Itle arena, Grant’s Rookidee moved swiftly, leaving a blur of motion as it cut through the air.

  The surrounding trainers could barely catch a glimpse of the bird, only seeing a faint white trace where the air was sliced by its speed.

  Everyone uood—Grant wao end the battle quickly.

  Though Shiro’s Rookidee remained unscathed, it was clear that it couldn’t match its rival’s speed. A single mistake, a Peck to the wing, and the battle would be over.

  At the same time, if Grant's Rookidee made a mistake, even a slight Peck to the head or a hit from the Air Cutter could instantly cripple the bird’s ability to fight.

  The oute of this Rookidee battle would be decided in a matter of moments.

  “Rookidee! Air Cutter!” Shiro’s voice rang out in sync with Grant’s, both trainers giving their orders at the exact same moment.

  In midair, Shiro’s Rookidee locked eyes with its adversary, rapidly fpping its wings to gather flying-type energy.

  “Speed up!” Watg Grant’s Rookidee dart across the sky like a blue blur, Shiro swung his arm, urging his Rookidee to go faster, g his fist.

  Meanwhile, the trainers outside the arena were buzzing with excitement.

  “No, he ’t use that move! It’s too slow! He won’t have time to plete the Air Cutter…”

  “The Air Cutter is too easy to dodge! It’s not a guaranteed hit!”

  “What is Shir to do? He might be using the Air Cutter as a feint, but what’s his real pn…”

  The older trainer, with deep lines on his face, scratched his gray hair and said, “We’ll find out soon enough.”

  He didn’t uand Shiro’s iioher, but he khat the boween a trainer and their Pokémon was something only they truly uood.

  The wind whipped across the battlefield as the two Rookidees, their deep blue feathers gleaming, crossed paths.

  The watg trainers fell silent, their eyes fixed otle unfolding before them.

  Grant’s Rookidee, recalling the previous feint and attack, saw that the Pokémon opposite was merely h in the air gathering energy. Uo tell which move was ing, it followed its trainer’s instrus and began spiraling in the air, cirg quickly.

  After creating a brief blue blur, it suddenly dove sharply, using Peck from below, its beak aimed at the base of opposing Rookidee’s wing.

  This was one of Grant’s usual tactics—using incredible speed to fuse the oppo, only to attaexpectedly from below.

  Normally, no other Rookidee could anticipate su attack. Those with fast reflexes might try to asd quickly, but evehey would still be injured.

  Grant’s speed-based strategy was highly effective in Rookidee battles, especially si exploited the ot—the wings.

  Uo match the speed, Shiro's Rookidee couldn’t target specific oints like the wings and could only strike wherever it had the ce.

  But now, any hit to the oppo would be enough to end the battle!

  “Rook-dee!”

  Feeling a rush of wind pressure from below, Shiro's Rookidee instantly transformed into a streak of gray light, darting diagonally to another spot.

  As Grant's Rookidee froze for a moment after missing, Shiro’s Rookidee swiftly unched a surprise attack, crashing hard into the side of its oppo's body.

  “Rooook!”

  It flipped several times in mid-air before finally crashing into the psychic barrier at the edge of the battlefield. The attack dealt signifit damage, causing it to fall straight down from the air.

  Seeing this, Grant's eyes widened, and his face twitched in surprise.

  He shot a cold g his fallen Pokémon at the edge of the battlefield before recalling it into its Pokéball.

  The referee, standing at the battlefield’s edge, pushed his gsses up and raised his hand to announce.

  "Alright! The battle is over! The winner is Shiro!"

  The trainers outside the arena remained in a daze, struggling to process what had just happened.

  "What the heck, how did that Rookidee suddenly defeat its oppo? I didn't eve clearly."

  "I didn't see clearly either. It didn't seem to use Air Cutter?"

  "Of course it didn't! I said it before, how could that Air Cutter even hit the oppo?"

  "What do you think, old man?"

  The trainers shifted their attention to the gray-haired old man who the situation. His furrowed brow suddenly rexed, and his hand that had been gripping his hair lowered as he spoke.

  "It must have been Quick Attack. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have missed it.” He oward Shiro’s Rookidee. “That bird wasn’t just charging Air Cutter—it was waiting for the perfeent to burst forward with Quick Attastead.”

  "Quick Attack?" The surrounding trainers exged gnces, not having sidered that move. Shiro’s unspoken, intuitive and style also left them surprised.

  At that moment, both Shiro and Grant removed their identity cards from the metal pilrs, and the psychic barrier that covered the entire field disappeared.

  The receptionist, who had been the referee, walked over to Shiro, extended his hand, and said.

  "Impressive, Shiro. You've successfully won without taking any damage... looks like we’ll be colleagues now. My name is Pym."

  Shiro shook his hand, a simple response.

  “Guess I got lucky.”

  Grant, also walked over. His expression was darker than when he first ehe battlefield, and his face, already resembling the rough texture of bark, was now twisted into a knot.

  “Your Rookidee is well-trained,” he muttered, his gaze lingering on the small bird perched on Shiro’s shoulder. “Especially the muscles around its chest and wings…”

  Big Pecks, as a hidden ability of Rookidee, were very rare. The Pokémon academic world had yet to study this hidden ability.

  Grant didn’t know this was the reason behind it; he just khat Shiro’s Rookidee was araordinary one.

  "The final evolution of Rookidee is Corviknight, a Flying and Steel-type." Grant’s voice was hoarse as he gave o g Rookidee before turning to leave, adding, "Flying refers to the wings, Steel refers to the beak."

  The training of Rookidee focuses on strengthening its wings and beak. Shiro uood the point.

  Grant only said that much before walking away. He didn’t think that Shiro’s training was superior to his own, but rather that Shiro won mostly due to his ued tactid and.

  "Shiro..." As Grant walked toward the exit, Pym leaoward Shiro and whispered, "I’ve seen Grant train his Rookidee before. He bought some Metal Coats and covered his Rookidee’s beak with them..."

  Shiro listened ily, nodding and smiling at Pym.

  "Thanks."

  **

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