Want to read ahead. You know where
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Inside the Sky Pillar.
The moment his fingertips brushed the surface, the sphere began to split, fracturing into countless pinpricks of starlight that swirled and surged toward him.
They entered his body.
Warmth rushed in like a flood, restoring every ounce of drained strength.
The divine powers he'd burned through, now filled up.
The pressure that had been suffocating the air around him vanished.
As the final motes of starlight faded, a shift swept across the skies.
From above, an ancient, solemn presence descended, vast and divine.
The clouds parted as if torn away by unseen hands.
The heavens themselves opened.
And from that breach in the sky, it descended.
A dragon, a hundred meters long.
Its emerald scales shimmered with light from beyond the world.
The Sky High Pokémon.
A being worshipped in Hoenn since ancient times.
Rayquaza.
"Dragon God!" Zinnia cried out from outside the Sky Pillar, her voice trembling.
She dropped to her knees and pressed her forehead to the stone floor.
"Hoaaaaah!!!"
Rayquaza's cry echoed like thunder across the sea and land.
It spiraled downward in a wide arc, then shot into the tower, descending before Sam with terrifying grace.
Its great golden eyes locked with his, filled not with suspicion, but calm recognition.
"Rayquaza…" Sam whispered, his own reflection mirrored in those eyes.
"Rooorh…"
The massive dragon lowered its head toward him.
"You... want me to ride you?"
Sam could feel it, not just a thought, but a deep, ancient will extending to him.
Still, he asked aloud, just to be sure.
"Ho ho ho!"
The dragon gave a slow nod.
"…Alright."
Sam stepped forward and placed a hand gently on Rayquaza's warm, armor-like scales.
He climbed onto its back, feeling the energy coursing beneath.
"Hoaaah!"
Rayquaza let out a sharp growl, a signal. Hold on tight.
"Got it!"
Sam gripped the ridged scales beneath him.
Rayquaza's form blurred, then vanished in a flash of green light.
The sound of wind tore through the tower as the two shot toward the horizon, bound for Sootopolis City.
Outside the Sky Pillar
"Master Dragon God… Master Inheritor…"
Zinnia remained kneeling long after they had disappeared. The wind stirred her cloak, but she didn't move.
Finally, she rose, eyes glinting with awe and joy.
"…Grandmother… The Inheritor and the Dragon God have united."
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Sootopolis City
The sea raged.
A colossal wave surged toward the harbor, frothing and towering over the coastline.
On the edge of the city, Wallace stood firm, his coat snapping in the wind.
"Everyone, hold formation! Deflect it now!"
His team of powerful Trainers responded instantly, releasing their Pokémon into battle positions.
"Milotic, Ice Beam!"
"Glalie, Freeze-Dry, full power!"
"Salamence, Dragon Pulse!"
"Metagross, Flash Cannon!"
"Volcarona, Bug Buzz!"
"Garchomp, Hyper Beam!"
The barrage of attacks lit up the sky in a dazzling storm of elemental force.
The wave exploded outward in a mist of shattered seawater.
KRRRRSSHH!!
The worst of it was stopped, but the leftover shockwaves still slammed into the shore.
Debris flew.
Water surged up the streets.
Among the elite forces gathered, one figure stood quietly.
Hoenn's Ice-type Elite Four member, Glacia, knelt by her injured Glalie.
Cradling its round form with both arms, she spoke softly.
"You did well, Glalie… just hang in there."
"Guuu…"
Glalie gave a weak nod, frost clinging to its breath.
Nearby, the Dragon Master of Hoenn, Drake, stood silent.
His gaze was fixed on the sky, where a streak of green light cut through the clouds.
Wallace cast a glance at his own trump card, Salamence.
The dragon hovered in place, its wings trembling from fatigue.
Its chest heaved with every breath, eyes dull with exhaustion.
One more attack, and it might collapse right out of the sky.
If they kept pushing like this…
It wouldn't be a trump card anymore.
It would be a scrap dragon.
And Salamence wasn't alone.
The rest of the Pokémon were barely holding on, bodies bruised, energy drained, but none willing to give up.
Because if they let up even for a moment…
Sootopolis City would fall.
