Chapter 141: Ho-Oh: You Want Me to Fight the Black Rayquaza?!
Somewhere over the ocean between Kanto and Hoenn, high in the sky, a large bird Pokémon with iridescent rainbow feathers was beating its wings as fast as it could manage.
Ho-Oh.
"That human ran all the way out here?!"
It was deeply aggrieved. It had been enjoying a perfectly relaxing lava bath — actually considering whether a brief nap might be in order — when a peculiar resonance had pulled it back to awareness. The special Rainbow Wing it had given Mammon.
Calling for it.
Ho-Oh was not pleased. But it had given its word, and even very unwillingly, it could not ignore a promise. It had dragged itself away from the warm lava with considerable reluctance.
One sense of the distance involved and it had wanted to say several impolite things.
This far? He called it from this far? Did this human have no consideration for others at all?
And then — every few minutes — the resonance pulsed again.
He was sending it repeatedly. Urgently. Practically pinging it like an alarm.
Ho-Oh's only option was to beat its wings harder.
"You had better actually need me."
Another pulse. Ho-Oh muttered at it and pushed for more speed.
It was also curious, admittedly. What had this human run into that required calling for it specifically? Something genuinely difficult, presumably — the human had that dark Pokémon which was powerful, but apparently not sufficient.
Hmph. Well. It supposed that was why the human had sought out the noble and magnificent Ho-Oh in the first place. Evidently there were enemies beyond the capacity of a dark Pokémon to handle, and so the beautiful and all-powerful Ho-Oh had become necessary.
Fine. It would lend its wing.
Whatever the opponent, the invincible Ho-Oh would handle it — absolutely.
Rough estimation suggested it was getting close to where the wing's signal was coming from.
Larousse City.
Dark Mewtwo and Deoxys were stacking Calm Mind. Primal Kyogre had launched itself upward, ice-blue light condensing.
"Ice Beam!"
Ice-type. Even under Delta Stream's suppression — which neutralized the Flying-type weakness — the black Rayquaza still took double damage from Ice. The weakness wasn't gone, just halved.
The thick, coiling beam of ice-blue light tore through the sky toward the black Rayquaza. The black Rayquaza's eyes were absolutely unmoved. It raised the front of its body and let pure draconic energy accumulate in its jaws.
Dragon Pulse.
The two attacks collided.
Two seconds. Then Dragon Pulse won and tore through the Ice Beam, the remaining force slamming into Primal Kyogre's body.
BOOM.
The explosion knocked Primal Kyogre backward with a cry of pain.
"Kyogre — did you hold back?"
Mammon's frown deepened.
"I did not hold back!"
Primal Kyogre's indignation was palpable. The Dragon Pulse hadn't been super effective, but it had still hurt — a lot. It hadn't expected this. This black Rayquaza was stronger than the one that had been knocking it and Groudon around for the past few thousand years.
How was that possible? What was wrong with the Rayquaza family?
Being this powerful was one thing — but a family? With a child? Arceus, are you watching any of this?!
Mammon's eyes narrowed. Full power and it got overpowered that quickly?
The offensive output on this black Rayquaza was extreme. Though hadn't Dragon Ascent been described as barely tickling Giratina in one of the films? Then again — that was Giratina's alternate form, which had extraordinary defenses.
He glanced at Dark Mewtwo and Deoxys. Both had completed one round of Calm Mind.
He directed them to keep going. If they were going to stack, stack all the way.
"ROOAAR!"
The black Rayquaza's roar rang out. The magnificent black form swept forward at speed.
"Blizzard!"
Mammon didn't hesitate.
Primal Kyogre beat its wings and rose, ice and frozen wind pouring from its mouth — a massive Blizzard that swept across the sky and wrapped the horizon in white.
A genuinely powerful Blizzard — the sheer scale was enough that snowflakes were drifting down to where the trainers stood below.
"That Blizzard—!" Wallace stared up, eyes wide.
"Incredible." Leon shook his head slowly. "Is this what legendary Pokémon actually look like at full power?"
Primal Kyogre didn't even have Ice-type.
The black Rayquaza didn't change its expression. Didn't slow down. The crackling of electricity began to intensify around its body.
Golden current covered every inch of it — and it accelerated into the Blizzard.
Wild Charge.
Like a golden blade, the black Rayquaza tore a lightning-edged gap straight through the curtain of ice and snow. The Blizzard couldn't stop it for a single moment.
"Guard!"
Mammon called it immediately.
Primal Kyogre abandoned the Blizzard and threw up a Protect barrier just in front of itself — green light snapping into place.
BOOM.
Wild Charge crashed into the barrier. Gold electricity exploded outward in all directions, the Protect shuddering under the impact.
Primal Kyogre stared through the barrier at the black shape surrounded by crackling gold current and registered just how close that had been.
Without the warning, it would have kept pushing the Blizzard and eaten that Wild Charge directly.
The human was actually useful.
"Don't let your guard down — watch out!"
Protect's duration ended.
Primal Kyogre refocused just in time to see a tail wrapped in green light.
Outrage.
BOOM.
The shockwave was deafening. Outrage detonated, and the destructive force launched Primal Kyogre completely off course. Before it could recover—
Dragon Pulse. Already fired.
It connected. Primal Kyogre's enormous body slammed into a high-rise building. The building couldn't absorb the impact — it cracked through the middle and toppled.
"ROOAAR!!"
