Chapter 633: Submit, or Die
BGM: FAIRY TAIL Main Theme – Yasuharu Takanashi
The outer perimeter of the Rocky Mountain range.
The fierce sun hung high in the sky.
At the summit of a mountain piled high with countless massive boulders, a giant crater gaped like a scar left by a meteorite impact. The perimeter of this hollow was completely encircled by towering, precipitous brown rock faces, resembling a natural gladiatorial arena. Aside from Flying-type Pokémon, almost nothing could breach this stone barrier.
And precisely because of this, the Aerodactyl residing here never worried about being ambushed. Could someone actually smash through their natural stone barricades just to pick a fight with them?
There was nothing to do today. The sunlight was blistering, and waves of heat rolled over the peaks. The Aerodactyl planned to get some good rest at home to conserve their energy, waiting until the evening cooled down before heading out to brawl.
Yet right at this moment.
The eyes of the Alpha Aerodactyl, who had just lain down, snapped wide open. He remained flat against the ground, meticulously feeling the heavy tremors pulsing through the earth beneath his claws.
It wasn't an illusion. The rocky peak beneath them was vibrating. The tremors were muffled, deep, and heavily rhythmic.
"Ahoo?"
What is going on?!
The Alpha Aerodactyl bolted to his feet, whipping his head around to survey his surroundings. Something was drawing close. Finally, he locked his gaze onto the towering rock face directly ahead. That stone wall stood over fifty meters high, carving a nearly ninety-degree angle against the mountain; he refused to believe any landlocked creature could scale it.
Suddenly.
Boom!
The entire summit shuddered violently. Countless loose stones tumbled down from the upper ridge of the rock face. The Aerodactyl sheltered within the crater were all jolted awake by the impact, looking around in utter bewilderment, assuming a catastrophic earthquake had struck.
Boom!
Another muffled, thunderous crash resonated. At the baseline of the massive rock face, deep networks of fractures aggressively spider-webbed outward, scattering a thick sheet of stone dust.
The Alpha Aerodactyl's eyes widened dramatically. He threw back his head and let out a raucous, desperate bellow:
"Ahoo!!"
Every single Aerodactyl panicked, hurriedly turning their heads to stare in the exact direction their leader was watching. At that precise second—
Boom!
The sky split and the earth shattered.
A final, earth-shaking crash reverberated through the crater. The fortress-like rock face that had stood resolute for decades was violently smashed open, exposing a colossal breach.
Amidst the swirling vortex of dust and debris, giant dragons commanding brilliant, blue, rock-hard craniums charged into the territory, their heavy strides making the mountain roll and tremble.
"Ahoo!"
The Alpha Aerodactyl shrieked in absolute fury, flapping his wings to rally his clansmen to launch an offensive. The remaining Aerodactyl unleashed a succession of piercing screeches, whipping up violent gales. Their razor-sharp talons gleaming with a chilling light, they shot forward like countless arrows loosed from a bow, executing a high-speed dive straight toward the invaders!
The Rampardos didn't flinch, pushing their heavy legs forward to charge into the oncoming vanguard. Right at the split second before the two armies collided, a succession of roaring motorcycle engines erupted from the backs of the Rampardos.
Rumble—!
The Cyclizars, who had been flattened against the Rampardos' backs, catapulted high into the airspace ahead. Their agile silhouettes resembled moving phantoms, carving deep-green aerodynamic streaks through the sky. In the blink of an eye, they tackled right onto the bodies of the diving Aerodactyl.
Unleashing a coordinated Dragon Claw from mid-air, the Aerodactyl instantly lost their equilibrium, being ruthlessly pinned flat onto the soil below.
The Aerodactyl positioned slightly further back scrambled forward to rescue their grounded companions. But the Rampardos never intended to halt their momentum.
Bang!
Their heavy headbutts carried the raw power to shatter mountains. Without a single shred of underhanded trickery, the second wave of Aerodactyl was ruthlessly smashed aside, tumbling over a dozen times across the dirt before stopping, carving out shallow trenches along the earth.
Seizing the tactical momentum, the Rampardos ploughed ahead, continuing their charge toward the struggling Aerodactyl. A few Aerodactyl veered in from the flanks, desperately attempting to halt their advance. But the Rampardos didn't even grant them a passing glance.
Clang! Clang!
A symphony of clashing metallic scales resonated through the air.
