"Kyogre… I caught it!"
Receiving the Poké Ball carried back by her Braviary's psychic grip, Akari flashed a wide grin.
But her smile froze after barely two seconds. She stared blankly at the Poké Ball in her hand, muttering under her breath:
"Why… why did I catch another one again? Weren't we supposed to not capture anything recklessly…? And this thing—such a giant, fat-headed fish… it'll be a nightmare to raise…"
Her already star-studded team had grown even more luxurious, but Akari now found herself trapped in a kind of blissful headache.
Meanwhile, down below, Groudon was completely dumbfounded.
After all these years—its hated nemesis, the very one it had longed to destroy with its own claws, had just been… caught by a human?!
Today was beyond surreal. That beings as powerful as themselves could actually fall into human hands, this was something Groudon had never imagined.
But soon, Groudon felt a malicious gaze fixed on it. Lifting its head warily, it saw Paul studying it intently, as if his thoughts were already leaning toward action.
'Damn… he's not thinking of catching me too, is he?'
Startled, Groudon rammed its claws into the ground, preparing to dig a tactical retreat.
But before it could move, a massive Aura Sphere crashed down from above, detonating in its path and blasting it aside.
"ROOOAR!"
When Dialga saw that one strike hadn't finished the job, it immediately roared, launching another Roar of Time.
"RAAAH!"
'Too much! This is going too far!'
Denied even the chance to flee, Groudon's rage exploded. Its body temperature skyrocketed, and from its maw it spewed flames capable of burning everything to ash—
Overheat!
In an instant, the two attacks collided. Shockwaves churned the sea, melting the surrounding ice at terrifying speed.
But this time, Dialga's full-power Roar of Time overwhelmed Groudon's flames, breaking through and slamming into its body with devastating force.
Already weakened from earlier assaults, Groudon could no longer sustain its Primal Reversion. With a flash of white light, it reverted to its base form, collapsing onto the rapidly cooling End of Land like cattle ready for slaughter.
Seeing this, Paul acted swiftly. Not only to keep Kyogre from being alone, but also to preserve the balance of sea and land—he hurled an Ultra Ball.
"Go."
It wasn't that he feared Groudon might break free—an Ultra Ball was simply sturdier, better suited to withstand the lingering heat.
Tracing a perfect arc, the ball struck Groudon, drawing it in as red light.
Though the End of Land still radiated intense heat, Paul's Metagross caught the Ultra Ball midair with psychic power, preventing it from melting.
"Click… click… PING!"
After a few shakes, the ball stilled. Its glow faded.
Groudon—captured!
Paul smiled in satisfaction. Compared to Kyogre, Groudon fit his team and training methods even better.
True, Groudon could not fly—but its mastery of Precipice Blades alone was enough to keep anything in line.
And who was to say it could never fly? Paul mused. In this world, anything was possible.
Before his thoughts could go deeper, a blinding light flashed beside him. The glowing sphere slowly solidified into a massive stone.
The Legendary Giant Rock had reformed!
"Perfect."
Paul reached out, hand brushing its surface. Just as he prepared to have Mewtwo take it away, golden light tore through the clouds above.
Descending from the heavens, vast and divine—Mega Rayquaza, wreathed in its Delta Stream, came to rest above the stone.
"RAAAAH!!"
With the Giant Rock's energy fueling its Mega Evolution, Rayquaza radiated holy fury and unmatched power. Its confidence in its own strength was greater than ever, so much so that it barely acknowledged the mortals below.
"Heh… another one. Now we've got the full set—sea, land, and sky."
Paul cast a cold glance at the dragon overhead, then pointed upward.
"Bring it down."
"ROOOAR!"
Proud gods in their own right, Dialga and Palkia would tolerate no other creature soaring above their heads. Together, they unleashed their powers, warping time and space to bind Rayquaza completely—and then slammed it to the ground.
"BOOM!!"
Rayquaza tumbled across the End of Land, stunned that it had been brought low so easily.
But when its gaze rose and recognized its assailants, its expression hardened.
The Twin Gods of Time and Space.
Even if their forms looked different now, Rayquaza knew well the irresistible forces of time and space.
One-on-one, it feared nothing. Even two-on-one against Primal Groudon and Kyogre, it would still have confidence.
But against Dialga and Palkia?
Impossible.
Even in their standard forms, a single ripple of temporal or spatial power could lock its body in place. Even if they couldn't defeat it outright, they could banish it far away in an instant.
Frustration boiled in Rayquaza's heart. Against opponents nearly invincible, how could it seize the Giant Rock?
Give up? Never.
Rayquaza's body surged forward, unleashing Dragon Ascent. Its emerald form blurred into a streak of green light, lancing past the gods—
Only to realize it had hit nothing.
Turning back, it saw the space around the Giant Rock warped completely. Though they appeared there, Dialga, Palkia, and the stone itself were unreachable, locked in a distortion.
"RAAAAH!"
Rayquaza retaliated with a storm of meteors—Draco Meteor!
But the Twin Gods shone with light, shifting their distortion into an impregnable barrier. Not even Rayquaza's meteor storm could scratch it.
"Mewtwo, test its power."
Leaving Rayquaza to the gods, Paul turned to his partner.
"Understood."
Mewtwo drifted to the Giant Rock, laying one hand against its surface. Through aura and psychic force, it felt the immense power sealed within.
As the origin of Mega Evolution itself, the stone's energy was pure and limitless.
And all energy carried its own wave—its aura.
Through this resonance, Mewtwo sought to channel that primal energy into its own body. To awaken the slumbering form buried deep within its very genes…
Meanwhile outside, Rayquaza's fury only mounted. It unleashed a relentless barrage upon the gods guarding Paul, Akari, and Mewtwo:
Twister, Hyper Beam, Dragon Ascents, Hurricane, Ice Beam, Fire Blast…
Each attack was strong enough to demolish mountains or raise mushroom clouds, and Rayquaza rained them down in endless succession.
