"ROAR!"
Along with the phoenix's cry, Ho-Oh, bathed in flames, began to visibly grow larger.
The more-than-four-meter-tall body flared with Sacred Fire, rapidly sweeping into the sky.
By the time the flames swirled and condensed back into Ho-Oh's shape, his body was already forty meters tall.
When he spread his wings, they could cover a full hundred meters.
The terrifying high temperature made the Steel Arrow Bridge sizzle and crack, showing signs of warping from heat.
Under this frightening temperature, Colress felt his back burn hot. He quickly wiped the dirt off his face and struggled to pull his body up from the ground.
The next instant, Colress was completely stunned.
As a scholar, he had actually seen a Pokémon perform Dynamax here in the Unova region?
And worse yet, the Pokémon performing Dynamax was the Legendary Pokémon of Kanto, Ho-Oh.
Colress looked at Axel in disbelief.
'Damn it, if you'd said earlier you had this kind of setup, would I still have dragged you into a fight?'
'Forget one Rotom, give me ten of me and I'd hand them all over to you!'
But right now his mouth was stuffed full with Beheeyem's Poké Ball, and he simply couldn't speak.
He couldn't even admit defeat to Axel if he wanted to.
Letting out a helpless sigh, Colress desperately tried to pry the Beheeyem Poké Ball out of his mouth.
'Damn mouth, open wider!' [T/N: That's what she s...]
But everything he was doing now was already too late.
Behind Axel, N's gaze had turned incomparably fervent.
No wonder Axel could so confidently say he was someone who lived in harmony with Pokémon.
Even the legendary Ho-Oh acknowledged him, could those words still be false?
That was the legendary auspicious Pokémon.
And combined with Colress's actions today, N had completely seen through the true face of Team Plasma.
'Team Plasma is wrong, Axel is right!'
If he could survive from Colress's hands today, he absolutely must change Team Plasma's ideology.
Iono was also excitedly pumping his little fists, cheering for Axel with all his might while constantly giving emotional support to the Pokémon.
"Oh-Ho, burn this heretic to death!"
"Gardevoir, you're amazing!"
"AHHH, Pheromosa is so cool, those long legs, I absolutely love them!"
"And Eternatus, you're super cute too~"
Axel blinked and secretly gave Iono a thumbs-up.
As expected of the number-one streamer, the emotional value boost was off the charts.
If the system had an emotion-value function, the entire panel would probably already be spammed with Gardevoir favorability +1, Pheromosa favorability -1, Ho-Oh favorability +1.
Iono gave Axel a small wink and stuck out her tongue playfully.
Ho-Oh's Dynamax was completed in sync.
The fierce flames gave off a terrifying roar, but the temperature was no longer as extreme as before.
Having fully completed Dynamax, the fire-type god Hubby had already gained complete control over the flame's temperature.
Now his fire had minimal impact on the surrounding environment, and the steel structure of Steel Arrow Bridge no longer sizzled.
However, judging from the white smoke constantly rising from Metagross's head, it was clear just how much pressure it was under now.
Just Gardevoir's psychic power alone was already far from weak, and there was also a Pheromosa that had just kicked Klinklang unconscious in three strikes, plus an unknown Pokémon that was steadily strengthening itself.
And now there was a fully Dynamaxed god, Ho-Oh.
Metagross's computational ability in its mind was running non-stop, calculating its odds of victory.
Soon, Metagross reached a conclusion, if Ho-Oh's level was under 40, it had a 90% chance of winning.
For every 5 levels higher Ho-Oh was, that win rate dropped by 10%.
But the result was destined to disappoint it.
Because on Ho-Oh's body, there was also a Supreme Entry beyond Metagross's comprehension!
"Oh-Ho, G-Max Wildfire!"
At Axel's command, endless flames surged, condensing into a massive fireball before Ho-Oh.
The moment the fireball flew toward Metagross—
All the clouds in the sky were swept away, and the blazing sunlight poured down from above without restraint.
"ROAR!"
Ho-Oh let out a piercing cry and threw two more massive fireballs.
With the boost from the harsh sunlight, these two fireballs were even stronger than the first, radiating an even more terrifying heat.
Metagross's large eyes were full of fear as it calculated the temperature at the fireball's core from the environment.
A horrifying figure appeared in its mind, over ten thousand degrees, the equivalent of having a Camerupt using Self-Destruct thrown straight at it.
Almost instantly, a white light flashed before Metagross as it used Protect with full power, holding nothing back.
At the same time, it wrapped Colress and the fallen Klinklang in psychic energy and rapidly retreated.
Crack!
With a crisp sound, the Protect barrier shattered on contact, blocking the first fireball.
The second and third fireballs slammed into Metagross without mercy, dealing massive damage.
Before Metagross could react again, Axel directly communicated with Gardevoir in his mind.
"Again!"
"Garde~"
Gardevoir glanced back at Axel with a smile, her eyes curved like crescent moons.
'As expected of Master, never forgets these moves no matter when.'
'But… right now, it actually seems pretty effective?'
———
Elsewhere, with Metagross's help, Colress finally pulled the Poké Ball out of his mouth.
"Damn!"
Colress cursed in lingering fear, then glared viciously at Axel and the others.
Although he didn't know why the other side could perform Dynamax, from the looks of things now, their levels weren't especially high.
Otherwise, with these few G-Max Wildfires, Metagross would have no chance of still being able to move.
Which made what came next very simple.
A shadow flashed in Colress's eyes.
"Metagross, use Thunder Punch!"
Metagross nodded, regaining its fighting spirit.
Violent lightning flashed from its four limbs as it gathered the Thunder Punch without reservation.
But just then… Metagross saw Gardevoir crook her finger at it.
A strange feeling rose in Metagross's mind. It lost control and changed its move, the gathered lightning dissipating as it instead took up the posture to use Protect.
Since it had just used Protect last time, this time Metagross's Protect was at only one-third of its full effectiveness.
Unsurprisingly, the one-third success rate failed to trigger, and Protect failed.
Colress's expression shifted.
He suddenly felt this battle style seemed familiar.
Some time ago, members of Team Plasma had suddenly become fond of using this type of tactic, claiming it was a powerful strategy from Aurient that was especially popular among villain groups everywhere.
Thinking of some earlier information he'd heard, and the N standing behind Axel, a thought instantly flashed through Colress's mind.
'Ho-Oh… a move popular among villains… liking to find outstanding kids from various regions.'
'All three conditions matched.'
'There was only one truth, this guy was the Masked Man from Johto!'
'You think I won't recognize you just because you took off your mask?'
Colress looked at Axel, lightly pushed his glasses up, and curled his lip in mockery.
"Masked Man, I won't let this go so easily!"
"Beheeyem, today's opponent is too strong, Teleport us away."
"Metagross, send a message to the people below and tell them to make a trip to Johto."
"Coming but not returning… is rude!"
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