Chapter 52 (Patreon)

I hadn’t beat Winona yet, but I couldn't help it. I had to try Mega Evolving Altaria at least once.

I understood that what I was doing was actually rather irresponsible, so I made sure to take the appropriate precautions first. I talked to Winona to ask for permission to use her Gym, and was guided to a more well suited battlefield instead. I sent a message informing Steven of my decision and he sent over his Metagross. I also made sure that my team would be out and ready to fight if things went wrong, though their help would be made moot with the presence of the Champion’s starter.

It was surprisingly quick to get everything in order, having it all set up the day after Wally’s battle, on the 30th. Winona seemed excited by the prospect of Mega Evolving a Flying Type, even if Mega Altaria became a Fairy Type instead. Wally and I walked into the spare League battlefield on the edge of Fortree, and I brushed my hand over my Key Stone nervously.

While I was nervous, Wally was excited. Since he saw Wattson’s Mega Manectric back in TV Mauville, he was in the know about the phenomenon. I had given a better description of it after the Lilycove tournament, since he wanted to better understand what was so special about Key Stones.

The battlefield was in the center of the building, and it was protected by several feet of solid, reinforced stone. Apparently, this building was built specifically to let extra-destructive Pokémon train and battle without destroying the city, so it was perfect to test a Mega Evolution in. Apparently, the last time it was used was when Steven visited and sparred with Winona’s personal team, his Aggron managing to crack the walls.

Considering how dense the walls were, that was extremely impressive.

When I stepped in the room containing the battlefield, I had to focus to keep walking. I had known that Steven was sending over his Metagross, but I never made the connection that Steven’s Metagross was shiny.

In the games, there was a roughly one in four thousand chance for a Pokémon to be alternatively colored. Here, it was much rarer, although the alternate coloration could be more easily passed down to the Pokémon’s children. Steven’s Metagross wasn’t shiny in the games, but it was in the anime, so I shouldn’t have been as surprised as I was.

However, there was something about the sleek silver metal form of the Steel Type that really caught my eye.

I really shouldn’t be appreciating a Steel Type that much if I’m trying to be a Fairy Type specialist. Then again, I don’t want to be like one of those Dragon Type specialists who look down on Fairy Type specialists just because they’re upset about having another weakness.

Since Winona was here as well, she would be able to guide me. Her Pidgeot was the Pokémon she was working with to Mega Evolve, but was struggling with it because it hadn’t been a core Pokémon of her team before. Apparently, how closely you were bonded with your Pokémon made the phenomenon a lot easier, and I hoped that my connection with Altaria would be enough.

“You’ve touched your Key Stone to Altaria’s Altarianite, right Alex?” she asked.

I nodded and brushed my right hand over the bracer containing the Key Stone on my left arm.

“Yeah, but it was a little annoying since I had to completely take it out to do so,” I said.

“Then to start, hold up your stone and point it towards Altaria,” Winona said. “Focus on your connection to him, how much you care about each other, and it should start to glow.”

I did as she said, and stared at the Altarianite currently around Altaria’s neck. We were borrowing a short neck brace that had a slot for his Mega Stone to fit in. I would eventually need to buy one for myself, but for now borrowing it from Winona was good enough as she had several to spare from her own attempts with Pidgeot.

I focused hard on Altaria, thinking of all of the times we had gone through. How he had shown up and stuck around when I first caught him, trying my best to protect him from Team Magma in Meteor Falls, his victory against Wally in Petalburg, and all the time we spent training in Dewford and Sea Mauville, However, what really stuck out to me were two memories. When he stole the Mega Stone from Courtney, and his fight against Flygon. Knowing how far he had gone, with going from a simple bird that knew no moves to a simple dragon that soared in the skies, I was filled with pride.

As I felt that, the Key Stone around my wrist began to glow, and the Altarianite on Altaria’s neck began to emanate a rainbow light. I knew that a trainer’s emotions helped initiate the process, but I couldn’t help but feel a little ridiculous seeing that it really was fueled by the power of friendship.

