"Zapdos, Hurricane!"
The next command that burst from Grey's mouth was none other than the Flying-type move Hurricane!
"Jiji!" (Besides ruling over thunder, whipping up a raging gale is no more than a flap of my wings!)
Zapdos threw back its head and let out a piercing cry. With each powerful beat of its wings, a savage air current roared to life.
High above the dojo, in the heart of the raging sandstorm, its Hurricane actually resonated with the swirling clouds of sand!
Whoooom—BOOM!
The howling wind scooped up the sand and grit, fusing them into a brown-yellow sand tornado.
Every grain of sand, sped up by Hurricane, became a lethal projectile, surging down in a crushing wave toward the falling Gastrodon!
Already a fearsome move, Hurricane now had the sandstorm backing it up, its power multiplied many times over!
"Hurricane again…"
Beneath the veil of yellow sand, Reggie raised his arm to shield his face, staring through his fingers at the storm raging in the sky.
This was already his second time going up against this move…
Earlier, he had used that same Hurricane to help create the sandstorm.
But he never expected Zapdos to turn the tables now—using the sandstorm itself, folding the swirling grit into its Hurricane.
The very sandstorm he'd used as a weapon… had now become the perfect amplifier for his opponent's attack!
Shhhh-shhhh—
The teeth-grinding sound of sand scraping against surfaces rang out. Reggie's coat flapped wildly in the wind, the deep seriousness in his eyes laid bare for everyone to see.
His fighting spirit had indeed recovered a little, but after his mindset had collapsed earlier, he still couldn't quite find that initial feeling again.
Where had that confidence that belonged to him alone actually gone…?
"Nyo-nyo!"
Gastrodon twisted its neck and turned its head back. It blinked once at Reggie, giving him a soft, lopsided smile.
As if to say: No matter what, I'll follow your orders.
"Gastrodon, you…"
After being together for so long, Reggie naturally understood what Gastrodon was thinking.
He'd always been too strict. Yet even so, Gastrodon was still willing to trust him at a moment like this…
"Nyo-nyo~" (Give the order. We promised we'd get stronger together… didn't we?)
Seeing Reggie still silent, Gastrodon's soft body squirmed uneasily.
After those words, it suddenly threw its head back, its round eyes locking firmly onto the all-consuming Hurricane that was about to crash into it!
"Ha ha ha ha!"
Reggie suddenly burst out laughing, and whether it was from the wind or the moment, a few tears slipped from the corners of his eyes.
He lifted his head, standing shoulder to shoulder with his partner as they both faced the oncoming storm.
"If you trust me that much, then as your Trainer I need to give you an answer worthy of that trust!"
His tone was completely different from before. Glaring straight at the incoming Hurricane, he roared:
"Then—use Muddy Water!"
[Wait, Muddy Water? What the heck?]
[Isn't Stone Edge the more reasonable choice here?]
[Exactly, Zapdos's Hurricane is insanely strong, and now it's fused with the sandstorm. Is using Muddy Water really okay right now?]
[Yeah, I don't get it. With Gastrodon's Ability being Sand Force, he still chose a move like Muddy Water?]
[I've got a feeling this guy's hiding something big…]
Question marks filled the chat; most people simply couldn't understand why Reggie would give that order.
"Nyo-nyo!" (Got it!)
But Gastrodon, as Reggie's trusted partner, knew exactly what its Trainer was thinking the moment he spoke.
Its soft body tensed as tight as it could go, and the ground beneath it suddenly erupted into a surging torrent of filthy water.
Centering on Gastrodon, the murky flood surged straight up into a towering column, ramming head-on into the descending storm of wind and sand!
Right now, the immense water curtain created by Muddy Water stood in sharp contrast to Zapdos's deliberately narrowed Hurricane.
In the thunderous crash of colliding forces, a large amount of filthy water still managed to punch through, racing upward toward the golden giant bird in the sky!
"Dive into it!"
The moment the command left Reggie's lips, Gastrodon had already begun spiraling upward along the column of Muddy Water.
Shrouded simultaneously by the sandstorm and the rushing flood, its blue-green body flickered in and out of view, as if melting into the murky water itself—impossible to pin down.
[Huh? What's Gastrodon trying to do?]
[Muddy Water doesn't hit that hard, right? Is it planning to get up there and sneak in some cheap shot at close range?]
[Could be, but any damage it does is just going to get wiped out by Zapdos's moves again, isn't it?]
[Yeah, I really don't get what he's aiming for here.]
The chat was full of competing theories, but not one of them matched Reggie's wavelength.
All they could do was quietly wait to see what kind of command he would give next.
"Zapdos, stop using Hurricane."
Grey also chose to halt the pointless exchange, letting Zapdos prepare itself for the next clash of moves.
"Jiji." (Got it.)
Zapdos slowed the rhythm of its wingbeats, staring down at the rapidly approaching column of Muddy Water. Lightning flickered between its feathers, as if it were brewing something new.
Its Electric-type moves wouldn't work on Gastrodon directly, but they could still disrupt whatever other move Gastrodon tried to use.
Besides, it was an Electric-type Pokémon—it was only natural to keep the current running.
The remnants of Hurricane still rampaged across the field, tearing huge gaps in the once-dense sandstorm. Only scattered grains of sand still floated here and there.
As the view cleared, the blurred silhouette inside the Muddy Water became clearer and clearer.
Riding the surge of the water, Gastrodon was accelerating upward, its shifting outline now faintly visible through the murk!
"Ancient Power!"
Reggie's next order was a familiar one.
Except this time, he was having Gastrodon use it while fully enveloped in the Muddy Water.
[Weird, didn't we already establish that Ancient Power doesn't really work?]
[Exactly, Gastrodon's Ancient Power got totally shattered by Zapdos earlier. Is this guy really doing the same thing a second time?]
[I… have no idea what to say anymore.]
Even the spectators in the dojo thought Reggie was throwing in the towel.
There's a saying in battles: once a tactic appears a second time, it usually stops working.
That rule applied just as much to Pokémon battles.
Unless your whole team had been steamrolled the first time, repeating the same tactic again only made it easier for your opponent to find its weak point and tear it apart.
And right now, Gastrodon's situation was exactly the same as at the very start of the fight.
It had even followed the same sequence of moves!
"Nyo-nyo!"
Outside the pillar of Muddy Water, countless chunks of ancient rock appeared out of nowhere, and as Gastrodon's neck swayed, they began to spin at high speed.
At the moment it suddenly jerked its head up, those massive stones poured upward like a meteor shower, all crashing down toward Zapdos!
"Zapdos, Air Slash!"
Grey's thinking was simple. With that many rocks raining in, Hurricane alone wouldn't be enough to stop them all.
Better to use an equally dense barrage of Air Slashes to cut them apart, then rely on Zapdos's agility to dodge what remained.
On top of that, they might even have a chance to nick Gastrodon hiding inside the Muddy Water!
Zapdos folded its wings in close, then flared them open again. Blades of slicing wind blasted out from between its feathers!
Swish, swish, swish!
The sound of cutting air rang out as every boulder in their path was split cleanly in two.
Even the Muddy Water itself wasn't spared; the towering column was shredded apart, and Gastrodon was suddenly exposed in midair.
It twisted its neck, and that gray-brown aura once again flared around it.
Some of the partially cut stones still remained under its control, and taking advantage of the gap after the Air Slashes passed, they smashed directly into Zapdos!
Zapdos's body lurched, its flight pattern briefly thrown off.
Watching that, a small smile tugged at the edge of Reggie's mouth.
"A little parting gift."
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