"Genesect, fly upward while using Lock-On."
Grey did not dare let Zoroark get into close combat with it. Genesect did not have much stamina left, and if Zoroark landed even one more hit, it really would go down.
The earlier Flame Charge melee attack had only been for acceleration. Now that it had already built up speed, there was no need to stay in close quarters.
Genesect's Speed and Special Attack had both been raised, so it just needed to kite and wear Zoroark down.
"Zoroark, don't let Genesect get away. Use Burning Jealousy!"
Watching the dark silhouette in the smoke, N pointed Zoroark toward its target.
"Zoro!" (Got it!)
Zoroark's mane whipped wildly as flames of jealousy twisted into snake-like trails that shot through the smoke.
Genesect's silver compound eyes flickered rapidly, letting out a series of urgent beeps.
Three red points landed with perfect precision on Zoroark's forehead, throat, and chest, before finally converging into a blinding lock marker over its head.
Lock-On succeeded!
At the same time, Zoroark's Burning Jealousy was about to reach Genesect.
If it landed, Genesect going down would be inevitable.
Everyone outside the field held their breath, but when their eyes shifted to Grey, they saw the corner of his lips curl upward.
Whenever Grey looked like that, it meant he was certain of victory.
What was Grey thinking? Or did Genesect still have another move to use?
No one really knew what Genesect could learn, so they had no idea what Grey's command was supposed to accomplish.
Then, just as the dark fire-serpent was about to make contact, Genesect suddenly slid sideways in a way that seemed to defy physics, letting the searing flames scrape harmlessly across its armor.
Zoroark, already locked on, had no time to react before Genesect's cannon finished charging, the muzzle flashing with blinding energy.
Boom!
With a roar that shook the arena, Genesect's cannon fired off a terrifying beam.
Techno Blast burst forth, instantly piercing through the twisting flames of Burning Jealousy and tearing a clean path of pure energy straight through the dark blaze!
Reflected in Zoroark's widened pupils was the rapidly approaching Techno Blast.
Boom!!!
The perfectly accurate hit exploded in a pillar of fire, and thanks to Lock-On, the attack landed dead center without the slightest deviation.
The shockwave scattered the remaining dark flames in the area, revealing Zoroark's body being blasted backward.
Zoroark's body slammed hard into the ground, but at the instant it fell, a faint curve appeared at the corner of its mouth.
Several clusters of dark embers that had been deliberately hidden in the mane behind its head suddenly sprang out!
Those leftover flames of Burning Jealousy curved like boomerangs, tracing vicious angles through the air. Just as Genesect was about to fire off another move to cancel them out, they smashed hard into its steel armor!
Boom!
In the light of the explosion, Genesect dropped to one knee.
Its eyes dimmed.
"Genesect and Zoroark are both unable to battle! Both Trainers, please send out your next Pokémon!"
The referee raised his flag, and the Poké Ball icons beneath both Trainers' portraits dimmed as well.
Grey lost one. N lost two.
"Vini!" (This is bad, Grey! You actually lost a Pokémon! Can you still win this battle? N's next Pokémon is Zekrom! Are you going to win? Are you going to win?!)
Victini chattered nervously in Grey's ear, terrified he might really lose this match.
"Hey, hey, why don't you ever say anything good? You're always talking like this. If you keep going, I really am going to lose."
Grey rubbed Victini's little head. The moment he locked eyes with N, both of them ended up smiling.
"Grey, for our next Pokémon, let's use those two dragons."
N extended the invitation.
"Hmm... let me think. The battle situation really isn't looking too favorable for me."
Grey could still sense the hidden Stealth Rock floating around the field.
If Reshiram came in, it would not do much damage, but it would still have some effect.
Under those circumstances, going head-to-head with Zekrom did not seem to offer any real advantage.
"Forget it. Since we're already here, we'll make the best of it. Stealth Rock only hits once anyway, so if I let you have that much, it doesn't matter."
Grey took out his Cherish Ball.
The moment that Poké Ball appeared, the entire livestream erupted in cheers.
[White Dragon! White Dragon! White Dragon! Our beloved White Dragon Reshiram is finally coming out!]
