The two Deoxys exchanged a series of strange, distorted sounds—tones with no meaning to the human ear. Natsui had temporarily shut off the telepathic link through Gardevoir, so he couldn't tell what was being said.
Still, one thing was obvious: neither of them showed any hostility. Their posture and movement were controlled, even calm. Whatever this was, it wasn't a confrontation—it was an exchange.
After a long while, both Deoxys descended at the same time and landed before Natsui.
To the naked eye, they looked identical.
But Natsui could feel the difference immediately.
One presence was familiar, and the way it looked at him carried a restrained steadiness—almost mild, by Deoxys standards. The other radiated a colder pressure: sharper, more distant, unmistakably wild. Even without a word, it was easy to tell which one was his.
When his Deoxys gave him a slight nod, Natsui knew he had already accomplished half of what he came for.
Now came the hard part: keeping the wild Deoxys calm. If he could prevent it from spiraling into aggression, then the city-wide catastrophe that played out in the movie wouldn't happen here. After that, he could help it reunite with its companion quietly—without turning LaRousse into rubble.
With that in mind, Natsui had Gardevoir establish a mental link with the wild Deoxys.
"I know where your companion is," he communicated through the connection. "And I know it is safe and unharmed. That's why I'm asking you to slow down. Don't rush. Keep searching—but do it peacefully."
A pause.
Then a reply, fragmented but intelligible through the telepathy:
'...Understood... my kin trusts you... therefore... I will also trust you...'
Natsui let out a silent breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
He had been prepared for the worst—prepared for a Deoxys too volatile to negotiate with. But this was working. Bringing his own Deoxys here had done exactly what he needed it to do: it had created a bridge of trust.
And for his own Deoxys, the meaning was even bigger.
It wasn't alone. There were others like it on this planet.
To Natsui, that was the real victory of this trip—the kind that couldn't be measured in badges or battles. It was also the strongest guarantee he could give his Deoxys: proof that its place at his side wasn't a cage, but a choice.
Then, without warning, both Deoxys snapped their heads toward the sky.
Their bodies shifted—tight, defensive, alert.
Natsui frowned, confused for a fraction of a second… until he followed their gaze.
High above the treetops, a tiny black speck was tearing through the air at terrifying speed.
And in that instant, Natsui understood.
Rayquaza had arrived.
The aurora signal had done more than draw human attention. It had also lit up the sky like a beacon for the apex predator of the ozone layer. Rayquaza didn't tolerate anything that disturbed its domain—and Deoxys, of all things, was a name it remembered.
If the last encounter had ever forced Rayquaza into a costly, infuriating battle, it wouldn't ignore the chance to settle it now.
Some things, it seemed, couldn't be avoided.
The aurora might look harmless compared to the earth-shattering clashes of Groudon and Kyogre, but from Rayquaza's perspective, its "impact" was worse. This wasn't collateral power spilling outward.
It was a direct signal.
Fortunately, Natsui had already moved them outside the city. Whatever happened next, LaRousse wouldn't be the immediate battlefield.
In the blink of an eye, Rayquaza reached the skies above the forest. The moment it locked onto the two Deoxys, it didn't hesitate.
It opened its maw and fired a blast of concentrated energy—an opening strike, clean and brutal.
Both Deoxys shot upward at the same time. They dodged the beam and rose together to meet Rayquaza head-on.
The attack missed them, but it didn't vanish. It carved forward, scorching straight toward the forest floor.
Gardevoir reacted instantly.
A psychic barrier snapped into place around Natsui. The orange-yellow force washed over the shield, flooding his vision with blinding light.
Even protected, Natsui felt the heat—violent, oppressive, as if the air itself wanted to melt through the barrier. The blast lasted only seconds, but it was enough.
When the light finally dissipated, Natsui's expression had cooled into something harder.
So this Rayquaza really didn't care if a human was standing there.
Then again… why would it?
Rayquaza lived above the world. It looked down on everything. Its long, serpentine body matched its nature: cold, proud, and utterly indifferent to anything it didn't recognize as a threat.
The Draconids might worship it as a savior, but at its core, it was still a predator—one that treated the planet as its own territory.
Long ago, it had stopped the clash of Kyogre and Groudon because their fighting had annoyed it. Not because it cared about people.
Natsui motioned, and Gardevoir repositioned him deeper into the woods—farther from the immediate line of fire. Once he had a safer vantage point, he steadied himself and watched.
Rayquaza had once found handling even a single Deoxys exhausting. Two of them—working with perfect coordination—should have been a nightmare.
So the question was simple.
What did Rayquaza think it could do here?
While the battle escalated in the skies above the forest, the Lund Institute inside LaRousse City fell into chaos.
Professor Lund and Yuko were already drowning in urgent work.
They had noticed the red aurora earlier, of course.
At first, they dismissed it. This world didn't follow clean rules; strange atmospheric phenomena could easily be the byproduct of a Pokémon's power.
And more importantly—four years had passed.
