~Chapter 43: Dance of the Ancients~
I stared numbly at the silhouettes of the Rocket airships as they disappeared over the horizon. They’d gotten the orb, and we’d all just sat there and watched it happen, and it wasn’t like we should’ve said ‘screw the hostages,’ but there should have been
something. Anything.
While I was frozen, Swift glided down to where Firestorm had landed—the same island where Archie’s ship was beached. The Charizard was still holding Latias, his arms clasped tightly around her sides.
“It should be safe to let go now,” I said.
He gave one last furtive glance around and then nodded, setting the dragon gently onto the sand. The ice had largely melted from her on account of being held by a Charizard for the past few minutes. Her breathing was still shaky and her body shivered uncontrollably.
I reached into my belt pouch and retrieved a revive crystal before cracking its shell and holding it to Latias’s forehead. Several seconds passed, all of us waiting with bated breath. Finally, her eyes snapped open. The dragon jolted upward, eyes darting back and forth before she stopped and blinked in confusion.
Her gaze snapped to mine. “*Did we…?*”
I shook my head, and the look on her face crushed my heart.
“*I wasn’t able to stop them,*” Latias said emptily, staring downward. “*I failed again.*” Her claws dug into the sand.
I bit my lip, glancing away. It wasn’t fair to expect her to beat a Legendary just because she was a legend herself—especially not one with such an overwhelming advantage. But I had no idea how to say that convincingly. Where was Mew—she’d know what to say.
Actually… where
was Mew? I turned my head in all directions, but I couldn’t see her or Ajia anywhere. Guess I was on my own here. I awkwardly put a hand on Latias’ shoulder. “You did the best you could. And this isn’t over. Not by a long shot.”
The dragon nodded distantly, her amber eyes now staring off to sea.
“Can you heal yourself?” I asked gently.
It took several seconds for her to respond. But then she finally closed her eyes and let a healing glow ripple across the surface of her feathers.
Footsteps crunched in the sand behind me. Slowly, Starr walked up to stand alongside us. She didn’t say anything at first. She just stood by my side, watching Latias heal in silence.
“Is it bad that my first thought was why the Rockets didn’t just do that sooner?” she finally whispered, a bitter edge to her voice. “It’s what I would’ve done.”
I fought back a shudder. She didn’t want me to answer. I knew that much.
In the seas all around us, everyone was regrouping now that the Rockets had left. Water-types ferried unconscious teammates back to the Aquas. Flying-types landed on the ships and the sandbars. The Aqua boats that hadn’t sunk were all converging on the point where Archie’s ship had beached. Out the corner of my eye, I saw Aros and Chibi landing alongside Swift and Firestorm—at least we’d all made it through okay.
Then a sudden thud caught my ear behind me. I spun around to see Darren’s Skarmory sprawled out in the sand, Darren himself awkwardly stumbling off the metal bird’s back. Weavile followed close behind, shaking water from her fur.
I jogged over to them. “Hey, are you—oh geez.”
Skarmory was breathing heavily, blood streaming through holes in his armor. Darren himself was soaking wet (had he fallen into the ocean at some point?) and hurriedly spraying the steel-type with a potion.
“I forgot he didn’t know Protect,” he said breathlessly, not looking up at me. “If his armor weren’t so sturdy, we’d’ve been screwed.”
What? He didn’t know—
oh. Skarmory wasn’t on the Rebellion. God, it had just become second nature to order Protect at a moment’s notice after all our time on that team. But he’d never learned it.
“Do you need a revive? I’ve got one left if you—”
Darren shook his head, grabbing a Pokéball and recalling the metal bird. “No, no, I’m just… gonna keep him in the ball. Until we have the chance to hit a Pokécenter.” That was his second Pokémon that had been incapacitated. How much longer until we’d get a chance to heal everyone?
Darren let out a hollow laugh. When I gave him a look, he said, “I’m just trying to imagine how he felt. ‘Use Protect, I don’t
know that move, idiot.’”
I wasn’t sure what to say to that. It was all too easy to see myself in his position—I couldn’t help suppressing a shiver.
A flash of light caught my eye. Ajia had just blinked into view with ‘Espeon’ on one side and Archie on the other. The latter stared downward with a cold, steely expression. And then it hit me—Skarmory was far from the only critical injury that the group had suffered.
“How’d it go?” a woman asked. I glanced upward to see Shelly staring down at the Aqua leader from the beached ship’s deck. She gripped the railing with trembling arms, still soaked from when Articuno had dropped her into the sea.
Archie took a deep breath. “Took Matt to a hospital in Lilycove. They rushed him into the ER. Sounded pretty confident, so… I think he’s gonna be alright.”
She gave him a curious look. “You’re not staying with him?”
Archie was quiet for some time, staring down at the sand. “No. No, he’ll be alright. ‘Sides, we gotta stop things from getting any worse.” He clenched his fists, jerking his head up to give a stern look to all of the Aquas gathered around. “We’re not gonna let those assholes get away with this, ya hear? If there’s any way we can help fix things, we gotta take that chance.” Archie turned his gaze to the south. “We owe it to Hoenn for what we all did last time.”
Ajia was still standing next to him, nodding to Mew as they talked psychically. I walked over to stand next to her and was suddenly struck by just how frazzled she looked. Her eyes held a strange combination of heaviness and manic, barely-contained energy.
“Are… you okay?” I asked her.
Ajia blinked at me in confusion. Her eyes flickered towards Mew, and she forced a smile that looked almost genuine. Almost. “I know things look bad right now, but it’s not over. We can still fix this.”
That kind of evasion didn’t seem promising. “I… know that, but are you—?”
“Oi! This one belong to any of you?!” a voice suddenly rang out.
I turned and squinted at an Aqua waving to us from an approaching boat. In front of them, a Wailmer was carrying something on its back. Something orange—some kind of wet, bedraggled furball?
