Chapter 666: Dust Settles, Diancie Crystallized?

On Dream Island, which miraculously remained intact.

Lying on its back with a bruised and swollen face, Groudon looked up at the sky; compared to the ferocity and coldness it had displayed earlier, it now appeared somewhat bewildered.

Ah... why was I fighting again? (゜-゜)?

Lugia's "Cyclone Attack" was like a bucket of ice water, instantly sobering Groudon up.

This was true even though it was not suppressed by the Flying type.

On the sea surface on the other side, Kyogre, also lying belly-up, had similarly fallen into a comparable state of deep thought.

The full-power "Thunder" from the giant Dragonite had cooled its overheated brain somewhat.

Coupled with the fact that its external brain, Archie, had come under attack, its intelligence had directly regressed to its original level.

Sensing the thin natural energy surrounding it, along with a body that felt even more "hungry" than when it had first awakened, Kyogre's not-so-bright brain suddenly realized something.

What exactly were they fighting each other for, risking enforcement by Rayquaza in the process—

To seize both orbs for themselves and then undergo Primal Reversion?

With natural energy this thin, what use would Primal Reversion even be?

Not to mention they had just taken a beating; it truly wasn't worth it.

Due to its nature, Kyogre did not engage in overly complex thinking.

In its view, things were divided into only two categories: "worth it" and "not worth it."

Fighting while simultaneously gorging on natural energy? Worth it!

Taking a beating and eating nothing? Not worth it!

The toxins in its body had mostly been expelled; although its injuries hadn't healed, Kyogre silently flipped itself over.

After all, lying belly-up forever would damage its dignity.

On Dream Island, Luo Mu, expressionless, tied Maxie up tightly; the man had already been numbed by electricity from Luxray.

The indigo orb was also pinned beneath Bagogo like a ball; surprisingly, this child's sense of balance was quite good, showing no signs of tipping over.

Lugia folded its wings and landed, not worrying about a sneak attack from Groudon.

Leaving aside the "Cyclone Attack," which had dealt continuous damage for quite a long time after landing the fatal blow.

This fellow was not like Rayquaza, who remained active long-term; having just woken up and expended so much energy fighting, how could it recover so quickly?

"Roar—"

At this moment, Groudon sat up again, letting out a low growl that lacked confidence.

Luo Mu noticed that it was making eye contact with Kyogre out at sea, seemingly sending a signal that it was tired and suggesting they call a truce for today.

Otherwise, before the two of them could even start fighting properly, they would just get beaten up separately again.

It was better to wait for the eruption period of natural energy to teach these humans what the dignity of a "god" truly was.

Kyogre did not immediately respond to the signal sent by Groudon, but instead turned its gaze toward Lugia.

Noticing this, Lugia helplessly nodded and emitted a psychic wave containing a certain signal.

Only then did Kyogre feel reassured; it nodded to Groudon, took one last deep look at the giant Dragonite and the giant Tentacruel, then dove directly into the water and swam back in a certain direction.

Since things had come to this, it was better to go home and sleep first.

"What did you say to it?" Luo Mu asked.

Lugia replied via telepathy: "I said I wouldn't sneakily eat the natural energy in its territorial waters while it sleeps."

Luo Mu held back for a few seconds, then sighed: "... Quite protective of its food, isn't it?"

"Meow-ao!" Luxray, responsible for electro-therapy to force the orb out of Maxie, nodded in agreement.

When it had been straying in human cities before, it had also seen extremely rare examples of domesticated Pokémon that lost their homes because they were too protective of their food.

However, a big creature like Kyogre being protective of its food was really no big deal, not to mention that its impression on the cat wasn't very bright to begin with.

With Kyogre having fled, Groudon also stood up directly; its gaze first fell on Lugia, then on Bagogo, and finally lingered on Luo Mu for a long time.

Immediately after, it narrowed its eyes.

Despite appearing silly and simple-minded, Groudon could still see clearly who was the biggest contributor to Lugia being able to suppress it.

It would remember this human.

Groudon turned its back and stumbled toward the volcano on Dream Island, which had stopped erupting; that back view strangely conveyed a sense of loneliness.

Thanks to the ready-made volcanic crater on Dream Island, Groudon did not need to trek over mountains and rivers or travel ten thousand miles to return home.

It only needed to enter deeper underground through that point, then follow the magma channels it had once carved leading to various volcanoes across Hoenn, and it could return to Mt. Chimney.

