Meanwhile, high above the sea between the Kanto Region and the Hoenn Region, a large bird Pokémon shimmering with a rainbow sheen was beating its wings at high speed.
It was Ho-Oh.
"That human actually ran this far!"
Ho-Oh cursed inwardly. It had been enjoying a nice magma bath, even thinking about taking a little nap.
Then a strange flutter had yanked it back to itself—that special Rainbow Wing it had given Damian earlier.
Obviously, Damian was calling for it.
Ho-Oh was very helpless. It had already promised, so even if it really didn't feel like it, it could only reluctantly drag itself away from its beloved magma soak.
But the second it followed that sense, Ho-Oh wanted to swear.
That guy was this far away? Seriously, did he think it wasn't a living being?
What else could it do, though? It could only rush over.
These were debts it had left behind itself.
More importantly, that strange flutter was going off once every little while.
Which meant that human was spamming the "hurry up" button on it. And what could Ho-Oh do about that?
All it could do was flap harder and speed up.
"You'd better really need something!!"
Feeling that flutter again, Ho-Oh cursed to itself—but still beat its wings with more force.
It was also curious what had made that human suddenly call it in such a panic. Had he run into some kind of enemy?
Hmph～! Well, that figured. If he'd gone so far as to find a noble, mighty being like itself, it had to be some opponent he couldn't handle, right?
In the end, that human's black Pokémon was strong, but still not its match.
Fine then. The beautiful and powerful Lord Ho-Oh would lend him a hand.
No matter what kind of opponent it was, the invincible Lord Ho-Oh could handle it just fine!
With a rough estimate, Ho-Oh figured it wouldn't be long before it reached the location of that Rainbow Wing.
...
LaRousse City.
Shadow Mewtwo and Deoxys were in the middle of Calm Mind, while Primal Kyogre flew high into the sky, an ice‑blue Ice Beam firing toward Shiny Rayquaza.
"Ice Beam!"
An Ice‑type Ice Beam.
Even though Delta Stream had erased Shiny Rayquaza's Flying‑type weaknesses,
it was still two‑times weak to Ice!
The massive ice‑blue beam snaked and twisted through the air toward Shiny Rayquaza.
Shiny Rayquaza's dragon eyes stayed regal and icy.
It tipped its upper body back, Dragon Pulse building in its mouth. A Dragon Pulse slammed forward to meet it.
Dragon Pulse!
Dragon Pulse and Ice Beam collided violently in mid‑air.
But after just two seconds of stalemate, Dragon Pulse shattered Ice Beam and kept going, blasting straight into Primal Kyogre.
Boom!
Dragon Pulse detonated in a heavy explosion. In the fiery blast, Primal Kyogre let out a cry of pain as its massive body was knocked head over tail.
"Kyogre, you holding back?"
Damian's brows drew together as he questioned Primal Kyogre silently.
"I wasn't holding back!"
Primal Kyogre replied, very put‑out.
The Dragon Pulse hadn't beaten it, but it had definitely hurt.
It hadn't expected that either.
This Shiny Rayquaza was stronger than the one that had been pounding it and Groudon for thousands of years!
What the hell—what was the Rayquaza species supposed to be?
It was bad enough they were this strong, but they actually had a whole line? Arceus, open your eyes and take a look!
Where was the justice in that?
Damian narrowed his eyes. A straight‑up clash at full power had gotten Primal Kyogre's Ice Beam blown away that fast?
Shiny Rayquaza's offensive power was too high.
But hadn't Dragon Ascent in the movie barely scratched Giratina?
No—maybe it was just that Giratina's other forme's defense was ridiculously good?
Damian glanced at Shadow Mewtwo and Deoxys. Both had gotten one Calm Mind off already.
Naturally, he had them keep going. If they were going to buff, they might as well go all the way.
"Roar～!"
Shiny Rayquaza's draconic bellow rang out as its gorgeous pitch‑black serpentine body surged forward at high speed.
"Blizzard!"
Damian gave the order without the slightest hesitation.
Primal Kyogre spread its fins and rose, an ice‑blue blizzard roaring from its mouth.
A colossal Blizzard swept across the sky, whiteout winds and snow swallowing the heavens.
