Water and ice intersected in midair, canceling one another out and bursting into a cloud of glittering crystals and mist that briefly obscured everyone's view.
Out of that fog, Walking Wake's lithe form burst forth—its tail, sheathed in slicing water like a blade, was already whipping hard toward Glaceon!
"Aqua Tail!"
"Glaceon, Mirror Coat!"
Even at this critical moment, Cynthia's command stayed cool and precise.
A shining film flashed over Glaceon's body. Aqua Tail smashed into the light-veil and sent Glaceon flying—but at the same instant, an even stronger blast of frigid energy rebounded off the film and slammed squarely into Walking Wake!
"Skree!"
Wake hissed in pain; the reflected hit clearly wasn't light.
From the outset, the fight leapt straight into a boiling point.
Cynthia's five Pokémon clashed with the two Paradox ancients in the cramped arena—Lucario in close, Togekiss providing air support, Spiritomb inflicting status, Glaceon sniping from range, and Garchomp rejoining on the main front…
Under Cynthia's to-the-second command, her team showed the tactical polish and coordination worthy of a champion's squad.
Even so, they were being pushed back.
Raging Bolt and Walking Wake were simply too strong. They had almost no weaknesses—offense, defense, speed—all at the top. Worse, though this was their first time teaming up, their ancient predator instincts made their coordination eerily seamless.
Bolt's wide-area lightning kept pinning Cynthia's formation at just the wrong times, while Wake's ghosting water attacks punished every fleeting opening with surgical strikes.
Not even five minutes in, besides the powerhouse Garchomp still barely holding, the rest of the team was already marked up. Togekiss, paralyzed, had nearly been swatted out of the sky several times; Glaceon had eaten more than a few hits to keep Wake in check; and Lucario bore several scorch-slashed arcs from stray bolts.
They fought on grimly—but everyone could see it. The stand was growing more desperate. The line could snap at any moment.
Far off, the field was drowned in raging energies—lightning and water twisting, dragon breath colliding with frost. Cynthia's five, under her direction, kept shifting formation, throwing out every tactic they had to weather the two ancients' storm. But the scales continued to tip, mercilessly, toward Raging Bolt and Walking Wake.
Protected within Milotic's barrier, Jason watched, sick with worry. He could plainly see the gravity on Cynthia's face, usually so composed. Her calls remained precise, but her cadence quickened, betraying urgency. Sweat beaded her temple, glittering in the light of the clashing moves.
Even a champion was feeling the squeeze.
Jason knew they couldn't keep absorbing this. Cynthia's team was nearly at its limit. Garchomp's wounds mounted; Togekiss's flight wobbled under paralysis. One collapse, and the consequences would be dire.
He was hurt, yes—but not helpless. One more fighter meant one more sliver of hope.
"I can't just watch!"
He made up his mind. Seizing a gap, he sprang from Iono's warm palms; his purple jelly body bounced twice and then, without hesitation, bolted for the maelstrom.
He would stand with Cynthia.
"Jason!"
Iono yelped, snatching at air where he'd been. "Don't go!" she cried, panic high.
Nemona and Liko gaped as well. They'd seen the same thing he had—the raw might of Wake and Bolt. Those two together had pushed even Cynthia's five mainstays to the brink.
Jason saw the pressure on Cynthia; that was exactly why he had to go—if he could draw even a heartbeat of the enemies' attention, it might be enough.
On the field, Raging Bolt, in the middle of crushing Lucario, instantly noticed the small purple shape dashing its way. Red eyes flared with undisguised contempt.
"Fool."
Its bassy voice oozed scorn. "You think running up changes anything?"
To teach the gnats a lesson, it didn't bother with something fancy. It only tilted that long neck; thunderheads overhead answered at once.
"KRRAK!"
A bolt thicker than any before bloomed over Jason's head, bathing the earth in corpse-white glare. The air around it warped with heat and pressure, hissing.
Judgment fell toward the tiny lilac speck.
"Jason!"
Back in the safe zone, Liko felt her heart clutched by an invisible hand; her breath died in her throat. An attack that strained even Cynthia's titans—how could a wounded Jason possibly withstand it?
Her mind went blank. Her body moved first.
"Don't!"
She screamed, tore free of Nemona's grip, and sprinted headlong toward Jason—toward the descending bolt. At the last instant, she threw herself beside him, dropped to her knees, and wrapped him in both arms, holding him tight, tight—
She'd use her own small body to shield him from the lightning.
Jason froze, enveloped in her scent, feeling her tremble violently with terror, hearing her heart pound like a drum. Warmth flooded him.
Silly girl…
But he couldn't let her take Thunder. He gathered the last of his strength, ready to spring free and take the hit alone—
"Jason, don't!"
She sensed it somehow. The looming terror wrung her voice raw; tears finally burst free. She hugged him even tighter, as if he'd vanish if she let go.
And then—everything changed.
At Liko's throat, the plain hexagonal pendant she'd worn since childhood flared—brighter than the crystal canopy by orders of magnitude.
"Vmmm—"
A strange tone sang in every heart. The pendant slipped its chain and rose, hovering above the two. From that brilliance, a gemlike little turtle—its body seeming to be facets of multicolored crystal—drifted into view.
Terapagos (Normal Forme).
The godsend arrival left everyone stunned.
"Th-that's…?"
Liko, Nemona, and Iono stared, speechless. Iono's stream stuttered, the flood of power briefly clogging the feed. When the chat returned, it erupted like a volcano.
Wait did I see that right? The little turtle was Liko's pendant?
Didn't Liko not have a Pokémon? Since when did she hide this?
Looks cute but harmless—even if it showed up, it can't stop that Thunder! Better let Jason transform and eat the hit—
NO! Look in the corner—those two brutes! Wake and Bolt! Are they… afraid?!
Just so. The instant Terapagos appeared, the two lordly ancients' faces changed. The arrogance, disdain, brutality—all vanished. In their place: shock. Fear from the marrow.
"Skreee!"
Walking Wake shrieked, ignoring Garchomp's dragon-charged claw inches away, whipping around to spit a Hydro Pump—stronger than any yet—straight at Jason and Liko.
As if it had to erase that small figure before its power fully unfurled.
But the lightning fell first.
At the moment the bolt would have struck, the little turtle pulsed with a gentle yet unyielding light.
Hexagonal green-gleaming crystals sprang from nowhere, slotting together by some arcane logic into a vast, tortoise-shell-like barrier.
Vmmm—
The shield enclosed Terapagos and the two beneath it.
KRAK-BOOM!
The world-splitting bolt slammed the barrier—and Wake's full-force Hydro Pump hammered the other side.
"BOOM!"
Electricity and water collided on the same green lattice. The expected cataclysm never came. No shattering thunder, no world-flattening shockwave. The land-rending bolt and steel-piercing beam hit, and, like stones dropped in a lake, were drawn in and swallowed whole.
The shield's surface only rippled—a soft, waterlike ring spreading from each impact—then smoothed as if nothing had happened. The barrier stayed whole, not even hairline-cracked, glowing tender and steadfast, bathing those within in peaceful green light.
The battlefield fell silent. Wind died; dust settled; even the roars and ragged breaths of battle vanished.
Out where Cynthia's Pokémon still fought, Raging Bolt and Walking Wake froze. Their hulking bodies were caught mid-strike—but their faces had shifted from savagery and scorn to blank incomprehension and fear.
They stared at the tiny turtle and its insurmountable shield, red eyes wide with dread.
~~~
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