I feel like I’m in an anime.

It was a slower process than I expected, but after about half a minute, the rainbow light expanded to encompass Altaria’s entire body. He watched it intently as it did so, and squawked in surprise when it covered his head. Soon enough, through the blinding light, I started to barely make out his form changing once his entire body was glowing.

Altaria went through a few separate changes, but generally kept the same basic form. The fluff around his body expanded and spread out, moving away from his chest and into a large cloud on his back. His tail feathers grew much longer, extended to be so long it almost reminded me of an Articuno’s. The feathers on his head also grew fluffy, and as the light faded, I noticed his deep blue feathers had lightened ever so slightly.

He looked like he was a sky-colored bird with a cloud attached to him.

Altaria, in his Mega Evolved state, barely reacted and continued to sit where he had been sitting before, then bent his head down to preen his now exposed chest.

I blinked.

“That was easy. Wasn’t this supposed to be hard?”

I looked over to Winona, who was still watching carefully.

“It hasn’t truly started yet. Keep your focus.”

I was confused when she said that, but suddenly felt like there was a vacuum over my entire body. It reminded me of the feeling of giving blood, but as if it was happening throughout my entire being.

My vision grew black, and I fell to one knee. I looked over to Altaria, who had suddenly gone stock still, and was staring at me intently.

“We have to... stop...” I groaned out.

I tried to think of a way to reverse this process, but realized my mistake.

I don’t know how to stop this.

Wally and Winona both called my name as I fell unconscious, the last thing I saw was Altaria’s eyes glowing red.

======================================================

Metagross shifted one thought thread away from the trainer on the ground, and focused solely on the upcoming battle.

The target was withstanding the powers chaotically pulsating through its body, but Metagross knew it was only a matter of time. Within the milliseconds it took for the trainer to lose consciousness, a single one of Metagross’s minds created a Light Screen around the battlefield, and a second mind pushed the trainer out of it.

The target’s eyes snapped to Metagross, fury and pain within them. Metagross remembered their first attempt at Mega Evolution, and remembered the painful feeling that went alongside it.

It was a large contrast to how it felt when supported by one you trust. Warm. Comforting. All-powerful.

Metagross partitioned its mind to control two different aspects of its form: its Psychic powers, and its Steel Type body. The two halves worked in unison to send it careening forward towards the target.

The berserk Mega Pokémon screamed in a crazed Uproar, sending pulses of pink Fairy Type soundwaves out, and causing those outside the barrier to freeze from the sudden loud noise.

Metagross’s minds quickly fixed that mistake, and the Light Screen was empowered, sealing all vibrations off from the field.

At the same time, their Steel Type body slammed into their target and knocked it backwards, the force of the Take Down interrupting its attack, and dealing a small amount of damage back to Metagross.

The target breathed out a veritable river of flame, but Metagross withstood the comparatively weak attack and continued to pin it to the ground with their two back legs. They lifted up their body and infused their other two legs, and a dual Meteor Mash slammed into the Mega Pokémon.

Metagross took a few steps back as the glowing infinity energy broke around its target’s form, and the numerous feathers on its body retracted as it fell into unconsciousness.

If Metagross was willing to break its current persona, it would express its disappointment.

It had been expecting an actual battle.

======================================================

When I awoke, I was in the bed in my rented room in the Pokémon Center.

“That was really scary, Alex...”

I glanced over to Wally who was sitting in a chair next to me.

“I had to know. I had all the precautions in place to do it now, so now in the future I can do it with less of a risk.”

He huffed and crossed his arms.

“This is the second time a Mega Pokémon has knocked you unconscious, you know.”

I chuckled.

“Yeah, but I was getting knocked out safely. Also, wow I’m tired. I feel like I just ran several miles, and trust me, with my experience in Dewford, I know exactly how that feels.”

