"Roar!" Just then, however, the black Gyarados went berserk again. Black mist seemed to burst from every glossy black scale, sweeping away all the clear water vapor surrounding it. It turned toward Xun Chaoze and fired a Hyper Beam, which detonated with a thunderous boom.
"Ah!" It all happened far too quickly. No one had expected the Gyarados, which had already begun to calm down, to attack so suddenly. The young married woman watching the battle in front of the large screen shrieked, her eyes rolled back, and she fainted on the spot. The people inside the building, young and old alike, could no longer sit still. They filed outside, released their Pokémon, and rushed toward the battlefield.
"Aze, Aze, are you all right?" Aze had closed his eyes and waited for death, yet he felt no pain. Instead, a familiar voice reached his ears, and something tickled his nose, making him sneeze. He opened his eyes to find his childhood companion shielding him with a green barrier. A long, aqua-blue tail brushed back and forth across his nose, and the eyes looking at him held a teasing glint.
"I'm fine!" Only then did Xun Chaoze realize he was sitting flat on the ground. He had no mirror, but he knew he must look terribly pale and disheveled. None of that mattered, though. Seeing his companion filled his heart with warmth, and he said gratefully, "But without you, I wouldn't have been! Thank you, Keldeo!"
"I told you ages ago to keep a close eye on your Gyarados. The moment you see even the slightest sign of it going berserk, you have to recall it, even if it costs you the match. See? Something really did happen!" Keldeo's voice through Telepathy still sounded young, but the tone was that of