Disclaimer: I don't own anything that doesn't belong to me.
…
"Go, Jeanne/Snowy!" Serena and Lillie cried, pointing at their respective adversaries.
Both vulpine partner Pokémon leapt off of their respective platforms and onto the field, shouting their respective battle cries.
Tapu Koko started dancing above his totem, making a series of arm motions that were mimicked by quite a few people in the crowd. "KOKOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" He squawked, raising one arm skyward, causing lightning bolts to rain down around him.
Electrical energy crackled down the sides of the totem and onto the battlefield, causing it to glow a brilliant yellow. The ground shook slightly, and suddenly panels opened on the battlefield, allowing electrical power pylons, generators, and conveyor belts to rise up, creating an array of potential obstacles. There was a rumbling noise, and a storm cloud formed overhead, crackling with electricity and looking as if it could discharge a bolt at any moment.
Serena blinked in surprise. "What the… I'm pretty sure Electric Terrain can't do that!"
"Normally, it can't," Lillie agreed. "But what's the point of using that move in its vanilla form if there aren't any Electric-type Pokémon on the field to take advantage of it? This way, it provides an added layer of excitement and danger for any Pokémon, regardless of type!"
Serena's eyes widened. "That's… Brilliant! I heartily approve!" She narrowed her eyes. "And I suppose you're used to fighting no matter what Terrain move is used, yes?"
"Not to the same extent as my dear Selene, but yes, I am," Lillie agreed with a smile.
Serena chuckled. "Well, don't think that just because you have the home field advantage means you're going to necessarily get the drop on me! Jeanne, link up!"
Yes, Mistress, Jeanne replied, eyes glowing blue. Serena's eyes glowed the same color as they strengthened their psychic connection, which would not only significantly increase their combat reflexes and reaction time, but allow Serena to command her Pokémon without worrying about her opponent knowing how to counter her moves from hearing them spoken out loud.
(Yes, there were some who complained that was cheating. Most of those people had just been badly beaten by Psychic gym leaders or Elite 4 members.)
Let's start things off by using Future Sight, then cast Mystical Fire on the conveyor belts, Serena telepathically communicated. That should carry the flames all over the arena. Alolan Ninetales are weak to Fire attacks, so this should hem her in, as well as significantly weaken her!
Jeanne nodded, then she swung her stick in a circle, forming a ring of fire before her, and blew a stream of flame through it, sweeping it before her and causing it to engulf the nearest conveyor belts. While the belts normally wouldn't catch fire, due to the mystical nature of the flames – hence the name – it could cause even inflammable objects to burn, and in seconds a good portion of the battlefield was ablaze.
"And that's a strong opening move from Serena and Jeanne with a battlefield-wide Mystical Fire!" Selene announced. "And without a word of command, either! Either the two of them know each other so well they don't even need verbal communication to plan their strategies, or Serena's relaying commands psychically. Now, there's some who would say that's cheating, but there actually isn't anything in any League guidelines forbidding it, and considering how many Psychic gym leaders and Elite 4 members use that trick, the international community must be okay with it. That or they're being influenced by the global Psychic conspiracy, according to some online message boards." She frowned. "Which is odd, because while I've crushed a number of secret societies and ancient organizations, I've certainly never encountered a global Psychic conspiracy, and as a Psychic myself, you'd think they'd have invited me to join, right?"
That earned her several chuckles from the audience.
As Snowy flinched and backed away from the flames surrounding her on all sides, whimpering from the heat, Lillie smirked, impressed. "A clever ploy, Serena. Unfortunately, not clever enough! Snowy, take to the sky and use Frost Breath!"
Snowy nodded, threw her head back, and howled, her beautiful white fur shimmering with a glow that had nothing to do with the magical fire surrounding her…
And then, to Serena's astonishment, three pairs of majestic white wings burst from her sides, magnificent white feathers billowing outwards and buffeting the flames. As Serena's jaw dropped in disbelief, Snowy flapped her wings once, twice, three times, launching herself off of the ground and into the air. From this vantage point, she opened her mouth and exhaled a tremendous burst of freezing wind laden with sparkles and snowflakes at the ground, extinguishing the Mystical Fire and causing Serena and Jeanne to shudder as an unseasonably cold front blew over them.
