Pokémon: My Titles Know No Limits! [216]

While Giovanni was going head-to-head with Pryce, August was still off to the side loafing around, giving running commentary on their battle via telepathy.

“Don’t send your Pokémon out one at a time—what is this, some kind of war of attrition? Just throw everything you’ve got at him! Pryce only has two that can actually fight!”

“Swinub, stop defending! Go on the offensive! The best defense is a good offense!”

“Nidoking, what are you waiting for? Use [Earthquake] already!”

“Delibird, [Peck]! Where’s that energy you had when you tried to peck Ho-Oh?! That’s right—like that!”

“Crap, Beedrill’s about to get caught by Delibird—Cloyster, hurry up and cover him!”

Sabrina: [...]

#CheckAugust’sCurrentMentalState

Still, as she watched Giovanni and Pryce going all out while they just stood on the sidelines observing, Sabrina couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of satisfaction.

【Psychic Girl Extraordinaire】: When are we stepping in?
【GardevoirSupremacy】: No rush. I think Giovanni can hold on a little longer.
【Psychic Girl Extraordinaire】: Wow, that little faith in Giovanni? You think he can’t win? He is Team Rocket’s boss, you know.
【GardevoirSupremacy】: It’s not that. I just think Pryce has the upper hand, that’s all.

While August and Sabrina were chatting via telepathy, the Masked Corps trainer across from him started noticing something strange.

Earlier, when she sent out her Murkrow, The Rocket Grunt's Gengar had been evenly matched with it.

Now she’d sent out Sunflora—and somehow, it was still evenly matched?

Something wasn’t right. Seriously not right.

Her expression hardened. She clenched her jaw and pulled another Poké Ball from her pocket, ready to throw everything she had into the fight and take down this Team Rocket trainer once and for all.

August, still chatting with Sabrina, noticed her movement.

Seeing this, he sighed. “Pretend you didn’t see anything. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all just coast through this?”

“You guys in the Masked Corps make so little money every month—what are you even risking your life for?”

Even as he spoke, the Gengar that had been trading blows with Murkrow and Sunflora suddenly began to radiate a sinister, bone-chilling aura. In a flash, it vanished.

Before the Masked Corps trainer could react, Gengar reappeared right in front of her.

Then it leaned in and gave her a big, wet lick with its slimy tongue.

Just as she was about to release her Forretress, the trainer collapsed, paralyzed on the spot.

Her two Pokémon, rushing to protect her, were both taken down instantly by a single Shadow Claw from Gengar.

With the trainer knocked out, August ignored her completely, casually glancing around.

Confirming that no one had seen what just happened, he relocated to a better vantage point—somewhere with a clear view of the battlefield—and had Gengar use [Mean Look] to interfere with Team Rocket’s ongoing battle.

Then, once the unlucky trainer was taken out by her own side—frozen in place by Gengar’s [Mean Look]—August seamlessly took her place, playing along as if he were still fighting, while continuing to watch the show with Gengar.

At this point, Giovanni and Pryce’s battle had reached its boiling point.

Blizzards and flying sand collided in the sky above, a scene straight out of the apocalypse.

Centered around the shrine, everything within a hundred meters—trees, flowers, grass—was frozen solid, shattering at the slightest touch. No one dared approach.

Giovanni was holding his own, showing his strength. The ground around him looked like it had been ravaged by a magnitude-18 earthquake—cracked into a dozen massive crevices that stretched toward Pryce’s position.

Both sides’ Pokémon had sustained various degrees of injury.

“You really live up to the title, Giovanni of the Earth,” Pryce said, eyes on him. “But if this is all you’ve got, I won’t be polite about taking the GS Ball crafting scroll.”

His voice was calm, as though stating a simple fact.

“Hmph.”

Giovanni snorted, but didn’t argue—he had been on the defensive for most of the fight so far.

Four versus two and still at a disadvantage... Pryce really was the kind of guy who could face off against Ho-Oh and Lugia.

But Giovanni wasn’t unprepared.

After his last defeat—first to August, then to Pryce—he’d been reflecting on how to quickly raise his strength.

In the end, inspiration had struck during his match against August.

He ordered Team Rocket’s Kalos division to search for a [Beedrillite] and a [Key Stone].

After brokering a covert deal with one of Kalos’s more “civil” local gangs, the items were sent to him directly via the Pokémon transport system.

