"You… you actually have the Sky God, Rayquaza? That's the strongest of all Flying-type Pokémon…"
Even the normally composed Winona completely lost her calm.
From the moment Rayquaza appeared, there was no longer any expectation of a fair battle in her eyes—only admiration.
At the same time, her feelings toward Aiden Flint rose even further.
A man who could command Rayquaza… how powerful did he have to be?
"Rayquaza, use Dragon Ascent—just don't go all out."
Among all Flying-type moves, Dragon Ascent was Rayquaza's strongest.
As Aiden gave the order, Rayquaza let out a low, disdainful growl, glanced at Altaria, then looked back at Aiden as if saying:
This weakling? You really called me out for this?
Aiden raised an eyebrow.
"Hey, I brought you out to flex, alright?"
Even so, it was still his Trainer's command.
In the next instant, Rayquaza roared as terrifying Flying-type energy surged outward, enveloping the entire battlefield.
The sky itself seemed to warp, like a storm about to tear heaven and earth apart.
The sheer presence of the move burned itself into Winona's and the referee's minds.
For a split second, the referee even thought he was about to die on the spot.
And then—
Altaria dropped straight to the ground, completely knocked out.
"Altaria has lost the ability to battle… Ray… Rayquaza wins!"
Even the Fortree Gym referee was screaming inside:
Who the hell brings a Rayquaza to a Gym battle?!
Fortunately, Winona was a devoted Flying-type specialist.
For her, seeing Rayquaza was more joy than fear—otherwise, she might have quit being a Gym Leader on the spot.
(Norman: Now you understand how much pressure I was under back then, right?)
After the battle, Aiden recalled Rayquaza and received the system reward: Metagrossite.
Now his strongest Pokémon—Sceptile, Pidgeot, Aggron, Metagross, and Aerodactyl—all had Mega Evolution.
Together with Milotic, these formed Aiden's six core aces.
As for Rayquaza, it possessed a Heavenly Organ and didn't even need a Mega Stone—it could Mega Evolve naturally.
He simply hadn't met anyone yet who actually forced him to use Mega Rayquaza.
What Aiden really wanted now was Milotic's Mega Stone—he was extremely curious what Mega Milotic would look like.
"Aiden Flint, this is proof of your victory over the Fortree Gym—the Feather Badge.
I hope you achieve great results in the Ever Grande Conference."
Winona blushed slightly and added shyly,
"Um… would I have a chance to see Rayquaza again someday? I really admire it…"
Aiden: "???"
...
After leaving Fortree Gym, seeing Winona's reluctant expression, Aiden felt oddly guilty—like he'd just broken someone's heart.
But time was short.
With the Ever Grande Conference approaching, he still needed Gym Badges—and he also planned to go after Team Aqua and Team Magma.
After all, according to the plot, Kyogre and Groudon would soon awaken.
If he didn't capture them during this coming chaos, he might never get another chance.
Sure, with Hoopa you could summon Legendaries one by one—but that would almost certainly provoke Arceus.
In Hoopa's movie, a Legendary war erupted, and Arceus had to step in personally.
Every Legendary flew away afterward—except Groudon, who couldn't fly and had to walk home.
Just thinking about it was sad.
Back when the system first appeared, Aiden had three choices.
Now that collecting them all was possible, there was no way he'd miss it.
And luckily, he had chosen Rayquaza back then—
If he'd chosen Groudon or Kyogre instead, his current strength wouldn't even be enough to challenge Rayquaza.
After leaving Fortree City, Aiden focused on leveling his newly obtained starters.
With his current power, pushing them through their first evolutions was easy.
In just one week, all five had evolved:
Combusken, Charmeleon, Servine, Grotle, and Croconaw.
Seeing them grow stronger, Aiden assigned them to train under his main Pokémon—matching types to speed up their progress.
Meanwhile, the Eevee he had hatched earlier suddenly began to evolve.
Its friendship with Aiden was over 50, and it had learned Fairy-type moves.
Surrounded by evolution light, it transformed—
Into Sylveon.
Ding!
Pokémon: Sylveon
Level: 25
Ability: Cute Charm
Type: Fairy
Potential: Gold
Bond Evolution: Locked
Mega Evolution: Locked
Moves: Baton Pass, Take Down, Baby-Doll Eyes, Light Screen, Draining Kiss, Misty Terrain…
Friendship: 252
Background: Eevee personally raised by the host; evolved after learning Baby-Doll Eyes
Hobby: Loves to play
"Congratulations, Sylveon. From now on, you're my number one counter to Dragon-type Pokémon."
Sylveon happily leapt into Aiden's arms, cuddling against him as it let out a soft cry.
Read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon -> patreon.com/SorenSwiftTL