Kyurem spread its icy wings, and the point-blank Blizzard swallowed Rhyperior whole.
Crack...
Frost crystals covered every inch of its rocky armor in an instant, the sharp sounds of freezing ringing out without pause.
By the time the icy mist cleared, Rhyperior was still locked in its struggling pose, completely sealed inside a frozen coffin. Even its expression of shock and fury had been preserved in that final instant.
The battle was over.
"Rhyperior is unable to battle. The winner is Gym Leader Grey!"
Since there was no referee around, Lillie had eagerly volunteered for the job and announced the result herself.
Blue: "..."
Blue really wanted to say, Little lady, sometimes you don't actually need to spell it out.
He already knew the outcome. Hearing it said aloud just made it sting more.
Blue could only laugh helplessly, though there was no way he was going to pick a fight with a girl around his brother's age.
"Mr. Blue, looks like I barely managed to win this one."
Grey smiled as he said it, half joking.
Come to think of it, Blue was the first trainer who had ever successfully landed a hit on Kyurem while Grey was commanding it.
Blue: "..."
No, seriously, don't say that either.
Barely managed to win? Anyone who didn't know better would think Grey was mocking him on purpose.
"Gym Leader Grey, your strength is improving at an unbelievable rate. This trip through Unova got you two top-tier Legendary Pokémon, too. If I had to fight those two of yours, I'm not your match anymore."
When he wasn't facing Red, Blue wasn't actually a sore loser. It was just that Grey's growth over these past few days was so absurd it defied belief.
In just three short months, Grey had gone from an unremarkable new Gym Leader to the leader of the number one Gym in Kanto. On top of that, he had caught two of Unova's top-tier Legendary Pokémon.
And when he used one of those Legendaries, he could even suppress another of the same class in battle.
Opportunities like that would put him ahead of almost any trainer.
Still, Blue didn't chalk all of Grey's rapid progress up to those Legendary Pokémon alone.
He knew Grey's command skills were excellent in their own right, even if he did like pulling some pretty nasty tactics now and then.
Other than that, there really wasn't anything to criticize.
"Mr. Blue, I'll leave the dojo to you after this."
Grey rubbed the tip of his nose. Since Blue was personally leading the effort, he really had nothing to worry about.
As long as Reshiram and Kyurem didn't suddenly lose their tempers, the dojo grounds probably wouldn't suffer any damage.
"No problem. Do your best in the Gym showdown later, I've got high hopes for you."
Blue recalled Rhyperior, shoved both hands into his pockets, and flashed what he clearly thought was a handsome smile.
"Count on it."
Grey returned the smile, then took out a badge and tossed it to him.
"This is the Fighting Dojo badge. I think your strength is more than enough to earn it, Mr. Blue. Of course, there'll be other badge designs later too. If Gym Leader Blue wants one, you can always come challenge the dojo again."
At the moment, Grey was thinking of adding two new badges on top of what the Fighting Dojo and Saffron Gym already had.
One would be a Double Battle Badge. The other would be a Legend Badge.
For now, though, it was still just an idea. He hadn't figured out exactly how he wanted to handle it yet.
"Sounds good. Message me when the time comes, I'll definitely show up for the challenge. I got careless and underestimated you this time, but next time I'm not losing."
Blue turned and left behind a dashing silhouette.
Only after Grey's figure had completely disappeared from sight did Blue glance back and slowly let out a long breath.
Then he pulled a phone from his pocket, opened his contacts with practiced ease, and tapped the man pinned right at the top.
...
...
Johto, the summit of Mt. Silver.
The signal up here was terrible. Whether a call got through or not was pure luck.
Today, Red happened to get lucky enough to answer Blue's call.
"Hello."
Red's voice sounded cold. White snowflakes drifted down onto his shoulders, only to melt into water from the heat of the Charizard standing beside him.
"Red, I battled Grey today. Guess which of his Pokémon I fought."
Blue could barely contain his emotions. On the other end of the line, Red's calm brows lifted slightly.
"What was it, Reshiram?"
Red didn't know that Grey had caught Kyurem.
He did know about Reshiram, though.
So his first thought was that Blue had fought Reshiram today.
"No. It was Kyurem."