Giovanni looked at Pryce intently.

Then he reached into his pocket and pinned a badge onto the R emblem on his chest. He glanced at his Beedrill on the battlefield, then gently touched the [Key Stone] on his chest.

He didn’t speak. But in that moment, as if their wills were one, the Beedrill in the sky was suddenly wrapped in a dazzling multicolored light.

On the sidelines, watching the battle unfold, August’s eyes widened.

Giovanni got his hands on a [Mega Stone]!? When!?

The light in the sky faded quickly. Beedrill’s form had grown sharper, sleeker—its legs transformed into stinger-like appendages that gleamed with a sci-fi edge.

After [Mega Evolution], Mega Beedrill’s speed practically doubled. With [Agility] activated, it split into countless afterimages, streaking toward Pryce like a swarm of ghostly blades.

No hesitation—Mega Beedrill had abandoned its previous opponent, Delibird, and launched straight for Pryce himself.

Take out the trainer, and the Delibird and Swinub would be no problem.

Swinub, seeing this, once again raised icy walls around Pryce in an attempt to block Beedrill’s assault.

But Giovanni had planned for this.

He had Cloyster use [Spike Cannon] to stall Delibird’s return.

“Now!” Giovanni shouted, slashing his hand through the air. “Aggron, Nidoking—[Hyper Beam]!”

The two Pokémon, already preparing in secret, instantly fired. Twin beams of destruction tore through the air from different angles, hitting the exact same point on the ice wall.

BOOM!

A massive explosion swallowed the wall.

Though the wall held against the beams, the sheer force of the blast left it riddled with cracks.

There was no time to reinforce it. From above, Mega Beedrill’s shadowy afterimages surged into the smoke cloud, both stingers raised to strike—

Slash—slash—slash!

The ice wall shattered into glittering shards.

Then, with one deadly stinger glowing violet, Mega Beedrill lunged straight for Pryce’s throat.

He dodged—barely.

But Beedrill was built like an assassin. After [Mega Evolution], its speed was overwhelming.

Pryce managed to twist away in time to save his throat—

—but the stinger still pierced clean through his chest.

The scene freezes.

Everyone in the Ilex Forest wore different expressions.

The Masked Corps stood frozen in shock, while Team Rocket brimmed with excitement. Giovanni maintained his calm composure, and August raised a slightly skeptical brow.

Did Giovanni really take Pryce down that easily?

August found it hard to believe.

Sure, he’d always believed that anything could happen in a Pokémon battle, but this… this was way too anticlimactic.

After a moment’s thought, he finally used his [Aura] powers—something he’d been holding back on for fear of exposing himself.

The moment his aura swept across the area where Pryce had fallen—

August sensed something off. This is…

Before he could finish his sentence, the mask on the face of the Pryce who had been skewered by Beedrill cracked and fell away—revealing the shimmering surface of solid ice underneath.

It wasn’t a body. It was an ice puppet.

“A fake—an ice decoy!”

“When did he pull that off?!”

The champagne-flute-holding Team Rocket grunts stared, stunned.

In contrast, the Masked Corps erupted in cheers. Their morale soared.

Giovanni, however, paid no attention to his subordinates’ reactions—either because he didn’t care, or because he couldn’t afford to.

His expression darkened.

He hadn’t expected the Pryce hidden inside the ice sculpture to be yet another ice sculpture. Was this a nesting doll routine?

And worse—he hadn’t noticed a thing.

Just then, the real Pryce stepped out from behind a chunk of leftover ice wall.

Clearly, he had swapped himself out during the explosion from the Hyper Beams, hiding behind the wall while leaving the puppet to take the hit.

Pryce’s gaze fell upon the Beedrill that had “pierced” him.

Mega Beedrill spotted him too. It tried to retract its stinger and resume the assault—but realized its weapon was frozen solid, locked tight inside the ice sculpture. It couldn’t move.

“Damn it… Beedrill!”

Giovanni’s expression shifted.

By now, Delibird had broken free from Cloyster’s harassment and was streaking through the air toward Mega Beedrill, wings spread wide.

Whoosh—!

That red blur cut through the sky like lightning, diving straight for its target.

[Peck]

The same attack it once used to pluck Ho-Oh bald came crashing down again.

Beedrill didn’t stand a chance. It barely managed to raise a [Protect] barrier at the last second—just in time to take the full brunt of the blow.

