"All right!"
Akari didn't waste words and threw out all of her Poké Balls at once.
"Everyone, use your moves to power up now!"
In an instant, her ten Pokémon and Palkia reappeared inside the temple. Their health and status conditions had mostly recovered, and each of them began boosting their stats without hesitation.
"You mean... the other deity of Sinnoh is going to appear too?" Adaman asked in disbelief.
"AAAHHH!"
Right on cue, Palkia let out a mighty roar, locking eyes with Irida.
Almost simultaneously, a voice echoed once more in Irida's mind:
"The space-time rift... the balance has already shattered. The other, now frenzied one is approaching. My descent was to counter that very threat."
"The Red Chain has broken. My powers have yet to recover from it, but the other deity of Sinnoh—at full strength—is coming. Everyone, begin move-based power-ups immediately."
Kamado instantly grasped the gravity of the situation. A fully powered deity of Sinnoh... Just the sheer aura alone would be enough to make most Pokémon faint without even battling.
But for Hisui, for the people, and for the Pokémon—they had to give it everything they had!
Kamado promptly released all of his Pokémon.
With his lead, Irida, Akari, and Adaman all released their strongest Pokémon—those of Elite Four level or above—and joined in, powering up in unison.
Yet they had barely begun when an intense spatial disturbance surged again. From the rift, a figure emerged—its aura no less terrifying than Palkia's.
Amid swirling black-and-red turbulence, a deep blue, dragon-like Pokémon with metallic parts stepped out from the rift. Its four limbs clamped onto the stone floor of the temple with heavy impact.
The metal plating on its chest formed a natural armor, centered with a cobalt-blue, pentagonal diamond. Its back bore five fin-like spikes in a scale pattern, and in its crimson eyes, a frenzied fury blazed.
"RRAAAAARGH!"
With a deafening roar, the earth and time itself seemed to shudder.
It was none other than the God of Time—Dialga.
"This... Are we really capable of fighting something like that?" Kamado's gaze flickered. He voiced what everyone was thinking.
Even though they had the numbers, judging from Akari's struggle against a weakened Palkia, this Dialga—in its full power, could wipe out entire teams with a single move.
Defeating it directly? Impossible.
Most critically... this Dialga was even stronger than the Palkia they had just faced!
"Retreat. There's no chance. We fall back for now." Kamado said, already losing the will to fight.
After all, battling is only meaningful when victory is within reach. When the gap is insurmountable, fighting is suicide.
"But if we retreat, and Dialga starts destroying everything... what about the people behind us?" Adaman cried. He didn't believe that a frenzied Dialga would politely wait in the temple for them to return with a plan.
"If we lose our lives, nothing else matters..."
"Then we give it our all!"
Before Kamado could finish, his voice was cut off by Paul's firm declaration.
A burst of rainbow-colored light streaked past him as his Pokémon charged forward, launching their most powerful attacks directly at Dialga.
Ursaluna in Awakened Form and a mega-evolved Garchomp in its draconic mode led the assault—a force of nature, charging like a meteor toward the god.
The earth trembled. Enormous hardened vines erupted from the ground, aiming to pierce Dialga from all sides.
Dialga, in its arrogance, had not expected these 'weaker' beings to strike first.
As it opened its gaping maw, ready to unleash Roar of Time and annihilate everything, Electivire had already flashed above its head.
With a single motion, Electivire summoned a storm of divine thunder. As its arm came down, golden lightning rained from the sky like divine retribution, striking Dialga directly.
"GRAAGH!"
Though powerful, Dialga wasn't Ground-type—it wasn't immune to lightning.
Electivire, having maxed its power and fully charged, landed a devastating blow that broke through Dialga's defenses. The Roar of Time in its throat turned into a pained cry.
In that split second, Garchomp and Ursaluna slammed into it from both sides.
These two were no ordinary Pokémon. With their abilities maxed out, their combined assault rivaled that of a Legendary Pokémon.
Dozens of hardened vines stabbed into Dialga from all directions, forcing it to collapse to its knees.
Barely two seconds had passed, and the once-unstoppable Dialga couldn't even raise its head.
"Chaah!"
Samurott's voice rang in its ears as it launched Sacred Sword in a crashing wave of relentless slashes to the head—each blow deadly, each strike aimed at a vital point.
Eyes, mouth, nostrils—nothing was spared. Samurott didn't hold back in the slightest.
"Draah?!"
Drapion joined in, leaping onto Dialga's back.
Unlike the others, Drapion didn't attack with raw power. Instead, it activated Phantom Mask and combined it with Punishing Strike, using Pressure Point as a support technique.
Its three massive pincers pounded Dialga relentlessly, targeting specific nodes to weaken its strength and defenses.
Mastery of Pressure Point allowed it to either boost allies or debilitate enemies.
Even a powerhouse like Dialga couldn't keep up under such concentrated and surgical blows. It was dazed, drenched in sweat, and its vision blurred.
"Wait... you can fight like that?!"
Even Akari stood frozen in awe.
Usually, when danger arose, everyone simply attacked all at once. But to fully max out their stats before mobbing the target? That hadn't even occurred to them.
And yet... it worked. Even Dialga looked on the verge of being completely suppressed!
"Everyone, let's go too!" Kamado and Akari shouted in unison.
Strike while the iron's hot, everyone knew that. In a flash, dozens of Pokémon joined the fray, unleashing their most powerful moves toward Dialga.
However...
"RAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Crushed and enraged, Dialga let out a deafening roar, unleashing its full power.
Everything around it was blasted away in an instant.
Many of the charging Pokémon hadn't even launched their attacks before a full-force Roar of Time vaporized them.
"BOOM!"
In the blink of an eye, more than half of the team was downed. The rest were barely clinging to life. Only Torterra, Mewtwo, and Electivire—safely at a distance or in the air, remained unscathed.
As the battlefield cleared, crimson energy spiraled around Dialga like a storm, pulling it into its core.
Its power... was rising!
(End of Chapter)
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