At this moment—
Although the battle wasn't officially over yet, Hikaru already knew deep down that he had lost.
As expected.
Machamp hurled Steelix into the air, then followed up with a clean Brick Break, slamming the iron serpent harshly into the ground.
A single strike—an instant knockout. Steelix hadn't even had the chance to resist.
The gap in strength was far too great…
"Steelix is down! With all of Hikaru's Pokémon unable to continue, Yozora wins the match and advances to the fifth round of the preliminaries!" the announcer shouted.
"Awesome! That was way too awesome!"
"Machamp is invincible!"
"Damn, Yozora's just a rookie, but he's unfathomably strong…"
"Yeah, yeah, he's guaranteed to make it into the main tournament!"
The crowd roared with excitement.
Marching through the Indigo League with one clean victory after another—and doing so with ease—Yozora was quickly gaining a swelling tide of supporters. Fans of both genders, of all ages—he won them all over.
"Too strong… I never thought I'd lose to a rookie…" On the other side, Hikaru recalled his fallen Steelix with a sigh and walked off the field.
A year's worth of effort, wasted. All he could do was work even harder for next year.
Around noon the following day, a black-haired young man in his twenties arrived at the Indigo League exhibition hall, riding on a Pidgeot.
This man was none other than Ahao, senior disciple under Master Tyron, and Yozora's senior brother.
Before long, Yozora and Ash's group met up with him.
"Senior Brother Ahao, I really owe you one." Yozora hurriedly thanked him as he accepted a flawless Moon Stone from Ahao's hand.
At the same time, Yozora introduced Ash and the others.
Meanwhile, hidden in the shadows, Team Rocket's trio were itching to make their move.
"See that, James, Meowth? That's a flawless Moon Stone!" Jessie's greedy eyes flickered between the flawless Moon Stone in Yozora's hand and the innocent Dratini perched on his shoulder.
The three of them were stuck working odd jobs here, barely scraping together two or three thousand a day. Nowhere near enough to ever clear their mountain of debts.
But if they managed to snatch Dratini—and that flawless Moon Stone—then flip them for cash… their fortunes would change overnight.
"Meowth sees it too!" Meowth chimed in eagerly.
Only James still looked uneasy. He stammered nervously, "H-Hey, are you two really going through with this? That guy isn't like the usual twerps—he's strong. Really strong!"
Lately James had been secretly watching Yozora's matches. His conclusion? Yozora was the kind of trainer you did not want to mess with.
"Humph! What are you afraid of? Didn't we finish building our super robot already?" Jessie snapped, glaring.
"Coward! Time for a wake-up call!"
Meowth leapt up and raked James across the face with a flurry of Fury Swipes.
Tears welled up in James's eyes as he gave in to their plan, following them into action.
"Go, Nidorino!"
At that moment, Yozora released Nidorino and prepared to use the flawless Moon Stone on it. But suddenly—three mechanical arms shot out from nowhere, seizing Pikachu, Dratini, and Nidorino in one swift motion.
The arms retracted instantly.
"What—what's going on?!" Ahao exclaimed in shock.
Everyone looked toward the source and saw a massive robot, five meters tall, striding toward them.
"What's going on, you ask? Since you sincerely want to know—"
"—we'll graciously tell you!"
"Prepare for trouble..."
"...and make it double!"
"To protect the world from devastation…"
"To unite all peoples within our nation!"
"To denounce the evils of truth and love…"
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
"Jessie!"
"James!"
"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light…"
"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"
"Meowth, that's right!"
With their iconic motto, the trio made their flashy entrance—only to retreat immediately into the safety of their robot. Against foes this strong, only the steel shell gave them any sense of security.
"Team Rocket! You never learn!"
Ash roared in fury. "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"
Pikachu unleashed a burst of electricity—but it fizzled harmlessly against the robot's insulated shell. Team Rocket burst into triumphant laughter.
Yozora sweatdropped.
Honestly… who's the one that never learns here?
"Listen up, brats. Pikachu isn't the main prize today. What we really want is Dratini and that flawless Moon Stone."
Jessie smirked, then pointed at Yozora. "And you—rookie brat! Hand over the Moon Stone! Oh, and while you're at it, give us that Golden Magikarp and the golden Graveler too! Hand them all over!"
"No problem… if you can beat this." Yozora's grin turned sharp. "Go, Aegislash—use Sacred Sword!"
Shing!
With a single sweep of its blade, Aegislash unleashed a green arc of sword energy, slicing clean through the robot's mechanical arms.
Pikachu, Dratini, and Nidorino tumbled free.
"Nidorino!" Yozora shouted, hurling the Moon Stone toward his partner.
Nidorino leapt into the air, touching the stone.
A brilliant light burst forth—
When it faded, a towering Nidoking stood proudly, landing heavily on the ground.
"This… this isn't good…" Jessie and Meowth broke into cold sweat, staring at Nidoking's terrifying visage.
"I told you we shouldn't mess with him…" James whimpered, close to tears.
"Nidoking, use Hyper Beam! Aegislash, Sacred Sword! Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"
The three mighty attacks struck the robot at once, detonating it in a colossal explosion.
Team Rocket's trio was sent flying into the sky.
"Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!"
With their classic farewell line, Jessie, James, Meowthvanished into three sparkling stars across the horizon.
Pokémon: Nidoking
Type: Poison + Ground
Ability: Poison Point + Poison Point + Poison Point + Poison Point
Tier: Lord-tier (Mid)
Potential: Tier 3 Legendary
Moves: Take Down, Poison Sting, Fury Attack, Focus Energy, Poison Point, Earthquake, Hyper Beam
Description:An exceptionally gifted Nidoking, leader among its kind. Its venom is overwhelmingly potent, far exceeding even its own level of power.
After evolving, Nidoking had grown larger, now standing upright with a humanoid posture.
Its body remained a dark purple like Nidorino's, but deeper in hue, its toxins more lethal.
A thick, armored chestplate protected its torso, while its back bristled with a row of venomous spines.
A single strike from those spikes would leave any foe poisoned—if not outright badly poisoned.
(End of Chapter)
TL: Hey everyone, i'm thinking of continuing the novel of One Piece: Trainers on the Straw Hat Pirates that CosmicKaminari was doing but he dropped. if you would like to see it post a comment.