Chapter 662: Rayquaza: Don't Call Me, I'm Too Lazy to Come

Black clouds pressed down on the sea, and wild waves devoured the shore.

The advantage of large size manifested itself at this moment.

Amidst the surging ocean, Wailord stood immovable; on its back, Joy Jingxiang had already reset Agatha's dislocated arm and administered a small dose of pain-relieving medicine.

This would allow Agatha to recover a certain degree of mobility.

"... Thank you."

While expressing gratitude, Agatha used his right hand, which bore only minor scrapes, to smooth back his red hair that could no longer maintain its "flamboyant" style, and asked with a hesitant voice, for who knew how many times:

"Did Luo Mu really accomplish such a thing?"

"Yes, the entire Hoenn region already knows about this matter."

Even though this was Agatha's fifth time asking, Joy Jingxiang still nodded helplessly.

As a former medical professional, treating patients required patience as merely the most basic compulsory lesson.

"..."

Agatha ceased questioning, instead staring with slightly unfocused eyes through the curtain of rain at the figures of Dragonite and the red Gyarados returning.

It was no wonder he repeatedly questioned both Joy Jingxiang and Shinji.

The reality was that after clashing with Groudon and Kyogre, even someone as proud as Agatha could not help but admit that even if he brought a full team of main forces and his personally trained Dragon Legion,

facing such power, let alone defeating them, he did not even know how long he could resist.

But according to what Joy Jingxiang and Shinji said,

Luo Mu, alone with two main Pokémon, had directly taken down Rayquaza, a creature capable of individually defeating both Groudon and Kyogre.

—It was truly impossible not to be stunned by how he managed it.

Agatha's impression of Luo Mu still lingered in the period when the other party came to the ancestral lands of the Dragon Clan to obtain the "Extreme Speed Secret Manual."

At least at that time, although not stated outright, Agatha believed his own Dragonite was more than a little stronger than Luo Mu's Dragonite.

How much time had passed since then, that the other party could now shoot down Rayquaza?

Was he really not using the pretext of opening a farm to establish a concentrated camp for Pokémon training?

Agatha did not understand; this growth speed could already rival those two people, right?

At this moment,

Dragonite and the red Gyarados finally arrived at the "relatively safe" waters where Wailord was located.

After setting down Hearing Hearing Nimo and Pawmi and the others, even though they wanted to stubbornly return to the battlefield alongside Agatha, Joy Jingxiang directly cooled her face and stated they must treat their injuries first.

Otherwise, going there would only mean lasting a few rounds before being unable to care for themselves, requiring others to save them; it was better to treat wounds first, recover some condition, and then depart.

Besides, Wallace and Steven were holding the line over there.

Pressured by Joy Jingxiang's natural aura belonging to medical personnel, Dragonite and the red Gyarados could only obediently accept treatment, recovering their condition alongside Agatha.

The sky canopy rolled forward like spilled ink, torrential rain pierced the void like arrows, and the angry sea churned with man-eating roars.

Wallace gazed at the man laughing wildly atop the aircraft, his entire person rarely displaying such seriousness and sincerity: "Archie, stop this now."

At this time, Wallace's main lineup had clearly surrounded Kyogre.

Fighting at the very forefront was Wallace's signature ace, Milotic, hailed as the most beautiful Pokémon.

Following that were several of his great Water-type generals.

There was Walrein, capable of easily shattering Bingshan with its massive fangs, and Marshtomp, the iconic Pokémon of the Hoenn region.

There was Ludicolo playing a unique rhythm in the torrential rain, Starmie protecting its teammates, and Sharpedo conducting guerrilla warfare with its unparalleled speed in the water.

Added to this was Mantine, responsible for protecting Wallace's safety and serving as his mount.

This set, which could be called the strongest lineup Wallace prepared in haste, successfully suppressed the troublemaking Kyogre in place through tacit cooperation.

As a "genius" who achieved the highest accomplishments in both the Trainer and Coordinator fields, Wallace's breeding style was destined to differ from most single-focus Trainers.

Although all seven Pokémon shared the Water type, their secondary types covered Ice, Ground, Grass, Psychic, Dark, and Flying—a full six different types.

