This is the second of two chapters today.


Entei lunged forwards the moment he stabilized, slamming bodily into Cassidy's Charizard and knocking it to the floor with a crash.

Not waiting for orders, the Charizard struggled to push Entei off. After a moment, it hit on the idea of rolling over and using that leverage to throw Entei. Heaving with four limbs, it managed to get out from under the Beast.

Following that minor success up with a two-handed Slash, the Charizard began to regain the initiative – concentrating on attacks which didn't involve his Fire type, due to the presence of his allied Aggron. Instead, he volleyed home a Power-up Punch into Entei's flank, made to follow up with a Rock Smash, and instead got slapped in the face by a clawed Stomp.

Jumping back with a flap of half-open wings to help him gain distance, the Charizard considered again how to do this. He came to a different decision this time, pushed off the wall, and came back down with green-glowing claws ready to slash.

Entei's reply was to dart forwards, under the Dragon Claw, and body-check Charizard again. Air whooshed out, and the Fire-type hit the wall with an audible clang just under the small marks he'd made with his claws.

"Now, listen here!" Entei said forcefully. "You don't attack humans!"

Snapping and snarling, Charizard craned his long neck around to get past Entei's own jaws and bite the relatively vulnerable neck. For his pains, he got hit by a powerful Flamethrower in the side of the neck – which may not have done much damage, but which physically pushed his neck to the side from the force of the blow.

Mustering his strength again, Charizard hauled Entei off him – though not without taking a few more nasty paw bats – and half-jumped-half-flew through the air again, gaining distance and barely avoiding a Bulldoze which made the light fittings overhead tremble.

"Get back here!" Entei roared after him, paws crashing on computer screens and keyboards as he followed the Flying-type across the underground space.

Charizard, on the whole, was not enjoying this fight.

He glanced over to see if he could switch with his teammate, and saw that Aggron was fighting a Ninetales – one seemingly content to pace around and throw occasional Embers, for now, but one calmly evading all Aggron's own attacks.

That would not be a useful swap. He did not like the sound of fighting a Pokémon with Flash Fire, even assuming that the Legendary Pokémon would let him switch.


"Aggron, use Head Smash!" Butch ordered.

Roaring, Aggron lowered his head and lunged forwards. Blue light enveloped first the head, then the whole Pokémon, and he slammed into the wall behind where Ninetales had been hard enough to produce a sizeable dent.

"No, that's not how you do it," Ninetales sighed, flames licking up her tails. "Observe."

Flames curled around her feet, and she pounced forwards as they spread to her whole body. There was an explosive bang as the attack connected, and she punctuated that by adding a point-blank Fire Blast.

The concussion from the explosion knocked a few bits of equipment over, and Aggron's steel armour sections glowed red for a few seconds before cooling back to black.

Landing daintily, Ninetales nodded. "Like that. An attack is nothing if it does not hit."

Enraged, Aggron staggered back to his feet and roared. "Take this!"

Tearing a chunk out of the dented wall, he threw it at Ninetales.

She ran forwards, sliding just under the hurtling chunk of steel, and fired a blast of Smokescreen to give herself cover as he pulled another steel chunk to throw at her.

"Earthquake!" Butch snapped.

Throwing the improvised weapon aside, Aggron slammed his feet into the ground and caused a minor earthquake. The floor shook, staggering both Entei and Ninetales, and the two Rocket-owned Pokémon took the opportunity to regroup back-to-back.

"Use Wing attack to clear the smoke!" Cassidy told Charizard, and the Flying-type complied – his powerful wingbeats dispersing the smoke through the whole room, letting Aggron see once more.

He did not, however, see what he was expecting. Instead of a Ninetales, a Geodude hovered there on the battlefield.

"What?" Cassidy asked, shocked. "But – the machine!"

Geodude shrugged. "The kid broke it." With that cryptic comment – completely incomprehensible to Cassidy, of course – he gestured.

