again?"

"No way. Sceptile is already Treecko's final evolution."

"Then what do you call that thing down there?"

"How the hell should I know? And look at how strong it is! It just cut a Dark Pulse from a Class Champion-level Tyranitar in half with one move."

"So that's the Pokémon belonging to the number one Trainer on the Hidden Dragon Rankings?"

"That's Aaron for you... No wonder it's so ridiculous."

"Hahaha... Now this is getting interesting. Maybe that old bastard Quincy is about to get burned by his own game."

...

The upper-year students could not stop talking about Mega Sceptile.

The administrators were just as stunned, but beneath that shock came a flicker of hope.

With Aaron here, maybe there really was a chance to turn this around.

Down on the field, the students from Pokémon Battle Studies, Classes 1 and 2, were speechless.

Only moments earlier, some of them had mocked Aaron for stepping forward just to show off and get himself beaten.

Those comments had aged badly in record time.

More than a few of them suddenly found the ground extremely interesting.

Aaron could not have cared less about their embarrassment.

The crowd was shocked, sure, but the System wanted a spectacle.

And he was only getting started.

A grin tugged at the corner of Aaron's mouth.

"Mega Sceptile... I'm getting tired of this sandstorm."

"Turn this entire place into a forest."

"Sage Art: Verdant Bloom Dominion!"

"Scep!"

Deep green light flashed through Mega Sceptile's eyes.

It gave a low cry, brought its hands together, then slammed them into the ground.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The earth convulsed.

Countless saplings burst from beneath the ground and shot upward at impossible speed.

Within seconds, the battlefield was swallowed by a forest.

Grass spread across the ground.

Roots as thick as wooden dragons twisted across the earth, while massive trees more than a meter wide surged several stories into the air.

Pink flowers bloomed along their branches, releasing a sweet, alluring fragrance.

The sandstorm vanished beneath an endless green canopy.

Before everyone's eyes, the sports field had transformed into a primeval forest.

The sheer scale of it was absurd.

No one moved.

Several administrators stood frozen with their mouths hanging open.

One elderly administrator was so stunned that he did not even notice his dentures slipping from his mouth.

Finally, a few voices broke the silence.

"W-What is this?"

"Grassy Terrain?"

"Did someone dump fertilizer over the entire field or something?"

For another moment, the arena fell silent again.

Even the upper-year girls who had been cheering earlier could only stare with their mouths open.

"H-How is this possible?"

Quincy slowly looked around at the forest surrounding him, completely at a loss for words.

Every time he thought Aaron had reached the limit of what he could pull off, the brat somehow found another way to surprise him.

For the first time that morning, Quincy looked genuinely shaken.

"What kind of move even is this...?"

"This makes no sense."

He reached out and touched the nearest leaf.

It was real.

This was no illusion.

The students from Classes 1 and 2 looked around at the towering trees and blooming flowers as though they had been dropped into another world.

Most of them could not even find the words to react.

Their earlier contempt had vanished completely, replaced by awe.

Verdant Bloom Dominion had done exactly what Aaron wanted.

The spectacle—and the crowd's shock—had just reached another level.

"Cheap tricks... That's all this is."

Quincy gritted his teeth.

"Tyranitar... Earthquake!"

"Bring this entire forest down!"

His face flushed red as he barked the order.

Tyranitar was clearly irritated too.

Its sandstorm—the centerpiece of its grand entrance—had vanished without a trace.

That storm was practically its personal entrance music.

Of course it was pissed.

The pseudo-legendary let out an angry roar as Ground-type energy gathered around its feet.

Then it slammed them into the ground with all its strength.

Boom!

A heavy impact echoed through the forest.

The ground gave the faintest little tremble.

And then...

Nothing.

Quincy waited.

Tyranitar waited.

Everyone else waited too.

Still nothing.

All that buildup for absolutely no result.

It might as well have farted.

...