Want to read ahead. You know where
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High above the skies of Hoenn.
"Rooaaarrr!!!"
Rayquaza roar alone carried a weight that pressed down on every living creature below.
The skies darkened, clouds breaking apart under the sheer force of his presence.
Rayquaza's role had always been clear, defend the Pokémon world from threats beyond the stars.
And now, one of those threats stood before him.
Deoxys.
The alien lifeform hovered silently above the city, its crystal-like core glowing with strange, pulsing light.
It could not understand Rayquaza's fury, but it felt the hostility crashing against it like a storm.
The two locked eyes, tension sparking between them.
This was Rayquaza's domain, the endless sky.
To intrude here, to spread wings before the Lord of the Skies himself, was nothing less than blasphemy.
Rayquaza's massive body twisted, a hundred meters of draconic power surging with rage.
He opened his maw, releasing a brilliant beam of golden energy straight toward Deoxys.
The attack shook the heavens, a strike so powerful even Groudon and Kyogre, gods of land and sea, would hesitate before it.
"Too strong!"
Sam, watching from below, clenched his fists.
Even with his own powerups, he could barely keep track of the battle.
Rayquaza's Hyper Beam carved across the sky, blindingly fast, but Deoxys reacted at the last instant.
Its body shifted, normal form collapsing and reforming into a sleek, streamlined shape.
Speed Forme.
In an instant, it darted aside, vanishing into a blur.
"Fast… too fast!"
Sam muttered, his eyes straining to follow.
He couldn't even track it properly, only sensing its position by the faint ripple of its aura.
In the games, Deoxys's Speed Forme had unmatched speed, this was no exaggeration.
The golden beam missed its target, detonating in the distance.
BOOM!!!
The explosion lit up the horizon, a mushroom of smoke and fire rising.
If that attack had landed on the ground, half of Slateport City would have been reduced to rubble.
The shockwave alone shattered windows and rattled buildings, sending people screaming into the streets.
But Deoxys wasn't retreating.
Its thin, blade-like arms glowed with psychic energy, and a sharp beam of light shot toward Rayquaza.
Caught off guard, the green serpent took the hit head-on.
Smoke exploded around his massive body, covering the skies.
For a brief moment, Slateport held its breath.
The smoke cleared.
Rayquaza's scales gleamed, unmarred.
The attack had done nothing.
If anything, it only enraged him further.
"ROOOOAAAAR!!!"
The sound was so powerful that all glass across the city shattered instantly.
Doors burst open, waves crashing violently against the shore as if the sea itself trembled at his wrath.
Deoxys's eyes flickered.
It wasn't foolish.
The gap in power was clear, this wasn't a battle it could win.
Using its unmatched speed, it flickered across the sky, moving faster than lightning itself.
Rayquaza lashed his massive body through the air, each swing whipping up hurricane winds.
The oppressive force of his draconic aura made it almost impossible to breathe.
Deoxys wavered. Its instincts screamed at it to flee.
But then, it froze.
Through the haze of battle, Deoxys felt something strange.
Another presence.
A human, watching.
No… not just a human.
A man whose aura similar to his enemy.
Its crystalline core pulsed in recognition.
Sam.
Deoxys's crystalline core pulsed, its slender arms glowing once more as psychic energy gathered.
A sphere of super-powered light formed, humming with destructive force.
Then, without hesitation, it fired.
The beam wasn't aimed at Rayquaza this time.
It was aimed directly at Sam.
"Gah!" Sam's eyes widened.
"Deoxys, that's low! You don't target the trainer!"
He cursed under his breath, heart pounding.
He had sensed the alien's focus just a moment before the attack, but it was already too late to dodge.
"Draco, Protect!"
"Rooaaarrr!!!"
Dragonite appeared with wings beating furiously against the stormy winds.
In an instant, the dragon swelled with energy, forcing it outward into a shimmering emerald shield.
The psychic beam slammed against the Protect barrier.
For a moment, the air quaked with pressure, light spilling everywhere.
Dragonite gritted his teeth, roaring in defiance, but the impact blasted him backward, skidding more than ten meters before finally catching himself.
Sam exhaled, relief flooding him.
"Nice work, big guy. I owe you one."
Above, another roar shook the heavens.
Rayquaza had noticed.
The alien dared to strike at his chosen inheritor?
Fury rippled through his endless coils, draconic energy spilling off him in waves that bent the very air.
The sky seemed to collapse inward as the emerald dragon surged down toward Sam.
"Hoouuuuuhhhh!!!"
His voice wasn't a roar this time, it was a signal.
Sam understood instantly.
He placed a hand on Dragonite's scaled shoulder.
"Thank you for protecting me, Draco. Take a rest, you've done more than enough."
With that, he returned Dragonite to his Poké Ball, then looked up at the green titan lowering himself in front of him.
Rayquaza lowered his body, his massive head bowing ever so slightly.
A silent invitation.
Sam didn't hesitate.
With a running start, he leapt and clambered onto the dragon's back, gripping one of Rayquaza's hard, glowing scales.
The instant his hand connected, the power inside him surged to life.
The three divine powers slumbering in his body responded.
Like a floodgate breaking open, they poured into Rayquaza.
The Sky High Pokémon shuddered, a deafening roar tearing from his throat as his power multiplied.
The air itself trembled beneath his rage.
Deoxys faltered. For all its alien intellect, even it knew when to retreat.
Its body flickered into Speed Forme again, darting away from Slateport at incredible velocity.
Running.
Rayquaza's emerald eyes blazed.
"Rooooaaaaarrr!!!"
He launched forward, tearing through the clouds in pursuit, dragging Sam with him as if the two were one.
Back in Slateport, the aftermath of the clash was chaos.
Windows shattered, streets cracked, and terrified citizens fled through the smoke.
Cynthia stood firm in the center of it all, her golden hair whipping in the wind.
Around her, Pokémon gathered, Lucario, Milotic, Garchomp, Roserade, and Togekiss, all standing at attention.
"Lucario, Milotic, help with evacuations! Garchomp, hold the collapsing structures! Togekiss, Roserade, guide civilians out of danger!"
Cynthia's voice was calm but commanding, every word sharp and decisive.
Sam had trusted her, and she wouldn't let him down.
Before leaving, he had told his team to follow her orders as if they were his own.
"Sam…"
Cynthia's gaze flickered upward, catching a glimpse of the emerald streak vanishing into the clouds.
Her chest tightened for just a moment.
"Please, be careful."
But there was no time to linger.
She turned back, leading the charge in rescuing the citizens of Slateport.
Far beyond the city, away from the chaos, a lone figure stood atop a cliff.
Zinnia, heir of the ancient Meteor Clan, watched silently as Rayquaza and Sam soared into the horizon.
The wind carried her voice, quiet and reverent.
"The fate strings of Lord Rayquaza have begun to winding," she whispered, eyes glinting.
"And with it… the fate of the world."