Zapdos fell rapidly from the sky like a meteorite.
Its entire body was covered with wounds, and half of one wing was still frozen solid. This was from an Ice Punch that Zeraora had delivered as a follow-up after Zapdos was hit by the Ultimate Water Shuriken.
That final blow was what knocked Zapdos out of the sky.
Looking at the battered Zapdos, John couldn’t help but recall how he’d been demolished by a Zapdos before.
In his previous encounter with Zapdos, only Garchomp could resist Electric damage, while his other Pokemon were knocked out in one hit. Steelix’s massive size made it an easy target for lightning strikes, rendering it useless.
That battle had been utterly miserable.
Mega Gardevoir’s Teleport tactics hadn’t been effective either. Zapdos’s area-of-effect lightning attacks made teleportation pointless.
Now with Zeraora, Greninja could acquire Zeraora’s Volt Absorb ability through Role Play.
Plus, in such an open battlefield, it was easy to outmaneuver Zapdos .
"Once I capture Zapdos, I’ll officially begin my legendary hunting plan," John mused.
John had always harbored a grand scheme.
When he could defeat and tame one legendary Pokemon, he would use that legendary to hunt and capture other legendaries. Once he’d collected six legendary Pokemon, then he’d challenge the truly powerful legendary Pokemon.
John could already envision the scene of commanding six legendary Pokemon to challenge Rayquaza.
"ZAP!!!" The falling Zapdos suddenly let out a sharp cry, and a bolt of lightning burst from its razor-sharp beak.
The lightning was incredibly fast, like a golden needle, and its target wasn’t any of the Pokemon, it was John, the trainer.
Capture the king first. Even Pokemon understood basic tactics.
But this lightning wasn’t nearly enough to threaten John.
Mega Gardevoir’s attention had been focused on John the entire time, predicting the future with Future Sight. The moment the thunder came, she teleported John a hundred meters away.
The concentrated spark only blasted a two-meter crater where he’d been standing.
When John regained his bearings, all he could see were two golden "chicken feet" disappearing into a circular spatial portal.
Apparently it hadn’t been trying to attack John, but rather to distract Mega Gardevoir from preventing its escape.
"That cowardly?" John raised an eyebrow. Despite the fierce battle, he’d really only launched one coordinated assault.
Legendary Pokemon were far superior to ordinary Pokemon in terms of stamina, and that combination attack had at most knocked out half of Zapdos’s health. From beginning to end, Zapdos had only used Thunder at the start and that final Spark.
Thunder didn’t work, so why not try some Flying-type moves...
"Can you track it?" John asked Mega Gardevoir.
Mega Gardevoir immediately raised her hand and teleported John to where Zapdos had departed, brushing her hands over the now-calm space, but could only shake her head slightly in the end.
"Garde... (Behind that space is a layer of turbulent flow. I can no longer lock onto its position.)"
"I see..." John frowned slightly.
A rare opportunity to capture Zapdos, but it had slipped away.
It seemed his "victory speech" in the future was best saved until after actual victory!
However, it didn’t matter. Legendary Pokemon were hard to find in reality, but in the game world, there were plenty of places and opportunities to encounter them.
It was just one Zapdos. No big deal if he didn’t catch it.
Besides, this Zapdos had spatial manipulation powers, so it was understandable that it escaped.
"Forget it," John pulled out his Pokeballs and recalled several Pokemon, leaving only Gardevoir out.
"By the way, can you travel through space?" John suddenly asked Gardevoir. Since Zapdos, whose spatial control was weaker than Gardevoir’s, could travel through space, there was no reason Gardevoir couldn’t.
"Garde... (I need coordinates.)"
"So if you recorded the coordinates of our Gym in Grassmere City, you could send me back to the gym at any time?" John’s eyes lit up.
"Gardevoir... (I don’t know how far we are from the Gym. If it’s too far, my mental strength might not be enough to support long-distance travel through spatial rifts...)" Gardevoir explained.
"Ah, I see..." John understood. No wonder Scarlett had specifically come to the Mayan Forest. Otherwise, if there were Pokemon proficient in spatial abilities, she probably could have come here directly from Riverstone University.
Descending from the sky, Scarlett immediately approached him.
She stared at John with wide eyes, looking him up and down very carefully. This was the third time she’d had to reassess John.
A year had passed, and John’s growth far exceeded her expectations and imagination.
"Are you really John?"
"Who else would I be?" John asked with a smile.
"I remember that a year ago, your strength could at most compete with gym Leaders, but now a year has passed and you already possess strength comparable to Elite trainers. This speed..."
"My evaluation is simply: terrifying," Scarlett said seriously.
Throughout history, she had never seen anyone who could possess such frightening growth.
One year from novice trainer to Gym Leader level, another year from Gym Leader to Elite Four level, give John another year and wouldn’t he become Champion-level?
John smiled. It wasn’t just Scarlett who was surprised by the speed of his strength improvement.
Even his mentor would be shocked by the sudden increase in his Pokemon’s power after not seeing him for a while.
No helping it, power leveling was just that fast!
"Let’s hurry up and capture those Pokemon still under hypnosis, then we can leave when Saul gets word," John said, looking up toward the city. Not far away, Bronzong and Metagross were watching them nervously.
Their Zapdos boss hadn’t taken them along when it fled.
Sensing John’s gaze, the two Pokemon immediately flew toward the town, trying to hide.
Of course, this could only be wishful thinking. Under the overwhelming suppression of Gardevoir’s mental power, no matter how they tried to hide, there was no way to escape detection.
They were easily found, defeated, and captured by John.
The levels of these two Pokemon were quite high, both were [LV70].
Without that level of strength, it would be impossible to control hundreds of [LV 50] Electric Pokemon.
John wasn’t interested in training them personally, but they could go into storage. Maybe he’d find a use for them eventually.