----
The first to recover from the shock was the referee. Noticing Trinity still frozen in place, he quickly raised his flag and signaled the match to resume.
Trinity blinked herself back to reality. Shaking off her daze, she tried to rally, calling out commands to Chinchou but the little Pokémon didn't respond at all.
Oh no.
It was completely paralyzed with fear.
Trinity's heart dropped. She reached for its Poké Ball and swiftly recalled it without hesitation.
"Take a breather," she whispered. "You've done enough."
After a deep sigh, she glanced back at the monstrous red Gyarados on the field. Her eyes narrowed, conflicted. Then, as if committing herself, she drew another Poké Ball.
With a flash of light, another Gyarados surged into the water of her own.
Trinity knew the truth: most Pokémon would lose the moment they laid eyes on Kai's red Gyarados. It wasn't just intimidation it was soul-crushing dread. She hoped her own Gyarados, with the [Intimidate] ability, might hold its ground.
But she was wrong.
Her Gyarados let out a defiant roar as it emerged but the sound paled in comparison to the earlier earth-shaking bellow from Kai's.
And then their eyes met.
Her Gyarados visibly recoiled.
"What? Even you…?" Trinity's voice trembled.
This was her ace. If it was afraid to fight, the match was already over.
Thankfully, her Gyarados wasn't completely broken. It hesitated… but then slowly steeled itself, rising upright in the water. It hadn't given up.
That alone was enough to ease Trinity's nerves slightly.
Kai, watching quietly from his platform, had noticed the hesitation too.
Even among Gyarados, there are leagues of difference.
His own Gyarados wasn't some standard capture. It had clawed its way through chaos and bloodshed and been enhanced far beyond natural limits.
He gave a single, quiet command: "Go."
He didn't shout. He didn't need to.
As if reading his thoughts, the red Gyarados dipped beneath the surface, sending waves rippling across the arena.
Trinity's eyes sharpened. "Don't wait to go under and find it!"
Her Gyarados followed suit, diving in.
The underwater cameras kicked in. On the jumbotron, the audience saw two massive shadows moving through the depths one large, the other colossal.
Standard Gyarados were around 6.5 meters long, sure. But Kai's red Gyarados? It was nearly triple that. At least 20 meters.
If normal Gyarados were the size of a delivery truck… this one was a rolling fortress.
Suddenly, the surface exploded.
With a violent crash, the red Gyarados burst out from below, slamming Trinity's Gyarados up into the air, ramming it backward through two stone pillars and directly into the stadium's reinforced wall.
BOOM!
Cracks formed in the stone barrier on impact.
Even among powerhouses, the red Gyarados was on another level it had flattened its own kind in a single strike.
Before the rubble had even hit the water, the cries began.
Trinity's Gyarados let out a chilling scream as the red Gyarados lunged, jaws wide, and sank its fangs into the base of its neck.
A second, even more agonized shriek followed.
At first, Trinity thought it was just a move like [Bite] or [Crunch] but something was off.
Very off.
This wasn't a move.
This was a mauling.
The announcer's voice cracked. "Wait, what?! Kai's Gyarados isn't using a move it's tearing off scales! What kind of battle is this?!"
A huge patch of scales flew off as blood splashed across the water, dyeing the pool crimson.
Then the red Gyarados bit again on the other side.
Gasps rippled through the stadium.
Even the high priestess Maya stood from her seat, horrified.
This wasn't a Pokémon battle.
This was a savage beatdown.
Pokémon matches were intense, sure but they still followed rules. Even the fiercest Pokémon typically used their known moves. They respected the line between combat and cruelty.
But not this one.
The red Gyarados were fighting like a beast born in the wild. No tactics. No techniques. Just raw violence.
It had utterly crushed another Gyarados in seconds and now, it was actively dismantling it.
Kai exhaled, his face calm but firm.
It was over.
Any longer and Trinity's Gyarados might not survive.
He raised a hand and snapped his fingers.
Instantly, the red Gyarados released its grip and retreated, vanishing beneath the surface before emerging at Kai's side—silent, composed.
The audience sat in stunned silence.
How…?
A Pokémon this vicious how could it respond to a snap?
In everyone's minds, the fiercer a Pokémon was, the harder it was to control. Especially during the heat of battle.
But Kai's Gyarados obeyed instantly.
How?
How was that possible?
Even Maya, still standing in the VIP box, was staring at Kai with new intensity eyes locked on the Trainer and the monster beside him.
She didn't speak.
But in her silence, she was clearly deciding something.
----
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