Chapter 134: If Rayquaza Thinks You're an Invader, You're an Invader
"Are you all right, Cynthia-senpai?"
Nemona asked cautiously.
Cynthia had been standing in the same spot without saying anything for ten solid minutes. Nemona was genuinely struggling to hold it together.
She was suddenly struck by how complicated everyone else's personal lives seemed to be.
Steven and Cynthia were both exceptional — outstanding in every way. But Steven's father had just been sent to prison. And Cynthia's closest friend had joined a criminal organization and was now on the opposing side, in the most awkward possible configuration.
Geeta doesn't have any of this weirdness. Maybe being Paldea's Champion had its advantages.
"I'm fine. Let's keep walking, Nemona."
Cynthia came back to herself and offered a small, quiet smile.
Her feelings were tangled — but she wasn't about to transfer her emotional weight onto this bright, talented junior who didn't deserve it.
"Okay~ Cynthia-senpai, there's an ice cream stall over there — shall we get some?"
"Sure."
They walked over.
And then—
Nemona stood holding her third ice cream bar, already starting to melt, watching Cynthia stare at the flavors board with the expression of someone navigating an extremely difficult strategic decision.
Champion Cynthia — are you actually indecisive about ice cream?
She had the dead-fish eyes of a woman who had been waiting a very long time.
The following day.
Mammon sent Caitlin to take Lillie shopping, citing urgent business as his excuse to break away from them temporarily.
Lillie was a genuinely pure-hearted girl. He wasn't in a rush to expose her to everything else going on.
He returned to Professor Lund's research facility alone. Under Armored Mewtwo's psychic influence, the door opened without fuss.
He made his way to the ecology lab. Lund and Yuko were both there, running another experiment — another attempt to activate the Deoxys crystal.
Clearly failing.
"Another failure. There has to be a way to revive it. There should be." Professor Lund shook his head, genuinely baffled. Four years of attempts, and not a single success. He couldn't even study Deoxys's behavioral ecology without first bringing it back, and that first step had eluded him entirely.
"Care for some help?"
A light, unhurried voice.
"Who — oh. You." Professor Lund turned, startled, and found Mammon leaning against the wall. His expression went to a frown. "How did you get in here?"
"Just walked in. Professor Lund, no need to worry — I'm here to help you revive Deoxys."
Mammon pushed off the wall, pulled a chair over with casual familiarity, and sat down.
"You—"
Lund's frown deepened. He'd suspected yesterday that the young man had some specific agenda. Now it was confirmed.
He actually knew about Deoxys.
"You know how to revive it?" He couldn't help latching onto that.
"No guarantees. But worth trying."
"And what do you want with Deoxys once it's revived?"
"Power, naturally. Deoxys's combat capacity is comparable to Rayquaza — you saw that firsthand four years ago. Isn't that right, Professor?"
Mammon watched Lund's expression sour with quiet amusement.
"Don't even dream of it. If that's your purpose, you can leave. You're not welcome here."
Lund was blunt about it. Yes, he'd brought the crystal back for his own reasons — self-interest, curiosity, the drive to study something extraordinary. But he had no intention of letting Deoxys's power become someone else's tool, especially not someone who radiated this particular flavor of ill intent.
"That face — you're making me sound like a villain."
Mammon was entirely unbothered, still sitting with one leg crossed over the other, completely at ease.
"And Professor Lund — have you heard the expression? It's easy to invite a god in, but difficult to see it out. You want me gone. Are you sure you can manage that?"
The corner of his mouth curved with something that wasn't quite a smile.
He hadn't been invited in to begin with, technically.
"If you don't leave I'm calling the League coordinator!"
Lund's face had gone tight.
"No situational awareness whatsoever." Mammon clicked his tongue, still smiling pleasantly.
"If I'm not mistaken, Professor Lund — you have a young child, don't you."
"You— What are you trying to do?!" Lund's expression transformed.
"If you don't cooperate, I can't promise what might happen to your child."
"That's a crime! You can't—"
"I'm part of a criminal organization. Did you think I cared about that?"
Mammon said it with complete indifference.
"..."
Lund's jaw was tight, his chest heaving with barely-controlled anger. Beside him, Yuko looked frightened.
"Fine. What do you want?"
In the end, Lund gave in. He wasn't gambling with his son's safety. Shouta was too young.
"To wake Deoxys. That's all."
Mammon stood and looked at the green crystal.
"I can't do that. Four years and I never managed—"
"That's fine. Just run your standard procedure. I'll have Mewtwo assist."
Mammon glanced at him.
"Don't try anything clever. I know where your son is."
(A lie. He had no idea. But it didn't matter — so long as Lund believed it.)