Wait. No. No no no. It was a Floatzel.
“Jet!” I screamed, breaking into a run across the sandbar, sprinting through the surf until I was right in front of her, staring at her limp body splayed out across the Wailmer’s back with matted, bloodstained fur. Dread crept up the back of my neck. Was she…? No—no, she was still breathing. Thank god. I grabbed a revive crystal, cracked it, and held it to her forehead.
The wait was agony. It couldn’t have been more than thirty seconds, but those seconds took an eternity. She was going to be okay. Just had to keep telling myself that. After who knows how long, I noticed that the bleeding had slowed, and her breathing had grown steadier. Good, good. She was going to be okay—and this time I actually believed it.
In an instant, Jet’s eyes snapped open and she sprung onto all fours, hissing madly. I sprang back, waving my arms in front of her face.
“Hey! Hey, you okay?”
The Floatzel blinked at me for a few seconds before slowly sinking back down, some of the tension in her muscles loosening. Her breathing was still shaky, eyes still darting around frantically.
“What… what happened?” I asked, trying to keep the confusion out of my voice.
The sea weasel stared downward, eyes wide and unblinking. “*Couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. They were all surrounding, but… couldn’t fight back. Just… sinking, and I couldn’t… I couldn’t…*”
“You couldn’t what?” I shook my head. “Never mind, we’re safe now, you can—”
She shook her head vigorously, screwing her eyes shut. I slowly reached out a hand to brush the fur on her arm, and she flinched. My heart crumpled inward. What on earth had happened? (I hadn’t seen it, I’d almost left her behind, she could’ve—)
Unsure of what else to do, I held out her Pokéball. “Did you want to—?” Before I could even finish the sentence, Jet reached out and tapped the button, dissolving herself into the ball.
I stood frozen. None of the Aquas said anything, but I could feel all their eyes on me.
Jet didn’t know Protect. Just like Skarmory. I’d let her go out into a warzone, and I hadn’t even considered the fact that she wasn’t trained for it like the rest of us. But at least Darren had been there for Skarmory. I hadn’t even
seen what had happened to Jet, and if the Aquas hadn’t said anything, I might have forgotten her entirely. What the hell was wrong with me?
I walked numbly back onto shore, lower half now soaking wet from wading through the surf. Swift and Firestorm both watched with obvious concern. Aros was pretending very hard to look like he hadn’t seen anything.
A hand grabbed my shoulder, and I flinched. “Come on, let’s go,” Starr said heavily.
I swallowed hard and nodded, recalling Aros, Swift, and Firestorm while Chibi returned to his usual perch on my shoulder. I half-expected him to say something, but he didn’t.
“We’re going on ahead,” Ajia announced. Latias gave a sharp nod. All of her fear and regret was gone, replaced with steely resolve.
Archie turned from his conversation with Shelly. “We’ll catch up as soon as we can.” Then, as an afterthought, he added, “And don’t worry, we’ll keep this lot safe,” jerking a thumb toward the Magmas. Tabitha glared at him like he was trying to find a way to feel insulted. Courtney was busy healing her Camerupt, spraying down the gashes across its fur.
The last thing I saw was Archie giving us a determined grin. “Give ‘em hell for us.” Then everything melted into light.
Our surroundings rematerialized into a ridge of white rocks, and I immediately had to shield my eyes. Holy crap,
the sun. It wasn’t even that high in the sky, but the light was blinding. And the heat—it pressed in from all sides like a smothering blanket. It felt like I was going to drown in it.
Slowly, I dared to open my eyes a crack, letting them adjust. I found myself looking down on a lake-filled crater, half-hidden under giant clouds of billowing steam. I squinted at the haze of white, struggling to make out any details. Where was it, it had to be here…
Then the steam parted, and I caught a flash of red. Just long enough for a glimpse of the giant crimson beast responsible for this—piercing yellow eyes, claws dripping with lava, and jagged, spiky hide crisscrossed with glowing blue veins.
Groudon. The embodiment of the earth.
Somehow, even after all this time, even after getting used to the idea that the ancient, all-powerful Legendaries could be captured in a Pokéball just like any common Pokémon… the idea that
this thing was in danger of being captured just seemed… ridiculous. It was stupid—why on earth would Groudon be any different than the other Legendaries? But somehow, it just felt on a whole other level. Standing here, being in its presence, I couldn’t help feeling unbearably small and insignificant.
“God, they’ve really done it now,” Starr muttered under her breath. “Going after the legends back home was one thing but
this? I always knew things would get out of hand eventually. Never thought I’d actually see it though,” she added with a dry laugh.
I couldn’t help noticing Ajia giving me sideways glances in the middle of her back and forth with Mew. I was about to ask why, but then, wait—had they even
known that Groudon was awake before we’d gotten here? I hadn’t told her. And now that we were here, the idea of sharing what happened at the Magma base burned almost as much as the heat. We’d failed, and now an entire city was in danger, and—
“We can’t let them awaken Kyogre,” Ajia said suddenly, yanking me out of my spiral. “If Ender teleported into the Cave of Origin, then we’ve got to go after him.” She was pacing, her movements twitchy, erratic, like everything was running on overdrive.
Mew pawed at the ground, looking pensive. <I’ve been inside the Cave of Origin many times. But I’ve never laid eyes on the chamber where the land and sea were put to rest during the last crisis, so I will be unable to teleport there directly.> Her Espeon body’s forked tail flicked anxiously.
“We’ll find it,” Ajia said firmly. Then she turned back to the rest of us and forced a smile. “Keep each other safe. And keep Groudon safe!”
I blinked. “You two are going in alone?”
“We can’t risk all of us going in there and leaving Groudon unguarded,” Ajia answered. Her words had a practiced tone, like she’d already been planning to say that.
