[What's up with the Governor?]
[Why is she just standing there?]
In the chat, everyone was confused by Caitlin's behavior.
From their point of view, Metagross—after landing heavy hits on Annihilape again and again—should've been the one holding the advantage.
So why did Caitlin look like she was about to surrender?
Were they trying to throw the match?
But even if you threw it like that, what would it change?
No one understood.
They weren't facing Annihilape in person, and they didn't have Psychic powers like Caitlin did.
They had no idea what kind of monster Annihilape looked like through Caitlin's eyes.
You could say only someone in the middle of it could understand just how terrifying Annihilape really was.
[That Metagross is trained well. Given time, reaching Elite Four level won't be a problem at all—maybe it can even take a shot at Champion level.]
[Agreed. But against Kanto's honorary Elite Four member Grey's Annihilape, it's still powerless.]
[If you can't finish Annihilape quickly, you're going to get reverse-killed.]
In the livestream, Champion-level Trainers from three different regions gave that assessment.
All of them were high on Grey's Annihilape.
Amateurs watched for spectacle. Experts watched the details.
Only those who truly understood Grey's Annihilape knew what the battle actually looked like.
Right now, the outcome was already decided.
"Metagross, Heavy Slam!"
Caitlin forced herself to calm down. Even if that power inside Annihilape was swelling bigger and bigger… it still hadn't hit its limit, right?
Maybe it only came out at full strength once it reached the limit.
With that thought, Caitlin gave her final command!
"The fight ends here. Annihilape—Rage Fist!"
Grey's fingertip cut through the air. As it pointed forward, a lotus formed—constructed from Aura itself.
BOOM!!!
The instant the words left his mouth, Annihilape erupted with a level of Ghost energy it had never shown before.
"Anni—!"
With that roar, towering violet-black energy exploded around Annihilape. Dense Ghost energy boiled into mist, blasting out of every pore.
Its signature black fists were the first to be wrapped in that ghostlight, and the glow rapidly spread across its entire body, twisting along its skin until it became a coat of spectral flame!
Countless resentful wails spiraled inside it—its mere presence warped the space around it!
A Ghost-type Rage Fist!
Power: 200!!!
"?!"
Caitlin froze in shock.
Not just Caitlin—most of the viewers were stunned too.
[What the hell?]
[So the streamer WAS hiding something, huh?]
[Pulling this at dawn—Hacky Grey, you seriously weren't going to go easy at all!]
[Governor: 666… not even pretending anymore]
A lot of people started feeling bad for Caitlin.
She could've battled anyone, and she picked Grey—the guy who didn't believe in pulling punches.
Now Metagross was about to get one-shot too.
"METAGROSS!!!"
In Metagross's dictionary, there was no word for "give up."
Even facing Annihilape like a demon descending, it still followed the earlier command and used Heavy Slam!
Silver light instantly covered its body. Metagross's momentum climbed and climbed, then it charged straight toward the Annihilape wrapped in ghostlight!
"Anni…!"
Annihilape slowly raised both fists, shrouded in that spectral glow, then threw two straight punches so fast they were almost impossible to see!
BOOM—BOOM!!
The air detonated as the punches tore through it.
Those two ghostly fist-shadows actually detached from its arms and shot forward!
Metagross had no time to dodge. Its silver body was swallowed instantly by the two massive ghost fists!
There was almost no such thing as "resisting." The moment Metagross entered the Rage Fist, it was blasted backward.
In the end, it slammed into the dojo wall along with the Rage Fist's impact.
Dust and smoke exploded outward. Metagross collapsed on the ground, unable to battle.
"Metagross is unable to battle. Since Miss Caitlin's Pokémon are all unable to battle, the winner of this match is Gym Leader Grey!"
Silver announced the result.
Caitlin's hair fluttered from the gust created by Metagross flying back, and her delicate face looked like it had stopped moving altogether.
"Metagross… lost just like that?"
Caitlin replayed the moment in her mind. That Rage Fist was absolutely a move she'd never seen before!
"It's simple. That move is called Rage Fist—it gets stronger the more hits you take. Annihilape took three hits just now, and it had Bulk Up on top of that, so the power being high is normal."
Grey had been calculating Rage Fist's power the whole time. With STAB on top of Annihilape's naturally high Attack…
There was a very real chance it would one-shot Metagross.
Even if it didn't, it would leave Metagross at a candle-in-the-wind level of HP.
Basically at the absolute limit.
And when Metagross got hit head-on, it technically wasn't fully knocked out immediately—but it lost all ability to move.
It got dragged by the Rage Fist, smashed into the wall, took a second hit from the impact—
And that was that.
[So this is Gym Leader Grey's ace?]
[Insane… I thought Elite Four Lance calling him "honorary Elite Four" was a joke. Turns out he really has that kind of strength…]
[Way stronger than Aaron from our Sinnoh.]
[Grey should come to Sinnoh and be Elite Four instead. It's relaxed and easy every day—sounds better than being a Gym Leader, doesn't it?]
[Lance, stop trying to probe him with an alt account. Grey says he's hardworking and has no plans to go to other regions.]
[I felt it… that power just now… it's anger as the core, but somehow… even more of it was for "protecting"?]
Unova Region, some unknown road.
Ever since Ghetsis coaxed him out, N had been traveling, observing the relationship between people and Pokémon—whether it was truly as bad as Ghetsis claimed.
But the result was obvious. Among the Trainers N met, very few genuinely treated their Pokémon well.
N's mood sank lower and lower, and a nameless fire began burning deep in his chest.
And then, early this morning, N woke up and immediately saw Grey go live.
While watching Grey's stream, N could feel that mutual trust between human and Pokémon—and it made him indescribably happy.
At least in other regions, there were still good people like Grey.
That left N thinking about two paths.
After liberating Unova, should he invite Grey to join Team Plasma?
Or… after liberating Unova, should he go to other regions and see whether they also needed to be liberated?
And if they did…
Then he'd still need to invite Grey to join Team Plasma!
Yeah. After the stream ends, he'll ask Grey whether he has any interest in that idea!
//Check out my P@tre0n for 20 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810.