Chapter 645: One Battle Brings Fame, Shooting Down a Legend! (Seeking Monthly Votes)

Amidst a city strewn with towering buildings, a figure as agile as fire sprinted on all fours, majestic and imposing.

That was the Pokémon known as Feng Su Gou, partner to Miss Miss Junsha, the city of Lavaridge's highest security officer.

At this moment, Feng Su Gou was carrying Miss Miss Junsha, exerting its utmost strength to chase the two figures ahead.

Two Pokémon capable of making even Feng Su Gou struggle in pursuit were naturally no ordinary creatures.

Leading the way was Rayquaza, its long, dragon-like green body weaving freely between buildings, rolling up thunderous sounds of breaking air.

Biting tightly onto its tail was a muscular, aqua-blue figure.

Relying on terrifying explosive power, every step the opponent took caused patches of ground to depress and crack; coupled with the technique of using its body structure to push itself forward with air, Mega Swampert managed to stay firmly behind the Hoenn Rayquaza.

But the corresponding cost was inevitable.

Mega Swampert pursued ultimate explosive power, which meant it was far less agile than the Hoenn Rayquaza; to keep up, it could only smash through windows, walls, and other objects of the skyscrapers in its path, just to match the other's flight speed.

Miss Miss Junsha understood this, and knew it was infinitely better than letting Rayquaza wreak havoc freely across the city.

She said nothing, simply holding a temporarily detached communicator linked to a megaphone, following behind Mega Swampert to ensure commands from the Trainer reached its ears instantly.

The Hoenn Rayquaza flew swiftly; within moments, the ecological park and laboratory shimmering with auroras above were already within sight.

Seeing this, the Hoenn Rayquaza increased its speed again without hesitation, while simultaneously beginning to accumulate energy in its mouth.

This time, it would destroy everything there, so the invaders could never regenerate!

"Screech!"

A high-pitched cry suddenly rang out; atop the ecological park, a divine bird engulfed in fierce orange-yellow flames appeared out of thin air, spewing overwhelming flames from its mouth to block the Hoenn Rayquaza's vision and seal off its path forward.

Since Luo Mu had ordered it to hold this ground at all costs, even against Rayquaza, Moltres would not retreat an inch!

At the same time, cries from various Pokémon rose up from the ecological park below.

There were Politoed, Alolan Ninetales, and Milotic, jointly firing beams of extreme cold.

There were also Ash, Brock, May, and Aaron, these boys and girls sending out all their Pokémon to unleash attacks with every ounce of their strength.

Under such overwhelming assaults, even the Hoenn Rayquaza, which relied not on smooth positioning like the Shiny Rayquaza but on its thick hide to fight, would not allow itself to remain exposed to so many attacks.

But letting it leave was absolutely impossible.

Enduring successive bombardments, the Hoenn Rayquaza halted its forward charge, instead soaring upward to attack from a different angle.

But precisely this gap gave Mega Swampert the chance to catch up.

With its attention fixed on the frontal attraction and feeling somewhat anxious, the Hoenn Rayquaza paid no heed to whether danger lurked in the sky.

After all, in the Hoenn Rayquaza's perception, the sky was its domain.

No one dared to show off before it.

—Yet this time, Luo Mu, controlling remotely, exploited the Hoenn Rayquaza's habitual thinking to find an opening.

Using the roof of a nearly hundred-meter-tall building as a springboard, Mega Swampert leaped high, its clenched fists dragging misty frost through the sky, descending like a massive hammer from heaven!

By the time the Hoenn Rayquaza noticed the attack coming from above, it was too late; the freezing fists, imbued with terrifying force from gravitational acceleration and air compression acceleration, had already slammed violently into its torso!

"Roar—!"

Accompanying the Hoenn Rayquaza's uncontrollable cry of pain, violent tremors propagated far before finally subsiding.

In an instant, the Hoenn Rayquaza was smashed into the depressed ground, creating a huge crater resembling one left by a meteor impact.

Due to the leaking cold air, the entire surface of the crater froze over with a thick layer of frost, while whitish cold mist drifted outward.

Jolted by the violent tremors into sitting squarely on the ground, Ash stared blankly at the scene; his ability to speak completely lost to shock, he could only repeatedly mutter to himself, "So amazing."

The others fared no better than him, all wearing expressions of shock.

Even Sheng, whom his father often bragged about, could not, against his conscience, claim that his father Norman's ace, Slaking, could pound Rayquaza into the ground through brute force alone.

This single strike brought down a legend!

In a space obscured by smoke and ice mist, unseen by Ash and the others.

The Hoenn Rayquaza rested in the large crater for quite a while before finally straightening its body again.

How long had it been since it was so disheveled?

This sensation; even when struck by that idiot who can only walk on land's Cliff Edge Sword, the Hoenn Rayquaza had not felt such discomfort.

Four-times weakness, gravitational acceleration, air-bladder acceleration... even a legendary Pokémon with such thick skin as the Hoenn Rayquaza found it hard to endure, nearly flipping its eyes back and losing consciousness.

Fortunately, it ultimately pulled through.

