"Reggie, I want to ask you something—what do you think Pokémon battles are, exactly?"
Grey asked Reggie the question.
"Huh?"
That question made Reggie's thoughts pause, and even the confusion he felt about the future was swept away.
Pokémon battles…
Aren't they just… battles?
"Let me ask it another way. Why do we battle?"
Grey shifted his wording.
Hearing that, Reggie answered without thinking, "To get stronger."
"Then why do you want to get stronger? What's your purpose for becoming stronger? For family, friends, and the partners by your side?"
Grey kept pressing.
"…"
Reggie fell silent.
Why did he want to become stronger?
For family—or for his partners?
He turned around and looked at Paul, who was hugging his Turtwig. When their eyes met, he realized Paul had gone quiet too.
"But I…"
"But you've beaten plenty of powerful opponents. You even defeated Sabrina, the Gym Leader who made the whole Kanto region tremble. But when you fought me, you felt a deep sense of powerlessness, didn't you?"
Grey said what Reggie was about to say.
Reggie's mouth opened slightly. In the end, he nodded.
Yeah. Not just Sabrina—even Giovanni, too…
Even if Giovanni wasn't using his main team, Reggie still did beat the other man's Gym battle lineup…
But when he battled Grey—
Every tactic he came up with got sealed off.
Powerless. Just… completely powerless…
Reggie had a bitter feeling he couldn't put into words, and he couldn't even figure out what the problem was.
Strength?
No. Their strength was actually about the same.
If anything, he even had the advantage in numbers.
So it had to be his own problem…
So, in the end, he really wasn't suited to be a Trainer after all…
Round and round it went, and Reggie circled right back to blaming himself again.
Grey: "…"
Great. More self-inflicted burnout.
"Reggie, why don't you ask your Pokémon what they think of you?"
Grey tossed three Sitrus Berries over.
"Thanks."
Reggie sent out the three Pokémon that had just battled.
Then he fed them the berries.
After a while, they had the strength to stand again.
"Staraptor!" (You rotten Zapdos—next time I'm definitely fighting you three hundred rounds!)
"Drapion!" (Spiky-feather bird, you won this time. Next time we're taking it back for sure!)
Staraptor and Drapion loved throwing down. Even after losing, all they could think about was the next battle.
They were the complete opposite of Reggie.
"See? Your Pokémon really want to keep battling."
Grey smiled as he spoke softly to Reggie.
"Y-You… really want to keep battling? Even though all my tactics were completely figured out… I'm seriously such an incompetent Trainer…"
Reggie's emotions churned. Under his command, his Pokémon had been wiped out.
And in a situation like that, they still wanted to keep fighting…
"Staraptor?" (What's that got to do with anything? Wasn't that Zapdos just absurdly strong? I think we did fine. If we were a bit stronger, we'd do even better.)
"Drapion." (Yeah. That Zapdos is so sneaky, and it's ridiculously tanky—it ate my Cross Poison head-on! Is it using cheats or what?)
Staraptor and Drapion exchanged a look, and both could see the seriousness in the other's eyes.
Zapdos wasn't something they could handle.
Losing was normal.
Honestly, pushing Zapdos this far was already impressive.
Unlike their Trainer, Reggie's Pokémon specialized in one thing: not tearing themselves apart from the inside.
If they won, it meant they were strong.
If they lost, it meant the opponent was stronger—simple as that.
They knew exactly what they were capable of, so they weren't about to spiral over something like this.
It wasn't like they got one-shot, either. They could brag about this for a whole year.
"Zapdos." (Heh. Can't beat me, so you say I'm cheating? I'm one of the top Zapdos in all of Kanto, alright? Losing to me is what's normal!)
Zapdos and Drapion and Staraptor started trading trash talk.
Off to the side, Gastrodon just kept shaking its head.
"See? Your Pokémon are even setting up a rematch with my Zapdos. Reggie—one loss doesn't mean anything."
Grey tried to talk sense into him.
Then he seemed to think of something, and brought up a certain Team Rocket executive's "legendary deeds."
"Put it this way—I'm always out there catching Team Rocket, right?"
"Mm-hm."
Reggie nodded.
Even Paul, who rarely spoke, lifted his head a little, wanting to hear what Grey was going to say.
[Oh? A Team Rocket story too?]
[I wanna hear it, I wanna hear it—Streamer never tells little stories like this, so I'm listening hard today!]
[What's going on, meow? Why is there a Team Rocket story here, meow?]
[Is this person roleplaying or what? Why do they keep adding "meow" to the end of every sentence?]
[Heh heh, I'm Meowth, meow!]
[666, Meowth gained sentience, huh? Then I'm Growlithe—woof woof woof!]
[Hey, hey, listen up—Streamer's about to tell a Team Rocket story!]
Inside and outside the stream, everyone perked up their ears, wanting to hear what Grey was going to say.
"While I'm catching Team Rocket, I run into an executive named Petrel all the time. Sure, he looks like a weasel, and he's not a great person—always pulling stuff like high-explosive sneak attacks. But honestly, he has one admirable quality we can learn from."
Grey's words were firm and emphatic.
Like, if you ignored the opening disclaimers, you'd think this Team Rocket executive Petrel was a Trainer of outstanding character.
"What quality?"
Reggie was hooked.
"Persistence."
Grey said the two words plainly.
"?"
Reggie couldn't imagine how "persistence" had anything to do with a Team Rocket executive.
"I've run into Petrel three times. Every time, I successfully arrest him—but he always ends up getting rescued. Of course, that's not what I'm talking about."
Grey raised a finger and pointed at Reggie's chest.
"What I'm talking about is this: every time he faces me, even knowing he's about to get beaten down, he still charges in without hesitation. That persistence."
"Forget everything else—just that persistence alone already puts him ahead of everyone."
[Petrel: 6]
[Team Rocket: 6]
[I can't—seriously.]
[Yeah but… is that really him being persistent?]
"I understand. Thank you, Dojo Master Grey."
After hearing Grey's story about the Team Rocket executive, Reggie recalled his Pokémon, then bowed deeply to him.
The key to getting anything done was persistence.
He'd drink this bowl of chicken soup dry!
"No problem. Just don't forget to leave me a five-star review later."
Grey smiled as he watched Reggie and Paul leave.
Clap, clap, clap…
And just then, scattered applause came from the entrance.
Grey raised an eyebrow when he saw who it was.
Reggie faced the newcomer, and after making out the man's features, his tone changed slightly.
"Giovanni? Long time no see."
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