{Around the time the Orbs transformed}

Back to the area where Groudon awoke and started its rampage, the ground around them was already melting just from the heat coming off Groudon alone. Rocks were melting, and all the plants were already dead.

Brawly staggered backward across a crumbling stone ledge, breathing heavily as his battered Hariyama barely managed to stay standing in front of him.

"Machamp, get back up!" Brawly shouted desperately.

But his Machamp slammed into the side of a shattered cliff face before collapsing completely unconscious.

Roxanne’s eyes widened slightly, "Machamp’s down too..."

They had already lost multiple Pokémon trying to stall Groudon. Brawly lost three, Roxanne lost two, and this was just to stall the Legendary because they knew there was no way they could beat this thing with just the two of them.

And since it was only stalling, it almost felt possible. Probopass floated protectively in front of Roxanne while Nosepass and Aggron had to get creative. They dug tunnels underneath Groudon’s feet, making it fall into the ground and onto its face every few moments.

Plus, Brawly’s Fighting-types had been constantly rushing in to redirect Groudon’s attention whenever it tried getting to the towns

It was exhausting, and for a bit they thought there was no hope. But then they heard from Winona that Wallace was coming to help them, so they started getting hopeful enough to hold on until he got there.

But then, around the time ’that’ happened, the clouds cleared, revealing the sun. As the sunlight seemed to get even hotter and struck Groudon’s back, its eyes dilated, then Groudon roared into the sky.

And Roxanne and Brawly immediately felt it because everything got even hotter, and Groudon began glowing. He didn’t change completely, but immediately Groudon stomped on the ground.

Geysers of lava started shooting around them, making Roxanne have Nosepass fly up and Brawly jump up and hold onto Nosepass so they didn’t get caught in the lava. All of their other Pokémon could jump out of the way, but they as humans couldn’t.

But while they got a safe distance away from the lava, and Nosepass let Brawly fall to the ground, they saw that Groudon, now that they weren’t close to it, decided to ignore them and keep moving.

And now every step Groudon took melted the ground. Stone, dirt, even the occasional pieces of metal around the route would melt, and they could tell if Groudon even got near a town it would all be destroyed.

Roxanne clenched her fists tightly, "No..." she muttered.

Then louder, "NO!"

She pointed forward and Probopass followed, flying toward Groudon and avoiding the hot ground, "I’ll stop Groudon no matter what!" she shouted.

Probopass immediately moved in front of Groudon and its massive body glowed brightly, "Probopass, use [Block]!"

Probopass created an electromagnetic barrier in front of Groudon that would stop the path it was taking. She knew this couldn’t stop Groudon, but she could at least make sure Groudon walked the way she wanted so that no towns got hit.

Then she pointed again, "Now [Rock Blast]!"

Probopass began shooting multiple rocks one after the other, hitting Groudon and actually making it take a step back.

Now, she did succeed in her goal. Groudon wasn’t on the path to collide with the nearest town...now unfortunately that was because Groudon was no longer looking at the town.

Yeah, now was a good time to mention that what she just did was not what she would usually do, but in the situation they were in, and with people in danger, she kind of moved without thinking. And now she was in this situation.

So now, seeing Groudon open its mouth and charge something inside it, Roxanne froze, "Ah...I didn’t think this through."

But just before Groudon sent out the blast at Roxanne, a new voice cut in, "WALREIN, [ICE BALL]!"

A massive sphere of ice suddenly crashed down from the sky like a meteor. The ball of ice slammed against Groudon’s mouth, forcing it closed and causing the blast it was about to fire to explode inside its mouth.

That made Groudon stagger and take a moment to recover.

Roxanne stared upward in shock, "...What?"

Up in the sky, they saw a flying car over them, and standing in the driver’s seat was a figure they recognized.

"Wallace!" Roxanne and Brawly said in unison.

"And I’m here too," Brendan waved from the passenger seat.

Wallace meanwhile jumped off the car and did a flip in the air before landing on the ground next to Brawly and Roxanne, who floated over with Probopass, "I apologize that it took so long, we had to deal with some things on the way here," Wallace explained.

