"Latias, use Dragon Ascent once more."
Although with the help of the randomized system the little jet plane successfully learned Rayquaza's exclusive move, she had only just crossed the threshold. She was still a long way from true mastery. Therefore, Hakuya took advantage of this time to command her to practice.
"La-woo~"
Latias raised her head and let out a dragon's roar that echoed through the clouds. Then, she suddenly tucked in her wings. Her originally outstretched, jet-like wings instantly pressed tightly against her body, and her streamlined form carved a sharp, piercing whistle through the air currents.
At this moment, the clouds surged ahead of her. The crimson and pale purple clouds unique to the sunset were torn open by her high-speed impact, leaving an eye-catching rift.
"Roar~"
Acting as her sparring partner, Salamence appeared directly in Latias's flight path. Opening its large mouth, it gathered a massive amount of Dragon-type energy in its throat, then blasted out a [Dragon Pulse] to intercept her.
However, facing the ferocious energy dragon hurtling toward her with its bloody maw wide open, Latias's charging speed didn't decrease in the slightest. The howling, roaring wind chased frantically behind her.
The fierce gale had, in this moment, become the perfect booster for her impact.
Before the majestic energy dragon could even snap its jaws shut, it was instantly shattered by the oncoming impact.
And Latias flew straight into her opponent, who couldn't dodge in time. Her ultra-high-speed body carved a red-and-white beam of light through mid-air, like a heaven-cleaving sword plunging down from the high heavens, as brilliant as a shooting star!
With just one move, she beat Salamence—who possessed the strength of an Elite Four Trainer's main Pokémon—down into the yellow health bar!
"So strong~!"
Zinnia ran over to heal her downed Salamence. She first glanced at the clearly visible vapor trail in the sky, then recalled the scene of Latias directly shattering the [Dragon Pulse], and couldn't help but exclaim in awe.
Even though she wasn't the Lord Dragon God, Latias was just a relatively ordinary Legendary Pokémon.
Yet now, after only practicing for a little over two hours, she had already elevated the [Dragon Ascent]—a move only the Lord Dragon God could learn—to such an impressive level. This truly was a terrifying rate of progress—
"Excellent! You've practiced extremely well!"
Having witnessed the entire scene, Hakuya clapped at the perfect time, offering his praise.
Whether it was the speed of gathering energy for the move or the resulting power displayed, the little jet plane was much stronger than when she first learned it. It was no exaggeration to say that she already showed a slight resemblance to the Mega-green-caterpillar.
"Keep practicing at this pace. Later, when you use Dragon Ascent in battle, who knows, those two super-ancient Pokémon might actually mistake you for Rayquaza in disguise for a moment~"
"La-woo~"
Latias instinctively raised her little head, wearing a highly proud little expression.
This was textbook tsundere behavior: clearly overjoyed on the inside, yet still putting on a facade of "I already know I'm strong without you having to tell me, Trainer."
"Hah..."
Just as Hakuya was still finding the little jet plane's predictably tsundere behavior amusing, his communicator suddenly rang with an urgent tone.
It was Steven calling.
"Hakuya, according to the footage captured and transmitted by the League's monitoring department, Groudon is now only a little over two hundred kilometers away from Rustboro City. The other super-ancient Pokémon, Kyogre, is also kicking up a storm near Lilycove City. It will highly likely pass through Fortree City and Slateport City along its path, finally meeting up with Groudon..."
Without any excessive pleasantries, Steven on the other end of the line cut straight to the chase.
"Regarding Kyogre, I've already ordered Wallace, the Elite Four, and the Gym Leaders to intercept it in advance. With over a dozen of the League's top Trainers stationed to block it in waves, we don't need to worry about it for now..."
"Our mission is to take out Groudon before Kyogre can break through Wallace's interception and arrive."
"Understood."
Hakuya nodded, raising no objections to the Hoenn Champion's battle command.
Indeed, just one super-ancient Pokémon in its Primal Reversion state was already troublesome enough. If Groudon and Kyogre actually managed to meet and clash, the situation would become even worse.
—It was true that these two super-ancient Pokémon were destined rivals. But when facing humans, they would still unhesitatingly choose to fight back-to-back, standing on the same frontline to attack. Therefore, dividing and conquering them individually was the optimal solution.
