Standing high above the center of Saffron City, Ryuuske watched as ripples spread across the massive dome enveloping the entire city.
Countless flames erupted in the southern district like dazzling fireworks, while the northern sky was filled with torrents of water and icy impacts. To the east, endless boulders rained down, and the west resembled a sea of blooming flowers.
Team Rocket was cunning—they knew this colossal barrier couldn't completely withstand the assault of the Pokémon army led by the four Gym Leaders. Thus, they had opened gaps in the barrier at Saffron's four major intersections, engaging in a decisive battle against the trainers' forces.
Battles raged at every crossroads, in every alley, even inside every skyscraper. Pokémon clashed against Pokémon, trainers dueled against trainers.
The towering buildings of human civilization were no match for these "biological weapons." Black smoke billowed, fires raged, and rivers of water flooded the streets like tsunamis. Anyone caught in this warzone would meet a fate far more gruesome than death by modern firearms—being shot was a mercy compared to burning alive or drowning.
In this war between trainers and Pokémon, ordinary humans could only huddle inside their homes or hide in underground shelters, praying for divine protection. Yet the cruel irony was that every collapse of human civilization had been wrought by the hands of those very gods they begged for salvation.
The largest city in Kanto was now engulfed in the smoke of war.
A sandstorm swept across the sky and earth, and Ryuuske didn't need to guess—this was undoubtedly the work of Giovanni's Pokémon, though the man himself was nowhere to be seen.
The grinding sound of rolling boulders echoed once more. A Golem lurked within the sandstorm, its presence completely obscured.
"Stay alert, Garchomp!" Ryuuske warned. Garchomp focused entirely on its surroundings, guarding against ambushes. Meanwhile, Ryuuske steadied his breathing, listening to the distorted sounds of buildings being smashed from all directions. The Golem was using the skyscrapers as springboards, ricocheting unpredictably like a deadly pinball.
"Here it comes!"
At the last possible second, Garchomp twisted its body, narrowly avoiding the Golem's crushing roll. The sheer speed of the attack turned the surrounding air into slicing wind blades. As the Golem whizzed past, the gales left bloody gashes across Ryuuske's skin.
Failing to land a direct hit, the Golem vanished back into the sandstorm, continuing its destructive path through the city's skyscrapers. At this rate, the nearby buildings would soon be reduced to rubble.
Steeling himself, Ryuuske prepared for the next assault. The moment the Golem's telltale whistling roar sounded again, he suddenly commanded:
"Vaporeon—Muddy Water!"
Garchomp abruptly lowered its head, revealing Vaporeon perched atop its skull, unleashing a high-pressure jet of murky liquid.
This wasn't clean water—it was a thick, sludge-like torrent infused with sediment. The super-effective attack struck the Golem head-on.
With a pained roar, the rolling boulder was blasted backward, crashing through an office building and shattering countless desks and chairs. The mud in the water clung to the Golem's body like a parasite, coating its exterior and blinding its senses.
"Let's see how you navigate this sandstorm without your perception."
Though Muddy Water hadn't outright defeated the Golem, it had effectively neutralized its ambush tactics for now.
"Vaporeon—Haze! Dragonair, summon a downpour!"
Ryuuske swiftly hurled Dragonair's Poké Ball. A dark mist spread through the sandstorm, the icy particles latching onto the airborne sand and weighing it down. Thunder rumbled as Dragonair's cry summoned storm clouds, unleashing a torrential rain. The dry sand absorbed the water, turning to mud, and the added weight of the ice particles forced the storm to collapse. The sandstorm dissolved, the particles crashing to the ground as sludge.
The combined efforts of the two Pokémon had dismantled Giovanni's environmental advantage—and revealed his location.
He had tunneled straight through the 500-meter-tall Silph Co. headquarters, emerging from the rooftop to the ground floor in seconds!
"An elegant counter. You even blinded my Golem temporarily. But—"
Giovanni stood with his hands in his pockets, smirking coldly before suddenly raising a hand.
