"Rawr! Rawr!"
The group had taken heavy losses, but Gyarados was ferocious by nature, and pain only made them angrier.
So once the thunder died down, the wild Gyarados surged forward again, each one snapping open its massive jaws, desperate to tear Caster's Gyarados apart.
Caster's Gyarados, for its part, was laughing on the inside.
Having already taken out several of them, its Attack stat kept climbing thanks to the boost from its Moxie ability.
Fortunately, as Gyarados had grown stronger over the years and worked through a few Ability Candies along the way, it had long since learned to switch its ability on and off at will, just like Pikachu could with its own ability.
To keep its body from breaking down under the strain, Gyarados chose not to trigger the ability again once its Attack had climbed two more stages.
It looked at the wild ones closing in from every direction and regarded them like a bunch of clowns.
"Rawr!"
With a furious roar, it showed no mercy to its wild kin. It unleashed Stone Edge, condensing several enormous jagged stone pillars and sending them crashing outward in every direction.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Within moments, several wild Gyarados crumpled under the barrage of rocks.
The wild Gyarados had packed in so tightly that Caster's could barely miss even with its eyes closed.
The number still capable of fighting had dropped to single digits.
They had come expecting an easy ambush. Instead they ran headlong into a Gyarados that had been buffed by Dragon Dance, Royal Authority of the Sea, and Moxie all at once. It was like a sea dragon plowing straight through a nest of sea serpents.
This was not a fair fight by any stretch.
Crash!
One Waterfall attack later, Gyarados slammed into another unfortunate target and knocked it out cold despite its considerable stamina. Then came a Crunch, dropping the nearest wild Gyarados in a single hit.
"Rawr!"
The remaining wild Gyarados seized the moment and charged in together.
If Caster's Gyarados had been pinned down, that might have actually been dangerous.
"Rawr!"
Caster's Gyarados swept its massive tail in a wide arc and sent several wild ones flying.
In terms of raw physical ability, these wild Gyarados were already a full tier below Caster's. And now, with Royal Authority of the Sea boosting all stats by fifty percent, Dragon Dance cranking up Attack and Speed, and two stages of Moxie stacked on top of all that...
It was no stretch to say that, despite sharing the same species name, Caster's Gyarados and these wild ones were practically different creatures entirely.
The gap between them was simply too wide.
The battle raged on. Massive waves rolled across the surface, and roars thundered through the open air.
But with every passing moment, the wild Gyarados grew increasingly uneasy.
This was a one-sided slaughter.
What the hell is this thing?
That's supposed to be a Gyarados?
That's a monster.
It was like watching an adult beat up a bunch of little kids, one by one.
They couldn't win. There was just no way to win.
Before long, nearly every wild Gyarados was knocked out of the fight.
Ironically, the few that had been paralyzed earlier turned out to be the lucky ones. Their inability to move had spared them an even worse beating.
---
Aboard the Seagallop Ferry.
In the wheelhouse, Captain Sanji had been watching the whole thing through his binoculars.
When he saw Caster's Gyarados take on the entire group by itself and scatter the wild pack like they were nothing, his eyes went wide.
"Am I actually seeing this?"
He rubbed his eyes and looked again.
Out on the distant water, the wild Gyarados had been completely routed. The ones still conscious were now wilting under Caster's Gyarados's sharp, steady gaze, and one by one, they bowed their proud heads in full submission.
Once he was sure of what he was seeing, Sanji's mind started racing.
Just what kind of kid is this?
---
Meanwhile, a few hundred meters back, Caster was sitting on Dratini's back, watching everything play out with a small smile on his face.
"That Gyarados of mine is something else," he murmured.
"Alright, time to get ready to fish."
He scanned the surrounding water and spotted a cluster of rocks jutting out from the surface not far off. He patted Dratini on the head and said, "Come on, let's head over to those rocks."
With the battle over, the sea quickly settled back to calm.
Seeing every last wild Gyarados submit, Caster's Gyarados gradually dialed back its presence.
After a while, the wild Gyarados that had been knocked out started coming around, though their bodies were still thoroughly drained.
"Rawr."
Gyarados coiled its massive body and let its gaze sweep across the assembled wild Gyarados.
So I hear you need a leader.
Then I'll take the job.
Anyone have a problem with that?
"Raawr..."
Under Gyarados's steady gaze, every wild Gyarados shook its head. More than a few of them actually seemed relieved.
Under normal circumstances, leadership was settled through one-on-one combat. The strongest fought their way to the top, and everyone else fell in line.
But this one had just steamrolled through their entire group on its own.
The fact that it was willing to take them in at all was already something to be grateful for.
For the females in the group especially, this was great news. The stronger the leader, the better the prospects for any offspring they would raise together.
So the moment the new leader's position was set, several female Gyarados immediately jostled forward, clustering around Caster's Gyarados with undisguised interest in their eyes.
The few remaining males drooped their heads, looking thoroughly crushed.
The leader had first pick. That was just how things worked.
"...Rawr?"
Caster's Gyarados stared, completely thrown off.
From its days as a lowly Magikarp to the present, the one constant in its life had been Caster. It was, without question, a wide-eyed young dragon with no experience in situations like this.
It had never once been put in a spot like this before.
And yet, pulled by something deep and instinctual, Gyarados's gaze began to go a little hazy.
Sensing the shift, the female Gyarados grew even more bold, pressing close to Gyarados's powerful frame, each one jostling to secure the top spot.
But just then, Caster's voice echoed in Gyarados's memory, those same lessons drilled in over countless days.
"No gains without sacrifice!"
"Girls will only slow you down on the path to getting stronger!"
And just like that, clarity snapped back into Gyarados's eyes.
These females were just after its body. They were trying to drain its essence!
But as the female Gyarados kept circling close and weaving around it, Gyarados's body trembled slightly, and Caster's carefully instilled wisdom started going fuzzy around the edges.
In the end, Gyarados couldn't hold out.
It gave in, tearfully, to the full weight of what followed.
Gyarados: I'm sorry, Trainer. They were just too pushy.
Ugh... KIMOJI!!