So that's how it is. This stupid fish doesn't like my color, huh.
Shiny Rayquaza's long tail lazily swished, as if testing how to swing it so it would hurt more when it whipped down.
"Looks like this Rayquaza's gonna give you plenty of love, Kyogre. No need to thank me."
"Human! How the hell can you do this to me!!"
Damian ignored Kyogre's furious roar in his head and cheerfully hurled Kyogre's Ultra Ball.
"I choose you!! Kyogre!"
The Ultra Ball snapped open in mid‑air. A very sour‑faced Kyogre slowly spread its vast fins, appearing at Shadow Mewtwo's side.
A soft blue glow shimmered over Kyogre's body—beautiful, majestic, and imposing.
With Kyogre's appearance, thick black rainclouds rapidly piled up overhead, a storm on the verge of breaking.
Kyogre's Ability—Drizzle!
But before the rain could even start to fall, a razor‑sharp gale ripped through the sky and shredded those clouds to nothing.
Shiny Rayquaza's Ability—Delta Stream!
Delta Stream: whips the weather into turbulent winds. Under Delta Stream, Mega Rayquaza's Flying‑type weaknesses disappear.
It was precisely because of this top‑tier weather Ability that Mega Rayquaza was so absurdly strong—this turbulent sky completely erased Mega Rayquaza's Flying‑type weakness.
No more four‑times weak to Ice.
Without that four‑times weakness, Mega Rayquaza wouldn't be nearly as easy to bring down.
With the rain cut off before it even began, Kyogre instinctively backed up a little. On the surface it still looked every inch the untouchable sovereign.
But feeling Shiny Rayquaza's cold, dangerous gaze lock onto it, Kyogre felt its whole hide go clammy.
Beast! That born‑evil human was a total beast!!
How could there be such a shameless human in the world?! Arceus above—were you seeing this or what?
But Kyogre had no way out now.
Run? With Shiny Rayquaza's eyes nailed onto it?
Kyogre was pretty sure the second it turned to flee, a Dragon Ascent would carve its spine in half.
Even if it had to grit its teeth, Kyogre understood full well that right now, all it could do was face Shiny Rayquaza head‑on.
It knew perfectly well it wasn't Shiny Rayquaza's match—
But just stand there and get beaten without fighting back? Kyogre didn't have that little self‑respect.
Down below.
"That's…"
Nemona stared, stunned, at the sudden appearance of the blue leviathan.
"The Hoenn super‑ancient Legendary—Kyogre."
Cynthia's expression was very grave as her red lips parted to speak the Pokémon's name.
That's right—this was Kyogre, one of the same "super‑ancient Legendary Pokémon" as Rayquaza!
The Pokémon that represented the sea—Hoenn's mythical Sea Overlord, the king of the deep.
"But why would Kyogre be here? And wasn't that Damian who threw the Ultra Ball just now?" Nemona blurted.
From where they stood, they couldn't see Damian—he was on top of a high‑rise—but who else could it be?
This was insane.
"Yeah. No mistaking it—that was Damian."
For a second, Cynthia didn't even know how to feel. Everything just felt… complicated.
"Team Rocket already swallowed up Team Aqua. That's probably how Damian found Kyogre and caught it."
Cynthia spoke softly.
In the Hoenn Region, the local teams—Team Magma and Team Aqua—had both been swallowed whole by Team Rocket. And everyone knew Team Magma and Team Aqua had been relentlessly pursuing Kyogre and Groudon.
"Hsss～"
Nemona sucked in a sharp breath.
"Senior Cynthia, I'm getting more and more convinced… the only one who might be able to 'beat' Damian is you."
Nemona said it completely straight.
Because seriously—Shadow Mewtwo and Kyogre? Who the hell was supposed to beat Damian like that?
Unless they could catch a myth‑level Legendary Pokémon as strong as Rayquaza themselves, beating Damian was going to be really hard.
"..."
Cynthia shot Nemona a look. This junior's thought process really was something else.
"Cynthia! Nemona!"
Right then, a Metagross, a Charizard, and a Beedrill flew in.
Steven, Wallace, and Leon jumped down from their Pokémon and hurried over to stand beside Cynthia and Nemona.
"What's the situation?" Steven asked, voice low.
"Oh～ that's Kyogre, isn't it? Gorgeous."
Wallace's eyes lit up staring at the Kyogre in the sky. As a Water‑type specialist, of course he had his eye on Legendary Kyogre.
"A clash between legends, huh?"
Leon watched the Legendary Pokémon squaring off overhead, both thrilled and cautious.
Giovanni also stared at the awe‑inspiring Legendary Pokémon, eyes narrowing slightly, saying nothing.
"The first Rayquaza's already been beaten. But another, stronger one showed up—Shiny Rayquaza."
Cynthia summarized in a few words. She'd already shared most of the intel with Steven and the others on the way.
"And standing off against that Shiny Rayquaza…?"
Steven's heart sank.
Clashes between legends were terrifying, and the one to suffer most would be this innocent city.
"Yeah. That's Damian."
"..."
Steven and the others all fell silent.
They hadn't expected that, in the end, the person who could save this city would turn out to be Damian.
"There's no way he's just that kind‑hearted."
Wallace frowned.
The Damian he knew was nothing like that.
And that was exactly what puzzled Steven and the rest.
Cynthia stayed quiet. Whatever "deal" she'd made with Damian, she definitely wasn't about to share it.
Seeing that Cynthia wasn't going to explain, Nemona kept her mouth shut too.
