Old man Stone said no staff members lost their lives in the disaster. This was truly commendable: You're actually quite a nice guy, Rayquaza!
Looking at it this way, maybe we can really have a friendly spar with him?
"Big Sister Mewtwo, will we win?"
Scooping up a spoonful of hot soup and sending it into her cherry mouth, a girlish blush spread across Mewtwo's face: Lorze's cooking skills are getting better and better.
But business is business. She replied calmly: "Win my ass, it's a guaranteed death."
Kirlia, who was being held in Lorze's arms and fed, raised her small hand—
"If we use Teleport, can we run away?"
"That shouldn't be a problem. My Teleport can travel quite far, and using it a few times in a row won't hurt."
Mewtwo's words reassured Lorze considerably. Since they could run, there wasn't much to worry about. They could give it a try.
With a mission of this difficulty, even if he failed, he probably wouldn't be blamed. Before that, he should prepare well for a few days.
Latias was actually a very strong combat asset, but the current her was just like Latios. Although she had accumulated a lot of strength, she couldn't use it properly.
Fortunately, she now had him, a potentially useful Trainer, and the Psychic-type master, Big Sister Mewtwo. Under their training, she would surely make rapid progress!
"Alright, in order to have a better chance of winning when fighting Rayquaza, starting today, we are going to do special training for Latias!"
Taking a glance at the astronomical figure in his account, the young man waved his hand and bought a large amount of Dragon-type Pokémon training materials—Dragon Fangs, Dragon Scales, Dragon Gems...
Not only that, TM moves like Dragon Pulse and Draco Meteor were also obtained from the system shop.
Latias clenched her small claws, showing an immature yet determined expression. She also wanted to help Lorze more. For that... I have to work hard!
Holding this resolve, the fledgling dragon sister progressed at an astonishing speed with everyone's help. Her strength was already not to be underestimated...
Five days later, on August 13th, the meteor-like red airplane glided close to the sea surface on Route 131, approaching the Sky Pillar standing majestically on the sea.
"Whoosh—"
Just in the instant she was about to crash into the dilapidated tower body, Latias nimbly turned and went straight up!
The young man wearing the black cloak rode the dragon sister beneath him. The cute Kirlia sat in front of him, and Mewtwo escorted them by his side.
In consideration of Lorze's outstanding performance when wiping out Team Magma and Team Aqua, Devon Corporation custom-made a black cloak with gold trimmings for him. Both the style and material were much higher grade than the previous one.
It was chuunibyou and handsome while also having very good defensive effects. This way, he would have more confidence facing Rayquaza... probably.
Circling above the Sky Pillar, Lorze's group looked down at the emerald long dragon coiled at the top of the tower, sleeping soundly.
Kirlia poked her small head out and widened her eyes.
"He looks... so strong!"
"Yeah, he is the ruler of the sky, after all. Latias, let's go down and take a look!"
"Mhm!"
Clatter—
The moment the young man flipped down and stepped onto the stone brick floor, the giant dragon slowly opened its eyes. Just the exhaled breath turned into a shockwave that made Lorze's cloak flap loudly!
"Human? What business do you have."
Rayquaza was indeed guarding that colorful giant stone overflowing with Mega energy beneath him, but in this situation...
"Hey, Rayquaza! The days of you casually Mega Evolving are over, give me the giant stone!"
Rayquaza was stunned for a moment, then responded to Lorze with a roar—
"Roar!!!" "If you want it, come take it yourself. You know the rules."
Lorze raised his Mega Evolution wristband: "I knew you would say that."
An unintelligible strong drumbeat
"Foolish human. If you can entertain me, I don't mind giving this to you. But... come and try!"
Rayquaza sprang up. Just seeing his starting stance, the young man reacted swiftly and dove to the side—
"Boom! Crash—"
The spinning azure dragon swung his sharp and hard dragon tail down, sending crushed stones flying, and in the blink of an eye, smashed a giant crater where Lorze had been!
"Wow!"
Caught by the rapidly dashing Latias, the young man was able to mount the dragon sister's back again.
"Thanks, Latias!" "Hehe~"
Truly worthy of Rayquaza. Facing this kind of guy, I must go all out right from the start!
The dazzling Key Stone emitted a rainbow-colored light, making both Latias and Mewtwo complete Mega Evolution!
"Agility!"
The enraged giant dragon had already withdrawn his tail. Just as he was about to charge at the eyesore red airplane, his body was hit by a pink-purple psychic fluctuation!
"Your opponent is me. Come here."
"Overestimating your capabilities!"
The originally winding and twisting body straightened out like an arrow, and in an instant, he arrived in front of Mewtwo—Extreme Speed!
The latter gritted her teeth and propped up a Protect barrier, but was still knocked back continuously by Rayquaza's Extreme Speed crash. This guy's weight class was far more formidable than some Mega Metagross...
"Big Sister Mewtwo, use Ice Beam!"
Mewtwo, blocking the Extreme Speed, pressed on the top of the giant dragon's head, did a backflip, and backhanded a condensed orb of ice, smashing it into the giant dragon's neck!
"Vwoom—"
Piercing cold surged into his body. The 4x super effective attack thoroughly ignited the giant dragon's will to fight: Rayquaza easily flew into the higher sky, with the sun as a backdrop, and spewed a powerful dragon-shaped wave from his mouth, sweeping down!
