Mossdeep City coastline.
Wallace, who had rushed over from Sootopolis City, shouted toward the figure waiting ahead: "Steven!"
At that moment, the white hat Wallace usually wore had long been blown away by the fierce wind. Even his carefully styled hair was ruined by the storm, yet he had no mood to fix it.
Steven did not turn around. With his back to Wallace, he gazed at the sea ahead and said in a low voice, "The Hoenn seas have never been this furious before."
The ocean surface boiled with an unnatural deep blue, spreading rapidly like an overturned ink bottle.
The once gentle tides had turned violent. Waves surged upward, forming twenty-meter-high water walls that slammed mercilessly into the breakwater.
Thick sea mist filled the air. Every breath carried a salty, oppressive feeling.
Ancient low rumbles echoed from the seabed. The entire ocean began to expand against all logic—not from tidal surge, but from the relentless torrential rain.
Reef clusters were submerged in moments. Coral bleached and died. Schools of fish leaped madly out of the water.
Far offshore, massive whirlpools formed from nowhere, sucking in tens of thousands of tons of seawater into bottomless abysses.
The sky itself seemed to pour down water. Dark clouds spun into a hundred-kilometer-wide cyclone. Lightning struck the churning black sea from time to time.
It was a complete apocalyptic scene.
"The water temperature in Sootopolis is also rising unnaturally," Wallace said solemnly, staring at the same sight. "Some plants have already begun to wither. The sky there is completely cloudless, with only a blazing sun constantly radiating light and heat."
The entire Hoenn region had been sliced in two.
One side was drowning in torrential rain. The other baked under a scorching sun.
Although the natural disasters had not yet spread across all of Hoenn due to the short time, at the current rate of expansion, it was only a matter of time.
In as little as half a day—or at most one full day—the whole region would be dragged into this chaotic vortex.
The rain-covered areas faced total failure of urban drainage systems and the risk of coastal cities being swallowed by surging waves.
The sun-baked areas, though less immediately obvious, would see cracked dry earth, dried riverbeds, and withered plants.
One side would be ravaged by floods. The other would become a barren wasteland.
Hoenn would truly become a living hell.
As a citizen of Sootopolis and guardian of the Cave of Origin, Wallace's expression was frighteningly grave.
"This is the power of the super-ancient Pokémon—walking natural disasters. Completely different from the pure strength of something like Rayquaza."
Steven nodded in agreement. "Only pure strength can stop the disasters from expanding further."
Just like the ancient Hoenn legends.
As long as Groudon and Kyogre were beaten to the point they had no choice but to hibernate and recover, the crisis would resolve itself.
Thankfully, the emergency call that came faster than the monitoring systems had given Hoenn time to prepare. Coastal cities had already begun organizing evacuations to avoid the possibility of a massive tsunami. The areas rapidly entering drought conditions had warned citizens to stay in shade and avoid going outside unless necessary.
Wallace was sincerely grateful that he had noticed the movements of Team Magma and Team Aqua early and asked Lance to infiltrate Team Magma. This had minimized the disaster's impact as much as possible.
The two exchanged brief intelligence and quickly reached a decision.
Internal League issues involving collusion with Team Aqua and Team Magma would be handled later.
Lance had not brought many of his main forces, and they could not place the entire burden of defending Hoenn on him alone.
The Elite Four—Sidney, Phoebe, Glacia, and Drake—were also rushing over.
The Draconid people had sent word that they were trying to summon the "Sky Dragon," but they could not pin their hopes on Rayquaza, which had attacked LaRousse City not long ago.
Right now, there was only one thing the two of them needed to do—
Head to the center of this chaos and attempt—no, they must suppress Groudon and Kyogre!
…
Only when she truly faced the overwhelming pressure of the two super-ancient Pokémon did Nemona realize just how desperate the pressure must have been for Lance to stall them for nearly twenty minutes alone.
She had no means to move freely in this environment, and she certainly could not risk putting the slow-moving Wailord in danger as a mount.
She could only ride on Lance's Dragonite, which had flown over to pick her up. Together with Dragonite, she interfered with Kyogre and Groudon's movements while directing her Pokémon to handle attacks that could decide life and death with every strike.
This time, Nemona had brought four main Pokémon: Pawmot, Ursaluna, Tauros, and Ribombee.
Pawmot and Ribombee handled Kyogre, while Tauros and Ursaluna delayed Groudon on land.
Even with Pawmot's type advantage and Ribombee's support and healing, standing on ice that seemed made to be shattered while facing the barrage from a Legendary like Kyogre left Pawmot increasingly exhausted.
On the other side, Ursaluna and Tauros were covered in wounds, holding on through sheer willpower.
Their attacks were effective, but Groudon was like a tireless monster. They would knock it down with everything they had, only for it to stand up seconds later as if nothing had happened and counter with a wide-range Precipice Blades.
If this were a game, the boss design would definitely be called garbage!
Archie and Maxie grew more deranged as time passed. They had become broken records repeating only "Expand the land/ocean!"
"Pawmot, Double Kick!"
"Ribombee, use Dazzling Gleam to block the attack for Pawmot!"
"Ursaluna, Tauros, don't get surrounded!"
Nemona's brain was running at full speed and was close to overload.
How long had she even been in the fight?
Less than ten minutes!
Yet she already felt that lasting even one more minute was her limit.
She couldn't even imagine how her teacher, Lucas, had beaten Rayquaza into the ground. Right now, even Lance's twenty minutes felt impossibly far away.
