"Hold on, leveling up mid-battle? Do all of you power users have abilities this consistent? Why am I the only one who can't do that?"
Looking at the information shown on the system panel, Grey scratched his head and silently complained in his heart.
It seemed that his Aura power had no way of raising a Pokémon's level.
Yet whether it was Caitlin, Sabrina, or Giovanni, all of them could temporarily raise their own Pokémon's levels.
They were all holders of special abilities, so why was he the only one this different?
Grey did not understand. He was starting to suspect the whole thing was rigged against him.
Otherwise, why was he the only one who could not do it?
It was strange!
However, a level 81 Rhyperior was still not as strong as Reshiram in raw power.
At this level, type advantage no longer mattered quite as much. Besides, Reshiram was a major Legendary, and its stamina far surpassed that of ordinary Pokémon.
Unless Giovanni released his Viridian Force without caring about the cost, Rhyperior would absolutely not be Reshiram's opponent.
"From afar, Gym Leader Grey's Reshiram truly gives me a feeling far beyond any Pokémon I've seen before. I must thank you, Gym Leader Grey. You've really opened my eyes today."
Giovanni held a faint smile, as if he no longer cared about victory or defeat.
"You're welcome. After all, I'm up against Gym Leader Giovanni. If I don't bring out my true strength, I might end up losing in the most embarrassing way possible."
Grey did not dare be careless in the slightest.
He did not brag just because he had Reshiram in hand. Instead, he looked at Rhyperior solemnly and thought about his next strategy.
"Rhyperior, Rock Wrecker!"
Giovanni opened with a finishing move!
Rhyperior's massive palm aimed straight at Reshiram. The sand and dust filling the sky were frantically drawn in by Rock-type energy, compressing inside the dark cannon opening in its palm into an enormous rock projectile!
"Rhyper!"
Rhyperior roared, and Rock Wrecker fired with terrifying force!
Reshiram looked down coldly and suddenly flapped its wings to dodge sideways.
Boom!
Rock Wrecker brushed past Reshiram's body without causing any effective damage.
The next moment, Rock Wrecker slammed heavily into the already shattered battlefield, instantly exploding into countless pieces of rubble that shot wildly into the sky!
Faced with the dense rain of stones coming from behind, blue flames instantly ignited around Reshiram, blocking every flying rock without leaving a single scratch!
"What a powerful Rock Wrecker. But Rock Wrecker's drawback is obvious. I assume you know that too, Gym Leader Giovanni?"
Grey furrowed his brows.
Rock Wrecker had the same effect as ultimate moves like Hyper Beam. After being released, it would leave the user in a stiffened state.
For Rhyperior to use this move right at the start was clearly disadvantageous.
"That is true. But, Gym Leader Grey, would you mind taking a look at the current situation?"
Giovanni stood at the other end of the field and gave Grey a faint, almost invisible smile.
Grey was just about to speak, but then he saw the fragments burned away by Blue Flare suddenly turn into smoke and dust that mixed with the raging sandstorm, blocking the entire battlefield's line of sight!
"Grey, there's something strange in here. Normally, I should be able to sense every living thing inside. But this Rhyperior feels like it triggered Sand Veil. For a short time, it's very difficult for me to locate it."
Reshiram tried to sense the movement inside the sandstorm, only to discover that the dense Rock-type energy had formed a natural barrier.
Rhyperior's presence had completely blended into this violent energy field, as if it had become one with every grain of sand and every strand of Rock-type energy, making it impossible to distinguish.
"So this is the secret art of the earth? As long as he stands upon the earth, it's as if he becomes one with it..."
When it came to type specialization, Grey admitted he still had room to grow.
Facing the "experience" Giovanni was displaying now gave Grey a deeper understanding of type specialization.
Anyone who could turn a single type into this much of an art had definitely reached the peak level of that type.
However, that only made Grey nod lightly and give a small clap.
With Reshiram here, even this peak-level type specialization could only barely catch a glimpse of him.
"Reshiram, since we can't find the opponent, use Blue Flare!"
"Vwooo!"
Reshiram raised its head and cried out. Scorching blue flames gathered in its throat, forming a dazzling sphere of light.
It suddenly lowered itself, pouring a torrent of Blue Flare across the entire battlefield, trying to burn away both the rock barrier and the Rhyperior hidden within!
Fwoosh!
The sharp sound of burning tore through the air, tugging at the nerves of every spectator.
The stands fell completely silent. Everyone held their breath and stared at the battlefield swallowed by blue flames, waiting for the final result.