Originally, if he couldn't find Rayquaza, Hakuya had even considered imitating the Pokémon Adventures manga—having Steven go find Regice, Regirock, and Registeel. Utilizing the power of the Legendary Titans would push their odds of winning even higher.
But considering the current emergency... successfully executing Steven's plan of dividing and conquering the two super-ancient Pokémon was already their absolute limit. If they dispatched manpower to search for the Legendary Titans now, they would highly likely lose everything across the board. Therefore, he temporarily shelved this immature idea.
After hanging up the call with Steven, Hakuya looked at his Pokémon and began the necessary pre-battle mobilization.
"Floragato, Alcremie, and Latias. Our opponents later are going to be incredibly strong. I'm counting on you for this battle."
"Meowhaha-meow~"
As soon as he finished speaking, Floragato gently patted her chest with her cat paw, wearing a reliable "leave everything to me" expression.
As his childhood friend and starter Pokémon, Hakuya could, as always, choose to safely entrust his back to her.
And even without mastering the Pokémon language, Hakuya could roughly guess what this large cat was saying.
"Hah~ They might not reach the level of that Wonder Guard Regigigas, but those two are going to be much more troublesome and have far greater destructive power. We absolutely cannot let our guard down. I'll still be relying on you to protect me, Floragato~"
"M-Meowha!!!"
Faced with her Trainer actively asking for protection, the innocent cat clutched her chest, feeling as if a thousand arrows had pierced her heart.
Trainer's methods are still as deadly as ever!
The little jet plane first shot a disdainful glare at Floragato, then puffed out her cheeks and loudly shouted her dissatisfaction.
"Excellent! You're full of spirit, Latias!"
Hakuya gave a thumbs-up in response to her reaction.
Later, he would deploy Latias as the main vanguard against Primal Kyogre and Primal Groudon.
If the Mega-green-caterpillar can elbow them with Dragon Ascent, my [Contrary] little jet plane can absolutely do it too.
On the other side, Alcremie hopped onto Hakuya's shoulder.
"Nai~"
She called out softly, pitifully reaching out her soft, little cream hand.
Having spent so much time together, Hakuya instantly understood the meaning behind Alcremie's action.
"Ah... alright, alright, I know. I'll make sure to prioritize my personal safety during the battle."
Hakuya lowered his head, feeling the soft touch of the little cream hand stroking his head, and nodded repeatedly in response.
Indeed, reality was different from the randomized world.
These box-art Legendaries like Kyogre and Groudon were called gods possessing the mighty power of nature, but in reality, they lacked even a shred of divine compassion for living beings. They only possessed basic emotion, logic, and an overwhelming majority of brutal, animalistic savagery.
Battling them... he didn't even need to think about it to know it was an extremely dangerous endeavor.
However, snapping back to reality, Hakuya looked at the little creature before him, whose eyes were filled with gentleness, and a smile couldn't help but appear on his face... Even though Alcremie's figure is far more petite than a young loli, her maternal aura is incredibly strong. She's an adorable cream-loli-mommy—
Hugging the Alcremie who had just finished patting his head, Hakuya then gazed toward the far horizon where the ocean met the land.
Battling two Legendary Pokémon in reality for the first time... just thinking about it makes me excited.
"Excellent! Even if the Lord Dragon God is gone, we Draconids will not back down."
"Zinnia, do you think you maybe want to change your top before we go?"
Seeing the overly-carefree wild girl preparing to hop onto her dragon and head straight for the battlefield, Hakuya couldn't help but remind her.
"???"
Initially confused by Hakuya's words, Zinnia furrowed her brow. Then, she strained her neck to look back and saw her completely exposed, beautiful back.
In an instant, two red blushes flew to the wild girl's pretty face.
She finally knew why, when walking in front earlier, she constantly felt a subtle gaze staring at her back.
"..." The wild girl crossed her arms over her chest, feigning a cold, terrifying glare at Hakuya.
...
A short while later, having taken someone's advice and changed out of her halter top into a normal shirt, Zinnia leaped onto Salamence's back. Although a hint of blush remained on her face, she ultimately turned her head with a look of intense urgency and shouted loudly:
"Hakuya, let's hurry and set off!"
"Alright!"