Mutual Opposition

Lucario, now standing up from the ground, vigilantly observed its surroundings. Unable to use the power of Aura, it had to rely on its own eyes.

Just then, in front of it on the right, the mist churned once more. Lucario agilely evaded, successfully avoiding another Moonblast attack, and retaliated by launching an Aura Sphere.

Lucario wasn't sure if the Aura Sphere hit its target, as the mist returned to a calm state.

Time passed slowly, and Lucario repeatedly fell victim to Florges's Moonblast, hidden within the mist, almost to the point of overindulgence.

Satiated but unyielding, Lucario unleashed one Aura Sphere after another into the mist, regardless of whether they hit or not.

Florges, who had narrowly dodged an Aura Sphere, was now drenched in sweat. Maintaining the floral sea's mist for an extended period proved to be exceedingly draining. It appeared she was on the verge of exhaustion.

Despite the strength of the Misty Terrain within the floral sea, Florges's excessive expenditure rendered her unable to endure for much longer.

Misty Terrain had a significant weakness—it was susceptible to provocation.

The foundation of the entire floral sea and its mist was comprised of the Terrain moves—Grassy Terrain and Misty Terrain.

If provoked, Florges might not even have the chance to unleash this floral sea.

Whether the opponent would recognize this weakness depended on their abilities.

Due to Lucario's relentless counterattacks and several successful ambushes by Florges, who remained concealed in the mist, she was finally unable to maintain the floral sea's mist any longer.

In an instant, the colorful flowers composing the floral sea and the enchanting mist vanished.

Observing the flowers transform into specks of light, Lucario suddenly felt like it had survived a calamity.

Lucario bore numerous injuries from multiple Moonblast hits, but it could still continue to fight. However, Florges was in a worse state. Her excessive expenditure left her completely immobilized.

The Florges, once adept at battles of attrition, now couldn't move a muscle due to her extensive depletion—a truly dramatic twist.

"We concede this battle," Yuga said with a wry smile to Riley.

Although Lucario was injured, it could still fight. However, with Florges immobilized due to excessive energy consumption, Yuga had no choice but to surrender.

To completely control this floral sea and mist, Florges needed to become even stronger.

Hearing Yuga's concession, Riley wasn't pleased. This wasn't the outcome he had hoped for.

He knew that Yuga and Florges hadn't lost to Lucario but rather to themselves.

If only Florges could have held out a little longer, it would have been Lucario on the losing side.

Retrieving the exhausted Florges, Yuga accepted the Leaf Badge handed to him by Riley and said, "This Leaf Badge is yours."

Riley glanced at the badge but didn't take it. "I don't feel deserving of this badge."

Yuga was puzzled. "Why not? You won, didn't you?"

Riley shook his head. "In my eyes, this doesn't count as a win."

The opponent had sent out Pokémon with lower levels, and, most importantly, Riley hadn't gained any advantage. How could this be considered a victory?

"But I believe you deserve this badge," Yuga insisted, extending the badge once more.

Riley continued to gaze at it for a moment but still didn't accept it. "I will challenge you again when I feel more deserving. You can give it to me then."

With that, Riley departed the gym, accompanied by Lucario.

Watching Riley and Lucario's departing figures, Yuga thought to himself, "He's truly an odd one."

Yuga had no idea that Riley's purpose in challenging the gym wasn't to obtain a badge, so the badge's significance was inconsequential to him.

What mattered was the lessons Riley had learned from this battle. However, the battle's outcome didn't satisfy Riley, so he decided to return and challenge again when he felt stronger.

Beneath a Great Reputation Lies No Falsehoods; Yuga's Might, which he had heard about, was indeed impressive, although somewhat different from the rumors.

Inside the Ecopark:

While Yuga had gone to the gym to face challengers, Gardevoir caused a bit of trouble in the Ecopark.

Despite being a Legendary Pokémon once, Gardevoir had never encountered such a magical place before. Various environments had converged in one place, making it truly fascinating.

Filled with curiosity, Gardevoir began exploring the different Sub-Ecopark. Originally, Gardevoir (male) was quite skilled in using Teleport. With the added psychic power of Celebi's consciousness, it could now use Teleport even more skillfully, allowing it to appear wherever it wished in an instant.

However, when it arrived at the Grassland Sub-Ecopark, it encountered a Bagon.

Normally, Gardevoir would not have had much reaction upon seeing a Bagon. However, the other consciousness residing within its body was very interested in the Bagon.

It was the child of Gardevoir's former companion.

When Celebi's consciousness dominated the body, Gardevoir (male)'s consciousness was not completely cut off from the outside world.

Gardevoir and Gardevoir (male) shared the same body now, so Gardevoir wouldn't disregard Gardevoir (male)'s thoughts. Thus, it followed Gardevoir (male)'s intentions to see the Bagon.

However, it was unaware that there was a Deino beside the Bagon.

Deino, Zweilous, and Hydreigon, these Pokémon all shared a common trait: they had bad tempers.

The reason why Hydreigon was considered ill-tempered was that it would perceive any moving object as its enemy and launch an attack.

So, it was best for strangers to stay quiet in the front od Hydreigon.

Zweilous were irritable because they had two brains.

Although Hydreigon had three heads, it had only one consciousness, unlike Zweilous. The two minds of Zweilous often quarreled for dominance over the body.

It was said that only when one of the two minds completely dominated the body would they evolve into a Hydreigon.

When they were still Deino, their eyes were invisible.

Because of their young age and lack of understanding of their surroundings, Deino had a habit of gnawing on things and liked to charge around, often injuring themselves in the process, making them highly dangerous.

Especially to strangers.

The Deino in Yuga's Ecopark rarely interacted with other Pokémon precisely because of this. Besides its caretaker the Milktanks, it only had Bagon for company.

Other Pokémon knew about the situation with the Deino, so they rarely approached it casually.

But Gardevoir didn't know!

If it were any other type of Pokémon, they might have sensed Gardevoir's peaceful aura, which belonged to Celebi, and held some goodwill toward it.

But not Deino.

The combination of Dark-type and Dragon-type of Deino and the Psychic-type and Fairy-type in Gardevoir was a recipe for a fiery clash.

When these two Pokémon met, it was like a spark igniting a powder keg.