Recalling Lucario, Julian sent out his fifth Pokémon.
Boom!
As the Poké Ball burst open, the ground trembled slightly with the Pokémon's arrival.
An enormous, silver-armored, and fierce-looking behemoth appeared on the battlefield.
---
Pokémon: Aggron (Steel/Rock)
Level: 75
Potential: Blue
Ability: Heavy Metal
Held Item: Metal Coat
Gender: Male
Moves: Roar, Tackle, Harden, Headbutt, Protect, Iron Head, Metal Burst, Rock Tomb, Metal Claw, Earth Power, Take Down, Iron Defense, Double-Edge, Metal Sound, Autotomize
TMs: Earthquake, Sandstorm, Dig, Shock Wave, Rock Slide, Rock Smash, Water Pulse, Dragon Claw, Focus Punch, Iron Tail, Thunderbolt, Flamethrower, Mega Punch, Mega Kick, Fire Punch, Ice Punch, Thunder Punch, Stone Edge, Wide Guard, Reckless, Hyper Beam, Giga Impact, Sand Tomb, Bulldoze, Hydro Pump, Stomping Tantrum, Body Press, High Horsepower
Egg Moves: Stomp, Heavy Slam, Endeavor, Dragon Rush
Note: Has become a Totem Pokémon after absorbing the Soul of Totem.
Note: After absorbing the Blacklight Core, the Pokémon continuously absorbs sunlight to restore its stamina (limited to Steel- and Rock-types)
---
The steel titan Aggron stood tall, its seven-meter-tall frame inspiring both awe and an unshakable sense of invincibility. Just looking at it gave off an oppressive feeling of impenetrable defense.
Scott's expression darkened. Even without battling, it was obvious just how absurdly durable this Aggron was.
Worse yet, Aggron's Rock typing negated Fire's usual advantage, meaning Fire-type moves would deal neutral damage.
However, Fighting- and Ground-type attacks would deal 4x damage, and even Water-types would do 2x.
Unfortunately, Scott was a pure Fire-type specialist. He hadn't trained any Pokémon with secondary types—every member on his team was Fire-type.
And if Aggron were to Mega Evolve, its ability would change to Filter, which reduces the damage taken from super-effective moves by 25%. And it would also become a pure Steel-type.
Which meant aside from Electric, Dark, Water, and Ghost moves, which would still deal normal (1x) damage, all the super-effective moves would be reduced to 1.5x damage. Plus all its other natural resistances.
This kind of absurd, almost broken damage reduction made Mega Aggron the most defensively formidable non-Legendary Pokémon in existence.
And Julian's Aggron? It was essentially an upgraded version of an already monstrous species.
After all, this was a Pokémon that had already tanked Champion-level attacks.
Every time Jake saw this Totem Aggron, his expression turned odd. After all, he'd been the one to give Julian this Pokémon when it was just a little Aron.
Back then, it definitely wasn't a Totem-class Pokémon. So how had it become one under his son's care?
If this wasn't his own son, Jake would've long since dug out the secret behind its transformation.
Meanwhile, Scott also sent out his fifth Pokémon.
---
Pokémon: Typhlosion (Fire)
Level: 78
Potential: Cyan
Ability: Blaze
Held Item: Charcoal
Gender: Female
Moves: Tackle, Gyro Ball, Leer, Smokescreen, Ember, Eruption, Quick Attack, Flame Wheel, Defense Curl, Flame Charge, Lava Plume, Flamethrower, Inferno, Rollout, Overheat
TMs: Protect, Fire Fang, Fire Spin, Body Slam, Fire Punch, Endure, Fire Blast, Fire Pledge, Earthquake, Incinerate, Heavy Slam, Blast Burn, Focus Blast
Egg Moves: Extrasensory, Double Kick, Will-O-Wisp, Swift
---
Typhlosion made a grand entrance—flames swirling, posture fierce—but its under-two-meter frame paled in comparison to the seven-meter steel colossus looming before it.
The moment Typhlosion laid eyes on Aggron, it froze.
Typhlosion: "What the heck have you been eating to get that big?"
It had fought Aggrons before, but none this massive.
Aggron: "Three meals a day. Plenty of naps."
Typhlosion: (⊙﹏⊙)
Feeling like it was being mocked, Typhlosion instantly launched a Flamethrower straight at Aggron.
Flames engulfed the motionless steel titan in an instant.
Typhlosion: "Let's see you burn to ashes!"
But half a minute later, the flames dissipated—revealing Aggron utterly untouched, not even a scorch mark on its armor.
Unwilling to give up, Typhlosion launched another Flamethrower but the result was exactly the same—zero damage.
Aggron had once taken a direct Champion-level hit from Tapu Bulu, which dented its abdominal armor.
But as the saying goes: 'what doesn't break you makes you stronger'. After recovering from that injury, Aggron's defense had risen to an entirely new level.
At this point, even Metagross would need serious effort to break through that iron wall.
Typhlosion thinking it could scratch it with Flamethrower? Laughable.
All the flames did was maybe make Aggron feel a little warm.
"Typhlosion, Earthquake!"
Scott finally stopped Typhlosion from wasting any more energy.
Earthquake was a Ground-type nuke—no way Aggron could just tank it.
Julian: 'It could tank it… but why bother?'
"Earthquake!"
Julian gave the same command.
But even though both sides used Earthquake, in terms of strength and sheer body mass, the two weren't remotely comparable.
Typhlosion's quake barely made a ripple, while Aggron's Earthquake tore the battlefield apart.
The ground shattered, cracks split across the arena, and debris flew everywhere. With just one move, Aggron had completely demolished the battlefield.
As for Typhlosion—caught in the quake like a tiny boat in a raging sea—it didn't fall over, but was left stumbling all over the place.
By the time the tremors stopped, Typhlosion was heavily injured, panting and struggling to stay on its feet.
Seeing the situation, Scott honestly wanted to just forfeit on the spot. But as the examiner, he didn't have the right to surrender—only the person being evaluated had that privilege.
And which now seemed... absolute bullshit.
"Typhlosion, Focus Blast!"
"Metal Sound."
Scott's face froze immediately.
Julian had predicted his move.
Under the screeching distortion of Metal Sound, Typhlosion's Focus Blast fizzled out, its face twisting in discomfort as its Special Defense dropped sharply.
Predicting Scott's move was simple.
Since the Ground-type attack didn't work against Aggron, so Fighting-type was the only option—and Focus Blast was the strongest Fighting move Typhlosion had.
"Hyper Beam."
A searing gold beam lanced across the battlefield, hurling Typhlosion backward. By the time it hit the ground, it was out cold.
And the entire time? Aggron hadn't moved a single step.
It wasn't that it refused to move—it's just that its opponent never gave it a reason to.
Besides, given Aggron's less-than-stellar Speed, why move if you don't need to?
Recalling Typhlosion with a resigned sigh, Scott—now having lost five battles in a row—had finally calmed down.
'Today was just going to be humiliating. Whatever.'
Aggron turned to Julian, its expression almost disappointed, as if to say: 'That's it? It's already over? I haven't even warmed up yet.'
"How about another round?"
Julian's response was to silently raise its Poké Ball.
Off to the side, several spectators gaped. Aggron's performance had completely redefined their concept of defense.
If it were them, even sending out all their ace Pokémon—they still might not be able to crack through that thing's armor.
*****
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