"How is that even possible...?"
Ghetsis was on the verge of breaking down. No matter how hard he thought about it, he could not believe he had actually been ambushed.
At this point, even an idiot could tell he had just been played.
"Who? Who did this?! Coward! If you've got the guts, come out and fight me face-to-face!"
Ghetsis raged uselessly. Without his cane, he was practically helpless.
Even his ace, Hydreigon, had been used by Annihilape as little more than a roadside warm-up.
So... could they talk this out?
The same Ghetsis who had been throwing around threats a moment ago suddenly lost all his nerve.
Right now, he was like a fish on the chopping block, waiting to be carved up.
"Oh? You want a one-on-one fight with me? Sure, that's fine. No problem at all."
A massive ice crystal beside Ghetsis suddenly melted into water.
Blue flames surged violently upward, and Grey stepped slowly out from within the blaze, his body wrapped in firelight.
"Ghetsis of Team Plasma's Seven Sages, I'll give you one chance. Beat me in a Pokémon battle, and I'll let you leave here alive."
As soon as he finished speaking, Reshiram spread its wings from the fire at Grey's side and looked down on Ghetsis with absolute superiority.
Ghetsis: "..."
The battlefield fell silent.
"You...!"
Ghetsis stood there for a long moment before a word finally forced its way out. He raised one trembling finger and pointed straight at Grey.
If looks could kill, Grey would have been shredded into a thousand pieces already.
"Well, helpless rage is still helpless rage. If you don't have the strength to back it up, why bother throwing around threats like that?"
Grey shrugged.
Vanilluxe floated over to his side and handed him the DNA Splicers from the cane.
"Nicely done."
Grey patted Vanilluxe, then looked back at Ghetsis. "Tell you what, I'll give you another chance. I've got three Pokémon here, you pick one to battle. How about that?"
Vanilluxe, Annihilape, and Reshiram stood in front of Ghetsis, waiting for him to choose.
Anyone who did not know better might have thought they were playing some absurd version of a random starter selection.
Ghetsis stared at the three Pokémon in front of him.
The first one he ruled out was Reshiram.
Not just because it was a top-tier Legendary, but because its typing alone would wipe his entire team.
Next was Annihilape. A Fighting-type would also run straight through his full lineup.
Which left him with only one option.
"I... I choose Vanilluxe."
Ghetsis convinced himself that a Vanilluxe could not possibly do much of anything.
Sure, he had no idea why it could somehow use Psychic in defiance of common sense and stat logic, but in the end, it was still just a Vanilluxe.
Nothing worth worrying about.
Yes.
He could win this.
"Cryogonal, go!"
Ghetsis sent out Cryogonal.
"Cryogonal, huh? Not bad."
Grey gave a slight nod when he saw the choice.
Then he snapped his fingers, the sound sharp and clear.
"Vanilluxe, Blue Flare!"
Ghetsis: ?
The viewers in the livestream: ?
Vanilluxe using Blue Flare?
What kind of human being could even give that command with a straight face?
And yet that was exactly what happened.
Flames erupted from both of Vanilluxe's heads. The two streams merged into a blazing sphere before exploding outward into the shape of a giant character-shaped blast of fire that screamed through the cavern.
Cryogonal took the hit head-on and dropped straight to the ground, unable to move.
"..."
Ghetsis's worldview shattered completely.
Who in the world bred this illegal Vanilluxe?
A Vanilluxe that knew Blue Flare.
And it had one-shot his Cryogonal.
Was that even still a Pokémon?
"All right then, Ghetsis of Team Plasma, stop resisting and surrender. Don't make me do this the hard way."
A gentleman solves things with words, not fists. Unless he absolutely had no choice, Grey really did not want to get physical.
"Damn it..."
Ghetsis wanted to send out one of his self-destruct Pokémon.
But...
"Anni!"
Annihilape stepped forward and slapped Ghetsis unconscious in a single hit.
"Well then. Who would've thought the leader of a villainous organization would be this kind of trainer, a guy who can only rage helplessly? That's really a pretty low tier of evil."
Grey rubbed his forehead.
When it came to villainous style and presence, Team Plasma really was on the lower end of the scale.