Crack.

The [Protect] shimmered with fractures, spiderwebbing across its surface.

Even though the move was hasty, [Protect] was still the strongest defensive technique—it absorbed Delibird’s first strike.

But Delibird wasn’t alone in this assault.

In order to ambush Pryce earlier, Beedrill had gotten far too close to Swinub.

Pryce tapped his cane.

Swinub’s [Icy Wind] blasted out, slamming directly into Beedrill’s undefended abdomen.

A sheet of ice instantly formed over Beedrill’s exoskeleton.

Giovanni shouted for backup.

But Pryce had been waiting for this moment. Delibird unleashed its own [Icy Wind] as well.

Nidoking and Aggron—charging in full force—slipped the moment the freezing wind hit, toppling over before they could even get close.

The only one unaffected was Cloyster, whose long-range capabilities let it stay standing. But even so, it posed no real threat to Swinub or Delibird.

The ice on Beedrill grew thicker. It was just moments from being fully frozen when a sharp whoosh broke through the air behind Pryce.

“Boss Giovanni, Petrel reporting in for backup! Weezing, [Explosion]!”

BOOM!

The blast thundered through the woods—loud, flashy, and ultimately… useless.

Swinub blocked it with a casual ice wall.

But it did buy Mega Beedrill a moment.

Using the brief reprieve, Mega Beedrill tore itself free from the encasing ice. Instead of pressing the attack, it flew back, putting distance between itself and Pryce.

Pryce’s expression showed a flicker of regret. So close. He’d almost taken down the Mega Beedrill—but that meddler had interfered.

He turned his cold gaze toward the unexpected interloper—Petrel.

Just moments ago, Petrel had been glowing with pride, thrilled at his dramatic entrance in front of Giovanni.

But when Pryce’s eyes landed on him, it felt like a bucket of ice water had been dumped on his head.

Right. This was Pryce.

The same Pryce who had twice crushed him into the dirt.

Petrel’s legs started to tremble.

He made a break for it, but it was already too late.

Swinub’s [Icy Wind] blasted out again, flash-freezing Petrel in mid-escape.

His whole body froze solid—still in the pose of someone desperately trying to flee.

Pryce didn’t spare the frozen idiot a second glance. His attention returned to Giovanni.

“Your men are loyal... but are you sure you want to keep this fight going?”

“Hand over the scroll and the GS Ball, and I’ll let you walk away.”

Giovanni’s Mega Beedrill had narrowly escaped, but it was clearly on its last legs.

And with Celebi’s appearance drawing ever closer, Pryce didn’t want to waste any more time on him.

To show good faith, he had only frozen Petrel with an outer shell—there was no real danger to his life.

But to Giovanni, Pryce’s offer meant nothing.

He had just one demand: “Hand over Silver!”

Bang!

Three Poké Balls burst open—Dugtrio, Persian, and Rhydon.

Combined with the Pokémon already on the field, Giovanni now had seven in total.

Normally, it wouldn’t be wise to field that many—no trainer could command so many effectively in a chaotic battle.

But Giovanni didn’t care anymore. All he wanted was to get Silver back.

“So... we’re done talking.”

Pryce’s expression turned ice cold. He’d already made his offer, more than once. There was no point repeating himself.

He brought his cane down with a crack.

The wind in the sky instantly doubled in ferocity. Snow poured down like a flood, blanketing the forest in white.

All around them, both Team Rocket and the Masked Corps trainers felt the temperature plummet to the bone.

The high-ranking officers exchanged glances.

They knew immediately—this battle was beyond the scope of grunts.

They began ordering their subordinates to fall back, retreating to the outskirts of the forest and leaving only the elites behind.

August was among the retreating crowd… but he deliberately hung back, letting himself fall to the rear.

Then, when no one was watching, he slipped away and climbed back up into the trees, reappearing beside Sabrina.

Sabrina watched him change clothes and smirked. “Not staying with Team Rocket? You called Giovanni ‘boss’ more naturally than I ever could.”

【GardevoirSupremacy】: You don’t get it. This is called ‘committing to the role.’ If I didn’t sell it, do you think Giovanni would’ve trusted me that easily?”

Sabrina looked at him rambling so earnestly and simply shrugged.

"As long as you’re enjoying yourself."

---

This is a fan translation of 我，宝可梦称号大师！ by 落唯 白良. All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!