Chapter 240: Latios and Latias
With Ash's business finished, we turned our attention to the space where Ruby and Sapphire were.
One was clinging to Swampert, and the other to Blastoise. Sapphire said helplessly, "I should have brought Wailord. Blastoise's shell is so hard."
Blastoise: ...Sorry about my hard shell!
"How about we switch?" Ruby suggested.
"That's what I was waiting for!" Sapphire said.
Then the two switched their riding Pokémon, but Ruby looked at his wet clothes and said, "No, we need to find some land, or some reef. Wearing wet clothes all the time might make us catch a cold."
"Yeah, let's look." Sapphire nodded, crossing her arms and hugging herself: she wasn't cold before, but Ruby's comment made her feel colder.
Swampert and Blastoise carried Sapphire and Ruby as they swam. Although surrounded by seawater with no land in sight, Swampert's radar-like fins could detect temperature changes and the direction of the sea breeze. Swampert knew that finding a warmer area was best; otherwise, if its two trainers caught a cold, things would be really difficult.
Using its head fins to sense the sea breeze and its tail fins to sense the ocean currents, Swampert swam rapidly in one direction.
After swimming for most of the day, it finally managed to spot the silhouette of a small island in the distance. Once Swampert and Blastoise brought Sapphire and Ruby ashore, Ruby discovered it was a small island, but covered in coconut palms, with a small lake in the center—enough to live comfortably.
Ruby gathered some dry branches, started a fire, and first dried his clothes. Then he went to the small lake in the center of the island. Actually, he had already had some doubts when he first came to investigate. This small lake didn't seem to be naturally formed; rather, it appeared to be a large crater created by a boulder or meteorite impact, which had accumulated fresh water over time.
The lake was a perfectly circular shape, shallow at the edges but deepening towards the center. Ruby considered for a moment, then took off his clothes, took out his underwater breathing apparatus, and, along with Swampert, dived directly to the bottom.
The water was crystal clear, but Ruby didn't see any living creatures. However, as he descended, he discovered charred remains of trees, and the water temperature gradually increased. By the time they reached the bottom, Ruby felt the surrounding water was almost the same temperature as a hot spring.
Ruby looked at a small red crystal in the center of the lake, wondering what it was. After a moment's thought, he picked it up. The warmth in his hand intensified; Ruby was certain the crystal was responsible for the warm water.
Swampert carried the crystal, and Ruby and Swampert floated to the surface. As they surfaced, Ruby heard a series of cracking sounds. Turning to look at Swampert's back, he saw the fist-sized red crystal had shattered into 15 tiny rhomboid crystals.
Ruby picked up one of the red crystals, examined it, and thought, "This thing looks so familiar..."
"Ruby! Where are you?" Sapphire's voice called out.
"I'm in the small lake in the middle. I found something at the bottom of the lake," Ruby shouted back.
Sapphire pushed aside the bushes and came to the lakeside. Looking at Ruby, she asked, "What did you find?"
"This." Ruby tossed the red crystal in his hand to Sapphire.
Sapphire caught the crystal Ruby threw to her, examined it, and said, "Isn't this the kind of Z-Crystal that Ryan has, the kind unique to Alola? And it seems to be a Fire-type Z-Crystal, just without the flame mark. Ruby, where did you find it?"
"At the bottom of the lake," Ruby said. "No wonder it looked so familiar, it's a Z-Crystal. But this small lake was clearly formed by an impact. This Z-Crystal was in the center of the lake bottom, but when it was pulled up, it was already broken into fifteen pieces. Could it be that Z-Crystals were originally meteorites or something from space? After impacting the planet, they formed all sorts of Z-Crystals?"
Sapphire examined the Z-Crystal in her hand and said, "I don't know, maybe that's it. But the impact force was really strong, enough to form a small lake."
"And it's deep enough too. I just dived down to a depth of seven or eight meters," Ruby said as he swam ashore, putting the Z-Crystals into a small bag. "It's a pity we don't have Z-Rings, otherwise we could try using Z-Moves. Those powerful attacks are really enviable, even though they're not aesthetically pleasing at all."
"Stop joking around, let's think about how to fill our stomachs first," Sapphire said. "I'm starving."
"Yeah. I have some food in my backpack, we can just have Swampert catch some fish," Ruby said.
Just as the two were discussing what to eat, they arrived at the shore. But Ruby and Sapphire also spotted two figures cutting through the waves on the surface, rushing straight towards them.
Ruby looked closely and exclaimed in surprise, "Latios and Latias! How come there are legendary Pokémon here?"
Sapphire also spotted the two legendary Pokémon and frowned, saying, "Ruby, be careful. They don't seem friendly."
Ruby gave a wry smile, recalling his recent challenge to Latios on Alto Mare with the Soul Dew. It was a complete defeat, an utter loss. Without mastering the power of origin, Ruby's Pokémon were easily overwhelmed by Latios's full power, losing six to one. Even so, Latios had plenty of stamina left, while Ruby's own Pokémon had no chance to resist.
Latios and Latias rushed towards Ruby and Sapphire with incredible speed, transforming into a boy and a girl in a flash. The boy Latios transformed into said, "Who are you? Why are you here? Also, we sensed a familiar aura earlier, what was that all about?"
As Latios rattled off questions, Latias quickly covered Latios's mouth, saying, "Sorry, that's how my brother is. Where did you come from? We haven't seen any humans in a long time since the world shattered like this."
"The world shattered like this," Ruby said, pondering the phrase, "So, this space was originally a perfectly intact world, but something happened that turned it into this, right?"
Latios and Latias exchanged a glance, then said, "Do you want to hear it? If you do, we can tell you."
"Yes. Tell us." Ruby sat down cross-legged, then pulled Sapphire down to sit as well.
(End of Chapter)
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