Chapter 1012: Double Iron Bash

The violentDynamic Punch, carrying an unstoppable force, clashed with the goldenHyper Beamin a deafening explosion of sound.

Gyarados'sHyper Beamshattered like splitting bamboo under the impact, splintering into over a dozen thinner beams that scattered in all directions.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Like fireworks, the scatteredHyper Beamfragments erupted into explosions around them.

Even though the energy was dispersed, each fragment carried enough power to take down an Elite-level Pokémon.

Facing theDynamic Punchthat had shattered itsHyper Beam, Gyarados's eyes burned with fury. It twisted its body, its long form coiling like a whip as it swung its tail from below.

Wrapped in surging water, the tail tore through the air with a sound like ripping currents. Descending like a giant axe, it met theDynamic Punchwith a thunderousbang.

TheAqua Tailexploded on impact, sending water splashing in all directions. The immense force sent a sharp pain through Gyarados's tail, while its body was thrown backward.

Melmetal retracted its now-depletedDynamic Punch, its right arm snapping back like a spring with a sharpswish.

Pushing off lightly with its feet—leaving small craters in the ground—Melmetal shot forward like a rocket, cutting through the air with a sharp whistle as it charged toward Gyarados.

Sensing the danger while still in mid-air, Gyarados immediately abandoned any attempt to regain its footing. Instead, it firedHydro Pumpsin rapid succession.

The recoil from the blasts propelled it backward even faster, widening the gap between it and Melmetal.

Faced with the barrage ofHydro Pumps, Melmetal was forced to halt its pursuit, repeatedly usingMega Punchto shatter the incoming torrents of water.

From the two clashes just now, Gyarados had realized that its opponent excelled in Fighting-type moves, and it subconsciously began treating Melmetal as a Fighting-type Pokémon.

In reality, however, Melmetal was a pure Steel-type. However, itsIron Fistability, combined with its flexible, stretchable body, granted it close-combat prowess that rivaled—or even surpassed—that of many Fighting-type Pokémon.

Ironically, its pure Steel typing even limited its full potential in Fighting-type moves.

By now, Gyarados had come to a stop, maintaining a distance of about two hundred meters from Melmetal—a distance that, for Gyarados, counted as a safe casting range.

Sizzle—

Suddenly, crackling arcs of electricity surged across Gyarados's body, twisting and snaking like vipers over its scales.

The sudden jolt of electricity numbed Gyarados's body, though thankfully, it didn't fall into a paralysis state.

It soon realized that one of Melmetal's fists had been plunged into the ground at some point, channeling waves of electric current through the earth.

The ground, now thoroughly soaked from the barrage ofHydro Pumps, had become an ideal conductor for electricity.

That was how Gyarados had been struck byDischarge. Otherwise, on dry ground, the move's speed and power would have been greatly diminished at this distance.

"No paralysis, huh? Melmetal, seems you're just as unlucky as Metagross," Julian remarked dismissively from atop Metagross, casting a disdainful glance at Melmetal.

From start to finish, he hadn't issued a single command to Melmetal. If it needed his guidance to defeat an opponent like Gyarados, it would be downright embarrassing.

"Meta!"

Metagross: "I am not unlucky!"

Metagross firmly denied any association with bad luck.

To this day, it still couldn't understand how Julian had so effortlessly found the exit portal to the Top-tier secret realm last time.

Before that, his luck had obviously been terrible.

Could this be what they called "fortune following adversity"?

Julian, of course, would never tell Metagross that he had used a full tenLucky Charmsto find that Secret Realm's exit portal. Otherwise, he would still be the same old Julian with the same old bad luck.

By cheating, Julian had managed to shed his unlucky image in front of Metagross—so thoroughly that it even made Metagross question its own understanding of probability.

While the electric current didn't paralyze Gyarados, it still left its body somewhat stiff and significantly slowed its reflexes.

"Mel~"

In that half-second delay, Gyarados watched as Melmetal closed in right before its eyes, and its expression suddenly twisted into one of sheer ferocity.

It was usingLeer.

Gyarados was already intimidating by nature, and coupled with itsIntimidateability, the power of itsLeerfar exceeded that of most other Pokémon.

But Melmetal showed no fear at all.

Melmetal:'Scared? You think this is scary? Try facing an angry Slowking. Your glare isn't even one-ten-thousandth as terrifying.'

Standing on Metagross's back, Julian wholeheartedly agreed with Melmetal's sentiment.

In this life, Julian feared neither heaven nor earth—only an angry Slowking and Love. Of course, this rule applied exclusively within his own team.

Facing Gyarados'sLeer, Melmetal responded with a solid punch straight to its cheek. With a pained roar from Gyarados, several teeth flew out of its mouth.

"Nice hit!"

Seeing this, Rillaboom leaped up in excitement.

Heavens knew how many times it had suffered because of Gyarados'sLeer.

While the move had no effect on Melmetal, it was still highly effective against Rillaboom.

"Impossible!"

Gyarados stared at Melmetal in disbelief. Its never-failingLeerhad actually failed, and it had even lost several teeth to a counterattack.

Refusing to accept this, Gyarados attemptedLeeronce more.

Bang!

The next second, Melmetal landed another punch right onto its eye socket. The tremendous force forced tears to gush out, and for a moment it couldn't even open its eye—leaving it effectively half-blind.

Who knows ifLeercould even be used with just one eye.

"You bast**d!"

These two punches from Melmetal thoroughly shattered Gyarados's dignity. You don't hit someone in the face—but not only had it been hit in the face, it had even been punched in the eye.

Furious and humiliated, Gyarados' body erupted with an intimidating aura. Waves of water surged beneath it, and the surrounding humidity soared rapidly.

This wasn'tSurf—it wasWaterfall.

"Mel~"

Melmetal lightly knocked its fists together. The nut-like head atop its body glowed, and a single eye at its center burst with a dazzling white light.

The light struck Gyarados instantly, the powerful impact blasting its body high into the air.

Before Gyarados could even land, the bolt on Melmetal's chest began spinning rapidly. Then, both arms swung toward Gyarados—

Double Iron Bash!

After eating theDouble Iron Bash, Gyarados crashed to the ground, its head lolling to one side as it fainted outright.

"Mel~"

Melmetal: "Couldn't even take a few hits."

It then turned to Rillaboom: "How about you and I have a match next?"

Frightened, Rillaboom shook its head repeatedly. Gyarados had just been utterly dominated without a chance to fight back—why would it willingly step up just to get beaten up?

It wasn't as brainless as Gyarados.

*****

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