“But…”—I gestured vaguely upward—“Lugia and Ho-oh?”
“They could get captured too,” she immediately countered. “And then what? Besides, dark narrow caves, I’m gonna have Z try to get the jump on them. Not gonna fight them head on.”
Starr let out an unimpressed snort. “You expect us to just let you run off and play hero by yourself while we—”
“Just trust me, alright?” Ajia exclaimed, her voice desperate. “We need the rest of you to stay out here, okay?”
Starr gave her a long, hard stare. Finally, she clapped a hand to Ajia’s shoulder and said, “Come back alive, got it?”
Ajia blinked at her in surprise, but Starr’s expression was dead serious. She gave her a reassuring grin. “Of course.” Then Ajia and Mew blinked out of sight.
They could handle it. Had to tell myself that. It was the only way to keep the growing pile of anxiety from consuming my thoughts.
So that left us to deal with the Rockets out here. There was just one problem—where
were the Rockets? The steam was thick enough that I couldn’t see much of anything around Groudon, but from its movements… it sure didn’t
look like it was fighting off any attackers. It was just calmly walking forward. Vast flows of lava slowly spread out all around it, cooling as they hit the lakewater. Each footstep sent tremors spreading so far throughout the crater that I could feel them even from way up here.
“It’s not being attacked,” I muttered. “Maybe it managed to fight the Rockets off before we got here?”
Chibi’s eyes narrowed, ears twitching. “*That, or the Rockets are waiting for something.*”
“Yeah, but what?” He didn’t answer. His paws clenched my sleeve as he stared downward, deep in thought.
A shadow passed overhead. I jerked my head upward to see Lugia and Ho-oh, circling high above us.
<Lugia! We’re here!> I called out.
Lugia snapped its head toward us, then turned back to Ho-oh briefly before the pair of them spiraled down. Gusts of air swept outward as the pair touched down on the white rock, folding their wings and throwing troubled glances back at the lava beast in the center of the crater.
“Well… it’s good to see the Rockets didn’t catch Groudon,” I said. That was at least one good thing, right?
Lugia shifted its wings uncomfortably. <They didn’t try to.>
I tilted my head. “What?”
<Nothing happened. The airships stayed outside the crater the entire time. They didn’t even attempt to approach Groudon.> It gestured a wing behind us, away from the crater.
What? I spun around and sure enough, there they were—the fleet of airships, grounded on the northern shore of the island. I could just barely make out a small yellow shape pacing in front of them (Raikou?). And something large and blue perched on one of the ships, most likely Articuno.
This didn’t make any sense. An entire fleet of airships equipped with ALRs, combined with the power of multiple captive Legendaries. And they didn’t even try? Were they just waiting for the forces from the Magma base to meet them? But then we’d have Rudy and Moltres at our side, so really, that’d even things out.
Rudy. How was he doing? Stuck riding Moltres halfway across the region. On his own if the two of them were ambushed. Part of me couldn’t help wishing that he’d come with us, and let Moltres pursue the airship by itself. But that wasn’t alright either. He was chosen now. He needed to have Moltres’s back. Even if…
“I am not so optimistic to believe that they stayed back because Lugia and myself were standing guard,” Ho-oh said. “That said, it didn’t seem wise to abandon Groudon.”
I continued to stare at the Rocket fleet, a feeling of sickly unease dawning on me. “We… we messed up. We shouldn’t have sent you to Sootopolis. But… I thought Groudon would be in danger.” I threw another glance back at the red beast, watching as it called a giant plume of magma up from beneath the lake, forming a large hill. “They never even tried to catch it?”
<Evidently not.>
“But that doesn’t make any sense!” I said again, like saying it out loud would somehow force an answer into being. The Rockets had every opportunity to catch Groudon, and they’d just ignored it. Unless…
Latias tapped her claws together. “*Perhaps they didn’t think they had the power to challenge the earth directly. If they awakened the sea as well, and let the two fight, then both would be much easier to capture, yes?*”
Dammit, that made sense. If we’d known… there wouldn’t have been any reason to send Lugia and Ho-oh here. They could’ve helped fight off the Johto force. They could’ve—I froze, gears turning in my head. “Stalker. He—he told us the Rockets’ forces would be here so we’d send our most powerful legends here. He
wanted them to get the orbs.”
Starr stomped the ground, shaking her head. “I told you guys. I
told you that Sebastian was playing you.”
I screwed my eyes shut. “I
know, alright? I know.”
“You knew, but you ran right into it anyway,” she said, her voice heating up.
“Well, it wasn’t like we could just ignore him either!” I yelled, throwing both hands toward the Rocket airships. “Were we supposed to just
let the Rockets do whatever they wanted here?”
Starr was silent for some time, staring off at the fleet, idly kicking rocks down the slope. “Look, it’s not just you alright?” she said, turning away. “
I should have realized that was his angle. But I wasn’t thinking about it because I didn’t want anything to do with it, and—”
“I don’t believe it wise to dwell on the mistakes we have made,” Ho-oh said, its gaze fixed squarely on me and Starr. “Let’s focus on how to move forward.”
Starr stared up at the phoenix incredulously for several seconds. Finally, she broke eye contact and muttered, “Right.”
How to move forward. If the Rockets weren’t planning on catching Groudon until after awakening Kyogre, then it meant we had some time to think, at least. But with no Rockets to fight, what exactly were we supposed to do here? Stop… Groudon?
Wait…
“Has anyone tried
asking Groudon to stop?” I asked. It seemed weird saying it out loud. Talking with an ancient being that had been sleeping inside the earth. But… it was still a Pokémon, right?
Lugia shifted awkwardly, glancing at Ho-oh. The phoenix cleared its throat and said, “We… attempted to speak to them at several points, but they did not respond to anything we said.”
Great, so we couldn’t reason with it. Of course things couldn’t be easy.