The two chunks of steel Aggron had torn off the dented wall earlier had left a hole, through which the bedrock could be seen. A large chunk of that bedrock detached at Geodude's command, and slammed straight into Charizard's back with a thud.

The Fire-type went over like a sack of potatoes.

Aggron whirled, trying to keep an eye on both enemy Pokémon at once, and backed towards the wall.

Entei smirked, and opened his mouth. A blue orb formed, grew, and began to swirl rapidly.

"Aura Sphere!" he said proudly, firing it at Aggron. The Iron Armor Pokémon managed to avoid being hit by flinging himself to the floor with a crash, shaking the room and also making one of the lights fail in a shower of sparks.

"I'll do it," Pikachu suggested, leaping down from Ash's shoulder.

"No thanks!" Entei replied, pouncing forwards. He slammed both paws down to deliver a Bulldoze before Aggron could get up, making the room tremble, and finished the job with an Overheat.


Tyson fought down the urge to glance at his watch.

"Not bad," he admitted, as Butch and Cassidy stared at what had been major upgrades to their Pokémon teams. "But I'm afraid you're not finished yet, Mr. Ketchum. I have to ask, how did you-"

He stopped, and watched as a Stantler calmly walked past him. It trotted across the room to stand beside the Pewter gym leader, who tied a belled ribbon onto its antlers.

"...what?" Tyson asked. "What was that?"

"I sent Stantler to go break the evolution-inducing machine," Brock explained.

Stantler nodded. "Stantler," he said.

"Right..." Tyson muttered. He noticed he was losing control of the situation, and coughed. "Ahem. As I was saying. You're not finished yet."

Calmly, Tyson retrieved a Pokéball from his own belt.

"This team of scientists here has been working on evolution. Evolutionary stones, evolution theory, induced evolution... and mega-evolution." Tyson saw the surprise in their expressions, and permitted himself a smile. "You of all people should be familiar with it. It's a kind of evolution which grants a temporary boost in-"

"We know," Ash interrupted, taking the wind out of Tyson's sails again.

"Right," the executive said. "Okay, well... anyway. Tyranitar!"

The Pokéball released a big, burly Tyranitar, which took in the wreckage of the room and snorted.

"Mega evolution puts Pokémon on par with Legendaries," Tyson reminded them. "And, unlike you, we worked out exactly how to do it! Tyranitar, show them!"

As he said that, Tyson removed one of his black gloves. Glinting on the revealed middle finger was a small bluish gemstone, set on a functional steel ring.

Tyranitar let off another roar, lashing tail revealing a larger gemstone on a cloth band just above the tail base – the Mega-stone fleck a deep red fringed by black. Then the Mega Stone began to glow in harmony with Tyson's ring, producing a flash of orange light.

When it died down, Tyranitar had changed significantly. The gaps in his armour had expanded and multiplied, with red markings in some of them, and much bigger spikes sprouting all over his body.

Mega Tyranitar roared.

"So, Mr. Ketchum, I doubt you could beat a Mega-evolved Pokémon," Tyson said. "Certainly that Entei there would be at a disadvantage – and even Legendaries can be beaten – and as for that Charizard, if you've got it, it's still a Fire type."

Ash waved a hand. "Back here, Entei. I know just what to do."

Tyson frowned. "You seem less impressed than I thought you'd be..."

"Yeah," Ash agreed. "Heracross!"

The Rocket executive blinked. A Heracross? It was a strong enough Pokémon, a Fighting-type, but it would have the disadvantage of-

"...no," he said, as Heracross emerged. "You're joking."

Ash grinned.

Heracross reached up to his headband, adjusting the fit of the Heracronite, and then set his stance and faced Mega Tyranitar.

Then there was a second orange flash.

When it faded, Tyson had his first look at a Mega Heracross.

There were three changes which immediately caught the eye. First, the horn – one of the major features of a Heracross – had changed. Instead of a tool to dig under the trunks of trees or the bellies of opponents and prise them up, it was now an unambiguous weapon – sharp, spiked and curved.

Second, there was the general bodyform. Mega Heracross was squatter, stockier, and overall shorter but more... condensed... than the original.

