"An unknown Pokémon?"
"It looks like a Steel-type..."
It was the first time many had seen it.
"It's that Meltan!"
"But wasn't it smaller before?"
Now it was almost a meter tall.
"Could it be because of those nuts...?" Lucas thought out loud.
Stefan ordered: "Gothitelle, Psychic!"
Mental power materialized into a devastating attack.
"Take it head-on, use Thunderbolt!"
Meltan concentrated electricity into its nut and fired.
Boom!
The attacks collided... and canceled each other out.
"It blocked it!"
"That Meltan is at the same level as Gothitelle!"
"After all, it's a singular Pokémon," Ethan smiled. "After absorbing Meltan's nine nuts, it finally shows its true potential."
Stefan took a deep breath.
"An opponent at the same level... unexpected."
The two Pokémon faced each other again.
"Meltan, Thunderbolt again!"
"Gothitelle, distort the space and block it!"
With a movement of both hands, the space in front of Gothitelle distorted, deflecting the trajectory of the Thunderbolt move, which passed brushing past her body.
Immediately after, a blue flash shone in her eyes and a shockwave shot out, hitting Meltan directly and sending it flying.
In a direct long-range confrontation, Gothitelle was still superior to Meltan, which relied on its special abilities as a singular Pokémon, taking the advantage in the battle.
"Again, Psyshock!"
With a sharp gaze, Gothitelle launched the Psyshock move once more.
"Meltan, dodge it!"
Hearing Ethan's command, Meltan's body flashed with electricity and disappeared almost instantly.
Boom!
The Psyshock move missed completely.
"What speed!"
The spectators were unable to follow its trajectory with their eyes.
Next, Gothitelle turned into a true long-range artillery tower. The Psyshock move tore through the air again and again, exploding into multiple shockwaves.
Although Meltan moved at extreme speed, Gothitelle, thanks to her psychic perception, kept tracking its position and launched attacks to intercept it.
When Meltan activated its Magnetic Levitation ability, Gothitelle responded with her full power, pushing the battle to a critical point.
"Meltan, prepare the ammunition!"
Seeing that speed alone was not enough, Ethan gave a new order.
Meltan's mercury body began to stir. Large quantities of liquid metal separated and formed small steel spheres that spun rapidly around it.
"Burst Electromagnetic Cannon!"
While dodging, Meltan finished preparing the attack.
Immediately, it opened fire: the electrified spheres shot out like true electromagnetic projectiles.
In the air, the attacks from Gothitelle's Psyshock move collided with the bullets of the Burst Electromagnetic Cannon... and were completely torn apart.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
The spheres whistled as they headed toward Gothitelle. But at that moment, the blue glow lit up in her eyes again.
The space in front of her distorted once more, deflecting all the trajectories of the projectiles, which passed brushing past her.
With her ability to distort space, Gothitelle practically possessed the ultimate defense: no attack could reach her.
"It's invincible... that ability is even better than an immunity move."
The spectators sighed in amazement. Manipulating space was a technique of the highest level.
In the exchanges that followed, Meltan took the offensive initiative.
However, as long as Gothitelle could distort the attacks, every shot missed.
Even so, Meltan did not slow down. Wave after wave of projectiles forced Gothitelle to keep using her spatial power to defend herself.
But as she did so repeatedly, she began to show signs of fatigue.
When one of the Electromagnetic Cannons fired again, the spatial distortion could no longer completely deflect its trajectory. Both powers reached a deadlock.
In the void, time seemed to freeze. The air transformed into a canvas, and the projectile remained suspended like part of a painting.
Then came a second shot.
A third.
A fourth.
The projectiles floated like stars, filling that "painting" in the sky.
Until...
Crack!
A sound like breaking glass echoed in the void.
The next instant, all the suspended "stars" fell. Under Meltan's control, all the bullets of the Electromagnetic Cannons struck Gothitelle directly.
The explosion was violent. Gothitelle was blasted away and crashed into the protective wall, becoming embedded in it.
The entire stadium was in shock.
Stefan's Gothitelle, invincible throughout the entire World Championship... was the first to fall in the final.
"It lost...?"
Even Stefan was stunned.
He knew that Gothitelle's spatial distortion ability had already reached the level of creating an alternate space.
At the last moment, she had tried to use that dimension to dodge all the accumulated projectiles.
But even that dimension was shattered.
"An ability capable of breaking the limitations of space...?"
Stefan recalled Gothitelle, deep in thought.
On the other side, Ethan sighed in relief. From the beginning he had planned to use Meltan's spatial magnetic field to interfere with Gothitelle's distortion.
Fortunately, the metal spheres—part of Meltan's own body and carriers of its magnetism—managed to carry out the tactical plan.
"What Pokémon will Stefan send now?"
Throughout the entire World Championship, he had only shown Gothitelle. No one knew the other five.
"My next Pokémon is this!"
Stefan threw another Poké Ball.
After the white light dissipated, a flame burned on the field.
"It's... Delphox!"
Ethan immediately recognized the Fire/Psychic-type Pokémon, with a humanoid fox appearance and a staff in its hand.
"Come back, Meltan."
"Stop it, Mystical Fire!"
Both commands sounded almost at the same time.
When Ethan pointed the Poké Ball, Delphox had already launched a burst of flames toward Meltan.
Meltan hesitated for an instant and disappeared in an electric flash, dodging the Mystical Fire move and avoiding the Poké Ball's red beam.
"Zzzt!"
Floating in the air, it fired Thunderbolt again. But just before it hit, Delphox disappeared.
In its place remained a floating flame, while its real body appeared in the air, swinging its staff and launching another burst of flames that struck Meltan by surprise.
Boom!
The mercury body exploded, splitting into nine liquid masses.
"Was Meltan destroyed?"
Before the audience could react, Stefan shouted for it to dodge.
(End of chapter)