Crack...
Stone Edge was frozen solid, transformed into thick icicles, and after they crashed to the ground, they shattered into pieces.
Come to think of it, moves like Stone Edge really never seemed to land all that often.
Its power was high, sure, but it either got dodged or canceled out by the opponent's move.
It looked impressive, but in practice, that was about it.
"The power behind that Ice Beam doesn't look especially high at first glance, but Kyurem's control over Ice-type energy is on a completely different level from other Ice-type Pokémon... impressive. Just as expected of one of Unova's dragon trio. It may be an empty shell, but its strength definitely can't be underestimated."
Blue had already formed an initial judgment of Kyurem's power.
If he were using the kind of power-scaling tiers you'd see in a fantasy novel, Kyurem's level was probably at the early stage of battle-legend tier, roughly the equivalent of just reaching level 80.
But its true combat power was far higher than that.
Whether it was Glaciate or Ice Beam, both moves were stronger than the attacks his Rhyperior had just unleashed.
"So the top-tier Legendaries of each region are really this strong... battle-legend tier is just the starting line."
Blue's expression sharpened. This was the first time he had shown such an openly serious side in front of Grey.
"Rhyperior, use Rock Slide!"
Rock Slide was a wide-area Rock-type move, though its accuracy could be pretty rough.
"RHYAAAH!"
Rhyperior suddenly raised both arms, and countless boulders began forming in the sky out of nowhere.
In an instant, Kyurem found its entire overhead space filled with rock, a massive dark cloud of falling stone.
If that attack hit cleanly, even a Pokémon as strong as Kyurem would take some damage.
Grey looked up at the attack calmly. By now, moves like this were already nothing unusual to him.
"Then we'll counter with Ancient Power."
He wasn't trying to cancel the whole move out. As long as they could shatter most of it, that would be enough for his purposes.
"Hey, kid. Do you really think my strength only amounts to that much?"
Kyurem could sense Grey's thoughts.
And when it came to trading blows with Rhyperior, it couldn't have been more disdainful.
What kind of Pokémon was it?
One of Unova's dragon trio. Even if Reshiram and Zekrom each had a hundred copies of their own power, the moment they touched it, they'd still have to obediently submit and become part of its body again.
Of course, Kyurem preferred to call that "returning to the source."
And even without returning to the source, it still wasn't something some random brute could compare itself to.
Rhyperior?
Sure, its Rock typing had the advantage against Kyurem, but its Ground typing was completely checked by Kyurem's Ice-type power.
And Rock didn't even resist Ice.
At worst, they'd just blast each other apart in a straight exchange.
That was exactly why Kyurem was so confident.
"ROOOAR!!!"
Kyurem's dragon roar shook the heavens, and the dark mass of Rock Slide above it instantly exploded apart.
In its place, countless fossil-like stones rose into the air.
Ancient Power, a Rock-type move!
It had shattered Rock Slide completely with nothing but a roar, and the sight made Blue's eyelids twitch.
That was absurd.
No wonder it was one of those "third god"-class top-tier Legendaries. Its raw force was monstrous.
Ancient Power screamed through the air and bombarded Rhyperior.
It didn't deal much damage, and Grey narrowed his eyes when he noticed that no red glow appeared on Kyurem's body.
That was a bit disappointing.
If all its stats had risen, this battle probably would have ended very quickly.
Of course, the point of this battle wasn't to defeat Blue.
It was to give Blue a better understanding of Kyurem's attack power, and of how durable Rhyperior's rock armor really was.
"Rhyperior, put more into it. The stone you'll need to create later has to withstand Kyurem's attacks. It can't shatter the moment it makes contact like that."
Blue hadn't gotten carried away at all. He stayed calm and kept directing Rhyperior steadily.
"RHYAAH!" ("Got it!")
After seeing its moves smashed apart over and over, Rhyperior was obviously more than a little unwilling to accept that.
It leveled the hollow openings in its arms straight ahead, and a grayish-brown glow began gathering at the ends.
Clang!
A massive sphere of rock appeared, and under the force of Rhyperior's gathering energy, it continued swelling larger and larger.
Rock Wrecker, a Rock-type move!
A terrifying move with 150 base power.
It was basically the Rock-type version of Hyper Beam. After using it, the user wouldn't be able to move for a short time.
It turned the user into a live target.
Unless you absolutely had no other choice, you would never use a move like this lightly.
"Kyurem, use Ice Beam first and test the waters."
As always, Grey preferred to probe from weaker moves to stronger ones.
