Chapter 371: Dawn, I've Got a Surprise for You
"Groudon? Groudon??"
Giovanni had heard Groudon's cry for help and come out to the back courtyard of the Viridian Gym. The spot where it had been was empty.
PokéBlocks and Pokémon snacks lay scattered across the ground.
Groudon had gone missing?
Giovanni frowned at the ground. There were no signs of digging, and the sky was out of the question.
Who could possibly pick up something of Groudon's tonnage and fly off with it?
Giovanni didn't panic. He used the Power of Viridian to talk to a Dugtrio nearby.
"Taken away by a golden ring that suddenly appeared?" The answer was not what he'd expected.
What the hell does that mean?
Giovanni thought it over. He had no idea what this "golden ring" was, but his all-capable son might. He texted Mammon to ask, then went back inside the Gym to check the security footage.
He was confident Groudon hadn't betrayed him. They had a good relationship and got along comfortably.
It was true that Groudon's personality had been getting steadily more unhinged, and it kept talking about how, once Giovanni died, it was going to steep his ashes in magma.
But wasn't that, in its own way, a sincere expression of respect?
Admittedly, Giovanni was fairly resistant to the idea. He'd much rather be buried peacefully underground.
Having his ashes used as a hot soak was a bit beyond what he could process.
He really didn't think he could handle that much love.
...
Mammon's expression was extremely strange.
He had never, ever seen this coming. Out of every option available, Evil Hoopa had picked Can't-Fly?
Seriously, even Zacian would've been a better pick than Can't-Fly. Heck, even Zamazenta!
And hadn't the old man already caught Can't-Fly? Hoopa's spatial teleportation couldn't move Pokémon that were inside Poké Balls. Mammon had confirmed that with Confined Hoopa, which was exactly why he'd brought Giratina along in a Poké Ball in the first place.
Which meant Giovanni had been letting Can't-Fly free-range, and that was how Evil Hoopa had managed to teleport it here.
But would Can't-Fly actually be any use on a battlefield like this?
Mammon's face twisted a little. The Primal Groudon down below, already Primal Reverted, wasn't completely useless. The problem was that it couldn't fly.
In a Legendary war at this level, a Pokémon that couldn't fly didn't have much to contribute. Primal Groudon could only stand on the ground watching and lob the occasional long-range attack.
It wasn't like Groudon was going to jump up and use Aerial Ace. That would be way too absurd.
Besides, Primal Groudon's special attacks weren't weak, but it was at its best in close-range physical combat.
And most importantly: if Hoopa didn't send it back after the fight, was it going to have to walk all the way back to Kanto??
Oh, right, he'd forgotten. It could also Dig its way home underground.
Once that thought hit him, Mammon could barely keep a straight face.
Dragon God Kyurem gave the newly arrived Primal Groudon a single glance, then turned its draconic gaze back to Evil Hoopa.
Clearly, it didn't consider Primal Groudon worth its attention.
They'd fought before. It knew exactly what Can't-Fly was capable of.
No threat at all.
"Kyurem, don't use long-range energy attacks on this Evil Hoopa. Its rings can swallow energy," Mammon warned it.
That was one of the most broken things about Evil Hoopa. Thanks to its spatial rings, any energy-based attack could be swallowed by them.
And Hoopa didn't stop at swallowing. It could turn the attack around and fire it straight back out of another ring!
So the only way to land real hits on Evil Hoopa was up close.
Unless a very large number of Pokémon were attacking it at once, an ordinary gang-up couldn't do much to it. Its raw strength, plus those cheat-code rings, made Evil Hoopa an extraordinarily powerful fighter.
A ripple passed through Dragon God Kyurem's cold, impassive eyes. The next instant:
"ROAR~!"
Its roar shook the air. Blue lightning crackled across its enormous body as it charged at Evil Hoopa.
Fusion Bolt!
If long-range attacks were off the table, it would simply push straight through head-on!
The Fusion Bolt lightning formed a sphere that enveloped Dragon God Kyurem completely.