[Everyone stand up and welcome the Dragon King's return! Black Dragon versus White Dragon, which one is stronger?!]
[Reshiram, go crush him! Defeat N's Zekrom!]
[...]
[He said: "I never expected Grey to grow this strong in just two months. I'm really looking forward to battling you. If possible, let's set it at Mt. Silver."]
The clash between two first-tier Legendaries drew a huge audience.
But because this tournament was so obscure, the people who came were mostly just the Champions and familiar faces who already knew Grey.
Steven, Cynthia, Red, Blue, the Kanto Elite Four...
It honestly did not feel that different from one of Grey's usual streams.
Grey's Cherish Ball cut across the sky, but when it opened, it was empty. Reshiram did not emerge from it.
At the same time, N's Poké Ball also fell uselessly to the ground, but the sky suddenly darkened as heavy thunderclouds pressed down like a curtain.
The battlefield split neatly in two.
Above N's head, azure lightning churned through the clouds, each bolt stabbing through the heavens like a blade.
Around Grey, towering blue flames rose up, pure fire twisting into spirals and dyeing half the sky in a pale blue glow.
The two completely different Legendary powers formed a stark dividing line at the center of the battlefield, and the air itself buzzed under the strain of their collision.
Whoooosh.
The wind roared.
At opposite ends of the field, the Legendary dragons descended at the same time.
Before Grey, Reshiram spread its snow-white wings, the turbine on its tail blazing with a fierce red light.
It raised its long neck proudly, blue eyes burning with intense fire, like a lone king surveying the battlefield from above.
On the other side, Zekrom crashed down amid overwhelming thunder.
Blue electricity leaped across its black dragon scales, its steel-like wings fully spread, while the thunder engine in its tail roared with trembling force. Its crimson eyes shone with a savage hunger for battle.
The two giant dragons faced each other across the field, blue fire and lightning crashing violently together at the center.
The fated duel between ideals and truth had officially begun!
"It's here! The moment everyone has been waiting for has finally appeared in the finals of the Strongest Trainer Tournament! Reshiram versus Zekrom! A battle between Unova's first-tier Legendaries!"
Commentator Slowking gripped the microphone with both hands. To witness these two giant dragons facing off with his own eyes, this was already the most valuable commentary moment of his entire career.
He could only hope he got to commentate something like this again someday.
"N, tell me, what is your ideal!"
Zekrom flung its arms wide. The battle had not even properly started yet, and it was already giving itself a buff first.
"Zekrom, my ideal is that Pokémon all over the world should never again suffer harm at the hands of humans! I want to liberate Unova!"
N raised his arm. At this moment, his ideal had reached its peak.
"Good, good! Then let my thunder shatter every obstacle standing in your path!"
The electricity in Zekrom's tail engine gradually darkened until it nearly matched the color of its scales. The blue lightning visibly transformed into black.
Zekrom felt that at this moment, it possessed the strength of three Kyurem!
In other words, when it came to raw power, it could pin Kyurem down with one hand and beat it senseless!
"Grey, tell me! What is your truth!"
Not to be outdone, Reshiram roared forward as well.
As the Dragon of Truth, there was no way it could be inferior to Zekrom, the Dragon of Ideals.
"My truth is this, my heart and actions are as clear as a polished mirror, and everything I do is justice!"
The instant Grey finished speaking, Reshiram was engulfed in blue fire, and the hidden Stealth Rock on the field was burned away completely by the flames' emergence.
"Then let my fire burn away every barrier that stands in your way!"
"Good!"
Grey snapped his fingers and gave the order without hesitation.
"Reshiram, Dragon Pulse!"
Reshiram raised its head, and from its gaping jaws burst a massive phantom dragon!
Its power was overwhelming, far beyond the Dragon Pulse most people had ever seen with their own eyes.
Even Lance, watching from in front of a screen, felt that only his ace Dragonite might have the faintest chance of standing up to it.
"Zekrom, counter with Dragon Claw!"
At the very instant Dragon Pulse was about to strike, Zekrom clenched its claw in midair, and green energy extended several meters from it.
