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Before long, the light surrounding Beldum completely faded. Standing before Kai, Ash, and Brock was a Pokémon in an entirely new form.
Its body resembled a small flying saucer, colored in blue-green tones. It had two arms, silver spikes protruding from both its face and back, and pairs of silver blades extending diagonally backward from either side of its body. If one had to describe it, it looked as though two Beldum had been fused together.
"What Pokémon is this?"
Although Ash had been upset about the earlier battle convinced that Kai had tricked him the moment he saw Beldum evolve, all that frustration vanished. Without hesitation, he pulled out his Pokédex and aimed it at the newly evolved Pokémon.
The Pokédex responded almost instantly.
Pokédex:
"Metang, the Iron Claw Pokémon. A Steel- and Psychic-type. Metang has two brains connected by a magnetic nervous system, producing powerful psychic energy. However, its intelligence does not increase. Its steel body won't be damaged even if it collides with a jet plane. The claws on its arms can tear thick steel plates apart like silk. It floats using magnetic force and can rotate its arms backward to fly at high speed, reaching up to 100 kilometers per hour as it crosses rugged mountains. When it spots prey, it restrains it with its sharp claws and immobilizes it with psychic power. Note: Metang is extremely fond of magnetic minerals and will relentlessly pursue Nosepass at speeds of up to 100 kilometers per hour."
The long stream of information made one thing abundantly clear to Ash this Pokémon called Metang was nothing like the weak Beldum from before.
Especially since Ash himself had challenged the Rustboro Gym and fought Roxanne's Nosepass, he knew exactly how troublesome that Pokémon could be.
Yet Metang actually hunted Nosepass.
That alone spoke volumes about its strength.
Excitement immediately reignited in Ash's eyes as he called out, "Kai! Use this one! How about another battle?!"
Ash wanted to fight but Kai had no such intention.
The only reason he'd agreed to battle earlier was to help his two Pokémon, both weak and limited in their movesets, gain experience and evolve more quickly.
Now that one of those goals had already been achieved, there was no reason to waste any more time.
Ignoring Ash's eager expression, Kai laughed and waved him off.
"Let's call it a day. It's getting late anyway. We should go see how May and the others' practice is going."
As Kai casually pulled out a Poké Ball and recalled Metang, Ash's expression instantly froze.
"…That's it?"
He was just about to protest when he noticed Brock beside him nodding enthusiastically in agreement.
"I'm all for it!" Brock said, eyes sparkling with excitement. "A beach like this is guaranteed to have tons of beautiful ladies in swimsuits. We should hurry before we miss out!"
"You two…"
Ash nearly shouted 'Are you even Trainers anymore?!', but before he could finish, the two were already laughing and walking off together.
"Hey! Don't just leave me here!"
Letting out a helpless sigh, Ash jogged after them.
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By the time the group reached the shoreline, the long stretch of sand was packed with tourists. Just as Brock had hoped, aside from families and elderly visitors, the beach was filled with beautiful young women in bikinis.
Some lay sunbathing on the sand, while others relaxed beneath umbrellas with cold drinks in hand, creating a dazzling summer scene.
Brock clasped his hands together, drool practically spilling from his mouth as he gazed around dreamily.
"Wow… it really is a famous summer beach! So many beauties this is paradise!"
Ignoring Brock's shameless behavior, Kai and Ash scanned the area. Despite searching for quite a while, they couldn't find May, Misty, or Max anywhere.
"That's strange," Ash said. "Didn't they say they were practicing at the beach? Where'd they go?"
"There are too many people here," Kai replied after a brief look around. "They probably went somewhere quieter. Let's check further down."
Grabbing Brock by the arms, Kai and Ash dragged him away from the crowded beach and headed off into the distance.
As they moved farther along, the number of tourists steadily decreased. After walking several hundred meters, they reached a massive rock formation where hardly anyone else was around.
Just as they were about to continue searching, voices suddenly drifted over from the other side of the rocks.
Hearing this, they quickly rounded the boulder and sure enough, there they were.
"So this is where you've been hiding," Ash said with a grin. "No wonder you were so hard to find."
Misty laughed when she saw them. "The main beach was way too crowded, so we came here to practice in peace."
Beside May, a black-and-gray butterfly-like Pokémon fluttered gracefully through the air.
Even though Kai hadn't seen it in person before, he recognized it immediately as Beautifly, the Pokémon May planned to use in Pokémon Contests.
Beautifly had aqua-blue compound eyes and brilliantly patterned wings. Though similar in size, it was far more vibrant and elegant than the many Butterfree they'd seen back in Kanto and Johto.
Beautifly often gather in flower fields to collect pollen, drifting with the spring breeze. It adored sweet pollen, and if a flowerpot were placed near a window, it would surely fly over and use its needle-like proboscis to collect nectar.
Despite its graceful appearance, Beautifly possessed an unexpectedly aggressive temperament. When angered, it attacked fiercely, piercing opponents with its long mouthparts and draining their bodily fluids.
It was also greedy by nature, often driving away Combee to monopolize its favorite nectar.
From their earlier conversations at the café, Kai already knew that May had only caught this Beautifly recently.
Yet in just a few short days, it had evolved all the way from Wurmple into its current form perfectly demonstrating the astonishing growth speed typical of Bug-type Pokémon.
Still…
Judging by the scene before them, it seemed that May and Beautifly weren't quite working in sync yet.
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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For early access to advanced chapters on P-atreon:
P-atreon/iamxeno
(Just remove the - hyphen to access normally)
Thank you so much for your support and for reading!