Chapter 364: Ho-Oh! You're Finally Here! Come Help Me!
Across the vast desert, violent, terrifying shockwaves rippled through the air from every direction.
Dialga vs. Primal Kyogre, Complete Forme Zygarde vs. Complete Kyurem, dark-horse Calyrex vs. Mega Mewtwo Y, Black Rayquaza vs. Mega Rayquaza.
Four separate battlefields, each engaged in a genuinely intense exchange.
The scene, epic beyond description, left Caitlin and the others watching from a distance thoroughly shaken.
"Mammon really is this powerful?"
Meray was genuinely stunned into silence. Evil Hoopa and the six Legendaries it had summoned already carried a presence terrifying beyond description — and yet Mammon was actually holding his own against all of them???
"Mr. Mammon really is... the single strongest man in the world." Serena's admiration came from a genuinely sincere place.
Sure, she'd always known Mammon commanded an organization as powerful as Team Rocket, so his own strength was surely formidable — but this? This was on a completely different level of absurd.
"Hehe~ Mr. Mammon really is the strongest! No one can match him!"
Platinum's delicate face bloomed into a genuinely delighted smile.
She'd known Mr. Mammon could do it! Who in this entire world could possibly measure up to him?
To anyone else, this situation would surely feel like utter, crushing despair — but Mr. Mammon could handle it!!
Caitlin wore a faint, knowing smile, her lovely eyes fixed unwaveringly on the man mounted atop Yveltal.
—
Seeing most of the Legendaries it had pulled in now tied down, Evil Hoopa let out a furious roar.
Stellar Terapagos let out a low cry, the crystal formation atop it flaring with dazzling light as a dense swarm of star-shaped light-motes streaked out, converging on Yveltal.
Stellar Terapagos's signature move — Tera Starstorm!
"Rayquaza!" Mammon commanded Young Rayquaza.
"ROAR!!"
Seeing its turn finally arrive, Young Rayquaza let out a commanding roar. Its gorgeous, elongated body shot forward instantly, a pure burst of Dragon Pulse rising to meet Tera Starstorm.
BOOM!
Dragon Pulse and the incoming Tera Starstorm collided violently.
But visibly, Young Rayquaza's Dragon Pulse was quickly overwhelmed by Tera Starstorm's relentless push forward.
Clearly, even Mega Evolved, Young Rayquaza's strength still fell short of Stellar Terapagos's own.
Young Rayquaza noticed this too, gritting its teeth, forcing every last ounce of power through its body.
Dragon Pulse suddenly swelled, expanding sharply in size.
BOOM!
The two attacks detonated violently, the powerful shockwave sending Young Rayquaza flying back a considerable distance.
Young Rayquaza forced its draconic body to steady itself, its expression grim as it stared down Stellar Terapagos.
Damn it, how is this tortoise's power THIS strong?
"Not bad, Rayquaza. You haven't disappointed me." Mammon offered up his praise without holding back.
After all, holding off one strike from Stellar Terapagos was no small feat.
"Great job, Rayquaza!" Confined Hoopa jumped right in with its own praise too.
"Of course! You can always trust me, Mammon!"
Young Rayquaza's face practically split with a grin, since deep down, it had already come to see this human as anything but ordinary.
Mammon's praise carried real weight.
Still, having failed with its first strike, Stellar Terapagos wasn't about to let up — it closed in on Young Rayquaza further, the crystal atop it flaring bright once more.
Seeing this, Young Rayquaza braced itself; this tortoise's power really was formidable.
But right at that moment, a spatial ring silently materialized directly beneath Young Rayquaza's body.
"Watch out, Rayquaza! Below you!"
Mammon shouted the warning instantly.
What?
Young Rayquaza looked down just in time to see a massive fist, wreathed in dark energy, slamming straight toward its stomach.
Evil Hoopa's Hyperspace Fury!
Young Rayquaza was furious — a sneak attack!
It surged its body upward instantly, trying to dodge the incoming blow — Young Rayquaza's speed really was impressive. Tilting its body sharply, it managed to narrowly, barely evade Evil Hoopa's ambush.
But ahead of it, the dazzling swarm of star-light had already closed the distance.
Stellar Terapagos's Tera Starstorm!
And this time, Young Rayquaza had no time left to dodge.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Tera Starstorm pounded relentlessly against Young Rayquaza's body, its Stellar Forme power hitting hard. Young Rayquaza let out a pained roar, its entire body sent hurtling through the air by the barrage.
But that wasn't the end of it either — two more spatial rings materialized right at the spot Young Rayquaza was about to crash into.
Evil Hoopa's own rings!
"Oblivion Wing — wait, dodge it!"
Mammon had been about to bring Yveltal in to support, but a sudden, deep sense of dread washed over him, and he shouted the correction to Yveltal without hesitation.
Yveltal, having just begun to power up Oblivion Wing, immediately dove downward instead.
BOOM!
A massive fist burst out from the spatial ring, but thanks to Yveltal's timely dodge, it went unstruck.
Evil Hoopa let out a furious roar — but Young Rayquaza's side had fared far worse.
Evil Hoopa's two fists slammed heavily into Young Rayquaza's body, the overwhelming force of Hyperspace Fury drawing another pained groan from it, its whole body launched like a rocket straight into the desert sand, kicking up an enormous wave of it.
"Mmh~"
Stellar Terapagos let out another cry, Tera Starstorm pouring out relentlessly, converging directly on the spot where Young Rayquaza had just crashed down.
At the same time, a massive black orb condensed in the void of Evil Hoopa's chest, a burst of dark energy tearing through the air.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Under the violent barrage, the entire stretch of desert shook furiously, waves of sand collapsing continuously.
