"If it's Chandelure, I still don't think it really has an answer for Zoroark."
Grey rubbed his chin and gave his verdict.
A Champion-level Zoroark was already far stronger than an Elite Four-level Chandelure to begin with, and on top of that, Chandelure's Ghost typing was countered by Zoroark's Dark typing.
At that point, the answer was obvious.
"Night Daze!"
N's commands were as simple and brutal as ever.
"Zekrom" slammed down to the ground, and a dark ring-shaped shockwave burst out at once.
"Protect!"
From the very beginning, Shauntal's entire goal in this battle had been to last for three minutes.
A protective energy barrier unfolded in front of Chandelure, barely holding off Night Daze for about three seconds before it started to strain under the pressure.
Clearly, when the gap in power between two sides was too large, even Protect, the move that was supposed to stop almost anything, couldn't hold forever.
Fortunately, the very moment Protect vanished, Chandelure suddenly shrank and shot high into the air.
Night Daze missed on the spot.
The status move, Minimize.
This move was commonly seen on Pokémon like Drifblim, Clefable, and Blissey, and people often called it one of the most evil moves in existence.
Especially in low-level battles, where Pokémon only had access to a limited number of moves. Sure, everyone knew that moves like Body Slam could deal with it, but some Pokémon just didn't learn them.
So when trainers ran into this kind of Minimize strategy, all they could do was watch helplessly as their Pokémon got worn down and defeated.
That was why people jokingly called it "The Helpless Trainer."
"N's in a bit of trouble now. His special ability doesn't seem to include locating Pokémon. If Chandelure keeps using Minimize a few more times, it really might be able to drag this out for three minutes."
Grey didn't finish that thought. In truth, if N wanted to beat Chandelure, it would still be easy enough.
All he had to do was bring out the real Zekrom and casually carpet-bomb the area with any wide-range attack, and Chandelure would go down almost immediately.
Minimize only looked impossible to deal with. In reality, if you had the right move for it, beating it was easy.
Grey wanted to see what method N would use to bring Chandelure down.
The battle continued.
After using Minimize once, Chandelure wasn't actually that tiny. If you looked carefully, you could still spot it.
N's eyesight was perfectly normal. He narrowed his eyes slightly and quickly found a clue.
The reason was simple, Chandelure's flames were far too obvious.
Unless it used Minimize another time or two to make even the flames harder to notice, the move wasn't all that useful. At most, it could fool near-sighted trainers.
"Chandelure is on your left. Use Extrasensory there."
Since a shockwave move like Night Daze wasn't working, N decided to just lock onto it directly with Extrasensory.
"Zekrom" nodded heavily, its black scales standing on end as a colorless psychic force surged out.
Chandelure was immediately locked in place as the psychic power rushed over it and pinned it where it was.
"Chandelure, use Will-O-Wisp!"
Shauntal raised a brow. She had noticed something too, and tried to drive back the "Zekrom" in front of her with Will-O-Wisp.
Even while restrained, Chandelure could still barely manage to use a move.
The flames around its body flared brightly, and several eerie ghostly fireballs shot outward.
Will-O-Wisp.
"Zekrom" didn't care in the slightest. The moment it successfully pinned Chandelure down, it followed up with another Night Daze.
This time, the shockwave compressed into a focused beam of energy and struck Chandelure dead on.
Chandelure went down on the spot.
"Chandelure is unable to battle. Since all of Shauntal's Pokémon are unable to continue, the winner is N."
The referee announced the result.
"Night Daze... It was all black energy, sure, but from beginning to end, you never used a single Electric-type move."
Holding up the glasses that were about to slide down her nose, Shauntal gave N a light laugh.
Clearly, she had figured out who "Zekrom" really was.
Still, she had already lost the battle, so whether she knew or not didn't matter much now.
All she had really gained was a little more information about N.
It looked like N himself probably had Champion-level strength...
And even if he didn't, he was at least Elite Four level as a baseline.
Tch, dealing with Zekrom alone was already troublesome enough, and now it turned out N himself was this strong too?
Shauntal couldn't help marveling inwardly. Unova really had produced a remarkable person this time.
It was just that this remarkable person kept thinking about "liberating" Unova...
They had made contact before, but Shauntal still felt that N carried a faint but unmistakable sense of distance toward the Unova League.
That feeling probably came from Team Plasma.
"Sigh, the kid really does seem to care about Pokémon, but it's a shame he was raised by Team Plasma."
From the stands, Alder quietly watched the scene and felt a real sense of regret over N's position.
Everything about the boy was excellent, except that the organization he belonged to stood against the Unova League.
Otherwise, with a little guidance, he would absolutely have become one of the Unova League's greatest assets.
"Before worrying about that, you should think about tomorrow's battle first."
Mustard spoke in a low voice.
According to the bracket, Alder's opponent tomorrow was Grey.
And Alder's current ace was Bouffalant, which was at a complete type disadvantage.
His Volcarona hadn't been fully raised either. Even if he barely managed to take down Grey's Annihilape, Grey still had Reshiram waiting behind it.
