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From within the black-and-yellow Poké Ball, thick black mist spilled out, but soon, brilliant golden light surged forth, like dawn breaking through the night.
The fog, like ice eting sunlight, lted away under the radiance, dispersing into the air.
A long tail swayed gently behind him, the air rippling outward like water disturbed by a pebble.
On his forehead, a crimson gem pulsed with bright light, as if preparing to unleash sothing.
On his angular face, black-and-white eyes blinked in mild confusion.
Kael, the Ampharos wasn't quite sure what was going on.
Just a few days ago, he'd been rented out from the organization's headquarters. After a brief eting with his assigned handler, he had spent most of his ti confined within the Poké Ball.
He had tried, of course, to peek outside through the translucent shell, but no matter how he strained his vision, the outside world was only darkness.
Apparently, whoever carried his Poké Ball had hidden him sowhere deep.
Still, Kael didn't mind.
Better to sleep comfortably inside than fight to the death on so mission.
Wake up, collect the mission rewards, and go back to napping. Sounds perfect, doesn't it?
At least, that was the plan.
Reality proved far less kind.
The noises and flashing light outside had jolted him awake.
Without thinking, Kael had slipped out of his Poké Ball, choosing to face the situation head-on.
"...Doesn't look too good."
Kael frowned at the scorched, barely recognizable figure before him his so-called "employer."
A faint pulse of static leapt from his fur, brushing the man's body.
No reaction.
The battered officer sat collapsed on the ground, eyes glazed and lifeless, a man utterly broken.
"Hey, hey," Kael muttered. "You're supposed to be one of the organization's executives, right? And this is all it takes to break you?"
Troubleso. Very troubleso.
If sothing happened to his contractor, the mission evaluation would plumt, and that ant Kael's reward would shrink as well.
"Well, well... an Ampharos?"
From behind ca a nasal, mocking voice, coarse and sharp as glass. "You've got guts, stepping out now. What's the plan to die alongside your master?"
Kael's brow twitched. He slowly turned his gaze.
Sos stood there, head tilted, smirking.
Kael said nothing.
His dark eyes showed no emotion, only an icy stare that locked onto Sos.
A chill raced up Sos's spine. Goosebumps prickled his skin, and he shivered uncontrollably.
Humiliation burned across his face.
"You bastard!" Sos snarled. "Toxicroak, what are you waiting for? Kill it!"
His cracked voice screeched through the forest.
But Toxicroak didn't move. Its blue-orange body quivered, trembling as if stricken by fever.
Had Sos looked at his Pokémon's face,
He would have seen terror etched there.
Gone was the mocking sneer. Instead, Toxicroak's wide orange eyes bulged in horror, sweat dripping from its brow, lips trembling.
It had sensed sothing.
Toxicroak's Anticipation ability scread danger. The Ampharos before it radiated a force unlike anything it had felt.
That towering figure pulsed with the weight of a planet, magnetic fields circling his body in perfect rhythm. Electricity, vast as an ocean, swelled inside him and even the faintest leak of it threatened to suffocate.
And deeper still...
Sothing regal, proud, almost divine stirred within Kael, awakening primal fear in the frog's very genes.
"Oh?"
Kael's eyes glimred with amusent.
He tilted his head at the trembling Toxicroak.
His gaze drifted to the creature's crimson claws, still reeking faintly of blood.
"A sha," Kael sighed. "Your instincts are sharp. But you ended up with the wrong trainer."
He shook his head lightly.
"Maybe in next life, you'll be luckier."
Kael raised his hand to strike then stopped.
A different thought lit his eyes.
Turning toward the collapsed Max, Kael extended his yellow arm. A faint magnetic field humd, invisible currents stirring.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!
The air rippled.
An unseen hand reached out, pinched the man's collar, and twisted free a small, gleaming tal button.
The button floated up, carried by magnetic force, then fell back into Kael's palm with a soft vibration.
He flicked it again. It spun into the air, flashing silver, before gravity dragged it back.
Not this ti.
Instead, it hovered locked in place by invisible magnetism, defying Newton's law.
Excitent sparked in Kael's eyes.
This technique...
He had imagined it back when he was still a Flaaffy but lacked the power to attempt it. Over ti, with constant training and tasks, he had nearly forgotten.
Until now.
The idea's origin ca from a mory of his previous life from an ani, where a middle-school girl, hailed as the "Strongest Electromaster," unleashed destruction with a coin.
Now, Kael would try it with a button.
The silver disc spun violently in the air.
Friction with the atmosphere heated its surface red-hot.
Thin trails of smoke curled off, forming spirals as the button whirled.
Vmm—
The magnetic field around Kael quivered,
compressing, condensing, layering tighter and tighter.
He shaped it into the perfect spiral rifling of a cannon barrel.
At the center, the glowing button spun faster and faster, a deadly hum vibrating in the air.
The bullet was ready.
Kael's mouth curved into a playful, wicked smile. He raised his right hand, aiming at Toxicroak.
In a voice too low for others to hear, he whispered—
"Railgun."
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