Serena gawked as Snowy flew overhead, feathers and snowflakes trailing from her elegant form. "I… What? WHAT?!"
We told you she could fly, Diana reminded her.
"You never said she had WINGS!" Serena shrieked.
Diana gave her a confused look. Of course she has wings. She's an angel. What sort of Angel doesn't have wings?
Serena had no response to that.
Lillie chuckled. "Didn't see that coming, did you? Snowy, use Dazzling Gleam!"
Snowy folded her wings around herself, concentrating her power and causing a shimmering rainbow-colored sphere to form around her…
Which shattered when suddenly a rainbow -colored energy ball slammed into her from behind, nearly knocking her out of the sky with a cry of pain.
"What?!" Lillie gasped.
Serena grinned. "It's a shame you couldn't overhear my psychic instructions earlier, or you might have known that I'd ordered Jeanne to use Future Sight as her first move!"
"Future Sight?" Lillie murmured. She narrowed her eyes. "We won't fall for that trick again!"
"I wasn't planning on using it again," Serena bragged. Quickly, before Snowy recovers, use Mystical Fire! She commanded Jeanne.
However, Lillie clearly anticipated that Serena would take advantage of this moment of weakness, and shouted, "Snowy, Aurora Veil!"
Snowy folded her wings around her, a shimmering rainbow-colored aura forming around her body. Jeanne's fire breath struck her directly, causing her to cry out as her lovely fur and feathers were singed… But thanks to the Aurora Veil, the attack, which might have been a one-hit knockout otherwise, lost a significant amount of its power. "Now, retaliate with Dazzling Gleam!"
Psychic! Serena commanded.
As Snowy encased herself in a rainbow shell and launched herself at Jeanne, the Delphox's eyes glowed, and suddenly a blue aura formed around the Ninetales as she caught her in her telekinetic grasp. She sharply swept her stick through the air, and Jeanne veered off to the side, slamming into an electric pylon, causing the Ninetales to gasp as she was electrified. Her Aurora Veil was still in effect, blunting the damage, but it still hurt.
Noticing this, Jeanne swept her stick through the air again, flinging Snowy at one of the generators, certain that the collision would hurt rather a lot more.
"Snowy, use Frost Breath on yourself!" Lillie cried.
Serena blinked. Wait, what?
Snowy folded her wings even tighter around herself and fired her Frost Breath at point-blank range. The icy attack, contained by her wings, her body, and her Dazzling Gleam shell, exploded in a tremendous flurry, causing Jeanne to flinch and grip her head in pain as her psychic grip was broken, hitting her with sizable psionic recoil.
"Now, Dazzling Gleam, again!"
Snowy tumbled out of the cloud of snow she'd created, landed feet-first on the side of the generator, and kicked off, launching herself at Jeanne as another rainbow shell formed around her.
Thinking quickly, Serena commanded, Jeanne, use Shadow Ball… On the ground beneath your feet!
Although the telepathic command made her migraine worse, Jeanne didn't hesitate, and immediately formed a ball of crackling dark energy in one paw which she flung at the ground. The sphere exploded, launching her into the air seconds before the startled Snowy could slam into her.
Mystical Fire!
Jeanne instantly expelled a burst of fire breath down at Snowy as the Ninetales passed underneath her. The Dazzling Gleam shell, combined with the still-active Aurora Veil, again protected her from the worst of the fire damage.
It did not, however, protect her when the force of the attack knocked her off course, slamming her into a generator and causing it to explode.
Lillie gasped in horror. "Snowy!"
Selene whistled. "Wow! Quite a combo from Serena and Jeanne! Then again, what more can you expect from a reigning League champion? Is this enough to take Snowy out of the game?"