Latias bowed her head. “*This is similar to what happened last time. We were unable to get through to them back then, either.*”
“What are we supposed to do, then?” I asked heatedly. We’d failed to protect the orbs and already had to deal with one of the legends being awake (and the heat was making my head feel fuzzy and my thoughts didn’t want to flow straight), and I sure as hell was not in the mood to just sit here
waiting for something to happen. I found myself automatically grabbing a Pokéball from my belt.
“Jade, if you head off on your own just like Ajia, I’m gonna slap you,” Starr said flatly.
“Well, what am I supposed to do?!” I countered. “I’ve got to do something.”
Darren held both hands up disarmingly. “Ohhkay, I know you might not be thinking straight, on account of having a Legendary for a partner.” I gave him an unamused look, and he went on, “This seems like the kinda thing we should leave to them. How ‘bout we focus on stuff that we actually can help with?”
“Like what?” I asked.
He pointed down at the buildings lining the inner slope of the crater. “For starters, the city that’s probably about to be destroyed, yeah?”
What? Oh no. Were there any people still down there? They’d had a head start when the Indigo rangers gave the warning a few hours ago, but the evacuation couldn’t possibly be done already. We had to buy them more time.
“Right. You’re right, we’ve gotta head down there,” I said, opening Firestorm’s Pokéball. He froze the moment he laid eyes on Groudon, staring at the dinosaur with a disturbed look.
“*
That’s Groudon?*”
“That’s Groudon,” I replied heavily, climbing onto his back.
I glanced at Starr, tilting my head in a ‘come on’ sort of way, but from the look on her face, it was plain that she wanted to do anything else. Grudgingly, she let out Arcanine. He shook his mane out in the sunlight, closing his eyes contentedly for a moment before leaning forward for Starr to climb on.
“Mind if I get a lift?” Darren asked, folding his arms behind his head.
Starr’s irritated gaze snapped to him, but he didn’t flinch. “Sure, whatever, hop on,” she said. Darren climbed onto the firedog behind her, like he hadn’t noticed her reaction.
Firestorm glanced back at me worriedly. “*This heat… it feels nice, but are
you going to be okay in it?*”
“I’ll be fine,” I said, even if I was already starting to feel lightheaded, and had no idea how long I’d be able to last. But there was no point worrying him when we had a mission to stick to. “Alright, you two”—I gestured to Lugia and Ho-oh—“keep trying to get through to Groudon. If there’s even the slightest chance that we can get it on our side… Well, if not, just make sure it stays as far from the city as possible.”
Lugia glanced back at the Rocket airships, conflicted. <I suppose. But inform me the instant that the enemy makes a move on us. We’ve suffered enough failure as it is.>
I nodded before turning back to the others. “Come on, let’s go.”
Firestorm flapped his wings and we were off. Down into the crater, gliding almost effortlessly on the warm air while Latias flew next to us and Arcanine deftly leaped whole city blocks at once. The roads of Sootopolis were deserted. Scattered buildings had crumbled from the tremors that occasionally shook the island. It took some effort to keep my eyes from drifting back to Groudon. And to the creeping flows of lava that I couldn’t help but notice were dangerously close to reaching this side of the crater.
After passing through five or six deserted neighborhoods, I felt a glimmer of hope. Maybe the city really was empty? But then nope—I finally spotted a large crowd several blocks ahead of us, in an open clearing that must have been the town square. Dozens of people and Pokémon were clustered around the entrance to a tunnel that must have led directly outside the crater. Scattered throughout the crowd were Pokémon rangers, easily identified by their uniforms. And with them, an assortment of Pokémon helping with the evacuation: an Aggron with two people on its back; a Machamp carrying four kids, one on each arm; several large bird Pokémon taking off with riders.
Town square was noticeably cooler than the rest of Sootopolis. Entering the airspace was like a breath of fresh air, a break from the oppressive haze hanging over the island. Flaring his wings, Firestorm swooped down to land in the first open space he could find. With a mighty leap, Arcanine landed alongside us, making several people nearby jump back in alarm.
“What’s going on here?” one of the rangers snapped.
There were about a dozen ways I
didn’t want to answer that, so I just went with, “We’re here to help. We’ve got strong Pokémon that can help carry people out, put out fires, recover people from collapsed buildings… whatever you need.”
The ranger folded his arms. “Appreciate the offer and all, but what made you think it was a good idea to come here? We’re trying to get everyone
off the island, and we weren’t exactly planning on
adding more people to… to the…” His eyes went wide and his voice trailed off.
I was about to ask why when someone cried, “Th-there’s a guardian with them?!”
I spun around to see half the crowd staring at Latias openmouthed. Oh, yeah, I’m not sure what I was expecting. Waltzing straight into the center of town with a Legendary in tow was bound to turn a few heads.
“She’s, uh… here to help too,” Darren said sheepishly. Latias gave a soft wave, clearly uncomfortable with all the attention.
The rangers glanced between Latias and us incredulously. A few of them turned to look back at Groudon—or rather, the pair of gold and silver birds circling Groudon that had suddenly shown up right around the same time as us—no doubt putting two and two together.
“Fine, fine. We’re almost done here, but could always use more Pokémon. Have your teams join the squad that’s clearing out the north side,” he said, pointing in that direction. “Fire and water types preferred. Fliers and teleporters can stay here to carry folks down to the docks.” He then turned to the rest of the rangers behind him and called out, “Let’s keep moving!”
Starr didn’t waste a second letting out her team and barking out orders. Her fire-types took off down toward the area where the heat was most intense, Feraligatr lumbering after them on all fours. From Darren’s team, Sandslash and Golduck followed, while Weavile joined the squad of Walrein keeping the town square cool with Icy Wind.
I hopped off Firestorm’s back, grabbing three Pokéballs and letting out the rest of my team.
