"Boom!!"
Finally—
The green flames of Dragon Breath struck the Altaria in midair. With a mournful cry, the dragon-type Pokémon was blown away, plummeting like a severed kite.
It crashed hard into the ground, eyes shut, body battered, utterly unconscious.
"Altaria is unable to battle! Charizard wins!" The referee delivered the final verdict. At this moment, Ryūnan had lost all six of his Pokémon—defeated without question.
And on Yozora's side…
Charizard stood almost untouched, still brimming with strength.
Throughout the entire match, it had barely moved from its place, relying only on Flamethrower and Dragon Breath.
Its body was robust, stamina overflowing, as though those repeated attacks had cost it nothing at all.
Yet the most excessive part was this—this monstrously powerful Charizard wasn't even Yozora's ace. It was merely his fifth Pokémon…
After crushing all six of Ryūnan's partners, Yozora still had two Pokémon in reserve. To call this one-sided would be an understatement—it was complete domination.
"So strong… Why is Yozora's growth so terrifyingly fast?!" Ryūnan recalled his fallen Altaria with a heavy face, weighed down by powerlessness.
He fixed his gaze on Yozora. At this very moment, a bitter thought filled his chest, a resentment as deep as "why must Liang exist when Yu is born?"
As a scion of the Blackthorn Clan, gifted with the clan's secret Dragon Force, Ryūnan had always been proud, certain that he was unrivaled among his generation.
But today—not only was he defeated by a peer, he had been crushed.
"There are still two months left… can I surpass him by then?" Ryūnan questioned himself silently. No matter what, he wouldn't give up. Tomorrow, he would already be boarding his flight to Kalos.
As for his team—
Aside from his Miltank, there wouldn't be any major changes. Even if he replaced it with a Lord-tier Pokémon, the overall boost would be marginal.
The true key lay with his three trump cards: Dragonair, Altaria, and Flygon.
In Ryūnan's eyes, if he could obtain a Mega Stone for Altaria and evolve Dragonair into Dragonite within these two months, then there was still hope.
Hope that he might defeat Yozora in the Indigo Plateau Conference!Otherwise—he shouldn't even dream about it!
"I thought my path would be smooth, but to stumble so soon… Interesting. Very interesting…" Ryūnan suddenly laughed. The rare pressure only sharpened his determination.
Night.
Yozora and Ryūnan lodged together at the Pokémon Center in Eastlin City.
The guest room was modest, even shabby. Yozora expected Ryūnan to dislike it, but the Dragon heir seemed used to it.
Fair enough.
Even the simplest guest room was far better than camping in the wild.
"Ryūnan, in your Blackthorn Clan, aside from Dratini hatchlings, do your people also have access to other pseudo-legendary starters like Bagon or Gible?" Yozora asked curiously. He'd always been fascinated by the legendary clan.
Ryūnan shook his head. "No. Only Dratini. Every clan member's starter Pokémon is always a Dratini."
"Then what about your Altaria and Flygon? As far as I recall, they aren't native to Kanto." Yozora pressed further.
"They were my sixth and twelfth birthday gifts, respectively," Ryūnan replied, before shifting the topic. "Alright, my turn. Other than Charizard, do you have even stronger Pokémon?"
Yozora smiled. "Yes. One more."
Ryūnan looked unsurprised. "What Pokémon?"
But Yozora didn't answer. Instead, he deflected with another question: "Ryūnan, do you know who won the last Indigo Plateau Conference? Roughly what rank of Trainer were they?"
Ryūnan had done his research and answered smoothly: "Kaban. An Ace-level Trainer!"
Ace-level!
Yozora was taken aback.
That was a vague term. It could mean Gym Leader-level, or even Elite-level.
If it were a high-tier Elite, that would be terrifying.
Facing such an opponent, even with his Beedrill as a secret trump card, victory was far from guaranteed.
"Why do you ask? Don't tell me you're aiming for Champion? Forget it. You're just a rookie. Reaching the Top 8 in your first year would already be impressive…" Ryūnan sneered.
Even he had never entertained the thought of winning the Conference in his first year.
In truth, Kanto was considered remote compared to other regions. Yet even so, every Indigo Conference attracted several Ace-level Trainers.
To challenge for the Champion title, one had to become an Ace-level Trainer first. At minimum, that required owning two Gym Leader-level Pokémon.
For a rookie, that was impossibly difficult.
If a newcomer could reach Senior-level within a year, they were already extraordinary.
Both Yozora and Ryūnan had long surpassed that benchmark—that's why people called them geniuses.
"Enough dodging. Tell me—your last hidden Pokémon, what is it?" Ryūnan pressed relentlessly.
But—
He waited and waited, only to receive silence.
Sitting up slightly, Ryūnan glanced at the opposite bed.
Yozora had already fallen asleep, curled up with his Dratini in his arms.
Team Rocket base. The routine meeting began.
Three Commanders, four Generals, the Triad of Beast Tamers, Dr. Summer(OC), Dr. Rambo(OC)—all the high-ranking figures were present.
Giovanni was absent, so Secretary General Matori presided.
About three days ago, Proton had sent men to the Seafoam Islands to retrieve Boqi's unit. What they found instead were cold, lifeless corpses.
The autopsy confirmed the cause: the work of a Beedrill and some kind of Ghost-type Pokémon.
The Beedrill had assassinated Boqi's ace, Houndoom.
And that Ghost-type had drained the life out of everyone—Boqi, Houndoom, and the rest of the team.
"This reeks of our own organization's methods! Don't tell me there's a traitor in Team Rocket?" Proton's fury shook the room. Boqi had been one of his most loyal lieutenants.
Now Boqi's death jeopardized Proton's future rise.
"Boqi wasn't weak. Within Team Rocket, the only person whose Beedrill could defeat his Houndoom is Giovanni himself. So what are you implying, Proton? That our Boss is the traitor? That he personally snuck out just to kill Boqi—for the sake of two or three pieces of Never-Melt Ice?" a short senior officer, Chakra, jeered with biting sarcasm.
"Bang!"
Proton slammed his fist against the table, his eyes icy. "Chakra, do you have a death wish?"
The short officer only chuckled darkly. "You're just being foolish. A near-Elite-level Beedrill—other than Giovanni, no one in Team Rocket has one."
(End of Chapter)