Serena narrowed her eyes, staring at the blaze that had enveloped Snowy. Was this the end of the first match? Had that been enough to take the angel down? She sent a telepathic command to Jeanne…
And just in time, too, as Snowy lunged out of the flames and slammed into Jeanne, knocking her over. The two foxes, bodies intertwined, tumbled across the ground, viciously clawing and biting at each other, ricocheting off of pylons and generators before landing on a conveyor belt. Jeanne tried to fire a blast of Mystical Fire in the Ninetales' face, but Snowy slammed a paw into her throat, cutting off her air flow and causing her to spit out a few feeble embers.
Snowy panted, looking down at the choking Delphox with no small amount of respect on her face. Several of her wings were lying limp against her side or dragging behind her the ground, feathers were molting off of her in droves, and a good chunk of her fur had been burned off. Despite that, however, all nine of her tails were still intact, and she stood regal and proud over her opponent. A good fight, she acknowledged. However, this is as far as you go-
Without warning, a rainbow-colored energy ball shot towards her back. Without even looking back, her tails lashed out, deflecting the sphere away.
Lillie frowned. "I thought you said you weren't going to use that trick again!"
Serena grinned fiendishly. "That's because I'm not. Your mistake is in assuming that Snowy was the target of that Future Sight."
Lillie blinked in confusion. "What? But then-"
Her eyes shot open as she suddenly noticed that the deflected energy ball was flying right towards the crackling storm cloud overhead. "Oh dear."
The energy ball collided with the cloud. The thunderhead, which had been angrily broiling and building in power throughout the match, exploded, raining tremendous thunderbolts down on the battlefield, striking the numerous power pylons and generators and causing them to start overloading, rattling and shaking as bursts of electricity shot out of them in every direction.
As Snowy looked around in surprise, Serena mentally shouted, Psychic!
Immediately taking advantage of her opponent's confusion, Jeanne's eyes lit up. An invisible wave of pure psychic force slammed into Snowy's gut, flinging her off of the Delphox and into the air, just as all the overclocked devices on the battlefield discharged simultaneously, blasting the Ninetales with a shocking (pun fully intended) amount of voltage, her cries of agony echoing across the stadium.
"SNOWY!" Lillie shrieked.
Beloved! Hymnia gasped.
Tapu Koko folded his arms and nodded in approval. Well played, human.
One by one, the pylons and generators exploded, tremendous conflagrations erupting all over the battlefield. Jeanne normally wouldn't have taken as much damage from the blasts as she did due to her typing, but they happened to be electrical fires, which was a bit of a different matter. Still, she weathered the worst of the flames, even if she had to grit her teeth hard enough to draw blood, since she knew in her heart that her opponent was suffering far worse.
Finally, the last of the electrical devices had been destroyed, and the wild electrical storm died down. Snowy collapsed to the ground, charred black and smoking, what fur she had left standing up and crackling with static discharge.
Selene winced. "Yikes. That looks like it hurt. Still, that sort of thing is what you get in a Pokémon battle of this caliber, folks, and it looks like Serena and Jeanne have won the first round oh no wait she's getting back up."
Serena and Jeanne gawked in disbelief as Snowy, after several false starts, managed to stagger to her feet. She looked like she was going to pass out at any minute, her beautiful white coat had turned an ugly ashen gray, her tails were dragging limply across the ground…
And yet she still stood.
How did you withstand that? Jeanne demanded, awestruck.
I… I am an angel of the Lord! Snowy proclaimed, her voice clarion-clear despite the terrible shape her body was in. I have suffered worse wounds during the Renegade's Betrayal and the War in Heaven! So long as there is breath in my body, I will fight to the end for my mistress! She winced and nearly toppled over. Granted… I don't think I have many breaths left… Mistress! I have one last attack left in me! Let us show them the strength of our bond!
Lillie nodded, and for a second Selene thought she could see the Wheel of Arceus flashing across her eyes. "Right! Together!"
She clasped her hands to her chest, as if in prayer, and started glowing. Snowy started doing the same thing.
Serena blinked. "What are they…"
Mistress! They're using a Z-move! Jeanne realized.
