"Giratina… reacted that fast?"
Lucas's expression turned slightly strange as he watched Giratina in its Origin Forme bite down on Palkia, dragging it toward the Reverse World with terrifying force.
No matter how he looked at it, the scene just seemed… off.
Wasn't Palkia the Dragon of Space, one of the primordial beings of creation itself? Yet now—why did it look so much like a delicate maiden being bullied by a thug?
What surprised Lucas even more was that Giratina had appeared so quickly this time, coming straight after Palkia and Dialga.
"It does make sense, though," Lucas murmured thoughtfully. "I shattered the spatial barrier Palkia had set up."
In the movie, Alamos Town had been completely sealed off by Palkia's spatial shield, existing within a separate dimension.
It was Darkrai who found the slumbering, wounded Palkia and accidentally woke it up. And it was right then that Dialga appeared.
So, throughout that whole story, Alamos Town remained trapped within that alternate dimension.
And while Giratina could freely travel between the normal world and the Reverse World, it could not enter another isolated dimension.
That meant that even though it had discovered its Reverse World was being distorted by the clash of time and space, Giratina had been unable to reach the other two deities to take revenge at that time.
But now…
Because Lucas had shattered Palkia's spatial prison and returned Eterna Town to the real world, Giratina had immediately followed the auras of Palkia and Dialga right to them.
This was the fury of the hermit dragon—Giratina's wrath unleashed!
"ROOAAAR!!"
At that moment, Palkia had finished charging its Spacial Rend. Its claws twisted midair and slashed fiercely behind it.
The two were too close. Even at that range, the attack would certainly strike both of them.
But Palkia no longer cared. If it was dragged into the Reverse World, who knew what Giratina would do to it?
BOOM!
The crimson-violet blade of dimensional energy struck Giratina point-blank. A violent explosion erupted, and Giratina released Palkia with a pained roar.
The force of the blast hurled both dragons apart.
Enduring the searing pain, Palkia quickly regained balance and floated back, keeping a wary distance from Giratina.
Giratina's massive body slowly emerged from the dark rift between worlds, its eerie eyes glowing coldly as a suffocating aura began to fill the air.
That attack just now—it had hurt. And now, Giratina was even more determined not to let Palkia escape.
Giratina had two forms: the Altered Forme, which was more defensive, and the Origin Forme, which focused on offense.
Right now, its serpentine, centipede-like shape showed it was in its Origin Forme—slightly weaker in defense but far more ferocious in attack.
"It seems like Palkia's attitude toward Giratina is… quite complicated," Lucas observed, raising a brow as he watched the tension between the two legendary beings build.
Space, time, and antimatter—these three concepts formed the trinity of Sinnoh's creation gods.
Strictly speaking, there was no real difference in power among them. Yet in the first movie, Palkia had been gravely wounded by Dialga and hunted down relentlessly.
In the second, it was Dialga who was dragged into the Reverse World by Giratina and beaten until it fled in disgrace.
Maybe Giratina had the home-field advantage in its own world, or maybe Dialga knew it was in the wrong and didn't want to fight back too hard.
Then, in the third movie, Dialga was once again caught and pummeled by Giratina in the real world—only for Ash and company to intervene and stop it.
Looking at it as a whole, Giratina clearly came out on top among the three. And Palkia… well, it was almost always the weakest one.
In the Hoopa movie, it couldn't even control the collapsing dimensions properly—so yes, the Space Dragon being a little "watered down" wasn't too surprising.
Of course, to be fair, every legendary Pokémon had its share of embarrassing moments. Giratina itself once had the shameful record of having its Shadow Ball reflected by Jessie's Wobbuffet…
But even so, from a pure performance standpoint, there was little doubt—Giratina was the strongest among the Sinnoh trio.
"I'll need to be careful with this Giratina in the future," Lucas mused, his gaze sharpening. "That one really holds grudges."
After all, it had spent countless years isolated in the Reverse World—its temper was anything but good.
When its home realm was affected by the time-space war, Giratina had chased Dialga across two entire movies!
That's how vengeful it was!
And what's worse, Dialga usually resided in a separate dimension. Yet the moment it appeared in the real world, Giratina could instantly track it down…
What did that mean?
It meant that Giratina wasn't just vengeful—it was patient! The ultimate ambusher!
Always lurking, always waiting in the tall grass—truly the bush camper Emperor of Shadows!
Good grief, this kind of sneaky, grudge-holding legend… once you provoke it, you're doomed to endless trouble.
A low, guttural growl echoed. Giratina's body began to hover, its form flickering before it slowly turned translucent—and then vanished entirely into a dark ripple of space.
Giratina's signature move—Shadow Force!
An eerie Ghost-type attack that allowed the user to slip into the shadows, hidden from all sight, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
"ROAR!!"