"In any case, best we can do is watch for now. There's not much we can do even if we charge in."
Giovanni finally spoke in that deep, magnetic voice of his. The others all agreed silently.
...
Up in the sky.
The pressure in the air was only getting heavier. Shiny Rayquaza was already itching to move.
"Human! Give me back the Blue Orb! If you don't, we don't stand a chance against it!"
Kyogre had backed up again and was frantically yelling at Damian via Telepathy.
It could feel it—the Blue Orb was on Damian.
It had to go Primal Reversion right now. Without that, it had no hope at all of matching Shiny Rayquaza.
"Here."
Damian didn't waste any time; he lifted the Blue Orb.
The Blue Orb clearly sensed Kyogre's presence. Beautiful, pure azure light flared to life inside it.
"Ooo～!!"
A far‑off, ancient‑sounding call rumbled through the sky.
Kyogre's whole body was engulfed by a flood of deep blue energy.
Vaguely, the huge glyph of an "α" flashed into existence for a heartbeat—then, in the blink of an eye, a far larger behemoth spread its fins and soared out.
Golden beast‑eyes that sent chills stabbing up your spine.
A crushing aura rolling off its body, faint gold radiance seeping from every line—regal, imposing, terrifying.
Primal Kyogre!
Compared to its regular form, Primal Kyogre's body was clearly even more massive, and the oppressive power it gave off was on a whole different level.
In short, a Primal‑Reverted fat‑headed fish was strong.
"So good～ Human, once this is over, I'm definitely settling the score with you."
With its power finally back, Primal Kyogre's deeper Telepathy rumbled in Damian's mind.
"Sure. But for now, the priority's figuring out how to take this Rayquaza down, right? Kyogre."
"You really think we can win?"
After Primal Reversion, even Kyogre's attitude seemed to have changed.
Well, could you blame it? It hadn't Primal Reverted in ages, and now its whole body was overflowing with power. Primal Kyogre was riding a bit of a high.
One‑on‑one, Primal Kyogre figured it was about seventy‑thirty with Mega Rayquaza.
Because yeah, Mega Rayquaza was kind of nasty—even Primal Kyogre had to admit that much.
"At least we've got a shot. And there's another solid powerhouse on the way."
Damian didn't make any guarantees.
From that earlier, insane Dragon Ascent alone, Shiny Rayquaza's strength was obvious.
"I've got no clue where your confidence comes from. But it's not like we've got any other choice."
Primal Kyogre's golden beast‑eyes turned frosty, locking onto Shiny Rayquaza.
At this point, there was no way out.
"Ooo～"
Primal Kyogre's low, ancient‑beast rumble rolled across the sky again.
Vast black clouds flooded the heavens. Bolts of lightning slashed through the dark as the wind howled.
Primordial Sea—one of the top‑tier weather Abilities.
After Primal Reversion, Kyogre's Ability became Primordial Sea: it called down a deluge, and under that never‑ending rain, Fire‑type moves couldn't even be used.
But Shiny Rayquaza's dragon eyes stayed icy.
You wanna fight me for weather control? Who gave you that courage?
Savage turbulence tore through the sky again, ripping apart the rainclouds blanketing the heavens.
Even after Primal Reversion, Primal Kyogre was clearly losing the weather war to Shiny Rayquaza.
Primal Kyogre was pissed.
Even facing that stupid lizard's Desolate Land, it could still at least fight evenly for weather control.
Sure, Primordial Sea couldn't cover the entire sky in that matchup, but it could at least split the field.
But against this Shiny Rayquaza… its Primordial Sea couldn't even get a single raindrop to fall.
"Forget it. You're just not as strong. As long as it doesn't want you to, you're never getting weather advantage in front of it."
Damian's voice sounded in Primal Kyogre's mind.
In the games, Delta Stream, Desolate Land, and Primordial Sea could counter each other. Only those three weather effects clashed like that.
But in reality, weather factors were clearly tied to a Pokémon's own strength.
And Primal Kyogre just wasn't as strong as Shiny Rayquaza.
As long as Shiny Rayquaza refused to give an inch, Primal Kyogre's Primordial Sea simply wasn't going to stick.
Primal Kyogre was not happy about that—but it had no grounds to argue.
"Kyogre, front line's yours."
"???"
Primal Kyogre froze.
Excuse me—three powerhouses here, and I'm not the main carry?
"If you want to beat Rayquaza, just do what I say."
Damian didn't elaborate.
"Mewtwo, Deoxys—use Calm Mind!"
"Kyogre, get in its face! Ice Beam!"
Shadow Mewtwo and Deoxys retreated quickly, Calm Mind's faint glow lighting their bodies.
Up against this Shiny Rayquaza, their current raw strength just wasn't enough.
So the only option was to stack buffs and close the gap as much as possible.
And the only one who could hold the line for now was the one with the highest base stats on Damian's side—Primal Kyogre.
No helping it. The other guy wasn't here yet—if he was, he'd be the one tanking in front while Primal Kyogre powered up. That would've been ideal.
Primal Kyogre stared at the swaggering Shiny Rayquaza in front of it, then gritted its teeth and surged forward.
So what if it was a black‑coal Rayquaza?
It was gonna throw down.
Shiny Rayquaza watched Primal Kyogre actively rush it, cold light kindling in its dragon eyes.
So it wasn't going to run—it was coming right for it?
That stupid fish had been asleep for this long and came back this arrogant?
~~~
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