Lund glared at him with undisguised hatred. Shameless and despicable. But—
He walked to the control station and began running the sequence. What else could he do? There was nothing. He was completely cornered.
The equipment powered up under Lund's direction. Energy began to accumulate and focus.
Simultaneously, the violet flames in Armored Mewtwo's eyes flowed and shifted. It raised its arm toward the green crystal, psychic force condensing to a point.
BOOM.
Machine energy and Armored Mewtwo's psychic output struck the crystal simultaneously. The light that erupted was blinding.
Seconds passed. Then more.
Mammon squinted. And then — through the light — he saw it. The green crystal was responding.
Around the crystal, biological tissue was generating and reshaping itself, a new living body rapidly assembling from nothing.
CRACK.
The containment cylinder shattered. The light began to fade.
When the machine's energy dissipated and Armored Mewtwo withdrew its psychic force, something stood in the wreckage.
A humanoid Pokémon. Resembling, uncannily, something not from this world. Two orange-blue tentacle arms. A green crystalline gem at the center of its chest.
Deoxys.
Awake.
"It actually worked?!"
Professor Lund stared at the revived Deoxys with genuine shock. It was almost identical to the one he'd witnessed four years ago — except where that one had carried a purple crystal at its chest, this one's was green.
"Excellent. Looks healthy too."
Mammon regarded Deoxys Individual Two with satisfaction.
Deoxys lowered its head slightly, scanning the three humans in the lab with its gaze, then settled on Armored Mewtwo.
The reason it had been able to revive fully this time was primarily because of Mewtwo's sustained psychic stimulation — without that, its consciousness might have stirred slightly, but its body wouldn't have been able to reconstruct.
Deoxys Individual Two turned toward Armored Mewtwo and gave a small, deliberate nod. Gratitude.
"..." Armored Mewtwo said nothing.
After that acknowledgment, Deoxys shifted its stance — bent its knees slightly. It was preparing to leave.
"You're going to find your partner." Mammon had a reasonable guess at its intention.
Individual Two had a decent temperament, much like Individual One — who had genuinely been good-natured, only attacking Larousse City in the film out of desperation to reach its partner.
Deoxys gave a nod.
"Your partner hasn't revived yet. I'd advise against going now — you'd just repeat what happened to them." Mammon addressed Individual Two directly.
Deoxys tilted its head, puzzled.
"You and your partner both come from outer space. To Rayquaza, you're both foreign species — uninvited ones, without clearance. Intruders."
Mammon explained it at some length.
Rayquaza had an extremely powerful territorial instinct. It regarded the sky as its domain. A being like Deoxys, arriving from space — and with Deoxys's combat capacity — would naturally trigger Rayquaza's most hostile response. The moment any Rayquaza detected Deoxys's presence, it would treat it as an intruder and move to eliminate the threat.
Deoxys Individual Two looked more confused than ever. Invasion? It had no such intent whatsoever.
"Your intent doesn't matter. What matters is that Rayquaza thinks you do. In its eyes, you're an invader."
Mammon shrugged.
Rayquaza had plenty of admirers — it was regarded as the apex of the sky, legendary and magnificent. But as the sky's sovereign, Rayquaza as a species was extraordinarily territorial. In the film, it had only accepted the two Deoxys after they saved its life from the rampaging machines — without that, it would never have backed down.
Dragon-type Pokémon as a whole skewed toward volatile, aggressive temperaments. One as powerful as Rayquaza, with no natural predators, had never been pushed toward compromise.
Deoxys Individual Two shook its head. It didn't fully believe the human. And the pull to find its partner was overwhelming.
It couldn't wait even a moment longer.
Deoxys vanished from the lab and reappeared on the facility's roof.
"Tsk — it doesn't trust me."
Mammon couldn't help a short laugh. The thing had no survival instincts whatsoever.
Then again — it made a certain sense. Being told out of nowhere that a powerful creature wanted to destroy you for crimes you hadn't committed was a fairly unbelievable premise. Deoxys Individual Two had no knowledge of what Individual One had experienced. Skepticism was reasonable.
On the rooftop, Deoxys slowly closed its eyes.
It extended its psychic range as far as it could reach — casting outward in every direction, searching for the signal of its partner.
"It's running a scan."
Mammon and Armored Mewtwo had come out to watch. Armored Mewtwo stated the obvious.
Mammon looked at Deoxys Individual Two, then looked up at the clear blue sky.
"Mm. Rayquaza's coming."
Deoxys had just turned itself into a very bright light in the dark. It might as well have put up a sign.
Dear Rayquaza: invader here. Please come quickly.
☆☆☆
-> 20 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Inkshaper
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you