Shiny Rayquaza's imperious dragon eyes gazed down from above, its colossal Dragon aura pouring out without restraint, dominating the entire field.
"Father!"
Seeing Shiny Rayquaza appear, the Rayquaza that had been quietly "playing dead" finally dragged itself back into the air.
Hell yes, Dad's here! Woohoo, we're saved!
Shiny Rayquaza shot Rayquaza a glance.
Noticing the frostbite still clinging to Rayquaza's body, it narrowed its dragon eyes slightly, silently staring at it.
Under that increasingly dangerous gaze, Rayquaza couldn't help swallowing hard, the scales along its body practically standing on end.
Oh no.
"One space bug, and something I can't even make sense of."
Shiny Rayquaza turned its head toward Shadow Mewtwo and Deoxys, its low Telepathy rumbling in Rayquaza's ears.
It was very clearly not happy with Rayquaza.
As nobility of the Rayquaza line, it couldn't even handle these two and had to call for help?
"Father, I can explain."
Rayquaza's dragon hide tingled. It forced itself to speak up.
"If those two cheap‑shot punks hadn't ganged up on me two‑on‑one, I never would've been scared of them!"
Rayquaza really did feel it had a case.
If it hadn't been a one‑versus‑two, there's no way it would've lost!
"If I could Mega Evolve…"
Rayquaza was furious and unwilling to accept it.
If it could Mega Evolve, how would it ever lose to these two?
"If you can't Mega Evolve, whose fault is that?"
Shiny Rayquaza's displeasure deepened at that. The anger in its voice made Rayquaza's body clench tight.
"You're two thousand years old. You think you're still a hatchling? You still haven't learned Dragon Ascent!"
Shiny Rayquaza's scolding turned Rayquaza into an ostrich on the spot.
"When those humans set you up back then, why didn't you call for backup? Because you thought you had it handled—and then what? Your Lorekeeper（Aster） died right in front of you."
"Now you can't even beat two little bugs. What next, when that lizard (Groudon) and that fish (Kyogre) wake up again, you gonna lose to them too?"
"You're dragging the entire Rayquaza line's name through the mud!"
Shiny Rayquaza hated iron for not becoming steel.
The Rayquaza line had ruled the sky for three hundred million years.
When Groudon and Kyogre fought, it was the Rayquaza line that descended to stop them, cementing the three rulers of land, sea, and sky—with sky above the other two.
Humans had even built the Sky Pillar and Embedded Tower to worship them, places meant just for them to rest.
But since this little Rayquaza had been born, this region had been patrolled by it alone.
Shiny Rayquaza roamed other territories, while another Rayquaza—its mother—spent most of her time wandering beyond the planet.
What made Shiny Rayquaza see black was that its own kid couldn't even protect its Lorekeeper, and had watched that Lorekeeper die right in front of it.
It had almost slapped it into the ground with one swing of its tail back then. Honestly, it had already been pretty mild‑tempered.
"…"
Rayquaza got chewed out so hard it couldn't even lift its head.
"Think about it yourself. If your mother finds out about all this, you're on your own."
Just picturing its mother's explosive temper made Rayquaza's hide crawl.
Shiny Rayquaza might be disappointed and angry, but it at least wouldn't lay a hand on it.
If its Rayquaza mom heard about these "glorious achievements," she really would beat it to death and "rebirth" a new Rayquaza.
Shiny Rayquaza sighed inwardly.
Useless or not, this was still its own child.
Its dragon eyes slowly cooled, turning regal and distant as a vast Dragon aura rolled out.
Its pitch‑black body slid forward through the air.
A bug from space, and some black thing it didn't even recognize—
and they'd dared bully its son.
Hm?
All of a sudden, a flicker of puzzlement crossed Shiny Rayquaza's eyes.
It tilted its head slightly, looking toward a skyscraper in the distance.
With its vision, of course it could see clearly: a human boy in a white shirt and black pants.
This human carried nature's blessing. That part was decent enough—somewhat special.
But that wasn't the point.
"That stupid fish is on him? That guy actually got its approval?"
Shiny Rayquaza was intrigued.
It knew Groudon and Kyogre's auras very well.
In its memory, though, both Kyogre and Groudon were brain‑damaged idiots.
They spent all day beating each other half to death over natural energy. Wake up and fight, wake up and fight—if that wasn't brain damage, what was?
Their attitude toward humans had always been indifferent. They never went out of their way to attack humans, but they didn't care about them either.
For Kyogre to actually be with a human—that was strange. Had it finally grown a brain?
In reality, though…
"Where is this? Wasn't I in the water? Why is there such a strong Rayquaza aura here???"
A bewildered, androgynous Telepathy voice sounded in Damian's ears.
"No, no, no, no! That's that black‑skinned one's aura! Damn it, Rayquaza's coming?!!"
Very quickly, that Telepathy grew flustered.
"Yo～ Kyogre, morning. You finally woke up."
Damian's eyes lit up as he took out Kyogre's Ultra Ball, grinning at the ball that was shaking restlessly in his hand.
"Human?! Damn it! Human, what the hell did you do?!!"
The fat‑headed fish completely lost its composure.
The Poké Ball shook even harder, its furious Telepathy ringing in Damian's mind.
Who would understand this?!
It had been sleeping nice and soundly in its little pool, having the best dreams—
then suddenly, an overwhelming stench of Rayquaza "perfume" had hit its nose and jolted it awake.
