But this time, Jason didn't choose to Dynamax.
Dynamaxing might make you huge, but it also makes you clumsy—and besides, this was Eternatus's home turf.
What he wanted was pure, extreme burst.
The kind of all-or-nothing resolve that throws away every scrap of defense just to land this one hit.
The red spikes along Jason's back blazed to their absolute limit, even starting to spray out blue Dragon-type flames.
He kicked hard off the hovering board under his feet.
The board exploded on the spot.
Jason became a dark-gray meteor and shot straight into the sky.
His target couldn't have been clearer:
the red core in Eternatus's chest. It had been cracked from the last impact, but after Eternamaxing, the energy had repaired it.
Now, with the shield shattered, that core was exposed to the open air again.
That was its heart—and its only weakness.
"Zacian! Zamazenta! Move!"
Jason roared.
The two legendary beasts moved in perfect sync, dodging to either side and opening a straight path to the core.
Eternatus panicked.
It sensed the terrifying aura rushing closer. It whipped its tentacles, trying to intercept the lunatic charging in.
"Too late!"
Jason adjusted his posture midair.
He didn't attack with claws or fangs like a normal strike.
Instead, he twisted around and aimed his broad, solid back at Eternatus.
The spikes on his back looked like a giant crescent battle-axe, packed with every ounce of Jason's Dragon-type energy.
Baxcalibur's signature move—
one of the most explosive physical Dragon-type techniques.
Glaive Rush.
A reckless move that gathers all strength into the dorsal fin and smashes the opponent with your back.
Its downside is brutal: the next attack is guaranteed to hit, and the damage you take is doubled.
A classic "deal a thousand, lose eight hundred" technique. In a turn-based game, using it usually means massive risk on the next turn.
But this wasn't a turn-based game.
This was reality.
A flash of madness lit up Jason's eyes.
"As long as I one-shot you, there won't be a next turn!"
"Side effects? What even are those?"
He threw every hesitation out of his mind.
His speed spiked again.
A sonic boom cloud formed in his wake.
Like a heavy sword fired in reverse, he charged forward with unstoppable momentum—slamming straight into Eternatus's core.
The distance closed.
One hundred meters.
Fifty.
Ten.
Eternatus's tentacles tried to pull back to defend—but it was too slow. Zacian and Zamazenta kept it pinned from the side, cutting in now and then to interrupt its movements.
"SHATTER!!!"
Jason bellowed.
The final collision—
BOOM!
Time seemed to freeze for an instant.
First came a dull thud heavy enough to make your heart stop—then the earth-shaking explosion.
The spikes on Jason's back drove in with perfect precision, stabbing straight into Eternatus's core.
The hard purple bone structure collapsed completely under that blow. The red energy heart, facing Baxcalibur's terrifying physical destructive power, instantly filled with cracks.
Crack.
A crisp shattering sound.
Then came a blinding white light.
The core exploded.
Eternatus let out one last unwilling, furious wail. Its body began collapsing from the inside out—massive Eternamax energy losing control and venting violently outward.
The enormous shockwave blasted Jason away.
He tumbled through the air, released Baxcalibur's transformation, and reverted to Ditto form.
His whole body screamed with pain, like he'd been run over by a steamroller—but he was smiling.
Because he saw it.
That arrogant, colossal hand in the sky… was crumbling.
The purple skeleton broke apart into countless points of light. The red clouds were blown away completely.
Eternatus's true body shrank rapidly, until it became a bone dragon only a few meters long, looking weak and listless, falling from high above.
Jason closed his eyes too, letting himself free-fall.
Miraidon shot in as a streak of light and caught him steady.
"Nice work, Jason. I almost wanted to rush up and help."
Jason chuckled.
This Miraidon's strength was nowhere near the sword dog and shield dog's level.
It couldn't really have helped much.
Zacian and Zamazenta hovered in midair. They exchanged a look, then turned toward Jason and gave a small nod.
Mission complete.
Crisis resolved.
Their bodies began to fade as golden light slowly dispersed.
Jason cracked one eye open, looking at the blue sky returning overhead—and the sunset sinking slowly toward the horizon.
He pointed down at the energy plant that had become a ruin.
"Tell Rose—if he's not dead yet…"
"Tomorrow's breakfast, make sure you eat well. Because in prison you probably won't get anything that good."
Below, Wyndon's alarm sirens finally stopped.
