"What!?"
Even someone as dignified and composed as Entei couldn't help but let out a cry of disbelief after being knocked over by the thing that suddenly shot out.
"Papa!"
Little Molly, who cared most about Entei, shouted anxiously.
"I– I'm fine, Molly."
Entei stood back up, face hostile as it turned to look at the Arcanine revealed as the smoke around it dissipated—along with the human on its back, Lucas.
"Who are you!"
Entei's majestic voice rang out like thunder from a clear sky. A heavy pressure poured out; even the air itself seemed to fill with the stench of sulfur.
Even if this Entei was just a false phantasm born from Molly's dreams, the phantasmal Entei was still based on the legendary Pokémon, the embodiment of volcanoes.
Before that volcano-like power was even unleashed, the shockwave swept outward first.
Aside from the area where Molly stood—which Entei had deliberately avoided—both Lucas and Arcanine, as well as Ash and Charizard, took the full brunt of the blast.
Charizard, already in poor condition, could barely stay on its feet under the impact of the shockwave. Feeling Charizard's body wobbling beneath him, a thought Ash didn't want to believe from the bottom of his heart rose up.
Entei—still wasn't using its full strength.
Standing firm within Entei's oppressive shockwave alongside Arcanine, Lucas gestured, and Delibird flew over to the stunned Misty, Brock, Delia, and Molly, thumping its chest as if to say, You guys are under Lord Delibird's protection from here on out.
After sending Delibird out as their bodyguard, Lucas picked up an Ultra Ball, rolling it in his palm. He paused for a moment, then said meaningfully, "I'm just a passerby… forget it, you can think of me as someone who came to bail you out."
Looking at the surroundings, and at little Molly, who was hiding behind Delia with a face full of fear, Lucas clicked his tongue inwardly.
They say "better to arrive at the right time than early," but clearly this time he was a bit wrong-timed.
If he'd come just a bit later, Molly probably would have already run out and redeemed this daughter-con Entei. Now things had turned into Entei being full of hostility toward him, and Molly hadn't spoken up to stop Entei either.
Snapping out of it, Misty and Brock stared at Lucas's back in surprise. "That gentleman is—"
The Team Rocket trio stared at the Arcanine. Meowth's eyes bulged as he clapped his paw over his mouth and whispered, "What kind of Pokémon is that, nya?"
Ash looked stunned, recognizing the man on Arcanine's back. "Mr. Lucas!"
"Ash! That was really down to the wire just now."
Lucas greeted Ash, then met Entei's intense gaze head-on.
"Rooaar!"
The drifting white volcanic smoke behind Entei swelled even larger. The fire energy within its body surged, making everyone feel as if it could trigger magma deep underground to erupt at any moment.
"Quit roaring. Your opponent is this one."
Lucas tossed the Ultra Ball in his hand.
In the next instant—
An aura even older and more ferocious than that of the phantasmal Entei rose into the air. Raging Bolt's massive body appeared before everyone. A flash of wariness passed through Entei's furious eyes; wrapped in white light, it lunged straight at Raging Bolt.
"Heavy Slam!"
But Raging Bolt's move came even faster than Entei's.
Though surprised that Lucas had sent it into battle instead of Dragonite, Mimikyu, or Moltres, Raging Bolt didn't underestimate its foe in the slightest. It opened with its signature technique.
"Thunderclap!"
Lightning as fast as the limit of speed exploded from the thundercloud mane around Raging Bolt's neck. Before the lunging Entei could even react, it was blown away at a speed even faster than when it had charged in.
"...!"
Crashing into the ground again, Entei looked somewhat at a loss, disbelief flickering in its eyes.
It was confident it could beat the Pokémon that human had been riding. This Pokémon's power was clearly about on par with its own—so why were its attacks faster than Entei's?
Lucas had no intention of explaining anything to Entei. He lowered his voice to give a command: "Electric Terrain."
Bzzzt—
Dense electromagnetic waves rippled out from Raging Bolt as the center. In the blink of an eye, the surrounding area became a field where sparks of electricity crackled through the air.
"Pika~"
Weakened from its battle with Entei, Pikachu's ears twitched. It rubbed the electric sacs on its cheeks with its little paws and let out a comfortable cry.
Thanks to the power of Electric Terrain, Pikachu's weakened condition improved somewhat.
"This move… is so amazing."
This was still the original-series Ash; just seeing a move like "Electric Terrain" was enough to make his eyes go wide.
Entei was a being born from Molly's dreams via the Unown. It wasn't an ordinary Pokémon, and thus possessed extraordinary intuition.
That intuition told Entei that Raging Bolt's next move would be very bad. In order to keep the bad guys from taking Molly away, Entei didn't hesitate to unleash its full strength.
The hazy white smoke on its back turned into a blazing red mass and began to change shape. Terrifying molten flames brewed inside, growing even more violent with Entei's fury.
The next second—
Flaming red volcanic vents formed from the smoke erupted with a terrifying pillar of fire. With a deafening boom, countless blazing flames turned into a meteor-like rain that crashed down from the sky.
Lucas had no doubt that even a Water-type Pokémon would probably end up with severe burns if it took that Flamethrower head-on.
What was surprising was that, perhaps due to the power of the Unown, Entei's Flamethrower was kept well confined to the area where Lucas, Arcanine, Victini, and Raging Bolt were.
