"Steven, my life is in your hands now. You have to win, okay?!" Mark cried miserably, clinging to Steven's leg and howling without shame.
"We can't win."
Suddenly, Sato cut in, drawing a stunned look from Mark. His eyes were practically pleading.
"But we can't lose either. The best outcome is a draw," Joseph added.
"That complicates things," Steven said "calmly" as he pried Mark off, clearly troubled.
Everything Slaking had done since its appearance screamed: I'm strong, and I'm proud.
If they beat it too harshly and it got humiliated, it might rally all the surrounding Pokémon into a full assault, making the battle meaningless.
"If it's tricky, I can go?"
"I'll handle it. Metagross has finally found a worthy opponent!"
Steven rejected Sato's offer decisively and move forward without hesitation, with Metagross right behind him.
"SLAAKING!"
"METAAA!"
Slaking and Metagross each let out a thunderous cry, as if trying to stoke each other's fighting spirit.
No referee was needed. Once their eyes locked, the battle began.
Slaking dropped to all fours and charged Metagross with a deafening force.
As it ran, a swirling violet energy formed around its body… it was opening with Giga Impact, a powerhouse move right out the gate.
Terrifying physical strength + a high-power move + same-type bonus. Slaking's Giga Impact had power that even surpassed the Pseudo-Elite Four level.
"Metagross, Hammer Arm, spin!"
Metagross floated up from the ground, its eyes locked tightly on the rampaging Slaking. All four of its steel arms lit up with a glowing orange energy.
Then, Metagross began to spin!
Giga Impact versus a spinning Hammer Arm. To be honest, Sato didn't see any chance of Metagross winning the clash.
And sure enough, Metagross couldn't hold its ground even for a second. It was sent flying backward.
But Sato quickly realized his worry had been unnecessary. Steven had never intended to face it head-on.
Metagross, now like a boomerang, used the recoil from the Giga Impact to increase its spin speed.
Then, during the window where Slaking couldn't attack due to Truant, Metagross struck back!
Boom!
The spinning Hammer Arm slammed into Slaking with a sound like a drum being pounded… deep, heavy, and so powerful it blew up a two-meter cloud of dust from the ground.
In terms of raw strength, the Pseudo-Legendary Metagross couldn't beat Slaking. It was simply outmatched.
But through its seasoned combat experience and Steven's precise commands, Metagross had taken a huge advantage in the first exchange.
"Slaa…king!"
From within the dust cloud came the sound of Slaking furiously pounding its chest.
Then, a Fire Blast tore through the smoke, crashing toward Metagross at incredible speed! Too fast for it to dodge.
Whether it was bad luck or just timing, Metagross had just finished its spinning Hammer Arm, and was still stabilizing its body and breath.
The Fire Blast landed hard, snapping Metagross back to reality before it even had time to relish its earlier success.
Sato, watching from the sidelines, noticed the biggest difference between Metagross, Slaking, and his own Pokémon.
Their physical prowess was overwhelming!
After using Giga Impact, Slaking was forced into Truant, but it still managed to counterattack immediately with Fire Blast after being hit by a spinning Hammer Arm, and the timing was perfectly precise.
Metagross, on the other hand, leveraged its steel body to convert the force from Slaking's Giga Impact into rotational momentum, increasing the power of its own move.
That's not something just any Pokémon could pull off; if it were a different one, without such solid physical stats, it would've been crushed on impact.
On the battlefield, Metagross activated Iron Defense, significantly boosting its defense, clearly preparing for a long battle.
Meanwhile, Slaking, having regained its ability to move, went straight for a Hyper Beam.
With the Truant Ability, Slaking didn't mind using moves with drawbacks since it would fall into inactivity anyway, there was nothing to lose.
A classic case of "knowing your own nature."
But that also made it extremely easy to counter. With only Giga Impact and Hyper Beam, Slaking's options were rather limited.
And sure enough, with precise timing, Steven had Metagross use Agility, easily dodging the attack .
Slaking's flaws were just too big.
If it was at a significantly higher level, it was a war machine. But when evenly matched, once you found the right approach, Taking it down became a viable tactic.
However... this battle was supposed to end in a draw.
After being struck down again by Hammer Arm, Sato was just about to remind Steven of their goal when something suddenly changed in the atmosphere…
Slaking had snapped!
"Slaaking!"
Slaking's eyes flared red, steam erupting from its body, and its bright red pig-like nose wrinkled fiercely; it looked completely feral!
Without using any move at all, it charged Metagross with pure brute force, swinging it fists again and again.
Metagross dodged two punches, but was suddenly kicked over by Slaking.
Still dazed, Metagross didn't have time to calculate what had just happened, when its Trainer's urgent voice rang out. "Protect!"
Duang! Duang! Duang!
Slaking pounded relentlessly against the green energy shield Metagross threw up instinctively.
"Substitute!"
Metagross regained its composure just in time, and the moment Protect dropped, it created a Substitute to escape Slaking's onslaught.
Slaking was now blatantly ignoring its Truant Ability, launching continuous attacks without pause.
Who could possibly endure that?
Not only did Steven have to back off, even the wild Pokémon who had been watching panicked and began fleeing in all directions.
Clearly, this wasn't the first time Slaking had gone berserk.
Very soon, the Substitute Metagross had created was completely shredded, and Slaking once again locked onto its real target!
"Raaalts!"
Suddenly, a clear voice rang out from the scattering Pokémon. It was Ralts, the one that had been riding on Slaking's shoulder.
Sato could distinctly sense the astonishing Fairy-type energy within Ralts' voice, yet it somehow carried a deeply calming, soothing quality.