Then Zekrom slashed downward with all its might!
The dragon-shaped energy was cut cleanly in two, but it did not disappear. Instead, it split into two dragons that twisted around and lunged at Zekrom!
"Roaaar!"
Zekrom cried out in pain as lightning burst wildly from its body, blasting the energy dragons clinging to it into fragments.
"Fusion Bolt!"
Long-range combat was not Zekrom's strongest area, so N chose to close the distance and bring out its advantage!
Crackle, crackle!
Lightning exploded outward as Zekrom beat its wings and rushed closer and closer to Reshiram.
Sparks leaped out, locking onto Reshiram's position!
"Reshiram, then we'll answer with Fusion Flare!"
Grey unleashed Aura, threads of blue light forming a tighter, deeper link between himself and Reshiram.
"Wooo!"
Fire burst from Reshiram's turbine tail as it raised its head with a clear dragon cry, forming a massive fireball wrapped in crisscrossing flame patterns inside its mouth.
Lightning blazed in Zekrom's eyes as it swung its claw down, wrapped in pitch-black thunder.
A slash of dark lightning that seemed capable of tearing space itself apart collided head-on with the incoming fireball!
In that instant, exploding sparks of fire and shattered fragments of electricity rained down, making the whole battlefield flicker between light and darkness.
"Now! Zekrom, Draco Meteor!"
Zekrom specialized in physical offense, and a move like Draco Meteor, which only lowered Special Attack, was being used by N as little more than a thrown explosive.
"Zekroooom!"
Zekrom threw back its head and roared. Brilliant indigo light erupted from the gaps between its scales.
An enormous amount of Dragon-type energy shot straight into the sky, tearing open a giant rift in the heavens!
Countless meteors poured down from the裂隙, trailing long flaming tails as they smashed toward the earth.
The battlefield was instantly transformed into an apocalyptic scene, far beyond what an ordinary Pokémon using this move could ever achieve.
Reshiram beat its white wings and weaved through the meteor shower, forced to shift temporarily into a defensive posture.
And Zekrom stood proudly at the center of the storm, black dragon wings spread wide like a demon god of destruction descending into the mortal world.
"A clever opponent is one thing, but an opponent who's just recklessly aggressive is even scarier..."
Grey sucked in a breath. There were actually a lot of ways he could deal with a move like this.
But N was too reckless, the kind that could be brilliant one second and disastrous the next.
And against the Draco Meteor Zekrom had unleashed, Grey honestly did not have a particularly good way to counter it directly.
"Protect!"
At the critical moment, Grey chose the universal answer and had Reshiram use Protect.
"Raaaah!"
Reshiram drew its wings in front of itself, and a blue barrier formed to shield it, blocking the incoming Draco Meteor.
"Bolt Strike!"
N pressed the attack without giving an inch.
Zekrom moved the moment it heard the order, electricity flaring in its eyes.
It beat its wings and shot into the sky, its body flashing in and out among the thunderclouds.
In an instant, countless thick black bolts of lightning crashed down from the clouds, weaving together into a storm field around it.
Then, just as Reshiram's Protect was about to vanish, Zekrom dove like an arrow released from a bow.
Its right claw gathered highly compressed electric energy, forming a giant blade of lightning more than ten meters long.
Even before the attack landed, the stray arcs flying from it were already scorching black marks into the ground!
Reshiram instantly realized the danger, and the flame in its tail turbine shifted to a pale blue-white.
It adjusted its posture at once, preparing to evade, but the lightning was simply too fast. The black thunder had already sealed off every escape route!
"If there's no avoiding it, then face it head-on!"
Grey's eyes blazed as he slashed his right hand forward.
"Reshiram, Blue Flare at full power!"
Countless streams of pure blue flame burst from Reshiram's mouth and then twisted together into an enormous vortex of fire in front of it.
Facing the incoming black storm, Reshiram raised its head and roared. The spiral of blue fire expanded violently, like a monstrous beast opening its jaws to swallow Zekrom whole!
Boom!!!
Zekrom's arm collided head-on with the blue flames, and its black lightning tore through layer after layer of fire with unstoppable force!
