Soliera of the Ultra Recon Squad threw out a v1.0 model Beast Ball, and in a flash, a Pokémon with a shape somewhat resembling Beedrill appeared before her.
Its body was an eerie shade of purple. Though it was categorized as a "dragon," its tail lacked the traditional dragon shape and instead ended in a massive stinger, while its head looked disproportionately small.
One could say this creature looked more like a bug than a dragon.
But unfortunately, it was indeed a Dragon-type Pokémon—just like Appleton or Alolan Exeggutor, it held the Dragon typing.
Charizard, on the other hand... no matter how dragon-like it looked, it wasn't a Dragon-type. And it didn't even breathe fire.
Back to the Pokémon at hand—Naganadel—it belonged to the category of Ultra Beasts.
In fact, it was the only Ultra Beast with an evolutionary line.
Its typing was Poison and Dragon. Some called it "Mini Eternatus."
Sadly, its base stats couldn't even compare to Eternatus, let alone Eternamax Eternatus—a completely busted being with a base stat total well over 1100.
Even so, Ultra Beasts were fascinating in their own right. Their stats were min-maxed to the extreme, and their overall base stat totals were still very high.
This made them excel in one specific area while being painfully weak in others.
For instance, Nihilego's physical defense was paper-thin. If Haru had Rhyperior hit it with a Drill Run, she'd probably get one-shot to oblivion from a critical hit.
Then there was Pheromosa—your textbook glass cannon: insanely fast and strong but defenseless.
If Pheromosa launched an all-out offensive, even Haru wouldn't be able to take too many hits. She'd have to overwhelm it as fast as possible.
As for the Naganadel currently in front of Haru—it was a special attacker, specialized to annihilate foes with absurd Special Attack.
This Naganadel believed itself to be strong. No—very strong. Strong enough to crush the vast majority of Pokémon.
And to be fair, that wasn't a delusion. Ultra Beasts were on par with Paradox Pokémon, after all.
In its blazing blue eyes, a lion's pride burned.
It would win!
Naganadel shouted a declaration of victory in its mind.
"Ah, so it's Beedrill Plus."
"To deal with a Pokémon like that, you're still the better choice."
"Mew, get ready for battle!"
As Haru spoke, he casually threw out a Poké Ball.
Between his two Pokémon, Flutter Mane had broader type coverage—Ghost and Fairy could handle nearly all single-typed Pokémon.
But against a Poison/Dragon-type, Mew was just the better option. After all, Haru wasn't exactly a master of type disadvantage comebacks.
"Meow~"
The pink kitty showed no real interest in battle. She just wanted to try more of the techniques she'd studied in those research materials to expand her experience.
If necessary, she was even willing to test some high-difficulty maneuvers with her own Trainer.
Still, since her Trainer needed her now, she certainly wouldn't hold back.
The moment Soliera saw the pink Pokémon, she immediately recognized what it was.
"So it really is that so-called mythical Pokémon, Mew? But this thing... it's barely more than a kitten. Could it really have that legendary power?"
There were countless rumors about Mew, most of them unverifiable. The Ultra Recon Squad were literal offworlders, so expecting them to understand Mew's true strength was asking a bit much.
So by default, they lumped Mythical Pokémon in the same tier as Ultra Beasts.
Not that it mattered.
Battle!
There was no reason for her dragon to lose to a kitten.
"Naganadel, use Dragon Pulse!"
The command barely left her lips before a terrifying aura erupted from the Ultra Beast. Though Dragon Pulse was just an 85-power move in the games, here it felt like a finishing move straight out of a final boss battle!
"Come on then, you ridiculous creature. You'll all die to my Dragon Pulse!"
Naganadel unleashed its power, intending to one-shot the poor, fragile, helpless Mew.
If its opponent were just any regular Pokémon, it might have worked.
But this was GOD. This was Mew.
Haru barked out his counter-command:
"Ignore its attack—fire back with Psychic!"
Though smaller than Naganadel, Mew's fighting spirit and control were unmatched. Her Psychic attack was far more powerful than Dragon Pulse—and, as a Psychic-type move, it was super effective against Naganadel.
If it hit, Naganadel wouldn't stand a chance.
Absolutely zero.
So the question became... did Naganadel even have a shot at survival?
In this moment of crisis, Soliera suddenly had an epiphany—the final technique of all Pokémon Masters:
"Naganadel, dodge it!!"
Yes! It started to dodge! It just needed to get to that one blind spot in Psychic's line of fire!
Hehe... it had to survive!
So... did it survive?
Nope. Dead.
Just as Naganadel was about to dodge, Mew's Psychic blasted through the air.
With double effectiveness, it was like facing a battle-hardened martial arts master. Naganadel was elbowed into the dirt repeatedly in a blink, then sent crashing hard into the cliffside of the island.
Defeated, Naganadel was recalled to its Poké Ball.
Mew had been way too fast. Way too strong.
"..."
"T-This can't be real..."
Soliera, who had barely shown any emotion up till now, couldn't help but gape. She simply couldn't comprehend how that tiny little Pokémon could be so terrifyingly powerful.
"Meow~"
Mew remained just as relaxed as ever. After defeating her opponent, she floated lazily in the air for a moment before landing on Haru's shoulder like nothing had happened.
"Give it up. You can't win. No matter how hard you struggle, it's just pointless resistance."
Haru was completely unfazed, just like Mew.
But before Soliera could even respond, a voice full of rage echoed from inside the cave.
"Goddammit, Haru! We're not gonna end up like that woman! Don't flatter yourself!"
"Just wait!"
It was Faba—and he was panicking. Haru had arrived way too fast. Whether it was the ambush on Lillie or activating the Ultra Wormhole, he needed more time. But where the hell was that time supposed to come from?
It was all the Ultra Recon Squad's fault—those useless grunts hadn't even managed to stall Haru for a bit!
Unfortunately, beyond panicking, there really wasn't anything Faba could do. Haru and Mew weren't opponents you could just take on casually.
Unless... maybe something unexpected happened?
And right at that moment, a terrifying surge of energy exploded from the distance.
At the same time, two completely different voices boomed in everyone's ears:
"Rrrrreeeeeoooowww!!!"
"Kekekeke! I've found you at last! Now it's time for my revenge!"