The gap between her and them was still so vast—
Such thoughts kept surfacing in Nemona's mind.
Under these extreme conditions, it was undoubtedly an opportunity to break through herself. Even though one wrong step meant falling into the abyss, under such immense pressure, both she and her four Pokémon were improving at astonishing speed.
Deep down, Nemona was still the girl who longed to become stronger. Yet she clearly remembered Lucas's reminder during their earlier call:
"Pay attention to your own safety."
Pawmot, already Terastallized, unleashed a full-power Double Kick that slammed Kyogre back into the sea.
But before it could catch its breath on the solid ice—
A dark fish shadow shot up from the water. The massive body easily shattered the ice layer. Kyogre spun upward and slapped Pawmot with a fin, sending it flying and smashing countless ice sheets.
If not for Ribombee's timely rescue, that single hit would have left Pawmot badly injured.
On the other side, the slower Ursaluna and Tauros had their movement range squeezed smaller and smaller by Precipice Blades.
If not for Lance's Dragonite constantly providing support, even a graze from those terrifyingly powerful attacks would have rendered them unable to fight.
"…I can't hold on much longer."
Rain lashed her cheeks. Nemona spoke softly.
Lance's Dragonite turned its head and glanced at the girl behind it.
Though its own condition wasn't great, it knew the girl's state was also declining rapidly under the high-intensity battle.
Honestly, lasting this long was already something Nemona could be proud of.
In Dragonite's memory, when Lance was Nemona's age, he was still worrying with his little Dratini about how to beat opponents his own age.
"Bo wu?"
Dragonite called out, seemingly asking if she wanted to retreat.
Before reinforcements arrived, continuing to stubbornly block the two super-ancient Pokémon would come at a heavy price.
After a second of silence, Nemona whispered, "Hold on a little longer."
If reinforcements still hadn't arrived by then, she would retreat for the safety of Pawmot and the others.
"Bo wu!"
Dragonite gave her a deep look and nodded.
In that case, it and Gyarados would do their best too.
Pawmot, nearly drained of energy, was strengthened by Ribombee's support. It squeezed out every last volt for another Double Kick that lit up the entire sea.
Ursaluna and Tauros charged across the trembling earth, using Tackle and Rage to make Groudon stumble and fall on its rear.
But the two super-ancient Pokémon's furious counterattacks followed immediately.
Even with Red Gyarados's interference, Origin Pulse still swept through Pawmot and Ribombee's area, causing violent explosions.
Ursaluna and Tauros were grazed by red-hot blades rising from the ground—the heaviest blow they had taken since the fight began.
They were already half a step from fainting.
It was truly dangerous now.
Seeing this, before the slow-moving Groudon could follow up with a Solar Beam, Nemona quickly recalled Ursaluna and Tauros into their balls.
Ribombee and Pawmot were also rescued by the opportunistic Gyarados.
Though unwilling, Nemona knew her fight had reached its end.
Dragonite carried her and began moving out of Groudon and Kyogre's attack range. Red Gyarados did the same.
Having fought for who knows how many years, the two super-ancient Pokémon had developed "finishing move" awareness.
Groudon's Solar Beam, originally aimed at Ursaluna and Tauros, turned toward Dragonite and Nemona.
Kyogre's Hydro Pump targeted the Red Gyarados floating on the surface, carrying the nearly incapacitated Pawmot and Ribombee.
Before the Pokémon could defend—
Two serious male voices rang out one after another.
"Metagross, Meteor Mash Cannon!"
"Milotic, Hydro Pump!"
A thick metallic light beam blocked Groudon's Solar Beam. An equally powerful Hydro Pump canceled out Kyogre's.
In the distance, Paul, Shizuka, and Lance—whose hearts had nearly jumped into their throats—saw the two figures. Their solemn expressions eased slightly.
After nearly half an hour… reinforcements had finally arrived!
"Mr. Steven?"
Nemona looked at the handsome man and the iconic silver-white Metagross beneath him, asking hesitantly.
"It's me. You're the one who notified us, right?"
"You've done very well. Leave the rest to us."
Steven nodded slightly. His gaze toward Nemona was filled with appreciation and respect.
He and Wallace had clearly seen the girl's fighting figure.
Letting such a young lady bear this heavy burden was their responsibility. Now, as Hoenn's Champion, he would take over her pressure and suppress the two super-ancient Legendaries!
Only after hearing Steven personally confirm his identity did the strength supporting Nemona slowly fade.
She weakly lay on Dragonite's back. Before leaving, she said softly, "I'll leave this to you and Mr. Wallace. My teacher will arrive soon."
"Pardon me, but who is your teacher?"
"Lucas. His name is Lucas. He's my teacher."
"I see. So you're his student. No wonder you have such outstanding strength."
Steven nodded to show he understood and signaled Dragonite with his eyes.
Once Dragonite flapped its wings and left, Steven stood on Metagross, bathed in scorching light, and looked down at the roaring Groudon below.
He murmured thoughtfully, "I wonder if I can do the same thing he did?"
On the other side.
After Wallace helped the Red Gyarados escape Kyogre's attack range, he stared at the deep-blue fish shadow swimming freely in the sea.
"As fellow Champions, I can too—no, I must be able to do the same thing he did."
At this moment, the two close friends had strikingly similar thoughts.
It wasn't for fame or to prove superiority.
They simply felt they also had to do what Lucas did!
—For the sake of protecting the Hoenn behind them.
…