Chapter 142: The Boss-Raid Party Is Ready!
"That's right. I need your help."
Mammon nodded without hesitation.
Ho-Oh's eye twitched. The last flicker of hope it had been nursing quietly expired. It had felt something was wrong the moment it saw the black Rayquaza. It just hadn't expected this human to be serious.
"I can't do this."
Ho-Oh chose departure immediately. No hesitation whatsoever.
It was Ho-Oh, yes — but it wasn't so full of itself that it would pick a fight with a Mega Rayquaza. A Shiny Mega Rayquaza at that. This was clearly a targeted attack on its dignity.
"Yes you can."
Mammon stared at Ho-Oh turning to leave and experienced a brief moment of pure disbelief.
This Ho-Oh was an absolute coward.
"Ho-Oh — you made a promise. As long as it doesn't violate your will, you agreed to help."
"Human! This absolutely violates my will!" Ho-Oh's composure cracked. The nerve of this person. "That is a Shiny Mega Rayquaza. You want me to fight it? What is wrong with you?"
The telepathy was coming out faster than Ho-Oh normally spoke.
"We have a chance. Trust me."
"I respectfully decline. Farewell."
Ho-Oh's mind was made up.
Mammon saw he had no other option. Time for the final weapon: guilt.
"Ho-Oh. You kidnapped my little brother."
"I will compensate you — but you can't push me like this."
Ho-Oh's telepathy went briefly offline.
Then, with deep anguish: "You're going to keep saying that, aren't you."
"You kidnapped my little brother."
"You—! Human, even if I do help, how are we supposed to beat it?!" Ho-Oh's composure was crumbling.
"You kidnapped my little brother."
THE HELL!!
Ho-Oh glared at Mammon with pure, concentrated fury.
"Fine. I'll help."
After the outburst, a defeated exhale. It agreed.
What else could it do? Just fly back to Kanto? It couldn't make its conscience accept that.
Even though Ho-Oh knew — it absolutely could have walked away.
"There we go. Ho-Oh — today I'm going to add a glorious chapter to your biography."
Mammon's grin was full and confident.
"After this, you can brag about it in front of Lugia and Mew forever. You'll be the Ho-Oh who defeated a Shiny Mega Rayquaza."
"It had better go that way."
Ho-Oh gave Mammon a sideways look and spread its wings slowly. Rainbow-colored flames began to kindle around its body.
Sacred Fire.
Defeat a Shiny Mega Rayquaza — if they actually pulled it off, it would be among the most luminous moments of a very long life.
The prerequisite being that they actually survived today.
"Everyone — follow my lead."
Mammon established a psychic link simultaneously with Dark Mewtwo, Deoxys, Ho-Oh, and Primal Kyogre through Dark Mewtwo's relay.
This was the improvised boss-raid party for the black Rayquaza.
"Kyogre — stand down for now." Mammon's thinking was clear.
"This Rayquaza is arrogant. It won't even pursue you — it's looking down on us. Which is exactly what we need."
The corner of his mouth lifted.
The black Rayquaza's power was genuinely alarming — the exchange with Primal Kyogre had made that clear. Its offensive output exceeded Primal Kyogre by a significant margin. It had controlled that entire engagement. And it had passed on multiple clean opportunities to follow up and deal serious damage. Pride, absolute self-confidence, contempt for the threat level — whatever the reason, that relaxed approach to battle was the best news Mammon's side had received all day.
A Ho-Oh, too. Here to assist the other side.
The black Rayquaza observed Ho-Oh without particular concern. It knew Ho-Oh from the long centuries — though they weren't well acquainted. Another opponent. It still felt nothing approaching worry.
Whatever came, unless it was that one — the one from before time — the black Rayquaza's confidence in itself was absolute.
The Rayquaza lineage was the strongest dragon family in existence. Bar none.
Ho-Oh's appearance, however, did succeed in kindling something in the black Rayquaza that hadn't been fully lit before. A genuine appetite for the fight.
"ROOAAR!!"