But under the combined might of Dialga and Palkia, the overwhelming powers of time and space easily repelled every strike. No matter how wildly Rayquaza unleashed its assaults, the two Temporal and Spatial deities stood immovable as mountains.
"So this… this is his true strength? Can a human Trainer really wield this kind of power?"
Onboard the aircraft, Alain finally snapped out of his daze. He quickly stowed away the Poké Ball he had thrown, but an unfamiliar helplessness crept into his chest.
He wanted to be the strongest, for the sake of protecting everything and everyone dear to him. But could he really reach that height?
The might that Groudon and Kyogre had displayed was already terrifying, yet this same terrifying force had been beaten and captured under Paul's command.
Perhaps only someone like that… could truly be called the strongest.
Alain fell silent, lost in thought.
"So this is the true potential of a Trainer…" Steven Stone murmured, equally shaken as he watched Paul, who seemed almost otherworldly in his composure.
Why did Steven devote his life to excavating rare stones? Because his own power was already at the summit of Trainers—few could ever surpass him. And yet, here stood someone who had gone beyond even that.
"…As expected of you. Truly incredible."
Elsewhere, another Paul—the one astride his Garchomp was spectating from afar. His fists clenched, loosened, then clenched again, his inner turmoil impossible to hide.
He longed to surpass Reggie, to defeat Cynthia, and to chase Paul toward becoming the absolute strongest. But witnessing the ease with which Paul commanded, defeated, and captured Legendary Pokémon left him questioning reality itself.
Even Tobias, with his full roster of Mythical and Legendary Pokémon, paled in comparison.
"Why?! Why would Legendary Pokémon fight for him? Why can he subdue beings like that?!"
Meanwhile, Lysandre stared at the broadcast, his normally composed face twisted in barely restrained mania.
"If I had that kind of power… I could erase this corrupted world and build a perfect new one."
Envy, madness, and longing all flared in his eyes—but just as quickly sank into a dangerous calm, as though his seething fury was simply biding its time.
Across the globe, countless people witnessed this incredible scene through the live feed of the reporter's camera.
At the very heart of the storm, Paul allowed himself a thin smile.
Before him, Mewtwo radiated surging power. The Legendary Keystone's glow pulsed in rhythm with the light now flooding through Mewtwo's body.
At last, the transformation engulfed it.
Unlike the muscle-bound X-form, this evolution shrank Mewtwo's frame, its head adorned with protrusions resembling sleek headphones, its long tail now arching from behind its skull.
Mega Mewtwo Y—Awakened!
Whereas the X-form embodied raw physical strength, the Y-form overflowed with psychic energy so potent it seemed to spill into the air itself. Its Ability shifted to Insomnia, yet the oppressive aura it exuded only intensified.
"Go." Paul commanded. "Test your new strength."
Dialga and Palkia released their hold, leaving Rayquaza to Mewtwo.
"No problem. This will be easy." Mewtwo replied with confidence, its mind buoyed by the oceanic psychic power coursing through its body.
Not only had the Keystone enabled its Y-form, but its overall level of power had also surged dramatically.
"RAAAAH!"
Seeing Mewtwo Y emerge from the gods' protection, Rayquaza struck without hesitation—Dragon Ascent cleaving through the sky.
But Mewtwo did not dodge. Raising a hand, it unleashed Psystrike to meet the attack head-on.
Emerald light tore through the psychic blast, splitting it in two before continuing straight toward Mewtwo.
Sensing it was still slightly weaker, Mewtwo conjured a psychic barrier in the blink of an eye.
"BOOM!!"
Though its force was lesser, Mewtwo's barrier proved strong enough. No matter how Rayquaza raged, it could not break through.
"Counter!"
With a flick of its hand, Mewtwo bent the barrier like a slingshot, absorbing Rayquaza's force and hurling it back with doubled power.
The recoil sent Rayquaza flying uncontrollably. Yet its sheer mastery of its body allowed it to recover midair and fire off a sweeping Hyper Beam.
Just before impact, Mewtwo vanished using Teleport. It reappeared above, hurling a storming bolt of electricity at Rayquaza's head.
Thunderbolt!
"BOOM!!"
The ambush landed, though Rayquaza endured, the damage falling short of expectation.
"…What? That hardly hurt."
Mewtwo frowned. By typing, Rayquaza should be weak to Electric attacks.
But before doubt could take root, Paul voice rang in its mind:
"Mega Rayquaza's Ability is Delta Stream. In this weather, Flying-type weaknesses are nullified. Only Ice, Dragon, and Fairy moves can hit it super-effectively."
"I see!"
Mewtwo nodded, Teleporting again to evade a Dragon Pulse.
A flash of white light enveloped it. Psychic energy surged as it shifted forms once more—Mega Mewtwo X.
In an instant, it appeared behind Rayquaza, seizing the twin golden tendrils atop its head. Mounting the dragon's back, Mewtwo clamped down with unyielding strength.
"Grrrraahhh!"
Enraged at being ridden, Rayquaza thrashed like a furious serpent, tail lashing with a devastating Dragon Tail.
"CRASH!"
The blow nearly flung Mewtwo off, but with a grip measured in tons and psychic locks, it held firm.
"Let's try this."
Electric fury erupted from its palms, flowing down the tendrils into Rayquaza's body.
Thunderbolt! Thunder Wave!
Rayquaza could shrug off the electricity's damage, but the status took hold. Lightning coursed through its frame, its movements seizing up with numbing shock.
Paralysis!
The tide of battle had shifted.
(End of Chapter)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For the complete chapters of the story, please visit: patreon.com / PMadz_23