Pokémon: Starting with a Dragon Dance Gible [14]

That year, it was the 2024 Pokémon World Championships.

In Galar’s largest stadium—Wyndon Stadium.

On the grand stage of the semifinals.

The contenders: Sinnoh League Champion Cynthia, facing off against Galar’s own Champion—Leon.

Two top-tier Champions, bringing out everything they had, their ace Pokémon clashing in a match for the ages. After a long, intense battle, the score was tied: 5 to 5.

Everything came down to the final Pokémon on each side.

A clash of true aces.

Cynthia’s Garchomp, versus Leon’s unbeatable Charizard.

Thanks to that crucial “102” base Speed stat, Garchomp could always outpace those mid-high Speed Pokémon with “100” base Speed—gaining that subtle, yet incredibly important, first-move advantage.

Facing many opponents, Garchomp’s Speed gave her a decisive edge.

Especially against Charizard, whose Speed was exactly “100.”

A difference of just two points—a gap that meant the world.
Who attacks first, and who takes the hit? That’s everything.

Cynthia’s Garchomp and Leon’s Charizard—two of the most famous, powerful aces in the Pokémon world—were almost evenly matched, with just a hair’s difference in level.

Two Champions’ signature Pokémon, with strength nearly equal.

Borrowing those “2” extra Speed points, “stolen” from Hydreigon, as the fandom joked, Cynthia’s Garchomp even had a Speed edge in a head-to-head ace match against Leon’s Charizard.

(PS: Hydreigon’s base Speed is “98”—a major weakness. Pokémon fans love to joke that Garchomp “stole” those extra 2 Speed points. Originally, both would have had 100.)

But the moment Leon unleashed Charizard’s Gigantamax form, everything flipped.

With its signature move, [G-Max Wildfire], and even the Speed-boosting [Max Airstream], Gigantamax Charizard suddenly had the upper hand against Cynthia’s Garchomp.

Not to mention, [Gigantamaxing] doubled Charizard’s HP—a huge buff.

With double HP, Leon’s Charizard could even survive a [Stone Edge] from Garchomp.

So, Cynthia had no choice but to pull out her black coat’s hidden lipstick, touch the embedded [Mega Stone], and trigger Garchomp’s [Mega Evolution].

[Mega Garchomp] versus [Gigantamax Charizard].

Now that was a matchup.

Granted, Mega Garchomp didn’t gain as much from [Mega Evolution] as some others.

In fact, among all [Mega Evolutions], Garchomp’s could almost be called a “Mega Downgrade” for lowering her Speed.

But with Leon already triggering the special [Gigantamax] mechanic, if Cynthia didn’t [Mega Evolve] her Garchomp, the disadvantage would be even more obvious, it would be like she was missing a whole key mechanic that every other Champion got.

[G-Max Wildfire’s] exclusive move let Gigantamax Charizard deal “percentage true damage,” ignoring type resistances.

[Max Airstream] let Charizard outpace Cynthia’s Mega Garchomp in no time.

Cynthia tried firing off a few [Scale Shots], hoping to boost Speed and retake the lead, but missed. Her tactical play to outpace Charizard failed.

In the end, Mega Garchomp fell in the blazing inferno of [G-Max Wildfire], lost her Mega form, and was unable to continue.

The final score: 5 to 6.

Cynthia lost to Leon in the Galar semifinals, falling short of the 2024 Pokémon World Championship finals.

And Leon kept his undefeated record in official matches, pushing his win streak ever higher.

...

It had been nearly half a year since that heart-breaking semifinal loss.

Cynthia could still feel a vague sense of frustration whenever she remembered that battle.

If only Mega Garchomp’s evolution didn’t cost her those 10 precious Speed points…

Or if Garchomp could learn a stronger, more effective move to boost her Speed and Attack—the pride of Dragon-types: [Dragon Dance].

Maybe the outcome of that match would have been different.

[Dragon Dance] wasn’t just a crucial double-buff move.

Pokémon that mastered it could, with a spin and a leap, dodge energy-based attacks with their eyes closed.

Taking far less damage from enemy moves.

Even against Leon’s [G-Max Wildfire], or even more deadly, the infamous [Ice Beam] that haunted Garchomp.

After the loss, Cynthia never stopped trying. She threw herself into every possible method to teach her Garchomp [Dragon Dance].

But it was all useless—muda muda, to borrow a certain phrase. Nothing worked.

Even Pokémon that weren’t true Dragons—Steelix, Whiscash, Aerodactyl, Feraligatr, Charizard, Gyarados—could all learn [Dragon Dance].

Yet Garchomp, a genuine True Dragon, couldn’t.

It made absolutely no sense.

TMs, Mirror Herb, leveling up again and again…

Cynthia had tried every method she could think of to teach Garchomp [Dragon Dance].

She even let Garchomp dance alongside every [Dragon Dance]-using Pokémon she could find, hoping she could pick up the move by imitation.

All of it failed.

“......”

Even logging into Poke-TV with a smurf account, searching for “[Dragon Dance] + Garchomp,” Cynthia saw only clickbait streamers using [Dragon Cheer] and passing it off as [Dragon Dance] to trick casual viewers and chase views.

Cynthia’s hopes gradually faded.
She finally gave up on the idea of teaching her Garchomp [Dragon Dance].

Feeling empty, her mind on autopilot, she even started searching other keywords: “[Dragon Dance] + Gabite,” “[Dragon Dance] + Mega Garchomp,” even “[Dragon Dance] + Gible.”

Unsurprisingly, even fewer results.

After all, if Garchomp—and even her own Mega Garchomp—couldn’t learn such a difficult move, how could Gabite or baby Gible have any chance?

But then, when Cynthia least expected it, wondering how she could be “stupid” enough to swap out [Garchomp] for [Gible] in her search terms—

She really did find a new streamer on Poke-TV.

Boldly running a headline: “My Gible knows [Dragon Dance].”

Cynthia: ( •̀⤙•́ )

Hmph. What a joke.

If even my Garchomp can’t learn [Dragon Dance], you expect me to believe a little baby Gible can?

Impossible. Absolutely impossible!

[Drawing-Water-With-a-Bamboo-Basket has entered the stream.]

---

This is a fan translation of 宝可梦，开局龙舞圆陆鲨 by 眼含泪光 All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!