"Grooah?"
When sent flying by the pink light burst from Miraidon, Koraidon's entire dragon brain was confused.
This power, something's wrong!
This guy, he's completely different from when we fought last time!
Precisely because it had easily defeated this purple, somewhat familiar-looking little creature before, it had looked down on this waste from the bottom of its heart—one who didn't dare to face it head-on.
In its cognition, only absolutely powerful physical strength was the mark of a true powerhouse, not relying on that laughable lightning power to wear down opponents.
The opponent's full-power electric current couldn't even break through its defense, and even Dragon-type pulse attacks were merely "a bit painful"—completely insignificant to Koraidon, who was accustomed to melee combat.
Meanwhile, it only needed a casual tail whip or a claw swipe with its forelimbs, and Miraidon couldn't withstand it at all.
In their previous battle, this was how Miraidon had been easily defeated.
But now, after who knows how long—
It was actually sent flying by that waste in one blast???
Compared to the minor physical damage, the soul-deep humiliation made Koraidon even more broken.
You! How dare you!
"ROOOAR—"
Its body slammed against the interior wall of the Time Machine. Koraidon rolled and flipped to minimize damage while landing steadily.
Although the anger in its heart had reached its peak, Koraidon instead calmed down rapidly because of this.
The scales that had been spreading freely across its chest also unknowingly contracted back beneath its skin surface, showing that it had indeed regained some rationality.
For ancient species that fought almost entirely on instinct, the best way to control their offensive desires was to feel the pressure brought by their opponent.
And Miraidon had indeed accomplished this.
At this moment, it had to admit that Miraidon was indeed an opponent now on equal footing with itself, one that must be taken seriously.
Seeing Koraidon walk step by step back to the Time Machine with a wary expression, the Arven AI showed no reaction, seemingly leaving the battle entirely to Koraidon's own judgment.
However, although Koraidon had indeed been sent flying by Miraidon, this didn't mean Miraidon was completely unharmed.
"Graaah—"
Only after confirming it had gained a slight upper hand in the frontal confrontation and hadn't been intimidated by Koraidon did Miraidon breathe a sigh of relief, then immediately sucked in a cold breath.
Hiss—, it hurts!
That guy was still the same as before. One claw strike couldn't even be withstood by its metallic body, directly leaving several gashes.
But being able to see its disheveled appearance made the injuries worth it!
Miraidon raised its head proudly, an unprecedented sense of confidence gradually occupying the high ground of its intelligence.
Before today, due to fleeing in a sorry state from their last confrontation having become a nightmare, it couldn't imagine what defeating Koraidon would look like, and would subconsciously falter during battle.
But just now, after confirming that its attacks were also effective against Koraidon, it had finally managed to face its inner demon head-on and successfully dispelled it!
That's right, Koraidon was also just flesh and blood, nothing more!
"Graaah!"
Miraidon, now brimming with confidence, turned its head and looked at Aiden with expectant eyes.
As if saying:
Let's keep pushing, partner!
Feeling its fiery gaze, Aiden laughed inwardly but maintained a calm facade on the surface. After brief consideration, he decisively spoke: "Miraidon, use Dazzling Gleam again!"
"Graaah!"
Finally receiving Aiden's command, Miraidon's body immediately began crackling, the Hadron Engine protruding from its chest starting to operate at full speed, converting all accumulated electric power into other energy for launching.
That's right, it didn't need to think so much. It just needed to follow Aiden's commands.
Aiden would definitely lead it to victory.
The feeling of having a trainer at its back—truly wonderful!
Miraidon quickly condensed several orbs of pink energy again, which transformed into multiple beams of intense light scattering toward Koraidon's direction the moment they burst forth.
But this time, Koraidon had long been prepared.
Previously, it had just been careless, thinking that even if hit by Miraidon it would be no big deal—it could tank the attacks and directly crush its opponent's psychological state.
That was true dragon heart destruction.
But since this tactic clearly wouldn't work, Koraidon wasn't stupid and naturally wouldn't continue charging over to get hit like before.
"ROOOAR!"
Koraidon's forelimb center tire-like protrusion suddenly pulsed violently, bringing it a terrifying energy source that allowed it to dodge Miraidon's attacks at an extreme speed.
Was this—Agility?
Aiden raised an eyebrow.
Indeed, only Koraidon had used Taunt on their Miraidon earlier, so it could still use status moves normally.
