Back at the League, Axel hadn't even gotten the Glastrier through the courtyard when he heard Dialga's excited voice.
["Lord Axel, you're finally back!"]
["Look, when is the Glastrier going back to the Three Kingdoms era? I've already got everything prepared!"]
Giratina and Palkia stood off to the side, both twitching their mouths.
'Dialga, where's your dignity?'
'You were yelling about killing Axel just a second ago, and now you're instantly groveling?'
'Also, when people asked you for time travel help in the past, you were never this enthusiastic.'
As enemies who had been entangled for thousands of years, Giratina and Palkia easily guessed what this guy was thinking.
But Dialga didn't care.
'Damn it, the two of them joined Axel's side early on, and now they dared to look down on him?'
Easy for them to talk.
Did they really think Dialga couldn't grovel too?
In Dialga's eyes, all the beatings these past few days were just because he'd accidentally almost beaten Cynthia.
Now that he'd been smacked around for days, Axel must have forgiven him long ago.
As long as he showed a little weakness and displayed his usefulness again…
'Axel wouldn't keep grinding me into the floor, right?'
But before he could see Axel's expression shift, he saw the Glastrier under him charge straight toward his body like it couldn't brake in time.
If it were only that, Dialga might have tanked it on purpose, using himself as a speed bump to show loyalty.
But the problem was that terrifying Gardevoir had raised her spear.
Almost instinctively, Dialga tried to use his time power to send the Glastrier back to the moment before it entered the yard.
["Oh! You dare attack my trainer!"], Giratina reacted instantly, eyes sparkling with delight, voice pretending to be angry.
["I can't tolerate that!"]
He yanked the red chains with practiced ease, whipping them hard against Dialga.
Clang!
The moment the chain struck Dialga's hide, the metallic scream echoed through the courtyard.
Dialga howled in pain. The time energy he had just condensed scattered instantly, and he stared in terror at the Fairy Queen less than ten meters away.
'Crap! My time power got whipped apart.'
A white Protect shield formed in front of him, but it did nothing to stop the icy glow gathering at the tip of Gardevoir's spear.
Ever since learning what Axel and Caitlin had gone through, Gardevoir had been furious for days.
That damn Dialga had dared to sneak-attack from that far away.
So what if he had a divine role?
Today she wanted to see whether that divine role could save his life.
The power of the Snow Lance flared to its peak in her hands. Hail poured violently across the courtyard, and the expensive jade tiles instantly froze into solid ice.
Even though Dialga wasn't weak to ice, he still felt massive pressure coming from Gardevoir's Fairy Queen form.
Dialga conjured a Protect shield, staring blankly at this berserk Gardevoir.
'Sister, did I steal your husband or something?'
Dialga had originally thought Axel came back from vacation in a good mood, so maybe he could escape Giratina's beatings for a bit.
He didn't expect them to return and immediately try to kill him.
BANG!
With a howl of wind, Gardevoir's ice lance stabbed straight into the Protect shield in front of Dialga.
Crystal shards formed along Dialga's body, making him retreat a step out of instinct.
But it wasn't over.
The fairy butterflies swirling around the Fairy Queen surged like a violent storm, pouring through the tiny hole the ice lance pierced in Protect and slicing rapidly into Dialga's body.
Another fairy move, Fairy Wind.
It wasn't a strong move, but its energy cost was tiny.
And with the Perfect trait Fairy Queen behind it…
As long as Gardevoir wanted, she could practically maintain it forever.
Off to the side, Giratina and Palkia were stunned.
'Sis, you're actually trying to kill him?'
They finally understood: in Axel's team, Gardevoir was the truly terrifying one.
Rayquaza and Mewtwo were strong too, but they at least considered consequences.
This Gardevoir, though… it was like she didn't even know what the word "consequence" meant.
Thankfully, even in her frenzy, she still listened to Axel.
Right before Dialga was about to faint, Axel wrapped an arm around Gardevoir's waist, and she tightened her grip on the spear, stopping mid-attack.
"Dialga, do you admit your mistake?"
Hearing Axel's words, Dialga froze completely.
'What mistake?'
Was this because he got too cocky last time, so he was being punished today?
But the timing didn't match.
Ever since he got cocky last time, he'd already been beaten by Giratina for several days.
Being defiant was wrong, sure, but getting beaten couldn't be considered a mistake too, right?
Blank-faced, Dialga used his time power to analyze, frame by frame, what he had done wrong.
And then he saw the scene.
Giratina teasing him, his time beams shooting all over the sea, and one of them hitting Axel.
'Wait, what the hell!'
His pupils shrank, and he almost dropped to his knees in front of Gardevoir.
No wonder she tried to murder him the moment she came back.
This was way too unlucky.
["Bro, it was all Giratina! He loosened my chains on purpose! He was fishing for a reaction!"]
"Oh?", Axel smiled at Dialga, not responding right away.
He still needed Dialga to send them all on a time-travel trip.
If the Glastrier were going alone, Axel wouldn't worry about Dialga doing anything excessive since he'd be watching.
But since they'd all go together, he needed countermeasures, crushing Dialga's psychological defenses first.
Otherwise, coming back would be risky.
Staring at Dialga, Axel suddenly asked:
"If it was Giratina fishing for a reaction, then he should be punished, right?"
Dialga blinked, then nodded wildly.
'Yes, yes, of course!'
'Go beat up Giratina! Don't keep picking on me!'
Giratina instinctively stepped back, eyes landing on Rayquaza and Mewtwo as he started trembling.
But Axel's next sentence made him excited again.
"In that case, Dialga, you're the one who gets to punish Giratina."
Dialga glanced at the red chains around his neck: "???"
"Relax," Axel smiled at him.
"Tonight you'll send the Glastrier and us to the Three Kingdoms era in Aurient. Once we come back, someone else will handle punishing Giratina."
"You'll be very well-behaved during this time, right?"
Dialga: "..."
He understood. He understood everything.
But damn it, couldn't there be a little trust between people and gods?
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