Built different

The moment Volkner heard that voice, he instinctively froze.

Once he snapped out of it, his body had already begun to relax from its previously tense state, and the hand about to press the button on the Pokéball halted.

Azelf also reacted immediately.

As soon as the voice rang out, it sensed a powerful presence rapidly approaching at an alarming speed.

The threat from this new arrival was far greater than what the combined efforts of the three Pokémon it had just faced posed.

Without hesitation, Azelf turned sharply, preparing to launch a Psychic attack in the direction the voice came from.

But just as it pivoted, its vision was suddenly filled with a pair of blood-red wings that forcefully and unexpectedly stormed into view.

Azelf had no time to react.

It only felt a sharp pain in its abdomen before the wind howled past its ears, and its body crashed heavily into the ground.

Thud!

Dust slowly rose from the impact.

But at that moment, no one was paying attention to Azelf.

Volkner watched as a figure jumped down from the Salamence that had struck, stowing the Pokéball back into his pocket as he responded to the earlier question.

"Not everyone is like you, alright? I'm an Elite Four member because I can't go any higher, and you're a Champion because there's nothing beyond the Champion's title. It's not a fair comparison."

In other words, Reid is just built different!

"Also, I thought you went back to Professor Rowan's Research Lab. What are you doing here?"

"If I didn't show up, you'd be in deep trouble."

Reid replied with mild exasperation. "You're an Elite Four member now, but now you look so pathetic."

Because Reid had set off on a journey three years ago, crushing gym challenges across the regions with overwhelming strength, Volkner, the former Electric-type Gym Leader, was deeply motivated. No longer the slacker who, in the original story, would leave the gym badge at the front door for challengers to take, Volkner rekindled his passion for training after a period of recovery.

Blessed with immense talent, and already known as the strongest Gym Leader with power comparable to the Elite Four, Volkner, with the support of his close friend Flint from the Elite Four, showed incredible strength even after neglecting his training for two or three years.

This year, he defeated the lowest-ranking Elite Four member of Sinnoh, claiming the title of the new Electric-type Elite Four member.

Volkner understood what Reid was implying but chose not to argue. Instead, he replied seriously, "I got outsmarted. This thing completely played me."

He then gave a brief rundown of the situation.

"It looks like it's gone berserk, and you can sense its chaotic energy, but it hasn't lost its mind. It's still showing an extremely high level of battle intelligence."

"In other words, it's raging, but not fully out of control?" Reid glanced at Azelf, which was now climbing out of the crater.

Sure enough, despite the blood-red eyes, both its control over its psychic abilities and its visibly emotional expression confirmed what Volkner had said.

"Interesting..."

Reid couldn't help but smile.

This situation was completely different from what he had seen with Mesprit and Uxie, and it piqued his curiosity.

To be honest, he didn't really care about these things. He was more concerned about whether if Azelf would be like Mesprit and Uxie, going into deep sleep after being knocked out.

Since if that happened, Reid had no way to deal with that.

After all, he had no talent for research nor using his brain—his forte was battle, anything can be solved with overwhelming strength.

But Azelf was different...

Since it clearly seem to have retained some sentience, there was a chance that useful information could be extracted from it.

Just as Reid was delighting in this discovery, Azelf, having regained its footing, launched an enraged attack.

Volkner, having been through this once already, quickly warned, "Watch out, don't underestimate—"

Before Volkner could finish, the moment Azelf finished forming its Psychic attack, it used Teleport to instantly close the distance between itself and Reid.

However, before it could recreate the same scene as earlier with Volkner, a massive blue tail came crashing down on its stomach the second it appeared.

Thud!

Another dull thud echoed as Azelf went flying once again.

But unlike before, this time it wasn't just falling; it was sent skidding sideways through the air.

It only stopped when it slammed into the trunk of a tree a hundred meters away.

Meanwhile, Volkner had just finished his warning.

He shook his head helplessly.

Caught up in pointing out Azelf's unusual behavior, he had completely forgotten it was Reid that was standing before him.

Forget about Azelf—even if all three Lake Guardians were here, they still wouldn't stand a chance against Reid.

Besides, how likely was it that all the Lake Guardians would go berserk at once?

Impossible.

Reid had no idea what was going through Volkner's mind, but if he did, he might've pulled out the replica GS Ball and the Master Ball containing Uxie to show him.

He'd tell Volkner that he was absolutely right—all three had indeed gone berserk.

But jokes aside, Reid did take Volkner's earlier warning seriously.

He needed to handle this carefully.

If he accidentally knocked Azelf out, causing it to fall into the same deep slumber as the others, any clues they had would vanish.

And beyond that, he had to make sure to inflict enough pain to generate some fear—fear would make the interrogation much easier later.

So, he ruled out Salamence and Typhlosion, both too reckless for the task.

That left only three suitable candidates.

Reid rummaged through his bag and threw out three Master Balls.

With a crisp sound and a flash of red light, three Unown—B, D, and E—appeared in the air.

"We can't let it get away, but we also can't let it lose consciousness. How you manage that is up to you."

The three Unown gently nodded and quickly spread out, forming a triangular formation around Azelf.

As Azelf prepared to respond with disdain, three beams of Hidden Power began to charge.

In an instant, the atmosphere around the Unown changed drastically.

But that wasn't all. What made Azelf's expression shift was the distinct energy emanating from each attack.

Two of the energies had a distinct type advantage over it!