The next moves, on paper, were actually very simple.
That was what Grey thought to himself—yet he still didn't give any orders.
Right now the field was under a raging sandstorm, and Zapdos's line of sight was heavily obstructed.
If he acted rashly, it would be all too easy to hand his advantage over to the opponent.
Even though he was using a legendary Pokémon like Zapdos, Grey still treated every battle with layer upon layer of caution. He wasn't about to get complacent just because his partner had "legendary" stamped on its species.
After spending so many days together, Grey had already discovered that Pokémon like Zapdos and Articuno… were, in practice, just tougher and sturdier than most ordinary Pokémon.
To put it bluntly, they just took hits better.
So he waited—waited for a moment that truly belonged to Zapdos, the signal for a decisive counterattack.
And from the look of things, Reggie was starting to get a little impatient, ready to gamble everything on one big push!
"Gastrodon!"
Staring up at Zapdos's hazy silhouette flickering in and out of the sandstorm, Reggie raised his arm high. The fist he'd clenched slowly opened, and his index finger leveled at the sky.
"Use Stone Edge!"
"Oh?"
Hearing that move call, Grey raised an eyebrow, but didn't have Zapdos counterattack right away.
Stone Edge—one of those Rock-type moves that can be used in several different ways.
Some Fighting-type Pokémon, when they use it, prefer to have jagged rocks erupt straight out of the ground, skewering grounded foes or even low-flying targets from below.
Visually, it's a bit reminiscent of Precipice Blades, and more often than not, it's used to block or intercept enemy moves.
Of course, judging by that eruption-from-the-floor style, the speed is… a little questionable.
But against a target like Zapdos, who was settled in midair above the arena, Gastrodon naturally chose the version where the stones formed around it and shot upward instead.
"Nyo-nyo!"
Gastrodon's neck wobbled, and a dusky gray-brown glow washed over its entire body. In the blink of an eye, dozens of jagged rocks of various sizes condensed all around it!
With its Sand Force Ability, the power of this Stone Edge was much higher than normal.
A full thirty percent higher.
And a 30% power boost was no joke—the difference in impact was visible to the naked eye.
Swish, swish, swish!
The spear-like stones shot straight up, their gray-brown trails almost blending seamlessly with the whirling yellow sand as they streaked toward the sky from nasty, unpredictable angles.
"Jiji!" (Killing intent!)
Zapdos could feel something was wrong. But with its vision blocked by the sand, it had no idea which angle Stone Edge would come from.
All it could do was wait for Grey's command.
Sure enough, in a situation like this, it had to trust its Trainer.
"Zapdos, use Discharge!"
Grey's order made Zapdos's feathers quiver.
But there was no hesitation in its movements. Its wings snapped open, and the raging current wrapped around its body exploded outward in an instant, forming a massive electric grid that slammed downward!
Crackle—!
Blinding lightning collided head-on with the incoming stone projectiles.
The erupting sparks lit the sandstorm in rhythmic flashes of light and shadow. The flying shards of rock were ground apart by the current, crumbling bit by bit until they turned to dust and vanished into the swirling sand.
"The power's about equal… but it's still just a little short, huh…"
Reggie made a rough judgment of the gap between their strengths.
Boosted by Sand Force, Gastrodon's Stone Edge was anything but weak. But when it went blow-for-blow against Zapdos's Discharge, all it could manage was a dead-even clash.
That realization made Reggie's heart clench.
The whole reason he'd come today was to challenge Brandon. Because he wasn't confident in his condition, he wanted to "warm up" first against another Trainer who also owned a legendary Pokémon—Grey.
But judging from how things were going… it felt like he couldn't even clear the "Zapdos checkpoint," never mind Brandon…
Before he knew it, he was getting anxious.
He wanted to give commands—but now he found himself second-guessing every thought.
"Challenger, your mindset is crumbling a bit fast here. Where'd that initial confidence of yours go?"
Through the changes in Reggie's Aura, Grey could clearly feel how quickly the other's emotions were shifting.
He hadn't expected Reggie's resolve to crack this hard in such a short span of time.
He hadn't even lost yet, and he was already thinking about surrendering?
"What's wrong? Just because the Stone Edge you were counting on so much only managed to trade evenly with Discharge… you're ready to give up already?"
Grey couldn't help chiming in, sounding very much like someone disappointed in a promising student.
Among all the challengers he'd received so far, Reggie definitely ranked near the top. His ability was on par with Erika when she went all out with her main team.
Give him another two or three years to mature, and he might very well reach "Elite Four gatekeeper" level.
And yet in a situation like this, Reggie was actually thinking about throwing in the towel?
"I…"
Reggie's lips parted.
He wanted to say "I'm not," but the words wouldn't come—only a single syllable squeezed out of his throat.
He wanted to deny it.
But given how he was acting right now, anything he said would sound unconvincing even to himself.
[Is the challenger self-destructing mentally right now?]
[Looks like it. Judging by his face, he's probably feeling totally powerless.]
[And that sense of powerlessness doesn't seem to be because of the Dojo Master, exactly… more like he's scared of something unknown. I can't quite put it into words, but that's the vibe I'm getting.]
There were plenty of sharp-eyed viewers in chat who saw right through Reggie's state.
He'd literally battled himself into a mental corner.
"Bro…"
Paul hugged his Turtwig tighter, gazing at his older brother with a complicated expression, lost in his own thoughts.
"You're just thinking that after seeing Zapdos's true strength—despite your 'perfect' tactics—you still can't win a straight-up clash of moves with it, right?"
Grey's words stabbed directly into the core of Reggie's crumbling resolve.
Before this, Reggie had thought it perfectly normal that Drapion couldn't beat Zapdos—its options were too limited, after all.
But Gastrodon was different.
Even with Sand Force behind it, Stone Edge could only barely fight to a draw…
That was what left him feeling so embarrassed and frustrated.
"Mr. Reggie, you're simply chasing perfection too hard. Why insist on walking a road that clearly doesn't lead anywhere?"
Grey rubbed his brow, speaking with rare patience. "From the start—using Muddy Water to close the distance, then Ancient Power to force Zapdos to reveal itself, then even using the residual force of those moves to shift the weather… you did all of that very well."
"Let me put it this way: there's a Team Rocket executive named Ariana. She used an Elite Four–class Arbok in a battle—and even that Arbok's Poison Fang got completely wiped out by a single Thunderbolt from Zapdos."
"Huh?"
Grey's sudden example snapped Reggie's mind back into focus.
An Arbok with Elite Four–level power had its move outright neutralized—just like that?
And just now, Gastrodon's moves had been able to match Zapdos's moves and cancel them out. Didn't that mean Gastrodon's offensive power had already reached Elite Four tier too?
If that was true…
Maybe the result wasn't so unacceptable after all.
"Mr. Reggie—then for this next move, you'd better think very carefully before you take it."
Seeing that Reggie's mood had been pulled back up, Grey restarted the battle in earnest.
"Zapdos—Hurricane!"
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