An extremely powerful Blizzard.
"Hsss～ that Blizzard!"
Down below, Wallace stared in awe at the snowflakes drifting down. Even where they were, the Blizzard was affecting the air.
"That kind of power really is incredible."
Leon couldn't help but be impressed.
So this was the true power of a Legendary Pokémon?
And Primal Kyogre wasn't even Ice‑type.
Shiny Rayquaza's expression didn't change. Its flying silhouette didn't slow at all, golden lightning crackling across its body.
Shiny Rayquaza's whole form was wreathed in gold electricity as it accelerated again toward Primal Kyogre.
An Electric‑type Wild Charge!
Like a golden blade, Shiny Rayquaza shot straight into the Blizzard, ripping a rift through the snowy curtain like a bolt of lightning.
The Blizzard couldn't stop Wild Charge's rush at all.
"Protect!"
Damian didn't hesitate for even a heartbeat.
Primal Kyogre immediately dropped Blizzard, green barrier light flaring as a barrier appeared in front of it.
Boom!
Wild Charge slammed into the Protect barrier, golden lightning raging everywhere as the barrier shuddered violently.
Through the Protect barrier, Primal Kyogre's golden beast‑eyes stared at the black silhouette wrapped in gold current.
That was close.
If that human hadn't called it out, it wouldn't have used Protect at all—just kept pouring its inner energy into amping up the blizzard.
If it had done that, it would definitely have eaten that powerful Wild Charge right in the face.
And an Electric‑type Wild Charge absolutely beat Primal Kyogre.
Looked like this human was at least useful.
"Don't get careless! Watch it!"
Right then, Damian's voice barked another warning.
Primal Kyogre snapped back.
The Protect barrier had already reached its time limit and disappeared—just in time for a tail wreathed in teal light to fill its vision.
A Dragon‑type Breaking Swipe!
Rumble!
The explosion was deafening as Breaking Swipe detonated, its destructive energy blasting Primal Kyogre away.
A second later, intense Dragon light gathered in Shiny Rayquaza's mouth.
A Dragon Pulse shot out, hammering into the airborne Primal Kyogre.
Boom!
Primal Kyogre's massive body crashed into a high‑rise.
The impact was too much for the building to take—it simply snapped in half.
Roar～!!
With Primal Kyogre knocked from the sky, Shiny Rayquaza let out another imperious draconic bellow, then stared down proudly at the thick plume of dust.
That was where Primal Kyogre had fallen.
That was it?
Shiny Rayquaza didn't bother pressing the attack.
It had expected this stupid fish to deliver some kind of "surprise," but this was all it had.
Shiny Rayquaza cast another glance toward Shadow Mewtwo and Deoxys.
It could see that both were buffing.
But a bug was a bug.
Even buffed, were bugs supposed to beat a mighty Shiny Rayquaza?
Ridiculous. Did they seriously think that after a few Calm Minds they could challenge it?
Shiny Rayquaza was utterly unimpressed.
Even so, it didn't have time to waste playing games with two bugs.
Its dragon eyes turned on Deoxys, cold light gathering. A bug from space.
"It's not chasing Kyogre, but going for Deoxys instead?"
Damian didn't know exactly what was going through Shiny Rayquaza's mind.
But he did know it wasn't ignoring Shadow Mewtwo or Deoxys—and that was very bad news for him.
He urged Primal Kyogre on mentally.
As bad as that beatdown had looked, Wild Charge hadn't landed cleanly. Primal Kyogre's injuries were still manageable.
Its physical constitution was also extremely good.
"Kyogre, get up!"
"Hsss～ Human, I hurt."
"You're the one who spaced out in the middle of a fight."
Damian's head throbbed.
Wild was wild. The fat‑headed fish's battle sense really wasn't amazing.
On the other hand, for something that'd lived who‑knew‑how‑many years—and that had been born at the very top of the Pokémon food chain—with no natural predators…
It made sense. In Hoenn, the only ones who could actually fight it were land‑bound Groudon and Rayquaza.
Outside of brawling with Primal Groudon over natural energy and then getting "mediated" by Rayquaza, Primal Kyogre had probably hardly ever had to really battle.