“We’re evacuating people,” I announced once they appeared. “Firestorm, stick to the hot zone. Aros, fly high and look for anyone who got left behind. Stygian, check the collapsed buildings. Swift, join the group carrying people out of the crater.”
“*Where are the Rockets?*” Aros asked, glancing around in confusion. Because of course that was the first place his mind went.
“They’re not attacking right now,” I said exasperatedly. “And this city’s about to be destroyed, so we really can’t afford to think about them right now, alright?”
The Flygon huffed. “*It was just a question, geez,*” he said, spreading his wings.
My face fell. “Wait—” But he was already gone, flying off with the rangers’ Pokémon.
No no no, I didn’t want to be like this. But I was all ready for him to complain like yesterday, except… that was after the
first Rocket encounter yesterday. He’d been just fine during the second fight, right? At least, up until the point when he… ugh, I couldn’t keep the details straight. Too many fights in too short a time.
After an awkward pause, the rest of the team glanced at each other with uncertainty before Firestorm cleared his throat and said, “*This way.*” Swift gave me a concerned look, but then took off with Firestorm, while Stygian raced after Aros.
“*I’ll stay with you,*” Chibi said, breaking the silence. “*I don’t trust the Rockets to stay out of this too much longer.*”
“Thanks,” was all I managed to say. Even if we were too late to stop the Rockets from getting the orbs, we could at least help make sure that everyone made it out of here.
All around us, the rescue efforts progressed. Teleporters blinked in and out of the crowd. Flying Pokémon touched down, pausing just long enough to pick up more passengers. Latias had joined a Metagross that was levitating rubble out from the tunnel, most likely shaken loose by Groudon’s tremors. On one of her return trips, she paused suddenly, like she had just noticed something.
“*Oh! I know him!*” Latias exclaimed, pointing.
I followed the direction of her claws to see a silver-haired man in a crisp black suit with metallic accents. He was discussing something with a group of rangers who pointed at us every so often. I tensed up. Somehow, I didn’t feel like being pointed out was a good thing in this case.
“Wait. That’s Steven Stone, isn’t it?” Darren whispered to me.
The name was vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place it off the top of my head. “Who?”
“Steven Stone? Champion of the Hoenn League?” Darren gave me a look. “Really, Jade, do you ever watch TV?”
“I’ve heard of him alright, I just forgot!” I said, feeling my cheeks go red.
Oh crap, he was walking this way now, Metagross floating gently alongside him. I couldn’t help freezing up as he stopped right in front of us, surveying our group with a mixture of curiosity and deep contemplation. “If you don’t mind… could any of you explain what’s going on here?” he asked.
I shrank back. “You’re asking us?”
“Well, you kids seem to have enlisted the help of not only two Johto guardians, but one of ours as well,” he pointed out. “Care to explain?”
I rubbed the back of my head. “Not… really.”
Steven raised an eyebrow, but then Latias drifted in front of us. “*They’ve all helped fight Team Rocket in the past. They’ve all protected Legendaries. I trust them.*” Starr scoffed quietly but didn’t say anything.
The champion considered Latias carefully. “Very well. I’ll trust your judgement.” He turned around, facing the ongoing Legendary clash. “So Team Rocket is the cause of this. I’d heard news of their actions in Tohjo… but this seems beyond any of that.”
I blinked. “You’ve heard…? How?”
“The Indigo League,” he answered. “I’m not privy to the full details, but they’ve relayed the general situation to us here in Hoenn.”
What? The League knew about the Rocket situation? I was about to say something, but Starr cut in with, “Yeah, that tracks.”
Steven nodded. “I’m grateful for the assistance, by the way. But something tells me you three came here for another reason.” His words were calm—shockingly calm, given the situation.
I paused, unsure of how much to tell him. “We thought we’d have to fight the Rockets to protect Groudon, but… they haven’t targeted it yet.”
His face faltered, like he was having a hard time working through what I said. “Why would something like that be your responsibility?” His words weren’t judgmental, just… perplexed.
I took a deep breath and said, “We didn’t… enlist the Legendaries. It’s more like they enlisted us.”
Something shifted in his expression. After several seconds, he replied, “I’m sorry to hear that.”
I paused. That definitely wasn’t the reaction I’d been expecting. After all, being partnered with a Legendary… most people would find that pretty amazing, right? Hell, some people would even be jealous. But Steven had immediately known that it wasn’t something desirable.
“I suppose I can’t tell you to get yourselves to safety then,” he went on. “Look after yourselves. And if you need anything, come find me.” He gave a small wave, then turned and briskly walked back to the rangers, Metagross floating not far behind.
I stared after him, thoughts swirling in my head. I’d just gone and told him about the chosen thing. Sure, he’d basically already put it together (and so had the rangers, for that matter). But I still wasn’t supposed to tell anyone. I just… felt like we could trust him.
“*He knew about the Rockets,*” Chibi muttered. “*I always thought the Legendary project was a secret.*”
“Me too,” I replied. “The League knows more than they’re letting on.” Then again, hadn’t Lexx vaguely implied something like that yesterday? Obviously the Rockets’ street-level stuff was known to pretty much everyone, but if Steven knew about the Legendary project…
And then without warning, a horrible, reverberating scream suddenly tore the air, shaking the island and gripping my entire body.
No. No no no
no.
Storm clouds began condensing out of thin air, quickly covering large swaths of sky, blocking out the harsh sunlight. Part of me couldn’t help feeling sweet relief the instant that blinding sun was covered, but it was offset by the creeping dread settling in my gut.
It was Kyogre. It had to be. How had they described it? The embodiment of the sea that could drown the world in a torrential downpour? What else could this be? Mew and Ajia hadn’t managed to get there first. But what were we expecting? None of us could stop Ender from teleporting inside the cave. The moment he’d gotten the Blue Orb, this was inevitable.