Evil Hoopa bellowed at it, and spatial rings began appearing one after another in the air.
At the same time, Primal Groudon raised its head down below. Dense flames condensed in its mouth, and huge fireballs erupted from it one after another, streaking toward Dragon God Kyurem.
The Fire-type move Eruption!
Notably, Primal Groudon hadn't brought out the extreme sunlight of Desolate Land. It was unclear whether it simply hadn't activated its ability or whether Stellar Terapagos's Teraform Zero was still in effect.
Eruption's fireballs pounded the Fusion Bolt shell over and over, blazing explosions ringing out one after another until flames flooded the sky.
The surging fire turned the sky red.
But Eruption couldn't touch Dragon God Kyurem, and it kept charging toward Evil Hoopa.
Seeing this, Evil Hoopa stopped holding back. Six enormous fists shot out of the spatial rings and slammed toward Dragon God Kyurem.
Hyperspace Fury!
BOOM!
Hyperspace Fury and Fusion Bolt collided head-on, sending massive, crushing shockwaves rolling outward. Blasts of air howled across the sands.
Meanwhile, Stellar Terapagos came charging fast toward Yveltal.
"Fall back," Mammon ordered without hesitation.
This Terapagos was extremely strong. He couldn't let Yveltal go up against it head-on.
Yveltal beat its wings and withdrew, keeping its distance from Stellar Terapagos the whole time.
Evil Hoopa seemed to notice, and its expression grew even more twisted and hideous. It let out another frustrated roar.
Hyperspace Fury and Fusion Bolt ended up evenly matched, and both sides were knocked back. But the very next second, Kyurem carried on as if nothing had happened and surged toward Evil Hoopa again.
Evil Hoopa, enraged, fired a Dark Pulse that hit Dragon God Kyurem mid-approach.
Another violent explosion.
Dust filled the air, but a huge silhouette emerged from it. Dragon God Kyurem had tanked the Dark Pulse and was now right in front of Evil Hoopa.
Its razor-sharp claws, glowing blue-green, raked at Evil Hoopa. The Dragon-type move Dragon Claw!
Evil Hoopa wasn't afraid in the slightest. One of its disembodied demonic arms flew in: Night Slash!
SHRRK!
Dragon God Kyurem's Dragon Claw slashed hard across Evil Hoopa's chest, and Evil Hoopa roared again in pain.
At the same moment, Evil Hoopa's Night Slash struck Dragon God Kyurem hard.
Kyurem simply took the hit. Since the three-dragon fusion, its durability had become exceptional.
"Ice Beam!"
Dragon God Kyurem opened its massive jaws and fired a beam of ice at point-blank range.
It struck Evil Hoopa dead-on. With a crackling krrk-krrk of freezing ice, most of Evil Hoopa's body froze over instantly.
Evil Hoopa's rings naturally countered every energy-based attack, but that only worked if it had the chance to absorb the attack with a ring in the first place.
From this close, and this suddenly, Evil Hoopa had no time to move its rings into place.
"VANISH! VANISH!!"
The intense cold ate ferociously into its body, and the pain only drove it further over the edge. Now completely berserk, it swung all six demonic arms down at Dragon God Kyurem.
Night Slash ×6!
Evil Hoopa's body was simply built for combat. Six strong, fully independent arms gave it more ways to attack than the vast majority of Pokémon.
Take Dragon God Kyurem, for example. At the end of the day, it was a Western-style dragon. Two claws, fangs, and a tail were its whole arsenal. It could breathe energy attacks, sure, but those came from the same mouth as the fangs.
Evil Hoopa, on the other hand, had six arms on their own. The hollow in its chest could concentrate energy attacks, and its thick tail was a weapon too.
That was a natural-born combat advantage.
Just like right now: it could control all six arms and attack with every one of them at once!
"Freeze Shock!" Mammon ordered next.
The turbine at Kyurem's tail spun furiously. Frigid air surged around it, and blue-violet energy condensed thicker and thicker.