"I’m just glad that you’re here. I don’t know how much longer we could hold Groudon off by ourselves," Brawly sighed as he stood ready to keep fighting.

"Of course I did. After all, I would set a bad example as Champion if I didn’t come to save the day," Wallace said with a smirk.

Meanwhile Brendan, who was still in the flying car, looked off the edge. He tried to carefully climb down, but he slipped and fell behind them. He immediately got up acting like he meant to do that and stood next to Wallace.

"Yep, everything is good now," he said way too quickly, clearly trying to pretend he didn’t just fall, "Now let’s beat this thing together!" he said excitedly.

And maybe, with all this, things didn’t look as hopeless as they used to. Now with the four of them together, they might actually have a fighting chance.

For those of you at home, Groudon being an A-tier Legendary meant it was as strong as Pokémon like Ho-Oh and Lugia. They were equivalent.

Fighting Groudon was not like when they fought the Aspect of Arceus. Even though it was only a fraction as strong as the real Arceus, it was still EX-tier, the next stage over A-tier, and the gap between A and EX is huge, way bigger than the gap between B and A.

With Arceus it took the entire gang, multiple other Legendaries, and Mew plus Celebi just to barely beat it. This was not the same level as that, so it should not be used for comparison.

With a Champion-rank trainer, specifically Wallace who had a type advantage, along with two Gym Leaders using their real teams and Brendan, they actually did have a chance at beating Groudon. Now was it a high chance? No. But it was still a chance. Things were not hopeless, at least not yet they weren’t.

And all while this was happening, on the roof of one of the nearby cities, which was actually Lilycove City, a girl was sitting on the edge just watching everything with a curious look in her magenta eyes.

—

{Meanwhile at the same time}

Kyogre was finally starting to move, and it moved pretty fast to make up for lost time. But of course Flannery and Wattson were still there trying to push it back.

Wattson wiped rainwater from his face while skidding backward across the soaked rocks near the coast, "Manectric, use [Thunder] again!" he shouted.

A massive bolt of lightning crashed down from the storm clouds directly onto Kyogre’s body, exploding across its scales in a shower of electricity.

Kyogre actually flinched slightly, but then another massive wave erupted outward from its body, forcing Wattson and his Pokémon to brace themselves so they didn’t get swept into the sea.

"This thing just doesn’t stay down!" Wattson groaned.

Nearby, Flannery stood on a raised cliff edge while her Torkoal and Camerupt struggled to hold their footing against the storm.

This was really the worst possible position for her: a giant Water-type Legendary in the middle of the ocean during a worldwide storm. Yeah...not ideal, to say it lightly.

But that didn’t mean she was useless. She was used to fighting against Water-types since she was a Fire specialist.

"Camerupt, use [Ancient Power]!" Flannery shouted.

Massive glowing rocks lifted from the soaked coastline and slammed toward Kyogre’s side. The attack wasn’t enough to seriously hurt the Legendary, but it did succeed in forcing Kyogre slightly farther away from the nearest coastal town. And right now, that was all they cared about.

"Keep pushing it away from the mainland!" Flannery yelled over the storm.

"I KNOW THAT!" Wattson shouted back while his Raichu launched another [Thunderbolt].

They were not doing all that well, all things considered. Wattson had already lost two Pokémon trying to slow Kyogre down. Flannery lost three herself earlier when Kyogre casually summoned a tidal wave big enough to swallow half the coastline.

Kyogre suddenly let out a deep roar that echoed across the entire sea. Then dozens of massive water pillars erupted upward around them all at once.

"MOVE!" Flannery shouted.

Wattson immediately grabbed onto Manectric as they barely avoided getting swallowed by one of the water blasts. Nearby, Camerupt almost lost its footing before Torkoal managed to brace against it.

The cliffs around them cracked apart from the pressure, and it caused an opening that led into the mainland that was flooded enough for Kyogre to swim through.

So Kyogre started moving again into the mainland through the path it made, going under the cliffs.

