Pokemon: Reborn Rich Alternate Earth

"Meta!"

Mega Metagross stopped the aura clash with Tapu Koko and chose to strike first, vanishing from its spot.

The move Teleport was incredibly useful—dodging, chasing, and most importantly, speed.

Golden lightning erupted from Tapu Koko's body, surging toward the empty space above it.

Yet Julian was startled.

Because right where the lightning struck, Mega Metagross suddenly reappeared.

Originally, it had planned to test Tapu Koko's strength with its usual combo of Teleport + Meteor Mash.

But before it could even raise its fist for Meteor Mash, Mega Metagross found itself slamming straight into Tapu Koko's Wild Charge the moment it exited the teleportation.

Boom!

Wild Charge struck Mega Metagross squarely.

A less observant trainer might've thought Metagross had charged headfirst into the attack on purpose.

Neither Julian nor Mega Metagross had anticipated that Tapu Koko could predict the exact position where Mega Metagross would reappear after using Teleport.

It was almost unbelievable.

Such an astonishing level of sensory perception might be understandable in a Psychic-type or a Pokémon with Aura abilities.

But Tapu Koko was Electric/Fairy—neither of these two types were known for heightened spatial awareness.

Even though Tapu Koko was at the peak of pseudo-Champion level, it shouldn't have been able to do this.

Being outmaneuvered by Tapu Koko right in the first exchange made Julian and Mega Metagross's expressions turn more serious.

However, Wild Charge didn't inflict much damage on Metagross.

Tapu Koko, however, seeing Mega Metagross take its attack head-on, was pleasantly surprised—defeating such a powerful opponent would bring a true sense of accomplishment.

Crackling electricity surged around it once more, the sharp sound of thunder shaking the battlefield. Within a kilometer radius, faint arcs of electricity began flickering in the air.

The sparks gathered in Tapu Koko's hands, forming Shock Wave.

Shock Wave was a guaranteed-hit move.

Mega Metagross responded by manifesting a pale-blue crescent-shaped blade of psychic energy—Psycho Cut—in front of it.

The two attacks collided—electricity exploded outward while Psycho Cut's psychic energy rapidly disintegrated under the assault.

Before the two moves could decide a victor, Mega Metagross vanished from its spot again.

Wild Charge!!

Sure enough, as soon as Mega Metagross reappeared, it was immediately met with another Wild Charge.

This was the second time Tapu Koko had accurately predicted where Mega Metagross would reappear after using Teleport.

No way this was a coincidence.

Which meant—Tapu Koko had some method of tracking where Mega Metagross would reappear after Teleporting.

Something like Future Sight, but not quite.

Since the reason behind it wasn't clear yet, using Teleport was temporarily off the table.

"Iron Defense!"

A flash of silver light enveloped Mega Metagross as its defense sharply rose.

Its defensive capabilities were already monstrous—now, with another boost, Tapu Koko was in for an even tougher time.

Mega Metagross took a direct hit of Wild Charge again and shrugged it off like nothing.

Tapu Koko's body turned into a streak of yellow lightning.

Quick Attack—at close range, its speed rivaled Teleport.

And with the distance between it and Mega Metagross being less than a hundred meters, it closed the gap instantly.

"Meta!"

Mega Metagross: "Just what I was waiting for."

Its massive right arm swung forward—Bullet Punch, compressing layers of air as it struck.

But at this moment, Tapu Koko let out a sharp, ear-piercing Screech.

Under the shrill sound, Mega Metagross's defense not only dropped, but its Bullet Punch also stalled slightly. Though the delay was brief, it was enough for Tapu Koko to dodge.

Bullet Punch grazed past Tapu Koko's body.

Tapu Koko: 'Every move of yours is within my calculations.'

It gloated internally.

But its smugness was short-lived.

Though Bullet Punch missed, Tapu Koko was now right in front of Mega Metagross.

Of course, Tapu Koko had a reason for getting this close—a surge of immense Fairy-type energy began erupting from its body.

It was Nature's Madness.

Nature's Madness was an extremely unreasonable move; if it hit, any Pokémon below its level would instantly lose half their HP.

However, Nature's Madness didn't have very high accuracy—hence why Tapu Koko had closed the distance with Mega Metagross first.

BOOM!

The attack landed squarely on Mega Metagross, who didn't even attempt to dodge.

With the move successful, Tapu Koko immediately began retreating.

"Meteor Mash."

A cold glint flashed across Julian's eyes. 'You think you can just land a free hit and leave?'

The air around them grew oppressively heavy, as if a mountain was pressing down.

To Tapu Koko, all it saw was a fist growing larger and larger in its vision.

And then—

BOOM!!

Tapu Koko's body turned into a streak of light and with a Swish, crashed into the beach with enough force to send a tidal wave of sand exploding into the sky.

The entire beach quaked, sand erupting in every direction.

Because the sand was soft, it absorbed most of the impact, sparing Tapu Koko from the worst of the shock.

"Why are there electric sparks...?"

Julian frowned as he noticed flickering arcs of electricity dancing across the trembling sand.

Suddenly realizing something, Julian's expression instantly turned furious: "Tapu Koko, you sneaky bastard!"

He finally understood how Tapu Koko was able to predict where Mega Metagross would reappear after using Teleport—it was because this guy had set up an Electric Terrain across the battlefield beforehand.

The moment Julian and Metagross stepped onto the beach, they had already walked right into its trap.

Within this terrain, it was only natural for Tapu Koko to detect where Mega Metagross would reappear after using Teleport.

'Damn it, what a shameless guy!'

This kind of sneaky behavior—was it really befitting of a Guardian Deity?

But then again, considering the antics of the other three Tapus, maybe he shouldn't really be surprised.

In fact, even the three spectating Tapus were also stunned by Tapu Koko's underhanded tactics.

They looked down on it with disdain and contempt—but at the same time, a pang of regret hit them:

'Why didn't WE think of that?'

Prepping the battlefield in advance to stack the odds in their favor… genius.

Of course, this only worked if you knew exactly where the battle would take place. Otherwise, even if they set up the terrain ahead of time, it would be useless if Julian chose to challenge them somewhere else.

Tapu Koko had guessed this based on Julian's previous challenges with Tapu Fini and Tapu Lele—both battles had taken place on the beach.

Tapu Bulu's battle had happened in the forest, but that was an accident. If not for that, the battle probably would have taken place on the beach as well.

So, weeks ago, Tapu Koko had begun secretly laying down Electric Terrain across the shore, even recharging it daily—all just to wait for Julian's inevitable challenge.

And in the end, Julian had walked right into its trap.

*****

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