Shaking off the ice shards from its body, the Hoenn Rayquaza looked mockingly at the nearby Mega Swampert, whose condition was not much better than its own.

It only needed to wait a little longer to regain most of its mobility, but what about Mega Swampert?

Its action, akin to jumping off a building, had likewise imposed a tremendous burden on its body.

If not for itself cushioning the fall below, Mega Swampert would likely have been unable to maintain its Mega Evolved state.

"—Crayfish."

Panting heavily, Mega Swampert calmly pushed itself up, paying no mind to the Hoenn Rayquaza's mockery.

Its nature was very reserved; rather than expressing Ji De Xiang Fa excitedly through emotions, it preferred to act or fight silently.

Just like moments ago, when it leaped from the high-rise without hesitation and smashed the Hoenn Rayquaza into the ground with all its might.

Mega Swampert believed that since Luo Mu had issued this command, it meant he had already considered what would follow.

—Regardless of whether its combat ability recovered faster than the Hoenn Rayquaza's, there were backup plans ready to deal with it.

In a field crackling with electric sparks, Luxray, cloaked in Lei Ting, summoned storm clouds to rain down dense lightning, encircling and intercepting the Shiny Rayquaza.

The Shiny Rayquaza's elongated dragon body moved like a fish in water, weaving through the overwhelming lightning without being touched in the slightest.

Even though a mysterious wave immediately dispersed the storm clouds, standing upon the Electric Terrain and having completed Terastallization, Luxray, possessing nearly inexhaustible electricity, cared not at all.

What further spurred Luxray on was that, at this moment, its vision could now keep pace with the Shiny Rayquaza's flight speed; every sway of the latter's body left a clearly visible trail in Luxray's eyes.

Its eyes were now exceptionally bright; just as Luo Mu had once encouraged it, the unremitting efforts of the past half-year had finally borne fruit today.

Luxray began attempting to intentionally control the trajectory of the falling lightning, intercepting in advance the positions where the Shiny Rayquaza might move.

This is the so-called "prediction."

How could a seasoned Shiny Rayquaza fail to realize what Luxray was attempting?

Yet it scoffed at the notion, believing Luxray lacked the reflexes to keep up with its speed.

The Shiny Rayquaza possessed its own pride; its arrogance would not allow it to show even a shred of weakness in its area of expertise.

Thus, it immediately abandoned the idea of using "Extreme Speed" to accelerate in a straight line and escape the sea of lightning, then twisting its body to use "Dragon Tail" to secure the foundation of victory.

As if competing directly with Luxray, it darted through the gaps between lightning bolts even more rapidly.

From time to time, it spat a burst of instant "Hyper Beam" at Luxray as a provocation.

Whether it hit or missed meant nothing to the Shiny Rayquaza; it did not lack that amount of energy.

It wanted more to use this method to declare itself a being stronger and more formidable than Luxray.

—Even while I am dodging, I still have the leisure to turn and attack you.

The gap between us is obvious to all, and so on.

Luo Mu was not idle either; when he had previously communicated with Crowned King, he had roughly understood the Shiny Rayquaza's personality.

Precisely because of this, he easily saw through the Shiny Rayquaza's current thoughts.

Luo Mu could understand the opponent's arrogance; if it were him, he would likely be even more arrogant than the Shiny Rayquaza.

But this did not stop Luo Mu from exploiting the Shiny Rayquaza's arrogance to carve out a path to victory for Luxray.

"Position... very well maintained near the Battle Tower."

"Environment... after the barrier vanished, the security Block Robots that shut down and restarted have already gathered."

"—And Luxray, its condition is absolutely perfect right now."

Gazing at Luxray's figure bathed in Lei Ting, a trace of gratification flashed in Luo Mu's eyes.

Compared to the past of rising step by step, that was indeed a very long Low Point Phase.

First, unable to Mega Evolve, combined with extremely unfavorable type matchups, it had its position as the team's number one stolen by Mega Swampert for a very long time.

Immediately after, it encountered the suddenly arrived Shiny Rayquaza, having no way to deal with the opponent, while it itself was covered in wounds and utterly exhausted.

Fortunately, before meeting him, Luxray, who was once a Purrloin, had already forged an unyielding heart through solitary life and carried it through to the end.

He and Luxray had once encountered countless difficulties and countless Gaoshan that were hard to climb.

But ultimately, they were all overcome and surpassed by them.

Luo Mu thought that this time would be no exception.

Because of Luxray's efforts over the past year, he had watched them all carefully.

Sparring with companions, under Crowned King's ice-cold snow spears and its eerie yet dominant starlight, Luxray stood up time and time again.

Everything of the past forged the result of the present.

The speed of the lightning falling grew faster and faster, and the predicted positions became increasingly precise.

At this moment, Luxray was constantly improving, turning the efforts of the past year into nourishment to push itself toward a stronger realm, completing its own "evolution"!

At some point, the Shiny Rayquaza realized that its movements to dodge the lightning were becoming increasingly difficult, and even quite a few lightning bolts had already struck its body.

Although the devastating lightning blew some scales slightly askew, injuries of this degree were still within the Shiny Rayquaza's expectations.

