The man known as Brother Chao stood right there on the back of his Sharpedo, riding the crest of the waves as he approached.
"So this is the little brat who beat you up like this?"
His voice wasn't loud, but it sounded like it was coated in ice shards, carrying exceptionally clearly through the damp, salty air.
"Didn't you say you ran into an Investigator from the League?"
The squad leader, as if granted a reprieve, scrambled over and pointed toward the unconscious League personnel on the other side, stammering his explanation:
"Brother Chao! The Investigator has already been taken care of! It's this kid—this kid was hiding in the shadows, trying to pick up our scraps! He..."
Before he could finish, Brother Chao shut him up with an impatient glare.
"Picking up scraps?"
Brother Chao finally turned his gaze toward Ariel, his eyes looking as if he were appraising an inanimate piece of cargo.
He leaped from the back of the Sharpedo, landing nimbly on the deck of the Team Aqua ship, the wooden planks beneath his feet emitting a dull thud.
He laughed—a laugh born of extreme rage.
"You blind fool, you dare to meddle in Team Aqua's business?"
Before his words had even faded, the Sharpedo beneath him had already received a silent command.
"Roar!"
With a low roar, the Sharpedo—whose size far exceeded its peers—broke through the water's surface, its ferocious head churning up white spray as it charged viciously toward the boat where Ariel stood.
It was so fast that it left a clear white wake across the surface of the sea.
As the distance closed, that sinister aura grew increasingly intense.
The Sharpedo was nearly twice the size of a normal individual, its rough skin covered in scars of varying depths, each one like a medal of slaughter.
Inside its gaping maw, sharp teeth interlocked, glinting with a chilling, eerie light.
On the boat, Brother Chao crossed his arms, adopting the posture of someone watching a good show.
In his eyes, for a kid who hadn't even grown all his hair yet to face a Gym Leader Level pokémon—and a specialized, ferocious individual at that—it would be considered brave if he didn't wet his pants in fear.
He couldn't even be bothered to make a move himself, mocking:
"Kid, if you kneel and kowtow now, I might consider leaving your corpse intact."
However, the panic he had anticipated did not appear.
Ariel stood upon the reef, letting the spray from the waves soak his pant legs; far from being afraid, his face held an irrepressible excitement.
Big?
Being big wouldn't scare him.
Because he had something even bigger than that!
Ariel smiled slightly, flipped his wrist, and a red-and-white Poké Ball was firmly grasped in his palm.
"Come on out, Gyarados!"
Without any extra nonsense, the Poké Ball was thrown with force, tracing an arc through the air.
"Bang!"
Light exploded, and a massive figure broke through the water, churning up monstrous waves!
"Roar!!!"
A deafening dragon's roar echoed across the sea.
The Gyarados, its size far exceeding that of the Sharpedo, raised its ferocious head, its crimson eyes locked tightly onto its charging opponent.
Although its Level 46 aura was firmly suppressed by the Level 55 Sharpedo in terms of level, its innate brutality and majesty caused the rapidly charging Sharpedo to instinctively falter.
The Team Aqua squad leader, Brother Chao, felt the mockery on his face instantly freeze, replaced by a fervor mixed with surprise and greed.
"Good! What a fine Gyarados!"
Not only did he not feel threatened, but he became even more excited.
The gap in levels was absolute; in his view, this Gyarados with such excellent appearance was about to become his trophy!
"Sharpedo, don't be intimidated by it! Use Crunch on my command!"
Receiving the order, the Sharpedo suppressed the tremor in its heart and burst forward with speed again, opening its bloodthirsty maw.
Dark-type energy gathered between its teeth as it lunged straight for Gyarados's vitals.
Yet Ariel slowly raised his left hand at this very moment.
A ring embedded with a peculiar rainbow-colored stone refracted an unusual light under the gloomy sky.
His other hand, inside his pocket, tightly gripped the cold Gyaradosite; the bond between human and pokémon reached its peak at this moment.
Brother Chao's pupils constricted sharply; he vaguely felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
Just then, Ariel's voice rang out, calm yet carrying an unquestionable power.
"Respond to my heart, Gyarados!"
"Surpass the limits of evolution and show your most ferocious side!"
"Mega... Evolution!"
As the final syllable fell, the key stone on the ring on Ariel's left hand resonated strongly with the Mega Stone carried by Gyarados!
Hum—!
Streaks of brilliant light burst forth from the key stone and the Mega Stone, intertwining in mid-air and instantly enveloping Gyarados's massive body!
The light of evolution!
The intense light pierced through the gloomy sky, illuminating the entire sea as bright as day.
Brother Chao instinctively raised his hand to shield his eyes, and through the gaps in his fingers, he witnessed a scene he would never forget for the rest of his life.
Within the light, Gyarados's body was undergoing a drastic transformation.
Its bones emitted creaking sounds as if they couldn't bear the strain; its originally slender body expanded at a speed visible to the naked eye, becoming thicker and even more ferocious!
The scales on its back proliferated in layers, shimmering with a cold, hard metallic luster, while its giant fins transformed into blades resembling crescent moons, full of cutting power!
An aura of brutality, far more terrifying and purer than before, erupted from the center of the cocoon of light!
The light dissipated.
A ferocious beast, never seen before, coiled amidst the raging waves.
Most terrifying of all was its aura.
It was no longer simple rage, but a more condensed, purer malice originating from the abyss.
"Gulp."
The squad leader's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed, his eyeballs nearly popping out of their sockets.
The Poké Ball in his hand dropped onto the deck with a "clatter" and rolled away, but he didn't even notice.
What is this?
Gyarados? This is a Gyarados? Are you kidding me!
He had seen all kinds of Gyarados—furious ones, docile ones, huge ones, even Shinny ones... but none of them could compare to the monster before him.
This wasn't even the same species!
"S-Squad... Leader..."
His voice trembled, and his teeth were chattering.
Brother Chao did not respond.
His pupils had shrunk to the size of pinpricks as he stared fixedly at the monster called Gyarados.
A chill shot straight from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.
That was the instinctive fear engraved in his genes, the kind a creature feels when facing a superior predator.
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