Palkia instantly went on full alert—it knew all too well what Giratina's power could do.
"Breaking Swipe!" Lucas ordered calmly, glancing at Palkia before turning his attention back toward another battlefield—Mega Rayquaza versus Dialga.
Mega Rayquaza dodged Dialga's Roar of Time, its tail glowing with azure light as it swung forward, a fierce gust tearing through the air as it slammed into Dialga.
Dialga refused to back down, meeting it head-on with Dragon Claw.
The two attacks collided violently—but Mega Rayquaza's overwhelming strength soon began to suppress Dialga's strike.
Purely in terms of raw power, Mega Evolution had clearly given Rayquaza the upper hand.
"Dragon Ascent!" Lucas shouted without hesitation.
At his command, Mega Rayquaza surged upward, shaking off Dialga's attack. Its long, serpentine body twisted elegantly as countless emerald lights shimmered along its scales.
"ROAR!!"
Realizing what was coming, Dialga roared, gathering a mass of blue-violet energy in its jaws—Roar of Time!
Just moments ago, that same attack had pierced straight through Palkia; Dialga wasn't about to underestimate it this time.
The green aura along Rayquaza's body grew denser, blazing with brilliance as it hurled itself forward like a spear, directly toward Dialga.
The two attacks collided midair—Dragon Ascent vs. Roar of Time!
BOOM!
The explosion shook heaven and earth!
Shockwaves and energy ripples spread out in all directions, creating a hurricane that blasted everything nearby.
Even Giratina, who had just pinned Palkia down using Shadow Force, immediately sensed the disturbance.
A shimmering green barrier flared around it for protection before its body disappeared once again into the shadows.
The combined radiance of green and violet-blue light nearly swallowed the entire sky.
"ROOOAAAR!!"
Mega Rayquaza's defiant roar tore through the heavens as the light of Dragon Ascent flared brighter and brighter—it was pouring every ounce of strength into overpowering Dialga's Roar of Time.
"Th-That's terrifying…"
Sheena, who had been hiding behind Grimmsnarl and Blastoise, could barely open her eyes against the dazzling brilliance. Even from such a distant hillside, the sheer pressure of their battle could still be felt—it was overwhelming.
BOOM!
Finally, Dialga's Roar of Time collapsed, its unstable energy detonating violently.
A shockwave of light and smoke burst outward—but before the dust could even settle, a streak of emerald light shot through it like lightning, slamming directly into Dialga's chest.
In that instant, pain exploded through Dialga's body. Its eyes widened in disbelief as it plummeted helplessly, crashing into the ground below with a thunderous quake.
The earth itself trembled.
"ROAR!!"
Having brought down Dialga once again—and this time through sheer domination—Mega Rayquaza let out a triumphant cry.
I am invincible!
The overwhelming Dragon aura spread across the sky as the magnificent, majestic Mega Rayquaza hovered high above, looking down upon its fallen foe like a sovereign dragon god.
"Your power has truly undergone a transformation," Lucas said with satisfaction. "You've lived up to every bit of the effort I put into you."
He smiled, completely pleased.
At last, his Rayquaza had reached the pinnacle—it could now freely Mega Evolve, and it had learned Dragon Ascent, one of the most powerful moves in existence.
This wasn't just an improvement; it was a monumental breakthrough.
Dragon Ascent was the signature technique of the Rayquaza species—fast, powerful, and devastating beyond measure. It combined piercing speed and crushing impact into a single, unrivaled strike—one of the strongest attacks ever conceived.
"Finally," Lucas murmured with pride, "I have a truly top-tier legend under my command."
Up until now, even with Eternatus, Reshiram, and the shiny Genesect, he hadn't felt truly confident against the most powerful legends.
Eternatus had yet to regain its peak condition, and apart from its ultimate attack, Dynamax Cannon, it could only barely contend with other top-tier Pokémon.
But Mega Rayquaza—this was different. It was a genuine apex legend, with strength that defied imagination.
"Dialga's down," Lucas said coolly, glancing at the defeated dragon. "So then…"
His gaze sharpened. "Earthquake."
If you didn't strike while the iron was hot, you weren't Lucas.
Even without his command, Mega Rayquaza had already learned that lesson. The moment Dialga hit the ground, Rayquaza's tail glowed as it smashed into the earth.
The ground split apart under the impact, the tremor rippling outward. Dialga, still struggling to rise, let out a cry of pain.
The Earthquake's shockwave was merciless.
Elsewhere, Palkia—already battered and thrown down again by another of Giratina's Shadow Force strikes—was also caught in the quake's aftermath.
Giratina, ever cunning, followed up with a Shadow Ball that streaked straight toward Palkia's head.
BOOM!
The explosion echoed across the battlefield.
(End of Chapter)