"Graoooaaar!"
Rayquaza howled with its jaws wide, a sound of pure excitement, then charged straight at Deoxys again without giving it a moment to breathe.
"Shadow Clone!"
After Deoxys took that brutal hit, Lu Ze understood something crucial: at this point, Deoxys, while powerful, still had a significant gap to close with Rayquaza.
No head-on collisions!
That was the conclusion Lu Ze had drawn from the exchanges between the two Pokémon over the past few rounds.
A gap in raw strength — nothing to be done about that.
Only trickery remained.
Rayquaza dove down, watching the hundreds of Deoxys scatter across the sky. Even it hesitated for a moment.
But Rayquaza quickly found an answer.
[Hyper Voice]
As it dove, Rayquaza opened its maw wide, and visible sound waves rippled outward from its jaws.
But even though Rayquaza had reacted as fast as it could, it was already too late.
A sky full of [Shadow Balls] came raining down toward Rayquaza.
Most of them were fakes, of course — but one continuous stream of [Shadow Balls] from a single direction was very real.
Rayquaza watched the illusory Deoxys shatter one after another, along with the满天 of [Shadow Balls], its gaze turning cold. It forcibly stopped its dive, then turned on a dime like a javelin, rocketing back upward.
A sky full of Shadow Balls? Can't I just dodge upward instead of standing here getting hit?
Rayquaza sneered with the corner of its eye as it caught a glimpse of the [Shadow Balls] that had lost their target and were about to slam into the energy barrier behind them.
But it failed to notice Lu Ze's slight smile — or what was above its head…
"Deoxys!"
Lu Ze shouted with excitement. Rayquaza, too, sensed something was wrong.
But it was already too late.
Above Rayquaza, Deoxys in Attack Forme was hoisting a massive [Shadow Ball], waiting for Rayquaza to come to it.
When Deoxys saw that Rayquaza had spotted it, it didn't hesitate — it slammed the Shadow Ball directly onto Rayquaza's upward-rushing dragon head, then [Teleported] away instantly.
"BOOM!"
A brief moment of silence, then the massive [Shadow Ball] detonated.
And in the viewing room, a crowd watched in shock as the black dragon that was Rayquaza hurtled from the sky and crashed to the ground.
"Ice Beam!"
When you're down, keep hitting.
Just as Rayquaza had taken a massive blow and hadn't yet recovered, Lu Ze pressed the attack without hesitation.
The tide turned. The black dragon in the sky became an orange-red humanoid.
The red flames gave way to white frost light.
The cold energy poured over Rayquaza, and the added impact drove it straight into the crater Deoxys had just been blasted into moments ago.
When the [Ice Beam] ended, the arena fell silent once more.
"Victory?"
Staring at the crater that showed no sign of movement, Lu Ze felt a surge of excitement — and disbelief. Had they really defeated Rayquaza this time?
[Ice Beam] dealt quadruple damage to Dragon-and-Flying-type Rayquaza.
In a normal game, Rayquaza taking a full [Ice Beam] from Deoxys in Attack Forme wouldn't leave it standing.
And that's not even accounting for the massive [Shadow Ball] Rayquaza had already eaten earlier.
"GRAOOOAR!"
Just as the thought of "Victory?" had barely crossed Lu Ze's mind, reality came crashing down on his face.
Rayquaza exploded out of the crater. Ice shards and wounds still clung to its body, but from what Lu Ze sensed through Aura — its presence seemed to have grown even stronger than before.
"Defense Forme!"
Lu Ze's pupils contracted. His mind snapped back to full alert, Aura surging at full power as he commanded Deoxys.
"We can't outrun it!"
That was Lu Ze's first thought the moment Rayquaza burst free.
The speed was absurd. If it weren't for the fact that Rayquaza looked unchanged, Lu Ze would have seriously wondered if it had just Mega Evolved down in that crater.
"BOOM!"
Deoxys managed to shift to Defense Forme, but Rayquaza was already on it — launching Deoxys into the sky.
"Boom!"
[Outrage] wasn't enough. Rayquaza immediately followed up with a point-blank [Hyper Beam] fired directly into Deoxys's face.
The combination of [Outrage] launching Deoxys skyward and then [Hyper Beam] blast it even higher.
Deoxys wasn't about to take it lying down either. The moment Rayquaza's upward momentum faltered, Deoxys used [Agility] to drop back down fast.
Fortunately, Deoxys had switched forms in time. Defense Forme's energy shield and broad arms barely managed to block both impacts.
But when Deoxys landed, Lu Ze could still see its arms trembling slightly.
"Deoxys…"
Worry flickered through Lu Ze — but then he felt Deoxys's excitement flare up as well, and Lu Ze shook his head with a grin.
The objective had already been achieved. He'd gotten a clear read on Deoxys's actual strength.
Since the goal had been met, why not let Deoxys and Rayquaza go all out?
"Deoxys, Ice Punch!"
Watching Rayquaza dive down, and spotting the green light gathering in its claws, Lu Ze surged his Aura to full power once more, directing Deoxys into the counter.
At this point, the Aura in Lu Ze's body was nearly spent. His physical stamina, too, had been drained — in under two minutes of full Aura output and constant intense focus, his body was running on fumes.
But sensing that both Pokémon had caught fire, Lu Ze caught fire too too.
A real battle against Rayquaza!
"I'm fired up too!"
A massive meteor came crashing down from the heavens — and as Rayquaza dove, it unleashed [Dragon Ascent] as well.
And so, as the two Pokémon dodged the meteors raining from above, they traded punch for claw in close-quarters combat.
Watching Rayquaza and Deoxys duke it out at such close range, even with Aura helping him keep track, Lu Ze couldn't get a word in edgewise. It was entirely up to Deoxys's combat instinct against Rayquaza.
But Rayquaza's battle experience was truly formidable.
While its right claw came in with [Dragon Claw], its left hand snuck in a covert [Energy Ball] aimed straight at Deoxys's face.
Deoxys blocked [Dragon Claw] with [Ice Punch], but still had to throw up a [Light Screen] to deflect the [Energy Ball].
Before that hand-to-hand exchange was even finished, Rayquaza's head came thrusting forward.
[Crunch]
Dark energy condensed into giant fang-shaped bursts in the air. Deoxys frantically used [Psycho Boost] to smash it apart.
That wave of assault concluded. Rayquaza spun to create distance, and Deoxys barely had time to breathe before Rayquaza's tail came whipping around.
[Iron Tail]
One tail swipe sent Deoxys, which couldn't react in time, flying.
Deoxys, having eaten that dirty hit, wasn't about to let it slide. After steadying itself, it gathered every ounce of its psychokinesis, compressing it into a single sphere — then pushed with all four arms and charged straight at Rayquaza.
Rayquaza's eyes lit up. A direct clash? I like it!
"GRAOOOAR!"
Lu Ze watched Rayquaza unleash a howl, and in the next instant, the dragon was encased in purple energy, charging directly at the approaching Deoxys.
[Psycho Boost] vs. [Outrage]
—
Four hundred chapters. I genuinely can't believe I made it to four hundred chapters. For someone with the attention span of three minutes and a terminal case of procrastination, this is absolutely unbelievable.
I'm moved. So incredibly moved.
I did it!
Hell yeah!!
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