"Dragon Pulse, Psystrike, Moonblast!"
The three Pokémon on Lorze's side respectively released their strongest strikes to clash beams with him. The purple dragon-shaped energy wave, under the cover of the psychic fluctuation, held the pink Moonblast orb in its mouth and charged towards Rayquaza—
"Boom!"
The collision and explosion of energy generated billowing thick smoke. Three against one, they barely managed to block this attack!
The giant dragon, wrapped in air currents, cleared away the smoke and charged out fiercely. Although Latias's reaction was fast enough, she was still bumped by his winding body. For a moment, she lost her balance and fell straight towards the ground.
Fortunately, Lorze activated telekinesis in time to steady her balance, and with Kirlia's Life Dew healing the wound, they were able to return to the battlefield.
Mewtwo seized the opportunity to release another Ice Beam, but Rayquaza curled his body like coiling around a pillar and charged towards Mewtwo!
"Tch, tough to deal with!"
Mewtwo had no choice but to give up, using Teleport to flash away and barely dodge the violent tackle. Unexpectedly, Rayquaza nimbly flicked his tail, using centrifugal force to accelerate and whip towards Mewtwo—
"Big Sister Mewtwo, be careful!"
Seeing that the dragon tail was about to hit, Lorze, Latias, and Kirlia arrived in time, using telekinesis together to delay the force of the dragon tail. Only then did Mewtwo dodge Rayquaza's attack with lingering fear.
"Th-Thank you..."
She had already felt that fierce gale just now. If it weren't for Lorze, she definitely would have been hit.
It had always been her protecting Lorze, but now it was reversed... Looking at the handsome face smiling at her from under the hood, Mewtwo was in a daze for a moment.
"Vwoom—"
But unfortunately, now was not the time for her to be emotional, because Rayquaza's offensive had arrived again—The giant dragon roared and sent the orb of light in his mouth high into the sky. The sun in their vision seemed to explode, impressively turning into meteorites pouring down!
Every piece was as tall as a person. If they were hit... the consequences would be unimaginable.
"Big Sister Mewtwo, Latias, use Agility to dodge!"
"Yes!" "Okay."
The two Pokémon, boosted by Agility, suddenly accelerated, shuttling nimbly and freely through the gaps of the Draco Meteor meteorites.
Those meteorites that smashed into the Sky Pillar made the already dilapidated tower body even worse, and those falling into the sea could stir up giant waves tens of meters high!
Just when they thought they had successfully survived this wave of attacks, a sharp sound of breaking air rang out—
Before Lorze could process what happened, he felt the world spinning. Because in the instant they relaxed, Rayquaza executed Extreme Speed and knocked over both Latias and Mewtwo!
"Ahhhhh—"
But the young man, by a strange combination of circumstances, landed on top of Rayquaza's head. He used telekinesis to steady his body and firmly grabbed his dragon horns, like riding on top of Rayquaza's head.
Because Rayquaza's flight trajectory was often not a straight line, the shaking in Lorze's vision at this moment was comparable to a roller coaster. No, the swinging amplitude was much more exaggerated than a roller coaster!
"You bastard, how did you get on my head! Get off!"
"No way, wouldn't I be done for if I fall down!"
Having a human clinging to his body felt like ants crawling on him. Rayquaza frantically swung his body and changed his flight trajectory, trying his best to throw Lorze off!
Even though he was almost made dizzy by Rayquaza, Lorze still closed his eyes tightly, firmly hugged the dragon horns, and shouted via telepathy—
"Big Sister Mewtwo, Latias, Kirlia! Fire!"
After receiving Lorze's instructions, Mewtwo and Latias gritted their teeth and pulled themselves together, gathering the energy of their entire bodies to unleash surging Ice Beams. Kirlia also rubbed out a Moonblast and smashed it towards Rayquaza!
Rayquaza was suddenly startled, but it was too late. Piercing pain came from his neck, a section in the middle, and a section at his tail!
Lorze curled his lips. Just from Rayquaza's tiger-like body shuddering and his pained dragon cry, he knew: their attacks hit.
The two Ice Beams respectively hit Rayquaza's tail and middle section, directly freezing those two sections into large ice blocks. Although Moonblast was not as powerful as Ice Beam, it hit the place where Mewtwo's initial Ice Beam had hit. Adding the two together, it was a critical hit!
Great! This way...
"Vwoom—"
A huge roar pierced his ears. A heart-tearing pain came from his ruptured eardrums. Lorze forced one eye open, and was shocked to find a familiar golden tentacle drifting past his vision. This is... Mega Rayquaza!?
At the same time, the young man lost his grip and was thrown off by Rayquaza, plummeting towards the stone pillar floor of the Sky Pillar...
The ice blocks originally binding Rayquaza shattered with a bang. The winding giant dragon shook his body and went straight into the high sky. His whole body wrapped in an azure aura, he dove down at a rapid speed—Dragon Ascent!
Even though it didn't directly hit Mewtwo, Latias, and Kirlia, the strong shockwave from the close-range impact directly forced them out of Mega Evolution, making them lose their combat ability.
But the group didn't crash onto the stone brick tower roof and turn into a bloody pulp. Instead, they were steadily caught by Rayquaza twisting his body...