The Ice-type move Freeze Shock!
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
Six Night Slashes hammered wildly at Dragon God Kyurem, but every one of them was stopped by the shield of condensed Freeze Shock energy.
If anything, a thin layer of frost had formed on all six of Evil Hoopa's arms.
At the sight, the crimson glow in Evil Hoopa's eyes flared violently, and its aura grew even more savage and feral.
How? HOW could this happen?!
BAM!
Dragon God Kyurem didn't give it any more time to rage. It rammed into Evil Hoopa with its full weight.
Evil Hoopa reeled as if struck by lightning. The terrifying cold of Freeze Shock stiffened its entire body in an instant.
It shot downward like a cannonball fired in reverse and slammed into the sand.
BOOM!
The whole ground shuddered, and bone-chilling cold spread instantly across the surrounding area. Dragon God Kyurem's power was plain for anyone to see.
"Hsss!!"
Even Confined Hoopa couldn't help sucking in a sharp breath at the sight.
Holy crap!!
It was Hoopa, so it understood its own strength better than anyone.
Without exaggeration, it didn't think there was anything wrong with the way Evil Hoopa fought, and it didn't think Evil Hoopa's strength was any lower than its own at its peak.
And yet Dragon God Kyurem had overpowered Evil Hoopa this decisively!
"Kyurem is way too strong," Confined Hoopa marveled again, completely sincere.
"Yep. There are very, very few beings in this world that could beat Dragon God Kyurem one-on-one."
Mammon wholeheartedly agreed. Hoopa Unbound's combat power was near the very top even among top-tier Legendaries, and even Hoopa Unbound was being suppressed like this by Dragon God Kyurem.
That said it all.
The battle in Unova had actually settled the question already: even an unenhanced shiny Mega Rayquaza was a notch below Dragon God Kyurem.
As long as the Alpaca stayed out of it, Mammon figured the only thing with a real shot at beating Dragon God Kyurem was probably Ultra Necrozma, and even that was an open question.
Everyone knew Ultra Necrozma was extremely powerful. Nobody knew exactly how powerful.
Either way, the outcome of this free-for-all was now more or less decided.
Mammon glanced at the spot where Evil Hoopa had crashed. The dust was too thick to see through.
But with Evil Hoopa on the back foot, there was no suspense left in this battle.
He looked around the field. Origin Forme Giratina had beaten Origin Forme Palkia down to its last gasps and was moments from putting it on the ground for good.
Dark Mega Mewtwo Y had Shadow Rider Calyrex under control and held the advantage.
Black Rayquaza had turned out exactly as it claimed: a little stronger than Mega Rayquaza. That fight was going well too.
Primal Kyogre hadn't embarrassed itself either. Even without Primordial Sea backing it up, it had Dialga slightly under control.
As for Stellar Terapagos and Primal Groudon, Mammon wasn't worried about them. Neither of them could do much of anything.
"We're basically in the clear. Hoopa, have you thought about what you want to do with the Shadow?"
"Ummm..." Confined Hoopa scrunched up its little face and chewed anxiously on its tiny claws.
What to do with the Shadow... It was a real headache.
Kill it outright? But what if its power disappeared along with the Shadow?
And honestly, Confined Hoopa was starting to hesitate. Why did the Shadow hate it so much? There had to be a reason.
Maybe it was because of the seal?
While Confined Hoopa thought it over, Mammon turned his attention to Stellar Terapagos.
Terapagos, the Hidden Treasure of Area Zero. The Pokémon that could send him to Hisui!
That ability meant a great deal to Mammon. He now knew that his future daughter was taking her trial in Hisui.
He'd also promised Akari he'd bring her to this era to have some fun. A dad has to keep his word, right?
So this little turtle was not getting away!
And besides...
Mammon took out his phone and opened the photos he'd taken with Akari, plus a few videos. He hesitated.
Should he show this "evidence" to Platinum?
Tell her he'd traveled back to Hisui and met their future daughter?
The question was whether this "surprise" might be a little too surprising.
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