Pokémon: Raising Abandoned Pokémon into Legends

Chapter 286: Hoenn–Kanto Exchange Meeting (Part 7) – Two-in-One

With just a single Alakazam, Blue swept through four young trainers in this gauntlet match—a total of twelve Pokémon.

He had the Kanto spectators roaring with excitement.

He had the Hoenn spectators trembling with fear.

It wasn’t until the fifth competitor stepped up that the Hoenn side’s crushing defeat began to show even a glimmer of change.

That competitor was Sapphire.

She sent out her Psychic/Fighting-type Gallade.

"Gallade, Future Sight!"

The moment Gallade appeared, Sapphire gave the first command.

"Gall~"

Gallade’s eyes glowed, and a dimensional rift materialized beside it. A surge of powerful psychic energy poured into it.

On the other side, Blue calmly issued his own command.

"Alakazam, Psycho Cut!"

By now, Alakazam was visibly exhausted after twelve consecutive battles, with several injuries on its body.

"Alak~"

Nevertheless, in response to Blue’s command, Alakazam raised its spoons and used its psychic power to quickly form three white blades in midair.

The sharp blades shot toward Gallade, who had just finished using Future Sight.

"Gallade, cut them down with Fury Cutter!" Sapphire called out urgently.

"Gall~"

Gallade swiftly swung the blade-arms on its elbows, deflecting all three white blades.

The moment they were blocked, Sapphire launched her counterattack.

"Gallade, Imprison!" she shouted.

"Gall~"

A large X-shaped mark was swung from Gallade’s arms, hurtling toward Alakazam.

"Not good." Seeing that move, Blue’s pupils shrank. "Alakazam, Teleport!"

"Alak~"

Alakazam raised its spoons, ready to Teleport away.

But after such a prolonged battle, it was no longer at its peak.

Just before Teleport could activate, Imprison struck Alakazam first. Then, Alakazam’s Teleport failed.

The effect of Imprison: when the opponent shares the same moves as the user, the opponent can no longer use those moves.

"Gallade, now—Night Slash!" Sapphire cried out excitedly.

She had been rigorously simulating this battle against Alakazam while waiting off-stage. In her assessment, the key to defeating Alakazam was landing Imprison. Although Gallade was Psychic/Fighting-type, it still had many Psychic-type moves—as long as Imprison hit, Alakazam’s combat options would be severely restricted.

On the other side, Blue indeed frowned at the Imprison effect.

Not knowing which moves had been sealed, he could only test his options. He ordered Alakazam to use Reflect to block Night Slash. But due to Imprison, Reflect failed.

The result: Gallade successfully swung its blade-arm and slashed Alakazam.

A Dark-type move dealing double damage—Alakazam let out a pained cry.

At the same time, the Future Sight that Sapphire had ordered earlier also triggered. Just as Alakazam was knocked from the air by Gallade’s Night Slash, a wave of powerful psychic energy burst from a dimensional rift that appeared from the side, pressing down on Alakazam.

Hit by both attacks, Alakazam was knocked out cold.

The Hoenn spectators in the stands erupted in ecstatic cheers.

That blasted Alakazam was finally down!

The Kanto spectators, however, lamented the loss. They had been hoping Alakazam could sweep all ten trainers—defeating all of Hoenn’s Pokémon—that would have been absolutely incredible.

"Finally defeated..." Even Steven let out a sigh of relief.

That Alakazam had truly ground Hoenn’s face into the dirt. Defeating twelve Pokémon in a row had already reclaimed all the face Kanto had lost two days ago. Before this, Steven never would have imagined such an outcome.

Rio, watching Steven’s expression from the side, smiled. He wanted to say: Don’t worry, Steven. Blue has even bigger surprises in store. Your Hoenn region’s humiliation today is guaranteed.

Just as Rio was thinking this, Blue sent out his second Pokémon.

Another level 62—Rhyperior.