That didn’t look like it made Wally any happier.

“Anyway, Winona told me I have to go now. She said you have to call Steven, and I’m not allowed to listen in. Something about regional secrets.”

“Huh. Okay, thanks for checking on me. Is Altaria alright?”

Wally paused briefly before leaving the room.

“He is, although he was a bit wounded by Metagross’s Steel Type moves. Metagross held back though, so according to Nurse Joy, he should be fine.”

I smiled.

“Thank you, Wally.”

He left the room after that.

I spent a few minutes trying to recover my energy to motivate myself to lift my arms to pick up my Pokégear, but I eventually did and dialed Steven’s number, which I had received all the way back in Slateport.

It only rang once before the Champion of Hoenn picked up.

“I trust you will be more hesitant to practice Mega Evolution until you’re more prepared now, Alex,” Steven said the second the call started.

“That was already the plan, but at the same time I get the point you’re trying to make. I was just so excited to finally use it. I never thought I’d have access to it so quickly in my journey.”

Steven let out an exasperated sigh.

“I am all too familiar with people becoming too excited about Mega Evolution.” He paused for a moment. “Metagross has already returned to me, and I have been filled in on what happened. Did the process live up to your expectations?”

“Well, it was hard to tell, considering I felt like I was dying from a lack of energy at that time. Anyway, I feel like you wanted me to call for more than just checking in with me. What’s going on?” I asked.

There was a much longer pause on the other side of the phone before Steven responded.

“Roughly a week ago, Team Magma stole a submarine from Slateport. During our attempts to locate them, we managed to finally locate the Seafloor Cavern and have confirmed the location of Kyogre. Currently, we are sending a small contingent of Water Types to defend it, and are in the process of gathering the appropriate experts to permanently seal off the cave. Now that both Kyogre and Groudon have been located and given defenses, for the sake of the region, I must know if there is anything else we should be wary of.”

That’s a lot to take in.

“As long as Team Magma can’t access Kyogre, it should be okay. I recommend more than a ‘small contingent,’ though. It would be disastrous if Team Magma reached Kyogre.”

Steven sighed again.

“Unfortunately, as Team Magma has yet to be sighted, my hands are tied and I cannot send more people. The Seafloor Cavern is technically located within the waters under the jurisdiction of the elders of Sootopolis, and they have forbidden sending more than a limited amount of Ace Trainers at once to a single location within the city’s territory. I may be the Champion, but even I can be held back by politics.”

“How soon would you be able to send more?”

“We should be able to work out a deal to allow a permanent outpost to defend Kyogre there in the future. It should be approved by the start of next week. To hurry it through, we have been extra generous in our offers.”

“Good,” I stated. “You can never be too careful about Legendary Pokémon. I’m sorry I can’t give any more information on it, but I’m glad there’s a start of a defense in place. Thanks for checking on me, Steven. Guess I need to figure out how to make plans to combat other trainers' Mega Pokémon in the conference now, huh?”

“No, actually. You have no need to worry,” he replied, to my shock. “Mega Evolution is not allowed until the proceeding season, so even if other trainers master it in time, they will be unable to use it in the tournament. Focus on resting up, and you will be fine to participate in the festival tomorrow. For now, I have to return to my... paperwork.”

After a brief goodbye, the call ended and I was left alone in the room to recover. It was a little lonely as the resident Nurse Joy had forbidden my Pokémon from visiting me to ensure I would rest, but I couldn’t help but to miss them. On the bright side, I would be able to have a fun day with them tomorrow.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

The end of the year festival was extremely fun. Last year, I hadn't done much as I was still living with Marty so we just drank a bit and watched some streams on his laptop. It was pretty basic, but here in Fortree, it was much more of a celebration. The streets were filled with stalls of games and vendors selling masks, food, and toys. The ground was much more populated now, and it was hard not to get caught up in excitement.