Groudon jerked its head toward the northern edge of the crater, fixing its blazing yellow eyes on the hole—the same hole it had emerged from—with rapt attention. Alarm spiked in the back of Lugia’s mind. With a mighty flap, the dragon-bird swooped down in front of Groudon’s face, spreading its wings as wide as it could.
<No, no, no!!> it yelled. <Pay attention to
us, dammit, not them!>
The waters inside the crater began to churn. Slowly at first, then rising in intensity until fifty-foot waves slammed into the shores, crashing against the rocks and smashing a half dozen buildings flat (oh god, there weren’t any people there, were there?).
Groudon observed the rising waters with a look of distaste. Then it raised both arms upward, calling more magma up from below, raising its island high above the water’s surface. Plumes of fire shot upward from the spires of fresh earth, piercing the cloud cover and letting that blazing sunlight through.
<I
said pay attention!> Lugia snarled. It snapped its wings together, unleashing a blast of wind straight into Groudon’s face, carving deep gashes into its craggy hide. Despite looking as immovable as a mountain, the beast actually staggered backward from the force of the attack. For several seconds, it didn’t move. Then, with a low rumble, Groudon slowly pulled itself to its feet, and something in its movements sharpened. It had just been doing its own thing before, but now it stood tense, arms held outward, claws digging into the lava spires, pulling energy from the earth. The blue veins across its back brightened. Then it opened its maw wide and blasted out a torrent of fire. Lugia swept its wings together in front of its face, white-hot flames streaming over its feathers. I couldn’t help flinching at the sight, but Lugia barely looked fazed. Its eyes glowed, water streaming up into the air and swirling around it. In a flash, the water rushed forward like a freight train, crashing straight into Groudon’s chest and slamming the beast so hard into the lava wall behind it that it partially sank into the molten rock.
Whoa. Okay, this was getting too extreme. <We’re not trying to hurt it, remember!> I yelled.
<Maybe they
deserve to get some sense knocked into them!> Lugia countered.
<If
we weaken it, that’ll just make it easier for the Rockets to target it.>
<If we take them down, we can still fight the Rockets ourselves,> Lugia huffed indignantly.
<After wasting all your energy?> I asked.
<Do you have a better idea? You were the one adamant that we not allow their power to go uncontrolled. They’ll level the whole city and think nothing of it!>
Sure, that was true, but that didn’t mean it was a good idea to basically do the Rockets’ work for them. But I couldn’t think of a… that is, there wasn’t much… ugh, the screeching from inside the mountain was growing so loud I could barely hear myself think.
Groudon’s eyes lit up at the sound, and it let out a resounding roar in reply. The ground shook. The lake pulsed. The tension hanging in the air was so thick it was almost electric. Seconds dragged by for an eternity with no one daring to move. Then an explosive burst of water erupted from the cave, and with it came a gigantic leviathan, blue as the deepest ocean and streaked with glowing red lines, pulsing with energy. The sea beast landed in the lake with a mighty splash, surfacing soon afterward and letting out a cry to the heavens. The clouds instantly gave way, unleashing a torrential downpour. Even though the rains were clear across the crater, it was still unnerving, seeing the weather turn so unnaturally.
Lugia glared at the new arrival, exasperation flooding its mind. But it pushed the emotions to the side, forcing itself to stay cool. Turning its back on Groudon, Lugia flew down to hover over the raging whirlpool Kyogre had created.
<I need you to listen to me,> Lugia said, keeping its voice level. <Groudon isn’t your enemy. The humans who awakened you are. They intend to steal your power and use it against the rest of us.>
Kyogre wasn’t paying attention. Its winglike flukes continued to beat the water, stirring up towering waves that crashed into Groudon’s mountain, tearing chunks of fresh earth from it. Annoyance crept back into Lugia’s thoughts, and with the flick of its tail, a psychic glow forced Kyogre to look upward.
<Did you hear me? I’m trying to—>
Without warning, a waterspout erupted beneath Lugia, knocking the seabird flying through the air like a ragdoll before splashing awkwardly into the lake. I flinched—even though this was Lugia we were talking about, that still looked like it
hurt. Part of me was half-tempted to ask if it was alright. The other half thought better of it.
<
They are going to regret that,> said a cold voice in my head.
Lugia burst from the water, eyes glowing a menacing blue, psychic fury echoing so hard through our link that I got an instant headache.
<I can do that too,> Lugia hissed, flaring both wings upward.
In an instant, the waves radiating out from Kyogre reversed direction, slamming back into it. The leviathan fought to keep itself steady, powering itself to the top of the waves just in time for a sharp gale to force it back down again. Across the lake, Groudon let out a roar and stamped the ground. Piercing stones thrust upward from the deep, breaking the water’s surface and digging into Kyogre. The sea monster screeched in pain, struggling to free itself from the rocky prison.
<
You’re not getting a pass here,> Lugia growled, turning back to face Groudon. With the flick of a wing feather, the waves reversed again, and Groudon only barely had enough time to raise a wall of lava in front of itself before an enormous wave crashed down on its mountain.
A wisp of self-satisfaction leaked into Lugia’s thoughts. It was abruptly cut off by a jagged Ice Beam crashing into its back, sending a wave of frost across its whole body. What? Where had that—I snapped my head in the other direction to see Kyogre, still fighting its way out of Groudon’s trap, snapping stone spires with its flukes… but with the obvious glint of ice shimmering around its toothy jaws.
Lugia shook the frost from its wings and drew itself back to fire another blast of wind, but Kyogre already had another Ice Beam ready, firing it right into Lugia’s face. The seabird staggered back, fighting to keep itself steady in the air, several colorful swears echoing through our link. But before it could regain itself, Groudon nailed it with a few well-aimed boulders from behind, knocking it closer to the water, just in time for one of Kyogre’s waterspouts to erupt beneath it. Then, while it was still reeling, another hail of rocks, only barely stopped by a barrier. The moment the barrier dropped, another beam of ice.