As Groudon's massive body completely disappeared into the Dream Island volcano, this disaster that had nearly engulfed all of Hoenn was temporarily brought to a close.

As for why it was only temporary...

After all, several major events were still waiting for the disaster-prone Hoenn region ahead.

Luo Mu knew very well that the power displayed by Groudon and Kyogre now was merely the tip of the iceberg.

The enhancement Primal Reversion provided them was no different from creating gods.

Not long after, the few individuals who had cooperated in relays to delay the rampage of the two super-ancient Pokémon gathered once again on Dream Island.

Lance, possessing astonishing arm strength, lifted Archie, whose build was even bulkier than his own, with one hand, then threw him beside Maxie, who had not yet recovered from the electro-therapy.

He had no intention of taking care of Archie, the chief culprit; the throw had no cushioning whatsoever, causing Archie to let out a muffled groan immediately.

"The submarines of Team Aqua and Team Magma are gone; they must have abandoned these two and fled ahead of time."

Lance's voice paused; suddenly recalling how earlier, Matt from Team Aqua and Blaise from Team Magma had attempted to approach the two evil organization leaders who had fused with the orbs, he changed his tune.

"No, they are likely lying in ambush, waiting for an opportunity to find a chance to rescue them."

Steven agreed: "They probably haven't escaped far; I have already notified the Elite Four and Gym Leaders rushing over to search for their tracks."

Steven knew that everyone had prepared to sacrifice themselves to stop Groudon and Kyogre in order to safeguard the security of the Hoenn region.

But since matters had come to a temporary end, what needed to be done now was how to clean up the aftermath and prevent an incident like this from happening again as much as possible.

Next, the Hoenn region will go all out to sweep away all forces of Team Magma and Team Aqua, as well as those accomplices existing within the upper echelons.

Daigo's eyes instantly turned cold, his gaze falling upon Archie, who had regained consciousness and was now gasping for air.

"I believe that soon, both you and your subordinates will face the judgment of justice."

At Daigo's "threatening words," Archie, whose face was deathly pale and whose body looked as if he had just emerged from water, gave a bitter laugh. "Respected Champion, my lord, whether you believe it or not, I must still state this point."

"Today, Maxie and I were merely conducting a transaction, but the escape of the two Super-Ancient Pokémon was beyond our expectations."

"Are you implying that someone else interfered?"

The injured Wallace asked in a weak voice.

"Perhaps."

Archie shrugged, and suddenly a figure floated into his mind.

The other party had captured Flannery, the undercover agent sent by Team Magma, yet Tabitha, who was similarly captured by Team Magma, claimed that someone within Team Aqua had leaked information.

But based solely on the current intelligence, he could not yet confirm that person as the mastermind behind the scenes.

Listening to the exchange between Daigo, Wallace, and Archie, a hint of doubt also flashed in Luo Mu's eyes.

Indeed, since the escape of Groudon and Kyogre was unexpected by both organizations, someone must have released them.

As for who released them, it certainly couldn't be the trio from Team Rocket who had been trailing Ash and his group.

Burying his doubts temporarily in the bottom of his heart, Luo Mu spoke up to interrupt Daigo and the others' quiet speculation.

"Then how should we deal with these two orbs? I certainly don't want them."

Luo Mu pointed at the orbs stacked in two layers beneath Terapagos as he spoke.

Although strictly speaking, these two things counted as his spoils of war, he had no interest in collecting such items.

Just think about it.

The mere existence of the orbs would attract countless thieves, evil organizations, and other villains who would covet them.

With such a huge trouble, even if he took them back to use as table leg pads, Luo Mu would still find them too round and smooth.

—As for the "aura" leaking from the orbs allowing Pokémon to learn those two idiots' signature moves, that was all somewhat idealistic.

Hadn't they seen how Archie and Maxie lost their minds after touching the orbs?

Without the assistance of Groudon and Kyogre, it was basically impossible for Luo Mu to teach Swampert moves like Precipice Blades or Origin Pulse.

Besides, even without using those two's signature moves, didn't Swampert still knock the Hoenn Rayquaza flat?

Hearing these words, Archie and Maxie, who had finally recovered, glared furiously at Luo Mu.

They didn't know how much effort it had taken to obtain the orbs, yet Luo Mu looked so disgusted!?

Daigo said nothing, instead turning to look at Wallace.

In this aspect, it was definitely more authoritative for Wallace, as one of the people of Sootopolis, to make the decision.