Fortree was a lot more lax than other cities I’d been in about having Pokémon out. It would still be too much to let my entire team out at once, but I made sure everyone got a turn to be out.

There were a few moments that I considered to be the highlight of the night. When Azumarill was out, her eye was caught by a “test your strength” stall. It had machines for both Pokémon and Humans, and challenged the humans to beat their Pokémon relatively. While I was no match to Azumarill, I was still interested to see how much we compared.

I took the mallet and swung it down, and was disappointed I only got the third level out of ten: “Meowth.” Azumarill punched the target on the Pokémon one, and got the seventh level out of ten “Machoke.” She huffed, and I saw her clench her jaw in pain as she used Belly Drum to try again, but the vendor noticed and ran over before she could break the machine. Azumarill got a big plush toy of a Dive Ball that was almost her size, and carried it with her proudly for the rest of the time she was out. It was honestly so big I actually struggled squishing it into the opening of my backpack, but it still fit within its expanded space just fine.

One stall had a pool stocked with Magikarp and Feebas, where for a fee you could fish in it for a set time to see how many you could catch. You were allowed to choose a fish of your choice to keep if you managed to catch ten in five minutes, which I thought was an incredible deal because I knew how rare Feebas were in the games. They seemed to be relatively common here, though, and most people passed up the stall. Ponyta wanted to watch people play the game, so we stuck around for a while. The highest number of fish caught was three, and I didn’t even catch a single one after Ponyta encouraged me to play for him (he didn’t have any hands).

I was pretty sure the stall’s fish were trained not to bite.

My favorite moment of the night was when I went over to a large tent filled with food vendors that were selling Pokémon-safe food. Since it was allowed in this area, I let everyone out to choose what they wanted, and Wally actually showed up too, back from exploring the festival with his own Pokémon.

We had a large group with us, and it felt like we were having another feast. Ninetales and Mawile both chowed down on takoyaki, with Ninetales somehow managing to keep up with the sheer amount of food Mawile was eating. Florges ate ice cream, while Altaria, Cottonee, and Azumarill ate noodles. Ponyta chose to just eat some berries as he didn’t seem interested in human-like food.

I also slipped some spicy sushi to Banette while everyone was too distracted by their own meals to notice.

When the clock struck midnight, starting the new year, fireworks went off and I watched them with my Pokémon. The glint in Cottonee’s eye when he saw them made me nervous, but I was pretty sure it would be fine.

It was a fun night overall, and by the end of it, all of us were exhausted. The festival was a great way to celebrate the end of the year, but I was most excited for the announcement that afternoon. The League would have a ceremony to start the year alongside both the Kanto and Galar seasons, and with it, they would finally announce the existence of Mega Evolution.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Wally and I sat in the Fortree Pokémon Center the next morning, with the TV tuned to the start of the year ceremony. It was reminiscent of the ceremony that started the Hoenn League, where it would mostly be a live-streamed speech by the president of the League, Charles Goodshow, but this was watched by the whole world rather than just the region. I had caught it last year when I was still working in the Pokémart, but I didn’t find it that interesting since the speech was filled with generic well-wishes and hope for the future.

It had my full interest this time, for obvious reasons, and I waited excitedly for Mr. Goodshow to start.

A Pokéball logo filled the screen, then shrunk out, revealing a short, old man in a red shirt, shorts, and a backwards ball cap on his head. He was wrinkled and had a white beard that stretched all the way to the top of his stomach, which was shorter than it sounds considering how short he was.

He let out a genuine smile, and spoke with a surprisingly loud voice for his age.

“Hahahaha!” he laughed. “This year’s going to be exciting!

“Once again, I’m proud to be the person starting off your year. Last year was absolutely incredible, and filled with brilliant trainers, young and old, new and experienced. All of you should be proud to be in this community of ours, and proud to take part in and witness all of the battles that took place last year.

“Normally, I could continue praising every single trainer out there, because you all deserve it, but I have something more important to announce: Mega Evolution.

