Chapter 738: Cycle
Chapter 738: Cycle
After flying for about half a day, Yuga's Dragonite suddenly became restless.
Just as Yuga was about to ask what had happened to Dragonite, a Pokémon suddenly flew out from the woods beneath them.
This Pokémon was charred all over, looking severely wounded. It was none other than the Zapdos that had suffered greatly at the hands of Heatran.
This Zapdos should have escaped the battlefield after sustaining heavy injuries, and it had just happened to encounter Yuga and Shadowsong on the way.
The Zapdos was fixated on Dragonite under Yuga, its eyes filled with longing and greed.
Yuga knew that this Zapdos had likely sensed the special divinity incubating within the yellow gem on Dragonite's body.
Being severely wounded, it must have been eager to obtain Dragonite's power to heal itself.
Yuga was about to instruct Gardevoir to deal with the Zapdos when Dragonite stopped him.
Dragonite said it wanted to handle the Zapdos itself.
Seeing this heavily injured Zapdos, Yuga was concerned, but after some thought, he agreed to Dragonite's request.
Dragonite must have had its own reasons for making this request, and with Gardevoir watching, nothing should go wrong.
Gardevoir used its psychic powers to guide Yuga away from Dragonite. Dragonite confronted the Zapdos.
The Zapdos was surrounded by crackling lightning, and golden electric currents transformed into arrows, flying towards Dragonite.
But when those electric currents were about to hit Dragonite, a golden light shone near Dragonite's throat, where the yellow gem was located. All the electric currents were drawn towards that golden light and absorbed into it.
That location was where the yellow gem was situated.
Remnants of electricity swirled around Dragonite, making crackling sounds, but it didn't harm Dragonite in any way.
Not only was Zapdos dumbfounded, but Yuga was also amazed.
That was a Legendary Zapdos using a full-power Thunderbolt! Yet, Dragonite had absorbed it effortlessly.
Although this Zapdos was still young and heavily wounded, Dragonite had only recently reached the Elite level.
Unconvinced, Zapdos launched another Thunderbolt at Dragonite.
However, the result remained the same.
After enduring two Thunderbolts from Zapdos, Dragonite began to counterattack.
It soared into the sky and then dived down, generating a white spiral of air that resembled a drill. It rotated rapidly and thrust towards Zapdos.
The ground shook violently as Zapdos was slammed into the ground. The tremendous impact not only created a massive crater in the ground but also caused the surrounding trees to topple in a circular pattern.
Zapdos, in a sorry state, flew out of the pit it had created, staring at Dragonite with red eyes, wishing it could punch a hole in Dragonite.
This tiny creature!
In Zapdos' eyes, Dragonite was no different from an ordinary insect, but today, this insect had caused it so much trouble.
Zapdos was a Legendary Pokémon, far beyond ordinary Pokémon in terms of stamina and defense. Dragonite's Dragon Rush had made it look miserable, but the actual damage wasn't significant.
The enraged Zapdos flapped its wings and charged into the sky. Dark clouds began to gather in the sky, accompanied by drizzling rain.
Looking at the thickening clouds, still flashing with lightning, Yuga felt an overwhelming sense of déjà vu.
It was the same as the rainstorm and thunder attack Dragonite had used before.
Clearly, Zapdos was preparing a powerful move.
The Dragonite glanced up at the pitch-black, roiling storm clouds overhead, and with a determined look in its eyes, it charged into them, much like Zapdos.
Seeing Dragonite behavior, Yuga was worried that it might get carried away. Even though Dragonite had the yellow gem, that cloud was undoubtedly a thunderstorm created by Zapdos, and Dragonite was at risk.
After Dragonite entered the cloud, Yuga could only hear the sharp cries of Zapdos from within. The sound was filled with extreme anger.
Although Yuga couldn't see the specific situation inside the cloud, the cloud's rolling speed continued to increase, like boiling hot water.
Occasionally, thick lightning bolts shot out from the cloud, destroying numerous trees below. Yuga and Shadowsong had to constantly dodge these lightning bolts to avoid being hit.
After about an hour, when Yuga was becoming impatient, the cloud suddenly contracted. Zapdos, covered in black smoke and devoid of any electrical energy, fell from the cloud.
At this moment, Zapdos was entirely drained of its electric power, and its body was completely exhausted.
With a muffled thud, Zapdos fell to the ground and let out a weak, pitiful cry.
The dark cloud in the sky gradually shrank until it condensed into a black sphere. With a series of crackling explosions, Dragonite emerged from the black sphere.
At this point, it was surrounded by flickering lightning, like a mighty general clad in golden armor, exuding immense power.
At the same time, the light rain that had been falling disappeared.
Zapdos stood up from the ground, stretched its wings, and looked up at Dragonite, which was full of vigor. It finally realized that its electric abilities were ineffective against this opponent and would only be absorbed.
Feeling the complete depletion of electrical energy in its body, Zapdos felt that its injuries had worsened.
Its electric attacks had never been humiliated like this before, not even Ground-type Pokémon could resist it, let alone today, when it was completely drained.
