"Ha... hiss..."
"Ha... hiss..."
Mega Lucario had never felt that even breathing could be such a painful thing.
The seemingly casual punch from Terastallized Mawile had not only battered its body—it had, in a sense, reached its very soul.
Its muscles began to tremble, and the shaking quickly spread through its bones.
Crack, crack, crack...
Its teeth seemed to be chattering.
The harsh uproar from above, accompanied by the announcer's shouting, made it feel irritated. Something inside it was itching unbearably, gradually overwhelming the pain in its body.
What's happening to me?
Mega Lucario had no idea. It was experiencing this sensation for the first time—stronger than pain, and even more unbearable.
Then it realized that it no longer had the courage to raise its head. It had also lost the motivation to take another step forward, and desperately wanted to sit down. It wanted to...
Escape?
At that moment, Mega Lucario felt as though it had fallen into an icy abyss, yet it suddenly felt that it understood this emotion.
—It was [fear].
Terastallized Mawile's punch had crushed all its fighting spirit. Its overwhelming might had shaken its heart, causing its resolve to waver and making it question the reason for fighting.
Sirfetch'd, Dragonite, and Gengar had all fallen. They had given everything for this battle, yet in the end, they had not even defeated a single opposing Pokémon. The greater its confidence before the battle, the deeper its despair was now.
What was the point of continuing to fight?
There seemed to be no need anymore, right?
Mega Lucario realized that Mawile's punch had brought it back to its senses. It no longer stubbornly pursued a battle whose ending was already decided, nor did it want to return to the field and fight that futile battle.
It would