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"What? He's sending out his strongest Pokémon right away? What's he plotting?"
Tobias wasn't surprised that Sato recalled his shiny Pelipper. After all, a Water/Flying-type against an Electric/Flying-type Zapdos was suicide. But bringing out his strongest Pokémon immediately? That made Tobias instinctively wary.
From his superior, Chris, he had received a detailed report on Sato. He knew exactly how powerful Sato and his Pokémon were.
Honestly, when he first read the dossier, his first reaction was that it had to be fake.
But Tobias also knew very well how reliable intel from that mysterious organization was. Which meant he had to admit — Sato really was stronger than him.
Facing a civilian trainer with a legendary reputation, Tobias understood he had to give his all and carefully gauge his opponent's tactics. Otherwise, even with a Legendary Pokémon, he might still lose.
"Come back, Zapdos."
Knowing that Swampert's Ground typing completely nullified Zapdos's Electric attacks, Tobias decided to withdraw Zapdos and send another Pokémon to face it.
But just as he spoke, a flash of blue light gleamed in Sato's eyes.
The next instant, a streamlined shard of ice shot from the ground like a bullet, slamming into Zapdos and knocking it back — disrupting the beam of red light from Tobias's PokeBall before it could make contact.
"My goodness! Such speed and precision! In just the blink of an eye, under the rain, Swampert formed an ice projectile with Ice Punch and blasted Zapdos away — completely stopping Tobias from recalling it!"
The announcer hired for the finals by Goldenrod Department Store was clearly a pro. In less than a second, he had caught every detail of the exchange, and his excited, booming voice carried over the mic, whipping the crowd into a frenzy.
The audience roared their support for Swampert, but the battle didn't stop there. Swampert pressed his advantage, both hands hurling ice projectiles into the sky like machine-gun fire, each one moving at bullet speed toward Zapdos.
Thanks to Ice Punch, the falling rain, and his master-level control over Water energy, Swampert easily shaped the water into sleek forms, instantly freezing them into aerodynamic ice bolts.
Sato had long considered the question of how Swampert could deal with airborne opponents. On the Mysterious Island, he had finally solved the problem.
By combining Swampert's strengths, he developed a technique: shaping water into streamlined ice shards, then throwing them with immense power. Essentially, it was a hybrid of Ice Punch and Fling — a ranged, enhanced version of Ice Punch.
The idea had first occurred to him back in LaRousse City in Hoenn, though back then it was immature — using Rock Tomb and Fling together. But at the time, Swampert was still a Marshtomp, without the strength, mastery of Water energy, or control of Ice Punch he had now.
Under Sato's guidance, Swampert quickly mastered the shaping and freezing technique. With countless foes on the Mysterious Island to practice against, his accuracy soared. Though not perfect, he could maintain an 80% hit rate — more than enough.
And with his raw strength, the ice bolts flew incredibly fast and far — their range estimated at nearly 800 meters.
Now, under the hail of ice, Zapdos was in disarray. It weaved frantically, even countering with its own Electric attacks — but those had no effect on Swampert, who simply grounded the current into the earth. Before long, Zapdos was struck squarely by a shard.
Each ice bolt carried immense Ice energy and nearly 40% of Swampert's raw punching power. Getting hit was like taking a blow from Swampert himself — on top of the freezing shock.
Tobias was nearly losing his mind. Because Zapdos was constantly dodging, the red beam from his PokeBall couldn't lock on, meaning he couldn't recall it. All he could do was watch helplessly as Swampert kept Zapdos pinned down.
He had tried ordering Thunder to break through, but against a Ground-type like Swampert, it was completely useless.
"Hmph. Zapdos may be a Flying-type, but it doesn't naturally learn any long-range Flying attacks. Its only ranged power comes from its Electric moves. Against a Ground-type, half its strength is gone. All I have to do is stop Tobias from switching it out — and Zapdos is doomed."
"The only option left for Zapdos is to come down from the air and fight in close range with Flying moves."
Unlike Tobias, who was visibly anxious, Sato remained calm and confident, watching as his Swampert dominated Zapdos.
He already knew Zapdos's move set from scanning it with the system yesterday: a Level 61 Zapdos with no ranged Flying moves. Its strongest ranged option was Hyper Beam.
So last night, Sato had built this exact strategy. Lure Zapdos out with shiny Pelipper, then unleash Swampert to exploit its Electric immunity and Zapdos's lack of ranged Flying offense.
"Damn it! Zapdos, use Sky Attack!"
Finally, after repeated failed attempts to recall Zapdos, Tobias snapped. He realized Sato wasn't going to give him the chance. He ordered Zapdos to dive, unleashing its strongest Flying-type move against Swampert head-on.
But Zapdos's fate was sealed — Swampert met it with a devastating Ice Hammer, slamming the Legendary bird into the stadium wall.
When the dust settled, the audience could only gape in disbelief. The mighty Zapdos — the Legendary bird they thought invincible — had just been decisively beaten and embedded into the stadium wall by by Sato's Swampert, that too with a single punch.