“Mega Evolution is a simple phenomenon that drastically increases a Pokémon’s power. Through the power of a trainer’s bond, and the help with two specific stones, a Pokémon can enter a temporary form to-”

The screen suddenly shut off, and the power went out in the Pokémon Center. I looked around, confused why it was so dark even though the afternoon light should have been shining through the windows.

As a few of the other trainers here began to murmur, the nurse behind the counter spoke up to appease our worries.

“It’s nothing to worry about,” he shouted. “Our backup generators should kick in soon, and-”

This time, the interruption wasn’t from a sudden blackout, but from a loud boom of thunder.

What? It was sunny out, last I checked. Why is there thunder?

Wally and I looked at each other, then stood up to go outside with a few other curious trainers.

Rather than a bright sunny afternoon to start the new year, the sky was cloudy and rain started to pour from above us. Lightning flashed in the distance, and I frowned.

This shouldn’t be happening.

Wally and the other trainers looked around nervously, also feeling as if something was wrong. I had an itch in the back of my mind, like I was forgetting something. I asked myself if there was every a moment where there was an unexpected rainstorm in the games or anime, when the realization hit me and shook me to the core.

When Kyogre was awakened in the game, the weather patterns shifted across the entire region.

Ignoring the water that was drenching me, I ran out into the rain and moved around the side of the Pokémon Center, out of earshot. Wally hurriedly followed me as I opened up my Pokégear to type in Steven’s phone number.

“Alex, what’s happening? Do you know what’s going on?” Wally asked.

I looked at Wally seriously.

“Team Magma might have made their move.”

His face turned white. While I never explained too much, Wally was informed about the capabilities of Hoenn’s Legendary Pokémon, although I had treated them more as myths than anything else when I explained it. It was a precaution I had taken way back after TV Mauville, when we were traveling toward the desert, and that precaution was paying off now.

Wally recognized my call was important, and stayed quiet as it rang. I could tell he was already trying to work out solutions in his head.

Steven picked up quicker than I expected, and before I could say anything, he spoke up.

“Good, you’re aware. Alex, I’m hiring you as a consultant. We can discuss rates later - the region needs your knowledge. Where are you?”

“Fortree City,” I responded, “the Pokémon Center nearest to the Gym, on the south side of-”

I blinked and Claydol was in front of me. Wally stepped back in shock.

I raised my hand to place it on Claydol’s body, but paused momentarily as I considered Wally’s situation.

Do I want to get him roped into this? Or do I leave him out to stay safe?

Ugh, if this is as bad as I think it is, it won’t matter if I leave him behind if Team Magma isn’t stopped. I know I can trust him, and we’re going to need all the help we can get.

I waved Wally over to join me.

“Place your hand on Claydol’s body. We’re meeting Steven.”

Wally looked shocked at that, but didn’t doubt my claims. We pressed our palms to Claydol’s side, and found ourselves in a room filled with glass cases and shelves of rare stones and minerals. It was an office I had only seen once before, in a video during the Lilycove tournament.

Steven spoke up before I could speak. Wally was too shocked to say anything.

“No names, no identifying information,” he said to me, only sparing the briefest of glances towards Wally. He then gestured towards the laptop facing him. “Roxanne, Wattson, Norman, Sidney, and Winona are on the line. Brawly and Flannery were too far away from their Gyms to respond. Tate and Liza are out saving the people of Mossdeep, Glacia is assisting them by freezing the waves, and Wallace is out recovering Drake after his failed attempt to stop Kyogre.”

Steven grabbed his PokéNav off his desk and held it out so I could see the screen.

“I need to know, is Kyogre... normal?”

His PokéNav displayed an image of Kyogre floating on the surface of the ocean next to a submarine with a red-hooded figure on top. It utterly dwarfed the submarine, and was a deeper blue than it was meant to be. Rather than a few red lines on its sides and fins, Kyogre had rainbow lines across its entire body. I had to force myself to not freeze up seeing it on the screen.