Integrating the potentially conflicting characteristics, move pools, and inherent strengths of these Pokémon, he ultimately formed a complementary cooperation that could be described as seamless.

This was the power of "Coordination."

On this separate track, Wallace could be said to be leaving everyone else in the dust.

Milotic's Ice Beam froze both the raised giant wave and Kyogre; even though the next moment Kyogre burst out as if unscathed, its wide fin-palms about to slap Milotic,

the tacit Walrein and Marshtomp immediately stepped forward to block, while Starmie's "Flash" move had already enveloped Kyogre's leaping massive body.

Moves of various light effects instantly bombarded Kyogre, which had become the "focus of the entire field," forcefully pressing it back into the sea.

On the other side,

Steven's Steel and Fossil-type Pokémon were methodically suppressing Groudon's actions.

Rightfully charging at the very front line to directly withstand the immense pressure from Groudon was similarly Steven's signature Pokémon, the shiny Metagross.

Aggron, Skarmory, Aerodactyl, Cradily, and Armaldo constituted a solid defensive line that Groudon temporarily could not break through.

Although he had absorbed much knowledge regarding Coordination from his friend Wallace through constant exposure, Steven was undoubtedly a pure Trainer.

More than half of his Pokémon were classified as Fossil Pokémon.

Among them were powerful individuals revived by Devon Corporation at great expense, and ancient overlords that had survived to the present day in regions unknown to humans due to their own special traits.

To put it in more common terms, these Fossil Pokémon that managed to persist from ancient times until their modern revival were all stat monsters.

Just as Metagross fired a "Meteor Mash" to knock Groudon down, the opponent immediately adjusted, and a super-effective Fire Punch was about to explode upon Metagross.

At this moment, under Steven's command, Armaldo, which was currently "trimming Groudon's feet," leaped high, using its sturdy armor to directly tank the attack aimed at Metagross.

"Roar—!"

With its attack blocked, Groudon let out an angry roar, immediately switching to an energy attack as dazzling fusion light began to gather in its mouth.

—Then, ignite!

Scorching flames erupted, forming an explosive fireball in the shape of the character "Da" (Big), aiming at Metagross which had already created some distance.

Among all the Pokémon present, Metagross had beaten it the hardest and caused the most pain, so Groudon naturally regarded it as its number one enemy, aside from Kyogre and Rayquaza.

Groudon took a step forward; just following Maxie's suggestion, it planned to use "Precipice Blades" to block Metagross's retreat, then deliver a fatal blow with "Blast Burn."

Just as the fatal "Blast Burn" was about to erupt, on the exposed crimson earth where, by rights, not a blade of grass should grow under the scouring of magma, two vines that had quietly sprouted wrapped around Groudon's legs.

Cradily's "Grass Knot"!

Given Groudon's weight, which had swollen from its initial 3.5 meters to this current size, a successful hit would deal the most severe super-effective strike it had suffered all day!

Steven's command style had always been like this: bold and confident, yet never lacking in calmness.

Pity that, before a walking natural disaster like Groudon, most schemes simply could not constitute any real threat.

The instant it realized it had been tripped, without Groudon needing to struggle free, the rolling waves of magma spontaneously burned through the fragile Grass Knot.

"Thud—"

Seeing the danger, Aggron, standing by on the side, risked its steel armor being burned through and directly transformed into a steel cannonball, smashing into Groudon!

Groudon's erupting "Blast Burn" was forced to shift its angle, sweeping over the turbulent sea surface; while evaporating countless amounts of seawater and rain, it detonated in an uninhabited area.

Seeming to feel that being shaken was somewhat shameful, the emotionless beastly pupils of Groudon instantly lit up with a crimson light; this was the precursor to it manipulating the earth to release "Precipice Blades."

Having already fought it for over ten minutes, Steven had long analyzed this point and, without hesitation, dispatched his two generals maneuvering in the sky to act.

Aerodactyl's "Rock Slide" and Skarmory's "Steel Wing" struck precisely during Groudon's attack wind-up, interrupting its assault!

At this, Groudon became even more enraged.

The massive flow of molten rock surging from underground forced Aggron to retreat and cool its armor.

