Damian felt like he was seriously looking out for the world too much.
Legendary Pokémon had all kinds of weird personalities.
There were ones that chased pure heart.
There were ones that chased natural energy.
And there were also ones that chased dreams actually becoming real, and so on.
But if you had to say which Legendary Pokémon belonged to an evil, chaotic faction—
who would it be?
Seriously.
Not many.
If you had to name them, there were only three.
Necrozma after it was sealed, its light gone.
Eternatus, with its energy running out.
And the awakened Yveltal!
If it came down to it, it was only these three.
Necrozma was like this because, back then, Ultra Megalopolis took away its light—
and since it was sealed for so long, its personality became extremely extreme, brutally violent.
You could tell from the Pokédex description, too.
As for Eternatus—
it was because of its innate traits.
Eternatus was a Pokémon that couldn't be without energy.
Energy was its life.
So no matter what, it had to have energy.
That was also why thousands of years ago, Eternatus sparked the "Darkest Day."
At the time, it wanted to absorb all the energy of the entire Galar Region to refill itself.
It almost destroyed the entire Galar Region.
If it weren't for Zacian and Zamazenta—
the Galar Region would've long since become history.
But for Eternatus, that was just instinct.
A basic instinct to maintain its own lifeform.
Of course, Eternatus itself probably didn't care whether the Galar Region lived or died.
But in the end…
whether it was Necrozma or Eternatus—
they were all "evil for a reason."
But Yveltal was different.
"Giving" and "taking."
Those were the words Lysandre used to describe the essence of Xerneas and Yveltal.
In the Pokédex, Yveltal itself was classified as a destruction Pokémon.
And what its existence meant—what it represented—was death and destruction.
Just like how Zekrom chased dreams.
Reshiram chased the truth.
Because that's what they existed for.
For Yveltal, the essence of its existence was exactly that.
Wings of Death.
It stole the lives of all Pokémon.
In Yveltal's eyes, that was simply natural.
It wouldn't feel guilty at all.
It wouldn't think that taking other life energy without restraint was wrong.
Because it was "destruction" itself.
If it didn't destroy things, what was it supposed to do?
Pick up old ladies and help them cross the street?
You couldn't even really say Yveltal was "wrong" for doing that.
Because Yveltal existed for "destruction" and "taking."
Without that, it wouldn't have meaning.
After all, Yveltal's personality was brutality and evil.
And it also enjoyed the feeling of stealing other Pokémon's life energy.
So…
Damian decided to help it break free from that "instinct"!
"Mewtwo."
Damian called to Shadow Mewtwo.
Shadow Mewtwo's light flashed.
In the blink of an eye, it entered its y form.
Mega Shadow mewtwo y battle y-god Yveltal.
Isn't that interesting?
Mega Shadow mewtwo y slowly rose into the air.
Its eyes, filled with deep purple psychic light, looked vicious and terrifying.
That massive, heavy pressure made Yveltal feel even more grim.
It could clearly sense it.
Even though the guy opposite had a smaller body size—
the pressure it gave it was more than ten times stronger!
"If I can help it…"
"I wouldn't really want to deal with you using brute force, Yveltal."
Damian's mouth lifted.
He looked at the Yveltal floating in the sky.
Yveltal: "...?"
"But based on your personality…"
"explaining things to you probably won't work anyway."
"So I guess I'll have to use a rougher method."
"And if I want you to be fully convinced…"
"showing off some muscle is necessary, too."
Yveltal: "???"
"Next, it'll hurt a bit."
"Please endure it."
"And I'll get a good look at your strength, too."
Yveltal: "???"
"Kreee—!"
Yveltal let out an annoyed, shrill cry.
Its ominous, evil blood-red energy kept condensing.
This human.
Saying all sorts of nonsense like it could easily pin it down?
I'm Yveltal!
The black-and-red evil bird folded its wings.
Death energy in red condensed.
Wings of Death!
A huge blood-red beam tore through the air.
It smashed heavily toward Damian and Caitlin on the ground.
That's right.
Yveltal's attack goals weren't Shadow Mewtwo at all.
They were Damian.
"Not playing fair, huh?"
Damian chuckled lightly.
He wasn't surprised at all.
"Dark Nova."
Mega Shadow mewtwo y appeared in front of Damian instantly.
Its right arm rose high.
Purple-black energy kept gathering.
It formed a massive sphere of energy.
A Dark-type Dark Nova!
Boom!