And caught dead center in the blast, Young Rayquaza had already been forced out of its Mega Evolution and knocked completely unconscious.
Young Rayquaza: unable to battle.
"Ah! Rayquaza's down!"
Confined Hoopa let out a panicked wail.
Mammon's eyes narrowed at the sight. He genuinely hadn't expected it — just moments ago, Young Rayquaza had been telling him, "You can always trust me, Mammon," and now it had been wiped out by a single four-hit combo.
"Now this is getting interesting."
Mammon opened another Poké Ball, and Shadow Lugia appeared before him, its blood-red, demonic eyes fixed on Evil Hoopa and Stellar Terapagos.
Good thing he still had Shadow Lugia in reserve — and by his estimate, Ho-Oh should be arriving soon as well.
"This thing has really squeezed every drop of value out of that ring."
Mammon couldn't help clicking his tongue in genuine admiration.
Credit where due, Evil Hoopa's mastery over the spatial rings was genuinely impressive — Hyperspace Fury was an extraordinarily flexible, powerful move. Its principle relied entirely on the ring's ability to appear at essentially any location at will, allowing for ambush attacks across any distance or position.
Just now, Evil Hoopa had exploited exactly that — and it could freely control the number of rings, positioning them independently across different locations, distances, and directions to execute Hyperspace Fury.
Genuinely, it was like the thing was playing with cheat codes enabled.
"Mammon, what do we do."
Confined Hoopa pressed itself tightly against Mammon — Young Rayquaza's defeat was, without question, a genuinely unfavorable turn of events.
"It's fine, don't worry."
Mammon quickly ran through the state of the other battles.
Complete Kyurem was currently pounding Complete Forme Zygarde relentlessly — the most clearly one-sided fight of the bunch.
Origin Forme Giratina was also currently suppressing Origin Forme Palkia — sure, Palkia had reached Origin Forme too, but it clearly still wasn't a match for Giratina.
The two Rayquazas were still locked in a genuinely even standoff. Mammon glanced over, though it wasn't especially surprising — since Mega Rayquaza was Black Rayquaza's own mate, some degree of holding back was only natural.
As for Mega Mewtwo Y and Primal Kyogre's respective fights — both were still in a stalemate too, each holding a slight edge but nothing decisive; resolving either quickly enough to send reinforcements simply wasn't realistic right now.
"Let's wait for Kyurem and Giratina to free up and send support."
Mammon studied Evil Hoopa and Stellar Terapagos across the field — neither of these two was an easy target. Beating them was going to take reinforcements from Complete Kyurem and the others once they were free.
"VANISH!!"
Evil Hoopa let out a savage, furious roar.
Stellar Terapagos launched into another attack instantly, the same crystalline, star-bright glow, another wave of star-shaped light-motes streaking through the air.
"Dark Storm!"
Shadow Lugia shrieked, its wings sweeping down with force, a black gale howling out and crashing violently into the incoming Tera Starstorm.
The black wind roared with reckless force, forcibly holding back Tera Starstorm's advance.
But taking advantage of the moment, Stellar Terapagos had already closed the distance.
At the same time, ring after ring materialized around Yveltal, completely encircling it.
Yveltal's eyes went cold and sharp, immediately beating its wings and charging straight toward the gap between the rings.
One massive demonic arm after another extended out from the spatial rings, striking at Yveltal.
"Dark Pulse!"
Dark energy surged across Yveltal's body, Dark Aura flaring to life.
A wave of dark energy shot from Yveltal's mouth, striking one of the grasping arms lunging in from the side.
Evil Hoopa flinched in pain, its arm freezing for an instant — and Yveltal immediately seized the opening, accelerating straight out of the encirclement.
"AAAAHHHH!!"
Evil Hoopa let out a furious roar.
Stellar Terapagos launched another attack, and Shadow Lugia was forced to fend it off, leaving it with no room left to protect Yveltal.
Seeing this, Evil Hoopa immediately dove into a spatial ring before itself, reappearing directly in front of Yveltal.
"This thing really doesn't know when to quit, does it."
Mammon's brow furrowed slightly, watching the colossal demonic figure across the field.
"VANISH FOR ME!!"
Evil Hoopa's terrifying, crimson-flickering eyes locked onto Confined Hoopa, letting out a furious roar.
"I'm not the one who's gonna vanish! YOU'RE the one who should vanish!"
The previously frightened Confined Hoopa flared up instantly at that, shouting back at Evil Hoopa in its cute, childlike voice.
Evil Hoopa grew even more furious, the thick, oppressive resentment radiating off it enough to raise the hairs on anyone's neck.
Its six massive demonic arms twisted and swayed, blue psychic light flickering unpredictably in its eyes.
Massive, towering sand-and-dust cyclones, connecting earth to sky, swept toward Yveltal under Evil Hoopa's direct control.
This was one of the techniques the original Hoopa Unbound, a century ago, had once used its psychic power for — forcibly conjuring cyclonic tornadoes through sheer, concentrated psychic force.
"Run!"
Mammon gave the order without a moment's hesitation.
Yveltal turned and fled without a shred of delay — sure, its Oblivion Wing could probably break through those three massive cyclones. But that would give Evil Hoopa the perfect opening to ambush it directly through the rings while it was occupied.
Yveltal's flight speed really was impressive — but that did little against Evil Hoopa's ability to "teleport" freely between its own rings.
The standoff had reached a genuine impasse, and letting it continue like this clearly wasn't in their favor — Evil Hoopa's rings simply carried too much raw versatility.
And right at that moment, a streak of rainbow-colored light finally came soaring in from the distance.
Mammon caught sight of it, his eyes lighting up instantly.
"Ho-Oh! You're finally here!! Come help me!"
☆☆☆
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