Was it finally getting serious, boosting its speed while evading attacks?
Then, let's use this move first.
Estimating the approximate timing in his mind, waiting until Koraidon dodged the attack and began changing direction to charge at Miraidon, Aiden decisively spoke: "Miraidon, first use Light Screen to block its offensive."
Koraidon's speed had risen. Even if the Taunt duration had ended and Miraidon could use Agility now, it would still need some startup time and might be attacked during the opportunity.
Since that was the case, he might as well completely hand the initiative over to the opponent.
Let's fight a positional battle!
"ROOOAR!!!"
Before Koraidon's 200 km/h full-speed charge arrived, Miraidon had already prepared in advance, deploying a transparent barrier that could eliminate part of the impact force, ready to tank the opponent's attack.
Clang! When the two sides were within close range, Koraidon finally revealed its silver-white claws, letting out sharp friction sounds in the air, directly using the Dragon Claw move to attack Miraidon.
Miraidon made a timely judgment, making a small jump to evade the attack as much as possible.
Although its speed couldn't keep up with Koraidon, with Light Screen and its extremely fast reaction speed, the opponent's attack only hit its lower leg, not causing much damage.
"Graaah—?!"
Before Miraidon could cry out in pain, it saw that Koraidon had actually braked on the spot and changed direction, immediately charging toward it again.
"Miraidon, use Protect this time!"
Aiden's command was simple, just one concept.
Delay, just hard delay!
The reason was actually quite simple.
Because Koraidon's speed had suddenly increased, it was normal for Miraidon's attention to temporarily fail to keep up, so it needed some time to adapt.
And Koraidon didn't seem that patient either. As long as they slowly wore down its limited focus, when the opponent found that attacks were difficult to damage Miraidon, it would quickly become impatient itself.
That would be the best opportunity for counterattack.
So, you must hold on, Miraidon!
"—Raaah!"
Although Aiden's inner thoughts weren't spoken aloud, when it felt the fiery gaze from behind, Miraidon already understood Aiden's thoughts.
At the same time, it was filled with determination because of his gaze.
Just a mere Koraidon!
The current me is unbeatable!
There was no longer any fear in Miraidon's eyes. Facing the menacing Koraidon, it was already fully prepared with defenses.
And facing the finally awakened Miraidon, Koraidon was soon surprised to discover that in the following rounds of offense, despite temporarily boosting its speed with Agility, it not only failed to gain advantages but instead suffered more injuries?
When Protect was used, Miraidon's watertight defense easily blocked its Dragon Claw.
Even when it tried to use feints to trick Miraidon, the limited actions it could perform at full speed were very restricted, completely unable to deceive.
And during the gaps between Protects, the Miraidon that originally very much avoided confrontation and feared injury—
Now not only dared to counterattack it, but even started resorting to unscrupulous means?!
What tail whips, claw swipes—when it used Brick Break to shatter Light Screen, Miraidon even started biting with its teeth!
Which of us is the ancient species here!
After several exchanges, although Miraidon's body gained a few more scratch marks, its gaze grew increasingly resolute, even entering a completely selfless battle state due to the pain rapidly escalating.
Meanwhile, Koraidon—gained two bite marks and several scratch marks on its forelimbs, even its face was scratched, with blood slowly flowing down its face.
No, absolutely cannot continue fighting like this—
"ROOOAR!!!"
Realizing that if it couldn't end this quickly it would likely lose, Koraidon finally became anxious.
Its eyes immediately turned scarlet red, and all the fur surrounding the scales on its chest instantly exploded, completely exposing the scale beneath its neck blood vessels.
And after rapidly entering its berserk state, Koraidon could no longer suppress the rage in its heart, directly charging toward Miraidon without regard for anything, completely abandoning defense to focus entirely on offense.
Clearly, it was going for a decisive blow this time.
Aiden's eyes narrowed, his originally calm expression immediately revealing a triumphant smile.
"It's finally here, been waiting for you!"
After consecutive uses of Outrage, Koraidon whose reason had been consumed by anger clearly found it difficult to forcibly control itself again. Once the move was executed, there would be no turning back.
And this was exactly the counterattack opportunity Aiden had been waiting for!
"Miraidon, now!"
"Use the power of Terastallization, defeat it with all your might!"
Aiden pointed his hand toward the ground, and the originally calm shadow at his feet suddenly began to ripple.
