Steven understood Rayquaza well.
Battling alongside a Legendary Pokémon always placed a heavy burden on a trainer's body.
Fighting beside a Legendary Pokémon as powerful as Rayquaza took far more out of a person than fighting with an ordinary Pokémon ever could.
The bond between a human and a Pokémon was a delicate thing.
Still, the fact that they could fight together at all meant Rayquaza had truly accepted Steven's request.
Steven's feet landed on top of Rayquaza's head. "Unleash your power, Rayquaza. Don't hold back!" he said firmly.
"Roar!" Rayquaza let out a cry, and a green aura began to burn around its body.
"Return, Metagross." Steven called Metagross back into its Poké Ball, wanting to give his full attention to Hoopa Unbound.
"Go, Steven!" Little Hoopa cheered from Steven's shoulder, waving its tiny fists in excitement.
Steven held onto Rayquaza's horns with both hands, and a faint green light began to glow around them.
A warm current ran through Rayquaza's body, and the corner of its mouth curved upward.
"Let's go, Rayquaza!"
"Roar!"
Rayquaza charged forward with tremendous force!
The green aura surged outward, and the wind it created was strong enough to knock down the taller buildings nearby, one after another!
"Oh!" Latias and Latios glanced at each other, then flew after Rayquaza at full speed.
"Hoopa is... the strongest!" Hoopa Unbound watched the huge green dragon approach and began forming a dark purple Energy Ball between its hands.
Hoo—
It fired off a Dark Pulse at once!
Rayquaza's eyes narrowed, and its body suddenly began to change shape.
An overwhelming wave of power crashed straight into the incoming Dark Pulse.
Boom!
The Dark Pulse shattered in an instant, like fireworks bursting and fading away.
Inside the black smoke, long golden ribbons twisted and danced.
Mega Rayquaza slammed into Hoopa Unbound's chest, sending it flying hundreds of meters and carving a straight scar of destruction through the ruined city.
Compared to Lugia's power, Mega Rayquaza's strength was even greater, and even more terrifying.
Latias and Latios both flew through the black smoke, and a soft green light shone over them.
In an instant, both of them completed their Mega Evolution!
Looking up at the six golden rings in the sky, the two blue-purple dragons shot forward, aiming straight for them.
Bang!
Blue energy waves and pink crescent-shaped blasts poured out from the rings, breaking apart their Dragon Pulse.
"This feeling..." Steven muttered, frowning as he watched the attacks pour out from the halo.
What he had feared would happen, was now happening.
Now that he was actually facing it, his earlier worries almost felt like a joke.
"No need to worry," Rayquaza's proud voice echoed in Steven's mind.
"If their true forms had come, I might have shown a little more caution."
"But like this? Even if that ugly creature calls out every old relic it knows, it won't matter to me."
Even so, Steven didn't feel quite as calm.
Even facing their true forms, Rayquaza probably would have called it nothing more than a bit of a bother.
Controlling time and space was simply not impressive to a Pokémon like Rayquaza.
"Their true forms?" Steven asked, startled, as he watched the first two giant dragons fly out from the rings above Desert City.
Dialga glowed blue, its eyes flashing with an eerie red light.
But its body looked translucent, not solid at all.
Palkia looked the same way.
Had Hoopa Unbound only managed to summon "shadows" of Dialga and Palkia?
Steven studied the Dialga in front of him. The feeling was exactly the same as the Dialga he had once met on Mt. Coronet.
He could still feel their pressure bearing down on him, but standing on Rayquaza's head, slowly becoming "one" with it, that pressure now felt almost too weak to notice.
(Thinking it over, since these three were Arceus's subordinates and controlled such great powers, Steven figured he should still show them some respect.)
After Dialga and Palkia appeared, the next shape to pass through the ring was little more than a black shadow.
Steven recognized it right away just from its outline.
Giratina, ruler of the Distortion World, once banished from this world by Arceus!
But while Dialga and Palkia at least looked like ghostly copies, Giratina was even less than that.
It had only a shape, without any real form.
The last three Legendary Pokémon then appeared.
There was Kyurem, one of the three Tao trio, known among the people of Unova as the strongest dragon.
(Much like calling someone a "Sea God" out of respect, the title was more of an honor than a fact.)
And there were the two forces of land and sea, Groudon and Kyogre.
But at this moment, strange golden markings glowed across both Groudon and Kyogre, and their appearances looked slightly different from usual.
"Looks like your two 'old friends' decided to show up too," Steven said with a soft laugh.
Maybe because he was slowly blending with Rayquaza's mind, Steven found himself feeling strangely calm.
"Just two unimportant nobodies," Rayquaza said with scorn.
If there were one word to describe the black Rayquaza, it would be this:
Arrogant.
Endlessly arrogant.
But it truly had earned the right to be.
"Then let's beat them all and show everyone who the real strongest dragon is!"
"Hmph," Rayquaza scoffed.
"If I had been born a few hundred years earlier, do you think it would ever have gotten the chance to call itself strongest?"
(Rayquaza clearly saw itself as above its own kind.)
"This so-called strength means nothing. I have no need to prove myself to lesser beings."
"My very existence already makes a mockery of anyone who dares call themselves the strongest!"
Rayquaza let out a roar toward the sky.
Steven understood exactly what that roar meant.
It was Rayquaza mocking the six Legendary Pokémon below, showing its contempt for every one of them.
If translated plainly, it basically meant six "worthless nobodies."
At once, all six Legendary Pokémon turned their eyes upward toward the black dragon in the sky.
Rayquaza's roar had instantly drawn their fury!
"Hold on tight, human."
The moment those words echoed through Steven's mind, Rayquaza shot forward with explosive speed!
In the pitch-black night, only faint golden streaks of light could be seen trailing behind it.
Boom!
Rayquaza used Extreme Speed, appearing instantly in the middle of the six Legendary Pokémon.
When it came to a stop, the powerful gust of wind it created leveled the buildings still standing nearby.
"Roar!"
Rayquaza roared again, and six massive boulders burst up from the ground, striking all six Legendary Pokémon before they could even react.
Bang—
All six were sent flying instantly by the force of the attack.
Rayquaza's gaze sharpened, locking onto Hoopa Unbound in the distance.
In a flash, it closed the gap and slammed straight into Hoopa Unbound.
Hoopa Unbound raised all six of its arms, trying desperately to block the attack.
But it was no use.
Boom!
Hoopa Unbound crashed violently into the ground, sending out a powerful shockwave.
The city, already reduced to ruins, was left even more devastated than before.
But Rayquaza wasn't finished with a simple collision.
It swung its tail down hard, striking Hoopa Unbound directly on the head.
Bang—
The ground beneath Hoopa Unbound split apart instantly.
Hoopa Unbound looked dazed from the beating it had just taken.
How could anything possibly be this strong?
Rayquaza rose slowly into the air, opened its jaws, and let out a sharp dragon's roar.
A Dragon Pulse struck Hoopa Unbound directly.
Then it roared once more.
Its kingly presence was on full display for everyone to see.
Steven gripped Rayquaza's horns tightly, feeling the full force of its dragon roar up close.
He grinned, showing an expression he had never worn before.
It was an arrogant, prideful, almost dangerous smile.
The longer he stayed connected to Rayquaza, the more Steven's own attitude began to shift to match it.
Rayquaza had been born the strongest, and it had never once been defeated.
Just as it had said.
It didn't need to prove to anyone whether it truly was the strongest being in the world.
Its very existence was proof enough.