"Lie Ke is dead—caught up in the aftermath of Beedrill's battle with his Pokémon."
"As for Beedrill… it doesn't have the strength to fight anymore."
Guo Yi still concealed the real cause of Lie Ke's death.
Not for any lofty reason—purely to spare himself trouble.
Besides, Lie Ke's body had vanished along with the Secret Realm. There'd be no trace left to find.
How he died would be whatever Guo Yi said it was.
And Lin Feng and Jin Peng didn't particularly care how Lie Ke ended.
In fact, the moment Guo Yi went alone into the Secret Realm, the two of them already knew only one person would walk out alive.
Guo Yi had come back.
So Lie Ke's fate didn't need spelling out.
What they cared about was Beedrill's condition.
Hearing that Beedrill couldn't fight anymore, Lin Feng couldn't help slumping. "Then we can only retreat for now."
With their last hope gone, forcing it would just bleed out what little combat power they had left.
"Retreat?"
"Why?" Guo Yi asked, looking genuinely curious. "Because of this one Kyurem?"
Jin Peng patted his shoulder. "Guo Yi, your teacher's Beedrill and Ninetales both have no fighting strength left."
"With what we've got, we're no match for that ice dragon."
He hated admitting it, but he wasn't strong enough.
Jin Peng had no choice.
But Guo Yi just smiled and pointed at Mewtwo beside him.
"Beedrill's out of the fight, sure—so what? We've still got him."
"He's a lot stronger than Beedrill."
Only then did Lin Feng and Jin Peng truly focus on the mysterious Pokémon hovering there.
"Teacher Guo, this Pokémon—"
Lin Feng didn't even finish before the Kyurem that had been knocked flying earlier hauled itself back to its feet and, with a roar, launched another attack at them.
"ROAAAR!"
A vast dragon cry rippled through the air.
HYPER VOICE
Kyurem's fury poured into that single, deafening blast—vented without restraint.
Wherever the sound swept—the ground split. Soil and stone exploded outward.
In the blink of an eye, the terrifying sound wave was already on top of them.
"Damn it!"
Lin Feng and Jin Peng both cursed inwardly at the same time.
Guo Yi's sudden appearance had pulled all their attention off the battlefield.
For a moment—they'd actually forgotten their greatest enemy was still right there.
Now, even if they wanted to dodge, it was already too late.
But under their horrified gaze, Mewtwo teleported in a blink, appearing in front of them.
It casually lifted its right hand.
Mmm.
A faint tremor shivered through the air—and that dreadful sound wave began to thin, fade, and finally vanish without a trace.
"It… it blocked it!"
Jin Peng stared at the attack being stopped so effortlessly, eyes wide with disbelief.
Only then did he realize something: this mysterious Pokémon looked a little different from the one in his memory—the one that had once blown Zapdos away with a single strike.
And yet… it also looked strangely similar.
"Don't tell me these two Pokémon are different evolutions of the same species?"
It wasn't a wild guess.
A Pokémon with multiple evolutions wasn't unusual.
Eevee was the classic example—so many different evolutions, and each form still carried a family resemblance.
But that very thought only deepened Jin Peng's awe of Guo Yi's teacher.
Two Pokémon that were no weaker than Legendary Pokémon.
With power like that, only the world's five permanent powers had the strength to contend—any other country would be hard-pressed to resist.
After this operation… we need to find a way to bring Guo Yi into the League's system.
Jin Peng was already thinking about how to tighten their relationship.
Guo Yi's teacher was a ghost—here one moment, gone the next.
Trying to recruit him directly would be almost impossible.
So the only breakthrough was Guo Yi.
And conveniently—they already had the excuse that Guo Yi had come to help.
Pulling him into the League should be doable.
Guo Yi ignored Jin Peng's little scheming.
All his attention was on Kyurem.
"The Legendary Tao Trio… at last."
He murmured to himself, so softly only he could hear.
[Kyurem (Dragon + Ice)]
[Gender]: ♂
[Level]: lv97 (Master Tier)
[Ability]: Pressure
[Moves]: Hyper Voice, Blizzard, Dragon Pulse, Ice Burn, Ice Beam (frequently used)
[Tutored Moves]: Draco Meteor, Dragon Claw, Hyper Beam, Shadow Ball, Round, Echoed Voice, Steel Wing…
[Egg Moves]: None
[Held Item]: Icy Rock
[Potential]: Master Tier
Is it because it's missing Zekrom and Reshiram's power… that it hasn't reached max level?
A flicker of doubt crossed Guo Yi's eyes as he studied Kyurem's stats.
Don't be fooled—while 97 and 100 were only three levels apart.
At this level of power, three levels was a gulf.
And sure enough—Kyurem's attacks couldn't threaten Mewtwo at all.
But Guo Yi quickly spotted the real issue.
