The dark sky was without light. The entire city of Hammerlocke was covered by thick black clouds.
Above Hammerlocke Stadium, a black vortex gathered like a bottomless abyss. It felt as if it were about to swallow everything below.
The eerie and terrifying giant bone dragon floated just beneath the black vortex. It looked down at everything, and the pressure it gave off was incredibly strong.
"Phew... Damian, I'm counting on you."
Rose let out a long, deep sigh. At this moment, he once again admired his own wise decision.
This kind of pressure even made it hard for him to breathe. It really was too terrifying. It was a good thing he had asked Damian to come in advance.
Otherwise, he really didn't know what kind of terrible consequences would happen once Eternatus woke up, especially if Leon couldn't capture or control it.
But now, it didn't matter much. Damian could handle it.
"Yeah~ leave it to me."
Damian patted the little turtle's shell. Terapagos pouted. It actually really disliked fighting.
Besides, weren't there plenty of others at home who could fight?
But there was no way around it. Since Damian wanted it to step up, it could only do so.
The little turtle, Terapagos, flew up to face Eternatus. At the same time, its body began to shine with a brilliant, crystal-like light.
"Gapa~!"
In the blink of an eye, Terapagos's size grew rapidly. Crystal gemstones of various colors began to rotate around its body. Its form was so bright it could be called light pollution.
It was the Stellar Form of Terapagos!
Eternatus lowered its dragon head slightly. Its ring-shaped dragon eyes flashed continuously as it stared at this powerful opponent that had suddenly appeared. It did not hide its hostility at all.
"What a cool Pokémon. Isn't that a bit too flashy? I feel like my eyes are going to go blind."
Raihan didn't know if he was just brave or what, but he actually had the time to be humorous in this situation.
But it had to be said, Raihan's joke was quite accurate. The Stellar Form of Terapagos was indeed bright enough to blind someone.
With the multi-colored jewels and the shining glow on its body, it was just too flashy.
"Damian, is this Pokémon a match for Eternatus?" Rose was still a bit worried.
After all, according to the information he knew, Damian didn't seem to have this Terapagos before. Or rather, this Terapagos didn't have any known battle records.
"Don't worry. Dealing with Eternatus in this form is a piece of cake for the little turtle," Damian shrugged.
"After all, Terapagos is the source of Terastallization."
Although he didn't understand exactly what Damian meant by "source of Terastallization," Rose was very intelligent. He immediately thought of the Terastallization phenomenon in the Paldea region.
Did it mean that this Terapagos was the source of that phenomenon?
But Damian didn't seem to have been to the Paldea region, right? How did he catch this Terapagos?
Leon, on the other hand, stared at the Stellar Terapagos and fell into thought. It had been so long since he last had contact with Damian. Had Damian captured even more incredible Legendary Pokémon?
In the sky.
"Roar~!"
Eternatus let out a low, warning dragon growl at Stellar Terapagos. Having just woken up, it was actually a bit weak right now. It didn't have much energy in its body.
So, it didn't really want to fight this mysterious, light-polluting turtle. That was why it only gave a warning.
But clearly, Stellar Terapagos didn't want to say much. It had no intention of backing down.
Seeing this, the core in Eternatus's chest and abdomen flashed with a dangerous, ominous crimson light.
It was the Dragon-type move, Dynamax Cannon!
This was one of Eternatus's signature moves.
A massive crimson beam of light shot through the air, aimed directly at Stellar Terapagos.
"Tera Starstorm."
Stellar Terapagos let out an ethereal cry. The crown on its head glowed, and points of light, looking like tiny stars, shot out to meet the Dynamax Cannon.
This was the Normal-type move, Tera Starstorm.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Tera Starstorm and Dynamax Cannon clashed head-on. A violent explosion roared, and powerful shockwaves continuously spread in all directions.
Wild winds howled. Even Damian and the others on the ground were slightly affected.
The crimson Dynamax Cannon pushed forward wildly, but it was quickly worn down and erased by the Tera Starstorm. The remaining "stars" continued their attack toward Eternatus.
Tera Starstorm exploded against Eternatus's body. Eternatus let out a cry of pain. Its entire massive body was blasted back a significant distance.
"So strong~!"
Raihan's eyes sparkled when he saw this. He couldn't help but exclaim.
Actually, just looking at their sizes, the two sides were not equal at all.
Eternatus was very large. Its long, skeletal dragon body was at least twenty meters long by rough estimate.
But Stellar Terapagos was only about two meters wide. Yet, in a clash of moves, Eternatus was completely outmatched by Stellar Terapagos.
"Terapagos is really amazing~"
Serena also praised it. She liked Terapagos very much because Terapagos was a truly cute Pokémon.
Furthermore, this little turtle had a great temper and a very gentle personality. Usually, when Platinum and Serena wanted to hold it, it wouldn't refuse at all.
When they wanted to try Terastallizing, Terapagos wouldn't refuse either. It would use its power to Terastallize their Pokémon so they could get used to using it early.
And Terapagos was also a very good fighter! Isn't it currently suppressing the "Darkest Day" of Galar from three thousand years ago?
Who wouldn't love a little turtle that is both cute and strong?
Platinum nodded her head vigorously from the side.
"This is only the beginning."
Damian chuckled softly while looking at Eternatus in the sky.
Hearing this, Platinum and the others were stunned. What did he mean by "this is only the beginning"?
"Blizzard."
Damian didn't explain. Instead, he continued to give orders to Stellar Terapagos through telepathy.
He wanted to push Eternatus a bit more.