I winced as one blow after another struck without mercy. It… it would be fine. This was Lugia we were talking about. It could withstand anything.
…But what if it couldn’t? What if it was stuck there, pummeled endlessly until it couldn’t fight back, and we couldn’t do anything to stop it, and—
Out of nowhere, a searing sunbeam struck Groudon from above. The volcanic beast hissed in pain, stumbling back into a lava flow and partially sinking into it. An echoing cry rang out as a pair of rainbow wings dove for the spot where Lugia was still pulling itself from the ice.
Of course! Ho-oh!
With an angry screech, Kyogre sent a towering wave straight for the bird duo, but Ho-oh raised a barrier, and the water crashed against it, spilling out around the sides. Lugia took that opportunity to snap the ice with a psychic pulse, just in time to dodge the next wave of rocks that Groudon called up from the lakebed.
Okay, the two could probably hold their own together. At least until the crater was completely evacuated, which—I glanced over my shoulder at the rapidly emptying town square—probably wouldn’t be too much longer. Okay, good. The city was toast, but at least everyone would be out by then. But what if the disaster expanded beyond Sootopolis? Latias had said that their fighting threatened the entire Hoenn region last time. And we had no way of stopping them without also making them easier to capture. At this rate… it would almost be better if they were—no, no I wasn’t going to let myself think about that. We could protect Hoenn
and stop the Rockets from getting them.
A familiar sound caught my ear from behind—the sharp blip of a teleport. I spun around to see—
“Ajia! You’re back!” I yelled, running over. She was doubled over and breathing heavily, bits of snow and ice tangled in her hair. A pair of Ninetales (one of which must have been Mew) stood beside her, shaking the snow from their tails.
I was about to say something, but the sound of hoofbeats cut me off. Starr had just ridden over on Rapidash, skidding to a stop in front of Ajia.
“What happened in there?” she asked.
Ajia straightened herself, trading a brief glance with Mew. “They… knew we were coming. Couldn’t teleport out once we were in the chamber, had to fight Articuno. And, well…”
Starr’s expression faltered. “You knew you wouldn’t make it in time, didn’t you?” I jerked my head toward her in surprise, but Ajia just nodded slowly.
She’d known. That’s why she made us all stay out here. It was a lost cause from the beginning.
One of the Ninetales trotted past us, gazing down at the Legendaries trading blows in the center of the lake, the air torn by wind and fire, lava and water. <What are they doing?>
I rubbed the back of my head. “Lugia was… trying to keep the fight under control.” That was one way to put it. “Ho-oh only stepped in to help.”
Mew shook her head, letting a glow surround her before she blinked out of sight. Seconds later, there was a small flicker in the middle of the combatants. It took hold of Lugia and Ho-oh, and then the two of them vanished from the battlefield. Then Mew—still a Ninetales— reappeared and offered a tail to each of us. I took one, unsure of where it would lead, and then we appeared in a deserted side street. Not far from where we’d been before, from the sound of it—just far enough that we could talk to the Legendaries without anyone seeing us.
It was kind of weird seeing Lugia and Ho-oh standing side by side in the middle of town like this—both of them taller than the houses around them. Lugia in particular was bruised and beaten with chunks of ice stuck in its feathers. While it shook itself off, Latias flew in from nowhere, already letting a healing glow radiate from her claws.
Lugia gave a small huff. <I can heal myself.>
Latias froze, shrinking back a bit. Then she nodded softly and drifted back to hover alongside me.
Ho-oh straightened itself with some difficulty before stepping forward, talons clicking on the stone pavement. “Good to see you, Mew. As you’ve noticed, things have not gone well out here.”
Starr snorted. “Putting it mildly,” she muttered under her breath.
“I don’t believe we’re in a position to fight them,” the phoenix went on. “Not when they’re like this. Even if we came out ahead, it would not end well.”
With Lugia and Ho-oh gone, the two raging legends were free to focus on each other once more. Groudon commanded rolling flows of lava so thick they threatened to fill the entire lake. Kyogre’s waves struck with such power that they carved deep trenches in the surrounding stone.
And then, out of nowhere, a thought struck me. “Wait. How on earth were Groudon and Kyogre stopped last time?”
Ho-oh blinked for a moment, then glanced over at Latias. She tilted her head as though the answer were obvious and said, “*The messenger from the heavens arrived and told them it was time to stop.*”
I stared blankly. “The messenger… from the heavens?”
Latias nodded. “*One of the most ancient protectors of our land, and the only one with the voice that can calm even the earth and the sea:
Rayquaza,*” she said earnestly. “*They were our only hope. The humans performed a ritual to summon them from their throne in the heavens, and they returned the two to their prior sleep.*”
Everyone was silent for some time. I honestly had no idea how to respond to something like that. It almost sounded more like a myth than something that had actually happened, but if she’d seen it firsthand, then who was I to question it?
Lugia let out a cough. <That’s, uh… that’s all well and good. Very mystical and such. But how are we
actually going to get through to those two?> Mew thwacked the dragon-bird with her tail, and it shoved her with its wing.
Latias blinked at Lugia in confusion. “*Are… you doubting the great messenger’s existence?*”
Lugia gave an exasperated sigh. <No. Obviously they’re real, but they’re not exactly here right now, are they? We’ve got to take matters upon our own wings.> It gestured down at the raging battle for emphasis.
“Well, hang on,” Ajia said, raising a hand. “If the messenger showed up last time, then it’s possible for it to help out here, yeah? If we can just find it, and get it to—” Her words cut off sharply, and her expression suddenly transformed into one of disturbed realization.
I blinked. “…Ajia?”
“It’s a trap. This was all a trap.”