This was a classic case of stealing a chicken only to lose the rice.
Zapdos no longer insisted on using its electric abilities. It flew back into the sky, reached the same altitude as Dragonite, and then flapped its wings. A surge of red-hot air rushed toward Dragonite.
This time, it was a Fire-type move, Heat Wave.
Aside from electric abilities, Zapdos rarely used moves of other types, so its proficiency with Fire-type moves couldn't compare to its Thunderbolt.
However, despite this, Dragonite still felt an intense sense of danger from the Heat Wave.
It knew it couldn't withstand this Heat Wave.
Dragonite's previous advantage over Zapdos was entirely due to the help of the yellow gem. But now that Zapdos had stopped using electric-type moves, Dragonite wouldn't gain the upper hand anymore, even though Zapdos was heavily wounded.
Dragonite swiftly dodged the first Heat Wave, but before it could catch its breath, Zapdos unleashed another one.
Dragonite evaded once again!
However, Dragonite's stamina was limited, and it quickly couldn't keep up with Zapdos's frequent attacks.
Finally, when Dragonite couldn't hold on any longer, another Heat Wave came. Seeing the fiery waves expanding in its field of vision, Dragonite realized it couldn't escape this time.
At the critical moment, Dragonite saw Gardevoir using Teleport and position itself in front of him. Gardevoir used a powerful psychic force to intercept the incoming Heat Wave.
After blocking the attack, Gardevoir once again use Teleport and appeared above Zapdos. With a powerful psychic, it slammed Zapdos into the ground.
Gardevoir's attack strength was on a completely different level from Dragonite's, and it inflicted massive damage on the already injured Zapdos.
Before being heavily wounded, Zapdos might have been slightly stronger than Gardevoir. However, in its injured state, it was no match for Gardevoir.
Controlled by Gardevoir's psychic power, Zapdos struggled on the ground, not willing to give in.
After a dozen or so strikes directed by Gardevoir's psychic power, Zapdos reluctantly closed its eyes.
When Dragonite returned, Yuga scolded it sternly for its recklessness. He also reflected on himself, acknowledging that he shouldn't have let Dragonite face a much stronger Zapdos without knowing the full situation.
"What should we do with this Zapdos?" Yuga found himself in a dilemma.
If this were the future, Yuga would have undoubtedly captured it without hesitation. After all, it was a genuine Legendary Pokémon!
But this was the past, and he couldn't bring back any Pokémon from here. Entrusting it to Shadowsong wasn't an option either, as Shadowsong's strength was limited. Once this Zapdos recovered and turned hostile, it might easily harm Shadowsong.
While Yuga was contemplating, Dragonite directly landed on Zapdos.
"What are you doing?" Yuga watched in horror as Dragonite did this.
Then he saw the yellow gem on Dragonite's body flashing intensely. Countless golden energies flowed out from Zapdos and were absorbed into the yellow gem.
About ten minutes later, Yuga urgently shouted, "Alright, Dragonite, stop! If you keep absorbing, it will die!"
Although he knew that these golden energies from Zapdos were beneficial to Dragonite, he couldn't let it absorb to the point of killing Zapdos.
Upon hearing Yuga's words, Dragonite reluctantly stopped absorbing and dismounted from Zapdos.
Looking at the pitiful Zapdos, Yuga felt a great deal of sympathy.
This time, it was truly drained!
However, Yuga quickly understood why Dragonite had taken matters into its own hands and absorbed Zapdos to the point of exhaustion.
It turned out this Zapdos was the same one from a thousand years in the future—the one that had captured a Dratini, harmed Dragonite's mother.
Yuga had seen that Zapdos before, but from a distance. He couldn't identify Zapdos's aura due to the distance, and since all Zapdos looked alike, he couldn't recognize it.
However, Dragonite had interacted with it and could easily recognize it.
Yuga looked at Dragonite, then back at Zapdos, suddenly realizing why that Zapdos had randomly captured a Dratini. It had likely mistaken the Dratini's aura for Dragonite's and believed it was capturing the offspring of the Dragonite it had drained a thousand years ago.
But this was a case of karma coming full circle.
Dragonite had been captured by Zapdos in the past, which had also harmed Dragonite's mother. So, it had drained Zapdos in return.
A thousand years later, Zapdos, thinking it was capturing Dragonite's descendant (by mistake), wanted revenge. It didn't realize it had caught the wrong Pokémon.
Fortunately, Yuga had stayed away at that time, avoiding getting involved out of curiosity. Otherwise, if Zapdos had recognized him, he might have been torn to shreds.
Knowing that this Zapdos was the one from a thousand years in the future, Yuga decided to release it.
After all, it had been the turning point that led him to meet Dragonite. Without it, he might never have obtained Dragonite, and the course of events would have been different.
Before leaving, Yuga kindly asked Gardevoir to heal Zapdos's injuries and found a safe place for it to recover, preventing it from encountering any danger.
Although Dragonite was somewhat dissatisfied with Yuga's actions, it eventually calmed down after Yuga's reassurance.