Dark Nova and Wings of Death collided hard.
A violent gust of force surged wildly.
Purple-black and blood-red energies dyed the sky and earth.
But what Yveltal hadn't expected was this—
Once the two ultimate moves collided, it didn't take long for Wings of Death to be shattered and broken through directly by Dark Nova.
Dark Nova's momentum didn't stop.
It rushed straight toward Yveltal and slammed into it with full force.
Boom!
Like a brand-new supernova exploding, a deafening roar echoed across the whole world.
Purple-black energy surged, swallowing the entire sky whole.
And Yveltal, hit by Dark Nova's energy again and again—
let out a painful shrill cry.
Even though Yveltal had resistance against Dark Nova as a Dark-type—
it was still too painful.
Boom!
Another huge explosion rang out.
The energy tide of Dark Nova gradually passed.
Yveltal's body, battered and battered, managed not to fall.
But that was all it managed.
You could clearly feel it was barely holding balance.
"Shadow Mewtwo…"
"it got even stronger."
Caitlin's eyes shimmered faintly.
She watched Mega Shadow mewtwo y's small body.
She could feel it.
Without question, Mega Shadow mewtwo y's strength had gotten stronger again.
"Of course."
Damian's smile deepened.
Shadow Mewtwo was the first high-tier legend he ever got.
And he'd watched it "grow up" with his own eyes.
Damian cared an awful lot about Shadow Mewtwo.
Besides…
for Damian personally, Shadow Mewtwo was also one of the most usable Pokémon.
And its potential was strong enough, too.
So after he ran experiments with the Dread Plate—
once he confirmed it wouldn't affect Dark-type Pokémon's minds—
Damian had Shadow Mewtwo hold the Dread Plate.
Of course.
Because he was worried that Shadow Lugia's case might repeat its mistake—
Damian was also on guard.
He made sure Shadow Mewtwo didn't greedily devour too much of the Dread Plate's energy.
It absorbed it slowly, as long as safety was maintained.
Its mind absolutely couldn't be affected.
Shadow Mewtwo understood too.
Because it had also seen Shadow Lugia lose all rationality and go berserk.
But even if it was absorbed slowly…
the Dread Plate's power was still steadily increasing Shadow Mewtwo's strength.
Damian had every reason to believe that—
at this pace—
Shadow Mewtwo would sooner or later become number one among the Pokémon he controlled!
"Kreee—!"
But at this moment, Yveltal was enraged.
Its eyes were icy and vicious, locked onto Mega Shadow mewtwo y.
This guy.
How dare it hit it like this?
It hadn't been hit this hard by Xerneas either!
You bastard!
Yveltal's shrill cry tore through the sky.
It flapped its wings hard.
It shot forward at high speed toward Mega Shadow mewtwo y.
Red legendary-bird flames gathered around it.
Sky Attack.
It wanted to ram and smash this dark, filthy thing to death!
"Thunder!"
Damian let out a light chuckle.
Mega Shadow mewtwo y's expression stayed calm.
It extended its right hand toward the incoming Yveltal.
Golden lightning buzzed and crackled nonstop.
An Electric-type Thunder!
Boom!
The massive lightning slammed directly into the legendary bird.
Yveltal's charging silhouette froze instantly.
Thunder viciously chewed through Yveltal's body.
Not long after, the powerful thunder blasted right through the light flames of Sky Attack.
It hammered into Yveltal's body again and again.
Yveltal let out a painful shrill cry.
Electric-type Thunder beat Flying-type.
The damage to it was way more brutal than Dark Nova earlier.
Along with a booming sound, the Yveltal that finally couldn't hold on any longer came crashing down from the sky, smoking all over.
That Thunder hit far too hard.
"Still manageable, though."
Damian looked at the Yveltal that fell in the distance.
Beating Yveltal wasn't really that difficult for him.
Even though it represented "destruction"—
Yveltal's overall strength was only slightly stronger than a typical high-tier legend.
It was still far from top-tier legends.
But the next step—the part about the catch—
that was where things would get hard.
Damian was thinking about whether to have Mega Shadow mewtwo y follow up with another Thunder—
to push Yveltal into sleep completely.
When Mega Shadow mewtwo y suddenly looked toward somewhere not far away.
Damian also seemed to sense something.
His vision turned to the left.
On a patch of gray land—
a blue-black, slender deer-like figure appeared there at some point, standing on the ground.
It stared at them from afar.
Its antlers shimmered with all kinds of light.