Deploying at the absolute rear of the formation to anchor the cleanup, the Kommo-o line entered the fray with rapid, rhythmic, and synchronized strides. They lunged at the Aerodactyl like predatory mantises, their razor-sharp, chilling scales scraping viciously against the Aerodactyls' frames, forcing them to let out agonizing shrieks of pain.
In close-quarters combat, exceptionally few Pokémon could ever match their proficiency. Within less than two minutes, the Aerodactyl succumbed completely, collapsing beneath the claws of the Kommo-o line.
On the other side of the field, the Rampardos had securely pinned the Aerodactyls' wings beneath their heavy feet, their razor teeth resting directly against their throats to neutralize them.
There were two or three Aerodactyl whose psychological grit was noticeably weaker. They intended to capitalize on the absolute chaos to secure a clean escape. They didn't dare to take flight into the high sky, as that would draw the immediate attention of their Alpha, transforming them into the first targets to be executed for desertion. Thus, they resolved to scurry out through the breach blasted open by the Rampardos.
Yet, before they could even breach the threshold of the opening, two massive green vines whipped in from outside, striking them with bone-crushing force to hurl them violently back into the crater.
A magnificent Florges wreathed in sinister, dark blossoms stepped through the dust, leaning calmly against the perimeter of the breach. She stood entirely alone, yet not a single Aerodactyl harbored the illusion that they could slip past her.
Her cold, indifferent gaze caused the hearts of every Aerodactyl who met her eyes to shudder violently, completely snuffing out any lingering fantasy of escape. This plant was saturated with profound danger.
At this exact moment, within the confines of this colossal crater, the number of Aerodactyl still standing on their feet was sparse—limited exclusively to the Alpha Aerodactyl and two companions who commanded the Elite Four tier. They surveyed the absolute devastation unfolding before them, thick webs of crimson veins filling their eyes, their emotional state thoroughly ruined.
Massive shadows suddenly blanketed the earth. The three remaining Aerodactyl lifted their eyes toward the sky, the blistering sun making it immensely difficult to hold their focus. But squinting through the glare, they could clearly discern the shapes.
Three colossal, imposing Charizards stood imperiously atop the upper ridge of the rock face, looking down to lock their eyes with them. Their gazes were serene, yet packed with an absolute, unyielding pressure.
Furthermore, a flock of Altaria dropped onto the surrounding stone walls, lazily preening their soft, cotton-like plumage. Their tactical assignment today was remarkably straightforward: until this battle officially concluded, across the entire airspace blanketing this crater, flight was strictly forbidden. Not a single Aerodactyl would be permitted to escape this crucible.
"To think he's actually unlocked Mega Evolution. This can be counted as an unexpected harvest," Kazuya rumbled, crossing his massive arms over his chest as his lips curled into a sharp arc while staring down at the Alpha leader.
This Alpha Aerodactyl was a Mega Aerodactyl. The razor-sharp rocks encrusting his physical frame were universally heralded to command a hardness superior to diamond.
"Ahoo!!"
The Mega Aerodactyl unleashed a ferocious roar aimed straight at Kazuya. He had no inkling of what the opponent was calculating, but these arrogant invaders would be forced to pay for this transgression in blood today! Escape? The biological dictionary of the Aerodactyl lineage held very few concepts, and the word retreat was absolutely not among them.
The three standing Aerodactyl beat their wings violently to rocket into the sky, their velocity so lightning-fast that they nearly mimicked falling meteors.
Kazuya mobilized alongside his younger brother and sister-in-law, plunging downward to meet them head-on without a single shred of hesitation. The battlefield automatically partitioned itself; both factions deliberately left the grandest stage completely open for their respective leaders.
The Mega Aerodactyl opened his assault by transforming his entire physical frame into a blinding pillar of white light, charging straight at Kazuya in a flawless trajectory.
The ultimate Normal-type physical technique: Giga Impact. For a Mega Aerodactyl whose raw physical Attack and Speed parameters were maxed out to the absolute limit, the destructive yield carried by this move was unimaginably cataclysmic.
Under normal parameters, Kazuya would have chosen to evade this strike. The Alpha Aerodactyl's baseline level wasn't much lower than his own, sitting firmly around Lv. 73; absorbing this cataclysmic impact head-on carried zero tactical benefits. Furthermore, Mega Aerodactyl's speed potential was terrifying—ranking fifth across more than a thousand species of Pokémon.
Fortunately, a Charizard's speed wasn't slow either. Saturated under the multiplier of Extreme Speed, he could flawlessly evade this Giga Impact.
