Damian could understand Primal Kyogre's excitement.
After all…
If you'd been suppressed by the same Pokémon for thousands of years, you'd have some pent‑up resentment too.
Even if what Primal Kyogre cared about most was definitely Groudon, it was absolutely impossible to say Kyogre had no ideology toward Rayquaza at all.
But if you couldn't beat it, what could you do? You just had to bottle it up.
Now, though, Primal Kyogre had finally vented for real.
"Don't pop the champagne early. We haven't won yet."
Damian reminded Primal Kyogre.
That last Blizzard had indeed blasted Shiny Rayquaza out of the sky, but it had still only been one hit.
And with Delta Stream up, there was no way that Blizzard could truly beat Shiny Rayquaza—probably not even seriously damage it.
"Alright!"
Primal Kyogre was very obedient. Right now it really was impressed with this human. He'd actually led it into a fight against Rayquaza!
Sure, it had been a group beating, but who said a group beating didn't count as a win?
"Roar!"
At that moment, a furious draconic bellow shook heaven and earth.
The Blizzard had passed, but scattered snowflakes were still floating through the air. Shiny Rayquaza rose high again, its oppressive dragon eyes blazing with rage as it glared at Primal Kyogre and the Ho-Oh and Shadow Mewtwo behind it.
The pale blue tracings of frost across its once‑gorgeous, pitch‑black body stood out sharply now, making it look rather bedraggled.
But Shiny Rayquaza's aura was even more ferocious and violent than before.
The Rayquaza that had flown over earlier didn't dare get close to Shiny Rayquaza right now either. It could feel how utterly furious its father was.
"Roar!!"
Shiny Rayquaza roared at Primal Kyogre. Its long body whipped wildly as mad winds howled through the sky.
The heavens went dim and gray, vicious air currents and whirlwinds tearing through the world.
All they could see was a tangible storm of compressed air. All they could hear was the beastlike shriek of the gale.
It couldn't accept this. It had actually lost a head‑on clash to this stupid fish?!
"Delta Stream!"
Damian's eyes narrowed slightly as his clothes and hair whipped wildly in the savage Strong Winds.
If Lunala weren't shielding him, he would've been blown away already.
This was Shiny Rayquaza's Ability—Delta Stream. Shiny Rayquaza was driving it at full power now.
This top‑tier weather Ability was, in terms of environmental destruction, not a bit weaker than Desolate Land or Primordial Sea.
If Primordial Sea wasn't checked, its endless rain would eventually drown the whole world in ocean.
If Desolate Land wasn't checked, the world would be baked into desert by the blazing sun, all life unable to withstand such brutal sunlight.
Delta Stream, meanwhile, would plunge the world into ceaseless hurricane‑force Strong Winds.
Normally, though, Mega Rayquaza didn't unleash Delta Stream this without restraint. Heavy rain gave Primal Kyogre a Water‑type boost; harsh sunlight gave Primal Groudon a Fire‑type boost.
In reality, Strong Winds did provide a subtle buff to Mega Rayquaza as well, but it didn't need to go this far.
After all, Delta Stream's main purpose was to erase Mega Rayquaza's Flying‑type weaknesses. There was no need to drive it to extremes—just keeping Delta Stream wrapped around Mega Rayquaza's body was enough.
So under normal circumstances, Mega Rayquaza rarely pushed Delta Stream at full blast, because Strong Winds' impact on the environment was also extremely severe.
Like right now—LaRousse City was completely swallowed by hurricane‑force Strong Winds.
Gray, howling Strong Winds shrouded the world. For the people in LaRousse City, it was as if an apocalyptic disaster had descended.
"This…"
Steven and the others could no longer keep their footing at all. Under the Helping Hand of their own main roster Pokémon, they dove into a building, where the wind pressure finally eased a bit.
"Rayquaza's gone berserk?"
Nemona let out a long sigh of relief. The shrieking of the wind in her ears was still terrifying, but at least she didn't have to worry about being blown into the sky anymore.
"Yeah. This should be its last stand."