—What truly made it most unable to accept was that no matter how it dodged, relying on buildings, stone blocks, or even the lifeless Block Robots to mask its movement trajectory.

It clearly perceived a pair of bright golden beast eyes, like the sun overhead, piercing through all barriers and firmly locking onto its position.

Even if it wanted to, it could end this meaningless chase and evasion battle at any time.

But the Shiny Rayquaza's proud psyche could not accept a result equivalent to admitting defeat.

"Roar—!" (What a joke—!)

Emitting a roar that sounded somewhat aggrieved, the Shiny Rayquaza was almost burning with rage.

Then, it saw the green Block Robots gathering beneath the corridor bridge near the Battle Tower, blocking its path forward.

Towards these lifeless things, the Shiny Rayquaza was always merciless; firing a "Hyper Beam" to blast open a channel wide enough for itself to pass, it flicked its tail and shot through.

And Luxray, which had been firmly following behind it, silently stopped its steps and also ceased releasing Thunderbolt.

—Because the objective had been achieved.

In a corner the Shiny Rayquaza did not care about, the face of a green Block Robot blown over on the ground repeatedly replayed the image of the Shiny Rayquaza sweeping past.

The mechanically synthesized, emotionless voice echoed continuously.

【Danger!】

【Danger!】

【Begin elimination!】

In the blink of an eye, the Block Robots in the entire Lumiose City that had not responded completed their restart, and like a tide, surged toward the Battle Tower from all directions.

But they did not lose control; instead, they hovered quietly, waiting for instructions from the main control side, that is, from Professor Sycamore.

Before setting out, Luo Mu had already informed Professor Sycamore to simply keep the Block Robots on standby.

Therefore, after flying a circle around the Battle Tower and not waiting for Luxray to continue its attack, the Shiny Rayquaza, brimming with anger, returned with great momentum.

The Shiny Rayquaza saw it.

Luxray standing atop countless calmly hovering green blocks, and the figure of Luo Mu behind it.

The Electric Terrain beneath their feet became the best "relay," connecting the dense mass of Block Robots that could almost cover the entire Battle Tower.

"Absorb the electricity to your heart's content!"

While issuing the command, Luo Mu raised his wrist; on the Z-Ring that had been prepared long ago, an Electric-type Z-Crystal embedded there sparkled brilliantly.

Accompanying Luo Mu's finger lightly touching the Z-Crystal, brilliant light burst forth.

A strong sense of crisis surged into the Shiny Rayquaza's heart; reason urged it to evade, but with its mind already consumed by rage, it now only wanted to crush Luo Mu and Luxray with its own power.

Its pride roared, commanding it to advance!

Looking up, it erupted with a "Meteor Swarm" that seemed capable of destroying everything; simultaneously, the Shiny Rayquaza roared, rising in a serpentine motion, then immediately straightened its body horizontally, carrying surging energy as it transformed into a cyan streak charging toward Luxray.

Its speeding form resembled an intercontinental missile flying at supersonic speeds; merely the agitated airflow was sufficient to tear apart all sturdy steel.

"Dragon Ascent!"

At this, Luo Mu recited the move's name without changing his expression.

"Gigavolt Havoc!"

At this moment, Luxray, frantically drawing all the electricity stored in the countless cube-shaped robots surrounding it, had already transformed into a dazzling ball of plasma.

The intense light of the Z-Move poured into its crystal-like body; encountering no obstruction whatsoever, the two instead complemented each other, fully unleashing the terrifying electrical power stored within Luxray.

"Roaaar—!"

Raising its head to emit a hoarse yet domineering roar, Luxray stepped forward, using the sky-full of "Meteor Swarm" as a backdrop, and charged at the Shiny Rayquaza!

As the two sides collided with a thunderous crash.

In that instant.

Surging energy poured out, and an earth-shattering explosion swept outward.

Boom!!!

The shockwave mercilessly shattered all fragile glass; the collision zone between the two sides was enveloped by an energy dissipation area shaped like a hemisphere overturned on the ground, and with the addition of the "Meteor Swarm" falling from the sky, it once again triggered a mushroom cloud soaring into the heavens.

If Bagogo had not stepped forward bravely, amidst such a massive disturbance, Luo Mu, who was closest, would likely have been the first to die.

Even in the city on the other side of the sea separating it from Larus City, one could vaguely glimpse this earth-shattering explosion within Larus City.

Much time passed before the aftermath of the explosion finally subsided.

The ruins of the collapsed Battle Tower were filled with the smell of gunpowder and smoke.

Holding Bagogo, Luo Mu crossed countless pieces of rubble and walked to the summit.

Then, he saw it with his own eyes.

The majestic back of Luxray, covered in wounds from head to toe, yet standing with its head held high.

—And the Shiny Rayquaza, more than half of its body buried beneath the rubble, staring with a pair of dragon eyes overflowing with disbelief, yet unable to move temporarily no matter how much strength it exerted.

The Shiny Rayquaza, which once arrogantly looked down upon all living beings from the sky, could now only raise its head to look up at Luxray.

At this moment, the status of the two sides was completely reversed.

The arrogant Sky Dragon had fallen here.

(End of Chapter)