It doesn't surprise him that they meet there. Perhaps they have always been destined to come together, for better or worse, good times or bad.
Ever since Arceus deemed it necessary for them to keep a closer eye on the humans they were intended to live alongside, even to guard, to help, he gave them to power to don a human disguise, walk among Arceus' subjects whenever they chose. Their true powers are dimmed in this form: he could still summon the earth to his command if he so desired, but his mind is more attuned with the earth when he stands much taller and has a much less mortal outlook on his surroundings.
He had been walking the stands of a festival, mildly curious about events like this, when he reaches a square full of dancers, finds a fountain in the middle and finds them. Kyogre, deep blue hair rolling away like a wave, her yellow eyes dancing with spirits of the sea. Rayquaza, short green hair waving in a non-existent wind, and piercing yellow eyes with the intensity of the sun he reigns over. And himself, Groudon, spiky red hair of disturbed ground, his own hard yellow eyes. They regard each other for a long moment, with Rayquaza looking between them as if trying to decide whether they'll fight or not.
Groudon eventually turns to Rayquaza.
"It's odd to see you down here." His voice is almost drowned out in the general noise of the festival, but the dragon-turned-human nods, leaning against the fountain with his arms crossed. Kyogre has already sat down on the wall, hand trailing through the bubbling waters.
"Someone has to keep an eye on you two." The water and ground-type legendaries share a glance - truthfully, fighting Kyogre had passed through his mind at first sight, but not seriously. He doesn't like being forced to calm by Rayquaza. In this form though, everything is dulled - the bloodlust of centuries fades to mere discomfort, all his senses lessened with the lack of affinity he currently has with this body, even though he aided its creation. Arceus had channelled their thoughts and mannerisms into their human forms so they might feel more comfortable with it - all of the legendaries, despite having no gender from a human perspective, appeared to think in a certain way that affected the gender of their disguise.
Groudon had been surprised by Kyogre's form - in his eyes, if any of them would have been female, it would have been Rayquaza, the level-headed demeanour and natural grace lending to that image. Meanwhile, Kyogre with how she hunted and her appetite for battling indicated a more male perspective. But he was only thinking these things for a human point of view - as a pokémon, and a legendary at that, gender was something that didn't matter: Rayquaza was Rayquaza, and couldn't be defined by the attributes that humans assigned to one gender or another. The same with Kyogre, and himself.
"I suppose it's unnecessary though - you're not even arguing." Rayquaza sighs, watching the weaving dancers around them with a certain amount of ease. "It's quite pleasant to not be noticed among others." The other two nod; as legendaries, they are revered by pokémon and humans alike, and even by some minor legendaries - the fawning is only nice for a very short time, which is why most spend innumerable years in secluded or inaccessible places.
Groudon looks at his hand, so far away from what he's used to, and grimaces slightly as he recalls that in his better form, he could crush rocks with ease. With this body, even wood poses a serious challenge. He can't really understand how such forms have populated so widely.
"I feel weak." There are many things he could do that he can't in this human body - fires of a puny temperature would harm this flesh whereas boiling magma is comfortable to his other form. He laughs at his own thoughts. "It's strange."
"I can't even breathe under water." Kyogre finally pipes up. "It's pathetic! The Ruler of the Seas should be able to survive in her own element!" She sighs dramatically, before grabbing a fistful of hair and drawing it up into her eyesight, although she levels a gaze at the other two members of the trio. "And what is all this?"
Rayquaza nods in agreement, and Groudon shrugs. His hair is short enough that he can easily forget about it, but he guesses that the dragon's might constrict his vision, and Kyogre's hair is long enough to fully cover her face. He can see the annoyance, but doesn't particularly want to admit that to her.
"I hope Arceus doesn't expect us to wear these forms much!" She throws the bunch of hair she'd been holding over her shoulder, along with other bits that had worked their way in front of her face in the process.
"You formed it." Rayquaza adds offhandedly, causing Kyogre to look off into the swarms of people.
"I know, but... If Arceus hadn't made these, I would never have to leave the ocean."
"And I the sky."
"Arceus told us we could use them when we desired. He didn't specify how often that was." Groudon states factually, and he assumes his lack of spirit is to do with his tiredness of assuming this form. "Why did you come then?"
She looks at him, and in the low light, he's sure the tinge of pink on her face is not actually there.
"I was curious."
