"Use Ancient Power."
Grey's sharp command rang out, as if he had already seen through Staraptor's attack pattern and chosen the perfect counter.
"Zee-zee!"
Zapdos beat its wings, ash-brown light flowing along its feathers. Above its head, several differently sized, ancient-looking rocks condensed out of thin air.
Just as Ancient Power fully formed, that streak of white light rushing in from afar suddenly forced itself to a halt!
Staraptor's figure appeared at the very edge of the floating rocks, a flicker of wariness flashing through its sharp, predatory eyes.
"Star!"
But Staraptor didn't hesitate for long.
With a piercing cry, it flapped its wings again, skimming along the edges of those floating stones, flying so close it almost brushed against them.
What was strange was that Zapdos never actually launched the rocks. It simply let them hang there quietly in midair.
At a glance, they looked more like some old stone decorations hanging from the dojo ceiling.
Reggie narrowed his eyes. Up above, Staraptor finally slipped around to the side of those Ancient Power boulders and caught sight of Zapdos below, lazily beating its wings.
Swish!
Staraptor flared its wings again and, in the instant it folded them tight, dove straight down at Zapdos!
A streak of white trailed behind it as it fell, and Zapdos also noticed that sliver of light coming closer—yet the corners of its beak only curled upward.
Hooked.
"So you are planning to crush him with Ancient Power…"
Watching the tiny shifts in Zapdos's expression, Reggie fixed his guess and, convinced he'd seen through Grey's plan, quietly planted a seed in his heart.
As long as his read was correct, he still had a real chance to bring down Grey's Zapdos!
"Brave Bird!!"
Reggie's roar echoed through the entire dojo.
The white aura around Staraptor suddenly flushed crimson, and in the next heartbeat deepened into a dark, ominous blue!
This headlong dive, empowered by the ability Reckless, exploded with terrifying force. (Wikipedia)
You could tell Reggie was truly going all-in on this one.
"Then let's settle this head-on. Zapdos, use Thunder!"
As he wished, Grey answered with his own ultimate move.
The moment the words fell, lightning erupted all over Zapdos's body. A golden pillar of thunder shot up, piercing straight through the Ancient Power rocks overhead and slamming into the ceiling of the Fighting Dojo!
In an instant, the entire "sky" above was filled with roiling, dense thunderclouds of pure energy.
Staraptor's blue trail moved as fast as lightning itself, and before the thunderbolt could descend, it smashed full-force into Zapdos!
In the violent explosion that followed, Zapdos was knocked backward several meters, but at the very last moment it snapped its wings open wide and forced itself to stop, bracing against Staraptor's charge.
Rumble!!!
Right in that deadlocked instant, the long-suspended Ancient Power boulders and the fully charged Thunder exploded together!
Countless stones, wrapped in judgment-like lightning, crashed down on the two Pokémon locked in a grapple.
Crack-crack-crack!
Both moves landed at once. Wounds opened all over Staraptor's body in an instant; its previously glossy feathers were charred black in patches, giving off a distinct burnt smell.
"Star…"
Hit by two massive attacks in quick succession—and then taking the recoil from Brave Bird—Staraptor's stamina was already hanging by a thread.
"Zee-zee!" (Get… away from me!)
Zapdos beat its wings hard, pushing against the pressure as it tried to shove Staraptor back.
"Now's our chance! Use Endeavor!"
Seeing Zapdos actually trying to push Staraptor off, Reggie's eyes lit up.
As long as Staraptor could unleash Endeavor, Zapdos's HP would be dragged down to match its own! (wiki.52poke.com)
And once that happened, if Staraptor could just reliably land a Quick Attack afterward… it might really get to see Articuno!
Right now, Reggie's biggest wish was to defeat Zapdos fair and square, then stand proudly before Articuno.
Whether he could actually battle it or not didn't matter as much—just seeing it with his own eyes would mean his efforts had not been in vain.
"Ooh~ so it was Endeavor, huh? No wonder you saved Staraptor for last. It's not just your first partner, it's also holding this trump card."
Grey's tone was light, but every word made it obvious he'd already guessed exactly what Reggie was planning.
"W-what… do you mean?"
A bad feeling jolted through Reggie as he hurriedly looked back up at Staraptor.
Staraptor's body was shining white, its aura pushed to the very limit as it prepared to slam into Zapdos once more.
Endeavor—an utterly unreasonable move.
With both sides at a similar strength level, it was almost guaranteed to work.
Reggie honestly couldn't imagine how Zapdos was going to avoid this one.
"I forgot to mention a fun little trivia fact, Mr. Reggie. My Zapdos's Ability is…"
Grey rubbed his sleeve, then reached up and ran his hand through his hair. In an instant, his black hair stood on end from static, and he finished the sentence:
"Static." (pokeuniv.com)
"!!!"
At those two words, Reggie's pupils shrank.
Thunder and Static—one as a move, one as an Ability.
Taken separately, the chance to inflict paralysis was relatively low.
But if the two overlapped…
That chance skyrocketed to something absurd.
Bzzzt…
Lightning flared and thunder boomed, dazzling arcs of electricity dancing wildly.
Staraptor's speed suddenly crashed; anyone could see exactly what had happened.
Paralyzed.
Grey lifted his hand and tapped lightly toward the battlefield.
"Let's finish this."
Within the blinding white light, countless arcs of lightning slithered like living serpents between Zapdos's wings, making the entire arena flicker between light and shadow.
Crack!
With the final burst of electricity, Staraptor's body convulsed violently. The raging thunder had already burrowed into its muscles, draining the very last sliver of its strength.
"Star…" (It was… right there… just that little bit farther…)
Staraptor tried to keep moving, but its stamina was at its absolute limit.
Just being able to let out that cry was impressive enough.
As for actually hitting Zapdos?
Yeah… time to let that dream go.
At last, Staraptor collapsed to the floor and lost its ability to battle.
[What a shame, it really was just a tiny bit short.]
[So in the end his raw power just wasn't enough. If he were a bit stronger, maybe that Endeavor strat really would have worked.]
[Uh… are you sure it's a "power" problem? I actually think his strength is pretty insane already. Without that, he'd have just been free EXP for Zapdos.]
[Exactly. The streamer always plays to his opponent's level—if that challenger were a total pushover, Zapdos would've Volt Switched, U-turned, or Baton Passed ages ago.]
"I… I lost…"
Reggie grudgingly picked up the Poké Ball and recalled Staraptor.
Watching him stand there in silence, Grey could tell he was spiraling again.
For Reggie, there was nothing harsher than seeing the "perfect" strategies he'd built up in his mind fall apart in practice.
In the original timeline, Brandon had once said this about him:
"Your battles are only about chasing an overall, flawless performance." (Wikipedia)
And from this battle alone, that wasn't hard to see.
He leaned way too hard on clever combinations and layered tactics—but the actual payoff wasn't all that great.
Whether he was facing Grey now, or Brandon back then, as soon as his carefully crafted plans fell apart, Reggie would tumble into that same confusion and doubt.
And just when he'd barely managed to readjust his mindset… he'd taken another overwhelming loss and gone completely quiet again.
"Mr. Reggie," Grey finally spoke up, looking straight at him. "Let me ask you something. What do you think a Pokémon battle really is?"
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