The noise around the battle arena surged to a peak.
"Look! It's Juichi! He's got a match!"
"Who's his opponent? Looks totally unfamiliar. A rookie?"
"Juichi's ace Pidgeot is elite-tier at the brink of master level. A newbie who dares challenge him in a Flying-type match is basically signing his own death warrant."
Shrill commentary rose and fell in waves, loud enough to almost blow the roof off the club.
As one of this top club's star figures, Juichi could ignite the crowd's passion with any battle he fought. Now, dozens of gazes were locked onto the stage—curious, mocking, expectant—all woven into an invisible net over the field.
Two figures stood facing each other on the mirror-bright floor of the platform.
"Kid, you still have time to regret this."
Juichi crossed his arms, chin tilted up slightly, eyeing Shiba from the corner of his eye.
"Kneel down and apologize, and I might consider letting you off the hook."
The arrogance in his voice was almost tangible, every word dripping with the smugness of a man dispensing charity.
Shiba's expression didn't change at all.
Wasting words on this kind of trash was pointless.
He answered in the most direct way possible. His wrist turned, and a red-and-white Poké Ball appeared in his palm.
Juichi's lips twisted into a cruel smile.
"Come out, Pidgeot!"
He snapped his arm up and hurled his Poké Ball into the air, shouting at the top of his lungs.
A burst of red light—and a magnificent giant bird broke through the glow. Its wings were enormous, each feather gleaming with a metallic sheen. Its sharp eyes swept the arena, and the pressure of an elite-tier Pidgeot at the peak of its level rolled out in a suffocating wave.
Pidgeot beat its wings once. The gust alone made the front-row spectators squint against the wind.
"Your turn, Aerodactyl."
Shiba's voice was calm as ever. He tossed his Poké Ball with an almost lazy, effortless motion.
The ball traced a straight arc through the air.
Red light flashed.
A savage, ancient monster took the place of that glow, descending before everyone's eyes.
It had no feathers—only rock-hard gray skin and membranous wings. A jagged maw, claws that glittered with a razor sheen, and a pair of blood-red eyes devoid of emotion, holding only the most primal hunger to hunt—its very presence tightened every throat at once.
A violent aura from prehistoric times crashed over the arena.
"That's… Aerodactyl?!"
"A revived Fossil Pokémon? That's insanely rare!"
After a heartbeat of stunned silence, the stands exploded with even louder exclamations than before.
But once the shock faded, most of those looks turned skeptical.
The energy radiating from Aerodactyl didn't feel that strong yet; its aura was unstable, its presence clearly still raw from awakening. Its level couldn't be very high.
"Flashy gimmicks."
Juichi's brief astonishment was quickly smothered by thick disdain.
He curled his lip and fired off the first command.
"Pidgeot, let's show them! Use Hurricane!"
"Piiidgeeeot!"
Pidgeot let out a shrill, sky-splitting cry and smashed its wings down.
The air was ripped away. A visible tornado roared into existence, spinning wildly as it shrieked forward, tearing at the air as it surged toward that seemingly fragile ancient Pokémon on the other side!
The onslaught was brutal enough to shred steel.
Shiba's lips barely moved.
"Dodge."
The order couldn't have been simpler.
Before the word fully left his mouth, Aerodactyl's rock-formed wings snapped once—and in that instant, its entire body blurred into a gray afterimage and vanished from its starting point.
No visible flight path, no buildup of speed—it was simply gone.
Riiip—!
The raging Hurricane barely clipped the trailing edge of its afterimage, slamming full-force into the alloy wall behind.
A deafening boom shook the entire stage.
"So fast!"
Juichi's pupils tightened to pinpricks.
His eyes swept frantically around the arena, but he couldn't catch so much as a shadow.
"Above!"
From the stands, a terrified shout sliced through the noise.
Everyone's heads snapped up.
A massive shadow had appeared above Pidgeot at some point, blanketing it.
Aerodactyl was hovering high in the air, silent and still. In its fierce crimson eyes, a predatory chill flared as it locked onto its prey.
A fear rooted in the very hierarchy of life crushed down, and the proud sharpness in Pidgeot's gaze shattered instantly.
"Not good!"
Juichi felt as if a giant invisible hand had clenched around his heart. Sirens screamed in his head.
"Pidgeot, Quick Attack! Get some distance!" he shouted hoarsely.
But it was already far too late.
"Ancient Power."
Shiba's cold voice rang out like a death knell for this match.
"SKREEEEH—!"
Aerodactyl let loose a rasping roar no modern creature should have been capable of. Its jagged jaws yawned open, and a boulder of swirling, ancient energy condensed in its throat, radiating a chaotic primeval light.
That oppressive force pierced straight through time and slammed into Pidgeot's bloodline.
The wings it had just begun to beat froze solid. Its body turned heavy as lead, completely unable to move.
A meteor—fell from the sky.
BOOM!
Ancient Power struck Pidgeot's back dead on.
A terrifying force exploded outward. Pidgeot shrieked in agony as its very bones seemed to shatter under the blow. Its large body was blasted straight out of the air and driven toward the ground like a fallen stone.
Like a puppet with all its strings severed, it crashed into the hard arena floor with a resounding thud.
"We're not done yet."
Shiba's voice sounded again, utterly emotionless.
"Rock Slide."
Aerodactyl spread its wings in midair. The space around it warped as countless massive rocks, each glowing with a dull earthen light, materialized from nothing.
Every one of them carried crushing weight.
Without giving the slightest chance to resist, they came raining down on Pidgeot, which had only just twitched, trying to rise.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The drumbeat of impacts was so dense it made teeth ache.
Dust billowed skyward as shards of stone blasted outward in all directions.
When the final rock landed and the cloud of debris gradually faded—
The arena fell into absolute silence.
Everyone stared, eyes wide, throats dry, completely speechless at the sight before them.
The scattered rocks had formed a small grave.
Pidgeot lay in the rubble, its body covered in blood, feathers twisted and wedged between the stones. Its eyes had rolled back; it had long since lost any ability to fight.
From start to finish, barely over ten seconds had passed.
This wasn't a battle.
This was a one-sided annihilation.
Juichi stood there, petrified, his body rigid, his mind blank. He stared at Aerodactyl as it glided down, wings spreading wide, an aura of ancient dominance rolling off its body—then, almost against his will, his gaze rose to the stands, where Yuko's eyes were icy cold beyond belief.
A scorching wave of shame exploded across his face, making his head spin. He wanted nothing more than to find a hole and disappear.
(End of Chapter)
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