In space, beyond the Sinnoh Region's atmosphere.
Rayquaza and Deoxys, who came from other planets, were old rivals of sorts.
Rayquaza would stop Deoxys from entering the Pokémon world.
A lone Deoxys had almost no chance of defeating Rayquaza.
That was why people occasionally found strange-looking meteorites.
But those were not actually meteorites. They were Deoxys that had lost most of their meteorite energy after being beaten by Rayquaza.
These three Deoxys had taken every care to detour around the skies above the Hoenn Region...
Yet they had never expected another Black Rayquaza to be living here!
This Black Rayquaza was the very one Li Wei and Steven had encountered in the Mirror Stone World.
After an inconclusive battle with Arceus's avatar, Black Rayquaza had chosen to settle in the atmosphere for the time being.
"No passage beyond this point."
Black Rayquaza's voice was languid, utterly dismissive of the three Deoxys before it.
This was not Black Rayquaza's first encounter with Deoxys.
Over the years, Black Rayquaza had encountered at least ten Deoxys, if not twenty.
Faced with Black Rayquaza blocking their way to the blue planet below,
the three Deoxys, with red, blue, and purple cores respectively, attacked without a moment's hesitation!
A highly compressed beam of yellow energy instantly gathered at the pointed tip of Attack Forme Deoxys's arm. It was Charge Beam!
The brilliant golden beam exploded against Rayquaza's head!
Almost simultaneously, Speed Forme Deoxys became a blurry red streak, appearing beside Black Rayquaza like a phantom,
a layer of Psychic-type energy coating Deoxys's forehead. It was Zen Headbutt!
Defense Forme Deoxys, meanwhile, covered its entire body in a strange energy: Cosmic Power, which raised its Defense and Special Defense!
Surrounding their opponent on three sides, the three Deoxys were confident they could take Black Rayquaza head-on.