Lillie tapped the ice-colored crystal in the Z-ring around her left wrist, raised her hands into the air, then crossed them over her chest, the mark of a snowflake briefly flashing through the air.
She stretched her arms out to the side then crossed them again, pointing away from her. On the field, despite her injuries, Snowy managed to do the same thing.
"The quiet falling snow from the skies…"
Lillie dramatically threw her right arm to the side.
"Crystals of water!"
Lillie dramatically threw her left arm to the side.
"Constantly shimmering!"
She raised her arms in the air, crossed them again, then brought them back down over her chest.
"Blanketing the world with a frosty Z-power!"
She raised her hands back up over her head again, crossing them over each other repeatedly, a magnificent light blue aura blazing up around her.
"Together with my fiery spirit! Rise up into the vast sky once again!"
She thrust her hands forwards, sending beams of the aura, laden with snowflakes, towards her partner, who closed her eyes and howled as the energy swirled around her, the emblem of Z-power flashing briefly before her.
"SUBZERO SLAMMER!"
The temperature dropped several dozen degrees, and the ground beneath Snowy's feet froze and bulged upwards, elevating her far above the shocked Jeanne on a platform of ice. She opened her mouth, blue and white energy forming in it as snowflakes swirled around her…
This is all very impressive, Diana commented. But why are you just standing there letting her charge up her ultimate attack? I'm not that familiar with official Pokémon battles. Are you supposed to do that? It seems polite, but rather impractical.
Serena and Jeanne blinked. They exchanged awkward looks. Embarrassed, Serena coughed, and then commanded, Jeanne, Blast Burn!
Jeanne's eyes flashed and she pointed her wand at Snowy, her fur billowing in a hot breeze which suddenly picked up, embers swirling around her as the ground beneath her feet burst into flames, mystical sigils and runes etching themselves in fire on the battlefield. The flame at the end of her wand expanded, quickly swelling up into a ball of fire at least half again as big as Jeanne, so brilliant and so hot it felt like a miniature sun had formed in the stadium, causing much of the ice Snowy was standing on top of to immediately sublimate into water vapor.
Chanting spells of heat and light and power in the ancient tongue of her people, flames bursting from the corners of her eyes, Jeanne launched the miniature sun at Snowy a fraction of a second after the Ninetales spat a tremendous beam of blue and white energy at the Delphox. The two forces of absolute heat and absolute cold collided, resulting in a tremendous explosion that sent suffocating clouds of steam blasting outwards to engulf the stadium.
Selene's eyes glowed, and she immediately used her psychic powers to form a force field around the battlefield, channeling the steam upwards so it didn't scald anyone. A few Rotom drones were knocked out of the sky, and the floating cube wobbled, its screens flickering with static for a moment before reasserting themselves, but nobody got hurt.
Well, nobody outside the battlefield, anyway.
"Snowy?!" Lillie cried in alarm, the building steam too thick for her to see her partner. "Snowy, speak to me!"
Jeanne! Serena cried, desperately trying to telepathically connect to her companion. Jeanne, answer me!
Large turbines emerged from the overhead rings and started spinning, sucking the remaining smoke and steam from the stadium and revealing an utterly destroyed battlefield. Half the field had been completely glassed, the superheated jagged black crystals coating the ground still radiating with intense heat. A crater sat in the midpoint of the field, and in it lay Snowy, fur burned totally black, burnt feathers lying around her in a loose circle. She was very still.
The other half of the field was covered in colossal ice formations, save for a large V-shaped swath of clear ground starting at the edge of the crater and extending out to the far side of the field. Jeanne, panting in exhaustion, stood limply at the tip of the Delta, the dazed look on her face indicating she was just as surprised she'd survived as everyone else.
After a moment of stunned silence, the audience started cheering.
"And with that, it looks as if the first round is over! Snowy is unable to battle! Jeanne is the winner!" Selene cried.
Hymnia sighed, disappointed her lover had lost, but applauded anyway, singing a brief, haunting melody to commemorate the battle that brought tears to everyone's eyes.
Jeanne blinked, then bowed her head towards Snowy. That was a spectacular fight. I honestly thought you had me there for second.
