"Alert! Alert!"
Inside the laboratory, the instruments connected to LaRousse City's management system kept emitting piercing alarm sounds.
But at this moment, Professor Lund and the others could not care less. They all turned their gazes toward the meteorite in the center of the laboratory.
They had just discovered that their team's four years of effort had not been in vain. Although the body's regeneration function had not yet been activated, miraculously, Deoxys's consciousness had awakened first and had even become friends with Professor Lund's son Tory!
This meant their research direction was correct. Next, they only needed to put it into practice.
"Bi-mi?"
Placing its small hand on an exposed part of a device that looked like an interface, Victini tilted its head, as if asking whether they just needed to release energy here.
"That's right. Once we give the signal, you pour energy into it!"
Professor Lund nodded quickly, his eyes becoming even more focused.
Some time had already passed since the isolation from the outside world had been lifted. Natural wind had once again blessed the city, and the external wind power generators had accumulated enough electricity to start the awakening device at full load.
Through calculation and estimation, two full-load laser irradiations should be enough to activate Deoxys's regeneration function.
—But the current situation was a race against time. The continuous explosions from outside made it clear that an intense battle was underway.
Lucas was single-handedly stalling two Rayquaza—legendary Pokémon known as the Sky Dragons—as well as the other alien Pokémon, Deoxys.
To break the deadlock, they had to do as Lucas said and awaken the second Deoxys.
—Whether they could succeed depended on whether the energy shared by Victini was truly as Ash had said.
Taking a deep breath, Professor Lund pushed the switch to maximum without hesitation.
"Laser… irradiation!"
Four pure blue lasers shot out from the device and shone onto the green core crystal. The strong light almost covered the entire laboratory. May and the others subconsciously used their arms to shield their eyes, squinting.
The twin sisters held hands and whispered nervously, "…Did it succeed?"
"No, we're still short of nearly fifty percent of the output peak to awaken it. We're still far from enough with the current level."
Yuko stared at the screen in front of her. The rapidly scrolling data reflected in her eyes as she murmured softly.
"Victini, we're counting on you!"
She turned around without hesitation and shouted.
"Alright, let's go!"
Ash, squatting beside Victini, roared loudly.
Victini nodded. A golden aura rose and poured entirely into the interface.
In an instant, the laser's output power instantly surpassed its previous peak!
"Ooooh—!"
"The wavelength is synchronizing!"
Professor Lund's eyes widened. He had never imagined there could be such a universal energy in the world! Not only did it supplement energy, Victini could even unreasonably push the awakening device's power far beyond its designed limits!
In that case, it could work!
As if sensing that it was about to awaken, the light aggregate carrying Deoxys's consciousness beside Tory became excited. Uncontrolled fluctuations began to spread around as the awakening experiment continued.
With the entire laboratory as the center, a brilliant aurora suddenly bloomed in the sky above. Even though it was still daytime, even from the sea far away from LaRousse City, the aurora was clearly visible.
Naturally, the three legendary and mythical Pokémon currently battling the Pokémon sent by Lucas all noticed the aurora.
Using its tentacle-like arms to block Mimikyu's Shadow Claw, Deoxys—whose body had sunk into the ground under the strong force—paused for a moment. Then it immediately erupted with psychic power to shake off Mimikyu's suppression, transformed into Speed Forme, and prepared to head in that direction.
The Hoenn Rayquaza, which now had quite a few wounds on its body and was no longer as relaxed as before, also remembered its original purpose at this moment. Eliminate the invaders that had entered its territory!
Moreover, both auras had appeared together this time. It could not miss the opportunity.
"Shiiiiaaaang—!"
Raising its head and letting out a roar, the Rayquaza with aerial superiority stopped fighting Mega Swampert and flew straight toward the aurora.
"Oh no, that direction is—!"
Not caring that her uniform was still dripping wet, Officer Jenny's expression changed. She subconsciously steered the ship to chase after the departing Hoenn Rayquaza.
Lucas's voice also came from the megaphone. "Swampert, follow it! Don't let it interfere with Deoxys's regeneration!"
"Swampert!"
Mega Swampert nodded slightly and rode the waves directly after it.
Soon they reached the shore. Although Mega Swampert was an amphibious Pokémon, its speed on land was indeed no match for its speed in water. It would take some effort to catch up.
