The monitoring staff at the space center quickly assessed the size of the asteroid and then fell into a deep silence.
The asteroid's diameter... 10 kilometers!!
In other words, a diameter of ten thousand meters!
This was a number that everyone at the space center found hard to accept.
About 65 million years ago, there was actually a meteorite with an approximate diameter of 10 kilometers that descended from the sky and hurtled towards Earth.
Eventually, it caused a massive tsunami and global firestorms, submerged lands, forests burned, dust and smoke darkened the skies for years without dispersal, plants withered away from the lack of photosynthesis, and animals died in vast numbers due to starvation; at that time, Earth's rulers, the dinosaurs, were believed to have vanished from this planet forever in that disaster.
That collision was equivalent to an explosion of a hundred million megatons of TNT, and without a doubt, if such an asteroid really does successfully land, Earth would suffer an unimaginable catastrophe, a world-ending disaster for the vast majority of ordinary life on the planet.
Although there are still a few days before this giant meteorite arrives, based on its speed, the Pokémon Alliance's space center was already in complete disarray by this point.
"A meteorite disaster, that seems to be one of the calamities prophesied by the First Generation Master Zi Wan, right?!"
"Could it be the same one?"
"How could the asteroid suddenly change its orbit, that's not scientific!"
An online meeting of the Alliance's member countries was quickly convened.
To prepare for the legendary disaster mentioned by Master Zi Wan, the Alliance countries had actually established disaster response centers long ago.
Although the cause of this particular meteorite disaster was not yet certain, currently, only the Pokémon Alliance's disaster response center was capable of rapidly reacting to a disaster of this magnitude.
However, with a mere discussion, member countries of the Alliance concluded that there was really no perfect way for Earth to withstand this asteroid.
Even if rockets were used to crash into it, or nuclear bombs were detonated, the best that could be achieved would be to alter its trajectory, or to cause it to descend in a different form, such as countless meteorite fragments, which would still be an epic-level disaster.
As for relying on the power of Pokémon...
"Kapu—"
In the Many Island Secret Realm, the Kapu family, who were contacted by the Island Kings immediately, were immensely grave. Although powerful Pokémon would generally not be affected as long as they were not in the core area of the asteroid's impact, it was predicted that the majority of ordinary humans and ordinary Pokémon would suffer terribly.
Moreover, the Kapu family did not treat this meteorite as an ordinary ten-thousand-meter diameter meteorite.
Because the Pokémon World had also encountered meteorite crises several times, the impact force brought about by those meteorite collisions was merely incidental.
A meteorite that struck Earth during the super ancient era that contained negative energy, for instance, inflicted greater destruction on Earth's ecology due to the negative energy it contained!
Meteorites carrying Dynamax energy, like those that severely injured Arceus, the Brilliant God, were not to be assessed merely by their size.
If it were just an ordinary meteorite, that might be manageable, but if it carried special energy, then Earth would be in greater danger. No, even if it were truly just an ordinary meteorite, a successful descent at this size would still be a disaster akin to a top-tier Legendary Pokémon running rampant, potentially causing harm to the planet on par with an enduring great battle between the super ancients Groudon and Kyogre.
Furthermore, due to the unique nature of this disaster, there were very few solutions available, solutions which could only be perfectly addressed in space. To the Kapu family's knowledge, there might only be two Pokémon capable of this.
The Legendary Arceus, creator of the Pokémon World.
Rayquaza, born in the ozone layer, who developed Mega Evolution power to its extreme limits, the supreme ruler of the sky.
Only these Pokémon could effortlessly resolve the issue with the meteorite.
Of course, the Brilliant God, Sun and Moon God might also be able... but this was practically impossible, and there was no way to anticipate their intervention.
Even the Kapu family, faced with such a disaster, was powerless, only able to protect a small portion of Pokémon. This time, the Kapu family dared not show off, fearing that they would be asked by the Alliance to handle the meteorite.
They didn't want to be smashed to death!
And so, the Alliance's disaster response center fell silent once again.
In France, people had just steadied themselves against a legendary disaster.
Around the world, the recent Guardian God battles had revealed the power ceiling of top Trainers.
People originally thought that legendary disasters were no longer so difficult to resist, but then, this unexpected asteroid provided a wake-up call to the Alliance.
It seemed... there was no solution!
Even if a High Legend descended, at the very least there would still be Legendary Pokémon like the Kapu family, or Legendary Trainers like Fang Yuan to stand against it, but against this meteorite...
"So, what do we do now???"
The entire Pokémon Alliance, the whole world, started to become destabilized.
...
...
"That's roughly the situation."
At the research institute, upon receiving the intelligence, Fang Yuan immediately fell into deep thought.
In front of him, Pokémon like Eevee and Mew, almost all showing expressions of distress, stared at him intently.
You've got to be joking.
An asteroid hitting Earth???
How could such a thing happen?
Eevee and other Pokémon, who had seen plenty of apocalyptic movies, immediately stiffened.
Mew, who once nearly perished from the negative energy brought by a meteorite from outside of the world, also stiffened.
The other Pokémon looked more or less bewildered.
"Even Hoopa's pull can't reach something so big, so far away," Hoopa grumbled with a headache.