Standing at the very heart of Saffron City, high above the ground, Logan looked out over the vast shimmering dome that blanketed the city. Ripples spread across its surface, distorting the skyline as though the city itself were trapped underwater.

From the south, explosions of fire erupted—like blossoms of fiery fireworks consuming the horizon. To the north, torrents of water and frozen ice clashed against the barrier. From the east, boulders rained down, while in the west, the battlefield resembled an ocean of flowers, blooming with deadly force.

Team Rocket had been clever. They knew the enormous shield surrounding Saffron could not completely block the combined assault of the four Gym Leaders and their armies of Pokémon. So they created openings at each of the four city gates, forcing the Gym Leaders and their forces to clash directly with Rocket's troops in vicious bottleneck battles.

Everywhere—alleyways, intersections, skyscrapers—Pokémon clashed in brutal combat, Trainers dueling with as much fury as their companions.

But human structures were no match for these living weapons. Black smoke rose in choking clouds, fire raged unchecked, while rivers surged through streets like raging floods. Anyone unlucky enough to be caught in this war zone would die more horribly than in any modern battlefield—better a bullet than burning alive or drowning in floodwaters.

For ordinary humans, survival meant cowering indoors, cramming into underground shelters, praying to their gods for salvation. Yet it was ironic: every time civilization had crumbled, it had always been the work of those very "gods."

Kanto's greatest city had been reduced to a war-torn inferno.

The ground quaked, the skies churned. Logan didn't need to see to know—this was Giovanni's doing. His Pokémon were reshaping the battlefield itself.

A grinding rumble, like millstones crashing together, filled the dust-choked air. Somewhere in the storm, a Golem was on the move.

"Stay alert, Garchomp!" Logan's voice was low, sharp.

The Dragon Shark focused all its senses outward, guarding against the unseen strike. Logan stilled his own breath, ears straining. He could hear buildings groaning, collapsing. The Golem wasn't charging directly—it was ricocheting, using skyscrapers like springboards, rolling unpredictably through the storm.

"It's coming!"

In a blur, Garchomp twisted its body, barely evading the rolling boulder that thundered past. The speed was monstrous. Even the air around it slashed into wind blades, tearing across Logan's skin, drawing blood.

Missing its first strike, the Golem vanished again into the dust, the thunder of impact echoing as it used more towers to propel its deadly path. The cityscape itself was becoming its weapon.

Logan clenched his jaw. He waited. Listened. Then—"Vaporeon, Muddy Water!"

Behind Garchomp, a sleek form shimmered into view, unleashing a surge of murky water under crushing pressure. It wasn't a clear river—it was liquid earth, surging filth and grit. The wave struck the Golem head-on, exploiting its weakness to water.

A guttural cry tore from the rock giant as it smashed back into a building, demolishing offices and shattering furniture. The mud-like water clung to its body like leeches, smothering its senses.

"Lose your perception, and let's see how you track me now," Logan muttered.

The Golem wasn't down, but it was blinded—crippled in the sandstorm.

"Vaporeon, Haze! Dragonair—bring the storm!"

Another Poké Ball burst open. Dragonair soared free, its long body spiraling upward. Black mist spread through the air, dampening the storm. Ice-laced vapor clung to the grains of sand, dragging them heavy to the ground.

Thunder cracked. Dark clouds rolled in as Dragonair sang its draconic cry. A torrential downpour slammed into the battlefield. The sandstorm dissolved into sludge, collapsing into mud as rain and ice weighed it down.

The advantage Giovanni had crafted vanished. Logan's eyes narrowed—he could see him now.

Giovanni had tunneled straight through the towering Silph Co. skyscraper, his Golem boring a path from rooftop to ground floor. The man himself now stood calmly at the base, hands in his pockets, smirking.

"A clever counter. You've even blinded my Golem…" Giovanni sneered, then barked, "Beedrill!"

No further command was needed. The massive insect dove, its stingers glowing with lethal venom. One thrust—so precise it was like fate itself. Mewtwo managed to raise a psychic barrier in time, but the force hurled it through the air, crashing toward the very ruins where the blinded Golem awaited.

"Sightless or not, all it needs is prey delivered straight to its jaws," Giovanni said, lowering his stance.

Mewtwo struck the rubble. The Golem grinned wickedly, energy building in its core. Then—

"Explosion!"

The detonation shook the heavens. A chain of eruptions like tons of TNT ripped the storm itself backward, fire and stone consuming the tower.

And Giovanni was not done. "Rock Slide!"

Even broken, Golem's shattered body suspended in midair unnaturally, then crashed downward with seismic force. Mewtwo was slammed from hundreds of meters above into the ground, leaving a massive crater.

"Stone Edge!"

The rubble itself turned to blades, spikes erupting upward, piercing Mewtwo's body, painting the ruins in blood.

It was merciless—a triple-suicide combo. Golem collapsed, drained of life, but the damage was done. Mewtwo lay crushed, powerless to heal before its strength bled away.

The sky screamed with avian fury. The Three Legendary Birds circled, wings lashing storms, flames, lightning, and ice into a cataclysm around Logan and Garchomp. From even higher above, Beedrill descended, freed from Mewtwo's restraint, twin lances aimed for the kill.

"It's over," Giovanni said coldly. "If you had time, perhaps you would surpass even me. But today, you fall."

Though called the strongest Gym Leader, Giovanni's true strength rivaled the Elite Four's champions. Even the League's master would struggle against him.

There was no hesitation in his final order. "Beedrill—finish it!"

The stingers blurred hundreds of times in seconds, their friction boiling raindrops to steam. Garchomp and Dragonair cried out, bodies shredded with countless cuts, blood mixing with the storm.

And Logan slipped. His partner's writhing agony shook him loose. He plummeted.

From hundreds of meters up, he fell.

There were no words for it—just emptiness, weightless silence. Memories surged through his mind like lightning: ten months of battles, pain, victories, bonds forged. People claimed life replayed itself before death. Perhaps this was it—final echoes before darkness.

If only he had been stronger. If only his grip had held, if only his power had matched Giovanni's merciless strikes. If only…

But wishes were nothing. He could only hope Garchomp and Mewtwo survived, escaping Giovanni's pursuit.

And then—he saw it.

"Eevee?!"

The small creature had leapt after him, releasing its grip on Garchomp's scales. Logan's chest constricted in horror.

Eevee couldn't fly. It wasn't Mewtwo. At this height, it would die just as he would, shattered against the earth.

But then—Eevee's body glowed. Brilliant, radiant light burst from its frame. Evolution.

Logan's eyes widened. That form…

It was—

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