Soon, two black arms extended from within, hands delivering a similarly pitch-black orb to Aiden.
As is well known, the shadow realm can store many things.
And Aiden happened to have a little fellow who, through communication with Giratina the Renegade Pokémon, had obtained shadow realm "administrator" permissions.
Not only could Flutter Mane be safely tucked inside to sleep peacefully, but it could also store some other things, such as Tera Shards filled into Tera Orbs that temporarily clad Pokémon in Tera armor.
Of course, it wasn't assembled on the spot. Aiden only needed to use "team voice chat" with Marshadow to give advance notice and prepare Tera Orbs of the corresponding attribute.
And when facing Koraidon, Aiden's choice was naturally—
Tera Fairy!
Tera Orb, it's your time to shine!
"Catch it, Miraidon~"
"Graaah!!!"
Aiden didn't hesitate at all, directly throwing the Tera Orb he had just received.
And Miraidon was already fully prepared, having made preparations to block Koraidon's attack while making a counterattack, while patiently waiting for the Tera Orb's burst.
When it saw the Terasterallization occur, Koraidon instinctively felt something was wrong and subconsciously wanted to brake.
However—one downside of excessive speed was the inability to stop in time.
Even if it braked forcibly now, it would still arrive at a place extremely close to Miraidon, being hit by the opponent's attack, with nowhere to avoid.
So at this point it had no retreat. The only thing it could do was push through that subtle sense of fear and rush over, crushing the opponent in one breath.
"ROOOAR!!!"
"Graaah!"
When Koraidon charged to the front, the pink Tera armor formed from the exploding Tera Orb had already draped over Miraidon's body.
The two Paradise Guardian Dragons simultaneously spread their claws, launching their most primitive and brutal attacks toward each other.
Clang——!
Claws clashed.
Miraidon was inherently inferior in strength, so although it was fired up and instinctively made a counterattack, it still couldn't immediately explode, and was soon suppressed by Koraidon, being struck by one claw on the Hadron Engine at its chest.
However, even being directly hit at its weak point, Miraidon showed no panic whatsoever, instead confidently continuing forward.
Meanwhile, Koraidon clearly felt something was wrong with the clash. When it discovered that Miraidon hadn't suffered any damage at all, only a shallow mark from the claw, its momentum dropped significantly.
Miraidon's confidence naturally came from—
Knowledge imparted by Aiden!
Stunned, right? After Terastallization, I'm not afraid of Dragon-type anymore—instead, I'm the strongest Dragon killer!
In Aiden's words, this is called the knowledge gap!
Before meeting Aiden, the battles I experienced were practically primitive fighting!
"Graaah~"
Miraidon smiled contemptuously, the smile very much in Aiden's style.
Then, under Koraidon's incomparably humiliated gaze—its eyes already scarlet to the point where even Aiden felt they might open at any moment—Miraidon slowly activated the Hadron Engine at its chest.
After a powerful electric current buzzing sound echoed throughout the field, the energy produced under full operation quickly passed through the Tera armor, forming dazzling pink light.
"Graaah!!!"
Miraidon gathered its power, and when using Dazzling Gleam again, it condensed unprecedented full power, as if wanting to wash away all the embarrassment it had suffered in the past.
Farewell, my nemesis—
And farewell, the cowardly me!
This time, I win!
Boom——!
Beams of intense light flashed, quickly illuminating the entire Time Machine interior, turning the surroundings into a white world.
Continuous explosions rose one after another, but under the intense light, it was impossible to see what was happening at all.
Only Koraidon's occasional wailing temporarily overpowered the roar, proving that the battle had not yet ended.
Fortunately, Aiden was prepared this time. The moment Miraidon opened its mouth, he immediately covered his eyes and lowered his head to minimize the impact of another round of "flashbang" assault.
The relentless bombardment continued for about three minutes.
Until Miraidon seemed to have exhausted all its stamina, bursting out with all its remaining energy, did the light illuminating the Time Machine interior finally dissipate.
The initially arrogant Koraidon had long since lost all strength and means at some unknown point, lying on the ground with a pained expression, tongue out and eyes spinning.
It looked like it wouldn't be getting up this time—
Seeing its body covered in scorch marks and its condition extremely miserable, even Aiden couldn't help but shake his head secretly.
Miraidon really went all out!
Fortunately, during the Victory Road it hadn't fully awakened yet—otherwise, making it hold back might have been somewhat difficult.
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