Leon's face was grim.
He'd just seen that even the normal Rayquaza had to wrap its body around a high‑rise to keep from being blown away.
Which meant the wind pressure in the sky was far more fearsome than on the ground.
"Roar!!"
In the raging gale, Shiny Rayquaza's draconic bellow rang out again as a savage dragonstorm roared from its mouth, channeled by Delta Stream.
A Flying‑type Hurricane!
This Hurricane was much stronger than its earlier ones.
"Blizzard!"
Damian's eyes hardened.
Primal Kyogre was deadly serious as well, pouring everything into condensing Ice‑type energy.
"Helping Hand!"
Ho-Oh and Shadow Mewtwo both immediately used Helping Hand on Primal Kyogre.
A Normal‑type Helping Hand—dramatically boosting the power of the recipient's move.
With Ho-Oh and Shadow Mewtwo's Helping Hand pouring into it, Primal Kyogre suddenly felt like its whole body was overflowing with strength.
That swelling sense of power almost made it feel invincible.
"Ooo～!"
Primal Kyogre opened its jaws and unleashed a ferocious Blizzard.
Blizzard versus Hurricane!
The two attacks slammed into each other in mid‑air again, clashing violently. The first thing to spread outward were shockwave‑like ripples of sheer wind pressure and force.
Boom!
The crushing pressure left the sky in complete tatters as the whiteout Blizzard and gray‑black Strong Winds slammed into each other in a mad struggle.
And the result… was a deadlock.
"Tch."
Damian narrowed his eyes at the nearly even clash. This was just too absurd.
One second, two seconds, three seconds…
After a full five seconds, the balance finally collapsed. With a thunderous blast, the Strong Winds storm and Blizzard detonated together.
The brutal shockwave of energy rippled outward, blasting Shiny Rayquaza and Primal Kyogre and the others all away.
The gray clouds shrouding the sky were scattered by the impact, revealing blue sky once more.
Whump～!
Primal Kyogre crashed to the ground, shutting its eyes in pain. The impact itself wasn't so bad.
But the shockwave from the colliding moves hurt far more. Primal Kyogre felt like every inch of its body was screaming in agony.
Shadow Mewtwo was blown straight into the ground, partially embedding itself. Ho-Oh hurt too much to even get up.
Shiny Rayquaza was in no better shape. It was blasted into a high‑rise in the distance. The building collapsed under the impact, burying Shiny Rayquaza completely, only the tip of its tail still exposed.
The green Protect barrier around Damian slowly faded into motes of light as Lunala let out a very human‑sounding long sigh of relief. They'd finally ridden it out.
For a second there, it had thought even Protect would shatter under that residual energy.
The outside world was way too scary.
Leaving Alola for the first time to see other regions, Lunala was really shaken. At this level of battle, it didn't even feel like it could participate.
"This Rayquaza is seriously too strong～"
Damian looked down at the utterly shattered city below and couldn't help but sigh from the heart.
But his eyes only burned hotter.
Too strong. And that was exactly why he coveted this Shiny Rayquaza even more. He really wanted to catch it.
Power like this rightfully ought to be his.
"Lunala, take me down."
Damian waited a bit. When he saw that Primal Kyogre and the others still weren't getting back into the air, he spoke to Lunala.
Lunala descended and let Damian climb on, then flew down.
"Ho-Oh first."
Chunks of rubble covered Ho-Oh's body, burying it. But a not‑at‑all‑hot rainbow‑colored flame was already starting to burn slowly across its form.
It was clearly fire, yet there was no heat coming off it at all—only a surging, vibrant life force.
Clatter.
Ho-Oh's wings pushed the rocks aside as the bird, cloaked in rainbow‑colored flames, struggled to its feet, its weak aura already beginning to recover.
"I knew I read you right, Ho-Oh. I knew you could pull through."
Damian was full of praise. Ho-Oh really was the perfect tank.
"I almost blacked out just now!"
Ho-Oh wasn't particularly moved by Damian's compliment. Its Telepathy was tinged with bitter resentment.