Starr scoffed. “Yeah, no kidding. And we walked right into it.”
“Not for us!” Ajia exclaimed, shaking her head. “
For Rayquaza. The Rockets were never after Groudon or Kyogre at all, they were just trying to lure Rayquaza here. It’s the
real target.”
Starr opened her mouth like she was about to protest, but then froze, gears turning in her head. “…Shit. You’re probably right.”
God, this explained
everything. Why the Rockets hadn’t attacked Groudon. Why they were just
waiting for something, with no indication as to what.
Latias looked mortified. “*We can’t let that happen!*” she cried.
Ajia spun around frantically, looking in all directions. “Where are the Rockets? We’ve got to take down their fleet before Rayquaza gets here.”
“They’re outside the crater,” I said, pointing vaguely in the direction we’d come from. “But do we really have the firepower to fight them head on?”
<Where is Moltres?> Mew cut in.
Right, Mew and Ajia still had no idea how things had gone on our mission. “Rudy and Moltres were… tailing the airship that took the Red Orb,” I said, feeling progressively dumber with each word. “We didn’t want to lose sight of them.” Fat lot of good
that had done us.
<Can you contact him?> Mew asked in earnest. <We’ll need their support.>
“Right,” I said, snatching my phone from my pocket and pulling up his number as quickly as I could. I threw the phone to my ear, bouncing up and down on the balls of my feet as it rang.
Come on, pick up pick up pick—
Then a small click followed by a sudden blast of sound in my ear. I jerked the phone away and held it at a distance, where I could just barely make out a voice shouting over the smothering noise.
“Rudy, where are you, we need you and Moltres here
now,” I yelled into the microphone.
His words cut in and out, barely audible over the roar of the wind. “I don’t—some forest—something? Why? —happening?”
“How much longer until you get here?” I asked.
“How should I know?!” came the reply.
I glanced up at the others with a helpless look on my face.
Mew gave a restless flick of her tails. <I could teleport them here if I knew where they are.>
Except he’d just said he didn’t know where they were. Unless… Well, we were never gonna get anywhere over the phone. I hit the end call button and opened the messenger. Fingers flying across the screen, I texted him, “Send me a screenshot of your location in the GPS. Don’t ask, just do it.”
I still expected him to ask at least twenty questions or come up with some reason not to do it. But no, not even a minute later, my phone buzzed, and I was looking at a zoomed-in snippet of Hoenn’s map.
I held out my Pokégear to Mew. She squinted at the image, tilting her head back and forth, muttering to herself, until…
<Wait. That waterway. I recognize that shape. I know where they are!> Within seconds, she had vanished from sight.
I let out a breath. Okay good. We could get Rudy here, attack the Rockets before they were ready, before Rayquaza showed up. Then it could put a stop to Groudon and Kyogre, and the city would be saved.
We could do this.
“Hey, uh… did I hear something about bringing Rudy here?”
I glanced over my shoulder to see Darren wandering over with his hands in his pockets. His team wasn’t with him (mostly likely still helping the rangers), aside from Weavile. She seemed to have gone a bit overboard with the whole ‘keeping cool’ thing, as Darren’s hair and clothes were coated in bits of snow, even though we weren’t standing in one of the patches of harsh sun.
“Mew’s getting him now,” I said.
Darren nodded. “So he has no idea what he’s showing up to, huh.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but then stopped. Right, last thing Rudy knew, the Rockets had only gotten the Red Orb.
“…Did you ever tell him that Groudon was awake?” I asked, already not looking forward to the answer.
Rubbing the back of his head, Darren said, “See, I was going to, but then we had to help the Aquas, and I forgot.”
Ah, crap.
As if on cue, a flash of light appeared next to Lugia and Ho-oh, and there was Moltres, stumbling a bit from the sudden jump and throwing suspicious glares around. On its back, Rudy blinked in surprise, like he still hadn’t worked through what had just happened. Then his eyes widened the moment he saw the twisted mess of black clouds mixed with blazing sun.
“What the hell?!” Rudy cried as he slid down from his patron’s back.
“What is the meaning of this?” Moltres demanded, waving a wing toward the lake filled with towering waves and explosions of lava.
“The Rockets got the Blue Orb,” I said, wincing. “Also they might have teleported the orbs into the cave.”
Rudy smacked his forehead. “Oh, what the hell? Seriously? We flew all that way for nothing?”
“Hey, not for nothing,” Darren cut in. “It’s not like we could’ve had the Magmas’ Kirlia teleport
Moltres all the way here. It would’ve had to fly either way, and you kept it safe yeah?”
Rudy paused, considering it. “Yeah, I… I guess you’re right.”
“Survived your first job as Moltres’s chosen, that’s a win,” Darren said, nudging his shoulder.
Moltres clearly wasn’t satisfied by that, though. “How are we meant to deal with this?”
“We’re not worried about them right now, they’re not the real target here,” Ajia said hurriedly.
“Then what is?”
And then a terrifying and unearthly roar brought the world crashing to a halt. Everyone froze instantly. I could feel it echoing through my whole body; pure, paralyzing anger so thick I could hardly breathe.
“*WHY DOES HUMANITY NOT LEARN FROM ITS MISTAKES?*”
A beam of light pierced the sky directly above Sootopolis crater, pushing back the clouds, dispelling the distorted haze of heat from the air. And from within, a brilliant, emerald green ribbon of light spiraled down toward the crater. A
serpent. Riding on currents of wind so effortlessly that it was practically
made of wind.
The air hung still. So unnaturally still that I felt a small jolt when something rushed up next to me. I dared to let my eyes drift away from the sky, and to the crimson dragon now floating alongside me, staring at the emerald serpent in reverent fascination.
“*The messenger from the heavens. Rayquaza.*”
~End Chapter 43~
Next Chapter: An unlikely deal, an unlikely solution
