An hour passed, and the chaotic battlefield had undergone many significant changes. For example, Steven had successfully defeated Flannery and was now freed from his combat obligations. Simultaneously, Phoebe and Wallace were also close to concluding their respective battles, pressing their advantages against the remaining opposition. The two Trainers who had initially stopped Aoki had failed to gain any lasting advantage; in fact, thanks to the consistent and strategic healing provided by his Magearna, Aoki had steadily gained the upper hand in his protracted engagement. If not for his deliberate choice to use the confrontation as an opportunity to hone his Tyranitar and his sandstorm team's combat skills, refining their basic tactics and synergy, he could have likely defeated the two opposing Trainers much earlier.
At this very moment, Steven was having his Pokémon treated at a makeshift recovery station. Once the treatment was complete, he would be able to rejoin the battlefield, a development that would drastically alter the entire battle's dynamics and grant the League an absolute and overwhelming advantage. However, the situation did not develop as planned, as a completely unexpected event abruptly unfolded.
"Found it!!!" someone exclaimed, a shout that cut through the din of battle and drew the attention of many present. The speaker was a thin, middle-aged man clad in a dust-covered archaeological attire, and he was triumphantly holding aloft two stones that emitted a distinct, faint glow. One was a vibrant red, and the other a deep blue! They were the orbs! Dr. Solace had finally, after a desperate search, located the Indigo Orb and the Red Orb! This discovery came at a time when the battle was reaching its feverish climax and the League held a clear, tangible advantage; these two crucial, legendary orbs had been found!
But Dr. Solace's moment of triumphant joy was brutally short-lived. The two grunts from the villainous teams who had been doggedly following him, biding their time, suddenly made their move! The entire cave was already in a state of such utter chaos that these two had not participated in the general fighting; their leaders had specifically instructed them to shadow Solace and seize the orbs the instant he located them! Each grunt lunged, each managing to grab one of the glowing orbs! However, due to the specific way Solace was holding them, each grunt could only grab the orb closest to them. Consequently, the Team Aqua grunt seized the Red Orb, while the Team Magma grunt snatched the Indigo Orb!
The moment the two orbs were physically separated and taken, it signaled the official, irrevocable rupture of the temporary and fragile cooperation between Team Magma and Team Aqua! Maxie immediately disregarded everything else happening around him, charging forward with his Pokémon in a frantic, single-minded rush towards the Team Aqua grunt who now possessed the Red Orb. Archie, displaying a similar manic focus, paid a heavy price to break free from Drake's persistent obstruction, also rushing headlong towards the Team Magma grunt who clutched the Indigo Orb. In their eyes, there was nothing else now—only these two orbs. The concept of Team Magma, Team Aqua, the League—none of it mattered to them anymore in their obsessive fervor.
And Shelly, who had been hiding in a shadowy corner, temporarily incapacitated after her earlier defeat by Aoki, had also been keenly paying attention to this dramatic development. She saw the Indigo Orb, its appearance perfectly matching the vivid image she had seen in her prophetic dream. She immediately froze in place, a wave of shock and dread washing over her! It really looked exactly like that. Was the terrifying sequence of events she had witnessed in her vision truly an imminent prophecy?!
Archie and Maxie, now behaving like complete madmen, scrambled desperately for the two orbs. In their heightened, frenzied state, who would dare to try and stop them? The two grunts, recognizing the shift in priority, obediently discarded the heavy, now-useless stones in their hands, not truly understanding the profound purpose these artifacts served. Maxie gazed with burning intensity at the Red Orb glowing with a fierce red light in his hand, and Archie stared with equal parts reverence and hunger at the Indigo Orb in his own grasp. Although the orbs looked different and resonated with different energies, the sheer fervor and ecstasy visible in their leaders' eyes were identical.
"Team Magma! Withdraw!" "Team Aqua! Retreat!" They both shouted their orders almost simultaneously. For a moment, those members of their teams who were capable of disengaging and escaping their opponents began to fall back, but the majority, including many grunts, were completely unable to break free from their ongoing battles.
"Shelly! What are you spacing out for! Get over here!" At this critical moment, Archie spotted Shelly standing motionless in the corner, looking somewhat disheveled and stunned. Although he was privately displeased that Shelly had lost to Aoki, he rationally knew it was largely because several of her key Pokémon had been severely injured by his Kommo-o at the very start of the confrontation, which had critically weakened her team's overall strength and prevented her from defeating Aoki. While he was willing to abandon most of his rank-and-file members, he was somewhat reluctant to give up on Shelly, one of Team Aqua's three highest-ranking and most capable admins. Not far away, Maxie's Mightyena also carried the unconscious Flannery carefully in its mouth. Maxie had had a much easier time dealing with Norman than Archie had with the formidable Drake, which had afforded him the crucial few seconds needed to rescue his fallen admin in the end.