From far away, they looked like they were lit with rainbow-colored light.
It was incredibly beautiful.
It was Xerneas.
"Is that… Xerneas?"
Caitlin recognized it immediately.
That kind, gentle aura was especially rare.
Caitlin could basically remember it the very first moment.
"Yeah."
"It probably sensed Yveltal had awakened, so it came over."
Damian wasn't the least bit surprised.
The opposing relationship between Xerneas and Yveltal was probably the most extreme among the cover dragons that appeared in every region.
A caring Xerneas.
A fierce Yveltal.
Their relationship was basically obvious at a glance.
Without Xerneas to "wipe Yveltal's mess," at least over half of Kalos Region would be doomed.
At minimum.
It was precisely because a selfless, loving Xerneas existed—
that Kalos Region was safe and sound now.
To be honest, Damian genuinely felt that—
whether it was Xerneas or Yveltal—
both of these two legends had big problems.
Yveltal only pursued extreme destruction.
But Xerneas was also extreme in its mercy.
Xerneas noticed Damian's trio's gazes.
It nodded gently toward them, expressing its goodwill.
Then Xerneas took a careful step and slowly walked toward Yveltal.
"A legendary Life Pokémon."
"Supposedly, it can share eternal life."
"It's the kindest, most selfless Pokémon in the world."
Caitlin looked at that flawless, beautiful Xerneas.
And she spoke softly.
"That's right."
"When it comes to respect and affection toward life…"
"there's no Pokémon that can beat Xerneas."
"It loves every single life, without exception."
Damian endorsed that view.
He knew better than anyone that Xerneas's compassion for life was unmatched by any Pokémon.
Not even Ho-Oh.
Ho-Oh's life force was extremely strong.
It could even resurrect the dead.
But Ho-Oh actually had preferences.
If there were humans it didn't like…
it really wouldn't care at all.
But Xerneas was different.
It treated all lives equally.
And it had the deepest heart full of compassion.
It could basically be said that Xerneas was Pokémon World's most perfect saint.
(That's a compliment. "Saint" and "saint-bitch" are two different things.)
It couldn't bear to watch any life slip away right in front of it.
Let alone lives stolen by Yveltal.
So it would selflessly share all of its life energy.
It would revive the Pokémon whose life energy had been taken by Yveltal.
And because it shared all of its life energy…
Xerneas would turn into a tree, sleeping—
slowly regaining its life energy.
That selfless cycle never stopped in Xerneas's life.
It never paused.
So—
how many times has it done it?
Who knows.
But one thing was certain.
Xerneas was consistent.
It never regretted, never hesitated.
You could tell just how great Xerneas truly was!
"Kreee!!!"
Even the heavily injured Yveltal had seen Xerneas approaching.
It let out a sharp shrill cry at it.
But because Thunder had hit it too hard, it was extremely difficult for it to fly back up right now.
However, Xerneas completely ignored Yveltal's warnings.
It kept walking toward Yveltal step by step.
Yveltal grew even more angry when it saw this Xerneas ignoring it so thoroughly.
Black-and-red energy condensed.
But the next moment—
a pink sphere of energy came first.
It slammed heavily into Yveltal.
It was Xerneas's Moonblast!
Boom!
Moonblast exploded.
Yveltal let out a painful shrill cry.
It fell to the ground helplessly.
Xerneas's Moonblast was terribly painful—so painful.
And Yveltal's condition was already too bad right now.
"Another thousand years."
"Yveltal, you're still exactly like this."
"Look at the land you've ruined."
Xerneas slowly walked right up to Yveltal.
It let out a helpless sigh.
The disappointment and pity in its eyes made Yveltal cry out in angry shrill tones again.
"In this state, you still want to attack me?"
"How pitiful."
The gentle, compassionate Telepathy didn't stop Xerneas's actions at all.
It lifted its right foot and stepped down directly onto Yveltal.
Bang!
Yveltal's head completely snapped to the side.
It slipped into a deep sleep.
And after stomping it unconscious, Xerneas lifted its head slightly.
Its loving eyes swept over the surroundings.
It sighed again.
Caitlin: "..."
"Maybe the only life Xerneas doesn't love…"
"might be Yveltal?"
Damian hesitated.
Then he decided to correct what he had just said.
Well—
Xerneas doesn't love Yveltal.
That still didn't break its character profile.
~~
Get early access to 160+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
patreon.com/PokemonStoryWeaver
~~~