That Bolt Strike ripped a path straight through the sea of flames, blasting Blue Flare apart!
But after that blow, the lightning surrounding Zekrom had already dimmed significantly.
The remaining arcs only flickered weakly across its steel-like scales. It was obvious that breaking through that inferno had consumed almost all of its Electric-type energy.
Its dragon body swayed slightly within the fading blue flames, breathing out heavy dragon breaths...
"Dragon Claw!"
Zekrom surged forward in one continuous rush, beating its wings as cold light flashed in its eyes.
Its right claw lit up blue, Dragon-type energy condensing into a blade more than three meters long that screamed through the air.
"Imprison!"
Grey's command stunned the entire crowd.
The fire in Reshiram's tail turbine suddenly shifted to an eerie violet as psychic light burst from its eyes.
Just as Zekrom's Dragon Claw was about to land, an arcane energy pattern suddenly appeared in the empty air.
When everyone looked closely, they saw it was a giant X!
The moment that X appeared, the unstoppable Dragon-type energy was simply erased before everyone's eyes, as though it had been rubbed out by an invisible eraser.
Zekrom's claw froze in midair, confusion flashing across its eyes.
Its proudest Dragon-type moves had just been sealed completely!
[Imprison: If the user and the opponent know the same move, only the opponent is prevented from using it.]
Almost all of Zekrom's Dragon-type moves overlapped with Reshiram's.
Which meant that every Dragon-type move Zekrom currently knew had just been completely sealed off.
[The old saying is true, experience beats youth. Grey really is a veteran performer. He looked like he wasn't doing anything earlier, but he was clearly setting up something huge.]
[That Imprison was way too cool! It completely caught the other side off guard!]
[Reshiram is unstoppable! Reshiram, charge! Go, White Dragon!]
Grey's play had people on the other side of their screens leaping to their feet.
At first, everyone thought that once Zekrom got into close combat, Reshiram would have no way to fight back.
But now that Imprison had appeared, it felt like hope had returned.
"Our time to counterattack starts now. Reshiram, Dragon Pulse!"
Reshiram seized that fleeting opening and threw its jaws wide.
The Dragon-type energy in its throat instantly reached the limit, and a Dragon Pulse more than two meters wide exploded at point-blank range!
Dragon Pulse slammed squarely into Zekrom's chest.
At such close range, the impact sent Zekrom flying before it could even cry out, its massive body blasting backward and carving a trench dozens of meters long at the edge of the field before finally stopping.
"Zekrom!"
N could not help shouting in alarm.
"I'm fine. This Reshiram is way too crafty."
Zekrom slowly exhaled a foul breath. It could take a hit from any Pokémon in the world, but getting hit by Reshiram specifically was unacceptable.
To it, that was no different from humiliation.
And while the two of them were still talking, Grey had already ordered another Dragon Pulse from Reshiram.
Boom, boom, boom!
Pressing the advantage, Reshiram fired three Dragon Pulses in succession, the blasts forming a triangular pattern that sealed off the entire sky.
Zekrom endured the pain and beat its wings with all its might. At the last possible moment, its black dragon wings kicked up a violent current.
Riding that gust, it shot upward and barely slipped through the gaps between the attacks, but the outermost pulse still grazed its left wing.
Zekrom's flight immediately turned unsteady.
"Zekrom, adjust your posture. Don't let Reshiram find an opening."
If this had been earlier, it could have used Dragon Dance while dodging to raise its own stats at the same time.
But Reshiram had used Imprison. Dragon Dance had been sealed completely, leaving Zekrom with no choice but to dodge the hard way.
"It's useless! Reshiram, Blue Flare!"
Grey clenched his fist, and Reshiram unleashed Blue Flare, turning the battlefield into a sea of fire.
Heat waves rolled across the arena. A bead of sweat slid down Zekrom's brow as it panted heavily.
In fewer than ten exchanges, it had already fallen behind.
"This Grey is way too sneaky. Instead of fighting head-on like a proper battle, he has to resort to underhanded tricks..."
Zekrom twitched its mouth and started complaining about Grey.
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