The entire sea was dyed a shocking, deep crimson.
The sea wind howled across the water's surface, carrying thick, pungent gusts of a coppery scent.
The massive, mangled body of the Tentacruel bobbed helplessly on the waves.
Dark purple venom seeped from its severed tentacles, mixing with the surrounding seawater and producing nauseating, acidic foam.
This patch of ocean had become a veritable slaughterhouse.
Not far from the floating corpse, Shelly clung desperately to a piece of shattered Speedboat wreckage.
She was soaked to the bone, her black hair plastered to her body, filthy droplets of water tracing paths down her cheeks.
All the arrogance and composure she once held as a Team Aqua Executive had been utterly crushed during those dozen seconds of one-sided slaughter.
She lifted her head, her gaze traveling over the undulating waves to land on the youth standing upon a reef. In a voice dripping with supplication, she pleaded.
"Little brother, let me go. I swear, I'll never trouble you again."
Shelly's voice trembled, her upper and lower teeth chattering uncontrollably, producing a faint, rattling sound.
She tried to force a placating expression, but the stiffness of her facial muscles made it appear grotesquely comical.
The will to survive had overwhelmed everything else.
What was dignity, as long as she could live?
As long as the green hills remain, there will never be a shortage of firewood.
Ariel was also currently immersed in the seawater.
He looked at the utterly disheveled woman in the water and offered no response.
Let her go?
It was amusing. When people found themselves with their backs against the wall, they always tried to barter for their lives with the cheapest of oaths.
This woman had attacked him twice now. This time, she had even gone so far as to deploy her two Gym Leader Level ace Pokémon.
The enmity between them had long since tightened into an unbreakable knot.
If you cut the weeds but don't remove the roots, they'll sprout again when the spring breeze blows.
Ariel never believed the oaths of his enemies.
He only believed in objective facts. Only an enemy who had stopped breathing would not deliver a fatal stab in the back on some unguarded night in the future.
There was no point in further words.
Ariel used his Psychic ability to issue the final execution order to his Mega Gyarados.
At the very moment the order was given, a dozen meters away in the water, the Sharpedo keenly sensed the change in the surrounding currents.
This once-dominant beast of the deep sea now lay capsized on the water's surface.
Its dorsal fin had been cleanly severed at the base, and a deep, bone-exposing gash on its belly was steadily leaking fresh blood.
The surrounding seawater had already been stained a glaring scarlet, attracting a few foolhardy wild Carvanha to circle at the edges.
It understood that silent command and desperately thrashed its mangled tail fin, trying to swim toward Shelly.
The water churned weakly a few times.
Its grievously wounded body simply could not provide the power to move forward.
The connection between its nerves and muscles had been severed by the intense impacts. The Sharpedo could only remain in place.
Its eyes bloodshot, it stared fixedly at Ariel on the reef.
If hatred could materialize into sharp blades, Ariel would have been sliced to ribbons a thousand times over.
The Mega Gyarados moved.
Its massive body leaned forward, its thick tail slapping heavily against the seawater.
The tremendous counterforce propelled its hill-like form into a forward glide, the displaced water forming two half-meter-high, turbid white waves on either side.
It lowered its head, opening its maw.
Shreds of bluish-purple flesh from the Tentacruel still clung to its sharp fangs. An overpowering, coppery stench washed over Shelly, engulfing her completely within its enormous shadow.
Shelly closed her eyes in despair.
Just as the Mega Gyarados's jaws were about to snap shut, poised to crush this woman along with the seawater, a sudden change occurred.
ROAR—
An immensely penetrating roar erupted without warning from the depths of the sea.
The sound wave pierced through dozens of meters of water, churning up a visible ring of ripples on the surface.
The roar carried a berserk fury and an absolute, superior-to-inferior kind of pressure.
The Mega Gyarados's movement stalled for half a second.
It was an instinctive reaction buried deep within the Pokémon's genes.
Faced with the provocation and warning from a powerful member of its own kind, it subconsciously halted its attack, turning its head toward the source of the sound.
Damn it!
The moment Ariel heard that roar, alarm bells screamed in his mind.
In a high-intensity battle, even a fraction of a second's hesitation could become a fatal opening.
Finish it now!
He immediately urged it through his Psychic link, trying to forcibly pull the Mega Gyarados's focus back to eliminate the immediate threat.
However, he was a beat too slow.
Splash!
The water's surface less than five meters in front of Shelly erupted.
A thick column of water shot skyward, reaching over a dozen meters high.
Amidst the spray, a blinding crimson figure burst forth from the water with thunderous momentum.
It was a Gyarados.
Its entire body was scarlet red.
Unlike the azure blue of ordinary Gyarados, its scales reflected a blood-curdling crimson light under the setting sun.
Over eight meters in length, it was a full size smaller than the Mega Gyarados, whose body had swollen due to Mega Evolution. Yet, the ferocity emanating from its very bones was, if anything, even more intense.
The red Gyarados did not pause for even a moment.
Harnessing the powerful momentum of its emergence, it opened its fang-filled maw and sank its teeth viciously into the Mega Gyarados's neck.
The grating sound of scales scraping against each other rang out.
The fangs pierced the Mega Gyarados's hard armor, its terrifying bite force causing the Mega Gyarados immense pain.
It let out a furious roar, its colossal body thrashing violently in the water as it tried to shake off this reckless member of its own kind.
The two titans became locked in a deadly struggle on the sea's surface.
Their tails slammed against the water, churning up waves several meters high that shattered the surrounding wreckage.
The Mega Gyarados's thick tail whipped against the red Gyarados's flank with a heavy, dull thud.
Yet the red Gyarados refused to retreat, its jaws locked firmly on the Mega Gyarados's neck, using its own weight to drag its opponent toward deeper waters.
Azure and crimson bodies tumbled within the whirlpool, each collision sending plumes of mist into the air.
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