“...Primal Kyogre,” I barely squeaked out.

Wally looked confused, but he could tell this wasn’t the place to ask clarifying questions. Steven's face shifted to one of grim determination, and focused back on the screen.

“I can trust my consultant. This isn’t the normal Kyogre, this is an enhanced version of it. My understanding is that it’s similar to Mega Evolution.”

I heard a few gasps from Steven’s laptop, and he turned back to me.

“What more can you tell us about Primal Kyogre?”

“The weather can’t be changed, not even on a small scale, and Fire Type moves will be completely unusable,” I said. “It’ll persist as long as Kyogre is active, and judging from what I just saw in a different city entirely, I imagine its storms will soon spread over the entire region, flooding everything. Also, if it wasn’t obvious, all of Kyogre’s capabilities are massively increased.”

Steven nodded at that, and went back to talk to the rest of the leading members of the League. He opened his mouth to speak, but a beeping noise came from his computer. He clicked on whatever popped up, read it over, then rubbed his temples.

“It’s raining in the desert...” he grumbled frustratedly.

I heard a groan from his computer, and a different voice that I recognized to be Norman spoke up, interrupting it.

“What is the current status of Team Magma? Are they affected by Primal Kyogre’s storm?” he asked.

“No,” Steven said, recovering. “If anything, they seem to be protected by it. None of our Pokémon can get close, and Drake and his Dragons were shot out of the air by a single Hydro Pump. Our Psychics have identified Courtney on the submarine, and Primal Kyogre seems to be following her every command.”

There was a moment of silence before Roxanne, the Rustboro Rock Type Gym Leader, spoke up.

“Can Phoebe send her Ghosts in to take her out? They surely can’t deal with shadows, right?”

“Her Ghosts won’t be able to travel that far over the water. She’s retrieving a VIP from Ever Grande instead.”

I decided to speak up at this point. I was missing crucial information.

“Where are Courtney and Primal Kyogre? What are they doing exactly?”

Steven somehow looked even more grim, and pulled out a remote and pointed it to the wall. A few shelves shifted as the wall rotated around, revealing a large TV, and after typing on his Pokégear for a moment, the screen began to play a video as he went back to his conversation.

The video was of Courtney standing on a surprisingly steady submarine, as Primal Kyogre calmly floating in the background. A storm raged on around her, yet her red-hooded Team Magma uniform stayed completely dry. She looked mostly the same as I last saw her, with cold eyes and short purple hair, but her face and neck now had black tattoos on them reminiscent of the patterns on Kyogre and Groudon.

“Pokémon League. Your time has come. ♪” she said in a sing-song voice. “We have control of the Legendary Pokémon, Kyogre, and if you do not comply with our demands we will... use it against you.

"Free Leader Maxie, release all members of Team Magma, and leave the region. If you doubt our claims ...we shall prove our strength.”

The camera turned to face the open water next to the submarine and Courtney held out her hand. I noticed there was an alpha symbol tattooed on its back, which only made me more nervous.

Her tattoos glowed white, and she spoke a few words directed at Kyogre.

“Lift up the ocean. ♪”

Following her command, a massive cylinder of water raised itself five, then ten, then twenty, then a towering fifty feet out of the water. Kyogre stopped when she told it to stop, and her hand stopped glowing and the camera turned back to face her.

“Ahahahaha! Do you see now? Do you see the power we hold? You’ve held back the progress of humanity for too long! Leader Maxie’s plans were genius, yet you locked him up! You have no clue what you’ve stopped, and I’ll make sure you all know how much you’ve truly messed up!”

Courtney stopped shouting and calmed herself down. Her eyes had stopped being so emotionless, and shifted to be crazed and manic. She breathed in and out, then went back to her normal form of speaking.

“If you do not... release Leader Maxie within the hour, ...Mossdeep will be gone. Do not ...test my patience.”