Of course, that was excluding Team Yell and Team Star.
As for Team Skull...
That was basically just a local gang.
The only reason they had even a little bit of style was because they were backed by the Aether Foundation.
A little, and only a little.
Once all that was handled, Grey ended the livestream.
Then he took Mew with him and rounded up the Team Plasma members still waiting outside in one sweep.
Only after Officer Jenny arrived to take over cleanup did Grey head back into the deepest part of Giant Chasm to talk to Kyurem about something else.
"Kyurem, I've got a question. Mind if I ask?"
Grey rubbed his hands together and let out an awkward little laugh.
"Go ahead. What is it? If you're asking me to release those three swordsmen, that's fine."
Kyurem's temper had already cooled by now, and the punishment it wanted to give had already been given.
Letting Keldeo's three masters go was no longer a problem.
"Oh, no, not that. It's just... well, now the people of Unova have changed the way they see you a bit, right?"
Grey scratched his head and gave Kyurem a meaningful look. "I get the feeling more and more trainers are going to come looking for you. I think you know why, right?"
"Why?"
Kyurem's brain had already started to overheat.
"Didn't you say that if I did what you told me, those humans wouldn't come looking for trouble with me anymore?"
Kyurem remembered very clearly that Grey's whole point at the start had been about its bad reputation.
If Ghetsis had come here and that got spread around without context, then later on there definitely would have been a flood of people coming here to cause trouble.
"Yes, yes, that's true. They won't come looking for trouble anymore. But I never said they wouldn't come to admire you."
Grey answered with complete seriousness. "If we hadn't done all that, they absolutely would've come here to bother you. But now it's different. They won't be harassing you, they'll be respecting you."
Kyurem: "..."
Kyurem's silence was almost deafening.
So no matter what happened, people would still come looking for it?
The only difference was whether they came with good intentions or just to stir up trouble.
"Exactly, exactly. No matter what, people are still going to come looking for you. But I do happen to know a place you could go. Want to come with me?"
Grey raised an eyebrow and extended the invitation.
"Trust me, if you come with me, there'll definitely be fewer people from Unova bothering you."
Grey was telling the truth.
He wanted to take Kyurem to Kanto, which meant that even if people came to see it, most of them would be from Kanto, not Unova.
On that point, he really was not lying to the dragon.
He had just used a tiny bit of conversational technique in how he phrased it.
Kyurem asked, "Are you sure?"
Grey's voice rang out firmly. "Absolutely. Kyurem, if I'm handling it, you can relax."
"But first, I still need to test your strength."
Kyurem might live off in a lonely corner of the world and spend most of its time sleeping wherever it felt like, but that did not mean it was an easy dragon.
If someone wanted to take it away like this, then that person had to be a trainer it truly recognized.
Otherwise, they could forget it.
"Test my strength? You mean you want to fight me?"
Other than that, Grey could not imagine what kind of test Kyurem had in mind.
"That's right! Human acknowledged by so many legends!"
Kyurem's roar shook loose icicles from the cavern ceiling. It spread its broken ice wings, and the temperature throughout the cave plummeted toward absolute zero.
"If you want me to follow you, then prove it with your strength!"
As it spoke, countless hexagonal ice crystals exploded outward from around its body, building an enormous frozen throne inside the cavern.
Its domain of extreme cold spread out in an instant. The frozen energy gathering in its right claw reduced the rock wall it touched directly into powder.
Then a wall of ice rose up, replacing the stone entirely.
Kyurem, the Boundary Pokémon, the hollow shell dragon, had come to battle.
Pokémon: Kyurem
Type: Dragon / Ice
Level: 80
Ability: Pressure
Moves: Glaciate, Sheer Cold, others omitted.
A level 80 Kyurem had already stepped into the realm of battle legends.
Other than Red, Blue, and Leon, only the ace Pokémon of a handful of truly powerful Champions could hope to fight it.
Kyurem lowered its head, battle intent blazing in its eyes like never before.
Ever since splitting apart from Reshiram and Zekrom, it seemed to have lost the idea of battle itself.
All it ever did was sleep.
