Standing beside Luxray, Lucas was overlooking the Shiny Rayquaza for the first time.
In his arms, he held Terapagos, which had slightly exhausted itself from condensing defensive crystals. Comfey had also left its Poké Ball at Lucas's call. It held the flower named Eternal Flower, shaking the flower rings on its body and releasing pink energy and floral fragrance to treat the heavily injured but still standing Luxray.
Luxray's injuries were lighter than the Shiny Rayquaza's because it was the victor. But treatment of the injuries had to continue, after all, the Shiny Rayquaza's recovery speed would only be faster than the Hoenn Rayquaza's.
Lucas was also fully informed about the situation on Mega Swampert and Mimikyu's side through the real-time reports of the prompt system.
He had long reminded Mimikyu that it only needed to stall Deoxys's actions and prevent it from possibly interfering with his layout. While he and Mega Swampert had achieved surprise victory and weakened the Hoenn Rayquaza.
Even if the Hoenn Rayquaza's recovery speed was fast, as long as Deoxys No. 1 noticed the commotion from Deoxys No. 2's revival, it would immediately rush over there. With two Deoxys and a Mimikyu in good condition over there, the Hoenn Rayquaza, whose condition had already been beaten down by Mega Swampert, probably could not endure the pincer attack for long.
Knowing that due to the gap in power, it might temporarily be unable to take them down, the Hoenn Rayquaza would naturally retreat then.
These were Lucas's initial estimates, but reality left him somewhat stunned.
The Hoenn Rayquaza took the initiative to flee?
Noticing the text that appeared in his eyes, Lucas's expression was quite strange. Had the Hoenn Rayquaza changed its nature? It had not even taken much beating yet; why did it actively run away? A bit hard to understand.
"Also, you've done enough. How many different special effects have you switched since just now? You're hurting my eyes, you know."
Seeming to have reached the limit of his tolerance, Lucas complained inwardly. Ever since he and Luxray shot down the Shiny Rayquaza, this prompt system had been acting like it had epilepsy, with all kinds of flower and firework special effects playing in rotation in Lucas's view. It really was hurting his eyes.
[Bleh bleh bleh, I'm happy, I like it!]
The prompt system was that joyful. Usually, it only occasionally pointed the way or chatted. But the capable host had grown stronger on his own. Who could refuse the pleasure of lying back and winning?
Lucas could roughly guess why the prompt system was foolishly happy like a cheerful Samoyed. After all, when this guy had suddenly popped out to bind with him at the beginning, it had wanted to urge him to go out traveling and continue growing stronger. Now that he and Luxray had successfully shot down the Shiny Rayquaza, its excitement was normal.
But Lucas was not as optimistic as the prompt system. He knew very clearly that he was still a long way from the so-called strongest.
Even today's shooting down of the Shiny Rayquaza was not only due to raw strength but also relied on strategy, calculations, assistance from other powers, and understanding of the Shiny Rayquaza's psychology. Raw strength being solid and Luxray's half-year of effort was indeed the main factor. But all the electricity stored in the security green cube robots, Terastallization, Z-Move, and the Shiny Rayquaza's arrogant mentality—if any one of them had been missing, the outcome might have been different.
Lucas would be happy, but he would not become arrogant and inflated because of it. Not to mention that, just like last time, the Shiny Rayquaza had not Mega Evolved from beginning to end. Once the opponent Mega Evolved, the strength gap would form a chasm again.
A minute had already passed since shooting down the Shiny Rayquaza. Lucas finally spared most of his attention to focus on the Shiny Rayquaza.
He could notice that, just like the Hoenn Rayquaza that had already fled on the other side, the Shiny Rayquaza looked heavily injured, but as long as no one interfered or suppressed it, in a little while it would regain mobility and partial combat power.
This was the Pokémon crowned with the name of legend. Even though Luxray had shot it down, in this regard, Luxray could not compare at all.
"How does the taste of falling from the sky feel?" Lucas asked without any malice. Okay, perhaps there was a bit, after all, it was the Shiny Rayquaza's random intrusion that had caused him to die a large batch of brain cells today.
"..."
The Shiny Rayquaza did not make a sound, simply staring at Lucas as if wanting to firmly remember his appearance.
The Shiny Rayquaza and Lucas had met a total of three times. The first time, it was casually flying in the air, searching for small meteorites it could prey on. Out of some curiosity, it approached a flying airplane and made eye contact with Lucas, who happened to be looking out the window.
Probably at that time, it could never have imagined that this human it was making eye contact with would, together with the Luxray it had crushed during their second meeting in the future, shoot it down from the sky.
