Lightning flashed and thunder roared in the sky, and dark clouds tumbled and churned from time to time.
Below, the Sky Pillar suddenly fell into an eerie silence.
"..."
Rayquaza stared blankly at the familiar yet unfamiliar figure in the sky, its expression immediately becoming very colorful.
No, that's impossible!
When the Creator made the world, I should have been the only one of my kind—
A deity directly tied to the world's order like myself, how could there possibly be a clan of us?
But—
What was that Black Rayquaza in the sky then?
It couldn't be seeing things; apart from the different color, that guy was completely its own kin!
And its strength was even a few notches above its own. Even separated by a thousand meters, it could still clearly feel that domineering pressure directed solely at it—
Rayquaza's eyes widened. For a moment, it didn't even know how to communicate with the other party, and even felt a little awkward.
This world had been running for who knows how long, yet it only found out today that there was a fellow kinsman in the world, one who might have been created by Arceus even earlier than itself.
But precisely because of this, it was even more confused—
They had never met in their entire lives, so why did this Black Rayquaza suddenly appear at this critical juncture?
The other party obviously didn't come for Mega Evolution, because it had quietly completed its Mega Evolution upon appearing, displaying its wildest power.
So, was it because of the human in front of it?
Rayquaza lowered its gaze, looking at Aiden, who was scrutinizing it with a subtle look.
At first, when it was stared at with this dragon-annoying gaze, it was very angry, even subconsciously wanting to give him a taste of his own medicine.
But now—
No wonder he dared to be so presumptuous in front of me, he has a trump card!
The roar of that Black Rayquaza just now was probably also a warning for me to behave and not attack the human in front of it.
After a moment of silence, a strange telepathic message suddenly came to Aiden's mind.
[Hello, strange human.]
[Why the sudden visit?]
Seeing that the other party seemed to have chickened out, Aiden suddenly felt like laughing.
The Draconid said this Hoenn Rayquaza had a fiery temper, but wasn't it quite well-behaved?
Since the other party had shown goodwill, Aiden was happy to communicate directly with it.
The martial arts world isn't just about fighting and killing; it's about worldly wisdom!
"Hello, God of the Sky, Rayquaza."
Aiden took a few steps forward, coming directly in front of Rayquaza and speaking amicably.
"I am the Trainer Aiden, commissioned by Arceus to come to the Hoenn region and help you resolve this meteor crisis."
Arceus?
Rayquaza froze again, subconsciously sensing the legendary aura on this human.
The Creator had indeed left a highly iconic mark on him, enough to prove that his identity as Arceus's Envoy was absolutely true.
But—
Why did he also have the auras of other Legendary Pokémon on him?
The Dragons of Ideals and Truth from Unova;
The three giant dragons of Sinnoh who controlled time, space, and antimatter;
The one next door who bestowed the fire of life, Ho-Oh;
The giant who moved the continents;
The three gods of Kalos representing the natural cycle, symbolizing life, death, and ecology respectively;
And many other existences whose names it didn't even know, but whose auras were extremely unique!
Of course, not forgetting the Black Rayquaza coiled in the sky, currently glaring at it like a hawk—
Rayquaza's eyes suddenly cleared up a lot.
It wasn't sure what this generation's Arceus Envoy had done to simultaneously earn the joint attention of so many deities.
But there was only one thing it could be certain of——
This guy was absolutely not someone it could afford to mess with!
In a sense, he was even more terrifying than Arceus Himself!
After Rayquaza's pupils shrank abruptly, it immediately nodded.
[It is an honor to fight alongside you.]
Since the other legendary existences had all done it, one more wouldn't make a difference.
After all, the other party was Arceus's Envoy; even if he temporarily commanded it, there was nothing to hesitate about.
If it didn't even give the Creator face, it would be given a hard time in the future!
Zinnia, who was hiding not far away, also heard Rayquaza's heartfelt thoughts, and her expression immediately became extremely complicated.
A human that even the Dragon Lord had to address with honorifics—
Could he be the incarnation of some Legendary Pokémon?
Although she had ten thousand doubts in her heart, Zinnia also knew very well that the current situation was absolutely not something an ordinary person like her could barge into.