The moment he said Kyurem, Blue's emotions settled right back down.
He said it as casually as if he were talking about spotting a wild Rattata in the grass.
Red: "...?"
Red fell silent.
For a moment, the only sound on the line was the howling wind and snow.
"You're saying Gym Leader Grey didn't just catch Reshiram, he also caught Kyurem, one of Unova's dragon trio?"
Red finally spoke again, his voice threaded with the sound of the storm.
"That's right. Honestly, I never thought Gym Leader Grey would be able to catch a Pokémon like that either. So what do you think? Tempted? Want to go find him right now?"
Blue teased Red, the kind of person who lived for battle. In his eyes, Red would never pass up the once-in-a-lifetime chance to fight a top-tier Legendary like Kyurem.
"My strength still isn't enough. I'll sharpen it a while longer before I go challenge Gym Leader Grey."
Red thought back to the pitch-black beast he had encountered earlier on Mt. Silver.
Its strength hadn't seemed like much at first glance, but in its sudden burst, it had managed to wound both of their ace Pokémon and escape unscathed.
"That works, I guess. But if you wait until later to go after Gym Leader Grey, I'm betting his strength will have reached the point where neither of us can beat him whenever we feel like it."
Blue's tone changed abruptly, clearly thinking about just how much Grey had improved in such a short time.
The same thought kept coming back to him. In only three months, Grey had gone from a rookie Gym Leader to someone with Champion-level strength, and he had even caught two top-tier Legendary Pokémon. It was almost impossible to believe.
"..."
Red stayed silent and gave no answer.
"Ah, whatever. Things seem unsettled everywhere lately. Do you think Team Rocket's about to make a move?"
Blue changed the subject and turned the conversation toward Team Rocket.
"Yeah... I think Team Rocket's attention is probably going somewhere else, not Kanto itself."
Kanto's local strength was stronger now than it had ever been before. Not only did it have four Elite Four members with Champion-level strength, it also had two battle-legend trainers.
And beyond that, there was Grey, a Gym Leader who had already caught top-tier Legendary Pokémon.
If Team Rocket really wanted to stir up trouble, they probably wouldn't make a move anytime soon.
As for whether they might start targeting other regions instead, Red honestly didn't know.
"That's what I was thinking too. Kanto is strong right now. Even if Team Rocket's boss has battle-legend strength, if he runs into the three of us working together, he's dead meat."
Blue wasn't just bragging. That really was the truth.
Even if someone gave Team Rocket's boss a hundred times more courage, there was no way he'd willingly face three trainers with battle-legend combat power at once.
"Right. Speaking of which, the space around Mt. Silver has been unstable lately. I'm worried that Pokémon might come back."
That was also why Red wasn't going to challenge Grey yet. If that black beast suddenly descended on Mt. Silver while he was away battling, it could cause a lot of unnecessary casualties.
"You mean... that Pokémon from back then?"
Blue frowned, clearly knowing what Red meant.
"Yeah. That's why I'm staying on Mt. Silver. It's also a good chance to sharpen my strength."
Red exhaled a stream of white mist.
"In that case, I'll generously come train on Mt. Silver with you."
Blue didn't even wait for Red to answer. The moment he said it, he hung up.
...
...
Orange Islands.
Dr. Namba, who had just been dispatched there, was already in a foul mood.
"Dr. Namba, does this godforsaken backwater really have one of the legendary bird Pokémon? If I remember right, that Gym Leader named Grey has already nearly rounded up all three of Kanto's legendary birds."
A green-haired man lounged lazily against the ship's rail, idly brushing aside the hair the sea wind had blown into his face.
As he looked at the old scholar with the shining bald spot, he couldn't stop the corner of his mouth from twitching down.
"At this rate, Grey's about to complete the full set. Other than coconut trees and beat-up surfboards, what do the Orange Islands even have left?"
In the distance, the islands shimmered in the heat haze. A few rusted fishing rods lay scattered across the beach.
Compared to the bustle of Saffron City back in Kanto, even the neon lights of the local Pokémon Center looked dim here.
Some weak, halfhearted cry from a bird Pokémon drifted in on the salty sea breeze, as if it were backing up his complaint.