"Sigh, one of Unova's legendary dragons got caught by the king of Team Plasma, and the other one got caught by an out-of-region trainer."
Alder felt very weird about the whole thing. Why did Unova have to be the unlucky one here?
So Unova only had three top-tier legendaries, and two of them had already been taken. Not a single one belonged to the League's own side.
An out-of-region trainer using a local legendary to fight the local Champion, no matter how you thought about it, that sounded wrong, didn't it?
If that ever got out, it would make for one hell of a scandal.
With that thought, Alder sighed and looked back toward the field.
"Hm? Why did N leave so quickly?"
He noticed that N had already walked away.
And on the other side, Grey had followed after him.
"Grey, where are you going?"
Caitlin grabbed Grey's hand and looked up at him with wide, pleading eyes.
"I'm going to check on N. Something feels off."
Grey paused for a moment. This wasn't the time for romance. Seeing N leave while holding his phone, Grey had a feeling Team Plasma had contacted him again.
So he gently reassured Caitlin, then stood up and went after N.
...
...
At Liberty Garden, along the coast.
Twilight had dyed the shoreline of Liberty Garden gold, and N's silhouette stood at the border between the waves and the sand.
The screen of the smartphone in his hand was still lit, showing a message box that had never been sent.
Zekrom had lowered its body, its tail spike burning scorch marks into the ground, while Zoroark crouched atop a reef rock, its mane shifting in the sea breeze.
Then both Pokémon turned their heads at the same time.
Grey came walking over along the retreating edge of the tide, his pant legs darkened by seawater.
His hands-in-pockets posture looked casual, but the wary expression on Victini's face where it sat on his shoulder made it clear that both sides knew this was no coincidence.
"Relax. I didn't hear a thing."
Grey waved a hand, signaling for N not to worry too much.
He had never thought much of eavesdropping on phone calls.
"It doesn't matter if I tell you. The person who just called me was my father, Ghetsis."
N turned around, the sea wind lifting his green hair.
"Grey, what would you do if you were me?"
With that, N told him everything that had just been said on the call.
...
...
A short time earlier.
After N's match ended, he received a call from Ghetsis.
Ghetsis had watched the battle from start to finish, and he was fairly satisfied with N's performance.
After exchanging a few pleasantries, Ghetsis finally got to the point.
"N, after this tournament ends, I need you to come with me to the Giant Chasm."
From the very first sentence, Ghetsis's tone was already full of frenzy.
"Three years! A full three years! I've finally found its trail! N, do you understand? If we have it, liberating the Unova region will be as easy as breathing!"
"And the other regions won't be able to stop us either!"
N frowned at once.
"Father, who exactly is this 'it' you're talking about?"
"The last member of Unova's Tao trio, Kyurem! Hahahaha!"
When he said that, Ghetsis could barely suppress his excitement. His laughter mixed with the repeated pounding of his cane against the floor.
If even Zekrom could still be held back, or worn down by sheer numbers...
Then with Kyurem's help, whether through the DNA Splicers or just Kyurem alone, Team Plasma would instantly stand in a class of its own among all the villainous organizations in every region.
At that point, aside from Kanto, where Champion-level trainers were practically everywhere and there were even two battle legends, where would any other region find the strength to stop them?
Ghetsis even felt that Team Plasma could go test itself against Leon, the unbeaten king of Galar.
That was where his confidence came from.
If they captured Kyurem, it would be almost the same as ruling over half the world.
"Father, we'll talk about it later. I have something going on right now, so this isn't a good time."
N chose to hang up.
Then he planned to explain the matter to Grey.
And that led to what had just happened.
...
...
Back in the present.
After hearing the full story, Grey fell into thought.
"Kyurem... Ghetsis wants to use you and Zekrom as bait to lure it out."
Grey understood Ghetsis's plan almost immediately.
He wanted to use Zekrom as fusion material, draw Kyurem out, and then combine them.
"Grey, what do you think I should do next?"
The person N trusted most right now was Grey.
Compared to his adoptive father Ghetsis, being around Grey simply felt much more comfortable.
"What should you do? Let me think... This isn't something I can explain clearly all at once. I'll give you an answer in a few days."
Grey rubbed his chin.
The issue with Kyurem couldn't be rushed.
Both he and N had top-tier legendaries, yes, but in terms of mechanics, they were completely suppressed by Kyurem.
The two of them fell silent.
Just then, something at Grey's waist began to shake.
Come to think of it, after a full day, Grey had switched around his lineup again.
One of the Pokémon he had brought back with him this time was Keldeo.
"My three masters... they were all trapped in ice by Kyurem because of me..."
Keldeo emerged from Grey's Poké Ball, a trace of sadness in its eyes.
Its three masters had been sealed in Kyurem's ice while trying to save it.
That was a thorn still buried deep inside Keldeo's heart.
"It's alright. Your three masters will be saved."
Grey rubbed Keldeo's head.
Still, if he tried to fight Kyurem right now, it really would be difficult.
So ideally, it was better not to provoke a direct clash with Kyurem.
He only had one ace that had just reached Champion level. He wasn't arrogant enough to think having a system meant he could beat anything.