He supposes that of the three, he is the most attuned to human ways - they reside upon the very land he could control if he wished, and part of his affinity with the land is the visions of things that occur on it while he's semi-conscious in magma. He's seen these festivals before, although he's never understood them. He knows some of the other legendaries have the visions - at least, Rayquaza does, and he remembers Ho-oh telling him the same once.
Therefore it doesn't surprise him that Kyogre has never seen things like this, and might find them interesting.
He can't quite find the energy to mock her about that though, and Rayquaza speaks before he has a chance to anyway.
"Human rituals are quite fascinating. They expend so much effort on such a little..." He trails off as a dancer intrudes upon their triangle, offering a hand towards him, and he shoots a questioning look at Groudon, who nods, mouthing 'dance' to the flummoxed dragon. Rayquaza smiles, and leaves the two with a final 'refrain from fighting'.
Groudon watches him getting drawn into the crowd, appearing to be having fun, and wonders how the dancer would react should she find out her dance partner was in reality a dragon who resides in the upper atmosphere for years at a time.
He chuckles at that, before turning, flapping a hand at Kyogre with the assumption that she'll want to remain close to the water. Spotting a calmer looking street of stands, he makes towards it.
"Groudon." He, along with some other people, stop at her voice. They've heard of him, mostly from the battle a while back, but some from legends. He turns to find Kyogre advancing on shaky legs.
"Yes?" He refrains from making fun of her inability to walk.
"Show me around then. It's your terrain." Groudon feels more than sees Rayquaza's gaze, but can't decipher the meaning (other than a wish for them not to fight).
"What makes you think I know my way around? I don't live here."
She smirks, and latches onto his arm, having reached him. He flinches, in memory of many battles, but it's for support this time, and there's no pain with it.
"If we get lost I can blame it on you." He's sure that if she tried hard enough, she could easily get back to where she needed. But in his odd streak of placidness, he humours her and continues his initial path, through the dancers. He spots Rayquaza grinning disconcertingly at them, before once more being whisked out of sight.
He really does wonder what that's all about for a moment.
He expects Kyogre to release him once they had cleared the dancers, but she remains, clinging to his arm as she shuffles along on weak legs, while it takes Groudon a while to realise that he's slowed down for her.
They walk in silence until Kyogre pulls him slightly towards a stand, some kind of heating instrument on it with a tasty smell exuding from it, but he stops. She gives him a questioning look.
"He's offering it to us!"
"You need money." Kyogre frowns, looks between him and the stall. The human standing behind it smiles at them sweetly.
"What?" Money, Groudon had decided long ago after many of these visions, was a uniquely human thing. They seemed prepared to do a lot for it, and it did appear to be very versatile, able to be exchanged for many things, but he'd never understood human's obsession with it.
"A human exchange token. Like if..." He trails off, trying to think of an example that is relevant to her. "If I wanted you to do something for me, you'd want something in return." He's not even going to touch how there seem to be exceptions, things that don't appear to require money. "They give something out if they're given money."
"Like that would happen."
He rolls his eyes, unable to recall where he learnt it.
"Fine, if Rayquazawanted something from you, you'd ask for something, so both of you gained."
"I suppose. How do we get some?" Groudon comes up a blank. They haven't got anything anyone would want, and he's not sure how most humans gather it apart from in trades.
"I don't know."
She looks put out from that, but says nothing, beginning to walk again.
They stroll the entire length of the street, curving away from where it met the square along the line of the coast, he imagines. The road isn't next to the sea, but he knows that it's fairly nearby. The majority of people are at the end closest to the square, and both the crowd and the stalls fade out the further along they get. He isn't too bothered where they go; Rayquaza is perfectly capable of surviving alone; he's just confused that she chose to spend time with him as opposed to all the other options she had.
When they reach a split, one road leading towards the coastline and another trailing uphill away from it in the opposite direction, Kyogre stops.
"Groudon, I..." She pauses, not looking at him. "Why do we fight?"
"Because-" Because it's all they've ever done. Because they hated each other. Because... but there isn't a real reason. "Because we do."
Kyogre is slightly shorter than him in this form, and he sees her head swivel to peer at the ocean, frothing against a ramp, just visible in the fading light. A few boats float on it, tied to an artificial headland.
"Groudon, I don't want to fight anymore." Her gaze remains on the ocean while he stares at her with wide eyes.
"What? That's... Why?"
"This place exists." She takes a breath. "With land andsea. Why can't we?"
He truly thinks about it - the life on land couldn't survive without water, and many life-forms under the sea still require the stable footing of land. Perhaps they've always co-existed.