The Ninetales, despite being in so much pain she couldn't even lift her head, managed a smile. You fought well. I would've been honored to have you fighting by my side during the War in Heaven, and countless other conflicts. We should do this again sometime.
Jeanne grinned right back. I would love to.
She did it! She did it! She won! I knew she could do it! Diana cheered, bodily shaking Serena in excitement. My fiancé is amazing! You've trained her well! Thank you for making her so strong!
And then she kissed Serena on the lips.
For a moment, the entirety of Serena's body, mind, and soul were submerged into an ocean of limitless joy and love. Every thought in her mind was completely and utterly blown away, leaving behind nothing but absolute devotion to this perfect being that had deigned to grace an unworthy wretch like herself with a fraction of her affections. In that moment, she knew that if Diana asked her to slit her own throat, she would do so without hesitation, and with a look of utmost rapture on her face, for heeding the wishes of such an immaculate specimen was surely the greatest achievement she could ever hope to perform in her newly-immortal life.
And then Diana broke away and merrily Teleported onto the battlefield to do the same to the startled Jeanne. Serena collapsed to the ground, feeling like every bone in her body had turned into jelly, a look of delirious happiness on her face. She attempted to eloquently express herself, to lament how incredibly jealous she was of her partner and how desperately she wished to experience love like that, to have a lover who would kiss her like that and make her feel like that every moment of her life.
"Guuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh," she drooled, despite it being incredibly unladylike.
While Serena's hopeless lesbian brain rebooted, on the battlefield, an embarrassed Jeanne reluctantly pushed Diana away. Diana, I'm in the middle of a fight! She protested.
What do you mean? You just won! Diana pointed out, genuinely confused and disappointed that she couldn't kiss the Delphox more.
Yes, I won one battle, Jeanne explained patiently. Lillie still has five more Pokémon on her team. This isn't over yet.
Diana gasped, astonished. You have to fight five more Pokémon?! Will they all be as strong as that?!
Jeanne gave her a bewildered look. What? No, of course I don't have to… well, yes, in theory I could fight all five of them, but I don't have to, my mistress has five more Pokémon on her team… She blinked. Wait, do you actually not understand how this works?
Diana flushed and glanced away, embarrassed. I… Haven't really paid much attention to how humans conduct their affairs in the last century or two…
Jeanne facepawed. Seriously?
In my defense, humans change how they do things all the time! Diana complained. Their definitions of right and wrong, who it's fine to marry and who isn't, the ways they conduct warfare… You look away for a few decades and bam, the whole world is different! I honestly don't know how they can possibly keep up, or expect anyone else to!
"Diana, I don't mean to interrupt this rather cute moment, but you kind of need to get off the field," Selene announced, her platform floating lower to lock eyes with the Gardevoir. "Only combatants are allowed. Sorry, that's just how it is."
Oh, of course, Diana apologized, curtseying gracefully. My apologies. I will remove myself posthaste.
She kissed Jeanne full on the lips again. Good luck, beloved! She encouraged the Delphox before Teleporting back off the field.
Guuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhh, Jeanne drooled as she collapsed to the ground, feeling like every bone in her body had turned into jelly, a look of delirious happiness on her face.
There was a smattering of laughter from the audience, and quite a few people took pictures with their Rotom phones.
Lillie smiled and recalled Snowy to her Pokéball. "You did well, Snowy," she told her partner gently, kissing her containment capsule. "Thank you for giving it your all."
"Jeanne!" Serena called, having managed to regain her wits, though her legs had yet to respond to her commands to lift her off the ground. "Do you want to keep going, or swap out?"
The Delphox blinked, coming back to herself. She considered the question carefully. On the one hand, that last fight had taken a lot out of her and she could use a rest. On the other…
She glanced at Diana, who blew her a kiss.
I can go another round, she immediately replied.
Who said that Serena was the only useless lesbian?
"In that case, let's put you up against someone who may be more of a match," Lillie declared, selecting a new Pokéball. "Go, Nimue!"