The land expanding outward from Mossdeep Island began to shake violently; the intense tremors were like an earth dragon turning over, instantly inflicting massive damage on Cradily, Aggron, and Armaldo.

Steven was also forced to halt the psychic support from his riding Claydol and temporarily fly into the air to evade.

"Tsk, having caused so much damage, yet there is still not a hint of fatigue?"

Steven pressed his thin lips tightly together; the composure on his face had long since transformed into solemnity.

To put it plainly, during this prolonged battle, Steven had roughly figured out Groudon's strength.

Even though its attack power was immense, so formidable that his carefully trained Pokémon could easily suffer heavy injuries from taking a direct hit,

its movement speed was quite slow, and due to its huge size, it was also clumsy and heavy.

Its defense was very powerful, but not to the extent that no attacks were effective.

In fact, Metagross, focusing on offense, had already accumulated a considerable amount of damage against it.

The only problem was that Groudon's stamina seemed to have no limit; no matter how much damage was dealt to it, unless it reached a level that temporarily disabled its ability to act, it was all equivalent to ineffective damage.

An even crueller reality was that, at least for now, his team found it difficult to instantly inflict enough damage to disable Groudon.

If they continued to consume resources like this, they would end up just like Lance and Hearing Hearing Nimo before them; at best, because they had brought more fighting power, they could hold out a bit longer.

Furthermore, during this stalemate, the natural disasters caused by these two ancient Pokémon would not stop, and the disaster in the Hoenn region would become increasingly severe.

"If only Metagross could be like Drake's Salamence... perhaps there would be a chance."

Even though Steven's desire to become stronger had climbed to its peak at this moment, he had to force himself to calm down and begin searching for other opportunities.

Soon, Steven discovered a "blind spot" he had not noticed before.

Although Maxie seemed to have completely become a puppet of Groudon's will, during the siege, Groudon would intentionally protect Maxie if he might be caught in the attack range.

Steven remembered what Wallace had said on the way.

This was not the eruption period for Hoenn's natural energy; Groudon and Kyogre should have been sleeping quietly until the eruption period arrived.

It was Team Magma and Team Aqua who had found them and then woke them up.

—Did all this mean that if they successfully dealt with Maxie and removed the orb fused into his body, Groudon and Kyogre, who had no reason to fight in the first place, would most likely choose to cease hostilities and return to their habitats to sleep?

"... Regardless, this idea is worth trying."

Steven silently set his goal.

Coincidentally,

on the other side, his good friend Wallace, who was also gradually feeling overwhelmed, had come to the same conclusion.

They began to tacitly concentrate their attacks on Groudon/Kyogre onto Archie and Maxie.

Taking their lives was not necessary; if conditions allowed, both of them still wanted to bring them back to the Hoenn League for trial as much as possible.

At this time, half an hour had passed since Steven and Wallace began battling the two ancient Pokémon.

The natural disaster was also gradually approaching the inland areas of the Hoenn region.

Other reinforcements from across Hoenn would still need some time to arrive; they knew clearly that to prevent the situation from worsening, they could only go all out now.

There was only one thing they had miscalculated.

—That was Kyogre/Groudon's possessiveness over the orbs inside Archie/Maxie's bodies.

If before, the two ancient Pokémon had treated the battle merely as warming up their bodies that hadn't moved in who knows how many hundreds of years,

then the instant the two men targeted the orbs, they adopted the same attitude they held toward the other two Hoenn legends and became completely serious.

Above the sea, lightning tore across the sky.

Leaping into the sky, Kyogre exposed its pristine white lower jaw; its fish mouth, filled with sharp teeth, opened, and behind its wide, spread fins were countless dazzling cyan-white orbs of light.

Under the uninterrupted bombardment of "Origin Pulse," even the most coordinated water legion was torn open a gap by Kyogre's brute force.

Pokémon kept getting injured, and Wallace himself suffered attacks from countless sharp shards of ice splashing out when the frozen seawater Milotic used for defense was smashed apart by Kyogre.

The fabric of the clothes on his shoulders, chest, and abdomen was all stained with seeping blood.

Steven's side was slightly better, but the collapse of the defensive line he had established also happened in the blink of an eye.