It raised its head. The roar rang out across the entire city. An immaculately concentrated energy sphere began forming in front of its jaws.
Dragon-type. Draco Meteor.
The sphere ascended — carrying within it something that evoked stars and cosmic distance — and detonated. Dragon meteors trailed fire as they fell, a cascade of them descending across the sky.
Brilliant. Like a meteor shower choreographed for destruction.
"Ho-Oh — Light Screen."
"Mewtwo, Deoxys — Protect."
"Kyogre — Calm Mind."
Mammon gave the orders in quick succession.
Primal Kyogre: the main carry. That was always the actual plan.
Dark Mewtwo and Deoxys in Attack Forme were both offense-oriented, but the power gap between them and the black Rayquaza was simply too large for direct engagement to produce results. Forcing them into frontal combat would look like Necrozma dismantling Lunala — a complete rout.
Even with Special Attack stacked to the ceiling, they could participate at the margins — harassment, support, disruption.
Primal Kyogre with maxed Special Attack was a different conversation. That was the condition for a real shot at this.
As for Ho-Oh — Mammon had called it for a specific purpose. Ho-Oh was a defensively oriented legendary. Its offensive ceiling wasn't the point. What it could do was absorb punishment — and with it on the front line taking damage, Primal Kyogre's attacks could land.
Whether that was sufficient remained to be seen. But Mammon had a plan.
Dark Mewtwo and Deoxys launched themselves upward. Green Protect barriers expanded around them.
The Draco Meteor burst across the sky like prismatic fireworks — meteor after dragon-meteor trailing bright tails, falling.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
They hammered into the Protect barriers in sequence. Deafening. Continuous.
Many scattered outside the barriers entirely and struck the city below. The ground absorbed each hit with what could only be described as structural protest.
The black Rayquaza had actively controlled the area of effect — without that restraint, the devastation radius would have been vastly larger.
Steven's group was far enough back that none of it reached them directly. But watching it, the weight of what they were looking at settled over all of them.
This was legendary power.
"Nebby!"
Mammon was relatively close to the combat zone — not ideal, but workable.
"Maxi~!"
Lunala appeared from her Poké Ball and was already raising a Protect barrier over Mammon against the dragon-meteors angling toward his position.
"Keep me safe, Nebby. I'm counting on you."
Lunala settled above him and nodded — she would protect him without question.
Primal Kyogre was stacking Calm Mind. Ho-Oh's Light Screen was going up.
And the black Rayquaza — even as Draco Meteor was still falling — had already begun to move.
"Psycho Boost!"
Mammon called it immediately.
Deoxys's arms came together. A multicolored energy sphere condensed — and fired.
Psycho Boost. Deoxys's signature move.
The attack was fast. The black Rayquaza's body moved with languid ease — a slight, unhurried undulation — and Psycho Boost passed through empty air.
The magnificent black form wove between the four legendaries in a slow, elegant circuit — visually selecting the most appropriate target, unhurried.
Deoxys kept firing. Psycho Boost after Psycho Boost.
The black Rayquaza kept moving. Dodging without apparently trying — while the missed attacks detonated around it in a continuous sequence of explosions and shockwaves, the black Rayquaza drifted through the field of fire like it was doing something other than fighting.
The golden streamers from its jaw rippled with each motion.
This was genuinely epic.
"That movement—"
Mammon's eyebrow went up.
That movement. Not a single Psycho Boost had connected. The black Rayquaza hadn't used a single move. Just moved.
That was the most absurd part.
Having avoided everything, the black Rayquaza's eyes locked onto Deoxys. Acceleration began — gradual, then decisive.
"ROOAAR!!"
Deep green light suffused the black Rayquaza's entire body — a sharpening, a building, faster and faster, the unmistakable profile of a projectile that had decided on its target.
Flying-type. Dragon Ascent.
"Ho-Oh!"
"Kyuuuh!!"
Ho-Oh, Light Screen fully established, beat its wings and interposed itself between Dragon Ascent and Deoxys.
And brought its Sacred Fire with it.