"And didn't you say it was seventy‑thirty between you and Rayquaza?"
"This one doesn't count…"
Primal Kyogre went quiet for a moment before replying.
The fat‑headed fish really was a bit adorable.
Damian couldn't help finding it funny.
"Ice Beam!"
"Ooo～!"
A low, ancient call rolled across the sky again.
Primal Kyogre's body, gleaming faintly with deep blue divine light, rose high, an ice‑blue beam lancing toward Shiny Rayquaza, which had been about to move on Deoxys.
Shiny Rayquaza lowered its head, its long body weaving sinuously as it slipped past the Ice Beam.
Looked like it had gone too easy on that fish before—Kyogre still dared attack it.
Cold light flickered in Shiny Rayquaza's dragon eyes as its black body slowly snaked up toward Primal Kyogre.
Feeling the chill in Shiny Rayquaza's gaze, Primal Kyogre's hide crawled.
"Blizzard!"
Primal Kyogre opened its mouth, another Ice‑type Blizzard starting to form—
But before it could fire, something flashed in front of it.
The black dragon streaked in like a bullet, slamming into Primal Kyogre's head.
A Normal‑type Extreme Speed!
Wham!
Primal Kyogre grunted.
An instant later, it tried to blast Blizzard straight into Shiny Rayquaza's face—
But Shiny Rayquaza's reaction was just as fast.
Gold lightning wrapped its body again as it crashed into Primal Kyogre once more.
An Electric‑type Wild Charge!
Wild Charge punched right through Blizzard's pushback, ramming into Primal Kyogre's body.
Primal Kyogre let out a pained, low cry as Shiny Rayquaza drove it down, slamming it into the ground with crushing force.
The earth shook under the impact as golden lightning geysered skyward.
Damian frowned.
Electric beat Water—this Wild Charge had hit Primal Kyogre really hard.
The faint buzzing of current hung in the air as Shiny Rayquaza, still wreathed in arcs of electricity, slowly rose again.
That was just Wild Charge recoil.
But such a trivial price was nothing to Shiny Rayquaza.
It stared into the thick dust where Primal Kyogre's silhouette lay.
Its dragon eyes were cold and indifferent, its massive body radiating sheer dominance.
"This thing's insane! Kyogre's no match for it at all!" Wallace was stunned.
"Agreed. This Rayquaza's individual strength is terrifying."
Even Steven's face was full of shock.
"Damian's Mewtwo and Deoxys just finished buffing, though. Maybe they can flip it."
Cynthia looked up at Shadow Mewtwo and Deoxys.
They'd stayed out of the fight so far, just stacking Calm Mind, and now they'd clearly hit max.
"Feels like that's still a stretch." Giovanni shook his head.
As far as he was concerned, beating this Rayquaza with Damian's current lineup was going to take some very fancy footwork.
"Chiu～"
At that moment, a clear, high cry rang out from far overhead.
A beautiful rainbow stretched from the horizon, and a gorgeous bird Pokémon glowing with golden and rainbow light flew toward them.
Shiny Rayquaza turned its head at the sound, narrowing its dragon eyes.
"About time."
Seeing this, Damian couldn't help but smile.
Finally—Ho-Oh.
The legendary Ho-Oh glided in and stopped above Damian.
"Human, you—"
Ho-Oh's androgynous Telepathy voice began—then cut off abruptly.
Out of the corner of its eye, it had spotted the Shiny Rayquaza hanging in the sky. Its body went rigid.
Shiny Mega Rayquaza?!!
That terrifying, overwhelming aura set every alarm in Ho-Oh's mind blaring.
If anything, its instincts were screaming bloody murder right now.
"Ho-Oh, you finally made it. The first thing I need your help with is taking this Rayquaza down with me."
Damian kept it short.
Ho-Oh had already agreed to this.
"???"
Ho-Oh's eyes went round, its wings freezing mid‑flap as it stared at Damian in disbelief.
"Human, what did you just say?"
Shock filled Ho-Oh's voice.
"You want me to go fight that Rayquaza???"
Ho-Oh pointed a wing at Shiny Rayquaza.
Did this human have brain damage?
It was just a Ho-Oh, and he wanted it to go fight Shiny Rayquaza??
~~~
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