Flamethrower!
Rayquaza didn't flinch. After dodging Hyper Beam, it spotted the Ice Beam that followed right behind — its eyes lit up, and it spat a stream of fire.
Ice and flame collided in midair. For just a moment, both Pokémon pulled back simultaneously.
The moment they disengaged, Rayquaza was already pressing forward again.
Hyper Beam!
A massive white pillar of light came roaring toward Deoxys. Deoxys halted its upward surge and stared.
Can't take that head-on!
Deoxys's mind raced as Lu Ze activated his Aura.
There was no choice — Rayquaza and Deoxys's attack-defense exchanges were too fast now. Lu Ze couldn't track either of them with his eyes alone.
"Speed Forme, dodge!"
Once Lu Ze activated his Aura, his connection with Deoxys seemed to strengthen.
Deoxys switched forms rapidly. Just as Hyper Beam was about to make contact, Deoxys vanished — leaving only an afterimage behind. The Hyper Beam shredded the phantom where Deoxys had been.
"!"
Rayquaza's fighting spirit only climbed higher. With another roar, it charged at Speed Forme Deoxys.
Dragon Claw!
"Ice Punch!"
"Shit — how is it so fast?!"
Lu Ze couldn't help but curse as he watched Rayquaza barrel toward Deoxys with murderous intent.
Rayquaza's speed was outrageous — completely out of line with its base stats.
By rights, Rayquaza's Speed stat of 95 should've had no hope of keeping up with Speed Forme Deoxys's 180.
But in the arena, Rayquaza was only slightly slower than Deoxys — and with Extreme Speed's boost, it could just barely hold the pace.
Once Rayquaza closed the gap, its Dragon Claw came slashing down at Deoxys's head.
Deoxys quickly switched to Defense Forme, catching Rayquaza's Dragon Claw. Its broad arms quickly crusted over with ice, and it swung the frozen fists back at the dragon.
"!"
Dragon Rush!
Rayquaza flicked its tail — a light, casual swing — and it struck Deoxys's arm dead center, deflecting the punch clean off course.
Not only did it block Deoxys's attack — while Deoxys was off-balance, Rayquaza had the audacity to flash Deoxys a mocking grin.
Scary Face!
Under the grimace's effect, the white light flowing across Deoxys dimmed. Its speed dropped sharply.
Deoxys had no choice but to switch back to Speed Forme to widen the gap between itself and Rayquaza.
In that lightning-fast exchange, only Lu Xing Guo, Lu Wu, Lu Ze, and Crobat had actually seen what happened.
Lu Xing Guo, Lu Wu, and Lu Ze had seen it through their Aura.
Crobat had managed it purely through the superhuman dynamic vision she'd developed from years of high-speed flight.
Beyond those four, the only other record of the exchange came from a few of the cameras positioned around the arena.
Everyone else just looked兴奋 — because holy shit, this was a Legendary battle.
Only Lu Ze, watching Deoxys pull back, felt a苦 — a grimace tugging at his face.
The gap in battle experience was just too massive.
Rayquaza truly was an old trickster. Not only did it know the optimal approach to every fight — it knew its own limits perfectly and exploited them without hesitation.
Deoxys, by contrast, was fighting purely on instinct and Lu Ze's commands.
Not even counting the way it exploited openings and swapped moves mid-exchange — just its tail alone was played like a virtuoso instrument.
Dragon Rush alone could shatter all kinds of energy attacks, and it could even deflect Deoxys's Ice Punch.
If Rayquaza's tail had met Deoxys's Ice Punch head-on, even without being frozen, it would've at least been chilled — its tail mobility would've taken a slight hit.
But this old trickster simply swatted Deoxys's arm right at the center point. Not only did it artfully dodge the Ice Punch's cold energy, it also knocked Deoxys's attack off course AND dealt damage in the process.
"Tough nut to crack!"
Watching Rayquaza charge Deoxys again with undiminished excitement, Lu Ze cursed under his breath. Then he refocused.
"Attack Forme, Zen Headbutt!"
Fine — one block at a time.
Pink Psychic energy condensed into solid form in the air and came crashing down on the incoming Rayquaza like a hammer.
Rayquaza didn't even glance at the Psychic energy falling on its head. Its eyes were locked on Deoxys and Deoxys alone.
Cosmic Power!
Silver-white light flickered across Rayquaza's body. It actually powered through the hit by buffing its own defenses, shrugging off the damage.
"Defense Forme!"
Lu Ze's惊讶 barely lasted a second before he snapped to attention. Rayquaza had to have a reason for this.
The most direct one: before Deoxys and Lu Ze could react, Rayquaza would deal damage.
Rayquaza was playing on a calculated assumption — that Lu Ze and Deoxys both expected Zen Headbutt to buy them time to reposition.
Neither expected Rayquaza to simply tank it. And while tanking, it used Cosmic Power to reduce the damage taken.
But though Lu Ze reacted, Deoxys was a half-beat behind.
By the time Deoxys heard Lu Ze's voice and began transforming, Rayquaza's Energy Ball was already slamming into Deoxys's face.
As the Energy Ball connected, Rayquaza opened its jaws wide and blasted the falling Deoxys with a thick column of fire.
Flamethrower!
The black dragon poured a massive stream of flame into the sky, striking true on the enemy that had just been blasted into the air.
This moment — if the "enemy" hadn't been Deoxys — Lu Ze would've genuinely given a thumbs-up, eyes full of admiration.
"That's so cool!"
But the one being baptized in fire was Deoxys. Lu Ze couldn't admire Rayquaza's majestic form at all. Instead, he stared anxiously at the crater Deoxys had punched into the ground.
Lu Ze wasn't the only one worried. Zhuge Zijing was staring at the crater with equal concern.
"Lord have mercy — that's a Legendary for you. Do you have any idea how much it costs to repair this?"
Zhuge Zijing stared at the pit, tears threatening to form. More money coming out of his pocket. Please, you two — fight a little lighter!
A moment later, the flames dissipated. Rising from the crater, Deoxys stood tall.
"Deoxys — you okay?"
Seeing Defense Forme Deoxys standing in the crater, Lu Ze let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding.
Deoxys slowly straightened up. Even though it had managed to transform into Defense Forme at the last possible moment before impact, Rayquaza's relentless combo had still left it battered.
After giving Lu Ze a nod, Deoxys looked up — grim and focused — at the grinning Rayquaza hovering overhead, practically vibrating with excitement.
———
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