A look of determination flashed in Mega Swampert's eyes. Its leg muscles tensed, then it stomped heavily on the ground!
Accompanied by the ground cracking and sinking, Mega Swampert's figure shot high into the air. One could faintly hear the sharp whistling of air being drawn in and sprayed out. Mega Swampert was using the airflow as thrust to propel itself forward at even greater speed.
Pulling a series of afterimages, relying on its terrifying explosive power, Mega Swampert chose a method that consumed a lot of stamina to chase after the Hoenn Rayquaza.
"…So fast!"
Officer Jenny, who had also landed at Port No. 3, shrank her pupils slightly and marveled at the speed brought by Mega Swampert's unparalleled explosive power.
But she did not forget her duty. She directly threw a Poké Ball.
"Arcanine, take me there!"
…
On the other side.
Lucas and Luxray were confronting the shiny Rayquaza.
Compared to the fierce battle on Mega Swampert's side, ever since he had arrived here, Luxray and the shiny Rayquaza had barely fought a few times. The opponent's gaze kept shifting left and right, as if waiting for something.
Lucas knew that the shiny Rayquaza was looking for Calyrex and Glastrier. It had always been this arrogant. It had never been very interested in opponents it had crushed once before. Its mind was full of thoughts about getting revenge on Calyrex.
Toward such a shiny Rayquaza, Lucas chuckled. "Give it up. Calyrex won't come. Your opponents are only us."
The shiny Rayquaza's bright golden dragon eyes turned toward Lucas. It had a very deep impression of this human. Whether it was commanding the Swampert to punch it at the very beginning, or later calling out to let Calyrex find a way to restrict its speed—everything had been orchestrated by him from behind the scenes.
Therefore, the moment it sensed the other's aura, it had immediately set off to seek revenge. It had just happened to encounter that brainless junior flying in the same direction along the way, and fighting it had wasted quite a bit of time.
But no matter what, it was here now, and the opponent was still standing in front of it. That was enough.
The shiny Rayquaza was not interested in anything else. It simply grinned, responding to Lucas's declaration with action. As long as I beat all of you down, that guy will definitely show up!
Brilliant dragon flames erupted from the shiny Rayquaza's wide-open maw, sounding the horn for the conflict to resume.
"Luxray—Thunder Fang!"
Lucas gripped the throttle tightly. His heart began to beat rapidly, and his blood felt as if it were burning.
Compared to remotely commanding Mega Swampert, from this moment on, he clearly realized and perceived the fact that he was now directly facing one of the most powerful legendary Pokémon in the world!
It was truly exciting!
"Meow-ow—!"
Luxray's front paws landed on the cracked ground. Piercing electric light danced between its sharp fangs, transforming into a pair of huge thunder fangs that bit down on the Dragon Pulse!
With a swing of its head, the Dragon Pulse was torn apart by Luxray, turning into light and flames across the sky.
At the same time, Luxray did not stop and began accelerating.
"Roaaar!" The Rayquaza swung its dragon tail, easily slicing a huge container in half, while flying low and diving toward Luxray.
Against a previous defeated opponent, there was no possibility of evasion!
At the same time, the shiny Rayquaza began charging its most commonly used move again. Hyper Beam!
The purple-black Hyper Beam pierced through all buildings and obstacles along the way, melting open a passage for the shiny Rayquaza to pass through, and continued shooting toward Luxray without losing momentum.
"Wild Charge!"
Luxray's entire body flashed with violent current. Like a rushing thunderbolt, it fearlessly collided with the oncoming Hyper Beam.
Boom!
Amid the violent explosion, raging shockwaves mercilessly destroyed everything around them.
The shining golden-yellow current held against the light pillar filled with black particles, stubbornly pushing forward step by step against the energy torrent until the Hyper Beam lost its power.
Under the slightly surprised gaze of the shiny Rayquaza, Luxray charged right up to it and once again slammed heavily into its dragon body!
Without using any move, the shiny Rayquaza—which was confident its physical strength could crush Luxray—was caught off guard and was sent flying again.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three consecutive loud crashes rose from the smoke, and the ground trembled violently. Only after smashing through three more large containers did the shiny Rayquaza stop its backward flight.
