With Greninja completing the defeat of Moltres, the battle between John and the Three Lengadary Birds had come to an end.
Wait... where did Zapdos go?
Well, this particular specimen had already lost its Orb of Thunder to John earlier, and then encountered the "electric nemesis" Zeraora. Did its defeat really need elaborate explanation?
Taking the Pokeball containing Zapdos, John also examined its status.
[Zapdos (Flying/Electric)] (Legendary Pokemon)]
[Level: 91]
[Ability: Static (Pokemon using contact moves have a chance of being paralyzed)]
[Individual Values: HP (23), Attack (24), Sp. Attack (31), Defense (20), Sp. Defense (27), Speed (31)]
[Moves: Peck, Thunder Wave, Thunder Shock, Drill Peck, Agility, Ancient Power, Charge, Roost, Discharge, Rain Dance, Magnetic Flux, Detect, Zap Cannon]
[Held Item: None]
This Zapdos was exactly as John had suspected - its potential fell below both Moltres and Articuno. Its individual Speed and Special Attack had reached perfect values, making it merely a 2V Pokemon.
Beyond that, there wasn't much worth noting.
While individual values couldn't fully determine a Pokemon's complete potential, they certainly revealed significant aspects of it.
John remembered that when he'd claimed Zapdos' Orb of Thunder, its level had been only 89.
It had taken nearly two years to advance from level 89 to 91. Meanwhile, Articuno and Moltres had probably spent those two years resting without any level improvements, yet their levels still exceeded Zapdos.
The disparity between Zapdos and the other legendary birds was evident from their levels alone.
However, John didn't particularly care about the strength differences among the three divine birds.
He had now entered the endgame phase. His regularly trained Pokemon already possessed "Lengendary-slaying" capabilities, and he had captured rare and powerful legendary Pokemon like Lugia and Deoxys.
There was no need to extensively train pokemons like the three he just caught anymore.
John planned to place them in his base to serve as mascots and bodyguards.
Well, John's breeding facility would be absolutely prestigious now.
Pocketing the Pokeballs of the three oversized chickens, John would teleport them to his base for work duties when he'd return from the game.
Looking around, John felt like something was missing.
"By the way, where's Lugia?"
Three God Island had been the venue for the Lugia's Explosion movie. The three divine birds had all been defeated and captured by him. The legendary Pokemon that was supposed to emerge to prevent the birds from "destroying the world", where had Lugia gone?
In this world, if you could encounter Mewtwo, there could be both Shadow Mewtwo and regular Mewtwo coexisting.
There should be more than one Lugia as well, not to mention it wasn't necessarily a unique individual Pokemon.
"Gardevoir, use Psychic to scan the nearby sea area."
Gardevoir immediately entered its Mega Evolution and began scanning the surrounding ocean with its psychic powers.
Several minutes later, Mega Gardevoir shook its head toward John.
It had found no trace of Lugia.
"Nothing? Then where did it go? Did it swim away somewhere?" John stood on his Shadow Lugia's back, frowning in thought.
Thousands of meters beneath the sea, in pitch-black waters where visibility was zero, a white Lugia wrapped itself in Safeguard and gazed upward. Its profound eyes seemed capable of penetrating thousands of meters of seawater.
Silently observing.
It had been aware of the battle above from the very beginning.
But when it was about to take action to stop the three annoying birds from going berserk again, it witnessed a human sending out three of his own Pokemon to thoroughly defeat the legendary birds and capture them all.
Ah... this was quite awkward.
Should it help beat up the three idiots too?
However, if it appeared now, would that human become even more excited and end up trying to capture it as well?
Lugia pondered for a long time and finally decided not to surface.
It would actually be better if those three troublemakers were defeated and captured by a trainer. At least they wouldn't cause problems in the future, constantly quarreling and threatening to destroy the world. It was exhausting trying to mediate their disputes.
Now that the three-headed fools had been captured, it could finally discover the true meaning of its existence as Lugia.
Well, thanks to this human.
After confirming that the three divine birds had been captured by the human, Lugia turned its massive head, gave a gentle pat with its thick, powerful tail, and immediately swam toward the deeper seabed with its enormous body.
On the ocean surface, at the entrance of the Shamouti Island temple.
Now instead of one person and one Pokemon, there were two people and one Pokemon present.
The middle-aged man, Slowking, and the shrine maiden who had chased all the way from Hamlin Island were staring with expressions of disbelief at the completely vanished Three God Islands and John's rapidly disappearing figure on the horizon.
"The three gods, the God of Thunder, the God of Fire, and the God of Ice, were just captured by a trainer? What about the prophecy of annihilation?" The middle-aged man felt the worldview he'd built since childhood was collapsing.
Slowking looked back at the temple built for the three sacred birds and Lugia.
Both Slowking and the shrine maiden exchanged glances, their hearts were the most shattered, okay?
The shrine maiden had accepted inheritance from her ancestors since she was an ignorant child, learned the "Song of Lugia," and remained always ready to awaken Lugia to save the world when destruction came. She had been preparing for this her entire life.
The three divine birds had been captured, how could they destroy the world now?
Her mind was completely shattered.
What about the promised world destruction?
As someone fortunate enough to meet the God of Thunder as a child, Slowking had never doubted the power of the three divine birds and the legend of world destruction.
As a result, now you tell it that before the three divine birds could begin destroying the world, they were defeated one-on-one by a human trainer and captured.
So what was the purpose of its efforts over all these years?
Maybe the prophecy stone could be changed.
When the Gods of Thunder, Fire, and Ice fall into wrath, there shall be a trainer standing on the back of the Sea God emerging from endless night to command the God of Rock "Tyranitar," the Aura Emperor "Greninja," and the "True God of Thunder" Zeraora to defeat them...
Just to look impressive during festival dances?
The trainer's Tyranitar, Greninja, and Zeraora were quite remarkable.
So, was this temple still necessary?
Um...
How about quickly tearing it down and building a new shrine to worship instead?