"—Beedrill."
No elaborate command was needed. The Beedrill understood instantly, its stinger glowing with the lethal power of Fell Stinger as it thrust toward Mewtwo at a vicious angle. Though Mewtwo barely managed to block with a psychic barrier, the sheer force of the impact sent it flying backward.
"If Golem can't see its target, then all we need to do is deliver the enemy straight to it."
Giovanni crouched slightly, adopting a battle-ready stance. The fact that he had immediately deployed his strongest Pokémon spoke volumes about how seriously he took Ryuuske.
Mewtwo hurtled toward the gaping hole where Golem had demolished a skyscraper. From within the rubble, the Golem rose with a savage grin, obeying its trainer's unspoken order as it unleashed—
"Explosion!"
BOOOOOOM!
The detonation rivaled several tons of TNT. The deafening blast and shockwave even forced the rain upward, sending debris flying as the skyscraper groaned and began to collapse under the force.
"And we're not done yet. Rock Slide—"
Giovanni slashed his hand through the air. The shattered remnants of Golem's body froze mid-air as if by magic before plummeting like meteors, slamming into Mewtwo—still reeling from the explosion—and driving it hundreds of meters down into the pavement.
CRASH!
The impact crater trembled as Mewtwo cratered into the earth. But compared to the sheer force of the fall, the true damage came from the Rock Slide that followed, the jagged stones tearing into its body.
"—And finally, Stone Edge!"
The remaining energy in the rubble erupted once more, transforming into vicious stone spikes that erupted from the ground, impaling Mewtwo and drawing blood. The building's foundation, already weakened, groaned before collapsing entirely.
A ruthless "Self-Destruct Triple Combo." This was the power of Giovanni's Golem. Even after sacrificing itself, it could still unleash a devastating follow-up assault. Though the Golem was now out of commission, it had crippled Mewtwo, leaving it unable to fight back before it could even use Recover.
Right on cue, the screech of the Legendary Birds echoed above. The fused trio summoned a storm within the rain, their flames, lightning, and ice coiling around Ryuuske and Garchomp. Meanwhile, freed from Mewtwo's restraint, the Beedrill raised its twin stingers and dove from the sky.
"It's over. Given time, you might have surpassed even me. But as you are now, the gap between us is still far too vast."
Giovanni sighed. Though officially recognized as the strongest Gym Leader, his true strength rivaled that of an Elite Four champion—perhaps even a Regional Champion.
He lamented the fall of a prodigy who hadn't yet reached his peak, but his actions remained merciless.
"Send him to hell, Beedrill!"
The Beedrill's stingers flashed hundreds of times in an instant, the heat from its rapid thrusts vaporizing raindrops mid-air. Garchomp and Dragonair cried out as countless lacerations split their skin, blood spraying into the storm. The violent convulsions of Garchomp's body sent Ryuuske tumbling from its back—plummeting toward the ground below.
What did it feel like to fall from hundreds of meters in the air?
Ryuuske's mind went blank—no fear, no panic. Just fragments of the past ten months flashing before his eyes. They said your life flashed before you when you died. He wondered if this was what they meant.
Or maybe I'm just too weak as a trainer.
If he were stronger, he could've held his footing even as Garchomp thrashed. If he were stronger, he wouldn't have been overwhelmed by Giovanni's relentless assault. If—
But these were just regrets. Useless in the face of death.
Twisting his body, he looked up at the sky. His final thought was a desperate hope that Mewtwo, Garchomp, and the others could escape Giovanni's wrath.
"Huh? Eevee?!"
Suddenly, he saw it—Eevee, who had been clinging tightly to Garchomp, now leaping after him. Panic surged through him.
Eevee couldn't fly. It wasn't nearly as powerful as Mewtwo. A fall from this height would turn it—and him—into nothing but a bloody smear on the pavement.
But then—
Eevee's body began to glow.
The light of evolution enveloped it once more.
And within that radiance, Ryuuske glimpsed a form that made his heart leap.
That was—
To be continued…