It took Tyson a moment to realize that – no, actually this Pokémon was slightly taller than before. It was just that the horn distorted the sense of proportion that much.

Third – and most worryingly, really – there were the fists.

They were enormous.

"Okay, Heracross," Ash said after a moment. "You know what to do."

"Tyranitar!" Tyson said, realizing that he was about to lose the initiative. "Attack! Stone Edge!"


"A Key Stone?" Misty repeated. "How can I use it? I mean, I don't have a Mega Stone-"

"No, you don't," Lance agreed. He glanced out at the battle in the water, which currently seemed to involve the two Gyarados playing chicken with Giga Impact, and decided to explain more concisely. "That one can't do it, but Maurice has a new one from Kalos which can pick up Mega Stones. There's a Gyaradosite in the lake."

Misty absorbed that, and her expression firmed. "Right."

Slipping the bracelet on, she took a deep breath. "Gyarados! There's a hard stone somewhere at the bottom of the lake. Can you find it?"

Gyarados was a little preoccupied – as she spoke, there was a blaze of Dragon Rage blowing water into steam just behind him – but he glanced towards the shore, gave a brief nod, and then upended and plunged deep.

Snarling, the Red Gyarados followed him with a roar and a splash.

"Remember," Lance said in a low voice. "What's important is the time you've had together. That's what powers the process."

Misty nodded, already concentrating.

Years ago now – or a little in the future – when she'd returned to Cerulean City as gym leader, and there'd been a newly evolved Gyarados rampaging around.

Trying to calm the Pokémon she was so scared of, by any means she could think of. Finally earning his trust by defending him – not with Pokémon, but with her own body.

That was when she'd seen that... Gyarados were scary, intimidating, water type Pokémon. They were no different than any other.

And with that realization, she'd gained a great Pokémon and a good friend. One of her strongest.

Eyes closed, Misty didn't see the flash of orange which circled the bracelet – or the flash in the water. Lance did, and smirked – his instinct about this particular trainer had been spot-on.

Then the surface of the lake heaved up.

The Red Gyarados emerged first, turning in a tight circle and blasting Dragon Rage back down into the churning water.

It didn't help much. A powerful blast of water came thundering back out of the disturbed lake, producing a cloud of hissing steam as it interacted violently with the Dragon Rage, and then a blue shape followed the Hydro Pump and slammed bodily into the Shiny Pokémon.

"Wow," Misty said softly, as Mega Gyarados drove his opponent back – and back, and back, despite the thrashing tail of the enraged Pokémon pushing back as hard as it could manage.

"Huh," Lance said, next to her. "So that's what a Mega Gyarados looks like."

The Red Gyarados finally managed to thrash out of the way of Misty's Pokémon. Roaring, it charged up and fired a Hyper Beam.

Mega Gyarados took the attack much better than he could have done before his power boost, though – thick scales shedding much of the force of the attack, though it clearly still hurt. He let out an ear-punishing roar, and plunged forwards with fangs bared to deliver a Crunch attack to one of the Red Gyarados' fins.

"Gyarados!" Misty called. "Try and bring him closer!"

The Red Gyarados didn't like the sound of that plan. He twisted, aiming for the side of his opponent, and unleashed a blast of dragonfire.

The tail blow which knocked him over with a concussive slap was not entirely unexpected.


Mega Tyranitar roared, swinging his tail, and a miniature tornado of sand began to form around his body. The remaining light fixtures crumbled, and then some much more durable emergency lights came on – bathing the battlefield in an eerie green glow.

"Get him!" Tyson called out. "Use Fire attacks!"

There were some small red flashes as the Pokémon not in the battle were withdrawn, and everyone human (or Electric-type Pokémon, in the case of Pikachu) ducked for cover.

Then Mega Tyranitar's fists and fangs burst into flame, adding a flickering orange light to the scene where the light got through the gathering sandstorm. Hunching over slightly, he lunged forwards with legs digging into the floor below and tail thrashing behind.

