Question: How do you fight a Mega Metagross with the Huge Power ability?
The answer, naturally, is to bite the bullet and fight head-on.
"Metagross, Meteor Mash."
There was no testing the waters at the start. Facing a Fairy-type, this wealthy young master didn't even use his brain to think; he immediately ordered Mega Metagross to use the super-effective [Meteor Mash].
The moment the steel fists launched forward, the air was instantly torn apart by countless silver-blue electric arcs.
Amidst sharp sonic booms, a radiance resembling a reversed river of stars gradually gathered and swirled around the metallic fists.
The ground along the path of the attack cracked and shattered under the shockwave, forming spiderweb-like fissures. Just as the crushed rocks flew into the air, they were pulverized into fine powder by the powerful vortex created by the aura, vanishing into nothingness before the dust could even hit the ground.
Seeing these terrifying special effects, Hakuya admitted that he was definitely sweating bullets right now.
Going toe-to-toe was absolutely out of the question. Although Milcery's resistance to Steel-type moves had improved significantly after being smashed with [Iron Head] so many times by the Contrary Rayquaza on Route 102, she would absolutely get vaporized if she didn't dodge this [Meteor Mash], which was literally blasting the air apart.
In a moment of desperation, Hakuya shouted the one command that every Pokémon Trainer instinctively knew.
"Milcery, dodge it!"
Seeing those steel fists, which were bigger than her entire body, Milcery naturally wasn't foolish enough to try and tank them. She first struggled to stabilize herself against the incoming gale, then suddenly accelerated, narrowly dodging to the side just before the fists actually connected.
Behind her, the violent wind from the punch completely obliterated that section of the road.
"Good job, Milcery! That dodge just now was beautiful!"
At this moment, looking at Milcery, who had narrowly scraped past the punch's shockwave without her Focus Sash even activating, Hakuya couldn't help but sigh in relief. However, his eyes flickered slightly, and he nodded thoughtfully.
If he hadn't seen it wrong, Milcery had just used [Tackle] at that exact moment. By utilizing the powerful forward momentum of the move, she managed to barely evade Metagross's attack.
This was a maneuver that could only be pulled off in reality. He didn't expect it to be viable in the Randomized Emerald as well. It seemed the Pokémon battles in this world weren't as rigidly turn-based as the original games—
For the next several turns, Metagross remained silent, simply blindly following its Trainer's command to use Meteor Mash.
"Metagross, use Meteor Mash!"
The wealthy young master kept his hands in his pockets and spoke coldly.
The iron fists, dyed in metallic silver brilliance, tore through the air and crashed down, but because the aim was off, they missed Milcery.
Miss.
"Use Meteor Mash!"
Metagross focused its mind, and the steel fists, carrying explosive power, crashed down once more. However, because it took too long to charge, Hakuya commanded Milcery to use the Tackle + Dodge combo again.
Miss.
"Use it again..."
"Bro, how are you playing even cheaper than me?"
Watching the wealthy young master NPC continue to speak in a monotone voice, stubbornly commanding Metagross to spam [Meteor Mash] without learning a damn thing, Hakuya facepalmed and muttered in exasperation.
For some unknown reason, this Metagross's [Meteor Mash] had missed three times in a row.
—To be honest, he had prepared himself for the high probability of being sent packing by two Meteor Mashes. He also considered the possibility of Milcery or Sprigatito clutching it out, landing critical hits, and scraping by with a hard-fought victory. But he never, ever expected the opponent to have the god-awful luck of missing three Meteor Mashes in a row.
Watching Metagross whiff yet another Meteor Mash, Hakuya finally couldn't help but let his mouth twitch.
Having incredible power but being completely unable to utilize it—that perfectly described this Metagross.
Although missing a high-power, low-accuracy move wasn't exactly rare in Pokémon battles (the classic example being Hydro Pump missing four times in a row, causing players to rage and smash their desks), if a move with 90 accuracy like Meteor Mash missed four times consecutively, you might as well book a one-way ticket to the release PC box after the fight.
Over the course of this drawn-out battle, the terrifying power advantage Metagross initially held—thanks to the double buff of [Huge Power] and Mega Evolution—was completely completely gone.
Taking advantage of the openings created by its continuous misses, Hakuya ordered Milcery to use [Charm] multiple times.