The moment his voice fell, Kyurem fired Ice Beam again. A thick layer of frost spread over the battlefield as it traveled, even reaching the incoming Rock Wrecker.
Crack... snap...
Frost spread across the surface of the Rock Wrecker too, but Rhyperior quickly shook it apart into fragments!
In an instant, Rock Wrecker fully took shape.
Rhyperior thrust both arms forward, and the massive rocky projectile actually forced the oncoming Ice Beam backward!
"Okay, Ice Beam won't do it. Kyurem, next, Blizzard!"
Grey clicked his tongue, but inwardly, he was praising Rhyperior's strength.
It really was worthy of Blue, the "man of cultivation," a battle-legend tier Pokémon with the power to go toe-to-toe with even a top-tier Legendary.
Grey himself was still far from truly reaching battle-legend tier.
Yes, he had caught Reshiram and Kyurem, but he hadn't personally raised them from the ground up.
Being a legendary trainer was certainly convenient, but Grey still felt that until he personally trained a Pokémon to battle-legend tier, he couldn't truly say he had earned the right to command Legendaries.
That was why, in daily life, he rarely leaned on his top-tier Legendaries.
His eyes returned to the battle.
Kyurem's ragged ice wings beat heavily, and a violent blizzard burst forth.
The bitter wind and endless snow swept forward, trying to freeze Rock Wrecker in place the same way Ice Beam had stalled Stone Edge earlier.
Two completely different elemental forces clashed in midair. Despite Rock holding the advantage against Ice, Rock Wrecker still came to a halt, unable to advance even an inch.
Still, Blizzard wasn't faring much better.
Holding Rock Wrecker in place was already the limit of what it could do.
If Kyurem wanted to drive it back further, then either its own strength would need to rise, or it would need to change forms.
Whoooosh!
The wind howled, and the wild blizzard swallowed everyone's vision.
Watching that scene, Lillie could only feel how terrifying both sides' strength really was.
"If it were Gym Leader Grey, then maybe Mother wouldn't have... huh? What happened to Mother again?"
It was as though she had almost remembered something, only to realize that the memory behind those words had vanished completely.
She wanted to recall what had happened between her and her mother, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't.
It felt as if that entire memory had been erased out of thin air.
She had the sense that her mother, Lusamine, had done something that had filled her with absolute fear, and that was why she had brought Nebby with her.
Whenever she thought of her mother, what surfaced was still the image of someone warm and kind.
And yet there was another voice inside her telling her that her mother was no longer the same.
She was still the same person.
But her beliefs, they seemed to have changed drastically.
"Mogu, mogu."
Cosmog nuzzled against Lillie in her arms, finally making her let out a breath of relief as she stroked its little nebula-like head.
Back on Grey's side...
"Lillie's acting a little strange..."
Grey fell into thought for a moment. Through Aura, he could sense that something about Lillie was off.
But there was no time to focus on that right now. First, he had to devote himself fully to the battle.
The two attacks canceled each other out.
Blue had now gotten a decent sense of Kyurem's move power.
"Gym Leader Grey, now let's both go all out!"
The corner of Blue's mouth lifted. The moment that arrogant grin appeared, Grey knew Blue was finally getting serious.
"I've been looking forward to this battle for a long time. Your strength should be more than just this, right, Gym Leader Grey? So come at me with everything you've got!"
"But Rhyperior shouldn't be able to move freely right now, should it? Are you sure you want me to press the attack?"
Rhyperior had just used Rock Wrecker. Grey wasn't interested in taking cheap shots like that.
"If I tell you to attack, then attack, Gym Leader Grey. What kind of man acts this hesitant?"
Blue crooked a finger at him.
Grey finally gave in.
"Kyurem, Flash Cannon!"
A streak of silver light appeared in an instant. Kyurem opened its enormous maw, and a massive energy blast roared out, stretching into a blazing line with an explosive shriek, like a missile racing at full speed as it bombarded Rhyperior head-on.
Boom!!!
Dust spread everywhere as Rhyperior was blasted backward several steps on the spot, nearly falling over.
Meanwhile, Kyurem charged forward at high speed, cold energy bursting around it. Combined with the lingering Blizzard from before, it almost looked like a makeshift Snow Cloak setup.
"So you're using Blizzard to create a battlefield that mimics a snowstorm? That's a nice combo. Good. This is exactly the kind of opponent I wanted to fight!"
Blue's eyes flashed. With a sharp wave of his hand, he shouted, "Rhyperior, Rock Blast!"
The battle style of Rock-type Pokémon was always straightforward and aggressive. Rhyperior aimed both arms forward and fired countless energy-charged stones from the hollow openings in its palms.