"It's Namba! Dr. Namba, not Dr. Something-Else!"
Dr. Namba was so angry his bald spot practically gleamed. His tiny eyes bulged behind his glasses.
"You think getting a Team Rocket position is like grabbing produce off a market stall? This is a cadre special training plan!"
He waved the crumpled mission orders in his hand, the paper rattling wildly in the sea wind.
"This transfer order was signed by the boss personally! Do you know what it means when fate has big plans for you? It means starting out in a place like this, , no, wait, I mean this thriving island paradise..."
Halfway through, even Dr. Namba felt too embarrassed to continue.
A thriving island paradise?
No...
This really was the middle of nowhere.
He still had no idea what the deal was with the legendary birds here. Out of all the good places they could have stayed, why had they come to some tiny island chain like this?
Call it an island paradise if you wanted.
Put less kindly, this was the kind of place where somebody could disappear and no one would ever know where to start looking.
"No idea what the locals are like either. If they get in Team Rocket's way... heh heh heh!"
"Dr. Pumpkin, how much longer until we get there?"
A blonde woman with big waves in her hair suddenly spoke up.
That one line instantly choked off all of Dr. Namba's grand speech.
"I'm Dr. Namba! Not Pumpkin!!"
...
...
Saffron City, Fighting Dojo.
After finishing his battle with Blue, Grey returned to the Fighting Dojo.
Now he still needed to check on how his own team was doing.
"Tepig!" ("Times change, don't look down on an underdog just because he's down!")
Tepig launched a fierce assault at its "master," Reshiram. Its whole body blazed with intense fire as it tried to knock Reshiram over in one charge.
Right now, Tepig was the weakest member of the Fighting Dojo by far. Compared to the others, its strength lagged behind by an entire tier.
Even Scraggy had already reached around level 30, but this Tepig was only in the low teens.
It hadn't even evolved into Pignite yet.
"Very good. Nice energy. You've got spirit."
Ever since hearing what Grey had told it, Tepig was no longer the lovestruck little simp it used to be.
Now it was working hard to grow stronger so that one day it could return to its "peak" power.
Whether it was Lord Embermane, the ruler of a hundred thousand Pignite, or Pigblaze, the one who had once drawn all eyes only to have his fire source completely drained by Reshiram, those were both parts of its past.
Now that it had reunited with its "master," Reshiram, it was only a few steps away from climbing back to the top.
"Pigblaze, your talent isn't especially great, but do you know what you do have?"
Reshiram's eye twitched a little. Grey had half-pulled, half-dragged it over here, and it still couldn't believe that as one of Unova's dragon trio and a top-tier Legendary, it had somehow ended up serving as a master to a Tepig.
No matter how you looked at it, this plot made no sense.
"Tepig." ("I don't know, Master. What is it that I have?")
Tepig truly didn't understand why, in this life, it had been able to become Reshiram's disciple.
Yes, they were all Grey's Pokémon, but things like this still came down to chemistry.
In its "previous life," Reshiram had accepted it as a disciple. In this life, it had done absolutely nothing and somehow still stumbled into the role.
"What you have is a heart that pushes forward bravely and fears nothing."
Reshiram turned away, the turbine-like tail on its back glowing with crimson firelight.
Tepig fell silent after hearing that.
Did it really have that kind of fearless heart that charged forward no matter what?
"Yes. You do. Pigblaze, among all the Tepig I know, you have the strongest spirit."
Reshiram said that without even blinking.
To be fair, this really was the first Tepig it had ever truly known.
Other Tepig didn't count. Those were more like brief run-ins, passing acquaintances at best.
Under those circumstances, whatever Reshiram, the Dragon of Truth, said was naturally the truth.
"Tepig!" ("Got it! Thank you, Master! I feel like I've got endless strength pouring through me right now!")
Tepig felt as though nothing in the world could hold it back anymore.
Grey just stood to the side and watched, full of admiration for Hilda's scriptwriting skills.
He had to admit, Hilda really knew how to write a script.
Sure, it did feel a little similar to one of those old fantasy webnovels from his previous life.
But even so, pulling this off still took genius.
"Annihilape!" ("Boss, the reconstruction on the Saffron Gym side has already started. Do you want to come take a look?")
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