"Gallade, charge in!"
Grey did not spell out the real command.
He did not dare gamble on whether Koga might change tactics at the last second if he revealed his true intentions out loud.
For now, it was better to follow the other side's "script."
Then, at the final moment, he would show his real hand.
"Gallade."
After a brief rest, Gallade charged forward once again.
He raised his elbow blade, but no glow appeared on it for quite a while.
That immediately made Koga feel that something was off.
Was Gallade really planning to defeat Weezing with nothing more than an ordinary elbow strike?
No, impossible…
Koga instantly dismissed the thought. Weezing was an Elite Four-level Pokémon, one of his main team members.
Even if that elbow strike landed together with the burn damage, Weezing would not think much of it.
The damage simply was not enough.
"Weezing, stop holding back. Use Belch."
Once again, Koga's command was completely unexpected.
Belch was a special Poison-type move with a staggering base power of 120.
But it had one flaw.
And a very obvious one at that.
It could only be used after eating a Berry.
Weezing was suddenly chewing on something with loud smacking noises, and the burn status rapidly faded away.
Then…
"Burp—!"
A massive belch packed with Poison-type energy shook the entire battlefield.
A purple-black cloud of poison condensed into an arrow-like blast and shot straight at Gallade's face!
If that attack landed, Gallade would probably be traumatized by it for the rest of his life.
Gallade had no choice but to use Teleport to evade it.
Belch missed, and only because of that did Gallade avoid being blasted apart.
"Weezing~" ("So stuffed~")
Weezing's stomach was still bloated.
Holding back and refusing to eat the Berry for so long had been pretty uncomfortable.
Luckily, Koga had finally let him eat it, which allowed him to unleash that earth-shaking belch.
Still, missing Gallade was a huge loss.
The Destiny Bond state was gone too, so he would need to find another chance to apply it again.
The battlefield returned to a standoff.
Koga was also thinking about how to deal with Gallade now.
With the burn gone, if Weezing got hit by Zen Headbutt again, he really would lose the ability to battle.
So letting Gallade get close was the key.
The other side had Teleport, so he would have to be cautious and quietly reapply Destiny Bond.
Ideally in one go.
Grey closed his eyes and devoted himself fully to directing Gallade.
Aura stirred the corners of his clothes, and Gallade moved with it.
The first place to shine with energy was his head.
That alone made everyone's minds run wild.
Could it be Zen Headbutt?
And when Koga saw Gallade's state, the corners of his mouth slowly rose.
He gave no command, instead having Weezing maintain the same posture as before.
The steps were exactly the same as not long ago.
Slip quietly into the Sludge Wave, then secretly use Destiny Bond.
A strange sensation spread through Gallade's whole body.
He knew Weezing had "cursed" him.
But he still followed Grey's instructions, psychic light glowing atop his head.
As the two drew closer and closer, Weezing's eyes were gradually drawn in by the glow over Gallade's head.
"Weezing, show them your art."
Koga once again said something vague and cryptic.
But Grey instantly sensed that something was wrong.
He had dealt with Weezing too many times.
At this point, one look at a stance was enough for him to know what was coming next.
Right then, Weezing's body suddenly swelled violently, and a blinding white light burst from his shell!
Before it had even fully formed, the terrifying energy fluctuations made the entire field tremble.
"So this really is one of those mandatory moments when you fight a Weezing trainer, huh?"
Grey's aura sense screamed a warning.
It was not just Destiny Bond.
That damn Explosion was coming too.
An Elite Four-level Explosion like this—even with the power consciously held back—would probably still be enough to flatten half the battlefield…
Grey had to admit it.
Koga was ruthless.
Explosion plus Destiny Bond really was the definition of either you die or I do.
At this moment, there seemed to be only three possibilities.
One: Gallade's Zen Headbutt landed before Explosion, successfully taking Weezing down, only for Gallade to be dragged down by Destiny Bond.
Two: Gallade was too late, and Explosion blasted him away first.
Three: Gallade's Zen Headbutt failed to finish Weezing, and he took the full force of Explosion at point-blank range, losing the ability to battle on the spot.
No matter which one happened, Gallade seemed destined to be knocked out.
And Grey chose a fourth option.
"Teleport!"
"Gallade!"
The glow covering Gallade's head really was psychic power, but it was not Zen Headbutt.
It was just ordinary psychic energy.
And it was precisely that "ordinary" psychic power that let Gallade use Teleport and barely avoid the center of the blast.
BOOM!!!
Weezing exploded.
The deafening roar shook the sky, white light swallowed the entire battlefield, and the shockwave cracked the protective barrier.
A mushroom cloud more than ten meters tall rose from the center of the explosion, carrying toxic smoke and dust with it, until even the closest spectators started coughing.
When the blinding light finally faded, Weezing was already down, beyond getting back up.
Gallade, on the other hand—
Though badly wounded, he was actually not in too much danger.
"???"
Koga's mouth opened slightly. This was not what he had expected at all.
Under normal circumstances, even if Gallade had not been blown out of battle, he should have been pretty close.
But Gallade was still standing, and he did not look at all like a Pokémon that had taken Explosion head-on.
Even his remaining stamina was well above Koga's expectations.
It looked more like he had only been hit by the aftershock.
"Gallade…"
Gallade was not feeling great either.
Even though he had used Teleport, the damaged battlefield had prevented him from warping too far away.
And because the blast radius had been so huge, even the aftershock had immense power, which was why he had ended up in this state…
"As expected of Leader Grey. You actually saw through my scheme."
Koga's face was full of admiration.
His Explosion plus Destiny Bond tactic was something he had only recently come up with. He had even gone out of his way to test it with a close friend.
And yet Gallade's Teleport had countered it completely.
He had assumed Gallade was preparing Zen Headbutt, only for it to turn into Teleport at the last second…
Well, there was no point regretting it now.
Koga started considering Grey's remaining Pokémon.
There was only one left.
Gallade and Lucario were both heavily injured, so they were not the real concern anymore.
The only thing to think about was Grey's last Pokémon.
Grey was also wondering who Koga's final Pokémon would be.
The two of them looked at each other at the same time.
Then they smiled.
"Leader Koga, this is the final battle."
"Yes. Leader Grey, from here on out, I'll be using my full strength as well!"
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