Mega Heracross waited as his opponent advanced, setting his stance. He pulled back his right fist, clenching his claws.

As soon as Mega Tyranitar was near enough, the big dinosaur's fist cocked back. With a roar, he volleyed in the Fire Punch.

The flame-enshrouded fist met a pistonlike Focus Punch coming the other way. The impact produced an audible BANG, blowing wisps of flame in all directions, and both Pokémon staggered back from the impact.

Ash's Mega recovered first. He ducked low, horn foremost, and lunged with it – jabbing at the red patch on Mega Tyranitar's belly where the armour didn't cover.

The Megahorn hit hard making Mega Tyranitar roar in pain, and Mega Heracross worked his legs to keep the horn in contact and doing damage for as long as possible in spite of the sandstorm.

After a few seconds, Mega Tyranitar forced the issue. Kicking out with his left leg, he dug the spiked protrusion on the armoured kneepad into Mega Heracross' side, knocking him back and away.

Bouncing once with a crack on the green-lit floor, Mega Heracross braked his slide and sprang back upright. He squared off for a moment, looking for an opening, and then Mega Tyranitar made his next attack – opening his mouth, and unleashing a stream of billowing orange fire.

Mega Heracross blocked the Flamethrower with crossed arms, protecting his eyes and antennae, and the flame rippled around his horn and fists for a few seconds.

When the flames subsided, Mega Heracross had a few scorch marks on the exposed parts of his body, but he seemed mostly fine.

"Flamethrower again!" Tyson instructed.

Mega Tyranitar got halfway through the process of preparing the second Flamethrower attack when a half-melted piece of computer hit him in the chin. Eyes wide, he half-swallowed the burst of flame, and orange fire burst out between the top and bottom of his mouth.

Shaking his head as he recovered, he roared, and the sand swirling about his body intensified.

"Rock Tomb!" Tyson changed his mind. "Stop him from moving!"

Mega Tyranitar's foot slammed into the floor, and it trembled. The emergency lighting flickered for a moment, and a half-dozen boulders pushed their way up through the floor to surround Mega Heracross.

There was a moment's silence, and then one of the boulders moved.

Mega Tyranitar blinked as his opponent lifted a boulder bigger than it was, and then flinched away as the boulder came flying across the room at him. Swiping with his shoulder armour, Mega Tyranitar blew the rock to pieces, and then tried to see where the Bug-type had gone.

Something pulled on his back.

"He's between your back spines!" Tyson called suddenly, as Mega Tyranitar swung around looking for the cause of the pull. "I just saw – the sandstorm is-"

Mega Tyranitar soon had all the evidence he could need that Mega Heracross was there. A series of fast, repetitive Arm Thrusts began slamming home into the small of his back.

Roaring in pain, Mega Tyranitar slammed his tail on the ground and then swung it up with an almighty crack into the area of his back the pain was coming from. The impact hurt, a lot, but the punches stopped.

"He's just behind you!" Tyson snapped. "Stomp him!"

Steadying himself with his tail, Mega Tyranitar took a step back and slammed his foot down where Mega Heracross had landed.

The foot did not go down all the way. This wasn't because it had hit Mega Heracross, though – it was because Mega Heracross had caught it.

All three Rockets gaped as Mega Heracross clung firmly onto Mega Tyranitar's foot. The bigger Pokémon tried to shake his opponent off, but to no avail, and then Mega Heracross got his feet under him and pushed.

Slowly but surely, Mega Tyranitar was lifted off the ground entirely and into the air. Roaring, the Rock-type tried to get free of Mega Heracross' grip, and got his wish – sort of.

Adjusting his stance, Mega Heracross crouched, and then straightened with an explosive push – throwing Mega Tyranitar across the room to crash into the far wall.

Mega Tyranitar shook his head, a little unstable, and looked up just in time to see the incoming Focus Punch.


Snapping and snarling, the two Gyarados – one shiny, one mega – clashed repeatedly, the sound frightening away whatever Pidgey hadn't already left the area.

