----
Kai called out, "Gyarados, the rest are all yours!"
"No!!"
Quackenpoker's face twisted in shock as Kai disregarded his plea. Instinctively, he stepped forward, intending to physically stop Kai But before he could take more than a few steps, a sudden, bone-chilling cold swept over him, freezing him in place!
Danger!!
His breath hitched as he turned his gaze toward Kai's side.
The silent, cold-eyed woman with long black hair, Sabrina, was watching him with an icy, piercing stare. The sheer intensity of her gaze was suffocating, as though her will itself had materialized into something tangible and deadly.
Despite her calm and delicate appearance, there was an unmistakable aura of overwhelming danger surrounding her.
Floating just above Kai's head, Haunter was also watching him, its wide grin full of mischief. Its glowing eyes carried a different kind of warning, one that suggested it was just waiting for an excuse to make a move.
"Hehehehehe... Come on, Make a move"
Quackenpoker felt his entire body break into a cold sweat. He wasn't a coward by any means but against these two, he didn't dare take another step forward.
He didn't even dare to speak.
—
Meanwhile, out on the battlefield, Kai's Gyarados raged forward without restraint.
After the intense skirmish earlier, only ten wild Gyarados remained.
With Ash, Misty, and Tracey's Pokémon retreating, the wild Gyarados, now without other targets, turned their full attention to Kai's Gyarados.
Dozens of blood-red eyes locked onto it with pure fury.
"ROOOAAARR!!!"
The wild Gyarados let out a deafening collective battle cry, their rage intensifying. In their eyes, Kai's Gyarados was a traitor, siding with the enemy an unforgivable betrayal. But their fury was met with an even more ferocious roar.
"GRAAAAAAHHH!!"
Kai's Gyarados responded with a roar that shook the very air, filled with absolute defiance and dominance.
A single Gyarados more aggressive, more arrogant, and more powerful than an entire group of its own kind.
If this had been any other battle, Ash and the others would have thought such a thing impossible. But right now, they could only stare in stunned silence.
The wild Gyarados did not back down.
If anything, their rage only burned hotter, and they charged as one, diving in for the kill. The lake erupted into a storm of churning waves.
Water exploded in towering geysers, each Gyarado twisting, lunging, and snapping with fangs like jagged swords.
The ground trembled beneath the relentless collision of their colossal bodies. It was an all-out dragon brawl, primal and savage raw power clashing without restraint.
Despite being outnumbered, Kai's Gyarados was undeterred. With brutal efficiency, it dodged, countered, and struck back with overwhelming force.
Fangs tore through scales, tails crashed like whips, and bodies collided with the force of tidal waves...
It was pure carnage.
Even from the shore, the sheer intensity of the battle was enough to make Misty nervous.
"Kai…" she murmured. "Are you sure Gyarados can handle this? Shouldn't you… I don't know, at least give it some commands?"
Kai shook his head.
"Even if I tried, I wouldn't know what to say," he admitted. "A battle like this same species, same fighting style, outnumbered, I don't have a strategy for that. It's all on Gyarados now. If it starts losing, we step in."
The fight was brutal.
With each passing moment, Kai's Gyarados left more of its foes in ruin.
One after another, wild Gyarados fell before it. But the victory wasn't without cost.
Its once-pristine scales were now marred with deep bite marks, patches of flesh exposed where scales had been torn away.
Blood mixed with water, creating a crimson mist around its body.
And yet—
Even as pain wracked its body, Gyarados did not falter.
It was relentless.
Unstoppable.
An absolute monster.
Kai frowned as he watched, gripping the Poké Ball at his belt.
This had escalated far beyond what he had anticipated.
He had only intended for Gyarados to tip the scales. Instead, this had turned into a full-scale civil war of its own kind.
At this point, even if he recalled it, the battle would not stop.
So instead, he chose to let it finish what it started.
—
By the time the final wild Gyarados collapsed, the lake had fallen silent.
The battle was over.
Kai's Gyarados stood alone, surrounded by the unconscious bodies of its kin.
Its body trembled from exhaustion, scales cracked and bleeding, yet it refused to fall.
Instead, it lifted its head high, looked toward the rising sun and let out a thunderous, victorious roar.
"ROOOOOAAAAARRRR!!!"
It was a declaration.
A challenge to the world itself.
A message that this Gyarados, Kai's Gyarados stood above all others.
At that exact moment, the first light of sunrise broke over the island. The golden glow of dawn bathed Gyarados in light, glinting off its battered scales like a warrior clad in red armour.
A gulping noise broke the silence.
Quackenpoker, who had been watching in pure disbelief, had swallowed hard.
"I've seen countless Gyarados over the years," he murmured, voice barely above a whisper. He hesitated, almost calling it brutal but caught himself.
Instead, he forced out a different word. "But… I have never—never—seen a Gyarados as… as powerful as this."
Kai took a slow breath, eyes locked on his Pokémon. He could still vividly remember when it was just a Magikarp in that tiny tank aboard the St. Anne.
He could still see it raging across the Indigo League, crushing all opposition.
And now—
After this battle, it had reached another level.
Something even stronger than before.
Misty, looking around the battlefield with caution, hesitantly asked:
"So… what do we do now?"
----
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