BOOM!
Blinding bolts of electricity crawled over Drapion's entire body, blackening its already-charred armor even further.
Crackling arcs danced madly across its shell, and the purple poisonous glow wrapped around its pincers was completely shattered by the thunderous impact!
"It got paralyzed in one hit?!"
Even though the lightning lit up his face, Reggie still felt like his luck had gone pitch-black…
"Don't hold back. Take it out in one shot."
Grey gave the order.
"Jiji!"
The moment Zapdos spread its wings, countless currents surged outward, spilling through the air like tens of thousands of writhing thunder-serpents before all crashing down onto Drapion's body, leaving it swaying unsteadily.
At last, Drapion collapsed under the strain.
The earlier moves had simply hit too hard. Add on that Thunderbolt and the Discharge from just now—there might not have been many hits, but the actual damage was far greater than it looked.
[Why do I feel like this Drapion's performance isn't even as good as that Gastrodon from before…?]
[Drapion: If you've got the guts, try eating a round of Thunderbolt, Discharge, and Thunder, then take close-range hits from the first two on top of that. If you don't go down, I'll call it my loss.]
[This is the kind of power Zapdos should have! Hahaha, Master Grey, I can't wait to come challenge the Fighting Dojo myself!]
[Lt. Surge, how many accounts do you even have? Your first two got muted and you're still talking?]
[But seriously, watching a legendary stomp normal mons is just so satisfying. It's the same few moves, but when Zapdos uses them, you just can't look away.]
[For real. If this were Magneton doing the same thing I'd probably change channels.]
[Hello, this is the Magneton fandom thread—excuse me, are you perhaps Mr. XXX whose IP just traced back to Pewter City in Kanto?]
[Holy crap, busted!]
Zapdos's performance had the viewers completely hooked.
There were a few little flaws here and there, but the sheer spectacle of a legendary fighting all-out neatly covered them up.
Chat was practically unanimous in suggesting that Grey send Zapdos out more often for future Gym challenges.
Grey, of course, didn't see any of that.
As for how often Zapdos would actually appear in later Gym matches—that would depend on the situation.
If he ran into the right kind of opponent, Grey would naturally let Zapdos take the stage.
"Drapion, return. You did your best in this battle too…"
Reggie pulled out the Poké Ball and recalled his fallen Drapion without another word.
Against an opponent like Zapdos, this was already a solid showing.
At the very least, it had landed quite a few moves.
With Drapion off the field, the two Poké Balls beneath Reggie's portrait on the wall display went dark.
Only the last remaining Poké Ball icon still gleamed with a "?".
What kind of Pokémon would Reggie choose as his final trump card?
Everyone was dying to know.
"Jiji…" (Hurry up and send out the last one already. This feeling of not being able to go all out is so uncomfortable…)
Zapdos finally stopped flapping its wings, planting its talons on the floor instead as its sharp gaze swept over Reggie—muttering to itself the whole time.
Right now, all it wanted was to properly beat down the last opponent and then happily retreat into its Poké Ball to recover.
"Haa…"
Reggie let out a long breath and reached for the first Poké Ball on his belt.
The one you kept in that spot usually had some special significance.
Grey, for example, liked to keep Annihilape's Poké Ball in the first slot.
"Staraptor, I'm counting on you to finish this!"
Reggie grabbed the ball and hurled it out onto the field.
Midair, red light burst forth.
"Skraa!"
With a clear, cutting cry, a massive brown-gray raptor tore through the air.
The bright red crest on its head whipped in the wind, and its hawk-like eyes swept the arena like knife blades, radiating the presence of a true ace.
[Pokémon: Staraptor]
[Type: Flying / Normal]
[Level: 58]
[Ability: Reckless]
[Moves: …]
Staraptor was Reggie's current ace in his lineup.
At level 58, its strength was very close to Zapdos's.
The only awkward part was its typing—going up against an Electric-type like Zapdos, it looked a little outmatched on paper.
Still, thanks to the lingering effect of Parting Shot, Zapdos's offensive power had been cut down; if you "rounded" things a bit, the gap between them wasn't as huge as it would've been normally.
"Star!"
Seeing Zapdos standing on the ground, Staraptor didn't shrink back at all. Instead, it let out a fierce shout, trying to overwhelm Zapdos with sheer presence from the get-go.
"Jiji!" (What is this, some bargain-salon emo eagle? Copying humans with those dyed highlights—do you really think that tuft on your head makes you look cool?)
Zapdos's stream of trash talk came rattling out like a machine gun.
"…"
The corner of Staraptor's beak twitched. The instant it processed what Zapdos had just said, the muscles along its forehead tightened, and a vein of anger almost popped into view.
"Staraptor, your opponent is Zapdos—an Electric-type. Stick to the tactics we use against Electric Pokémon. Don't let it get under your skin."
Reggie didn't know exactly what had happened, but he had no intention of letting anything go wrong at this critical moment.
One sharp reminder later, Staraptor snapped back to focus.
"Star!"
It spread its broad wings wide, assuming the pose of a great hawk taking flight as it faced off against Zapdos high in the air.
"Double Team!"
The moment Reggie gave the order, dozens of Staraptor afterimages bloomed across the sky.
Every clone folded its wings and dived like a storm of arrows, all hurtling straight toward the Zapdos below!
The sheer number of them made it almost impossible to track any single one.
Zapdos's gaze swept over them, but it couldn't pick out which was the real body.
But if it couldn't find it…
Then it would just wipe them all out at once!
"Discharge!"
Grey's thinking aligned perfectly with Zapdos's; their brainwaves synced, and almost the instant the command left his lips, Zapdos moved to execute it!
"Jiji!"
Zapdos brought its wings together, countless arcs of electricity gathering between its feathers.
With a single powerful beat, the storm of lightning it had charged exploded outward, sweeping across the arena and scorching the ground black.
Swish, swish, swish!
Every diving clone was swallowed by the thunderstorm, the Double Team illusions shattering one after another into whisps of smoke.
But the real Staraptor had vanished without a trace—there was no sign of it anywhere!
"Jiji?" (Weird… where'd it go?)
Zapdos frowned.
This kind of sudden disappearance almost always meant the opponent was setting up something nasty.
And those kinds of tricks were usually hard to guard against—you had to tread carefully.
Still…
With Grey around, nothing should go too wrong, right?
Lately, Zapdos hadn't really been in the mood to think for itself.
Having a Trainer was just too convenient.
Letting someone else serve as your "external brain" and do all the heavy thinking for you… felt so ridiculously comfy.
Swoosh!
Just as Zapdos relaxed a little, a streak of white light screamed toward it, tearing through the air!
"Use Ancient Power."
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