But today, he refused to dodge. The Aerodactyl lineage was a single-minded, hyper-feral species. Their entire psychological framework strictly adhered to the absolute law of the jungle: the weak must submit to the strong. To successfully subjugate this pack of unbridled aerial sovereigns, he had to cleanly crush their pride in a frontal clash!
Whoosh!
Kazuya flattened his wings, driving a claw downward with immense force.
Extreme Speed Earthquake.
Boom—!
A terrifying shockwave of destructive energy exploded outward in a massive ring, the surrounding atmosphere letting out a succession of agonizing, overloaded crackles. A colossal counter-force surged straight up through his claw. Kazuya felt his entire frame go momentarily numb, his momentum involuntarily sliding back several meters through the air.
Yet, in the very next second, he beat his wings once more to launch another furious sprint.
Meanwhile, the Mega Aerodactyl had sustained a devastating hit from the Ground-type technique, and further burdened under the heavy, post-execution immobilization of Giga Impact, his frame was tumbling uncontrollably toward the earth below. Staring up at Kazuya charging straight down from the heavens, he strained his massive jaws open, a dense, brown-black light materializing deep within his throat.
In a heartbeat, a succession of razor-sharp stone pillars erupted, rocketing toward Kazuya's trajectory.
The move that dealt devastating, super-effective damage against a Charizard: Stone Edge!
"Roar!"
A majestic draconian bellow reverberated through the sky.
A pale-purple wave of energy blanketed the atmosphere like a shifting veil of smoke. The trajectory of the endless stone pillars was instantly disrupted and warped by the pulsing Dragon Pulse, as if plunging into a dense mire, completely losing both their precision and kinetic force to dissolve into ordinary loose stones that tumbled harmlessly toward the ground.
In the blink of an eye, Kazuya's right claw—shimmering with the brilliant, golden radiance of a rotating aura sphere—slammed heavily onto the crown of the Aerodactyl's skull.
Thunder Punch.
Like a heavy artillery shell, the Mega Aerodactyl was ruthlessly smashed straight into the absolute center of the crater floor. Another massive trench was excavated. The garrisoned Dragon Clan members below hurriedly scrambled out of the trajectory, while the remaining Aerodactyl clawed and scrambled frantically to flee toward the periphery.
The other two airfields of combat involuntarily paused to look toward the center. The entire venue focused onto the central nexus.
As the thick clouds of dust slowly settled within the excavated trench...
Snap!
One of the craggy stone horns encrusting the Mega Aerodactyl's skull was cleanly snapped in two. The agonizing pain nearly caused his consciousness to black out entirely. Just as he attempted to lift his head to locate the silhouette of the Charizard, a colossal fire dragon descended out of the sky, a heavy foot stomping down with brutal force to pin his face firmly against the dirt.
"Submit."
"Or die."
The deep, rumbles echoed directly next to the Mega Aerodactyl's ears.
The entire arena descended into a dead, absolute stillness. Whether they were Dragon Clan members or the defeated Aerodactyl, every single soul was waiting for his response. His answer would definitively write the final script for this war today.
The Mega Aerodactyl struggled briefly, only to find his physical frame completely, mathematically immobilized. He rolled his eyes back to look behind him, locking directly onto a pair of golden draconian irises that burned with a faint, ghostly blue light.
At that precise second, a wave of uncontrollable shuddering completely paralyzed the Mega Aerodactyl's entire frame, cold sweat pouring continuously from his hide. He swallowed hard, his lower jaw twitching slightly as he tried to open his beak.
Yet, he simply couldn't bring himself to vocalize a single syllable.
However, the Mega Aerodactyl's ten-meter-plus physical build steadily began to shrink at this exact moment, ultimately reverting to his baseline form of a meager seven or eight meters.
This was the ultimate, absolute answer. This war was officially over.
Kazuya withdrew his heavy claw, dragging the defeated Aerodactyl out from the crater. The Alpha Aerodactyl kept his head lowered submissively, standing quietly behind Kazuya's silhouette.
His eyes pulsing with the brilliant light of his Aura, Kazuya scanned the wider arena:
"Welcome our new partners into the family."
"Roar——!!"
The collective roar of the Dragon Clan members completely shattered the heavens. The rolling torrent of sound waves surged past the cloud deck, scattering the mist as it reverberated across every single quadrant of the Rocky Mountain range!
The Aerodactyl looked at one another, the last vestiges of hesitation and hostility permanently dissolving from their eyes at this exact moment, and they threw back their heads to join the chorus of roars.
The sound traveled further still. And in the future, the voice of the Dragon Clan would cross even greater horizons.
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