"This time he's bound to lose. He's not even at the Elite level—how could he possibly beat Grandpa?"

  Although Ethan didn't have much skill himself, he wasirely blind when it came to judging battles. While Steelix appeared imposing, he could tell that it wasn't at Elite level.

  Elite-level Pokémon were fually different frur ones.

  Even if ae-level Pokémon suppressed its aura, you could still sense somethiraordinary about it just by looking at it.

  Steelix was at the peak of pseudo-Elite, while Lunatone was at the peak of Elite level. The gap betweewo was signifit.

  So the first priority was to narrow that gap.

  "Steelix, Mega Evolve!"

  As a dazzling rainbow light engulfed Steelix, a few seds ter, Mega Steelix emerged otlefield.

  Mega Steelix's new form boasted a ring of floatiallic shards around its neck, divided into six groups rotating clockwise.

  Its three rod-like protrusions had transformed into crystalliructures resembling diamonds, and its tail tip had also adopted a diamond-like appearance.

  Additionally, four previously unadorned body segments now featured hexagonal blue ring patterns on their sides.

  Its height had also increased signifitly pared to before, and its level temporarily surged from 70 to 73.

  Seeing this, Ethan fell silent. He had pletely fotten about Mega Evolution.

  "ROAR!"

  Feeling the dramatic boost in power, Mega Steelix's fidence surged. In this moment, it even dared to sider fag Metagross head-on.

  Its pierg gaze locked onto Lunatone, roughly 400 meters away.

  Mega Steelix: "I'll take you down first."

  Its massive body began moving forward. While not particurly fast, its enormous size made eaent cnifit ground.

  As it closed in on Lunatone, a massive spectral jaw filled with sharp teeth formed in midair and luoward the oppo.

  Lunatone unleashed its Psychiergy, shattering the bsp;attack with a Psyshock.

  "Lunatone, Future Sight"

  A mysterious orb of light shot from Lunatoo the sky. The sed, the orb vanished from sight.

  Future Sight: 'Unleashes an attack after a few turns'

  While Lunatone reparing Future Sight, Mega Steelix's Iron Tail was already raised and crashing down. For a Pokémon of its size, the force of the attack was truly terrifying.

  As the Iron Tail desded, it caused a soni, its tip streaking through the air with white energy that pressed the atmosphere beh it.

  "Psychic!"

  Fag an Iron Tail capable of demolishing a skyscraper, Lunatone remained motionless. Its eyes glowed blue, and ripples of psychiergy surged outward, striking Mega Steelix's Iron Tail in successive waves.

  Each time Iron Tail was struck by the psychic waves, its power weakened slightly.

  At just teimeters away from Lunatone, Iron Tail came to a plete stop.

  No matter how much force Mega Steelix exerted, the teimeter gap remained unbridgeable, an invisible wall created by Lunatone's Psychibsp;held the Iron Tail in pce.

  As the blue glow in Lunatone's eyes intensified, Mega Steelix felt its massive body begin to lift off the ground, inch by inch.

  "Steelix, Screech!" Julian said.

  Hearing this, Fred's expression ged slightly.

  Though Mega Steelix's body was immobilized, it could still use its mouth. As its jaws opened, an ear-pierg sound, like the sound of a bde scraping against gss, echoed across the battlefield.

  Lunatone's face twisted in disfort, and its focus on Psychibsp;faltered.

  Boom!

  Mega Steelix crashed back to the ground.

  "Dig!"

  "Moonbst!"

  Julian and Fred shouted almost simultaneously.

  Lunatone began gathering energy for Moonbst, but Mega Steelix's massive form vanished underground before the move could nd.

  Fred's face darkened slightly. Julian had read his as and preempted his move.

  Mega Steelix had dodged the Moonbst with Dig before Lunatone could plete its attack.

  Moments ter, the ground cracked open. Mega Steelix erupted from beh the surface like a venomous sriking a sparrow, its massive jaws snapping toward Lunatone.

  At the critical moment, a pale green protective barrier enveloped Lunatone.

  ch!

  Mega Steelix's jaws smmed into the Protect. Cracks began to spread across the barrier, but it held firm.

  Perhaps the shield would shatter in the instant, or maybe in two or three seds.

  Either way, Lunatone only hose few seds.

  The grouh Mega Steelix rapidly turo sand, swallowing a third of its massive body in mere moments.

  The powerful su created by Sand Tomb rendered even Mega Steelix's immerength useless. The loose saed its efforts to move effectively.

  And at that very moment, a brilliant white beam of light desded from above, striking Mega Steelix squarely on the head.

  Future Sight had nded.

  The timing couldn't have beeer. Trapped by Sand Tomb, Mega Steelix had no way to dodge.

  Fred allowed himself a slight smile. A bit of luck always felt good.

  Julian, however, remained silent.

  "Steelix, Drill Run," he said calmly.

  Just when Mega Steelix was thinking about how to escape the predit, Julian's voice made its eyes light up with realization.

  Yes, it could use that move.

  Although Sand Tomb's su restricted its movement, Mega Steelix's massive body could spin with the flow of the shifting sands, turning the trap into an advantage.

  Sand Tomb that once restrained Mega Steelix, in an instant, bee its ally. Harnessing the shifting sands, it pleted Drill Run in the blink of an eye.

  Like a high-speed spinning drill, Mega Steelix pierced through the Future Sight, dispersing it entirely. Using the momentum from its rotation, it propelled itself out of the Sand Tomb.

  Watg Mega Steelix charge toward Lunatoh Drill Run, Fred g Julian with a hint of admiration.

  From the Screebsp;to disrupt Lunatoo reading his moves, and now Drill Run, Julian sistently found ways to help his Pokémon escape dire situations at critical moments.

  Such precise and and adaptability—no wonder he overshadowed his peers, and now even dared to challeeran trainers.

  But Fred's Lunatone wasn't so easily bested.

  Lunatone's eyes fshed blue, and several Light Ss materialized in the Drill Run's path.

  Crabsp;The first Light S shattered in an instant.

  Crabsp;The sed Light S broke within half a sed.

  Crack!

  Crack!

  Crabsp;By the time the fifth Light S shattered, Mega Steelix's Drill Run had lost all its momentum, and its massive body came to a halt.

  The power of Drill Run was pletely ralized by the five Light Ss, and Lunatone had prepared six.

  "Hypnosis"

  Mega Steelix, still rec from the halted Drill Run, suddenly felt its eyelids grow heavy. They fluttered open and shut, a deep drowsiness washing over it.

  It wanted nothing more than to close its eyes a.

  Seeing Mega Steelix's eyelids slowly close, Fred smiled faintly.

  "Wake up, you fool!"

  Just as Mega Steelix was about to succumb to sleep, Julian's sharp voied directly into its mind.

  *****

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