Under the gaze of Milcery's adorable eyes, even a Metagross with massive base stats couldn't help but lower its guard.
Mega Metagross's Attack fell sharply (-2)...
Since the Base Power of Draining Kiss was a pitiful 50, and Fairy-type moves were resisted by Steel-types, the damage would be halved on top of that. Therefore, rather than focusing on petty chip damage right now, it was better to plan for the long game. The optimal strategy was to drop Metagross's stats as low as possible before sending Sprigatito in for a higher chance of winning a head-on clash.
"Nai~"
Of course, good luck couldn't last forever.
Following a slight misstep from Milcery, those comet-like iron fists, gleaming with a metallic luster, finally crashed down on target. Milcery and her snapped Focus Sash completed their mission together.
"Milcery, you did incredibly well."
Seeing this, Hakuya recalled the exhausted and fainted Milcery into her Poké Ball, then sent out Sprigatito to trigger the [Protean] ability. "Sprigatito, don't let Milcery's hard work go to waste!"
"Meowha~"
Sprigatito's eyes sharpened, responding to her Trainer's expectations.
Although she had a willful personality, whenever it came to a crucial moment, the little kitten would always leave Hakuya with a reliable view of her back.
"Alright, let's start with a Petal Blizzard!"
"Meowha—!!!"
In sync with her Trainer's command, Sprigatito let out a cry, and countless blade-like petals rained down from the sky.
With the buff from the [Protean] ability, her massive 160 base Attack stat was nothing to scoff at. Even though the move was doubly resisted, it would still deal significant damage upon impact.
Therefore, facing this overwhelming, sky-covering attack, the opponent naturally didn't choose to sit there and take it.
"Metagross, use Ice Punch!"
In an instant, the steel fists were covered in freezing frost. Before the incoming storm of emerald petals could form a restraining net, Metagross forcefully tore it apart with brute strength.
Immediately after, using Ice Punch to neutralize the violently swirling leaves, Metagross struggled to open its eyes against the gale created by the foliage. What greeted it was Sprigatito's fully charged [Bite].
Since he knew that the battles in the Randomized Emerald allowed for creative tactics, Hakuya naturally took advantage of this rule. He used [Petal Blizzard] as a feint to obscure the opponent's vision, catching them off guard before launching the decisive [Bite].
And this exact moment, when the opponent was blinded by the flurry of petals, was the crucial window to secure victory.
"Metagross, use Hard Press right where you are!"
[Hard Press: The user crushes the target with its arms or pincers. The more HP the target has remaining, the greater the move's power.]
At this moment, the wealthy young master NPC finally decided to abandon his previous strategy of spamming a super-effective move. He changed tactics, attempting to tank the Bite head-on and force a trade to lower Sprigatito's health.
But just as Metagross raised its metallic arms, Sprigatito lunged forward like an arrow released from a bow.
Her dark green silhouette left an afterimage against the evening twilight. In a flash, her bared fangs, coated in Dark-type energy, clamped down onto the opponent with a metallic clang.
Yes, Mega Metagross was incredibly strong, but Sprigatito was no pushover herself!
Relying on her speed to consecutively dodge Metagross's [Hard Press] attacks, she then decisively chomped down on the struggling opponent, forcing it out of the battle. Sprigatito raised her head and gave a soft hmph.
[Defeated the Rich Boy on the road. Obtained 25,000 League Dollars.]
"Good thing it didn't randomly roll the No Guard ability, or I probably would have been soft-locked again."
The battle ended. Walking past the wealthy young master, who was kneeling on the ground, weeping bitterly while hugging his fainted Metagross, Hakuya shook his head, still feeling a bit of lingering fear.
Although Milcery's early stat drops (lowering Metagross's Attack to a harmless level) and Sprigatito's perfect clean-up were both crucial, the main reason he won this battle was thanks to the traitorous Metagross itself. If it hadn't missed so many Meteor Mashes, he would have truly been doomed.
After a brief sigh of relief, Hakuya, per standard procedure, looted a hefty sum of League Dollars from the wealthy young master.
—You really had to hand it to him; true to his title as a Rich Boy, he carried a lot of cash on him.
Converted, that was another few dozen Great Balls added to his inventory. If he just steamrolled his way forward like this, securing multiple Gym Badges to increase his catch rate... Hakuya could already see the Ho-Oh in the tall grass frantically waving at him.