They gritted their teeth and fought on, not for victory, but for survival. For the chance to buy just one more minute.
"I can still fight for now…" Wallace murmured.
"…But if this keeps up…"
His voice trailed off.
He didn't need to finish the thought.
Nearby, Elite Four Sidney, usually cocky, brash, and joking, looked unusually grim.
"…This is pointless," he muttered, frustration thick in his voice.
"If we keep dragging this out…"
Cynthia and Alder stood nearby, both summoned from distant regions to lend their strength. Neither said anything.
Because what could they say?
Wallace exhaled sharply and shook his head.
"We can't pull back," he said.
"If we do… Sootopolis will be gone."
Unlike other cities, Sootopolis didn't have outskirts.
It was built inside a crater on an isolated island.
There was no retreating. No high ground.
Just water, and the threat of more.
"If we fall back now… there won't be a city left to protect," Wallace added.
Sidney clenched his fists.
"But… is it even worth it?"
He gestured out to the sea.
There, locked in an endless, earth-shaking battle,
Groudon. Kyogre.
The two ancient titans slammed into one another, claw and fang, sea and fire clashing in an endless cycle.
No victor. No progress. Just destruction.
"They've been fighting this long, and it hasn't made a difference…" Sidney said bitterly.
Wallace couldn't argue.
He looked toward the horizon, where Groudon's molten back seethed with fire, and Kyogre's vast fins whipped up typhoons.
The battle had no rhythm, only chaos. Like two primal forces locked in an eternal grudge.
Maybe… this really was fate.
Maybe the destruction of Sootopolis was written the moment these two awoke.
But Wallace was the Hoenn Champion.
He couldn't let himself crumble in front of the others.
No matter how helpless he felt, he would not show it.
Another monstrous wave rose, this one larger than before.
Crashing toward the coastline like a wall of doom.
Wallace raised a hand.
"Everyone, get ready!"
"Please… hold on a little longer!"
His voice rang out through the city, carried by desperation and hope.
"Even if we can't protect all of Sootopolis, "
"At least we'll know we gave it everything!"
The gathered trainers, Elites, Gym Leaders, volunteers, tightened their grips on Poké Balls, nodded, and stepped forward once more.
Alder and Cynthia didn't speak.
They simply moved.
Each of them raised their arms, commanding their Pokémon into action again, one more time. One more stand.
Together, they faced the incoming flood.
Time blurred into heartbeats.
The storm raged on.
Pokémon collapsed from exhaustion, some recalled just in time, others barely able to stand.
One by one, the younger Gym Leaders fell back, forced to retreat behind the front lines.
Their ranks were thinning fast.
Wallace could feel it.
The pressure growing with every passing moment.
He gritted his teeth. There was no other option.
He turned to the remaining Elites.
"…Fall back."
"We'll shift the defense inward. Make our last stand in the city center."
It wasn't a plan. It was desperation wrapped in strategy.
But before he could give the full command,
Everything stopped.
The waves froze.
The wind stilled.
Even the air seemed to halt.
Wallace turned toward the sea.
Groudon and Kyogre, those ancient behemoths, suddenly halted mid-clash.
Their massive heads lifted, eyes narrowing.
"ROOOOAAAAARRRRR!!!"
"WOOOOOOHHHHHH!!!!"
Twin roars shattered the stillness, echoing across the sea and sky.
Not in rage.
But in recognition.
Like they'd both sensed something greater.
Far beyond even themselves.
They turned, both of them, toward the distant sky.
And there, streaking across the clouds like a comet,
A green light.
Bright.
Blazing.
Approaching fast.
Wallace's breath caught in his throat.
"…No way…"
Sidney stared, speechless.
Cynthia's eyes widened. Even Alder looked shaken.
Because they all knew what was coming.
Not a force of land.
Not a god of the sea.
But something even higher.
The guardian of the skies.
The one said to bring balance when the world teetered on the edge of ruin.
Rayquaza.
The Soaring Totem of Hoenn.
The legend who ruled the heavens.
And riding on its back,
Wallace squinted against the light.
There, unmistakable in silhouette,
Sam.