"From the very beginning, Endeavor was nothing but a decoy!"
"What?!"
When he heard Grey say that, the emotion in Giovanni's eyes finally shifted dramatically.
So Endeavor had only ever been setup from the start?!
Then what kind of move was he actually planning to use?!
Giovanni's gaze swept the battlefield rapidly, his thoughts thrown into agitation by Grey's words.
No. No way…
He was just a Gym Leader who owned Elite Four–level Pokémon, not an actual Elite Four–class trainer…
How could he possibly come up with something new?!
All of a sudden, Giovanni felt the temperature of the drifting smoke around them change.
It was clearly white mist—but it was giving off heat…
A Fire-type move!
Giovanni's pupils contracted as he noticed that, at some point, the little Riolu had slipped free of Mewtwo's control.
With a single teleport it appeared behind Beedrill, gathering a huge ball of fire at the tips of its claws, which then stretched into a flaming "大" and crashed downward!
"Drill Run!"
Beedrill's tail stinger suddenly flared with earthen brown light, spinning at incredible speed into a massive drill.
BOOOOM!!!
The moment Ground-type energy collided with the flames, the resulting explosion ripped up ten meters of frozen earth around them, ice crystals vaporizing into thick white steam under the extreme heat.
Riding the recoil, Beedrill just managed to slip out of Ditto's Endeavor range!
"A Riolu that can use Fire Blast?! Grey, you really do know how to surprise me…!"
The instant he saw Fire Blast, Giovanni had to admit his worldview took a hit.
Aura Sphere and Dark Pulse from earlier—he could chalk those up to freakish talent.
But Fire Blast? What was this supposed to be?
What kind of Riolu used that move?
Even Lucario after evolving wasn't supposed to pull that off!
And it was exactly that move that made Giovanni think of a certain possibility—
The same one Mewtwo had suspected!
A new species said to carry the genes of every Pokémon, the ancestor of all Pokémon in legend—Mew!
Which meant…
What kind of Gym Leader just casually walked around with Mew as a friend?!
"Petrel, this 'useless Riolu that only eats, sleeps, and messes around instead of doing anything' you mentioned… you were talking about that one?"
Proton didn't forget to gank Petrel on the side.
Back when they'd been rescued, Petrel had sworn that Grey had a "completely filler Riolu"—a hanger-on whose training in eating, drinking, and playing was maxed out, with basically zero combat power.
And then that Fire Blast went off.
Team Rocket's entire understanding of the world wobbled.
What do you mean, a Riolu who just raises a paw and drops a Fire Blast?
What do you mean, a Riolu for whom teleporting is easier than eating or drinking?
What do you mean, a Riolu that can hurt their Boss's ace Beedrill in a single move?!
Look in my eyes!
Tell me why! Baby, why!
"I didn't expect this one to be your trump card, Gym Leader Grey. No wonder you had the confidence to walk straight into Team Rocket's base…"
Giovanni suddenly felt everything click.
If his opponent was that one, it was no wonder Mewtwo hadn't been able to land any decisive blows in such a short time.
Even so, the fact it was Mew didn't make Giovanni waver.
After all, on his side he had two Champion-tier combatants.
And on Grey's side, aside from Mew, all that was left was a "bootleg" Ditto.
That knockoff wasn't much to fear—a single opening was all Beedrill needed to kill it in one hit.
"Grey, looks like something big just showed up above us. Is that the League backup you called over?"
Little Riolu suddenly dropped that line into Grey's mind.
His brows knit for a second, then quickly smoothed as Riolu continued.
"That guy's riding on a Dragonite's back. Looks like he's searching for an entrance."
If the newcomer was riding a Dragonite, odds were good it was Lance!
Grey had originally been hoping Lorelei would be the one to come.
He definitely hadn't expected to pull Lance instead!
It was like pulling from an SR/SSR banner and suddenly watching a UR card pop out.
This pull was solid.
"Mew, in a bit, send him our coordinates. All we've got to do is stall a while longer."
The weight on Grey's heart finally eased a little.
And with that reassurance, his commands grew even sharper.
"Ditto, keep up the pressure—Aerial Ace! Articuno, Freeze-Dry!"
"Cryooo!" (This time, let me go first!)
Articuno soared upward, closing in rapidly on the retreating Beedrill.
With every beat of its wings, a wave of biting cold spread outward.
The cold front rolled in, ice-dance spiraling across the room.
Beedrill's movements suddenly turned sluggish. Ice crystals thickened visibly around its joints, and even its carapace glazed over in white frost!
Frozen solid!
Freeze-Dry's effect was simple: it rapidly dropped the temperature and dried the air, with bonus damage against Water-type Pokémon.
Even though Beedrill wasn't a Water type, the move was just as deadly to it!
The spreading frozen mist wrapped around its body, the super-cooled air wicking away every last trace of moisture, leaving its shell brittle and fragile!
It was a hyper-offense glass cannon to begin with. Now that its movements were restricted, all that power was trapped in a body that couldn't swing it!
And right then, Ditto, perfectly in sync with Articuno, unleashed its real killing blow.
A silver gleam flashed as Ditto raised one arm high in its Beedrill form.
The razor tip of its stinger locked onto Beedrill's body. Under cover of the freezing haze, it shimmered with a reaper's cold light, driving straight for the joint at the base of Beedrill's frozen wings!
Even with parts of Beedrill's body frozen in place, Ditto didn't dare gamble.
Earlier, it had been stopped head-on too easily. If Beedrill had just been acting, holding back some strength, then any advantage they'd managed to squeeze out would vanish instantly.
So the priority was clear—cripple something vital first!
Whoosh!
Ditto vanished from where it hovered, almost melting straight into the swirling snow around them.
Beedrill, with part of its body frozen, swept its gaze around, then simply shut its eyes, relying on its hearing instead to track Ditto's movements.
Whooo, whooo—
The bitter wind howled. In its ears, all Beedrill could hear was the raging gale.
Ditto was hiding extremely well, its wingbeats so faint they were nearly undetectable.
In that situation, Beedrill stayed perfectly calm. Its antennae vibrated at high frequency, parsing the tiny sounds of falling ice crystals to pinpoint the killing intent!
Swoosh!
Ditto's stinger ripped through the air, aimed straight at the center of Beedrill's back!
CLANG!
At the last split second, Beedrill's muscles snapped tight, the ice on its shell shattering with a crack!
Amid the spray of ice shards, it spun in a tight arc, and Ditto's thrusting stinger only scraped across the edge of its wing membrane, sparking off the metal wall in a bright shower!
And Beedrill seized the opening. Its stingers flared with white light, driving forward in a vicious counterthrust at Ditto!
Retreat to advance—that was also one of Giovanni's Beedrill's specialties!
"Articuno, Ice Beam!"
Grey raised his hand and recalled Ditto, leaving Beedrill's lunge to stab into empty air.
And the instant the red light faded, Articuno fired an Ice Beam from its beak!
The chilling serpent of light snaked out toward Beedrill. Seeing it come, Beedrill swept one arm sideways and simply split it in half down the middle!
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