All she could do was probably wait for this lord's conversation with the Dragon Lord to end, and then find an opportunity to slip away quietly—
Aiden nodded in satisfaction.
As expected, a smart person— a smart dragon really knows the drill, understanding his hint in just a few words.
No wonder the Hoenn duo of idiots were always getting beaten up, while Rayquaza was always the one doing the beating, and even earning the respect of humans in the end.
"Then we are allies."
Aiden reached out and proactively shook the two short claws that Rayquaza held in front of its body, then continued with satisfaction.
"In about half a month, a meteorite much larger than the one two thousand years ago will fall. At that time, your strength may be needed to go to space with us and shatter that meteorite, minimizing the impact on Hoenn as much as possible."
Rayquaza nodded.
This was its duty in the first place; Arceus left it in Hoenn precisely for this.
To be precise, it was supposed to shatter the energy contained within the cosmic meteorite, allowing it to arrive in this world in a gentler manner and continuously inject vitality into the leylines.
But going to space?
Thinking of this, Rayquaza suddenly hesitated again.
The Creator had indeed granted it the authority to rule the sky, but this power did not include the vast universe beyond the atmosphere.
That was the territory of other special existences.
So, generally, it would only act after the meteorite entered the atmosphere.
"Don't worry, it won't be too troublesome."
Aiden suddenly spoke, seemingly seeing through Rayquaza's inner thoughts.
"At most, a few cosmic viruses will appear, which should be right up your alley, right?"
"And that Black Rayquaza will also help; it will be the main force of this operation."
Hearing this, Rayquaza breathed a sigh of relief.
[I understand.]
It had to do the job anyway, which was equivalent to easily earning the favor of this Arceus Envoy.
This was definitely not a loss.
It was just that the other party seemed to have forgotten other more important matters.
After thinking for a moment, Rayquaza straightforwardly brought this matter to the table.
[Lord Envoy, have you forgotten about Kyogre and Groudon?]
[With the meteorite about to strike, they will surely sense this power and become active again, causing a massive disaster to the Hoenn region.]
[So, before resolving the meteorite, we must make them behave first.]
Aiden raised an eyebrow.
Good guy, how deep is this grudge?
It even specifically mentioned the Hoenn duo of idiots, afraid that he might forget them.
But what Rayquaza said was the truth.
He had also already figured out how to deal with those two.
"No rush, I will naturally handle them in a few days, but not right now."
Aiden explained with a smile.
Anyway, Team Magma and Team Aqua were about to be wiped out by the two Champions, so he could just go directly to where they were slumbering and have a "chat" with them.
As long as the Hoenn duo of idiots didn't meet up, there would be practically no impact on Hoenn's environment.
And if they were separated—
There happened to be two items that hadn't been taken out and used in a long time, almost gathering dust in the inventory.
Land's End? Origin Sea?
Let's try out these illegal items Arceus gave me!
After quickly reaching a consensus with Hoenn's Rayquaza, Aiden suddenly turned his head to look at Zinnia, who was trying her best to lower her presence, and walked over with a smile.
"Hello, you must be Zinnia, right?"
"Y-yes, it's me!"
After making eye contact with this existence that even the Dragon Lord had to address respectfully, Zinnia, who had previously been in despair and hoping for death, suddenly panicked.
"What are your orders, my Lord?"
"Don't be so formal, just call me Aiden."
Aiden scratched his head, seeming a bit confused by her reaction, but didn't pay it too much mind.
"Your grandmother asked me to come. She said the seven-colored meteorite passed down by the Draconid was brought by you to the Sky Pillar."
Zinnia immediately reacted, promptly offering the small meteorite with trembling hands.
What a strange reaction.
Why did it feel like he was bullying her—
He had clearly just saved her life!
It seemed that the scene of him summoning the Black Rayquaza and having a "friendly exchange" with Hoenn's Rayquaza had really scared Zinnia quite a bit. Aiden's expression became a bit subtle.
Explaining it would be too troublesome, and she didn't seem like the type who would listen to reason anyway, so forget it.
Holding the exquisite little seven-colored meteorite, Aiden took out a scroll from his pocket, unrolled it, and handed it in front of Rayquaza.