Facing this strike from Entei, Lucas—who had decided to finish things quickly—naturally chose to respond with full power.
Victini had already finished powering up Raging Bolt. Looking at the sky turned crimson by the flames, Lucas lightly raised his right hand toward the heavens and said calmly, "Rising Voltage."
Vmm——
The already-trembling air let out a hum that seemed to shake the soul. All the electricity within the Electric Terrain converged on Raging Bolt.
BOOM!
In a blinding flash, raging lightning turned into a pillar of light that erupted from beneath Entei's horrified face, obliterating the apocalyptic rain of fire as well.
The bone-shaking thunderclaps went on and on. Only after quite a while did the rampaging lightning slowly dissipate, allowing Ash and the others to finally open their eyes.
What they saw left them stunned.
That Entei that had just been so awe-inspiring was now missing half its body, lying weakly on the ground.
Yet because Entei wasn't made of flesh and blood to begin with, the parts of its body that had been blasted apart by Rising Voltage lit up with a bright blue radiance and began rapidly regenerating, just like those crystal structures.
Though far weaker than the real Entei, as long as this phantasmal Entei remained inside the domain created by the Unown, it could practically regenerate indefinitely.
Riding Arcanine, Lucas approached Entei.
"...Bastard."
Watching Arcanine's forepaw drop into his field of vision, now only a few inches away, Entei felt humiliated—yet more than anything, it just wanted to hurry up and repair its body. It absolutely couldn't let these people take Molly away.
Noticing the defiance in Entei's eyes, Lucas rubbed his temples and said helplessly, "Still want to keep fighting?"
Entei was just about to spit out some harsh words when a panicked cry from Delia came from behind.
"Molly!"
The little girl, about six or seven, stumbled over to stand between Entei and Lucas. With her back to Entei, tears in the corners of her eyes, she shouted at Lucas, "Don't bully Papa!"
Entei froze, calling out anxiously, "It's dangerous here, don't come!"
Perhaps because this was a mindscape world manifested from Molly's heart by the Unown:
[Entei is Molly's father]
[For Molly's happiness, the father will do anything.]
Under those rules, as long as it was for Molly's sake, Entei could unleash unimaginable power.
Maybe worried that Lucas might hurt Molly, Entei roared, desperately trying to repair its body with all its strength.
Lucas really didn't understand how he'd somehow become the big bad villain oppressing this father and daughter.
He spread his hands. Raging Bolt, which had been giving Entei enormous pressure, stepped back. Lucas said frankly, "Since that's what you say, then we won't fight."
To be honest, if it wasn't to scare Entei into behaving—since Molly hadn't been able to stop it thanks to his earlier intervention—Lucas hadn't wanted to fight it at all.
With that time, he'd much rather be thinking about how to deal with the Unown, who would definitely go berserk.
Lucas had gotten to bow out gracefully; Entei, on the other hand, was left completely stunned.
What did this human even mean?
He barged in, picked a fight for no reason, and now he was just saying it was fine not to fight?
Entei's rage, wound halfway up, suddenly got stuck. It couldn't help but feel like it might have taken that beating for nothing.
Molly, too, stared up at the handsome big brother in confusion with her beautiful blue eyes.
Lucas slid down from Arcanine's back. With Victini overstuffed from Victory Star's buffs perched on his head, he asked Entei just one question.
"If Molly's happiness lies in the world outside, what will you do?"
Ash and the others froze. This question from Lucas…
Maybe sensing that Lucas no longer had any hostility, Entei fell silent for a moment. Gazing at Molly with gentle eyes, it slowly said, "I exist as a father created for Molly's happiness. If that is her happiness… I will let go."
"Eh?"
Clutching Entei's foreleg, Molly stared blankly up into Entei's eyes, which overflowed with tenderness.
Just as Misty and the others wanted to strike while the iron was hot and tell Molly that the outside world was far more wonderful than this illusion, Lucas's voice, brimming with fury, cracked like thunder over their heads.
"That's complete and utter bullshit!"
The air fell silent in an instant.
Arcanine, Victini, Raging Bolt, and even Delibird—who had been dutifully guarding Delia and the others—were all stunned for a moment.
Ash and his friends were also taken aback.
Whether human or Pokémon, everyone was shocked that Lucas, usually gentle and calm, had suddenly exploded with profanity.
Entei opened its mouth, staring at this bizarre human in front of it, wanting to say something in rebuttal.
Lucas only gave a cold chuckle. "Don't tell me you were about to say that love is about letting go?"
Entei: "..."
He called it.
"That's nothing more than your own one-sided fantasy!" Lucas's words rang out like a hammer blow. "No matter how beautifully you try to dress it up, the pain of separation doesn't change. It becomes a thorn in the heart that will keep surfacing, again and again, over the long years of life!"
"Why not be a little greedy and want everything?"
"Can you swear that when I asked you just now, you didn't once imagine going to the outside world with Molly and living together with her?"
Meeting Lucas's blazing gaze, Entei admitted defeat for the first time, lowering its head guiltily.
"I can't… I was born from Molly's feelings. Without the power of those beings, I'm nothing but a phantasmal illusion."
Under Molly's pained expression, Entei slowly revealed the truth of its existence.
…