X Attack: this was a rare item that could raise a Pokémon's physical Attack stat by two stages, equivalent to using Swords Dance once.
Similarly, X Speed could raise a Pokémon's Speed stat by two stages, equivalent to Agility.
Most importantly, using these two items didn't consume the Pokémon's move turn, and their effects couldn't be negated by abilities or moves.
Right from the start, Clem displayed fearsome strength. Not only did he easily break through Caster's offensive, he also one-shot the Dratini, completely overwhelming Caster.
But after the X Attack and X Speed took effect on Gyarados, Clem keenly sensed something was wrong.
*What's going on with this Gyarados?*
A shadow seemed to fall over Clem's heart, but he couldn't pinpoint exactly what was off.
Just then, Fearow's attack arrived, its terrifying beak drilling toward them like a drill bit.
After one-shotting Dratini, the two Fearow became even more arrogant, completely disregarding the remaining Gyarados and Pikachu.
In their view, dealing with Pikachu would just be a matter of one peck.
Gyarados might be slightly more troublesome, but only slightly.
"ROOOAR~"
But at that moment, accompanied by an earth-shaking dragon's roar, terrifying waves of water suddenly surged around Gyarados, as if an entire pond's worth of water had been swept up.
Within these rising torrents, a ferocious dragon constantly roared and swam, its eyes filled with killing intent.
"Gyarados, push through them!!!"
Caster roared in fury, his voice becoming hoarse.
"ROOOAR~"
Gyarados could feel Caster's rage. The power of its move immediately intensified, as if carrying heaven and earth's might as it crashed toward the airborne Fearow like waves battering a shore.
"CAW~ CAW~"
The two Fearow realized something was wrong.
Though naturally vicious and known as aerial thugs, they were also the type to bully the weak and fear the strong.
When facing a truly ferocious Gyarados, they would only give it a wide berth.
However, with the X Speed's enhancement, Gyarados's speed had soared, its body producing afterimages as it flew.
Even though the two Fearow excelled at flying, it was too late to escape now. They could only exchange glances and quickly split left and right to avoid being wiped out together.
X Attack!
Rain boost!
Royal Authority of the Sea!
At this moment, Gyarados's Attack stat had clearly reached terrifying levels.
BOOM!
Waterfall connected. One of the Fearow let out a wail and was sent flying over a hundred meters as a streak of light before finally hitting the ground.
Even so, it still cratered the earth with a massive pit.
As for Fearow itself, its eyes had long since turned to spirals, and countless feathers had been knocked from its body.
Fearow, one-shotted!
"ROOOAR~"
After successfully drawing first blood, Gyarados's Moxie ability activated.
Accompanied by a roar, its Attack stat rose once more.
"Not good! This guy was playing possum. He was hiding his strength earlier."
Seeing this, Clem had no time to grieve, much less retrieve his fallen Fearow. He hurriedly had Skarmory retreat.
But Caster clearly didn't want to let him leave so easily, snarling through gritted teeth: "Pikachu, Thunder!"
BOOM!
Thanks to the lightning flickering in the rain clouds, Pikachu's Thunder move was no longer limited to generating electricity from its own body. Instead, it could reach across hundreds of meters and call down lightning directly from the clouds to strike the enemy.
"Damn it! Skarmory, Flash Cannon!"
Clem's expression darkened, cold sweat constantly forming on his forehead.
Though Pikachu's Thunder was quite powerful, it obviously couldn't threaten him.
However, in the process of blocking the attack, Skarmory's speed would inevitably decrease, or even pause entirely.
BOOM!
Flash Cannon and Thunder collided once more, producing a violent explosion.
WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!
The explosive shockwave forced Skarmory back several steps before it could spread its wings and fly again.
Only then did Clem finally have time to check on the other Fearow's situation.
Hundreds of meters away in the sky, the ferocious Gyarados charged forth once more with tremendous waves, as if it could even punch a hole through the heavens.
Faced with such a terrifying offensive, Fearow didn't dare tank it and could only place its hopes on Protect.
BUZZ!
A translucent light shield appeared, giving Fearow some sense of security.
But only for an instant.
Because as Gyarados struck, the Protect barrier shattered on impact.
Before Gyarados's absolute power, Protect couldn't protect anything.
Not only could it not protect, it couldn't even consume much of the force. Gyarados's momentum didn't decrease at all as it heavily struck Fearow's body.
"CAW~"
With a miserable cry, the last remaining Fearow was also defeated.
"ROOOAR~"
With another roar, Gyarados's momentum rose once more.
Then it locked its gaze on the desperately fleeing Skarmory, slapped its tail forcefully, and shot into the sky like a rocket.
Immediately after, wind materialized from thin air, carrying Gyarados as it constantly closed in on Skarmory.
"Don't come any closer!!!"
Watching the brutal Gyarados rapidly approaching as if to swallow him whole, Clem had completely lost his composure.
Not only was this Gyarados incredibly powerful, it could even fly?
Just what kind of monster trainer had he provoked?
"ROOOAR~"
Without needing Caster's command, with the rain boost and Royal Authority of the Sea's enhancement, other moves had lost their meaning.
Whenever Gyarados attacked, it just had to mindlessly choose Waterfall.
SPLASH SPLASH SPLASH!
The sound of rushing water grew louder, the harbinger of Gyarados's attack.
But if even Fearow couldn't withstand Gyarados, Skarmory obviously stood even less chance.
Thus, Clem decisively abandoned Skarmory and leaped down from midair.
BOOM!
Skarmory was struck and its body was pushed horizontally through the air for a hundred meters by the terrifying force.
Though Skarmory's entire body was covered in metal armor, Gyarados's current power could rival the divine; it simply couldn't be blocked.
Thus, Skarmory was also one-shotted.
As for Clem, he released a peculiar Pokémon that had characteristics of both a scorpion and a bat, gray-purple all over with bright yellow eyes and a pair of enormous black bat wings on its back.
It was the Ground and Flying-type Pokémon, Gliscor!
Supported by Gliscor, Clem soon landed safely on the ground without being killed by the fall.
Immediately after, he released all his remaining Pokémon.
One was a large Pokémon that looked like a brown bear with a yellow circle on its belly.
The other was a vicious Pokémon resembling a hellhound, gray-black all over with large curved horns on its head and light gray bone-like structures encircling its neck and back.
Unfortunately, these two Pokémon couldn't give Clem any sense of security either.
Watching Gyarados undulating through the air as it descended to kill, Clem's eyelids twitched wildly.