It was the legendary Ho-Oh—yet it had almost been knocked unconscious by the energy shockwave from the exploding moves. If word of that got out, people would laugh themselves sick.
"But you didn't. Kyogre's in bad shape too. Ho-Oh, go help it heal."
Green motes of light drifted from Damian's hand to Ho-Oh. At the same time, he took out a spray bottle and misted Ho-Oh with it several times.
Grayish powder mixed with vapor settled on Ho-Oh's body, healing its wounds.
"Hm? What is this?"
Ho-Oh sniffed, then froze, looking suspiciously at the spray in Damian's hand. Why did this smell so…
"Sacred Ash spray. Not bad, right? Its healing power beats any potion spray on the human market."
Damian grinned.
"I feel like this is…"
"Exactly what you're thinking. It's made by grinding your feathers into powder and turning them into a spray," Damian said without the slightest embarrassment.
Ho-Oh's brain blue‑screened for a second.
"My feathers?" Ho-Oh was stunned.
"Yup. You dropped quite a few fighting Shadow Mewtwo last time. I picked them all up. See, they're coming in handy now." Damian flashed a set of bright white teeth.
"Oh, right—this time you shed a lot of feathers again. I already had my Pokémon collect them."
"..."
Ho-Oh went silent. It was really tempted to curse him out.
With the rainbow‑colored flames, the power of Viridian, and the Sacred Ash spray, Ho-Oh's condition recovered quickly and it took to the sky again.
Its mental exhaustion couldn't be fixed in a short time, but at least its body was much better.
They immediately headed for where Primal Kyogre was lying and hit it with the same triple healing. Primal Kyogre's condition improved a lot as well.
Deoxys also flew back carrying Shadow Mewtwo.
Then Damian led Primal Kyogre and the others toward Shiny Rayquaza's crash site.
Shiny Rayquaza's injuries were just as bad. Even though Rayquaza had swept the rubble off of it, Shiny Rayquaza still hadn't recovered yet.
"Roar!!"
The moment Primal Kyogre and the others drew near, Rayquaza roared at them in warning.
Shiny Rayquaza slowly lifted its upper body, eyes cold and vicious. It was weak now, but if these pests were planning to get up in its face, it wasn't about to swallow that.
"Relax. We're not here to jump you."
Damian's voice drifted over.
Both Shiny Rayquaza and its kid turned their eyes toward Damian below.
"It might not have been exactly fair, but we did beat you through numbers, right, Shiny Rayquaza?"
Damian spoke with an easy smile and a very objective tone.
"You're badly injured, but our side's still in decent shape. If we keep fighting, with you getting weaker and us staying fresh, you've got no way to win."
That was the beauty of having a healer.
"..."
Shiny Rayquaza said nothing, clearly unhappy and unconvinced.
But it couldn't deny it—if the fight continued, it was doomed to lose.
That last Delta Stream storm had already been its strongest offensive option, but even so, it still hadn't been able to overpower Primal Kyogre's Blizzard.
Seeing Shiny Rayquaza not refute him, Primal Kyogre's mouth split wide with a grin, its face almost twisting with joy.
"I know you came here to wipe out Deoxys, and I can understand your ideology." Damian kept going.
"But I can promise you this—Deoxys can coexist peacefully with us. It only came to this planet by accident."
"I'm asking you to give it a chance. If Deoxys ever does evil in the future, I'll take it out myself. How about that?"
Damian's voice was steady and sincere.
Even if they'd beaten the two dragons this time, the key question remained: if they didn't erase their hostility and prejudice toward Deoxys, they'd just come again.
Damian's tone wasn't overbearing in the slightest. He was doing his best to leave a good impression on the two Rayquaza.
Because…
Yeah, he really was greedy for Shiny Rayquaza's body.
Once the Deoxys matter was settled, he wanted to see if there was any way at all to make Shiny Rayquaza his teammate.
Even if it wasn't possible yet, he at least needed to show his goodwill toward it now.
~~~
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