She tossed the sphere out onto the field, sending out a towering Pokémon that seemed to be mostly composed of baby blue, pink, and white hair styled to form a witch's hat and sorceress cloak, a small, pale, black-eyed face glaring out disdainfully from within the voluminous mane. Jeanne hissed, her fur standing on end. A Hatterene!
A Delphox, the Hatterene, Nimue, sneered, turning up her nonexistent nose in disgust. How droll.
"A Hatterene?!" Serena cried, horrified, her estimation of Lillie immediately dropping several degrees. "What are you doing with a Galarian Pokémon?!"
Lillie frowned, puzzled by her animosity. "The Aether Foundation helps Pokémon all over the world. Just because I'm an Alolan native doesn't mean all of my Pokémon have to be from Alola."
"I suppose so," Serena admitted very, very reluctantly. She couldn't help feeling rather betrayed. "But you have to have one from Galar?"
"What's wrong with Galar?" Lillie asked, genuinely confused.
"The two regions hate each other," Selene explained. "It's a whole cultural thing. You know, like how we hate Unova."
"Oh, I see."
Diana narrowed her eyes. A member of the Unseelie court, here? What are they playing at?
Serena glanced at the Gardevoir. "You mentioned that term before. Seelie and Unseelie. What do those mean?"
Fairy Pokémon can be divided into two types, Seelie and Unseelie, Diana explained. Seelie Pokémon are kind, generous, compassionate, and help those in need, like my own species. Unseelie, however, are… She grimaced. Well, mischievous at best, and outright malicious at worst, and Hatterene can often be counted among the nastiest of their number. For one to have wound up in the care of a Pillar of the World… Either she did something so horrible that her own depraved court banished her, or they intend to use her in some sort of longer game, and I'm not certain which is worse.
Serena frowned at this. "Oh dear. Is Lillie in danger?"
I am uncertain, Diana confessed. Remember, she has a guardian angel on her side, as well as a hero of legend, the prophesized hybrid who will save the world and already has several times. If that Hatterene is up to something, the odds are decidedly not in her favor. I shall need to make inquiries once I get home.
"Didn't you say that you're the heir to both courts?" Serena recalled. "Can't you just… Make her stop whatever it is she's doing?"
Diana shook her head. I haven't taken the throne yet. And aside from that… Where politics are concerned, especially Fairy politics, things are rarely that clear-cut.
Serena nodded in understanding. As a Queen-to-be, she knew this all too well.
I shall enjoy testing my magic against yours, Galarian harlot, Jeanne snarled, twirling her wand in the air before her, leaving trails of fire in its wake.
Nimue grinned cruelly. Do not be so certain things will go the way you want, Kalosian bitch. I shall enjoy breaking you.
"Whoa! Hey! Cut that out!" Selene cried, an alarmed look on her face. "This is a family stadium, we don't use that sort of language here!"
"Nimue, we've talked about this!" Lillie chided the Hatterene. "You promised you'd be nicer!"
Apologies, mistress, the Hatterene said insincerely. It was merely trash talk, nothing more.
Lillie frowned, clearly not buying it. Neither did anyone else.
"Now that we've got our second round started, folks, it's time for a terrain change!" Selene announced as her platform elevated back into the air.
Tapu Lele started dancing above her totem, making a series of arm motions that were mimicked by quite a few people in the crowd. "LELEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" She sang, raising one arm skyward, a lovely pink aura pulsing around her.
The pink light ran down her totem and into the battlefield, causing it to glow as well. The battlefield shimmered, and suddenly it was restored to its original state, all traces of the massive devastation caused by the previous battle erased completely. Parts of the battlefield lit up in sequence, and suddenly rose out of the ground and into the air, levitated by psychic energy. Both Jeanne and Nimue managed to keep their footing as the portions of ground they were standing on floated up as well, stopping at different elevations, the battlefield transforming from a two-dimensional plane to a three-dimensional labyrinth of moving platforms reaching almost all the way up to the floating monitor cube overhead.
