Read advance chapters for both of my work, exclusively on Patreon at - www.patreon.com/Sniperwoof
-----------------
Less than a second after Swampert hurled the Gyarados away, while it was still airborne, the Gyarados—its jaws tightly shut—suffered an unprecedented explosion in its mouth.
"Boom!!!"
A thunderous blast erupted. The level 51 Gyarados, its mouth gushing blood, crashed into the ocean, its entire face mangled and unrecognizable. That explosive attack inside its mouth completely removed the blue sea dragon from the battlefield.
At that moment, the Gyarados' trainer rushed toward the ocean like a madman, retrieved it into its PokeBall, and, without caring about the rest of the battle, immediately commanded his Pelipper to retreat from the battlefield.
What that Elite Sea Serpent Gang trainer hadn't anticipated was how his retreat would deal an immense psychological blow to the other Sea Serpent Gang members still engaged in the fight.
If the morale of the Sea Serpent Gang could be displayed numerically, it would've been plummeting like a bear-market stock—possibly even dipping into the negatives.
"I forced a pseudo Elite Four level trainer to flee. That counts as a major achievement in this chaotic battle. As expected, those three aren't ordinary individuals. And I may have slightly overestimated the Sea Serpent Gang's members."
Sato made no move to pursue the fleeing Sea Serpent Gang powerhouse. Letting him escape was more useful than defeating him—he hovered calmly in the sky, then directed his Swampert to join the ongoing battle on the sea below.
Now, the chaos of the battle had reached a fever pitch. What had once been a promising advantage for the Sea Serpent Gang was crumbling due to the successive defeats of their top-tier combatants. Morale had taken a huge hit.
Subtly, the once-weaker Team Rocket side was starting to gain the upper hand, pressing the Sea Serpent Gang back.
Janine and Maya had been identified by the Sea Serpent Gang as the prime suspects for possessing a Key Stone and Mega Stone, so the two of them were currently being targeted by three pseudo Elite Four level trainers, each commanding a Gyarados.
If it weren't for Marlos, a specialist in Electric-type Pokémon, being such a massive headache that the Sea Serpent Gang had to split their forces to restrain him, even more trainers might have been sent after Janine and Maya.
Both Janine and Maya were trusted aides of top-tier Rocket elites. They may not have been strong enough to defeat three pseudo Elite Four level trainers, but they were more than capable of protecting themselves.
Janine, in particular, needed no explanation. She'd escaped alone from the Sea Serpent Gang's lair—practically a dragon's den. Her escape abilities were top-tier, unmatched across the battlefield. If she wanted to flee, even the Gang's elites couldn't stop her.
Maya, being a psychic, had two Teleport-capable Pokémon by her side—an Kadabra and a Natu. With their help, her ability to evade capture was exceptional.
Unless the Sea Serpent Gang had a Pokémon capable of using Taunt, taking Maya down would be extremely difficult.
Sato, having scanned Maya's two Psychic-type Pokémon using his system's detection abilities, could only say that Psychic Queen Sabrina had been very generous—she'd poured substantial resources into Maya.
Because Maya's Kadabra knew Taunt, if it could move first and use Taunt on any opposing Pokémon capable of using the move themselves, then any means of restraining her would be nullified.
In fact, the Sea Serpent Gang had prepared several Crawdaunt specifically trained with Taunt to restrict Maya and her teleporting Pokémon.
Unfortunately for them, those Crawdaunt were swiftly intercepted by Janine's level 48 Tentacruel, which continually spread poison in the sea, and were then completely wiped out by Maya's Kadabra using Charge Beam.
And to top it off, Kadabra had insane luck—Charge Beam's secondary effect triggered six times in a row, significantly boosting its Special Attack and greatly enhancing its battle power.
(Note: Charge Beam – Electric-type Special move, base power 50. Has a 70% chance to raise the user's Special Attack by one stage.)
With Teleport at its disposal, Maya's Kadabra roamed freely across the battlefield. Even using just basic Confusion, it could easily eliminate the Sea Serpent Gang's Water-types.
Moreover, Maya showed excellent judgment and a strong grasp of the bigger picture. She temporarily set aside personal grudges and sent Kadabra to support Marlos, freeing up the Rocket trainer who posed the greatest threat to the Sea Serpent Gang.
The Seaking, Goldeen, and Lanturn—all Pokémon with abilities that neutralized Electric-type moves—were all defeated by Kadabra.
Now, with Janine on offense and Maya on support, the two joined forces to display overwhelming strength.
Janine transformed the surrounding sea into a poisonous zone with her terrifying poison-based ninjutsu. Many Sea Serpent Gang members who attempted to support their three top fighters ended up poisoned and incapacitated.
Poison-type specialists thrive in chaotic battles—they're practically reapers of cannon fodder. Armed with only a level 45 Weezing and a level 48 Tentacruel, Janine alone had poisoned half the battlefield.
In this wild free-for-all, Team Rocket—despite being at a severe disadvantage—had managed to hang on, thanks in large part to Janine's horrifying poison tactics. Though her strategy affected friend and foe alike, the Sea Serpent Gang clearly suffered far worse.
By this point, even two of the Sea Serpent Gang's pseudo Elite Four level Gyarados had become severely poisoned and were badly injured, forcing their trainers to recall them.
Overall, the three pseudo Elite Four level Sea Serpent Gang trainers were beginning to struggle against the combined might of Janine and Maya. The tide of battle was starting to turn.
As for Marlos, his situation was a bit rough—both his Magnezone and Lanturn had been ganged up on and defeated by multiple Sea Serpent Gang members. But he himself was still alive and kicking, and had racked up impressive results.
Since Gyarados is Water/Flying-type, Electric-type moves deal 4× damage. Even at levels above 50, if they took a hit from a high-powered Electric move from a mid-40s Pokémon, they couldn't handle it.
Marlos exploited this glaring weakness. Though he lost his Magnezone and Lanturn, he managed to defeat all three Gyarados attacking him on his own.
Thanks to the explosive efforts of Sato, Janine, Maya, and Marlos, the enormous advantage the Sea Serpent Gang once had had been worn down significantly.
If Team Rocket hadn't been so outnumbered from the very beginning and hadn't relied on those four to hold the line, the Sea Serpent Gang might've already collapsed.
Then, not long after Sato forced one of the Sea Serpent Gang's pseudo Elite Four level trainers to retreat, the long-awaited Team Rocket reinforcements finally arrived.
Their arrival was the final straw that broke the camel's back. The Sea Serpent Gang members realized the battle was lost. Deserters began to appear, and their lines rapidly fell into chaos.
Roughly ten minutes later, the chaotic battle that had raged for nearly an hour finally came to an end.