Fate was truly unpredictable.
While the Shiny Rayquaza sighed, its face still showed no intention of yielding. Even if Lucas took out the only Master Ball he had on hand, shouted "Good opportunity," and threw it at it to capture the currently somewhat weakened it, the Shiny Rayquaza would not give him any good expression. Not listening, directly turning and flying away would be basic operations; even developing into a fight-to-the-death situation was not impossible.
The Shiny Rayquaza did not think it had completely lost. It admitted it had been led by the nose by the dirty-minded Lucas, who had exploited its arrogant psychology. But Luxray winning that clash was also by borrowing a large amount of external force; this fundamentally could not make it acknowledge it. Not to mention that as long as it ate enough meteorites, the Shiny Rayquaza could reactivate the "Mikado Organ" and complete Mega Evolution. At that time, it could rub Luxray and Calyrex on the ground.
This was the Shiny Rayquaza's thought; it would not lower its head.
Therefore, from the beginning, throwing a ball at the Shiny Rayquaza was not a good choice. Lucas also understood this clearly, so he did not do any unnecessary things at all.
What could truly make a proud Dragon God like the Shiny Rayquaza acknowledge was probably only defeating its Mega Evolved form head-on or establishing a deep bond with it—these two possibilities.
Seeing the Shiny Rayquaza continuously staring at him, while instructing Comfey to continue treating Luxray, Lucas crossed the rubble and then squatted down in front of the Shiny Rayquaza.
"Let's talk about a condition. Believe you've already discovered that another of your kind has left this city. I won't beat around the bush. I hope you can also leave this city. As the price, if you want revenge in the future, you can come find me anytime."
Without waiting for the Shiny Rayquaza to respond, Lucas paused, then continued speaking on his own.
"Of course, if you still don't want to leave just like this, I can also accompany you to continue fighting. I know your stamina is recovering, but Luxray has Comfey treating it here. Even if it cannot release powerful attacks like just now, stalling you and then waiting for Calyrex to arrive is no problem. At that time, you might lose even more face."
The Shiny Rayquaza hated being threatened by others. In the past, it would have fought to the death, biting off a piece of the opponent's flesh no matter what.
But this time, it strangely developed a desire. It wanted to use even stronger power to crush Luxray head-on, then wash away the stain of defeat on its body. To openly and honorably use strength to tell Lucas: I, Rayquaza, will always be an unreachable sky for you.
Once this thought was born, it took root and grew wildly in the Shiny Rayquaza's heart.
After a moment of silence, the Shiny Rayquaza, which had recovered a bit of strength, lifted the upper half of its body from the rubble.
"Roar—"
It would remember this humiliation and repay it double next time.
The Shiny Rayquaza disdained using telepathy with humans. But even so, Lucas could roughly understand what it meant to express. This was issuing harsh words at him.
However, the Shiny Rayquaza choosing this still made him breathe a slight sigh of relief. Although he could call Steven, then call over Calyrex. If necessary, he could also use the Silver Wing to call Lugia, which should be near the Hoenn seas. But in that case, the entire LaRousse City probably could not be preserved.
The Shiny Rayquaza had come for him. If possible, Lucas still hoped the city would not disappear because of him—this was also the reason he chose to stand out this time.
This result should be the best outcome he could strive for now.
A moment later, the Shiny Rayquaza, which had recovered flight capability again, did not raise its head and roar but quietly flew up. Before leaving, the Shiny Rayquaza once again deeply looked at Lucas and Luxray.
The next time—the fourth meeting—it would tell Lucas and Luxray in its strongest form that your little tricks are worthless in the face of absolute strength!
Quickly retracting its gaze, the Shiny Rayquaza no longer lingered and flew toward the distant sky. It had firmly remembered the auras of Lucas and Luxray. No matter where on the planet they were in the future, it could find them.
"...Whew, finally gone."
Having finally sent away this uninvited Shiny Rayquaza in a relatively peaceful manner, Lucas's tense mind finally relaxed. Fatigue surged toward his brain like a tide. Looking at the circle of ruins around him caused by the moves of Luxray and the Shiny Rayquaza, Lucas sighed from the bottom of his heart.
"Sigh, what the heck is all this about."
He had come for a good vacation and, by invitation, to visit the high-tech city of LaRousse, yet he had been forced to fight two Rayquaza. To prevent the disaster from expanding further, he had even made a re-battle agreement with the Shiny Rayquaza.
Looking at the unwilling appearance of the Shiny Rayquaza when it left, next time, what he and Luxray would probably have to fight was a Mega Rayquaza, right?
Huh? I fight Mega Rayquaza? For real?
…