Flannery recovered first while Wattson was busy catching his breath. She looked and saw Kyogre on the move, her heart rate speeding up. She pulled at her hair trying to think, but then she looked up and got an idea.

"Camerupt, [Earth Power]!" Flannery commanded, but she wasn’t aiming for Kyogre. She was aiming at the cliff.

The coastline exploded upward as a golden shockwave blew apart the edge of the cliff, and the stone started falling and hit Kyogre directly on the head. And that hurt. It was multiple tons of stone. Even if Kyogre was a Legendary, that still hurt.

Flannery pumped her fist and celebrated...for about three seconds.

Because Kyogre then looked back and saw Flannery and narrowed its eyes in anger.

Flannery froze, "...Ah."

A gigantic sphere of water immediately began forming in front of Kyogre’s mouth.

Wattson’s eyes widened, "FLANNERY!"

But before Kyogre could fire, a new voice swept in, "ALTARIA, [DRAGON PULSE]!"

A bright purple blast shot forward and blasted Kyogre across the face, sending the whale crashing against the cliff again and getting another rock to the head.

When Wattson and Flannery looked up, they saw Winona there, and her Altaria was already in Mega form. She didn’t waste any time, which to be fair, she absolutely shouldn’t have.

"There you are," Winona sighed in relief while guiding Altaria lower.

Then another voice rang out cheerfully from behind her, "Hi guys!"

Flannery and Wattson looked up again just in time to see another flying Pokémon descend from the sky.

May waved enthusiastically from atop her own Altaria while flying down behind Winona, "We came as fast as we could!" May called out.

Wattson stared for a second before grinning widely, "Well I’ll be!" he laughed, "Now THAT’S what I call good timing!"

Flannery sighed so hard she almost collapsed from relief, "You have NO idea how close that was..."

Winona landed beside them gracefully while Altaria kept its eyes locked on Kyogre, "Wallace went to assist Roxanne and Brawly with Groudon, so we are here to help you."

May hopped down from Altaria and looked out toward Kyogre, and she looked almost nervous, "...Wow okay, it looks WAY bigger in person."

"Yep," Wattson nodded seriously, "And angrier."

"Hey, I don’t suppose Ash is close by, right?" Flannery asked, "We could really use his help right about now."

"Well Ash is doing his own thing to help. I don’t know what it is, but I believe in him," May huffed and puffed out her chest, "Also, why am I not good enough here? I know Ash is stronger than me, but I’m not completely helpless."

Then she beat her chest proudly, "And Master Winona also taught me some stuff too, so I bet I can keep up with you guys now!"

"Master?" Flannery looked over at Winona.

Winona quickly waved her hand, "I just pointed out some improvements she could make to her battle style. I’m certainly not anyone’s master."

Wattson let out a breath through his nose and turned back to Kyogre, who was recovering, "Well they say actions speak louder than words, so how about you prove it right here."

May took a deep breath and slapped herself lightly on the cheeks, "Okay, no more being useless. This time I’m gonna steal the show!"

And with that, the four got ready to face Kyogre, to stop this now before it got worse. And again, with them together and the damage that was already done to Kyogre, they had a chance of winning. It was possible.

And meanwhile in the distance, a large muscular man was sitting on the shore watching. He would have stepped in to help Kyogre, but suddenly he kneeled over and held his ribs in pain.

After all, after Archie hit him, his injury was way worse now, so bad he didn’t know if he could.

–

{Meanwhile with Ash}

Ash quickly got all the Magma and Aqua grunts out of the collapsing cavern. He also found three Volbeat that pretty much begged to go with him, so he brought them out too.

After he got the information he wanted from the grunts, who unsurprisingly were now not all too willing to keep being part of Team Magma or Aqua, what a shocker, he had them stand by and actually start helping with evacuations.

But Ash prioritized Sootopolis City first. The reason was simple: Sootopolis City was the place Ash knew Groudon and Kyogre would have their final clash, and since it was a water-locked island, he knew that with the few ships going back and forth, it might not be enough.

