Poké Balls had two types of closed states: standard close and locked close.

  Iandard close state, the Pokémon inside could e out on its own.

  In the locked close state, the Pokémon inside could on its own.

  Most of the time, trainers kept their Poké Balls iandard close state, so in ued situations, the Pokémon could e out on its own, saving the traihe trouble of manually opening the Poké Ball.

  All of Julian's Poké Balls were iandard close state, which was why Melmetal could e out on its own.

  But couldn't this foolish thing check the battle enviro from ihe Poké Ball before ing out? It pluraight to the bottom as soon as it appeared.

  They say evolution ges a Pokémon's personality, but who k could lower their IQ too?

  Even though the two Gyarados had their mouths open, Julian had the feeling they were ughing.

  "Slowking, get Melmetal out of there!"

  Better to pull Melmetal up before the fight actually starts—no need for it to bee the first Mythical Pokémon to drown. That'd be quite the "honor."

  Just as Slowking was about to dive in, a fist suddenly broke through the water and struck Gyarados's jaw, sending it flying.

  As the fist began to retract baderwater, Metagross grabbed it and, with a firm pull, lifted Melmetal from the ke.

  Seeing its child get sent flying in front of it, the Elite Gyarados felt a surge e.

  "Melmetal!~"

  Even as Metagross held it in mid-air, Melmetal didn't settle down. Its fist, crag with electricity, swung toward the Elite Gyarados.

  Gyarados leapt into the air, meeting the Thunder Punch with an Iron Tail to block it.

  Seeing this, Slowking unleashed an Ice Beam that froze the surrounding ke surface solid.

  Gyarados nded on the ice, gng at Slowking, then at Melmetal, Metagross, and Dragonite.

  - Are they pnning to gang up on me? -

  Its fighting spirit, fired up by rage, was suddenly dampened.

  "Melmetal!~"

  Melmetal also nded on the ice. Fortunately, the ice was thiough; otherwise, with its 800kg weight, it would have broken through immediately.

  "Alright, it's up to you"

  Julian said, seeial's eagero fight. This was its first battle sig and evolving, and its oppo was ae-level Pokémon.

  For a Mythical Pokémon, having ae-level oppo as its first battle was certainly fitting.

  "Gyarados, one-on-one! If you lose, I'm taking all your treasures. If I lose, I'll give you this."

  Julian took out a Water Gem. This item was worth more thaop-grade Water Stones and, when carried over time, could enhance a Water-type Pokémon's essence.

  Upon seeing the Water Gem in Julian's hand, Gyarados's expression instantly turned depressed.

  It once had a Water Gem just like that, but it was stolen by a wretched human who not only beat it up but also captured one of its harem—a beautiful white Magikarp.

  Julian: (?_?)?

  'What's going on? How am I sensing waves of depression from a Pokémon?'

  Julian had no idea that the Water Gem had stirred up Gyarados's painful memories.

  "ROAR!!"

  Gyarados suddenly raised its head.

  Those bitter memories and the trampling of its pride finally igs fury. It wanted payback; it was going to take down the Pokémon in front of it and snatch all of this human's Pokémon.

  Its Intimidate ability activated, but aside from Slowking looking a bit scared, her Metagross, Dragonite, nor Melmetal showed any signs of fear.

  With the level differeween Slowking and Gyarados, it was natural for Slowking to be affected by Intimidate.

  Julian recalled Slowking bato its Poké Ball to keep it from getting caught up in the uping battle.

  The Gyarados before him was level 75, a mid-tier Elite Pokémoal, oher hand, was level 61, at the early pseudo-Elite stage—a full tier below.

  However, as a Mythical Pokémoal's life force was on par with Elites and even surpassed mae-level Pokémon.

  "Melmetal!~"

  Melmetal taunted Gyarados by bending forward and l its head to his crotch to look at it.

  Gyarados couldn't tolerate this.

  With a mighty Hydro Pump, Gyarados unleashed a powerful bst of water. Even though they were on the ice, the surrounding ke gave Water-type moves a natural power boost.

  Melmetal wasly a fast Pokémon.

  In fact, most Steel-types were heavy, tank-like Pokémon; only a few, like Lucario, Escavalier, and Bisharp, etc, fall into the agile category.

  Melmetal met the Hydro Pump with a Dynamich. With its Iron Fist ability, the power of its pung moves was increased by 20%, and white energy swirled around its fist.

  "BOOM!!"

  The two attacks collided, aal ushed back three or four meters.

  Gyarados the for a Fire Fang, its fangs bzing as it lu Melmetal.

  Being able to learn Fire-type moves, this Gyarados had eveer talent than expected.

  Melmetal blocked with its arm, and though Gyarados was a Water type, its Elite-level status meant that even Fire-type moves were still potent.

  Melmetal's body had a unique feature—it was fluid, posed of liquid metal. When Gyarados's fangs cmped down on its arm, Melmetal took damage, but it quickly trolled the liquid metal in its arm, creating a gap in the area being bitten.

  Gyarados felt as though its mouth was suddey and was momentarily fused. Just then, a crag sound of electricity buzzed near its ear.

  A Thunder Punbsp;struck Gyarados square on the with a loud "bang," sending its body airborne. But as soon as it left the ice surface, Gyarados twisted in midair, using the momentum to whirl around and el a swirling stream of water along its tail.

  Melmetal was about to block with its arms when Julian's voice rang out.

  "Protect!"

  The battlefield was on ice, and if Melmetal tried to block Aqua Tail with its arms, the impact would shatter the ice beh, causing it to sink once again.

  Protebsp;shielded against the Aqua Tail, and Gyarados nded heavily ba the ice. In that instant, a silver-white beam shot toward it.

  Fsh on

  The attack hit its mark, pushing Gyarados back several meters.

  Immediately, Melmetal swung its fist, its liquid metal body allowing for extreme reach, extending Dynamibsp;over a wide span of several meters.

  "ROAR!!"

  Gyarados unleashed a Hyper Beam, bsting the Dynamibsp;away.

  "Protect" Julian called out again, though his tone sounded a bit uain.

  Melmetal tried to use Protebsp;once more… but it failed this time.

  Julian's luck seemed to have run out.

  Unlucky King Julian was back.