Misty's Mega-evolved Pokémon had the upper hand, overall, and was able to gradually force the battle towards the shoreline where his trainer stood. Neck contorting back, he avoided a fanged Bite from the Shiny and counterattacked with a torrent of water.

Soaked and pushed back by the Hydro Pump but manifestly not yet out of the fight, the enraged Gyarados replied with a torrent of green fire which mostly splashed off his target's scales. Some found purchase, burning with a crackling intensity where it could, and Mega Gyarados hissed in pain before slamming his head forwards again to knock the Shiny aside.

Misty watched closely, trying to get a handle on what the two Pokémon were doing and when. If she could spot a-

There!

"Protect!" she called, and Mega Gyarados frowned. Complying, he let up the attack and produced a greenish shield between himself and the Shiny.

About half a second after the shield stabilized, the Red Gyarados fired a Hydro Cannon.

Misty's timing was just right. The striated ball of water hit Mega Gyarados' Protect, compressed momentarily, and exploded outwards in a colossal torrent of water which, unable to get past the shield, went almost entirely back at the red Pokémon.

Startled to be hit so hard, the Shiny staggered backwards – wobbling a little, as the drain from firing the Hydro Cannon acted to momentarily tire him.

Mega Gyarados was not inclined to let him recover. Surging forwards in a powerful Body Slam, he propelled his opponent into the shallows as requested and then crashing to the muddy beach.

"Good!" Misty said, exhaling explosively. "Good work, Gyarados."

"Are you going to catch it?" Lance asked, nodding towards the red Pokémon. "The Shiny, I mean."

"Uh..." Misty frowned. "Not sure, actually – I mean..."

She tailed off.

Last time, she remembered, it had been Lance himself who had caught the big Shiny – and it had been an important member of his team. She'd even heard from Brock that it had helped save him and May once, down in Hoenn.

But last time, Lance had been the one to stop its rampage, as well. Would it even be wise to have him catch it – or to let it go? The Pokémon clearly needed a lot of help controlling his anger...

...and Misty didn't want to be the one to do it. She had a Gyarados, and though he wasn't as strong – nor Shiny – she'd rather use him any day.

Seeing her indecision, Lance frowned. "I know. You catch him, and then I'll trade you him for a Key Stone."

Misty glanced down at the still-faintly-pulsing band around her wrist. "You mean – I'd keep this?"

"Well, you're clearly good at using it," Lance smiled. "Besides, we've got a couple spare."

"Right." Misty nodded, and took the last of her Lure Balls from her bag.

One of them now held her Corsola, an old friend, and one her relatively new Chinchou.

It seemed appropriate for this to be the third. She expanded it out, and threw it.

Too tired to resist much, the Red Gyarados was caught relatively easily.

As she picked up the Lure Ball, there was an orange flash as Gyarados transitioned back down from Mega.

Suicune walked out onto the mud-clouded water, clearing it as she went, and delicately plucked a rough gemstone from the sloping beach. "Found the Mega Stone, Misty."

"Thanks," Misty smiled, then glanced over at Lance. "Is it okay for me to-"

"Finders keepers," the Champion smiled, as she passed him the Lure Ball. "And thank you, Misty. I'm sure he'll be a handful, but Dragonite and I will enjoy the challenge."

"Speak for yourself..." Dragonite grumbled.

Lance waved him off. "I look forward to seeing you at the Silver Conference, Misty. We're hoping to move up the final decision on who qualifies for the open slots there."

"I'm sure I'll be there," Misty told him.


"Good work, Heracross!" Ash called, after waiting a few seconds to be sure the Mega Tyranitar wasn't getting back up again.

Mega Heracross turned to him, saluted, and flashed orange as he transitioned back down. "Not a problem!"

Mega Tyranitar emitted a deep, exhausted moan, and another flash of orange light illuminated the room as he too reverted from his Mega-Evolved state.