So now that these grunts basically called him Boss, his first order of business was evacuating Sootopolis, and also having them try to contact other grunts in their organizations and convince them to leave too.

Ash wasn’t too confident in their ability to do that. If they managed to get all the grunts to leave and help, great, but if not, it didn’t change his plans too much.

But anyway, soon after he got up and started mobilizing Plan C, he got a text from Gary, which pretty much filled him in on what they found, and it was just as he feared. Mr. Stone was trying to use that to solve all of the problems.

But he also said something that made Ash’s eyes widen. He talked about a red-eyed girl that called herself Zinnia and what she did there.

This was the first time Ash heard about Zinnia. I mean, he knew that she was probably around and with Grand Meteor Delta coming he figured she might appear, but before this he hadn’t heard anything about her, even when he was infiltrating the Team Magma and Aqua bases.

That made things severely annoying, especially since Gary said that they couldn’t stop her from escaping, so she was out there.

But Ash had to admit, Zinnia’s actions were absolutely terrible, and her grief was not an excuse for what and how she did it.

But why she did it was, from a certain point of view, understandable. If you look at the story from her side, you can understand why she did things, and that in a way she was trying to save as many lives as possible. She wouldn’t even sacrifice another world with other people there.

And based on her game counterpart, she genuinely believed in doing what was right, even if the way she accomplished it wasn’t the best, since she had a part to play in getting Team Aqua and Magma to awaken Kyogre and Groudon.

But it’s just like the other Draconid people said, they never really thought she was worthy of being the next Lorekeeper after Aster’s death. Not because of any big agenda, but just because she didn’t have the same gift Aster had, plus they were all grieving.

Zinnia in a way was a victim of circumstance. A lot of things went wrong to lead her to how she was, and that kind of made her develop into who she was now. Again, that did not excuse what she did, but it did mean she needed real help.

But that’s for when Ash runs into her, and knowing what he does know about Zinnia, that might be soon. Now the only question was whether this Zinnia was closer to the game or manga version, or if she was entirely her own version of Zinnia, because that would drastically affect how things would end up going between them.

But that’s neither here nor there. For now Ash was doing something else.

You might have wondered, where during all of this were Tate, Liza, and Juan? Well, they were here with him, sitting across from each other.

And Ash had just finished explaining his contingency plan, and that he needed their help specifically. Now they had questions, but obviously Ash answered each and every one of them, since without them this plan falls apart.

"Okay...I’m kinda understanding..." Liza muttered.

Tate nodded, "Me too...it’s just...hmm how do I put this..."

"Hard to believe," Juan finished, rubbing his chin.

That wasn’t surprising. I mean, when Juan first ran hearing that Tate and Liza were missing, he went to find them, and he did find them, or more accurately they found him, and Ash was already with them. And now he was trying to convince them to help him with a plan that seemed absurdly specific.

"Just...I don’t know whether we can believe you. Instead of helping the others right now, you are asking us to wait for something that might happen. It’s a bit hard to believe," Juan explained.

"And yet, you listened to all of it," Ash said with a smile while he stroked Vee’s back. Vee was laying on his lap while Pikachu was finally out of his ball and sitting on Ash’s shoulder crossing his arms.

"Well, I believe him," Liza raised her hand first, really hoping Tate would raise his hand with her, otherwise she was going to turn red in embarrassment.

Tate nodded, "I believe Ash too." He had no reason not to after everything.

Ash nodded then looked at Juan, "That’s two out of three, but we need the master too. If you say no, I’ll find another way."

Juan stopped and looked at Ash, at his serious expression. At first he wouldn’t have gone through with something like this. Originally he thought Ash was just the same kid he saw in town challenging him to a Gym battle with his friends.

But then when he got a better look at him, he recognized him as the Ash, the one that won two Leagues before, and also someone Wallace talked about when he came back from Johto.

As Wallace’s mentor, he also had to stay informed of new young people with potential that showed up, but that alone wasn’t enough to convince him.

But then Ash did show him one thing, something that pushed this idea from "might happen if the stars align" to an almost guarantee, a certain meteorite chunk that Ash had.