Beneath Kyurem's panel, there were a few tiny words.
Recovering.
That made it click.
"No wonder Ninetales and the others held on for so long. This Kyurem hasn't even reached its strongest state yet."
Before he arrived, Guo Yi had assumed the situation would be dire.
So after dealing with Lie Ke, he'd had Mewtwo teleport straight to the battlefield.
Who would've thought that by the time he got here, Ninetales had only just fallen.
And even Jin Peng and Lin Feng hadn't completely lost their fighting strength yet.
For a moment, he'd even wondered if this Kyurem was the real thing.
Turns out—it was all because its power was still recovering.
For reasons unknown…
Aside from Kyurem, other Major Legendary Pokémon were either still asleep, or they'd awakened but hadn't returned to peak strength.
Because of all that...
The most commonly seen Legendary Pokémon in the world right now were only at the level of the Legendary Birds and Legendary Beasts.
Anything beyond that—even information about them was scarce, barely circulated at all.
"ROOAARR!"
Kyurem saw its attack get stopped so casually by Mewtwo—and instantly felt its dignity as a Legendary Pokémon being trampled.
It was going to get serious.
The reason the earlier fight had dragged on so long was partly because its power hadn't fully recovered…
But also because Kyurem hadn't been fighting at full strength.
Yang Yong could use emotion to temporarily control Kyurem, forcing it into battle—but whether Kyurem truly went all-out still depended on Kyurem itself.
And now with the sting of humiliation burning in its chest, Kyurem finally stopped holding anything back.
Icy energy surged out of its body in relentless waves.
ICE BURN
Kyurem's signature move.
Endless frost spread outward from Kyurem, rolling across the ground in every direction.
In the blink of an eye the world became a land of silver and white.
Once-lush trees were sheathed in thick rime, bark and branches crusted over.
Even their tender green leaves were sealed beneath clear ice.
All signs of life seemed to be cut off at the waist in that instant.
And the freezing didn't stop there.
Immediately after—Kyurem unleashed Hail, and the sky filled with drifting snow.
In that moment rveryone truly felt the terror of Kyurem, the Boundary Pokémon.
Changing the battlefield. Changing the weather.
All with a single thought.
Seeing it, Jin Peng patted his chest, the feeling of survival washing over him.
"Looks like we underestimated it."
"If it had come out with this from the start, we would've had to retreat a long time ago."
Beside him, Lin Feng nodded in agreement.
In this icy environment, Kyurem's combat power was at least fifty percent higher than before—if not more.
Facing a Kyurem like this, one Ninetales was nowhere near enough.
And yet... even with Kyurem going full throttle, the two of them still looked oddly relaxed.
Because Guo Yi hadn't shown the slightest worry.
And that attitude meant only one thing—he wasn't concerned about the outcome at all.
Maybe even the two "zero two seven" Elite Four hadn't realized it themselves.
The reinforcement they'd pulled in had just become the pillar holding up the entire battle.
"Even the leader never expected this to be Kyurem's real power. The League's forces are done for!"
"Exactly—if Kyurem had used this sooner, the fight would've ended already."
"Looks like victory's decided!"
Watching Kyurem's earthshaking display, Luo De, Jie Ke, and the others all broke into delighted grins.
To be honest, when they'd seen Mewtwo block Kyurem's attack so easily, they'd felt a real twinge of worry.
Now they could finally breathe.
In their eyes—Kyurem fighting at full strength was invincible.
But... unlike their celebration, Yang Yong—the Leader—didn't look nearly so optimistic.
Because as Kyurem continued to pour out power, Yang Yong felt his control over it slipping, thinning by the second.
If the battle went on, Kyurem might break free of him entirely.
"Damn it… Guo Yi ruins everything."
"And there's still no word from Lie Ke—he's probably already dead."
Yang Yong stared at Guo Yi's handsome face, grinding his teeth so hard they nearly creaked.
He'd assumed with Thundurus backing him up, even if Lie Ke couldn't beat Guo Yi, he could at least hold him down.
But now it was clear they'd still underestimated Guo Yi.
At this point all they could do was pray that a full-power Kyurem would deliver a surprise.
Otherwise… Yang Yong would have to use his final trump card.
"Luo De—tell the work team to move faster."
Yang Yong issued the order to Luo De beside him.
Things had reached this point.
They had to break the dike at Huilongkou.
If they didn't, this operation would truly end with them losing everything—gaining nothing.
"Understood, Leader."
"I'll go now."
Luo De nodded.
Then, while everyone's attention remained fixed on the battle between the two Pokémon, he quietly began to slip backward.
---
T/N: 4 chaps meeting this weeks quota, i was toooo lazy and slept allllllllll week sorgee
bonus chaps
100 stones -> 1 chapter
200 stones -> 2 chapters
300 stones -> 3 chapters
and so on
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