And that wasn't the only piece of good news. After the battle concluded, the Emerald's built-in system chimed with a notification.
[Combat experience threshold reached. Milcery has learned Dazzling Gleam.]
[Combat experience threshold reached. Sprigatito has learned Shadow Claw and Endure.]
"Hmm, combat experience threshold reached? So, by grinding battles against wild encounters and trainers in the Randomized Emerald a certain number of times, they can randomly learn moves from their movepool~" Hakuya stroked his chin, nodding thoughtfully.
In the base settings of the games, there were four ways for Pokémon to learn moves: leveling up, using TMs/HMs, Egg Moves (breeding), and Move Tutors. But he didn't expect the Randomized Emerald to thoughtfully add an entirely new method for learning moves.
With this, Hakuya felt he had even more motivation to beat up those annoying NPCs in the future.
"Looks like today really is our lucky day~"
"Meowha~" "Nai~"
Tossing the thick stack of League Dollars into his System Backpack, Hakuya continued heading toward Rustboro City.
As he passed through Route 104 and walked across the winding water bridge, he was stopped by a pair of twin sisters standing on the bridge.
"We're twins. Come battle our Pokémon."
"Finally, a Double Battle... If I remember correctly, once I beat these twins, I can head to Rustboro City to challenge the Rock-type Gym." Hakuya nodded, straightforwardly accepting their challenge.
In the real world, there were various excuses to decline a battle between trainers, but in the Randomized Emerald, it was pure, unadulterated combat.
There was no cowardly running away, no friendly sparring where they held back. When the battle got heated, these NPCs wouldn't even bother using Oran Berries or Potions to restore health. Everywhere you looked, it was all about the charm of brute force and overpowered stats.
—The Randomized Emerald never believed in sweat and tears; it only cared if your stats were high enough.
"Come out, Plusle!"
"I'm going to battle alongside my sister! Come out, Minun!"
At this moment, the twin elementary schooler sisters, who had learned how to blockade a bridge at such a young age, were the first to send out their Pokémon.
Hearing their confident declarations, Hakuya wanted to laugh.
Heh, what tier of Pokémon are Plusle and Minun, anyway?
In terms of appearance, they were undisputedly cute, but with a meager Base Stat Total of 405, they were only good for casual, fun matches in a normal game. Let alone in the Randomized Emerald, which boasted demonic difficulty—they would absolutely get elbowed into oblivion by a random route one rat.
Even if they managed to randomly roll the perfectly suited [Hadron Engine] ability, their strength would only be considered "decently usable," far from reaching the minimum threshold of being an overpowered monster.
But his amusement didn't last long. Just as Hakuya looked up, preparing to send Sprigatito and Milcery into battle, he instantly froze.
Are these... the 'Plusle and Minun' you were just talking about?
—Beneath the approaching evening sky, two colossal figures stood in silence.
On the left was a quadrupedal Dragon-type Pokémon with sauropod-like features. Glowing cyan stripes covered its limbs, torso, neck, and head, while the silver-gray armor wrapping its body gleamed with a cold metallic luster.
On the right was a bipedal Dragon-type Pokémon with theropod-like features. It was clad in heavy armor adorned with deep purple stripes, and on each of its shoulders rested a ring set with a massive pearl.
Unlike what the Pokédex stated, visually, these two were far taller than their listed 4 to 5 meters. They looked closer to 10 meters tall, and every slight movement they made radiated an incredibly terrifying aura of oppressive power.
However, their size wasn't the issue. The real issue was the names of these two entities.
The God of Time who controls time, Dialga.
The God of Space who governs space, Palkia.
Put them together, and you get... the Temporal-Spatial Plusle and Minun.
"..."
At this moment, Hakuya looked at the twin sisters, who acted as if they had just casually sent out some common trash Pokémon. Then he looked back at Dialga and Palkia, who were hovering mid-air and looked ready to crush them at any second. For a moment, words completely caught in his throat.
If you dare to randomly roll the Temporal-Spatial duo today...
Then what about tomorrow?
The Truth and Ideals duo? The Origin and End duo? The Life and Destruction duo? The Sun and Moon duo? The Sword and Shield duo? The Past and Future duo...?
Just thinking about it made him feel like he was about to cry from being bullied by these "Plusles and Minuns"—