A fight like this, a true all-out battle against a human, would be the first of its life.
"Reshiram, can I count on you?"
Right now, Grey had three possible paths.
The first was to let Reshiram fight directly.
The second was to send in Mew.
And the third was to have Victini buff Annihilape until it could clash head-on with Kyurem and let the monkey take the field.
Any of the three could work, honestly.
"No problem. As long as Kyurem doesn't force a fusion halfway through, trading blows with it, even beating it, will be easy."
Reshiram felt terrifyingly strong right now.
It was Reshiram, the Dragon of Truth, the one that could beat up three Kyurem on its own.
What could a hollow shell dragon with neither truth nor ideals possibly use to fight against it?
Could it do it?
Not likely.
"Arrogant Dragon of Truth. You're nothing more than a brute obsessed with what's right in front of you, unable to see further into the future. Your so-called truth is laughable to me."
Kyurem had a sharp tongue, and that one line instantly got Reshiram's blood boiling.
"Kyurem! Today I, Reshiram, am going to show you who the true boss of the Tao trio is!"
"You lost your very reason for existing. You're just an empty shell, a pitiful dragon dragged along by power alone!"
Reshiram immediately blew up.
With Grey there to sustain the power of truth, beating Kyurem senseless was not impossible at all.
"Reshiram, Blue Flare!"
Grey did not even bother testing the waters. He ordered Reshiram to attack full force right away.
Blue flames raged wildly.
The icy blue atmosphere inside Giant Chasm was replaced by the radiance of those flames.
But Kyurem paid them no mind. It did not react to Reshiram's Blue Flare at all.
Instead, right in front of Reshiram, it began to transform.
"Kyuh!"
Kyurem let out a low roar, and black lightning wrapped itself around its body.
Reshiram: ?
"Wait, why does Kyurem have Zekrom's aura on it?!"
Reshiram could beat three Kyurem.
But if Kyurem had also gained Zekrom's power, then this fight was going to be a lot more troublesome.
"Reshiram, don't stop. Keep using Blue Flare!"
Grey frowned and gave the order. Reshiram obeyed at once.
The temperature inside Giant Chasm kept climbing.
Ice and snow melted away, but Kyurem remained completely unaffected.
BOOM!!!
Just as the Blue Flare was about to collapse inward and wrap Kyurem up in a burning sphere, an electromagnetic pulse detonated from Kyurem's body and blasted the flames apart.
"Come to think of it, outside of stomping weaker opponents, has Blue Flare ever actually worked for you?"
Grey tapped his chin.
Reshiram's Blue Flare always looked incredible.
But somehow it never felt as effective as Zekrom's attacks.
It was either breaking through something or getting broken apart itself. Cases where it really dealt solid damage were honestly rare.
If he had to compare it to something, it was kind of like Amaterasu from Naruto.
Looks amazing, but in practice... not quite as impressive.
It was a little funny, honestly.
"Would you maybe like to look at the kinds of opponents I keep getting thrown at?"
Reshiram sounded about as speechless as a Drizzle Pelipper running into a Cloud Nine Golduck.
Every single time it came out to fight, it was a high-end battle.
Blue Flare was great for crushing weaker opponents.
But once it ran into enemies on the same level, what else was it supposed to do besides cancel attacks?
It never got many chances to show its full effect, so of course its performance looked limited.
"Cough... okay, fair point."
Grey gave an awkward laugh, then shifted his gaze back to Kyurem.
As the electromagnetic pulse exploded outward, Kyurem's body changed.
Its core shape still resembled the same gray dragon from before, but now many organs and body parts similar to Zekrom's had appeared across it.
Its tail, its arms, its wings, even the horn on its head.
The previously broken sections of its body had been filled in as well, all turning into Zekrom's signature black.
Dark Kyurem.
Its base stat total had broken past 700.
"Reshiram, want Victini to stack a buff on you?"
Grey knew this was not a simple one-plus-one situation. Even if Reshiram could beat down three Kyurem, this was definitely no longer as easy as it had claimed.
"No need. Zekrom is a defeated opponent of mine. Even if Kyurem uses the power of someone I already beat, that doesn't change the fact that it came from a loser."