Soon, as the Blue Flare gradually faded, the raging sandstorm also quietly dispersed.
The center of the battlefield was empty. Rhyperior's figure had disappeared, leaving only the ground melted by high heat, still giving off wisps of blue smoke.
Grey's brows locked tightly, and his gaze fell on the center of the field.
He discovered that another enormous pit had opened in the ground, with clear type-energy fluctuations still lingering around its edge.
Ground-type Dig!
On the other side of the field, the green light in Giovanni's hand vanished instantly.
Clearly, he had just used Viridian Force to shorten Rhyperior's stiffened state.
At this moment, Rhyperior was hidden deep underground.
Reshiram circled in the air, unable to accurately lock onto its presence.
Even though Blue Flare was shockingly powerful, its penetrating force still struggled to reach a target buried deep within the earth...
Was he really going to have to drag this out against Rhyperior?
That was impossible.
Tap, tap!
Suddenly, a familiar stomping sound rang out.
Giovanni stomped hard, and the battlefield split open. Countless sharp stone spikes burst from the earth, shooting toward Reshiram in the air like arrows released from a bow!
Rock-type Stone Edge!
Rock and Ground were closely related types. A master capable of merging the two so smoothly could naturally gather Rock-type energy at the surface and launch fierce attacks against Flying-type Pokémon.
Even Lance had almost been shredded by this move once.
After all, back then, Lance's team had still mostly consisted of Dragon Pokémon with the Flying type.
Hmm...
Actually, it seemed pretty similar even now.
"Reshiram, Dragon Pulse!"
Brilliant Dragon-type energy gathered in Reshiram's mouth.
A dragon-shaped beam roared out, destroying most of the stone spikes before slamming heavily into the ground and triggering a violent explosion!
Unfortunately, it did not matter.
Rhyperior had hidden way too deep. Reshiram also did not dare use too much force, in case it blew up the entire Indigo Plateau.
That was why Rhyperior was completely fine.
"Gym Leader Giovanni, when it comes to hiding, you really are the best."
Grey gave another thumbs-up.
The sentence itself looked harmless and was clearly aimed at Rhyperior, yet it made Giovanni subconsciously furrow his brows.
Could Grey have seen through something?
Giovanni was meticulous by nature, and he easily dissected a person's words into multiple layers of meaning.
He, Giovanni, was not only a Gym Leader.
He was also the mastermind behind Team Rocket.
Under normal circumstances, aside from his trusted subordinates, no one knew his true identity or appearance.
No, impossible...
With this guy's money-loving personality, if he knew Giovanni was the leader of Team Rocket, he would probably directly bring League Trainers over to surround and attack him.
It was even more likely that he would have Mew, Reshiram, and Kyurem guard the area so Giovanni had no chance to escape.
A situation where Grey simply left him alone like this was almost impossible.
Giovanni's strength might not rank at the absolute top of the League.
But his bounty was definitely top-tier.
If Grey could arrest him, all of Saffron City might end up belonging to Grey, and he would be able to live like an emperor from then on.
Actually, it was already not too far off from that now.
Giovanni had investigated it.
Grey's treatment was absolutely the best in the entire League.
Even the treatment Red and Blue received was not necessarily as good as Grey's.
"Gym Leader Giovanni, hiding doesn't seem like your style."
Seeing that his mind game had not worked, Grey could not help continuing, "I didn't expect Giovanni of the Earth to be someone this patient and restrained. In my heart, you rank second."
"Who's first?"
Giovanni could not help being curious about who Grey considered the most patient and restrained person.
"That guy? That would be the hidden leader of Team Rocket. He managed to hide in Kanto for so long, and I have no idea where he found so many places to hide. On top of that, he still refused to show himself even after the League surrounded and attacked Team Rocket multiple times. In terms of mental fortitude, Team Rocket's boss really is something else."
Grey rubbed his chin and clicked his tongue in wonder.
Giovanni's head filled with dark lines as he listened.
Was there something wrong with this guy?
They were in the middle of a battle. Why was he suddenly dragging Team Rocket's boss into this?
That said, after hearing Grey say this, Giovanni secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
So Grey had not discovered that he was Team Rocket's leader.
Meanwhile, in the Elite Four viewing area.
"Gym Leader Grey's strength has improved a great deal. The result of this battle has already been decided. I didn't expect him to improve this much in such a short time. Before long, he'll probably become a battle-legend tier Trainer."
These days, most of what Lance talked about revolved around Grey.
