Man, you hate these big staged battles. All throughout this tournament there's been so much excitement and spontaneity, so many intriguing match-ups and surprising fights, real cool shit! And then, you step out of the backstreets and alleyways, and into this brightly lit arena with a cheering crowd and a state-of-the-art sound system and a hundred-man production team and all the magic just dies in an instant. But hey, it's hardly shocking, is it? Take a cool and innovative idea and run it through the League machine, and ninety-nine times out of ten, it comes out the other side as sterilised gentrified soulless slopaganda.

Oh well. At least Meltan is enjoying the spectacle. You, though? Compared to the stadiums of Galar, Hoenn's efforts feel like cheap facsimiles of the real thing. Still, you'll let him have his fun. Arceus knows today has not been his day.

"wow (◕▽◕) what a big room!" The little blob looks around as he waddles ahead of you, eye full of wonder. Then, he turns towards the huge (compared to him, anyway) Pikachu, and tilted his head. "is that big mouse my opponent?"

"Yeah... Yeah! It is." You perk up at the sight of a regular Pokemon on the other side of the field. Thank FUCK. If you got brought into a fight with a Heatran or a Great Tusk or a Mega Charizard, you might've genuinely lost it. At the very least, the man on the other side of this battlefield doesn't seem to be taking this as seriously as some of the people you've had the misfortune of meeting. "The name's Shred. Apparently, I'm supposed to be fighting you in an "exhibition match"? Apparently."

---

Gimmick, TERA; +15 on Even Rolls.
ollie morales

"...Uh, yeah. You too?"

Huh. Weird guy. He seems like a nice enough fellow, though, so you suppose this is probably the best case scenario. The last thing you want right now is to be matched against some tryhard weirdo. Unfortunately, his Pikachu doesn't seem quite so courteous.

"hup!"

But despite Tofu's aggression, Meltan is quick to counter. He grabs the Iron Tail, absorbing the impact into his melting metal body with minimal impact, before combining that momentum with a Tail Whip to spin the Pikachu around. The electric rodent performs a good five or six high-speed rotations before his tail finally slips out of Meltan's grip, sending him flying across the arena.

"oh uh (⊙_⊙) um um um meltan throw!!!"

---

Gimmick, TERA; +15 on Even Rolls.
q3yKMNDy
Meltan WINS. 3/3 HP Remaining.
ollie morales

The good news is, you won that first confrontation. The bad news is... Huh. You don't think there is any bad news, actually. Things are going remarkably well for you so far, but judging by Ollie's unfazed reaction, it's clear he's got more than a few tricks up his sleeve. This fight is nowhere close to over.

The Pikachu counterattacks with a Discharge of electricity, but he's clearly still dizzy from all the spinning. His aim is off, and that gives Meltan the opportunity to close the distance without being hit. Despite his lack of legs, he moves surprisingly quickly, and before long, the Hex Nut is upon the electric mouse. With a mighty (by Meltan standards) leap, the Steel-type launches itself forth, aiming a Headbutt to catch Tofu head-on!

"─=≡Σ((( つ＞＜)つ meltan bullet!"

---

Gimmick, TERA; +15 on Even Rolls.
jYvEnVzG
Meltan WINS. 3/3 HP Remaining.
ollie morales

The Pikachu summons forth a wave of water, seeking to wash the Hex Nut away. But it's going to take more than a little water to put a stop to Meltan. He's got the momentum on his side, and he's not gonna stop until this Tofu is cooked!

"go (ﾉ>ω<)ﾉ========✴ meltan beam!"

Mustering forth his steely determination, Meltan fires forth a powerful Flash Cannon, aimed towards the centre of the rushing water. The blast punches a hole right through the water, splitting it in half like some kind of red sea, before rushing forth towards the Pikachu. All the while, the bisected Surf sails harmlessly past Meltan, leaving him completely dry from toe to tip. Once again, it's another stunning step towards victory for Meltan.

...Do you cook tofu? You've never actually eaten it before. Hm...

---

Gimmick, TERA; +15 on Even Rolls.
qBE1OSBg
Meltan WINS. 3/3 HP Remaining.
ollie morales

And just when it seemed like the fight was over, the Pikachu Dynamaxes.

It's not the first time you've laid eyes upon the phenomena, but it's certainly the first time you've seen it on Hoenn's shores. Before the Flash Cannon lands, the electric mouse goes from tiny to titanic, growing a hundred sizes in the span of a second. It's quite the spectacle, especially considering that it's standing opposite of Meltan, who barely comes up to your shins at the best of times. Still, if there's one creed that you live your life by, it's that size doesn't matter as much as spirit. It'll take more than a little Gigantamax to put a stop to--

ZAP. "gweh! @_@ owie..."

Nevermind, he just got absolutely mollywhopped by that G-Max Volt. You can't even begin to consider how bad that hurts, but if it's anything like your poor experiences with electric fences, then you certainly don't envy Meltan right now.

---

Gimmick, TERA; +15 on Even Rolls.
1UJxWf|T
Meltan loses. 2/3 HP Remaining.
ollie morales

The Gigantamax Pikachu tries again with another G-Max Volt Crash. After all, if it ain't worth fixing, it probably isn't broke, right? Except as Tofu is about to find out, it is broken, and he's not going to be able to fix it. What happens when you combine the overwhelming electrical output of a Max Move with the inherent magnetic pull of a Meltan's body?

"superest attack ︻┻┳━━┳┳━━┳┳━━┳くくく (((((╯✧▽✧)╯ meltan railgun!!!"

...Okay, confession time: You don't actually know how a railgun works. You don't even know how magnets work, and you don't know how electricity works either, so this is doubly unknown for you. You cannot even begin to process the mechanics behind this "move", if it can even be called that. And yet, as you watch Meltan be launched forth at blinding speeds, you can perfectly understand that this is among the most powerful attacks of all Meltankind.

Turned into a living projectile, Meltan smashes right into the stomach of the Gigantamax Pikachu with a mach-speed Headbutt.

---

Gimmick, TERA; +15 on Even Rolls.
iEtxcdlo + 15 = 45.
Meltan WINS poggers?
ollie morales

"...Yeah, you too."

Frankly, it's a little disconcerting how positive this guy is in the face of a fairly crushing defeat, but hey, who are you to judge? He's just a glass half full kind of guy. If there were more of him in the world, you'd be better-- Hm, no, actually, that's not how that works at all. On second thought, maybe the amount of him there currently is in the world is just fine. But hey, that number is more than one!

"hurray °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖° i win!

"You sure do, buddy." You scoop up Meltan, perching him on your shoulder as you begin to leave the arena. "Victory dinner's on me. What do you want?"

"ooo ooo! metal polish! the metal polish from the pokemart!

"You've got it, bud."

...You lead an interesting life, don't you?

---

Meltan WINS yippee!
ollie morales