Thup thup thup!!!
The rocks screamed through the air, but halfway there, they were frozen by the savage cold wind.
Blue raised a brow slightly, but didn't overthink it. Instead, he raised the force of his next move.
"Stone Edge!"
Though Stone Edge seemed born to be smashed apart, at this moment there weren't many other moves he could use anyway.
"RHYAAAH!"
Rhyperior slammed its foot down hard, and endless jagged stone pillars burst from the ground, even carrying an effect like molten energy that melted away the surrounding snowstorm.
The sight of that Stone Edge made Grey think of one of Hoenn's top-tier Legendaries, the creator of the land itself, Groudon.
Precipice Blades!
Come to think of it, the way Rhyperior unleashed Stone Edge really did look a lot like Precipice Blades.
But considering how Stone Edge usually performed in the hands of so many trainers, Grey couldn't help feeling that if he ever saw Groudon use that move in the future, he'd probably still want to laugh.
It was just too unintentionally funny.
"Kyurem, ignore Stone Edge. Use Dragon Claw to carve a path!"
Kyurem's ice-blue form suddenly accelerated. Its draconic arms burst with emerald light.
Violent Dragon-type energy coiled around its claws, forming two gigantic energy blades.
Faced with the forest of jagged rock spears erupting from the ground, it didn't dodge at all. Instead, it slashed straight through with crossing claws!
Green claw marks tore through the air, and everywhere they passed, the rock spires shattered like brittle stalks of bamboo.
Stone fragments sprayed down like rain. Rhyperior stared in shock as its Stone Edge was forcibly cut open, leaving a clear path straight through it, and Kyurem's Dragon Claw was already right in front of it!
Slash!
Kyurem's Dragon Claw tore through the air with a shrill ripping sound and struck Rhyperior squarely in the rocky armor of its chest, leaving two deep crossing wounds that seemed to reach all the way to the bone beneath.
"RHYAAAH!!" ("Damn it! The invincible me actually got hurt!")
Rhyperior's heavy body shuddered violently as it lowered its head in disbelief to stare at its nearly split-open armor.
Dragon energy surged through the wounds left by Kyurem's claws, invading wildly and making the giant beast cry out in pain.
A sharp light flashed in Blue's eyes, and his command cut through the air.
"Now! Hammer Arm!"
"RHYAAH!"
Rhyperior roared, and the pain of its injuries only drove it into a greater frenzy.
Brown Fighting-type energy surged over its arms like magma. Its already massive rocky fists swelled several times over in an instant, crashing down toward Kyurem with mountain-crushing force!
Boom!!!
Rhyperior's Hammer Arm smashed out a crater more than ten meters wide, and the shockwave shattered the surrounding ground into pieces.
Yet Kyurem, standing at the center of the impact, did not move even slightly.
There was not even the slightest crack on its body.
Grey shouted sharply, "Glaciate!"
Kyurem threw back its head with a howl, and an absolute-zero cold wave erupted outward from its body.
Rhyperior was still frozen in the posture of its downward strike as both it and the entire battlefield were instantly transformed into a frozen blue wasteland!
Then Hammer Arm's side effect kicked in, and on top of that, Rhyperior had now endured the bitter cold of Glaciate twice in a row. Its already slow movements became even more sluggish.
"Rhyperior, Stone Edge!"
But when Rhyperior tried to gather energy, a shrill scraping sound came from within its own body, like ice crystals grinding against each other.
The flow of Rock-type energy through it had slowed dramatically, moving with all the stiffness of a keyboard glued up after a big spill.
"RHYAAH!" ("Damn it!!")
Rhyperior angrily tried to stomp through the ice, but even lifting its leg looked as slow as if it were trapped in a swamp. Even the white breath blasting from its nostrils froze into little icicles in midair.
"Three Speed drops, and Rhyperior's already having this much trouble moving?"
Blue raised a brow. Glaciate's raw damage wasn't all that high, but the negative effect it left behind was absolutely brutal for Rhyperior.
Rhyperior was overwhelmingly powerful, but in exchange, it was slow.
Now that its Speed had been lowered three times, trying to continue fighting had become misery piled on misery.
The good news was that Kyurem's attacks were still something Rhyperior could endure.
After all, Rhyperior's Ability was absurd. Unless the move hitting it was four times effective, most attacks were essentially reduced to something close to ordinary damage.
It was almost as if type advantage barely existed at all.
"Kyurem, Blizzard at point-blank range!"
Grey snapped his fingers.
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