Lance had seen all of Grey's performance.
For this kind of talent, Lance increasingly felt that they had to nurture him properly.
But how should they nurture him?
Hmm...
That was a very big problem.
If they gave him training experience, it would only serve as a starting point.
Whether he could reach the peak, or even step into a higher realm, was still very difficult to say.
After all, that would only be gathering together other people's understanding. It would not be Grey's own insight.
When it came to personal insight, that point was still very important.
It determined whether someone could step onto an even higher peak.
Otherwise, Champion level would be the ceiling.
"Given Grey's current situation, does he really need to understand type specialization that deeply?"
Bruno spoke slowly.
Everyone fell silent for a moment.
That was actually true.
Grey had caught a Legendary Pokémon, and it was even the major Legendary Reshiram.
A major Legendary like that was different from other major Legendaries.
It was completely driven by conviction.
The more firmly one upheld truth, the stronger it became.
And a Trainer like Grey, who was occasionally unreliable but strongly held onto his bottom line, suited Reshiram's tastes very well.
With Reshiram around, whether he specialized or not did not matter much.
"The younger generation really is terrifying. Terrifying indeed, hehehe."
Agatha sat off to the side, drinking tea as she smiled faintly.
...
...
On the field.
The battlefield could no longer be called a battlefield.
It would not be an exaggeration to call it ruins.
Facing Rhyperior's classic Dig tactic, Grey's method of breaking it was also extremely forceful.
He simply blasted it apart.
He had Reshiram keep using Dragon Pulse to bombard the ground.
By relying on the shock waves created by the explosions, he forcibly drove Rhyperior out.
"Rhyperior is unable to battle. Gym Leader Giovanni, please send out your next Pokémon."
Hippowdon, Gliscor, Garchomp, Dugtrio, and Rhyperior.
Five Pokémon had already fallen.
Giovanni had only one Pokémon left to use.
On Grey's side, two Pokémon had fallen.
Being able to defeat two of Grey's Pokémon meant Giovanni was already very strong.
If it were an ordinary person, all six of their Pokémon might not even be able to trade down one of Grey's.
"Gym Leader Grey, my final Pokémon is Nidoking."
Giovanni held a Great Ball and revealed the identity of his last partner.
"Nidoking?"
"Huh? The final headliner is actually Nidoking?"
"I need to correct that last comment. Technically, the last one is the closer, not the headliner."
"I don't care. Headliner, headliner, headliner!"
Although the chat was briefly derailed by the argument over "closer" and "headliner," most people were still surprised by Giovanni's ace Pokémon.
Nidoking, base stat total 505. It looked high, but once distributed, it was actually just okay.
As more and more Pokémon with excellent stat distributions appeared, Nidoking seemed increasingly ordinary.
Of course, it still had firepower.
With Nidoking's move pool, which could practically be called an elemental bomber, paired with the Sheer Force Ability, even though its Special Attack base stat had not broken 100, it could still deal impressive damage.
"Reshiram, come back first."
Grey took out the Premier Ball and withdrew Reshiram.
Then he sent out his general, Annihilape.
"Anni!"
The moment Annihilape appeared, it roared at Nidoking.
Incidentally, Stealth Rock and Spikes had already been wiped out by Reshiram's bombardment, simple and brutal.
Back to the point.
Giovanni only had one Nidoking left.
But Nidoking's strength made Grey feel as though he were facing a great enemy.
Pokémon: Nidoking
Type: Poison, Ground
Level: 80
Ability: Sheer Force
Moves: omitted
Giovanni did not use Viridian Force to raise Nidoking's level.
But Nidoking's own strength had already reached level 80.
In other words, Giovanni's ace Nidoking was a Pokémon that had truly stepped into the battle-legend tier!
He really had hidden it well...
Grey thought this in his heart.
Then he glanced at Annihilape's panel.
Pokémon: Annihilape
Type: Fighting, Ghost
Level: 75
Ability: Defiant
Moves: omitted
Level 75, at the same tier as a regional Champion's main team.
It looked like there was only a five-level gap between it and Nidoking, but the actual difference was like heaven and earth.
"Gym Leader Grey, for the final battle, I will use every ability of Viridian Force except raising strength. I hope you can also bring out a corresponding level of skill."
Giovanni took the initiative and proposed this.
Grey raised his brows, glanced at the long-expectant Annihilape, and gently nodded.
Then...
Boom!
The air wave shook. Grey fully released his Aura power without holding anything back, pouring it all into Annihilape!