The forest had been quiet for far too long.
That, more than anything else, should have warned me something was wrong.
Even the wind seemed hesitant, brushing past the trees in uneven whispers, while the usual distant cries of wild Pokémon were completely absent. Arpit walked a step behind me, unusually tense, his eyes scanning the treeline with far more caution than usual, while Mightyena padded silently at our side, ears flicking at sounds only it could hear.
I was just about to suggest we circle back and reassess our route when—
A notification appeared.
[SYSTEM ALERT]
Global Event Triggered
Legendary Emergence Protocol Activated
I froze mid-step.
Arpit nearly walked into me.
"…You saw that too, right?" he asked slowly.
Before I could answer, the ground trembled.
Not a light tremor. Not something distant.
This was immediate. Violent. The kind that made your instincts scream before your mind could even process it.
Then the sky darkened.
Clouds rolled in unnaturally fast, spiraling inward as if drawn by something unseen, while a pressure settled over the forest that felt suffocating, ancient, and overwhelmingly powerful.
A roar followed.
Not from one direction.
From everywhere.
[WARNING: MULTIPLE LEGENDARY SIGNATURES DETECTED]
"…Multiple?" Arpit repeated, voice cracking just slightly.
That was when they appeared.
First, a massive serpentine shape tore through the clouds, its body coiling across the sky with impossible scale, emerald light cutting through the darkness as it let out a deafening cry.
"Rayquaza…" I whispered.
Before the name had even fully left my mouth, the lake in the distance exploded upward, water spiraling into a towering vortex as a colossal blue form rose from within, its presence sending waves crashing far beyond the shoreline.
"Kyogre?!"
Arpit's voice was no longer steady.
Then the ground split.
Cracks spread outward beneath our feet as molten light surged through them, and from within the earth itself, a massive red form clawed its way upward, heat distorting the air around it.
"Groudon—what is happening?!"
[SYSTEM UPDATE]
All Trainers Must Survive: 00:59:59
"…Survive?" Arpit echoed.
That was when the fourth one arrived.
A distortion in space itself, as if reality had been folded and then torn open, revealing a shadowed figure with wings that seemed to bend light around them.
I didn't say its name.
I didn't need to.
At this point, naming it didn't make this situation any less impossible.
Mightyena let out a low growl.
Charmeleon stepped forward instinctively, flames flickering more intensely as if responding to the overwhelming pressure.
My mind raced.
This wasn't just wrong.
This was absurd.
Multiple legendaries appearing at once, acting aggressively, and the system treating it like some kind of timed survival event…
There was no scaling logic here.
No progression curve.
No warning.
This was either a catastrophic system failure—
—or something far worse.
"RUN!"
We didn't wait.
Didn't question.
Didn't think.
We ran.
Behind us, the sky split with a beam of light that carved through the forest, obliterating everything in its path, while another shockwave rippled across the ground, sending trees crashing down like they were nothing more than twigs.
I could feel the heat.
The pressure.
The sheer overwhelming presence of beings that should not exist in the same space, let alone at the same time.
[00:42:13 Remaining]
"This is impossible!" Arpit shouted as we dodged falling debris. "We're not supposed to deal with this yet!"
"You think I don't know that?!" I snapped back.
Another roar shook the forest.
Closer this time.
Far too close.
I risked a glance back—
—and immediately regretted it.
Rayquaza was descending.
Straight toward us.
"Split up!" I shouted.
We veered in opposite directions, Mightyena following Arpit while Charmeleon stayed with me, flames blazing as it turned, ready to fight despite the hopelessness of the situation.
The sky darkened further.
Wind howled.
Energy gathered.
This was it.
There was no strategy here.
No clever workaround.
No hidden mechanic to exploit.
Just overwhelming force—
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
April Fools :)
"…What?"
The world stopped.
The sky froze mid-motion.
Rayquaza… blinked out of existence.
Kyogre dissolved into mist.
Groudon sank back into nothingness.
The distortion in space snapped shut like it had never been there.
Silence returned.
Complete.
Absolute.
Arpit slowly peeked out from behind a tree.
"…Tell me that just happened."
I stared at the empty sky.
Then at the notification still hovering in front of me.
Then back at the completely normal, peaceful forest.
"…I'm going to find whoever designed this system," I said slowly, "and I'm going to have a very long conversation with them."
Behind me, Charmeleon looked deeply offended.
Mightyena, in the distance, looked like it had just reconsidered all of its life choices.
Arpit sat down on the ground.
"…I almost died."
"You weren't even in danger."
"I emotionally almost died."
"…Fair."
[SYSTEM NOTICE]
Thank you for participating in the April Event
No rewards will be given :)
"…No rewards?" Arpit repeated weakly.
I closed the notification.
"…We're leaving this zone."
"No argument there."
We walked back in complete silence.
Author's Note
Happy April Fools 😄
The real chapter will be posted tomorrow.