The large hole where the battlefield once stood was now replaced by a lovely glowing mass of pink psychic energy, and crystals made of hardened psychic power formed in the air and grew from several of the platforms, each formation pulsing and emitting a beautiful chime which Serena quickly recognized was in tune with the Song of Alola, creating a soothing backdrop for the upcoming the battle.
"Magnificent!" Serena gasped, awestruck.
And certainly more visually impressive than Tapu Koko's Electric Terrain, Diana agreed. Though as a Psychic-type, I will admit some bias.
Tapu Lele laughed at this, while Tapu Koko huffed and glanced away, crossing his arms in irritation.
"This Psychic Terrain will give you a power boost… But it will also increase your opponent's power, so don't get overconfident," Serena warned Jeanne. "Are you ready for this?"
Jeanne nodded, narrowing her eyes angrily at the Galarian witch situated on a platform high above her, looking down at her in condescension. Where did she get off?! Always!
Serena opened her mouth to issue a command-
"Hold it," Lillie interrupted.
Serena glanced at her, puzzled. "What is it?"
Lillie gave her a worrying grin. "Before we start this round, something you should know. Nimue isn't the only thing from Galara in my possession."
She raised her right arm, a device flashing on her wrist. Serena's eyes widened in disbelief. "Wait… Is that-"
"A Dynamax Band? Indeed!" Lillie agreed cheerfully.
Serena gasped. A Dynamax Band meant-
"But wait," she realized, immediately calming down. "We aren't in Galar! We are nowhere near a Power Spot! That thing is nothing more than a tacky accessory!"
"Hey, I gave her that as a present! It is most certainly not tacky!" Selene yelled, indignant.
"You're part right," Lillie conceded. "We aren't anywhere near a Power Spot."
Her smile grew.
"Which is why I'll just have to make one of my own."
"What?!" Serena demanded in disbelief.
Lillie thrust her right hand into the air. "Dynamax Reactor, awaken!"
As the crowd started chanting, all the monitors on the giant cube changed to show a sinister-looking machine resembling a red and black skeletal Dragon coiled on itself as it wrapped around a throbbing energy core, biting its own tail. The coils started spinning, crackles of energy channeling down their length as the core started throbbing faster and faster.
Streamers of reddish energy rose from the ground and converged on Lillie's Dynamax Band, causing it to light up. "Nimue, return!"
The Hatterene flashed the astonished Jeanne a sinister smirk as she was called back into her Pokéball. Lillie gripped the orb tightly, energy flowing from her Dynamax Band into it.
"Now… GIGANTAMAX!"
The Pokéball swelled up into a massive sphere bigger than her head, burning with pinkish flames. Grabbing it in both hands, Lillie spun around and flung the ball back onto the battlefield. It burst open in a tremendous flash of light, revealing Nimue…
Only bigger. MUCH bigger. She was now almost 30 m tall, floating in the center of the orbiting platforms. Her hair had grown even longer and more voluminous, her hat's brim was thinner and draping around it and the crown ended in a pink bulb with a larger baby-blue bulb attached to it with three, long tentacles tapering from it. She bellowed, causing the skies to darken, the floating platforms and crystals to tremble, and three red clouds to loom and swirl above her hat.
"No! How can this be?!" Serena cried in horror.
"Macro Cosmos has been working for quite some time on a way to create artificial Power Spots so that regions outside of Galar can enjoy the spectacle of Dynamax battles," Lillie explained smugly. "And the Aether Foundation just happened to procure one of their prototype Dynamax Reactors, in exchange for helping several of the Pokémon injured in the Darkest Day and Dynamax Crisis to recover." She paused, then quickly added, "I mean, we would have anyway, but they threw it in as a bonus, and it would've been rude to say no, right?"
Nimue leered down at the trembling Jeanne, her booming laughter echoing across the stadium. Still think me a harlot, you sniveling fox? Bow before my splendor, for you are in the presence of nothing less than a GODDESS!
Jeanne stared at the gargantuan Hatterene for a moment, a blank look on her face. An ear twitched.
Finally, she turned around and calmly told her trainer, You know, on second thought, I think I'll sit this one out after all.