"Gallade, Sacred Sword!" Sapphire seized the initiative immediately.

"Gall~"

Gallade’s blade-arms glowed with brilliant light.

It swung them, charging at Rhyperior.

"Rhyperior, Hammer Arm." In contrast, Blue calmly countered, a smirk tugging at his lips as he watched Sapphire’s elation after defeating Alakazam.

"Rhy~"

Rhyperior roared, swinging its powerful arm.

The next second, Gallade’s Sacred Sword and Rhyperior’s Hammer Arm clashed in the center of the battlefield. The result: Rhyperior’s Hammer Arm smashed through Gallade’s attack like a battering ram, sending Gallade flying. It crashed heavily into the wall.

Gallade was instantly knocked out.

The Hoenn spectators, who had been cheering for Sapphire, were struck dumb.

The Kanto spectators, on the other hand, leapt to their feet again, shouting "Rhyperior! Rhyperior!" like possessed fanatics.

"Th-this... impossible! My Gallade was defeated in one hit!" Sapphire’s mouth hung slightly open, her face full of disbelief. She had never encountered such a gap in strength before.

"Could this be the true strength of Kanto’s young trainers? ...But I still believe the final victory will be ours." Sapphire muttered as she recalled Gallade.

She then sent out her second Pokémon.

"Come out, Aggron! Bring victory to Hoenn!"

A flash of light, and a massive Aggron appeared.

"Aggron, Iron Tail!"

"Gron~"

Aggron charged at Rhyperior, swinging its tail, which gleamed with silver light.

"Rhyperior, Megahorn." Blue remained utterly composed.

"Rhy~"

The drill on Rhyperior’s head began spinning rapidly.

Two seconds later, Aggron’s tail met Rhyperior’s drill. The result: Aggron’s tail was severely damaged by Rhyperior’s drill strike, teetering on the verge of incapacitation.

Sapphire was stunned by the outcome. By the time she snapped back to reality, Blue had already given his next order.

"Rhyperior, Rock Blast."

"Rhy~"

Sharp, jagged rocks shot toward Aggron.

"Aggron, use Metal Claw to cut them apart!" Sapphire shouted.

But it was too late. Rhyperior’s Rock Blast was already upon it. Two seconds later, Aggron collapsed.

Sapphire had only one Pokémon left.

The Hoenn spectators were anguished. They had thought that defeating Alakazam would turn the tide—only to face an even stronger Rhyperior. First, it one-shot Gallade. Then, it took just two moves to defeat Aggron. Would it cleanly take down Sapphire’s last Pokémon too?

"This Blue... could he actually defeat all ten of Hoenn’s trainers by himself?"

In the guest seat, Steven muttered to himself. Sapphire was the strongest young trainer on their side. If even she ended up like this, what hope did the remaining few have?

Not "could"—"definitely." You haven’t even seen Blue’s strongest Pokémon, Blastoise, yet... Rio smirked, watching Sapphire send out her final Pokémon—her level 48 Blaziken.

"Blaziken, Flame Charge!"

To her credit, Sapphire recovered quickly. Even after Gallade and Aggron had been crushed in rapid succession, she still commanded her Pokémon with full fighting spirit.

But against Blue—who also had protagonist’s luck, and even stronger luck at that—plus an overwhelming power gap, all her spirit was useless.

"Rhyperior, Hammer Arm!"

Blue calmly gave just one command—Hammer Arm.

Two seconds later, the audience witnessed how Blaziken, Sapphire’s strongest Pokémon, was nearly knocked out in a single punch. Sapphire had to shout for it to get up multiple times before it finally staggered back to its feet.

But it barely stood for two seconds before another Hammer Arm came down.

This time, Blaziken was down for good.

Sapphire’s three Pokémon had all fallen to Rhyperior within one or two moves each. The gap in strength left the Hoenn spectators in despair. When Alakazam had fallen, they thought they saw hope. Now, clearly, they had spoken too soon—an even more terrifying opponent had arrived.