Imbued with the Earth God's fury, those "Precipice Blades" protruding from the ground as if energy were limitless completely scattered the defensive position he had constructed.

Even Metagross, which was skilled at using psychic powers to calculate and evade, was struck by Precipice Blades, and its condition rapidly declined.

The battlefields on both sides, which had originally been gradually clearing up, were once again shrouded in gloom.

Wallace and Steven gritted their teeth and held on, but they could not overcome their Pokémon gradually falling one by one; they could only recall them to ensure their safety.

In less than five minutes, barring the Pokémon mounts beneath them, only their aces, Metagross and Milotic, remained standing before Groudon and Kyogre!

In the distance, atop the back of Wailord.

Lance struggled to his feet; disregarding Erika's attempts to stop him, he insisted on joining the battle with his Dragonite and Red Gyarados.

If things continued like this, and the front line truly collapsed with no one to halt Groudon and Kyogre.

Their unconscious expansion of torrential rain and scorching sunlight would become conscious expansion; at that point, both the speed of expansion and the level of disaster would differ by an unimaginable margin!

"... We must go and share their burden!"

Lance gritted his teeth and said.

"Please take me with you, Mr. Lance!"

Hearing Hearing Nimo and Pawmi, who was receiving treatment from Chansey, also stood up.

At this moment, they were all prepared to fight to the death alongside Steven and Wallace.

Just then, above the sea where torrential rain poured down.

"Woooooo————"

A melodious, lingering whale song echoed between heaven and earth, distinct from Kyogre's ancient, oppressive cry that resembled the deep abyss of the ocean.

A gentle monsoon suddenly blew from behind.

Amidst the delighted expressions on the faces of Paul and Erika as they turned around, the figure of a black-haired young man appeared on the back of the pure white Sea God rapidly approaching from the distance!

Sky Pillar.

Xiang Xiang Jiana, kneeling in prayer, suddenly noticed the Key Stone in her hand flare up with a dazzling green light.

An expression of ecstasy instantly floated onto her face.

Rayquaza had noticed the expanding disaster and was about to descend to stop the further conflict between Groudon and Kyogre!

"."

At this moment, the excitement within Xiang Xiang Jiana's heart was beyond words.

She gazed expectantly at the starry sky, unaffected by the torrential rain and scorching sun, waiting for that divine emerald dragon shadow to descend upon the Sky Pillar.

Meanwhile, within the endless starry sky filled with countless shining stars.

The Hoenn Rayquaza was searching for lucky meteorites, performing "A Bite of the Starry Sky."

But it suddenly sensed a continuous call emanating from the planet below the stars.

Under normal circumstances, Rayquaza would choose to continue sleeping and ignore it.

But this time, whether due to a whim or recalling the not-so-pleasant experience from not long ago, it chose to lower its head and cast its eyes downward.

With just one look, it immediately discovered the chaotic natural energy of the Hoenn region, as well as the auras of those two idiots it knew so well.

Rayquaza understood instantly.

Although it didn't quite understand how those two idiots started fighting outside the eruption period of natural energy, this didn't stop it from beating them up to vent its own pent-up frustration.

Rayquaza simply responded to the summon.

Just as Rayquaza was about to set off for the Sky Pillar, it detected an aura that felt somewhat familiar—or rather, an aura it would never forget in its entire life.

It was the aura of that human.

In the starry sky, the Hoenn Rayquaza immediately narrowed its eyes.

Is this fellow getting involved too?

It currently had no mood to perform a world-saving act in front of that person.

As for its reputation in the Hoenn region?

Just kidding; was it the kind of dragon that cared about reputation?

Besides, with that human present, those two idiots couldn't stir up any waves at all; since it wasn't the eruption period of natural energy, once beaten awake, they would obediently return to sleep.

Thinking thus, Rayquaza simply swished its tail, cut off its response to the Sky Pillar's summon, and continued searching for meteorites in the starry sky.

Stop calling; I'm too lazy to come!

Meanwhile, atop the Sky Pillar.

Xiang Xiang Jiana, who had been expecting the approval of the Dragon God, stared in disbelief at the Key Stone that had dimmed once again, completely stunned in place.

"Eh?"

(End of Chapter)