The black Rayquaza announced its satisfaction at bringing Primal Kyogre down with a long, imperious roar, then looked down at the rising cloud of dust and debris.
That's it?
It didn't pursue. It had thought the fat fish might offer some kind of surprise. This was simply its upper limit.
The black Rayquaza glanced toward Dark Mewtwo and Deoxys. It could see what they were doing — buffing themselves. Building up.
Bugs are bugs. Even a buffed bug can't overcome a great dragon.
It was something between contempt and amusement. But it wasn't going to stand here and let them stack forever.
Its gaze settled on Deoxys — cold, narrowing.
Extraterrestrial filth.
"It's not going after Kyogre. It's shifted target to Deoxys."
Mammon couldn't read the black Rayquaza's reasoning, but the implication was clear. It wasn't ignoring Dark Mewtwo and Deoxys — and that was not good news.
He sent the mental push to Primal Kyogre.
The Wild Charge hadn't landed. The damage on it was manageable. Primal Kyogre's constitution was exceptional.
"Kyogre — get up. Now."
"Hssss — human. I'm in pain."
"That's what happens when you lose focus mid-battle."
Mammon rubbed the bridge of his nose. Wild Pokémon were wild Pokémon. Primal Kyogre's battle discipline was genuinely subpar.
Though in fairness — it had lived at the top of the food chain for its entire existence. No natural predators. The only fighting it ever did was against Primal Groudon over energy rights, and getting stopped by a Mega Rayquaza. It probably hadn't needed to develop actual technique.
"And Kyogre — didn't you say you and Rayquaza were 70-30?"
A pause.
"This one is a special case..."
Primal Kyogre's silence was eloquent. Mammon couldn't help a quiet laugh.
"Ice Beam!"
"Wwwoooh~!"
The low, resonant cry rolled out across the sky again. Primal Kyogre, still glowing with that deep indigo-blue radiance, rose back up.
Ice-blue light shot toward the black Rayquaza, which was preparing to move on Deoxys.
The black Rayquaza dipped its head. Its long body moved with elegant ease — the Ice Beam passed harmlessly by.
It's still trying.
The cold light in the black Rayquaza's eyes sharpened. It drifted its body into motion toward Primal Kyogre.
Every scale on Primal Kyogre responded.
"Blizzard!"
It opened its mouth — ice and wind building—
The black form was simply there. Already.
Extreme Speed.
The impact hit Primal Kyogre square in the head before the Blizzard had finished forming.
CRACK.
Primal Kyogre made a strained sound. An instant later it abandoned the charged move and redirected — opening its mouth to dump the Blizzard directly into the black Rayquaza at point-blank range.
The black Rayquaza was faster. Gold electricity flared.
Wild Charge.
It drove into Primal Kyogre with the Wild Charge going directly into the Blizzard — and through it — slamming Primal Kyogre's entire body downward.
Primal Kyogre's cry of pain was low and deep. The enormous body kept falling under the black Rayquaza's momentum, and hit the ground hard enough that the earth shuddered.
Gold electricity erupted in a pillar.
Mammon's frown was tight. Electric beats Water. That Wild Charge had done serious damage.
Static crackled through the air. The black Rayquaza rose slowly, electrical arcs still playing across its scales — the recoil from Wild Charge, which it paid no attention to whatsoever.
It looked down at Primal Kyogre's silhouette through the heavy dust. Its expression was exactly as it had been throughout — remote, unhurried, implacable.
"This is beyond anything—! Kyogre isn't even close to its level!" Wallace's voice was stunned.
"This Rayquaza individual is genuinely terrifying." Steven's expression matched.
"Mammon's Mewtwo and Deoxys finished their stacking — question is whether that's enough to turn this around."
Cynthia watched Dark Mewtwo and Deoxys. They'd been completely uninvolved throughout, just running Calm Mind to its ceiling. Which they'd now reached.
"Difficult to see how." Giovanni shook his head. Beating this Rayquaza with Mammon's current lineup would require something they hadn't seen yet.
"Kyuuuuh~"
A bright, soaring cry drifted in from the far distance.
A rainbow stretched from the horizon toward them — and behind it, a beautiful bird Pokémon glittering with gold and prismatic light was approaching, still far away but unmistakable.
The black Rayquaza turned to look. Its eyes narrowed slightly.
"Finally."
Mammon let a small smile through despite himself. There it is. Ho-Oh.
The legendary Ho-Oh beat its wings toward them, slowing as it arrived, coming to hover above Mammon.
"Human, you—"
Ho-Oh's telepathic voice, distinctly feminine in register, began — and then stopped.
Its gaze had caught the black Rayquaza standing in the sky.
Its entire body went rigid.
A Shiny Mega Rayquaza??
The aura radiating off that thing — Ho-Oh's internal warning systems didn't just activate. They screamed. Everything in it was telling it the same thing in the most urgent possible terms.
"Ho-Oh. You made it. The first favor I'm calling in — help me defeat this Shiny Rayquaza."
Mammon kept it short. Ho-Oh had promised.
"???"
Ho-Oh's eyes went wide. Its wings stopped moving entirely. It stared at Mammon with the expression of a Pokémon that had misheard something and needed confirmation.
"Human. What did you just say."
Every word delivered with the weight of someone who genuinely could not believe what they were hearing.
"You want me — to fight that Rayquaza???"
One wing pointed, very clearly, at the pitch-black Mega Rayquaza standing in the sky.
This human had lost his mind. It was just a Ho-Oh. He wanted it to fight the black Rayquaza??
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