Tyson recalled him automatically. "Well," he said, shaking his head. "I thought I had all the bases covered, I really did. Even taught Tyranitar all those Fire moves to handle your Lucario, and now-"

A head poked around the door. "We're finished, sir!" Behind him there was the sound of a helicopter taking off.

"Right!" Tyson turned and jogged for the door. "Hopalong, Cassidy, come with me!"

"Where do you people get these-" Butch began, before Cassidy grabbed him by the wrist and hauled him along with her.

Ash ran forwards, picking his way over the ruined floor of the underground room, and Pikachu came bounding alongside him. They reached the other door some seconds behind the Rockets, and came around it just in time to see Tyson releasing a pair of sleek-looking Fearow.

Two Rockets jumped onto each Flying-type, which got into the air with indecent haste, and Butch also released a Drowzee which blocked Pikachu's quick Thunderbolt attack with a Light Screen.

Then they were out of the closing doors leading to the open air, and Butch just about managed to return the Psychic-type before they were out of sight entirely.

"Ash?" Brock called from the other room. "Is everything alright?"

"They got away," Ash called back. "They flew off, and the doors closed – I don't think I can follow on Pidgeot."

Brock winced. "Ouch. At least we broke their machine."


"So," Ash said, when they were all back together about half an hour later. "How did that go?"

"Not bad, actually," Brock said with a shrug. "I mean, we didn't catch any of the Rockets, but we did manage to stop their plan – early, even."

"Yeah, you're right," Ash nodded. "What about you, Misty?"

"I've got a Mega Stone," she said, glancing down at it again. "I think... yeah, that was a good outcome."

She looked up. "Wait – something Lance mentioned... remember Maurice? The guy with the Altaria?"

"Yeah," Ash nodded. "He got caught by J, right?"

"That's him," she confirmed. "Lance mentioned he's got a Key Stone too."

"Guess the Dragon Clan has a lot of them," Brock said.

Ash nodded, then blinked. "Wait – we need to let Gary know about some of this stuff..."


Gary picked up the phone. "What is it, Ash, it's six in the morning here..."

Pause.

"Of course I know it's you, Dee tells me."

Another pause.

"Wait, wait – you said Team Rocket had this?" Gary groaned. "Right. I'll head over to the Tower of Mastery and let Gurrkin know we may as well just publish now... what did they have?"

Gary took notes as Ash talked. Umbreon paced over, yawning, and cocked her head on one side in confusion.

After a few more seconds, Gary was done. "Right, thanks. So that's a Tyranitarite, a Gyaradosite, and you think there might be an Altarite...Altariaite... or whatever the name is as well. Thanks. Okay, guess I'll see you next time there's some kind of emergency."

He closed the call, and started pulling on a coat. "Okay, Umbreon. We're headed back to Gurrkin's place. Alakazam?"

Alakazam promptly sent himself out. Whenever you're ready.


A pale blue canine with a furred, dark blue mane loped across the surface of a high alpine lake.

Taking her bearings from the mountains, the shiny Suicune accelerated. She didn't have any particular deadline to deliver her message, but the sooner she got there the sooner she could return home – and to Pallet.

After having checked in on just about every legendary in Sinnoh, she for one was looking forwards to some time with Molly.

Coming to her next combination of landmarks, Suicune turned slightly to the left and began to lope up the steep side of a mountain abutting the lake. Her paws gained purchase on the small ledges dotting the rock, using them to push off and reach the next ledge, and before long she arrived at the summit.

Pacing forwards, she came around to the front of the temple surmounting this lonely mountain, and stepped over the threshold.

"Regigigas, I bring greetings," she said formally. "From my lord Ho-Oh, from my siblings, and also from the sundry other Legendaries of our land."

Regigigas did not reply.

"I have important news," she went on. "Regigigas?"

Starting to get a little miffed, she stepped forwards. "Regigigas!"

She waved a pale blue paw in front of his face. No response.

Howling did nothing, either, though some snow did fall off the roof.

Gods. When my counterpart told me that Regigigas had a reaction time measurable with a calendar, she was not far off the mark...

