Species: Mega Rayquaza
Gender: Female
Type: Dragon / Flying
Level: God-level Peak (Quasi-Creation)
Ability: Delta Stream
Divine Authority: Airflow Control
Moves: Dragon Ascent, Dragon Rush, Outrage...
Stats: Attack S(S), Special Attack S(S), Defense S(S), Special Defense S(S), Stamina S(S), Speed S(S)
Quasi-Creation. A tier Ash had never seen before. A rank above god level entirely.
Above god level should be the level of the Creator God, Arceus itself. But the gap between Arceus and god-level Peak was so vast that the term "Quasi-Creation" existed to describe the space between.
What Champion Ash had said about Mega Rayquaza being the strongest Pokémon under Arceus was truly not an empty boast.
In this state, it would likely take at least three god-level Peak entities to have any hope of blocking her, and even then, they might not succeed. Nobody knew just how wide the gap was between Quasi-Creation and god-level Peak.
Rayquaza stretched her pitch-black dragon body in the air. Golden patterns flowed from the gaps in her scales like churning lava deep within the earth's crust. Her Mega-Evolved form was even more slender than before, and the newly grown pitch-black blades on both sides of her lower jaw gleamed with a cold, metallic luster.
Charon stood behind Giratina, looking up at the black dragon shadow overhead. His lips trembled, and his Adam's apple bobbed several times before he squeezed out a strained sentence. "Is that... Rayquaza? Mega Evolution?"
No one answered him.
Saturn's face was pale. His knuckles protruded white as he gripped the Poké Ball. He knew of Rayquaza, the legendary ruler of the sky, whose strength and status were on par with Sinnoh's creation trio. But when that pitch-black dragon shadow truly hovered overhead, Saturn realized how laughable secondhand legends were compared to the real thing.
Just from the aura alone, this Pokémon was not on the same level as Giratina. Even if Giratina were at its unsealed peak, it might not be Rayquaza's match.
"Isn't Rayquaza supposed to stay in the ozone layer year-round? Why is it here?" Charon's voice cracked.
"How should I know?" Saturn's composure finally broke.
His gaze passed through the closing rift and landed on Ash, protected behind Rayquaza. That kid again. Who on earth was he? Why did he have so many endless trump cards?
Team Galactic possessed the world's top technology, countless researchers, and unparalleled resources. And after gathering the strength of the entire organization, they still couldn't match a single child?
But now was not the time for existential crisis. Rayquaza had completed Mega Evolution. Her strength was unknown, but she absolutely could not be challenged carelessly.
Saturn wanted to retreat, but Yveltal wasn't fully complete yet. He'd originally planned to deal with Ash first, then take Molly back to squeeze out the remaining Unown power inside Yveltal to finish the replication. Under the current circumstances, seizing anyone was a pipe dream.
But retreating without trying meant years of delay on Cyrus's vision.
"Giratina, Shadow Ball." Without warning, Saturn launched the attack.
Giratina's pitch-black wings spread wide. A dark purple sphere formed deep within its throat and was violently hurled out. The Shadow Ball dragged a distorted trail through the air, its power even more terrifying than anything it had thrown at Mewtwo.
On the other side, Yveltal's phantom moved simultaneously. Its wings unfurled fully, but this time its target was Rayquaza directly. The red light of Oblivion Wing condensed into a crimson beam at its wingtips, shooting straight at the black dragon.
Shadow Ball and Oblivion Wing, two completely different trajectories, converging on Rayquaza from both sides.
Rayquaza had no intention of dodging.
Herblack Dragon Claw lifted, condensing terrifying Dragon-type power. The claw drew an arc-shaped afterimage in the air. Wherever it passed, the air itself was sliced into two transparent faults. The Dragon Claw met the oncoming Shadow Ball and shattered it like a bubble, sending countless tiny black-purple specks of light scattering silently into nothing.
Not even a shred of shockwave reached Rayquaza's scales.
As for the Oblivion Wing from the other side, Rayquaza didn't even bother gathering energy. A casual flick of her tail, and the crimson Power of Death was instantly destroyed.
Dealing with the fake was even easier than dealing with Giratina.
Mewtwo's eyes narrowed slightly. Rayquaza's strength was far beyond its own current level. However, Mewtwo still had time. It still had Ash. It could progress further. In the future, it would not lose to Rayquaza.
But for now, they stood on the same side.
Just as Mewtwo was about to fly forward to assist, Rayquaza let out a roar.
"No need to help. Just protect your Trainer. Leave this to me. Having accepted payment, I must earn it. Otherwise I'd be too ashamed to take the Green Orb back."
Even without telepathy, Ash and Mewtwo could understand Rayquaza's words. Charon and Saturn, naturally, could not.
Mewtwo ultimately lowered its raised hand. Since Rayquaza had said so, it meant she was confident. And Mewtwo's primary goal right now was indeed to protect Ash.
On the other side, Charon's jaw nearly hit the ground. His lips twitched several times, but he only managed a drawn-out "This..." before shock choked the rest.
Saturn's fists clenched until his knuckles went white. "Why?" He practically spoke through gritted teeth. "Both Giratina and Yveltal possess god-level combat power. With them attacking together, how can you block them so easily?"
Rayquaza did not respond. It only looked down at the two of them with cold indifference.
