"Now—Mach Punch!"
Grey's shout cracked through the air.
"Breloom!" (Hah! If you skipped dinner, then fill up on my fist instead!)
Breloom shot in from the side like a white blur, its speed spiking to the absolute limit in an instant. The air itself seemed to split in two as its fist carved a pale streak everywhere it passed!
This punch packed some serious power.
In Ariana's eyes, it was already far stronger than that flashy-yet-useless Zapdos from just now.
So Grey hadn't even been using his main lineup from the start?!
"Damn it… Vileplume, use Moonblast!"
Ariana hurriedly pulled out a Poké Ball and hurled it forward.
"Vile～"
Her petite Vileplume appeared, the magenta petals atop its head bursting with a wash of pink light. Fairy energy flooded in, and that rosy glow surged outward in a sweeping wave!
The scattered pink radiance was so bright that Grey had to raise an arm in front of his eyes to keep Moonblast from blinding him.
"Breloom!"
Breloom charged straight in, its heavy punch cutting a brilliant arc through the air as it slammed into the fan-shaped Moonblast head-on!
Boom!!!
The shockwave rolled out in all directions, shaking both trainers hard enough that they almost lost their footing.
As for the Rocket grunts from earlier, they were already sprawled all over the floor, knocked out by the aftershocks of just these two moves.
"Your Breloom's moves… they're Elite Four–level too?!"
Ariana frowned. According to Team Rocket's internal reports, almost every Pokémon under Grey's command had been stolen from Rocket.
Including Zapdos and Articuno—if they hadn't traced the location and chased him down, Grey would never have gotten the chance to capture those two Legendary bird Pokémon.
Even that little Riolu always tagging along at his side seemed to be the one that ran all the way from Mt. Moon to the outskirts of Cerulean City back then.
"Wait, so the only ones under Grey that aren't stolen from Team Rocket are those three Hitmons?!"
She honestly couldn't think of a single Pokémon on Grey's team that wasn't related to Team Rocket somehow. And the moment she pictured just how many monsters on his squad had once belonged to them, Ariana felt her blood pressure spike. She nearly coughed up blood on the spot.
What was this supposed to be?
Strategically arming the enemy?!
"Miss Ariana, you know if a woman gets angry too often, menopause hits a lot sooner, right～? Or are you already at that age?"
Every word from Grey hit right where it hurt.
"You—Grey!! I hope you die a horrible death!!!"
The instant her age got dragged into it, Ariana's reason evaporated in a blast of rage.
"Arbok!"
She lifted her gaze and jabbed a finger forward. "Kill him!"
"All this 'kill, kill, kill' all the time… no wonder Team Rocket's so twisted. Clearly it's a leadership issue. Sigh, when the beam's crooked, the whole house warps. Not a decent one among you."
Grey spread his hands helplessly, then focused ahead. "Blaziken, finish it."
"Hssssss!"
That uniquely serpentine hiss rang through the air as Arbok slid forward in a wave. The tip of its tail flared with a sinister purple glow, turning into a venom-laced javelin that stabbed through the air!
"Cha-o!"
Flames roared up around Blaziken's body. Just before the poisonous tail struck, it slipped aside in a blur and casually clamped its burning talons right around Arbok's seven-inch spot!
Its flaming claws pressed down like branding irons, making Arbok's scales sizzle.
"Hss!"
The searing pain hit, and Arbok wanted to escape—but it had nowhere to go.
Pinned in Blaziken's iron grip, it could only coil its body tighter, hoping to find a chance to lash out and sink its poison fangs into that roasted bird leg.
But there was no way Blaziken would ever give Arbok what it wanted.
Wham! Wham! Wham!
Blaziken swung Arbok like a whip, every impact against the floor setting off a miniature earthquake.
The ground around Blaziken's feet was scorched black, and the Arbok in its hands was already shedding scales in clumps, purple-black poison splattering everywhere.
"Th-this…"
Staring at Arbok sprawled on the ground with its tongue lolling out, Ariana stumbled back a step, utterly baffled.
This level of strength was already far beyond Sabrina, who even had the type advantage over her.
Originally, she'd thought she and Sabrina were at a 60–40 split. But once Sabrina really cut loose with her psychic power, Ariana had been turned into a literal doll.
Going up against Grey now, Ariana had pegged the matchup at more like a 70–30 split in her favor at first.
After all, she was an Elite Four–class trainer, and the Fighting Dojo had never managed to outshine the Saffron Gym. That had given Ariana a built-in bias before she ever started.
But today's direct clash had shown her just how laughable her assumptions were.
Grey… was unbeatable.
"Breloom!" (Damn, Blaziken's already done over there? Then I'd better put my back into this!)
The mushroom cap atop Breloom's head burst with a pink-violet halo, psychic power rolling out in layered waves like a tangible tide as it collided again with the weakened Moonblast!
Vmmm!!!
The instant the two energies met, the whole room seemed to tremble.
The remaining Moonblast was twisted and refracted by that psychic force, shattering into countless pink motes that sprayed in all directions.
Peach-tinted dust spread through the air, Breloom's silhouette flickering in and out of view inside it.
"Is my vision gonna get blocked again?"
Ariana narrowed her eyes and reached for her belt, ready to send out a third Pokémon and go straight for a sneak attack on Grey.
But in the next moment, that plan completely fell apart.
Whoooom!
A shrill impact rang out as Vileplume's body was blasted across the room like a high-speed shell, smashing hard into the bars of an empty iron cage.
The violent crash left its body curled in on itself, the flower on its head drooping weakly like it had been snipped.
Breloom followed close behind and swept the lingering dust aside, revealing the wrecked floor beneath.
Cracks crisscrossed everywhere, making it nearly impossible to walk without stumbling.
Breloom stood there as steady as a rock, its mushroom cap still vibrating at high frequency. With each pulse, new psychic ripples burst out, driving the drifting pink dust farther and farther away.
"…"
Ariana snapped completely awake in that instant.
Her two main battlers had been knocked out by Grey's Pokémon in seconds, without even a chance to truly fight back.
A crushing sense of powerlessness washed over her.
"Breloom." (So that's it?)
"Cha-o." (So weak.)
Breloom and Blaziken closed in from either side, hemming Ariana in. Grey stood calmly in the center, giving her a brief glance before sweeping his eyes over the Pokémon in the surrounding cages.
There were a lot of cages—but not actually that many Pokémon.
Scyther, Pinsir, Heracross…
Most of them were Bug-types. Mixed in were a few rare, hard-to-catch Pokémon like Abra, Gastly, and Growlithe.
"Team Rocket really is rotten—shutting Pokémon into cramped cages and not even feeding them properly."
Taking in the state of the Pokémon inside the cages, Grey clenched his fist. He seriously wanted to walk over and plant one right in Ariana's face.
But his sense of gentlemanly decorum stopped him.
So instead…
"Forget it. Breloom, Blaziken—knock her out and bring her along."
//Check out my P@tre0n for 20 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810.