In their place came the roaring cheers of the crowd—people celebrating surviving the disaster.
They didn't know exactly what had happened, but they'd seen the terrifying battle in the sky—and they'd seen the pink figure that ended it all.
"We… won—!"
Leon watched the Ditto being carried down slowly by Miraidon.
His feelings were complicated.
"Looks like… the new era really has arrived."
Leon smiled. His face was smeared with ash, but the smile was more genuine than ever.
…
Wyndon Central Hospital, top-floor VIP ward.
The air here didn't have that nauseating stench of blood—only the faint scent of disinfectant mixed with expensive aromatherapy.
Jason lay on the wide hospital bed.
More accurately, he was puddled on it.
Right now, even shifting a little felt exhausting.
His pink body looked like a half-melted strawberry pudding, slack and loose across the white sheets. Only his two signature dot eyes stayed stubbornly open, staring blankly at the ceiling light.
The side effects of that "Glaive Rush" were no joke.
In the game it was just a stat penalty—lose HP, take double damage next turn.
But in reality, launching yourself like a cannonball and slamming hard enough to shatter a legendary core creates recoil force that could break any creature's skeleton.
Good thing Ditto didn't have bones.
But cellular-level shock? No avoiding that. Jason felt like every cell in his body was screaming—like he'd been tossed into a centrifuge and spun for three straight days and nights.
Crunch.
A crisp bite broke the room's silence.
Gast sat cross-legged on the bedside cabinet, holding a fist-sized red apple and taking a huge bite—skin and core and all.
She looked energetic as ever.
"This apple's pretty good. Sweet." She chewed and spoke through a mouthful. "Jason, want a bite? Oh right, sorry—I forgot you can't even open your mouth right now."
Jason wriggled with effort, forcing a tiny bubble out on his surface with a faint pop—a protest against her gloating.
Iron Valiant stood by the window, still in a guarded stance.
The door opened.
Two humans walked in.
The one in front was Leon. The once flamboyant Champion had changed out of his over-the-top battle outfit into simple casual clothes. His arm was wrapped in thick bandages, several band-aids on his face, and he held his signature hat in his hand, revealing messy, ruffled hair.
Behind him was Sonia.
The young professor carried a tablet. Her orange ponytail drooped tiredly, and her eyes were bloodshot—clearly she'd pulled an all-nighter doing post-battle data analysis.
They walked up to the bed.
Leon looked at Jason sprawled on the bed, opened his mouth like he wanted to say something… but couldn't get a word out for the longest time.
The awkwardness was so thick it might as well have been physical.
For a man who'd been placed on a pedestal and called "invincible" his whole life, being saved at the last second by an outsider Ditto wasn't a mental gap you could adjust to in minutes.
"Enough with the funeral face."
Jason finally gathered enough strength to split a slit on his surface and speak.
"I'm not dead."
That one sentence made Leon exhale in relief.
"The League has covered all your medical costs in full," Leon said, setting his hat at the foot of the bed and pulling over a chair to sit. He looked at Jason with a complicated expression. "Including the top-tier care package at this hospital, and all of your expenses while you were in Galar."
He paused, fingers interlaced on his knee, leaning forward slightly.
"Thank you."
He said the words heavily—like they weighed a ton.
"If it weren't for you, Wyndon might not even exist anymore after yesterday. I… I couldn't stop it. Charizard and I couldn't hold it back. That failure is on me."
Jason controlled his body, slowly gathering into a half-dome shape, looking a bit more "upright."
"Don't dump all the blame on yourself," he said. "Everyone's got their specialty. Losing is normal. Nothing to be ashamed of."
It sounded like comfort—until you tasted it again and realized something about it felt… off.
Leon gave a wry smile.
He knew this Ditto wasn't the type to speak nicely for no reason, but it was the truth.
"Either way, Galar's saved," Leon sighed. "Chairman Rose has been taken away by Officer Jenny. Even if his original goal was the energy crisis, that extreme method is unforgivable. The Macro Cosmos Group has been taken over by the League—there'll be a long stretch of investigations, purges, and restructuring."
"That's your humans' business. I'm not interested," Jason cut him off. "I only care about my payment."
He turned his gaze to Sonia.
Or more precisely—to the metal case in her arms.
Sonia noticed.
She stepped forward and placed the case on the bedside cabinet, entered the password, and with a hiss of pressure release, the lid popped open.