Right now, the newly awakened Eternatus had not fully unleashed the "Darkest Day" without restraint. Perhaps it was because it hadn't fully woken up yet and needed a moment, but Damian felt the more likely reason was that Eternatus was being cautious.
Who was it cautious of?
Naturally, it was the Hero of the Sword and the Hero of the Shield, who had cut its body to pieces three thousand years ago.
The painful lesson from 3,000 years ago was still fresh in its mind. So, unless it was pushed to the limit, Eternatus definitely wouldn't dare to use its full power.
Otherwise, if it attracted those two monsters again, it, having just "revived," would probably have to go back into hiding in a weakened state.
Eternatus wanted to hold back, but Damian wouldn't give it the chance.
Under Stellar Terapagos's heavy assault, the currently weak Eternatus was retreating step by step. It simply couldn't resist Stellar Terapagos's offensive.
The gap in strength was quite obvious.
One must realize that Stellar Terapagos's combat power was among the highest levels of Legendary Pokémon. Even within that level, it ranked very high.
The newly awakened Eternatus, however, only had the combat power of an ordinary high-level Legendary Pokémon. It was even a question whether it could beat the likes of Ho-Oh or Lugia right now.
After all, Eternatus currently lacked energy. Energy was not only its life but also the source of its power.
After being blasted by Stellar Terapagos's Tera Starstorm once more, nearly falling to the ground, Eternatus was already very weak.
"It looks like we're about to win."
Rose's feelings were a bit complicated. He hadn't expected that even Eternatus would appear so weak in front of Damian.
"No, Eternatus is about to get serious."
Damian said instead.
"?"
Rose's eyebrows furrowed. Leon and the others were also surprised.
Get serious? But Eternatus was already badly injured.
And it was at this exact moment.
"ROAR!!"
Eternatus roared at the little turtle. The dragon's cry echoed across the sky. Eternatus was furious.
There was a limit to how much it could endure! This little turtle was bullying it too much. Did it really think Eternatus was a pushover?
Stellar Terapagos tilted its head and remained silent.
Eternatus finally stopped holding back. Its massive, scarred bone dragon body shot up into the sky and vanished directly into the black vortex.
The black vortex began to expand rapidly. In just a few breaths, it had expanded to cover the entire city of Hammerlocke.
From beneath Hammerlocke Stadium and from the horizon, pillars of red energy shot into the sky. They were "poured" into the black vortex at high speed.
"It's absorbing that energy!" Leon's eyes narrowed.
"That's right. Eternatus is a Pokémon that uses energy as its life force. Its form just now wasn't its original appearance. Rather, it was a form lacking energy."
Damian spoke up to explain.
Actually, according to the Pokédex, Eternamax Eternatus is the result of absorbing all the energy in Galar due to Rose's interference, leading to an overload.
However, you should take those Pokédex descriptions with a grain of salt. That is clearly a description written from the perspective of Galar scholars.
According to the description of Eternatus's strongest signature move, Eternabeam, it is the strongest attack launched when Eternatus returns to its original form.
In the animation for Eternabeam, Eternatus transforms into its Eternamax form to attack. This corresponds to "Eternatus's original form."
This was enough to prove that the Eternamax form was Eternatus's true appearance. Otherwise, with just that "skinny" bone dragon body, could its body fragments have provided for the entire Galar region?
"And now, its true form is coming."
Damian looked at the endless black vortex in the sky. Inside the black vortex, one could faintly see long, red, strip-shaped shadows constantly swimming and moving.
Inside the vortex, Eternatus was continuously becoming giant!
In the sky, red "meteors" continuously flew in from the distance. They filled the black vortex and sank into Eternatus's body.
It was still greedily swallowing energy!
Especially inside the Energy Plant, there were Wishing Stars and Wishing Star pieces that Rose had collected over many years. These were originally formed from Eternatus's body fragments and were perfectly suited for its body.
"So big!"
Platinum's eyes widened. Through the black vortex, she could vaguely see the terrifyingly huge monster behind the swirl.
"Yeah, here it comes."
Damian slowly curled his lips into a smile. The bigger it was, the better. It would be more interesting when he used Eternatus in battle later.
In the massive black vortex in the sky, Eternatus finally finished its "transformation." A giant claw, like a skyscraper, descended from the sky. It came down right above Stellar Terapagos.
That was the head of Eternamax Eternatus. Eerie deep-purple matter covered it, and at the tip of the claw was an eye. Its massive body was constantly spiraling, forming a vortex.
"No way... this is way too big, right?"
Raihan was shocked. Looking at that massive size that completely exceeded his imagination, he was stunned.
Dynamaxing was originally a way to turn normal Pokémon into "small monsters," so Raihan definitely felt he had the right to speak on the subject. What large Pokémon hadn't he seen?
But this Pokémon up there, which almost blocked out the entire sky, was simply too much!
"This is the largest Pokémon in the world. There is no other."
Damian wasn't too surprised. Eternamax Eternatus was definitely the largest Pokémon in the Pokémon world.
According to the Pokédex data, Eternamax Eternatus was a full one hundred meters in size!
What did that mean? The average size of a monster in Ultraman is only about fifty meters. Eternamax Eternatus was like two monsters stacked together.
With the transformation complete, the five pink eyes at the tips of Eternatus's claws stared intently at Stellar Terapagos. A majestic and heavy aura spread wildly.
This damn little turtle, you had fun hitting me just now, didn't you? Come and try to mess with me again now!
Eternamax Eternatus felt the overflowing energy in its body. This felt great!
It felt like it was now invincible.
Meanwhile, Damian rummaged through his bag for a moment. Finally, he found that rusted sword.
"Zacian, come over and slay this dragon."