Suicune rolled her eyes. She went outside for a moment, retrieving a large rock, and balanced it on Regigigas' head.

Then she curled up for a nap. Hopefully, if he did wake up, the sound of the falling rock would alert her.

She tried not to think about having to do this again in Snowpoint. Perhaps she should obtain some kind of gong...


High above the Oblivia island chain, somewhere to the north-east of the Coral Sea, a green shape bored along through the sky.

Interesting. So, this is the ozone layer.

Rayquaza's serpentine form flew with the exquisite care of long practice, heading for the precise location he had all-but-instinctively calculated would give him the best angle.

It's not very ozonific. It doesn't smell much like ozone.

Turning back on himself, Rayquaza gave Mewtwo a look. "I had been led to believe you were one of the sensible ones."

Sorry, Mewtwo said promptly. You're right, that was intemperate of me. It's just that this is my first time work shadowing, and...

"I do understand," Rayquaza told him, relenting. "But – well, I'm trying to concentrate."

Mewtwo merely nodded.

Turning back on course, Rayquaza covered the last few miles to his ideal firing position.

He coiled up, hovering in defiance of gravity as though he were an Arbok being charmed on land and not a Legendary Dragon well into the stratosphere.

Looking out into the cosmos, he took only a few seconds to spot his target. A ball of ice and rock, already developing a faint tail from nearness to the sun, and falling steadily towards the green-and-blue world below.

Left to its own devices, it would hit in around half an hour. The impact would produce a sizeable tsunami, affecting much of the ocean basin with waves big enough to destroy cities.

Rayquaza did not intend to leave this potential bolide alone.

Frowning, he began the almost-automatic process of compensating for atmospheric disturbance – then felt a faint whisker of psionic energy.

"Mewtwo, don't jog me," he requested.

Sorry, just making sure it wasn't a Deoxys on there, Mewtwo replied. Carry on.

"I will."

Returning to his work, Rayquaza felt the atmosphere above him. Already calm, he extended his Air Lock out into it, and it became glassy-still – as clear as space.

The great dragon inhaled. Energy crackled in his maw, building and cresting, and then an intense Hyper Beam speared out at the incoming rock.

It exploded into a thousand pieces.

Turning with exquisite smoothness, Rayquaza targeted the largest piece that remained and sent a Dragon Pulse to intercept it. Then the next largest. The next.

Within two minutes, every rock over a hundred or so tonnes had been targeted to be blown to fragments. It would take a while longer for the long-range Dragon Pulses to connect with their targets, but Rayquaza's job was done.

Very impressive, Mewtwo told him sincerely. If you don't mind my asking, how do you discern when a dangerous rock is coming in?

"I have a network of Absol and Xatu," Rayquaza replied. "Between them they pick up any disasters on a large enough scale, and I get a warning some weeks in advance. I just tend to wait until they're close enough I'm certain of hitting, though the larger the rock the earlier I have to start."

My thanks, Mewtwo nodded. How long have you been doing your job?

"About sixty-five million years." Rayquaza looked off into the distance. "Formerly my main role was regulating Groudon and Kyogre, but after the Creator of All was pancaked into the asthenosphere by a meteorite ten miles across he decided to take steps."

Mewtwo winced. Ouch. He was under that?

"He had all his Plates, so it wasn't dangerous to him, but I am reliably informed it hurt."

Ah. Mewtwo looked down. Speaking of Groudon and Kyogre, it seems that they are fighting. Again.

"You what?" Rayquaza glanced down, seeing the flashes of red and blue in the middle of the Coral Sea already being obscured by a roiling hurricane, and sighed. "Oh, no, not again. At least I'm high up... hey, morons! Dragon Ascent from a hundred thousand feet!"

Rolling over, the green Dragon-type plunged towards the ground.

I suppose I should follow him... Mewtwo mused.


AN:

I told you they were unlucky to face Ash.

So – that was the first Mega versus Mega fight for the fic. Unfortunately for Tyson, his list of Ash's powerful Pokémon had a few glaring holes in it.

Also more Legendaries at work.