In the frantic and chaotic withdrawal, only one or two members out of every ten were ultimately able to appear by their respective leaders' sides. Most were effectively held back by their League opponents, and some had been decisively dealt with and defeated at the very beginning of the massive cave battle. The two leaders, in a move that was strangely coordinated, each summoned an Alakazam they had kept in reserve for precisely such an emergency. They then took out an unknown, ominous-looking item and forcefully fed it to their respective Alakazam. Immediately, the aura surrounding the two Psychic-type Pokémon surged with an exaggerated and visibly distorted speed, and violent, barely controlled psychic energy began radiating from their bodies in palpable waves!
"Go!" With two cold, determined shouts, the two Alakazam simultaneously focused their power, using Teleport to vanish from their original spots in a shimmer of psychic energy.
"Aoki!!!" Seeing this desperate escape attempt unfold, Drake, who was still being desperately held back by the three powerful Pokémon Archie had strategically left behind to cover his retreat, immediately shouted across the cavern, his voice filled with urgency. It wasn't just Drake; Norman was also being similarly hampered by the three Pokémon Maxie had sacrificially left behind, all of them fighting with a desperate, last-stand resolve. This was the calculated price the two leaders had been willing to pay to escape the direct confrontation with Drake and Norman, a costly contingency that had already been a part of their preparation for this mission. All the other higher-ranking members who managed to escape did so in a similar, costly manner, sacrificing their subordinates' Pokémon to ensure their own getaway.
However, the two Trainers who had been specifically facing Aoki found they had no chance to escape whatsoever, because upon noticing the anomaly and the attempted Teleport, Aoki had immediately commanded his Drapion and Slowking to fully join the battle, their fresh power instantly overwhelming and dispatching their already exhausted opponents.
"Understood!!!" Aoki shouted back, immediately understanding what Drake was implying. He quickly placed his hand firmly on his Slowking's back, creating a direct psychic link. If anyone present possessed the capability to stop or interfere with a Teleport on this scale, it was only Aoki and his exceptionally powerful Slowking.
Yadon!!! Veins bulged prominently on Slowking's forehead from the intense mental strain, and beads of sweat simultaneously appeared on Aoki's own forehead from the shared effort! In the air of the cave, two or three people suddenly and unceremoniously fell from mid-air, looking utterly bewildered by their failed teleportation, and were immediately apprehended by the nearby League members who swiftly moved in.
Aoki and Slowking opened their eyes together, both panting heavily from the exertion, and they saw a shared hint of regret and frustration reflected in each other's eyes. They hadn't been able to stop the primary targets! Drake quickly overpowered and dealt with the three Pokémon Archie had left behind and appeared by Aoki's side in an instant, but upon seeing only the few stragglers who had fallen from the sky, he knew the unfortunate outcome.
"What happened?" Drake asked, his voice tight with controlled frustration. Norman also quickly finished dealing with his own remaining opponents and came to stand by Aoki's side, his expression grim.
Aoki slowly shook his head, his breath still coming in slight gasps. "An Alakazam boosted to the level of an Elite Four's Pokémon. With mine and Slowking's combined psychic power, stopping them originally wouldn't have been an insurmountable problem. But I don't know what they fed those Alakazam. It actually seemed to rapidly consume the Alakazam's very life force to explosively, and temporarily, enhance their psychic power to an incredible degree. In the end, our combined effort was only enough to disrupt the teleportation of these few insignificant small fries." After a brief, heavy silence, Aoki spoke again, his tone somber. "Through the psychic feedback, I could distinctly feel the life force of those two Alakazam rapidly declining, being burned away. It's estimated that once this long-distance Teleport ends, so will their lives!"
"Damn it!" Hearing Aoki's grim explanation, Drake couldn't help but curse aloud, his fist clenching in anger. He didn't know if his outburst was purely because of the tragic, forced sacrifice of the two Alakazam, or because of the leaders' successful escape with the orbs, or perhaps it was a combination of both frustrating possibilities. Victory over the entire opposing force had been so tantalizingly within their grasp, but they simply hadn't anticipated that the villains would find the very items they sought at that critical, inopportune moment.
"Elite Four Drake, there's no need to be so angry. I actually think this might be the best outcome we could realistically hope for under these circumstances," Norman, who was generally much more pragmatic and open-minded, consoled, placing a steadying hand on Drake's shoulder. Hearing Norman's reasoned words, Drake let out a long, weary sigh, the tension slowly leaving his shoulders. He, as an experienced Elite Four member, of course knew on a logical level that this might indeed be the best possible outcome, preventing an even greater catastrophe, but he was still just a little unwilling to accept how close they had come to a total victory.