Inside were two items:
a sword, and a shield.
They rested quietly in black shock-absorbing foam. No longer the rusty wrecks they'd been before—though their glow was subdued now, a cold sheen still flowed along the blade, and the shield's surface carried a heavy metallic presence.
[Rusted Sword] (Awakened)
[Rusted Shield] (Awakened)
"We recovered these at the scene," Sonia said, pushing up her glasses, her tone carrying a researcher's curiosity. "After the battle, Zacian and Zamazenta's physical forms dispersed, but they didn't take these catalysts back. According to legend, these are extensions of their true bodies—normally they wouldn't be left behind."
She glanced at Jason, eyes probing.
"But at the time… it looked like they chose to leave the sword and shield behind. And our readings show the residual energy fluctuations on these two items have formed a certain level of binding to your aura frequency."
What that meant, everyone understood.
A divine relic had acknowledged its owner.
Jason might not be human, and he certainly wasn't some chosen hero—but he'd earned the two old wolves' approval with real results.
"Then they're mine."
Jason didn't bother with politeness. He extended a tentacle and directly wrapped up the sword and shield from the case.
"Call it an appearance fee. I risked my life hard-carrying. Without these two, that big bone dragon would've taken me apart."
Sonia opened her mouth, like she wanted to say these were Galar's national treasures—historic artifacts that should go to a lab or museum.
But she looked at Leon, then at Jason's utterly matter-of-fact expression, and swallowed the words back down.
In this world, power was authority.
If even the legendary Pokémon themselves agreed, what right did a researcher have to object?
"Fine," Sonia sighed. "It's not within regulations, but we'll make an exception. Still—you have to promise me you won't use them to do bad things."
"Relax." Jason stuffed the sword and shield right into his body, feeling that cold metal sensation and brightening instantly. "I'm—uh, I mean, this monster—very reasonable. As long as nobody messes with me, I'm harmless."
Leon stood and walked to the window, pulling the curtain open a crack.
Downstairs, a massive crowd packed the hospital entrance. Cameras of every size pointed at the doors, and the flashbulbs made the daylight street look like a nightclub.
"The reporters outside have completely lost it," Leon said, turning back. "The whole world is asking about the Ditto who defeated Eternatus. Someone got a photo of you—blurry, but it was enough. You hit number one trending."
He looked at Jason.
"The League wants to arrange a press conference and award you an honorary medal. I think you should accept the honor."
"No interest," Jason answered flatly.
He wriggled off the bed, dropping to the floor with a wet plop.
"And I didn't fight for honor. I fought for those two items."
He glanced at Gast, Iron Valiant, and Miraidon.
"Pack up. We're leaving."
"Got it!" Gast swallowed the remaining half apple in one gulp and clapped her hands. "I've been dying to get out of here."
"You're leaving?" Leon blinked, surprised. "Now? Your injuries aren't fully healed."
"This is nothing. One sleep and I'm fine." Jason pointed at the window. "Since the front entrance is blocked, we'll take the VIP route."
"VIP route?" Leon froze. "This is the top floor—"
Before he could finish, Iron Valiant stepped to the window.
It didn't unlock it.
It simply raised a light blade and drew a circle on the tempered glass.
Crash.
A perfect circle of glass fell away in one whole piece.
The high-altitude wind surged in, whipping the curtains.
"Leon. Sonia." Jason turned back and waved a tentacle at them. "See you around. If we meet again, I hope you can handle your own mess next time—stop counting on outside help."
"Oh—and remember to pay for that window for me too."
With that, Miraidon leapt out, carrying Jason and Iron Valiant.
Gast stuck out her tongue at the two of them and followed right out after.
"Hey!" Leon rushed to the window and looked down.
All he saw was a silver-white figure using the skyscraper's outer wall as footing—vanishing into the dense cityscape in a few smooth, clean movements.
No hesitation. No wasted motion.
Leon stared in the direction they disappeared, silent for a long time.
"What a… impossible guy to read," Sonia said as she walked up beside him, staring at the now-empty street. "He took the sword and shield—are we really okay with that?"
"Maybe." Leon smiled—a kind of relief settling into his face that made him look years younger. "Maybe in his hands… those two things can finally show their true purpose."
He turned back to the room—the half-finished fruit tray, and shards of glass scattered everywhere.
"Come on, Sonia. We've got a huge mess to clean up. A new Galar… needs us to rebuild it."