Under Leafeon's despairing and disbelieving gaze, its Solar Beam was shattered by Mega Metagross's Giga Impact—and it was inevitably struck head-on by the devastating charge.
BOOM!!
Leafeon's slender body was slammed into the ground with terrifying force, the impact driving it deeper and deeper into the earth.
Mega Metagross's claws had already pierced its abdomen, and with each successive collision against the unyielding ground, the pain grew so unbearable that Leafeon nearly blacked out.
A hundred meters deep… two hundred… four hundred…
The depth kept increasing.
The flesh on Leafeon's back had been completely scraped away, revealing ghastly white bone. Under such agony, its pain receptors finally short-circuited.
For Leafreon, that was almost a blessing.
Freed from the torment of pain, Leafeon mustered the last traces of Grass-type energy within it, forming a flickering Energy Ball.
The Energy ball struck Mega Metagross—its power wasn't much, but at this point Mega Metagross was also at its limit, clinging to consciousness by sheer willpower.
Hit by the attack, Mega Metagross could no longer sustain its Giga Impact. At the same time, its body reverted from its Mega Evolution form.
"Meta…!"
The steel giant panted heavily. It looked utterly battered—its once-gleaming silver body now crisscrossed with spiderweb-like cracks—the aftermath of clashing with Solar Beam and driving Leafreon hundreds of meters into the ground.
Fighting an early-stage Champion-level opponent had pushed even its legendary defenses to the breaking point.
As for Leafreon—it wasn't faring any better. By now, its breathing was shallow and ragged, but it hadn't yet lost consciousness.
Its eyes burned with hatred and fury, locked onto Metagross.
Metagross: 'I won.'
It slowly raised an arm—the movement made its joints creak and groan, like an ancient machine forced to run far past its breaking point. Tiny shards of metal fell from its arm as it moved.
Leafreon stared back, unwilling to accept this outcome.
It wanted to move, to fight back—but its body simply wouldn't respond.
It had already pushed beyond its limits. The fact that it hadn't blacked out yet was proof of Leafreon's incredible willpower.
As Metagross's Metal Claw descended, darkness swallowed Leafeon's vision.
---
High above, Julian stood on Dragonite's back, his gaze fixed anxiously on the massive, dozens-meter-wide crater below where Metagross and Leafeon had vanished.
The residual energy from their clash still lingered at the crater's entrance, disrupting both his Psychic senses and Aura detection, leaving him blind to Metagross's condition.
Just as he was about to have Dragonite descend to check, Gengar suddenly popped out from his shadow—hurling a Shadow Ball toward an empty spot ten meters to his left.
Boom!
"Gehehe~"
A Gengar suddenly materialized out of thin air a dozen meters away. Seeing its ambush fail, it immediately vanished again with a grin.
"Don't bother chasing it."
Julian's expression darkened—he knew exactly what that Gengar had just tried to do. But instead of pursuing, he called his own Gengar back.
"Go capture William," Julian said coldly.
Since the enemy sent a Gengar to assassinate him… then he would return the favor.
In fact, Julian could have had his Gengar kill William from the start. With its Absolute Invisibility, William would never have detected it.
But if he'd killed William outright, it would have completely enraged the two Champion-level Pokémon—and the battle would've escalated rather than ending.
So Julian hadn't bothered… until now.
"Gehehe~"
Gengar grinned sinisterly before fading into the shadows, disappearing without a trace.
On the other side, William watched as his own Gengar returned in vain, a flicker of disappointment crossing his face.
He then ordered it back into his shadow.
His Gengar had long since learned how to stop itself from absorbing the surrounding heat—so unless someone used special detectors or sensory moves, it was impossible to find.
Moments after it slipped into his shadow, though, William suddenly heard a familiar "Gehehe~" echoing in his ear.
At first, William thought his own Gengar was being playful. "Stop messing around and get back in," he chided.
But the next second, his entire body froze. A pale white claw had materialized around his neck.
'White?'
His Gengar was the usual shade of deep purple.
"Gehehe~"
Then the owner of the white claw slowly leaned into view—revealing a shiny, white Gengar.
Julian had obviously turned his own tactic against him—but while William had failed, Julian had succeeded.
"D-Don't act rashly…"
The icy touch of the claw against his throat made William—who'd seen plenty of storms in his life—feel genuine fear.
The Gengar hiding in his shadow didn't dare move either, terrified that any sudden action might get its trainer killed.
It just couldn't figure it out: how had this other Gengar managed to get so close to its Trainer without it sensing a thing?
Julian hadn't ordered his Gengar to kill William outright—only to restrain him—turning the tables completely.
Realizing he was now completely under Julian's control, William felt a wave of despair. His gaze darted toward the distance—just in time to see Jake's Mega Metagross slam a Meteor Mash right through Serperior's skull.
Serperior was dead.
William's heart sank to rock bottom.
Frantic, he looked toward the other battlefield—but only saw Julian standing alone—no sign of Leafreon or Metagross.
A sliver of hope flickered in his chest.
---
Back at the crater's edge, Julian kept his eyes locked on the abyss.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity—he felt Metagross's familiar presence stir below.
After about ten seconds, Metagross slowly emerged from the pit, clutching the unconscious Leafeon in its claws.
"Metagross!"
Julian's heart ached at the sight of his partner's condition.
The steel behemoth's body was now riddled with deep cracks, fine metallic particles kept falling from the fractures like dust. It looked like a shattered ceramic statue—barely holding itself together.
This was the most severe damage Metagross had ever sustained since its debut.
Julian rushed forward, immediately applying every internal and external treatment he had on hand. His fingers trembled slightly as he gently traced the wounds.
"Meta~"
Metagross: "I won."
Despite its injuries, Metagross had never felt more alive.
Its foundation had always been too solid—so much so that no opponent at its own level could challenge it. Even Pseudo-Champions fell before it, albeit with some difficulty.
But this battle against Leafeon, a genuine Champion-level Pokémon, had pushed it to the absolute limit. Though it was a pyrrhic victory, both its body and spirit had undergone an unprecedented refinement.
This was a feeling it had never experienced before.
Not even when it fought Tapu Bulu last time—perhaps because that had been a group battle.
This time, despite starting as a two-on-one, the moment Moltres' wing was injured, it became a pure one-on-one fight between Metagross and Leafeon.
No allies. No distractions. Just total, unrestrained combat—and for the first time ever, it felt the true joy of victory.
Its previous opponents had always been too weak—crushing them brought no satisfaction.
And now, once these wounds healed… it would finally be able to break through the bottleneck from peak Elite to Pseudo-Champion.
After all, its deep foundation made leveling up far harder than it was for most Pokémon.
*****
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