When he saw that, he smiled softly, closing his eyes, "Hmm, I see. Then it seems like I’m the one who was too narrow-minded."

"Does that mean?" Liza started.

"Yes, I will cooperate with this mission," Juan said with a smirk on his face, "So, where should we start? Or should we prepare anything for their arrival?"

Ash smiled, "Just get the things you need ready. I’ll deal with the rest."

With that, the last piece of the puzzle was set. Now all he needed was for everyone to play their part, even if they didn’t know they were working toward Ash’s final plan.

As for now, now that he was done with the preparations, he could go out and join the main fight.

But as he stood up and went a separate way from Tate, Liza, and Juan, he pulled out his phone and dialed Brock.

When Brock answered he spoke, "Brock, how long until you get here with everyone?"

—

{Meanwhile}

In underground ruins, Steven and Alain walked together guided only by Alain’s Charizard’s fire.

Alain was confused about why they were even down here. As far as he knew, the fight was going on up there, and Steven got a call from Wallace and some pictures showing that Groudon and Kyogre were awake. Shouldn’t he go and fight them with everyone else?

And yet Steven told him there was an even more important thing they needed to do, even more important than just going there to fight.

That was another thing that set Steven and Alain apart. Alain just wanted to go fight, while Steven needed to get this before he could even consider going up there and supporting everyone.

The reason why was simple he needed to make sure Hoenn wouldn’t be destroyed. What good is stopping the Legendaries if they can’t save their home?

But regardless, eventually they got to what seemed like a broken tablet with Braille on it.

Alain was confused, especially because pieces of the text were broken off because of how old it was

But Steven, as an archaeology nerd, knew all of this beforehand. I mean, he was Champion. If he didn’t know about these things he might as well hang up his cape and retire.

But that was besides the point. He knew what the tablet said and he was also fluent in Braille.

Steven stepped up and read it out, "In this cave we have lived, we owe it all to these Pokémon, but we sealed them, we feared them. Those with courage, those with hope, open a door. The eternal Pokémon await."

"Eh?" Alain blinked, "What does that mean? And also," he pointed to a destroyed section, "what about that? It’s not there. How are you gonna read that?"

"I don’t need to." Steven pulled out a letter he had. This letter was the one his father sent Ash to give him. He remembered it well, he just never came to use it. But now it was time, "First comes Relicanth, last comes Wailord."

He had already prepared those two Pokémon. I mean, he knew he was coming here and he had Wallace on speed dial, he wasn’t stuped enough to not have everything ready.

But with those Pokémon, and the full phrase, he finally looked at the tablet and started the movements.

As he did, the walls around them began to shake. Alain immediately stepped back into a fighting stance.

"What did you just do?" he asked sharply.

Steven didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he watched as ancient mechanisms hidden inside the ruins slowly began activating.

Then the walls opened, revealing three Pokémon, Regirock, Regice, and Registeel.

Now these three specific Regis were a bit different than the ones at the Tree of Beginning or even Brandon’s. But as for what made these three so special compared to the others, you’ll find that out soon.

For now the three golems didn’t seem to move at first, but Steven didn’t seem confused. He just walked forward.

He stopped in the center then raised his hand, "Legendary giants! Hear me now! Lend me your strength and help protect all of Hoenn!"

Slowly the eyes on the Regis began lighting up and they started making small cries, and then Steven’s raised hand suddenly began to feel like it was burning.

He quickly brought it down and grabbed it. The pain was so bad that he fell to his knees, "Grr..."

Alain ran to him and knelt beside him, helping him stand, "Are you okay? What happened?"

Steven simply raised his hand and on the back of it he saw the symbol of the Regi trio.

And when he confirmed it, all three, Regirock, Regice, and Registeel, stepped forward and waited for Steven’s command.

Alain was creeped out and his Charizard stood by in case they needed to fight, but the giants didn’t attack.

In fact Steven stood on his own and stepped in front of the giants before turning back to Alain, "Now," he said with his arms spread wide, "we can save Hoenn!"

And the Regis copied his gesture.