And this "more terrifying" Pokémon was only Blue’s second. No one knew how strong his remaining four were. What if there was an even stronger one?

After Sapphire’s defeat, Hoenn’s male protagonist, Ruby, stepped up.

"Sapphire, I’ll avenge you. I’ll restore Hoenn’s glory," Ruby said as he took her place.

Sapphire looked at Ruby’s face—still not recognizing reality—and forced a smile as she patted his shoulder.

"Good luck. I’m waiting for your success."

Ruby gave a grunt and walked up.

Five minutes later, he walked back down again—just as dejected and devastated as Sapphire.

His first Pokémon was his strongest—Swampert. Rhyperior took it down in two hits.

His second was Gardevoir. Using Psychic-type moves, it managed to stall for some time against Blue. But Blue eventually seized an opportunity and had Rhyperior take it down with Rock Wrecker.

His third was Milotic. Like the previous two, it was effortlessly crushed by Rhyperior in one move.

That left only four Hoenn trainers.

When the fourth-from-last stepped up, Blue—wanting to give his other Pokémon some action—recalled Rhyperior and sent out a level 63 Scizor.

That trainer was delighted. He thought Blue was going easy on them, deliberately letting Hoenn lose less embarrassingly by throwing a match.

But when Blue commanded Scizor to defeat him with a single move three times in a row—each taking less than a minute—that trainer’s face turned green with humiliation.

Next, the eighth Hoenn trainer stepped up. Blue recalled Scizor and sent out Golduck, once again dominating the opponent with overwhelming force.

After that came Ninetales and Blastoise—still one crushing victory after another.

Thus, Hoenn’s ten young trainers were all defeated by Blue in a gauntlet match, one after another.

At this result, the Hoenn spectators’ faces couldn’t have looked worse.

"Blue, I love you!!!"

"Blue, you’re the best!!!"

The Kanto spectators, on the other hand, were beside themselves with excitement. The name Blue spread like wildfire across both Kanto regions. This was the performance Kanto should have!

"This Blue... definitely has the strength of an Elite Four-level trainer."

In the guest seat, Steven had already assessed Blue’s caliber. Without Elite Four-level strength, such dominance would be impossible. Blue had utterly trampled Hoenn’s pride—and Hoenn had no one their age to counter him.

Rio watched Steven’s uncomfortable expression and smiled.

Just then, his secretary Serīna came to his side.

"Both Champions, as the highlight of today’s exchange meeting, it’s time for you two to take the stage."

Rio raised an eyebrow at this, exchanged a glance with Steven, and they both rose with a knowing smile.

"Mr. Rio, I will win this battle for Hoenn. Let’s leave no regrets," Steven said.

"Mr. Steven, I agree with the first half of your sentence—but not the second. Because my victory might just shatter your resolve," Rio replied.

Steven frowned. "Then let’s see whose resolve shatters first."

With that, Steven walked ahead toward the left exit. Rio smiled at his retreating figure and headed for the right exit.

Just before stepping onto the stage, Rio ran into Blue, who was coming off.

"Nice work, Blue. From today on, the people of Kanto will remember your name," Rio said with a smile.

"Of course. I’m Blue—the man who will one day defeat you and claim the Championship throne," Blue said with pride.

"Alright, then I’ll be waiting for your challenge on the Champion’s seat."

Rio patted Blue’s shoulder and walked toward the stage.

The moment he stepped up, the crowd erupted in thunderous cheers. While the young trainers’ matches had been satisfying to watch, what they really wanted to see today was the battle between Kanto’s Champion and Hoenn’s Champion.

And when Steven took the stage, the Hoenn spectators roared just as loudly.

After that, the host rambled on with a few minutes of pointless commentary.

Once the chatter ended, the real battle finally began.

"Come out, Armaldo."

A flash of light—Steven sent out his first Pokémon.

A level 76 Armaldo.