"Have you noticed that Brother Walker is suddenly looking so handsome? He's about to catch up with me!" Luis excimed.

  Hugo shot him a skeptical look. "Are you plimenting Julian or yourself?"

  "Of course, I'm plimenting my Brother Walker! And while I'm at it, I'm giving myself a little praise too," Luis chuckled.

  Suddenly, Luis poked Hugo in the side. "Look! Brother Walker's Metagross is moving!"

  After both trainers sent out their Pokémoher attacked immediately. About half a mier, Julian's Metagross sprang into a.

  With a swift use of Agility, Metagross's speed was almost parable to that of Teleport. In the blink of a closed the distance, appearing seven ht meters away from Artio.

  In the tles earlier, Acacia had beeiculously studyiagross, gaining insights into its speed, strength, and defense.

  In raw power, Metagross surpassed most Fighting-type Pokémon, which were renowned for their brute strength. Out of the nine previous oppos, five had fallen to Metagross's Fighting-type moves, all defeated without mercy.

  "Artio, use Air Ssh!"

  Acacia anded, and the majestion waved its wings forward. Instantly, two translut wind bdes formed, slig through the air with a sharp, pierg sound.

  "Light S!" Julian ordered.

  There was a certain ce that Air Ssh would make the Pokémon it hit flinch.

  The transparent barrier intercepted the two Air Sshes. However, the Light S also gotnumerous cracks and was on the brink of colpse.

  "Artio, Ice Beam!"

  The sed, the freezing light broke through the weakened Light S. But by theagross had already disappeared, the Ice beam smmed into the battlefield, eng the two football-sized field in ice.

  This se left most of the audience gasping in awe. While a typical pseudo-Elite Ice-type Pokémon could achieve something simir, none could do it with the same ease as Artio.

  As expected of a legendary Ice- and Flying-type Pokémon, Artio's immense power left many other Ice-type Trainers in despair.

  Among them, Ian was likely the most desperate. Looking at the frozen ground, he realized that, if nothing ued happened, his Dragon-type Pokémon would and a ce against Acacia's Ice-type."

  "Hammer Arm!"

  Metagross appeared on top of Artio, its arm swinging down with explosive force.

  "Boom!"

  The impact reverberated through the arena, creating a shockwave that sent Artio plummeting from the sky. The air beh it pressed, f a visible cave shape as it fell.

  "Ar~!"

  A deep crater formed in the ground, cracks radiating outward across the ice. Yet, Artio quickly regais footing a out a fierce cry.

  "How is it still fine!?"

  Luis excimed, his eyes nearly popping out. That Hammer Arm would have been enough to take down any of his Pokémon in an instant.

  Yet here, it seemed like a mere massage for Artio.

  "Legendary Pokémon ot be measured by ordinary standards, at their level of life in, they exist beyond ordinary Pokémon."

  Frank expined, although this was also his first time seeing an Artio iy, and he knew almost no more about it than Luis and the others.

  But, what he did know was that whether it was a third-css legendary, a mythical Pokémon, or a sed or first-css legendary, their life levels were entirely different from those ur Pokémon.

  Their lifespans were also typically much longer.

  For an ordinary Pokémon to enhas life level, it had to reach the Elite level. Only then would its life level improve. This applied even to pseudo-legendaries.

  But for a legendary Pokémon like Artio, born as araordinary being in the world, their life levels were naturally higher than most.

  That's why Artio could withstand the full foretagross's Hammer Arm without showing visible injury. In fact, it was injured, but the injury was not a big deal for it.

  Despite this, Artio gred at Metagross with eyes filled with rage. Being struck first by its oppo was a humiliation it couldn't tolerate.

  "Metagross, Mega Evolve!"

  Notig that Artio was more durable than he had anticipated and that its resilience remairong, Julian observed that the chaotic aura from its earlier injury was quickly stabilizing.

  When the light of evolution disappeared, Mega Metagross appeared with its four cws pointed forward, Its gaze colder, sharper than before.

  inally, the ability Metagross possessed was light metal, but after Mega Evolution, the ability had transformed into Tough Cws.

  Tough Cws: Increases the power of tact moves by 30%

  Uhis Ability, Metagross could do much more stronger melee damage.

  At the same time, Metagross' level after Mega Evolution had skyrocketed from 59 to 69, directly at the peak of pseudo-Elite.

  An overwhelming aura radiated from Mega Metagross, causing ripples to shimmer in the protective barrier meant to guard against the full-force strikes of pseudo-Elite Pokémon.

  Acacia's expression shifted noticeably.

  "Wow, how do I feel like Metagross is going to win?" one speurmured.

  "I'm also with you! This Metagross is clearly at the pseudo-Elite pinnacle"

  "If Artio loses, I'll be over the moon!" someone from the Imperial Uy excimed.

  "Same here!" several voices echoed in agreement.

  "Meta!"

  Mega Metagross snorted softly, its four cws glowing with silver-white light.

  "Steel Beam!"

  "Artio, Ice Beam!"

  The two beams of energy, one silver-white and the other blue, collided in the air, fighting against each other. Yet, withihan a sed, the Steel Beam overpowered the other, breaking through.

  "Artio, Dodge!"

  Acacia shouted urgently.

  Artio fpped its wings, managing to dodge the the Steel Beam. However, its tail feathers trailing behind were hit, losing half of their length.

  For a Pokémon like Artio, known for its grad elegahe damage to its magnifit tail feathers hurt the most. Although they would grow back, but it would have to make due with only half for a while.

  Artio's eyes were red with anger.

  "Ar..!!"

  The cry was filled with endless anger.

  To be ho, Artio was indeed beautiful, but half of its beauty was due to the ribbon like tail feathers.

  Now, with half of its elegant tail feathers reduced to a mere stub, it appeared to lose some of its enting charm.

  "Artio, calm down!"

  Seeing that Artio was about to lose trol, Acacia hurriedly shouted.

  Fortunately, because she had captured Artio using a Friend Ball, their bond had strengthened siderably in a short time. If not for this e, Artiight not listen to her now at all.