Four years since the expedition to the South Pole. Four years since they witnessed the battle between Rayquaza and Deoxys. Four years since they brought the second Deoxys core back to the city.
Time had dulled the edge of those memories.
They never imagined the Deoxys that had once appeared in that frozen wasteland would cross thousands of miles just to reach this city.
But when a second aurora—blue—appeared over the distant forest, and the red aurora over LaRousse flared in response, reality hit them like a hammer.
Deoxys had found them.
And its intention didn't require genius to deduce.
It had come for its kin.
Under normal circumstances, the "correct" response was obvious: return the core.
But four years of research weren't something you simply surrendered. They had poured funding, time, and obsession into that project. Their work was approaching its most critical stage.
How could they let go now?
And yet, if they refused…
Deoxys wouldn't politely wait outside the door.
It would tear the city apart until it found what it came for.
Yuko proposed an option immediately, but after a brief, grim silence, Professor Lund rejected it. Instead, he initiated a video call to Officer Jenny, requesting a city-wide emergency evacuation.
On the high-tech screen inside the police station, Jenny's expression was serious—and cautious.
"Professor Lund," she said, "why has Deoxys appeared here? And what exactly is it looking for?"
Lund did not dare mention the core hidden in his lab.
Instead, he said, "What it's looking for isn't the priority. The real danger is this: if Deoxys is here, Rayquaza may descend as well. If those two start fighting near LaRousse, the damage will be catastrophic."
Jenny's instincts told her he was hiding something.
But she didn't need a confession to understand the threat.
If legendary beings went to war within city limits, they wouldn't be discussing public criticism afterward.
They'd be counting survivors.
"I understand," Jenny said. "I'm issuing the evacuation order immediately. If anything changes, contact me at once."
The call ended.
Jenny didn't hesitate.
She pressed the large red button on her console.
Almost instantly, every helper robot in LaRousse activated. Their green safety screens flipped to warning yellow. They spilled into streets and alleys, moving door to door, announcing the evacuation and directing citizens to shelters.
Coordinated with the moving walkways, they began funneling people out in synchronized waves.
In a closed-off corner of a park, Ash and the others were gathered together.
With them stood Tory—and beside him, a strange translucent entity pulsing with soft cyan light.
After the café, Ash had done what Ash always did: he chased the problem instead of avoiding it. Somehow, he tracked Tory here. Then he saw the glowing entity near him.
Tory's first instinct had been to shield it.
But Ash had a talent that didn't show up on any trainer license: sincerity that refused to back down. A few blunt, honest words—an almost ridiculous heart-to-heart—and Tory finally lowered his guard enough to explain what the entity was.
Brock and Max arrived soon after. Misty and May weren't far behind.
Everyone except Natsui was now together.
Then the siren began to howl.
The alarm swept over the city in waves, sharp and urgent. Confusion spread through the group at once—except for Misty, whose expression tightened like she already knew.
"What's going on?" Ash demanded, looking toward the streets outside the park. He saw people moving quickly—but nothing else, nothing obvious.
Brock squinted. "Could this have something to do with that aurora earlier?"
May glanced at Misty.
After all, when the aurora first appeared, Misty had reacted immediately—and called Natsui. Then she had dragged May straight into finding Ash. Pretending she knew nothing was impossible.
Normally, Misty wouldn't hide it.
But with Tory present, she didn't explain. She only shook her head at May—quietly signaling her to stay silent. May returned the look, understanding at once.
Max, however, noticed none of this. Watching the crowd beyond the park, he urged them, "Shouldn't we get to a shelter too?"
Tory stood, tense but decisive. He pointed to a side gate.
"If you want to evacuate, I know somewhere better. There's a path that leads to my father's laboratory. The protection levels there are very high."
But Ash shook his head.
"No. I want to go out there and see what's happening."
Tory froze. "What? But the broadcast said everyone has to evacuate!"
"That's exactly why we should look," Ash said, grinning like it was obvious. "If we know what's happening, we can actually help—right?"
The idea hit Tory like a foreign language.
He would never have chosen that path on his own.
But Ash and the others were already running out of the park, and after a moment of struggle, Tory clenched his teeth and followed.
Outside, the evacuation was accelerating. A scream rang out somewhere down the street.
Something was wrong.
They pushed forward and looked toward the city's edge—across the river, past the buildings, toward the forest.
In the distance, a green, serpentine Pokémon was diving and soaring through the sky. Two humanoid Pokémon flanked it, attacking in tandem. Explosions flashed like intermittent lightning, and the fight was moving—fast.
Moving toward LaRousse.
"What… what are those Pokémon?" Ash breathed. He had never seen anything like them.
Only Max snapped into motion, adjusting his glasses, eyes shining with frantic recognition.
"I know! I know! I saw them in a book!"
He pointed, almost trembling.
"That long green one is the legendary Pokémon Rayquaza!"
"Rayquaza…" Ash repeated, locking the name into his mind.
Then he stared at the two humanoid figures cutting through the air beside it, relentless and coordinated.
"Then… who are those other two Pokémon?"
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