"You're alright when you're not insulting me." Kyogre adds, turning to watch him with a wry smile.
"Why not?" He shrugs. In his other form, he enjoys battling, but he wonders if he ever actually wanted to kill Kyogre during one of their conflicts.
"Thank you." she murmurs quietly, turning the two of them from where she is still latched to his arm backs towards the direction of the square. "How do you reckon Rayquaza is doing?"
"Either right at the centre of the dancing, or thrown out. Probably at the centre though, he learns fast."
He's tempted to say something more, when a child runs past, attempting to glance at them covertly but failing, and stumbles on his way towards his friend. Groudon hears him loudly whisper.
"It can't be them, they're not fighting! What a liar you are!" They run off again, while the ground-type legendary grins a bit at their folly.
"Hey, is that...?" Kyogre narrows her eyes at an object on the floor, a rectangular slip of paper that looks just like-
"Money!" She grins, pattering forward to retrieve it - although she hasn't quite mastered crouching, and he has to help her up. Looking at it, he confirms that it is the human exchange token, and they don't even have to look at each other to know which stall they head to.
After deciding not to waste the money getting food for Rayquaza, they return to the fountain to eat the treat, which turns out to taste even better than it smells.
The dancers continue to move around them, seemingly endless energy causing them to flow on and on. Groudon idly notes that Rayquaza hadn't followed their prediction - at least, he can't spot the dragon's human form anywhere.
"Do you think Arceus intended this to happen?" Kyogre asks, peering at him once she's finished the food, having dropped the flimsy paper that was provided with it and wiped her hands on her skirt.
"What, for us three to meet?" She lightly hits his leg in jest.
"No, for us to call a- a truce, I guess."
"Maybe. These forms seem slightly altered." He surmises; now he thinks about it, the tiredness he'd put down to several things might have been put in place on purpose.
"Perhaps it's like when Arceus banished Dialga and Palkia to human forms to, what was it? 'Spare further warping of the space-time continuum', whatever that is." She half-heartedly makes an impression of Arceus, barely sounding like the god at all. He flashes her a toothy grin in amusement, and she copies his expression, recalling just how funny that incident had been.
"They were so annoyed!" he adds, laughing.
"Did something happen?" They both turn, wide-eyed, to a grinning Rayquaza, arms crossed in front of him as they've seen some other humans doing. Groudon notices Kyogre's face actually turn pink, and feels his own face feel hot. The water-type legendary finds her words faster than him though.
"Nothing! Nothing at all. Look, we found this really tasty food stand and some money, who knew humans could create something so good!" She flaps a hand in the direction they'd walked. "Did you have a good time here?"
Rayquaza, apparently forgetting his original line of questioning, nods happily and wedges himself between the two.
"Yes! This dancing is very energetic, but fun. Someone said they do this each year, although I never discovered why. Utterly confounding, but I suppose it could be worth coming again next year." He glances at both of them in turn. "Would you wish to return?"
"Makes a change from sleeping in magma." Groudon replies, scratching at his fingers with the paper as he saw someone else do, to try and remove some of the substance coating them.
"Sounds good!" Kyogre returns to her prior occupation of running her hand through the waters of the fountain, though she's smiling.
Flicking strands of hair from his face, Rayquaza again looks of into the dancing crowd, seeming mildly worried.
"You wouldn't fight, would you?"
Kyogre laughs sharply without meaning to, then shakes her head under the gaze of the other two legendaries.
"Probably not." She locks eyes with Groudon, and he nods in response.
"Probably not." He repeats, and both refuse to answer Rayquaza's question about what occurred during his absence.
Maybe you've noticed how pathetic I am at naming fics.
And yes, I recognise this is a pretty tired plot-line. But hey! I enjoyed writing it, and I hope you enjoyed reading it...
Actually, writing this has given me this massive desire to play R/S/E. I don't even own any of them, and my GBA is broken, but nevermind... I also have come out of this liking Kyogre and particularly Groudon a heck of a lot more. I don't know why, I just... do. I was watching the two episode were they battle just now, and it looks like they stopped fighting of their own will, it seemed completely different to how it's portrayed in the games - like, Rayquaza must appear if they start fighting. #
But I like Rayquaza too, so he appeared here.
This may or may not be complete. I'm scared I'll ruin it if I continued it, but I like the pairing too, so... we'll see. I have major exams in two months, so now is not the time to contemplate sequels. I probably will though, just because it's me and I'll write in inspiration strikes.