God level?
A fake that couldn't utilize a tenth of the original's strength, and Giratina with over half its power suppressed, unable to even access its Divine Authority. Two defective weapons joining forces could barely scrape the soles of god-level Peak. And they wanted to compare themselves to her current state?
Charon and Saturn both understood the contempt in Rayquaza's eyes. Their dignity was being trampled in real time.
"I don't believe this." Saturn's voice went flat and cold. "Giratina, Dragon Rush. Yveltal, Oblivion Wing."
He wanted to see it with his own eyes. If Rayquaza was truly that strong, then let him witness true despair firsthand.
Giratina moved first. Dark Dragon-type energy surged out to envelop its body, dyeing its entire form a deep purplish-black. In the next second, it charged forward at full speed. The Dragon-type power condensed into a massive dragon head at the front of its charge, Dragon Rush squeezed to its absolute limit.
Yveltal's phantom followed close behind. The destruction god fully folded its wings, then snapped them open. The blood-red light of Oblivion Wing spread outward from the core of its wing bones. Wherever the light passed, even the air began to lose its color.
The full-power strikes of two god-level entities converged in midair. The purplish-black dragon head and the crimson light wings intertwined into a destructive torrent, sweeping toward Rayquaza.
Rayquaza moved.
Her slender dragon body fully stretched out in the air, each scale lighting up with an emerald glow. Mega Rayquaza lowered her dragon head, golden streamers extending straight back in the howling wind. Then the dark dragon shadow dove down from high above.
Dragon Ascent.
The emerald-green light, enveloping Rayquaza's form, collided with both attacks simultaneously.
In an instant, the entire world fell completely silent. The naked eye could see a terrifying explosion bursting in midair, yet there was no sound at all. Even sound itself had been swallowed.
Mewtwo immediately expanded a barrier at full power, shielding Ash inside.
In midair, the purplish-black dragon head of Dragon Rush made contact with the emerald light of Dragon Ascent. It was like a block of ice thrown into a furnace, melting away at a visible rate into nothing. The crimson wings of Oblivion Wing followed. The destruction god's full-power attack was as fragile as thin paper before that emerald radiance. It was pierced right through the center, shattering into countless tiny blood-red specks of light.
Then the emerald dragon shadow passed through Giratina, and then through the phantom of Yveltal.
Rayquaza stopped in midair, slowly raising her lowered head.
Behind her, a terrifying wound that nearly bisected Giratina's massive body gaped open, with purplish-black energy leaking frantically from the gash. The ghost dragon's enormous wings drooped powerlessly. Its mountain-like body fell straight down and crashed into the ground, smashing a bottomless crater.
Yveltal's phantom fared far worse.
The power of Dragon Ascent acted like countless invisible scalpels, precisely stripping the Power of Death from the phantom's shell. Large sheets of pale purple crystals peeled off from its body, revealing the Unown flashing frantically inside. When the final piece peeled away, the forcibly constructed body collapsed completely.
Dozens of Unown fell powerlessly from midair. No light remained on their uniquely shaped dark bodies. Like wreckage drained of all energy, they fell in silence.
A pale purple glow lit up, catching those Unown almost at the exact moment they fell. Mewtwo landed beside Ash, gently placing the rescued Unown on the shattered floor in front of him.
The power inside these Unown was nearly drained. Sustaining a god-level entity, even one that possessed its own source of power, was an enormous burden for Pokémon this small.
Ultimately, because of Ash's intervention, Yveltal's phantom had failed to fully take shape, so the Unown hadn't completely fused into its body. Otherwise, these Unown would have been consumed entirely, turned into fuel for the phantom.
And the phantom itself would have become a true god of death, identical to the real Yveltal in every way except lacking Divine Authority.
On the other side, Giratina's wild eyes actually showed a hint of relief alongside the pain.
Saturn and Charon's expressions changed drastically. Saturn fished out a palm-sized dark container from his waist, its casing embedded with six dark purple electrode plates that gleamed with a faint cold light in the crystalline ruins' glow.
He pressed the switch on top. The six electrode plates lit up simultaneously, and a pale purple energy field rapidly expanded across the container's surface. The dissipating Power of Death drifting in midair seemed to be pulled by invisible threads, rushing into the container's intake one after another.
Saturn held the container, allowing every trace of Yveltal's source power to be fully recovered. Then he stowed it and pulled another item from his coat.
A completely dark rhombohedron, its surface carved with dense patterns that squirmed slightly in the air like living script.
He closed his fingers and crushed it.
The fragments didn't fall. They hovered in midair and began releasing a thick haze. The mist churned and intertwined, tearing open a constantly twisting rift behind him and Charon. The edges of the rift glowed with faint purple light. Giratina's Distortion World authority, embedded into a single-use escape device.
Saturn turned and stepped one foot into the rift. Charon followed close behind, moving with an agility that didn't match his age.
They had both realized: Giratina had broken free from their control. If they didn't retreat immediately, then once Giratina recovered, or once Rayquaza turned her attention toward them, capture or destruction was certain.
Fortunately, they weren't without backup plans. As long as they stepped through this rift, they could reach their designated safe zone.
But just as Saturn was about to enter fully, he turned to look at Ash. A cold light glinted in his eyes.
"You won this round today."