Lance Cheated His Way Into The Elite Four And Tried To Do A Genocide

thegamer.com:

When I was a kid I used to think Lance was such a chad. The Elite Four’s dragon master is the most terrifying fight in Red & Blue. All five of his Pokemon could use Hyper Beam, a high-powered attack that could wipe out most of your team in a single hit. If it did, they could even use it again without needing to wait a turn for the cooldown. Lance wasn’t just a strong enemy, he was also a hero. In Gold & Silver, Lance shows up at Team Rocket HQ to help you beat the villains, before tossing you the Whirlpool HM and returning to his duties as the new Pokemon League Champion. He’s cool, he’s confident, he wears a cape, and he’s literally the master of dragons, so what’s not to like? It turns out, quite a lot.

If you’ve been a Pokemon fan since the beginning, you’ve probably heard that Lance had an illegal Pokemon during his stint in the Elite Four. His level 62 Dragonite knew four moves: Agility, Slam, Barrier, and Hyper Beam. “But that’s impossible,” you’re probably saying. “Dragonite can’t learn Barrier!” You’re absolutely right, Leon was somehow able to teach Dragonite a move that no other Dragonite can learn, making it an illegal Pokemon that should never have been allowed in any sanctioned Pokemon League battle, let alone in an Elite Four battle. Somehow, Lance was not disqualified for this. As we know, Lance went on to become the champion of the league after Red stepped down in Gen 2. Game Freak even referenced the crime in 2016 when it gave away Lance’s Dragonite to anyone that participated in the Kanto Classic Wi-Fi Tournament.

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Getting away with using an illegal Pokemon during the most prestigious Pokemon tournament in the region clearly emboldened Lance, because his cheating did