"Come back, Steelix! This time, it was my mistake in command... I'm sorry!"
Ash examined Steelix's battered body, spotting cracks along its metallic plating. With regret in his eyes, he returned it to the Luxury Ball and gently handed it to Brock for treatment.
"Raaaar!"
Dragonite let out a roar, urging Ash to send out his next Pokémon. That final move from Steelix had genuinely impressed it—no Pokémon, not even in ancient times, could perform something of that caliber!
"Pidgeot, you're up!"
Ash called out. His sleek, majestic Pidgeot soared into the sky like a silver arrow. Its flight speed surpassed Mach 2 easily. Pidgeot had been raised for one purpose: overwhelming speed, followed by devastating physical strikes.
Of course, Ash's team wasn't without flaws. Steelix, though strong and tough, was slow. Pidgeot was lightning-fast but less dominant in raw physical power.
Arcanine had a balance of speed and strength but didn't match Steelix or Pidgeot in either area individually. However, its elemental moves were its true strength.
That was Ash's pattern—his Pokémon leaned toward mastery of elemental attacks, with complementary physical abilities.
"Raaaar!"
Dragonite roared again—and then something bizarre happened. Before their very eyes, its colossal body began to shrink. In moments, the towering figure compressed into a more standard Dragonite form—still imposing, but significantly more agile.
"You can control your size?!" Ash was stunned by what he saw.
Though it held the level advantage over Pidgeot, its size had previously slowed it down. Now that it had shrunk, it could finally match Pidgeot in speed—though it came at the cost of some offensive power. Its stamina, however, remained formidable.
Cynthia narrowed her eyes. "That's not a normal Dragonite. Ancient Pokémon were rumored to grow and shrink at will... I never thought I'd witness it myself."
Ash could barely follow the Dragonite's movements now. Fortunately, he had activated his Kaleidoscope Sharingan—without it, the battle would be nearly impossible to track.
Dragonite let out a piercing cry. Winds began to whip around it, forming into a powerful tornado that spiraled across the sky toward Pidgeot.
"Pidgeot, don't be afraid! Use Wind Blade and charge straight through!"
The cyclone closed in fast, but Ash's expression remained calm. His Sharingan-enhanced vision let him read every shift of wind, every twitch of movement.
With Susanoo deactivated to conserve energy, Ash focused purely on reading the flow of battle.
Responding to his command, Pidgeot's wings shimmered with a glowing blue aura—razor-sharp blades of air coalescing around them. The enhancement amplified both speed and power, and it looked absolutely stunning—worthy of any Grand Festival performance.
"Pidgeot!!"
The majestic bird dove straight into the tornado. For a moment, the vortex slowed its advance—but then Pidgeot sliced through the winds like a hot knife through butter, cutting across the spiral with sheer elegance and strength.
"That's incredible!"
Cynthia's voice was tight with excitement.
"Raaaar!"
Not willing to be outdone, Dragonite bellowed once more. Its twin antennae crackled with electricity, and in a flash, a thick lightning bolt surged straight toward Pidgeot, now midair and vulnerable.
Cynthia gritted her teeth. "That Dragonite has mastered the element of thunder... there's no way an ordinary Electric-type move would have that kind of destructive power!"
Brock clenched his fists. "This is bad. Electric-type moves are super effective against Flying-types. That bolt could be the end!"
Bill remained composed, smiling slightly. "You're not wrong... but you're underestimating Ash. His battles are brutal—win or lose, he'll take you down with him."
Giselle, standing behind Cynthia, had stars in her eyes as she whispered, "Ash… you're amazing..."
The electric blast roared toward Pidgeot, but Ash didn't flinch. His heart pounded with adrenaline, but his Sharingan kept his mind razor-sharp.
"Don't get cocky, Dragonite... Let me show you Pidgeot's strongest move—Rasengan!"
From Pidgeot's beak, a massive spiraling orb of energy formed, glowing with vibrant intensity—nearly three meters in diameter.
It was a direct adaptation of Naruto's iconic Rasengan technique, infused with raw force.
"Pidgeot!!"
With a twist of its neck, Pidgeot launched the Rasengan straight into the oncoming thunderbolt.
BOOM!
CRACK! BUZZZZZ! RRRrrrrrr!
The two forces collided in midair, creating a deafening shockwave that echoed across the battlefield.
Electric arcs screeched like a sawblade against the spinning Rasengan—neither move giving way, locked in a brutal deadlock.
Bill smiled in admiration. "There it is again… That Rasengan technique. No matter how many times I see it, it never gets old."
Brock: "Incredible… an energy sphere strong enough to rival Dragonite's thunder attack—and it's holding its own!"
Cynthia narrowed her eyes, her expression thoughtful. "That's no ordinary energy ball. It's likely a technique formed entirely from compressed wind. It looks stable on the outside, but the internal destructive force must be immense."
As expected of the Sinnoh Champion—Cynthia instantly grasped the nature of the Rasengan. Even a second-tier Legendary Pokémon like Suicune would take serious damage if hit directly by such an attack.
"ROAARRR!!!"
BOOM!
Seeing that Pidgeot's Rasengan was holding up evenly against its Thunderbolt, Dragonite let out a furious roar. Its rage surged—and with a burst of ancient power, the Thunderbolt intensified dramatically, overwhelming the Rasengan and smashing through it. The bolt then streaked straight toward Pidgeot once again.
Ash's expression darkened. "Damn it… Even a powerful, self-created move like that isn't enough. This is what it means to fight a Pokémon that's mastered the laws of nature. It's like comparing regular chakra to Sage Mode—you just can't bridge that gap!"
With the lightning closing in fast, Ash made a split-second decision.
"Pidgeot, we're going all in! Use Vacuum Blade!"
Sensing Ash's unwavering resolve, Pidgeot let out a piercing cry. A moment later, multiple thin, cyan blades of energy fired from its wings—four, maybe five—arcing through the air with deadly precision.
They looked deceptively slender, but their cutting force was terrifying. Even a steel beam would be sliced clean in two by those Vacuum Blades.
BOOM!!!
"Pidgeot!!"
The moment Vacuum Blade was released, Dragonite's Thunderbolt struck Pidgeot head-on. It cried out in pain as electric arcs coursed through its body.
But in that moment of agony, something burned in Pidgeot's eyes—fury, pure and wild. Gritting through the pain, it pushed its Vacuum Blades forward, striking Dragonite squarely in the chest.
Because Dragonite was channeling so much power into maintaining its lightning attack, its reaction speed had dropped just enough for the blades to land cleanly.
...
TN:
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