Reshiram let out a scornful snort.
If Kyurem had been using Reshiram's own power, then yes, it would have taken things much more seriously.
But Kyurem was using Zekrom's.
Just the power of a dragon it had already beaten.
To Reshiram, the whole thing was almost funny.
"All right then. Just be careful."
Grey let out a breath and watched as Dark Kyurem raised both arms, blue lightning exploding across its entire body.
In the blink of an eye, the raging electricity was swallowed by freezing energy and turned into a massive crystal of ice before hurtling forward with terrifying force.
Freeze Shock, Ice-type!
Dark Kyurem's signature move.
If it landed, then even a completely fresh Reshiram would not be able to keep fighting at full strength for long.
"Reshiram, use Dragon Dance to dodge it, then use Imprison!"
Grey decided to get greedy.
Reshiram's tail thrusters suddenly turned red, and at the last possible moment it twisted aside, narrowly evading the incoming frozen thunder.
"Raaah!"
It threw back its head with a mighty cry, its eyes blazing with strange psychic light.
A giant X-shaped pattern of energy appeared around Dark Kyurem like invisible shackles tightening shut.
Dark Kyurem tried to gather power for Dragon Claw, but the green glow had barely started to form before it vanished.
It was shocked to find its icy wings had become incredibly heavy. Instinctively, it tried to use Dragon Pulse, only to discover that no matter what it did, it could not gather even the slightest trace of Dragon-type energy.
Imprison had worked perfectly.
"Human! When it comes to being devious, I really can't beat you!"
Dark Kyurem actually laughed from sheer irritation.
The battle it had imagined was the kind where both sides traded brutal direct blows.
Instead, the moment it fought Grey, it got hit with a trick.
Not much raw strength, but the methods were crafty.
"We're even. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary methods."
Grey accepted that without the slightest hesitation. "Against a Pokémon as powerful as you, I think winning without using a few little tricks would be rather difficult."
"Heh heh heh... Human! Then let me see how far your clever little schemes can carry you!"
Dark Kyurem gave up on using Dragon-type moves altogether.
Tap-tap-tap!
Its icy claws locked onto Reshiram. With a burst of sharp, cracking sounds, it unleashed a barrage of icicles like machine-gun fire.
"Reshiram, use Dragon Dance again!"
Grey was still getting greedy, but not for the attack boost. This time he wanted the speed increase.
Reshiram soared freely and accelerated again.
One after another, it slipped past the icicles Dark Kyurem fired, infuriating the dragon to no end.
Too crafty.
Weren't you supposed to be the Dragon of Truth?
Then why would you not face a true contest head-on?
Why keep weaving around like this?
"Kyurem! You can only deal damage if you stay alive! That is my truth!"
Reshiram was not stupid. Standing there and taking hits was not how it fought.
Honestly, using Dragon Dance while washing the battlefield in Blue Flare felt pretty good.
"What kind of man hides and dodges like this?!"
Dark Kyurem erupted with a blizzard from its body, turning the entire cavern into a frozen stormscape.
Reshiram's movements were hindered at once. It had all the speed in the world, but suddenly could not bring it to bear.
Clearly, Dark Kyurem was about to unleash something serious.
"Reshiram, Stone Edge!"
Even in Dark Kyurem form, its typing had not changed.
It was still Dragon and Ice.
Dragon-type moves were resisted by Ice, while Rock-type moves struck Ice super effectively.
Reshiram had already used Dragon Dance twice, so the power behind this Stone Edge was now greater than the blizzard Dark Kyurem had unleashed.
"Reshi!"
Reshiram's white wings beat hard, and countless huge, jagged stones spun into existence before blasting forward and tearing through the air.
Slash! Slash! Slash!
Stone Edge tore open channels of vacuum through the blizzard, and Dark Kyurem's body was revealed again.
Facing the incoming Stone Edge, Dark Kyurem crossed both arms in front of its chest. Lightning burst out in an instant, reducing the stones to dust.
Dark Kyurem lifted its head again, only to find that Reshiram had somehow blended into the storm itself.
//Check out my P@tre0n for 30 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810