"Here, the Dragon Ascent scroll."
"But you should have learned this thousands of years ago, right?"
"Why did you still need the successor to bring the move scroll over—"
Aiden asked the question that had been puzzling him for a long time, while Rayquaza awkwardly scratched its body with its short claws.
[I didn't need it in the first place.]
[It's just to give each generation of successors a sense of participation.]
[And if their Dragon Pokémon have the talent, it's actually possible for them to learn this move.]
[Consider it a gift for the successors of future generations.]
It wasn't senile; a mere thousand years was just a blink of an eye.
So this Dragon Ascent move scroll was never meant for itself, but was a gift bestowed upon the brave who dared to face danger.
Aiden immediately understood its meaning, so he decisively put it back into his pocket.
"Since you put it that way, I'll accept it with peace of mind."
"There's one last thing."
After speaking, Aiden thought for a moment and explained as briefly as possible, "The successor of this generation passed away due to some reasons, so that Draconid forced her way into the Sky Pillar just now."
"You won't blame her, right?"
Rayquaza immediately shook its head repeatedly.
It never actually intended to kill that little girl in the first place; it was just a bit annoyed by her harassment—
Someone destined not to be a successor couldn't trigger its Mega Evolution no matter how much time was wasted.
Forcibly absorbing the energy from her body would most likely just drain her completely dry.
Besides, wasn't there a better choice right in front of it?
Rayquaza squinted, looking at Aiden standing before it with satisfaction.
Although he wasn't a successor, his body contained the life blessing from that female deer, and his life energy was explosively abundant.
In a sense, he was even more suitable as a temporary partner for its Mega Evolution than a successor with a special constitution.
So—
It secretly pondered, glancing at Aiden from time to time.
But right at this moment—
"Roar—!"
The Black Rayquaza in the sky, which hadn't taken any action since its appearance, suddenly let out a clear dragon's roar.
Then, it dived straight down at an incredibly exaggerated speed, so fast that only an afterimage could be seen.
In two or three breaths, it crossed a thousand meters and arrived at the top of the Sky Pillar, directly biting onto Hoenn Rayquaza's vulnerable back of the neck.
Hoenn Rayquaza subconsciously let out a howl of pain, but before it could react, it was immediately dragged forcefully up into the sky, disappearing into the dark clouds.
Aiden blinked, subconsciously covering his ears.
The speed of the Black Rayquaza's full burst was several times the speed of sound, and the soundwave generated by the air instantly vibrated painfully in his ears.
In just one exchange, he confirmed that his Black Rayquaza's strength was indeed far above Hoenn's Rayquaza.
It even carried it away like grabbing a little chick—
Aiden looked up at the sky.
Because it was obscured by dark clouds, he could barely see what was happening inside, but apart from the lightning and thunder, some purple aura seemed to spew out from time to time.
It looked like the Black Rayquaza couldn't stand seeing its kin needing human help to achieve Mega Evolution, so it took it up to put it through some training, right?
That made sense.
After quickly coming up with a perfect explanation, Aiden nodded and stopped caring.
Anyway, the time when Rayquaza was needed hadn't come yet, so he might as well let it teach the other party how to achieve Mega Evolution autonomously for the next few days.
Otherwise, if the Draconid were under too much pressure and stopped having children one day, what would happen if there were no successors in the future!
As expected of the Black Rayquaza, had it even thought of this step?
Just by looking at Aiden's expression, Mewtwo could roughly guess what he was thinking.
Speaking of which, had this guy really never thought about why the Black Rayquaza had always appeared by his side since a long time ago?
Even it felt that something was not quite right.
However, it didn't have the obligation to remind him.
After all, with the Black Rayquaza's current strength, it seemed to have already surpassed any deity other than Arceus—
According to the world order left by the Creator, the emergence of such a rule-breaking legendary existence should theoretically be impossible.
Yet, the Black Rayquaza was tacitly allowed.
As for the reason, even Aiden, who had always been silently watched by the Black Rayquaza, didn't know, so it was even more impossible for Mewtwo to know.
Therefore, it immediately decided not to overthink it.
At least that guy would always be our friend, and knowing just this was enough.
Perhaps this was the reason why Aiden had never thought any further?
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