How could this born‑evil human do this to it!!
"That little pool was about to turn into soup with you soaking in it. I just gave you a fresh place to sleep."
Damian felt like the fat‑headed fish's morning temper was a bit much.
The funniest part was, the fat‑headed fish didn't even dare come out.
Hilarious.
It could break out of the Poké Ball whenever it wanted—but it stayed curled up inside, cursing him out from relative safety.
"Who gave you the right to do that?! Human, I won't forgive you!"
The fat‑headed fish was livid.
"Right now. Immediately. This instant. Get me out of here!"
"Sorry, I'll have to decline. The Ultra Ball can't restrain you; you can walk yourself out." Damian refused without the slightest hesitation.
"You!" Kyogre was about to explode.
"You damn human! You dragged me out—take some responsibility, bastard! You're supposed to send me back!"
"Too bad. I'm in the middle of fighting Rayquaza; I can't exactly walk away."
Damian was finding the fat‑headed fish kind of adorable now.
"Tell me, Kyogre—are you afraid of Rayquaza?"
Damian busted out the one line that worked on Pokémon every time: good old provocation.
"Heh～"
Kyogre let out a cold chuckle and didn't answer.
The Ultra Ball stopped shaking too, as if it had calmed down.
"I've heard plenty of stories about you. Every time you and Groudon fight to a standstill, Rayquaza shows up and beats you both."
"From the sound of it, you being scared of Rayquaza isn't that strange."
Damian pretended to suddenly understand.
"Heh heh…"
The fat‑headed fish chuckled again, but this time the laughter was soaked in displeasure.
"If it weren't for the power I burn fighting that stupid lizard, how would Rayquaza beat me?"
In the end, Kyogre couldn't hold back and snapped back in protest.
"Oh? Funny, I don't buy that. Isn't it like that every time?"
"Of course!"
"Then between you and Rayquaza, who's stronger?"
"Obviously Rayquaza."
Kyogre didn't bite; its answer was completely natural, not even remotely ashamed.
"Tsk～ I actually thought you'd say you were stronger than Rayquaza." Damian clicked his tongue.
"Tiny human, you don't understand Rayquaza's power at all," Kyogre replied matter‑of‑factly.
"So that's your excuse for not even daring to poke your head out and say hi to Rayquaza?"
"Heh～ I didn't do anything this time. Why should I go let it smack me around? Rayquaza's my second‑least‑favorite thing in the world."
The fat‑headed fish was absolutely self‑righteous.
If it and Groudon had wrecked the environment by fighting, then sure, if Rayquaza came down to stop them, Kyogre would accept it.
But this time it really hadn't done anything.
It had been happily soaking in its little den, dead asleep. If it wasn't so sensitive to the Rayquaza line's aura…
It would still be drifting in seawater having sweet dreams.
You had no idea how badly it had freaked out, waking up half‑asleep to the smell of Rayquaza.
"And human, you dare fight that ugly lump of black coal Rayquaza? I can't wait to see how you die."
Kyogre's tone held no small amount of "enjoying the show."
It could tell this human who'd dragged it out of bed wasn't simple.
He had a powerful Pokémon with him too, though Kyogre didn't recognize it.
But so what? That dyed‑black coal‑colored Rayquaza was terrifyingly strong.
"Oh? Kyogre—
you're sure you're not coming out to help?"
"Not a chance." Kyogre was merciless.
If they'd been going to beat up Groudon, it wouldn't even wait for Damian's say‑so. It would burst out of the ball first and charge right in.
But fight Rayquaza?
Especially that black‑coal one?
It wasn't that bored.
Damian raised a brow, lazily rolling Kyogre's Ultra Ball in his hand.
Looked like Kyogre really didn't want a piece of Shiny Rayquaza.
Which made sense.
It couldn't even beat a regular Mega Rayquaza—why would it want to fight this stronger Shiny Rayquaza?
Kyogre wasn't stupid.
Why throw itself into a battle it would absolutely lose?
What, did it think it'd slept too comfortably and needed a good beating to balance things out?
Kyogre didn't believe for a second that Damian could beat Shiny Rayquaza either.
And to be fair, Damian really couldn't.
With his current combat power, Shadow Mewtwo couldn't Mega Evolve, Deoxys and Nebby the Lunala were what he had—what was he supposed to use to go head‑to‑head with Shiny Rayquaza?
Even with another "helper" on the way, without Primal Kyogre, it still wouldn't be enough.
But Damian did have a way to drag the fat‑headed fish onto the field.
"Rayquaza!"
Damian lifted his head toward Shiny Rayquaza—
which just so happened to be watching him with great interest.
"?"
Shiny Rayquaza heard the human call out and wondered why.
Was he planning to beg for mercy?
It could clearly feel it—that Shadow Mewtwo carried Damian's aura all over its body. It was definitely his Pokémon.
"Kyogre says your black skin looks like a lump of coal and you're ugly as hell!"
Damian raised Kyogre's Ultra Ball high and shouted.
"???"
Shiny Rayquaza's body halted.
Its dragon eyes narrowed, aura turning dangerously cold.
The pressure in the air cranked up another notch.
Little Rayquaza carefully backed away.
It didn't want Kyogre's blood splashing on it later.
"Human!!!!"
Inside Damian's mind, the fat‑headed fish's furious roar arrived right on cue.
How could this human be this cheap!!!
Yeah. Right now, Kyogre really did feel like the sky was falling.
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