"ROAR!"
With a furious cry, Latios launched into a **Dragon Dance** in midair.
Rayquaza didn't interrupt. It simply watched, waiting for Latios to finish buffing up. There was no point if Latios wasn't running at full capacity.
Honestly, Rayquaza had stopped using **Dragon Dance** and **Swords Dance** itself. Once it started stacking its own boosts, every fight became trivial. Better to let the opponent power up first — at least then the whole thing had some flavor.
Two rounds of **Dragon Dance** down. Latios held Rayquaza in a hard, narrow-eyed glare.
Then, deciding it still wasn't enough, it gritted its teeth and added two more rounds of **Calm Mind**.
*(There. Now we talk.)*
Latios bared its teeth in something between a grin and a snarl and charged, a **Ice Beam** forming in its mouth — while a **Psychic** blast launched simultaneously at Rayquaza from range.
"!"
Rayquaza let out a whoop of genuine excitement and sidestepped the **Psychic**'s range — then hit **Extreme Speed** back in, slamming a single **Iron Tail** directly into Latios's face.
Latios's **Ice Beam** fired off at the same instant, and the blast caught the tip of Rayquaza's tail in a partial freeze.
Rayquaza didn't even glance at it. It pressed in, throwing short, rapid exchanges — **Brick Break**, **Crunch**, and **Aura Sphere** in rolling succession.
Latios scrambled to keep up: ate one **Brick Break** clean, used **Psycho Cut** to deflect the **Crunch**, then caught a tailwind from **Tailwind** to dodge the **Aura Sphere**.
Move after move neutralized. Rayquaza was moving in again when a sudden flash of **Dazzling Gleam** lit up, catching its eyes.
Latios seized the opening immediately — **Draco Meteor**.
Enormous boulders came screaming down from orbit. The majority were aimed at Rayquaza. A scattering that Latios couldn't quite control tumbled off toward the side.
*(Honestly, big bro...)*
Below, Latias watched the incoming **Draco Meteor** rain and let out a tired, fond sigh. She opened a psychic barrier and stretched it wide over the area below — tourists, boats, hills and water, all of it sealed under a shimmering dome of energy. Then, with precisely aimed **Dragon Breath**, she picked off the stray boulders one by one. The ones too small to target shattered harmlessly on the surface of the energy barrier.
By the time Latias had handled the scattered debris, the real show was playing out above.
Rayquaza wasn't just dealing with the **Draco Meteor**. It had to break apart the falling boulders *and* keep dodging Latios, who was attacking through the chaos.
One wide sweep of **Breaking Swipe** carved through a whole swathe of incoming meteors — and caught Latios in the same arc, sending it tumbling backward. Latios had been lurking in the blind spot of the barrage, trying to catch Rayquaza off guard.
*(Hm. That's new. Since when does he throw his finisher this early?)*
Rayquaza dispatched the last of the meteors and found itself vaguely impressed. Normally Latios held back much longer. Getting wound up through his sister must have really pushed something.
Though, really — what did you expect? Walk up to Itachi and slap Sasuke in the face. See what happens.
A moment later, with the **Draco Meteor** fully cleared or absorbed, Rayquaza pivoted and drove straight back at Latios.
*(You're done. My turn.)*
One **Aura Sphere** in hand, Rayquaza aimed it cheerfully at Latios's face.
Latios was *not* going to take that lying down. If the **Aura Sphere** were any smaller, it would've just closed the gap and brawled. But this one was bigger than its head.
Latios had caught a brief ride from **Tailwind** to buy some distance — but **Tailwind** ran out of duration, and there was nothing left.
There was simply nothing to be done. Latios could only watch, in wide-eyed frozen horror, as Rayquaza bore down on it with a grin — and then took a point-blank **Aura Sphere** directly to the face.
*BOOM.*
The impact sent Latios plummeting straight out of the sky and into the lake below, leaving a long white streak in the air.
*(Hell yeah!)*
Rayquaza watched Latios hit the water. Then it exhaled, rolled its body in deep satisfaction, and began the long, lazy drift back toward Vantora — pausing only to throw Latias a casual farewell.
*(Hey, little sis — I'm heading back. I'll have someone send you some good food in a couple days!)*
*(Mm. The last stuff little Ziyu brought was pretty good. If he brings more, maybe I'll share a bit... a little bit... a tenth?)*
Latias stared at the retreating shimmer of Rayquaza, then down at her brother in the lake, and burst out laughing despite herself.
*(Ugh. Horrible creature!)*
But she didn't mean it. Not really. If Rayquaza didn't keep showing up to pick fights, after all, her brother never would have gotten good enough to smack that other Latios around in Alto Mare last month.
*(THAT BASTARD, WHERE IS HE?!)*
Latios exploded out of the water, furious and dripping, searching the sky for Rayquaza. But Rayquaza was already gone — even at a leisurely pace, its speed meant there was nothing to follow.
*(Big bro, are you—)*
Latias tried to check on him. Then she stopped. Then she started laughing again.
She couldn't help it. Latios had taken the **Aura Sphere** with his face. His body could handle the hit fine, but his *face* hadn't been quite so forgiving — both cheeks had puffed up like balloons on the way out of the water, so swollen the swept-back horns on either side of his head were barely visible.
Latios caught the look on Latias's face. He smiled back at her, helpless and a little dumb. *She really is cute when she laughs.*
Then he noticed the tourists.
The stares. The barely-suppressed smiles.
He looked down at the water's reflection and very slowly figured out what was happening.
He silently cursed Rayquaza's entire family lineage. Then he wrapped himself in **Dazzling Gleam** and started working through **Heal Pulse**, **Recover**, and **Refresh** one after another.
A minute later, Latios reappeared before the crowd — looking exactly as sharp and handsome as ever.
*(Come on, let's go home.)*
*(Yeah. Home.)*
Latias answered warmly — and Latios, still smiling, turned back to the crowd with an entirely different expression. His eyes swept over the tourists with cold, unhurried menace.
*(Don't let me find out any of you breathed a word of this. Or else.)*
The implicit threat delivered, Latios turned on his heel and followed Latias back to their island.
"Why did he look at us like that?"
"I don't know~"
"But the rumors were right — Latios really is a siscon. He's completely different around his sister."
"Haha, definitely — two totally different faces."
Latios would never suspect that the moment he left, the tourists started talking about him. He also didn't know that not a single one of them had understood his threat.
While the adults debated animatedly around her, a little girl stood quiet at the railing. In her hands, she held a small round bead that shimmered with the cool, deep light of the lake. She pressed it against her chest and stared at the place in the sky where Latias and Latios had disappeared, her expression full of something she couldn't name.
[Chapter End]