But at this moment, more than the pain on its body, the shiny Rayquaza cared about something else.
Before, being knocked away could be called a coincidence—it had been sneak-attacked while charging a move.
—But now, that little cat had actually pushed through its Hyper Beam and knocked it flying?
Even if it had only relied on physical strength rather than a move, this was completely unacceptable to the shiny Rayquaza psychologically.
"Roaaar—!"
If before the shiny Rayquaza had been playing with the cat in a dragon-catching-cat manner, now it was truly angry.
Rising from the ruins, eyes burning with rage, the shiny Rayquaza stirred up airflow and transformed into a white rainbow, shooting toward Luxray like a straight white line at high speed. Extreme Speed!
Luxray's pupils shrank. Even though its consciousness had reacted, even though the electricity was madly stimulating its body, against such an extremely fast strike, it still could not dodge.
But at this moment, the role of the Trainer became evident.
"Protect!"
At the critical moment, Lucas—who had kept his mind clear the whole time—gave the best solution. Since the shiny Rayquaza's Extreme Speed was too fast to dodge, then don't dodge!
A thin green barrier rose, helping Luxray share most of the impact force generated by the shiny Rayquaza's passing!
Not getting the result it wanted, the anger in the shiny Rayquaza's eyes burned even hotter. With an unbelievable maneuver, it twisted its body mid-flight and sprayed a Dragon Pulse straight at Luxray's defenseless back!
"Protect!"
Lucas's voice rang out again. The hateful green barrier rose once more, helping Luxray withstand the shiny Rayquaza's hasty attack.
Obvious astonishment flashed in the shiny Rayquaza's eyes. Its gaze toward Lucas became deep and terrifying. This human had ruined its plans again and again—!
Double Protect success!
At this moment, even Lucas marveled at how insanely lucky this wave had been.
While commanding Mega Swampert on the other side to chase the Hoenn Rayquaza, he continued multitasking, directing Luxray in its fierce battle against the shiny Rayquaza.
The shiny Rayquaza was not an AI that only stood still and output damage in games, nor was it an opponent restricted to a single arena with limited flight height in official League battles. Its movements were varied. One second it might be wrestling with you, and the next it might soar onto a tall building and spit dragon breath.
The figures of both sides kept moving inside LaRousse City. Luxray sometimes smashed through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows of office buildings, leaping across floors dozens of meters high, releasing electricity to cancel out the shiny Rayquaza's moves.
Lucas rode the surprisingly well-performing motorcycle beneath him, chasing after their figures the whole way and giving timely commands.
Crossing the corridor bridge, then several more high-rise buildings, they finally arrived directly below the Battle Tower!
The shiny Rayquaza circled around the Battle Tower's body. Its gaze had changed from the initial contempt to the current solemnity.
In its senses, only a very short time had passed, yet the current Luxray could already fight it for so long under that human's commands without falling behind. At this growth speed, it actually felt that if it did not obtain further power and form, it might not be able to take them down in a short time.
The shiny Rayquaza began to take its opponents seriously.
"The second round begins now. This time, we will shoot you down!"
Lucas, arriving on his motorcycle, issued his declaration to the once-unreachable powerful enemy that had made him and Luxray feel so distant.
"—Aaaang!!!"
After a brief silence, the shiny Rayquaza raised its dragon head. A majestic dragon roar resounded throughout all of LaRousse City. The shockwaves caused glass to shatter continuously. The falling fragments reflected the blazing sun, mirroring the domineering dragon body of the shiny Rayquaza.
If you can do it, then come and try!
"Luxray—Terastallize!"
In the brilliant Tera glow, Luxray's body surface became as crystalline and shining as crystal. The Electric-type Tera Crown sparkled above its head. Perhaps because Terapagos was nearby, this Terastallization was far more perfect than any previous one.
"Electric Terrain!"
From the very beginning, Lucas had not planned to use this move. Opening a terrain move during a chase battle would have been a waste of effort. But in this place he had chosen as the shiny Rayquaza's landing spot, there was no longer any hesitation in releasing Electric Terrain.
Under the shiny Rayquaza's cold gaze, Luxray's body erupted with violent current that poured into the ground.
In the field where electricity splashed, one human and one cat issued a challenge to the proud overlord of the skies!