If he couldn't win, then he couldn't win. A system wasn't some magic answer that automatically made him stronger than his opponent.
Grey wasn't stupid enough to think otherwise.
Of course, if he waited a few more months, then going to challenge Kyurem one-on-one might lead to a very different ending.
"Alright, I'm heading back too. You should get some rest as well, N. You've still got another battle tomorrow."
Oddly enough, this tournament really didn't give anyone time to breathe. One battle followed right after another, basically one match a day.
Granted, there were only sixteen participants, but every battle had been high-level.
Especially starting tomorrow, the fighting would be on a level only Champion-class Pokémon could truly interfere with.
To borrow the phrasing from some fantasy novels, below Champion, all were ants.
The gap between Elite Four and Champion was simply too large.
Though the gap between a Champion gatekeeper and a true Champion wasn't quite that huge.
Otherwise, Lance wouldn't still be getting hard-countered by Lorelei all the time.
"Alright. You should get some sleep too, Gym Leader Grey. Don't overwork yourself."
N said goodbye and watched Grey leave.
...
...
Grey didn't go straight back to the hotel.
He could sense Little Riolu's aura out over the sea on the other side.
"Grey, you came."
Mewtwo looked out over the horizon without turning around.
"Yeah. Why did you call me here?"
Grey knew Mewtwo had been waiting specifically for him.
He just didn't know what for.
The two of them were familiar enough by now.
There was no need for pointless detours.
If there was something to say, it was better to say it directly.
"If you win your battle three days from now, I'll do one thing for you."
Only then did Mewtwo turn around and meet Grey's eyes.
"Oh? You're really willing to do something for me?"
Grey was a little surprised. He hadn't expected a Pokémon as proud and untamed as Mewtwo to make a promise like that.
Pokémon: Mewtwo
Type: Psychic
Level: 80
Ability: Pressure
Moves: Psystrike, others omitted.
Mewtwo had now reached level 80. Even among Champion-level Pokémon, that put it solidly in the middle tier.
"Yes. I want to see what my strength is now. I want to know whether I can battle the great legendary Pokémon of the other regions."
Mewtwo's gaze fell on Reshiram's Poké Ball.
Even with its power somewhat restrained, Mewtwo could still tell that Reshiram at its peak definitely would not be weaker than itself.
It wanted to know just how far it still had to rise before reaching that level.
The legendary Pokémon Mewtwo measured itself against were not the three legendary birds of Kanto.
"Not bad, not bad. You've improved pretty quickly over the last half month. But if you want to beat me, you've still got a very long road ahead."
Little Riolu patted Mewtwo's leg and openly declared that it was very strong.
Mewtwo had no response to that.
Little Riolu really was strong. Even if Mewtwo went all out, it probably still wouldn't be able to defeat it.
But if Mewtwo could also master that method of temporarily breaking through its species limit, then maybe victory wouldn't be impossible.
"Well then, if that's what you want, you can give it a try."
Little Riolu was actually very supportive of Mewtwo continuing to get stronger.
The stronger it got, the faster it could grill meat.
Once Mewtwo reached...
Well, battle-legend level.
Then if it helped Little Riolu grill barbecue, Little Riolu probably wouldn't have to lift a finger.
At that thought, Little Riolu nodded to itself.
If Mewtwo needed any help, it could offer a little support.
Grey fell silent.
Every single one of Little Riolu's thoughts had poured into his head without leaving out a word.
That made Grey's expression turn increasingly strange.
Little Riolu, you really don't hide anything at all, do you?
"Hmph, what do you know? I'm just giving Mewtwo some motivation. So what if I collect a little interest later?"
Little Riolu planted its hands on its hips and sent the words straight into Grey's head again.
"You're unbelievable."
Grey raised a thumbs-up at Little Riolu.
"Hehe, not that great, just third-best in the world."
Little Riolu waved a hand and happily accepted the compliment.
"Alright, you two can go. Once you win the tournament, rest for a day, then come give me the kind of battle that really shakes the heavens."
Mewtwo teleported Grey and Little Riolu away.
It then took out a rather strange-looking phone and contacted someone.
"Colress, I'm giving you a task. Create a Mega Stone that will let Mewtwo Mega Evolve."
Mewtwo handed this difficult mission off to the dark scientist, Colress.
Given Colress's abilities, creating a Mega Stone for Mewtwo shouldn't be a problem.
Colress was baffled.
"Lord Mewtwo, I have a question. Since the Mega Stone doesn't even exist yet, how exactly am I supposed to..."
"If you have to ask me about everything, what use are you?"
Mewtwo sounded annoyed.
Colress fell silent.
What a nightmare client from hell.
He couldn't actually lose his temper, so after carefully soothing Mewtwo's mood, he quickly guaranteed that he would complete the mission.
Only then did Mewtwo let the matter drop.
...
...
In the Unova region, Victory Road, Team Plasma.
Inside the lab, Colress twitched at the corner of his mouth.
"Two kinds of Mega Evolution? How is that even supposed to be possible?!"
Colress badly wanted to complain, but all he could do was bitterly continue his research.
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