The green blade was faster than lightning. In the space of a single instant — a blinding green line cut through the air.
Dragon Ascent cut through the Sacred Fire. Cut through Ho-Oh. Cut through the shoulder of Deoxys, which had not quite managed to clear the path.
The black Rayquaza materialized behind Deoxys, momentum fully spent.
BOOM.
The green afterglow faded. The explosion followed.
How—
Ho-Oh felt the pain arrive from somewhere along its body, mind not quite caught up yet. It looked at the Sacred Fire that had been split in two.
It couldn't even slow the attack for a fraction of a second? How strong is this thing?
"Ho-Oh — hold together. Get closer."
Ho-Oh's constitution was exceptional. The Dragon Ascent had gone through it — that was not a small thing — but it suppressed the pain by force and pushed toward the black Rayquaza.
"ROOAAR!!"
The black Rayquaza's roar sounded. Its massive tail rose and swung toward Deoxys.
Outrage.
"Psychic!"
Dark Mewtwo stretched one hand toward the black Rayquaza. Enormous psychic force poured out — control-type Psychic.
The black Rayquaza's motion stuttered. Half a second of pause.
Deoxys used it — pulling back at speed. Its right shoulder and the entire arm had been severed by Dragon Ascent. It needed a moment for Recover.
The black Rayquaza broke Dark Mewtwo's hold and turned. Its gaze found Dark Mewtwo.
So the buffing did produce something. It can actually affect me slightly now.
The improvement was real — but only marginal. Enough to be noticed. Not enough to matter.
"Kyuuh!!"
Ho-Oh's cry pulled the black Rayquaza's attention. It watched Ho-Oh sweeping toward it with wings spread.
Overreaching.
The black Rayquaza's eyes showed nothing. Dragon Pulse formed instantly in its jaws and fired.
BOOM.
Dragon Pulse hit Ho-Oh and detonated — but from the smoke, Ho-Oh, wrapped in a thin layer of Light Screen energy, accelerated and slammed into the black Rayquaza's neck.
The black Rayquaza staggered. One step. Then it held.
It looked at Ho-Oh. Light Screen. That explains it. Without that barrier, the Dragon Pulse should have sent it flying. Ho-Oh's defense was genuinely remarkable.
Light Screen — sharply reduces special attack damage taken. That was what had let Ho-Oh absorb Dragon Pulse and keep moving.
"ROOAAR!"
The black Rayquaza's roar was short and contemptuous. Its claws raked toward Ho-Oh.
"Will-O-Wisp!" Mammon's order came fast.
Ho-Oh cried out sharply. Small pale-blue flames formed — and sank into the black Rayquaza's body.
The black Rayquaza's claws connected in the same instant. Ho-Oh took the hit with a pained shriek and was sent flying.
The tail whipped around — carrying ferocious wind — sweeping after Ho-Oh.
"Psychic!"
Dark Mewtwo used Psychic again. It bought an instant. The black Rayquaza broke free.
BOOM.
Outrage struck Ho-Oh full force. Ho-Oh went like a cannonball — punching through a building's wall — and hit the ground in an impact crater of its own making.
"Yes."
Mammon's grin broke through.
Because Will-O-Wisp had landed.
The black Rayquaza stood motionless for a moment — enduring something. Then —
Fire erupted across its entire body. An involuntary sound of pain and fury escaped it.
Burned.
Which meant its physical attack power was substantially reduced. The black Rayquaza's combat capacity would be significantly compromised going forward.
The black Rayquaza's eyes were cold and ugly. It knew what the burn meant.
That wretched bird. It burned me.
"Brilliant work, Ho-Oh."
Mammon's admiration was sincere. Ho-Oh had taken considerable damage — but this was completely worth it.
In the impact crater below, Ho-Oh lay embedded in the earth, beak twisted with pain. Rainbow Flames burned across its body, the healing already working.
So much pain. So much pain. SO MUCH PAIN.
What could this bird possibly have done to deserve flying all the way from Kanto to Hoenn to get beaten THIS badly?
It wanted to go home.
☆☆☆
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