Milotic had barely asked what we wanted when I sensed something approaching fast, and I was not the only one since everyone's heads snapped towards the rear of the water channel. Mere moments after that it was no longer a sensitivity issue since whoever was coming over was not suppressing their power at all, and everyone was able to feel the platinum stage undulation, though most of the weaker ones would not necessarily recognize it as such.
Still, that did not stop them from understanding that it was way out of their league and panic, which was why every fish in front of us, at least the ones we could see, scattered in terror. Some, whether out of panic or on purpose, simply let themselves get carried away by the current, past us, down the waterfall. It was admittedly not a stupid idea, and likely safer than trying to find someplace to hide. Unless of course, the source of those undulations was not interested in them at all.
Either way, it was not stopping, and feeling the Stage 6 aura closing in Milotic was not feeling much better than the other fish/Pokemon. I could feel his fear, but before he could make any choice, the area around us got blanketed with what I recognized as Intimidate. Simultaneously, the Pokémon, specifically the Gyarados that was the source of the Intimidate and the undulations, finally became visible, though that was not truly good news for us since it meant that it had come close enough for that to be the case.
From what I sensed when Gyarados spotted us, I was 99% sure that we were its goal, which was not good news either. Well, more like Milotic was its goal, but we were beside Milotic right now, and I was not sure Gyarados would care about our presence if it wanted to attack. Maybe it was because the combination of Intimidate and its platinum-stage aura had finally caused Milotic to slacken, which allowed the current to sweep it along, or because I had jinxed us with my earlier thoughts, but Gyarados lost no time to fire off a quick Hyper Beam at us the moment it locked eyes with Milotic.
A quick burst shot of Hyper Beam like that from a (high) platinum stage Gyarados was definitely enough to seriously damage or even straight-up kill Milotic with a single hit, depending on where it hit, provided that it did. However, it was not at a level we could not handle, or rather it was not at a level that Mothra/Butterfree could not block without any problems. She did not even leave my head before releasing an Aerostream to counter/block the Hyper Beam.
The wind she let out caused the water to part in front of it and my cheeks to flab somewhat, but that was nothing compared to what happened when the Areostream and Hyper Beam met. The moment that happened, an underwater explosion took place, causing a surge in all directions, including ours. As a result, Milotic got flung right out of the opening along with the water that got an extra push by the explosion instead of getting washed down the waterfall.
Since we were levitating right in front of the opening in the wall, we got doused by the water, and Milotic got flung right into us, which was lucky for him since BossBro caught him, sparing him from a painful crash. While that happened, the reason why Gyarados fired off that Hyper Beam so quickly became apparent as well. A Milotic's tail crashed into its head moments after it released the Hyper Beam burst, causing its head to snap to the side.
Unsurprisingly, the two Pokémon directly began to fight after that, and the undulations released by the foreign Milotic in the process revealed that it was at the (high) platinum stage as well. It was clear that these two were among the Stage 6 Pokémon (Milotic and Gyarados) I had read about in the alliance report on the (failed) water channel exploration.
There was no doubt that both the Gyarados and Milotic had come to the end of the water channel for Milotic, likely having become aware of his existence due to the triumphant cry he released after his evolution, or maybe due to the bright light that was released during the process. Honestly, given the situation, Milotic (newbie) was both unlucky and lucky at the same time.
He was unlucky enough that the Gyarados had been closer to him/the waterfall than the Milotic because without us the Hyper Beam burst would have most likely killed him before the platinum stage Milotic made it. However, he lucked out because, despite the unlucky situation, we were around to block that quick shot. Still, it was not every day that one got to see a battle between (high) stage 6 Pokémon, especially between the two Great Serpents of the Sea, so we continued to levitate at our current position to watch the battle between Gyarados and Milotic.
I even expanded the size of the live stream I was projecting into Utopia and made a general announcement to tell everyone to look up to avoid missing a battle between Titans. Milotic also focused on the ongoing battle once he calmed down from his brush with death. As if the spectacle was not great enough another Gyarados showed up less than two minutes later, and it immediately joined the battle. The two Gyarados teamed/ganged up on Milotic, who swiftly began to struggle against two foes of the same level.
Another minute in, Milotic suffered the first true injury, causing it to bleed quite a bit before it healed the wound using what I suspected was Recover. Regardless, I felt Milotic (newbie) turn rather anxious when it saw the strong Milotic bleed, and even after it healed the wound, Milotic (newbie)'s anxiousness did not lessen all that much. It actually turned to look at me and requested that we, as in Mothra and the others, support Milotic.
Before I could say anything, Kun/Azuraid snorted and asked Milotic if he seriously expected us to meddle in a battle against two (high) platinum-stage Gyarados. I could feel that he felt that the idea was stupid, and his tone/posture showed as much, but I could also feel that Mothra seemed to be actually interested in the idea, which made me want to facepalm just a little bit.
