Uhe grip of Psychic, the only thing Mega Altaria could move was its eyes, which darted around helplessly as its body was slowly dragged toward Metagross.

  Although Metagross's face remaioic, the violeions swirling in its eyes struck fear into the Mega Altaria's heart.

  From the initial Disarming Voibsp;to the ret Perish Song, all of Altaria's moves had beeal attacks.

  But Metagross, known for its naturally ruthless nature, wasn't oo let such provocations slide.

  Metagross was inally a ferocious Pokémon but it kept a calm aached expression.

  But onraged, it could transform from a dependable ally into a rampaging maniac.

  With Altaria pio the ground, Metagross raised its thick arm and unleashed its signature Meteor Mash.

  With a loud 'boom', the ground trembled as a crater nearly 100 meters wide formed, tered around the pinned Mega Altaria.

  Julia a twinge of , w if his Metagross would go too far and actally kill the oppo.

  He noticed the opposing trainer gring at him with a mix of anger and disbelief.

  As the dust settled, the se before everyone was... ued.

  Metagross slowly withdrew its arm from the ground, the massive limb h just inches away from Mega Altaria's head—so close it might have bsted the head off.

  Mega Altaria's body, however, bore no visible injuries.

  It was clear that the Meteor Mash hadn't hit its target. At such cle, with Altaria pletely restrained by Psychic, missing would have been impossible.

  Unless Metagross had iionally missed it on purpose.

  Despite not being struck, Mega Altaria had already reverted to its normal form—and was unscious.

  "Wait... did it pass out frht?"

  "I think so"

  "Metagross is 'so' mean, but I love it. What should I do?"

  Sharp-eyed onlookers quickly pieced together why Altaria had fainted.

  Julian knew of Metagross's vengeful streak, so its as didn't surprise him.

  Between physically knog the oppo out and sg it into fainting, the tter was far more humiliating for the oppo.

  Altaria, a pseudo-Elite Pokémon, had fainted purely from fear. If word spread, how could it maintain its dignity among its kind?

  The opposing trainer was relieved to find Altaria unharmed, quickly recalling it. But realizing it had fainted frht left them flushed with embarrassment.

  A Pokémon's disgrace directly reflected on its trainer.

  The trainer hastily withdrew from the battlefield, too mortified to linger.

  "Are you okay?"

  Julian asked as Metagross hovered back to his side.

  Although the Perish Song had been interrupted, its effects had already started taking hold the moment the song began.

  The damage from Perish Song would only reach its peak at the end of its duration.

  "Meta~"

  Metagross shook its head, signaling it was fine.

  Though Perish Song had inflicted some damage, it wasn't enough to his ability to tinue fighting.

  Julian used Probing Eyes to cheetagross and found that, aside from some stamina loss and minor injuries, there were no lingering effects from Perish Song.

  Only then did he feel relieved.

  It wasn't that Julian was being overly cautious, but Perish Song was an incredibly devastating move.

  Much like Self-Destrubsp;and Explosion, it was a move designed for mutual destru. In some ways, Perish Song was even more extreme thaher two.

  While Self-Destrubsp;and Explosion were limited in range, Perish Song was different.

  As long as you could hear it, you were affected. The only factor was that the further away you were, the weaker the effect.

  Julian had already defeated five trainers from Modu Academy.

  The sixth challenger now stood ready on the field.

  "Garp"

  A te stage pseudo-Elite Garp.

  Julian looked at the oppo, waiting for their move. The trainer seemed to uand what Julia.

  "I don't have a Mega Stone!!"

  The other party snapped.

  'If I had one, my Garp would've already Mega Evolved.'

  Julian found this hard to believe. Wasn't it said that everyone from the Modu Academy not only had a pseudo-legendary but also a Mega Stone?

  Seeing Julian's incredulous expression, the trainer's anger deepened, apanied by an odd pang of guilt as if he had let Julian down.

  'What the hell am i thinking'

  "Garp, Ssh!" the trainer shouted in frustration.

  If Dragonite was the fat poster child of the dragon world, Garp was its lean, powerful terpart.

  Despite its seemingly slim build, Garp's explosive power was undeniable. With a stomp, it left a small crater in the ground and closed the distao Metagross in the blink of an eye.

  The sharp, axe-like fin on its arm glowed white as it sshed down with tremendous force.

  Metagross swung its left arm to meet the attack, Hammer Arm g with Ssh.

  The instant the two white fshes collided, Garp was sent flying backward by the resounding crash.

  This Garp sure had guts, daring to eagross in close bat.

  What did it think it was, a Kommo-o?

  In the moment, Metagross used Teleport, appearing instantly behind the airbarp.

  "Garp, stabilize yourself and use Dragon Rush!" the trainer shouted.

  Leveraging the momentum of its flight, Garp charged itself with draiergy and unched inton Rush. The move showed a glimmer of creativity—remi of a certain Ash Ketchum's strategies.

  But this guy wasn't a protagonist, and Garp wasn't Pikachu. Such tactics wouldn't wainst Julian.

  Dragon Rush required time to charge.

  Metagross had no iion of giving Garp that time. Enveloped in psychiergy, it shot forward with Zen Headbutt at an astonishing speed of 200 meters per sed.

  Garp, mid-air had just started to steady itself to unch Dragon Rush, suddenly felt the world spin. Before the pain eveered, it had already lost sciousness.

  It tumbled across the battlefield for hundreds of meters, finally crashing into the protective barrier and ing to a halt.

  Its arms and legs were visibly bent at unnatural angles, clearly indig fractured bones.

  Not even a pseudo-Elite peak and without the ability to Mega Evolve, Metagross taking on such a challenger was akin to an adult sparring with a child.

  "Why do I feel defeating pseudo-legendaries is super easy?"

  "This reminds me of the time I used my Pidgeotto to beat a Caterpie"

  "So Garp's this weak? Gd I chose Dugtrio back then. Same Ground type, but Garp, you're an embarrassment."

  "Hey, ytrio help plow the 3,000 acres of farmnd at my pce?"

  "500 per acre, if the price is doable. DM me your address."

  "My Tauros charges 400."

  "My Bouffant only 300."

  Over on the Modu Academy' bench, yet another defeated traiook a seat. Only three people remaianding: two partits and the coach.

  "No pressure, it's okay if you 't win."

  The coach said, patting the seventh trainer on the back.

  The seventh trainer climbed into the ring, looking like he was on his way to a funeral.

  "Dyn, Julian must be defeated. It doesn't matter if your trump cards are exposed. Modu Academy afford to lose, but 'you' ot."

  The coach then turo the st remaining partit, his expression grim.