Glancing sideways at Archie and Maxie with the corner of his eye, Wallace said in a low voice: "Once Phoebe arrives, we can hand the orbs over to her."

Of course, considering that the leaders of both organizations were still present, Wallace still had unspoken words remaining.

Phoebe, the Ghost-type Elite Four member of the Hoenn region, was a genius girl recognized by all of them.

Her grandparents were tomb guardians of Mt. Pyre on the surface, but in reality, they were the guardians protecting the Indigo Orb and the Crimson Orb.

Previously, Team Magma and Team Aqua had stolen the orbs while the two elders were unaware, but after returning the orbs this time, the Hoenn League would arrange heavy security to guard them.

Phoebe was the Elite Four member who would soon be stationed there permanently.

Luo Mu taking the initiative to propose returning the orbs undoubtedly made the two breathe a sigh of relief, after all, they were too embarrassed to bring it up themselves.

Daigo and Wallace exchanged a glance; after thinking it over, they indeed felt that besides reporting to the League, they also needed to compensate and express their gratitude to Luo Mu from their personal assets.

A moment later.

With the major matters mostly settled, the focus of conversation among the few people waiting for subsequent personnel to arrive became much more relaxed.

Daigo, his eyes shining, looked at Luo Mu—or more accurately, at Terapagos in his arms—and curiously pressed further: "When Lugia unleashed its final attack, what exactly happened?"

From his perspective, he could only see that after Luo Mu raised that mysterious crystal, Terapagos in his arms suddenly bloomed with dazzling light in synchronization.

Immediately after, Lugia's entire body seemed to crystallize, becoming brilliantly radiant, and a gorgeous crystal Wang Guan appeared atop its head.

It was precisely because of such a tremendous change that the power of that single strike directly knocked out Groudon, which had been struggling in a bitter battle for so long.

From an extremely far distance, Daigo could vaguely perceive the frantic trembling of the surrounding air, which showed just how immense its power was.

But none of that mattered; now Daigo only wanted to know what exactly had happened to Lugia.

Under Daigo's slightly eager gaze, Bagogo remained silent, simply burrowing into the satchel on Luo Mu's body and refusing to show its head again.

Although according to Lugia, which was currently avoiding contact with other humans along with the giant Dragonite and giant Tentacruel.

Terapagos had worked so hard just now simply because it regarded Groudon and Kyogre as the culprits responsible for nearly shaking it to death.

In its logic, heavy rain at sea combined with frantic earth tremors equated to the catastrophe that had recently occurred, causing a disaster that nearly wiped out its kind.

How could it not go all out?

But after "going all out," Bagogo was still the same Bagogo; being naturally socially anxious, when faced with Daigo's such intense ocular "attack," it naturally chose to retract its head and hide.

Even though this would cause a critical hit to Daigo, who had always wanted to build a good relationship with it.

"."

After two seconds of silence, thinking that even Terapagos was like this, Luo Mu suddenly became curious about what kind of expression would appear on Daigo's face if he were to meet Diancie.

What if that Diancie underwent Terastallization too?

Hiss... I wonder if this lithophile can handle it or not.

While his mind wandered through these fanciful thoughts and trivialities, it did not prevent Luo Mu from educating Daigo about the Terastallization phenomenon unique to the Paldea region.

Unfortunately, to support Lugia's Stellar Form, both the Tera Orb and Terapagos were basically burned out, and Victini had also consumed a massive amount of energy while assisting the giant Dragonite in defeating Kyogre.

Luo Mu was temporarily unable to demonstrate Terastallization to Daigo at close range.

In the end, holding the Tera Orb in his hands, Daigo silently resolved that after handling the follow-up matters of this incident, he would set off for the Paldea region himself to explore its natural scenery and, most importantly, the raw ore deposits of the Tera Orb.

Even though Luo Mu had said that if Steven wanted one, Cynthia could certainly gift him a Tera Orb.

But Steven wanted to mine it out with his own hands.

Luo Mu paid no heed to his personal obsession; in any case, according to the timeline, Steven would not be roaming freely for much longer.

By the time he finished handling all subsequent matters, several months would have surely passed.

By then, Ash would already be traveling in the Sinnoh or Unova region, and the Champion title between Wallace and Steven would be switching back.

After reassuming the position of Champion, it would be somewhat difficult for Steven to find time to mine stones in the Paldea region.

(End of Chapter)