The camera turned to face away from Courtney, and zoomed in to focus on an island in the distance. It was hard to see under the darkness of the clouds, but I could barely make out the familiar shape of the Mossdeep Space Center.

Courtney giggled and stopped once she snorted.

“...Maybe I should do it anyway? ♪”

The video stopped there, and I stared at the frozen screen, horrified. Wally seemed scared as well, and he looked at me with worried eyes.

“What are we going to do?” he asked meekly.

I didn’t have an answer.

I turned back to Steven, who had been continuing to discuss options with the other Gym Leaders. Wattson seemed to be hesitantly proposing to give into their demands, but the other members of the call were against it.

“Nah, I’m at the Weather Institute right now, and their data is suggesting that Groudon might be comparable. If we can awaken it, it might be able to fight back Kyogre,” Elite Four Member Sidney said.

“Wouldn’t that play directly into Team Magma’s hand?” Roxanne asked.

“Maybe, but we might not have a choice,” Winona replied.

There was a brief pause in the discussion, when I realized that there was another option. I didn’t want to do it, since it was what I felt to be the nuclear option, but it was a lot better than disturbing Groudon.

“There’s something that’s guaranteed to beat Primal Kyogre,” I said. “Its ability should override Primal Kyogre’s Primordial Sea ability, and it would be able to force it back into slumber.”

The conversation went quiet as I spoke up. Steven stared at me intently, and I heard a soft voice speak up from the video call.

“...How do they know the name of Primal Kyogre’s ability?” Roxanne asked quietly.

Steven, thankfully, changed the subject.

“You’re implying that our answer is to request the help of Rayquaza, then.”

I nodded my head, but Steven looked unhappy.

“Rayquaza is under the protection of the Draconid people,” he said. “They would not appreciate us disturbing it.”

I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Do we have a choice? Either Rayquaza puts down Kyogre, or Hoenn is wiped off the map. Don’t look at me like that, I don’t trust Courtney to control it. Yeah, I’m terrified how powerful Rayquaza might be, and I don’t even know if it would be willing to help us, but trust me, it’s a far better option than bringing Groudon into this mess.”

Steven didn’t respond, and the entire call was silent. Sidney was the first to speak up.

“They’re right. Rayquaza is our only option.”

The other members of the call made noises of agreement, and Steven’s face shifted to one of determination. He looked down to his laptop for a final time.

“Continue to monitor the situation. If I do not return in time, agree to her demands and begin to evacuate the region. May we find solace in the end.”

...Evacuate the region?

Steven closed his laptop without letting anyone respond. He stood up, and Claydol appeared back in the room, having Teleported away earlier without either me or Wally noticing.

Steven glanced at Wally.

“Alex, do you trust your friend?”

I didn’t even need to think about it.

“I do.”

“Good. I want you two to accompany me. You may know something crucial to the success of the plan. I apologize for forcing you into such a dangerous situation, but I do not have a choice.”

I shook my head.

“I told you this information for a reason. I want to share it with people and make it so that with it, lives can be saved. It’s dangerous to go, yeah, and I’m scared out of my mind, but this is a chance for me to help others I can’t turn down. I would have asked to come anyway.”

“I’m helping willingly, too,” Wally said determinedly. “I don’t know how Alex knows this, and I don’t know how much I can actually help, but I can’t let people get hurt when we can save them! I would have tried to come anyway, too!”

Steven looked between us and smiled.

“If we survive, I’ll be sure both of you are rewarded generously.” He paused. “Now then, I don’t suppose you happen to know where we could find Rayquaza?”

Steven and Wally looked at me hopefully, and I was unable to wipe the grimace from my face.

“Yeah,” I said. “Sky Pillar.”

====================================================
Author Note:

Pokémon mentioned in this chapter:
Banette
Claydol
Feebas
Kyogre / Groudon / Rayquaza
Machoke
Magikarp
Meowth
Metagross / Steven’s Metagross

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