Milotic (newbie) did not seem surprised by Kun's attitude, probably aware that what he was asking for was a bit much, but he still doubled down and declared that he would do anything we wanted if we helped the other Milotic repel the Gyarados. That attracted my attention since I was still interested in recruiting him, but I was honestly not sure if we even needed to step in.
The battle between the 3 super-strong Pokémon was not what I would call reserved, and because they were so close to the mouth of the water channel, the whole wall and part of the area close to the wall/waterfall were shaking. This along with the undulations that were being released during the battle had caused the Pokémon in the area to panic and vacate the immediate area.
There was no way the rangers stationed here had not noticed the commotion and I was pretty sure that they were heading here at this very moment, though given the strength of the battling parties, I was not sure if they could interfere even if they wanted to. Still, while they might not be able to interfere, we certainly could hold back one Gyarados without me having to bring out any reinforcements, so I told Milotic that we would do it.
Yet, before I was able to tell Mothra to engage one of the Gyarados, a Dragon Pulse slammed into one of the Gyarados, pushing it away from its fellow and the Milotic. The push forced Gyarados closer to the opening, and consequently to us, but we still lost the opportunity to interfere because a second Milotic, who obviously was the one that released that Dragon Pulse, rushed past the still-battling Milotic and Gyarados, toward the Gyarados that had been pushed back.
It engaged that Gyarados, and even found the time to let out a thrill asking the Milotic beside us if it was okay, which he confirmed. Still, with the second Milotic, the one beside us thanked us for our readiness to help, even if it was no longer necessary seeing how the two Milotic were dealing with the Gyarados without falling into a disadvantage. Even the first Milotic, who had to deal with two Gyarados for a period, had no problem blocking Gyarados' assault.
Now that I thought about it, I could not help but wonder why the Gyarados had attempted to slaughter the newly evolved Milotic in the first place. They seemed to have had no problem living with the Milotic so far, given how both parties lived in the water channel without there being any reports of consistent battles/conflicts breaking out.
Given their apparent strength, I was sure the Rangers stationed at the Meteor Falls, the Pokemon living at the back of the Main Chamber where the upper waterfall was located, and even wandering trainers would have felt something if that had been the case. Maybe it was because they feared that the addition of another Milotic would disrupt the balance, which seemed kinda unfair to me considering how easy it was for Magikarp to evolve compared to Feebas.
The fact that there were Gyarados that lived in the main chamber alone already demonstrated that a number's game was decisively in the Gyarados' favor. Not to mention that Milotic was only at the (low) silver stage right now, though that admittedly did not conflict with the idea of nipping a problem in the bud.
Anyway, we continued to watch the battle for a while, and as we saw the two battles progress, I started to get an idea of why the Gyarados wanted to take Milotic down the moment they heard his cry. While the two parties were pretty evenly matched, the battle was starting to tilt in the favor of the Milotic simply because the Milotic could heal some of the damage they suffered mid-fight.
Sure, healing moves in real life were not as effective as their game counterparts, and they were not easy to use in a battle, especially when not mastered to a certain extent, but they did still heal the user. In a fight like this, that had a not inconsiderable effect. I felt Milotic starting to relax as the battle progressed and the Milotic began to gain the advantage. It was at that moment a freaking third platinum stage Gyarados joined the battle, though thankfully this one was not as strong as the others.
Nonetheless, a (low) platinum stage Gyarados was enough to push/tilt the battle back in the Gyarados' favor, which was why Milotic's relaxed stance, tensed up once more. The first thing he did was to look over at me and give me a pleading look. Not wanting to risk a third Milotic somehow appearing just to balance the odds again, I immediately told Mothra to go tackle that new Gyarados.
Mothra took that order literally, or as literally as she could given the circumstances. She did not actually use Tackle to attack Gyarados, but she dove into the water channel using Aqua Jet, to prevent any mobility issues obviously, and slammed/tackled into Gyarados's gut. I was quickly reminded why I had wanted to be more specific with Mothra, though I guess this time around she was doing it because she thought it was funny.
Either way, the unexpected bug/Butterfree missile caused a lull in the underwater battlefield and I could understand why the Pokémon on both sides would be surprised by a platinum Gyarados getting sucker punched or slammed in this case while underwater by a Butterfree of all things. Mothra did not wait for them to recover from their shock, and followed up with a Mega Kick right at Gyarados' chin, snapping its maw shut, and its head back.
-----------------------------
Advertising plug-in:
Currently, the lowest number of advanced chapters available on patre'on is 6, while the highest number of advanced chapters is 10.
Sketches, drawings of the MC, Variants and maps can be found on my Patre'on. A patre'on exclusive Legendary Lore and Pokemon Lore/Info series can be found there as well.
Help me stay motivated.
patreo*n/Azrail93