"Who said I only had one?"
Charizard's Poké Ball sprang open. Red light flared, and a wave of heat swept outward from the center of the arena, lifting the hem of Cyrus's coat and slapping it against his legs.
Charizard landed in front of Lugia. The instant all four claws touched the ground, its tail flame turned blue-white. It looked back at the Deep-Sea God, and Lugia lowered its head to meet its gaze, that cluster of blue fire reflected in its silver eyes.
The two Pokémon needed no words. The moment they landed, they were in sync.
Cyrus stared at Charizard. "A Champion-level Charizard and Lugia?"
"Too many for you?"
"No." Cyrus sneered. "Just enough to make this worthwhile. Dialga, Roar of Time! Palkia, Spacial Rend!"
Both replicas moved at once.
Dialga opened its mouth and spat out a deep-blue beam of temporal energy. Wherever it passed, the air stopped moving and rubble hung suspended in midair.
Palkia slashed through space with its claws. Crimson-purple rifts spread toward Lugia, their edges devouring everything they touched.
The two attacks closed in, cutting off every escape route.
"Lugia, Extreme Speed. Charizard, stop Roar of Time."
Lugia beat its silver wings. Its enormous body vanished from the path of the crimson-purple spatial rift without even leaving an afterimage.
Charizard met Roar of Time head-on, blue-white flames pouring through the gaps between its scales.
"Explosive Flame Impact."
Using its own body as an arrowhead, it plunged into the center of the temporal beam, wrapped in blistering heat. The explosion of colliding energies overturned half the arena. Rubble flew in every direction, spraying the front-row railings with charred dust.
Charizard burst out of the smoke. Several scales had shattered on its left shoulder, exposing dark-red tissue beneath, but the light in its eyes burned