"I have a treat for you today," Wallace announced.

Steven cocked a brow. "And what would that be?"

"Well, I know you've been asking to do this since forever it feels."

"Wallace…" Were they pulling his leg?

"We're going to go into the Cave of Origin."

Steven felt the excitement burst like a bubble in his chest, wanting to yell in triumph. "IT'S BEEN 3000 YEARS!" A slight exaggeration, it was probably about 10 years since he had first asked. "But wait – how are we going to get in? I thought it was locked."

"It is, but I have the key."

"Yooooo! Wallaaaace what how?"

"Well, by all rights it should be in my sister's hands, but seeing as she decided to leave Sootopolis - for Fallabour of all places, it was passed on to me when I turned 20."

"You've had it for this many years and you only tell me now?"

Wallace shrugged. "I wasn't going to go in as soon as I was given the key. I feel like I was given it because Dad thought I was worthy of protecting it."

"Then what made you change your mind?"

"There's nothing stopping me from going in, I just didn't feel a great need to. But all of your asking has made me curious over the years."

Well, Steven didn't want Wallace to take back their decision, so he stopped asking questions and got ready in record time. He dragged Wallace out of the door and onto Skarmory's back, zooming off to Sootopolis.

"What?" Steven said as Wallace began to walk in the direction of their house.

"Well, I didn't bring it with me in case you said no."

Steven groaned. He grabbed Wallace and jumped back on Skarmory, taking them that short distance across the city. Wallace decided a change of shoes as well as grabbing the key was in order and Steven stood by the door, too excited to sit down.

When Wallace opened the door to the cave Steven was underwhelmed. Inside it was dark and he could barely see anything to be wowed by.

"There are lamps on the walls," Wallace said. "But seeing as hardly anyone comes in here they're not kept lit for visitors like us."

"I can sort that out." Steven released Aggron. "Aggron, light the wall torches!"

Wallace did have a gyarados for times like these, bless its wide move pool, but Steven was way ahead of them. He was already feeling and tapping the walls, getting a sense of what was locked away from the world.

"So, am I allowed to break into the rock or would that be bad?"

"I'd ask that you didn't. Now we're inside I feel a little uneasy being in here."

"Is it too scary for you?" Steven asked. "Do you think it's haunted? Maybe there are ghost Pokémon in here!"

"No, it's just that I grew up hearing all the stories about this place. And Grandpa used to always say that no man or woman from Sootopolis should step foot in here or bad things will happen. Okay, perhaps he didn't say it like that, but he heavily implied it was not a good idea to go against this advice."

"But Wallace, you aren't either of those," Steven pointed out.

"As much as I hate the binarist language Grandpa used, I'm pretty sure he meant any Sootopolitan. If you wanted to be picky you could claim a child would be exempt too by those standards."

"So, you could have just waited outside if you didn't want to come in." Steven began to walk further into the cave.

"I was curious. I wanted to see what my family has been guarding for generations." Wallace finally took a few more steps. "I was expecting it to be a little more interesting than just a plain looking cave."

"Perhaps there's something on the lower levels?" Steven stood at the top of a ladder, looking down into darkness.

Wallace sighed. "I guess I'm already in here, so I might as well."

There wasn't a whole lot to the cave. But, what did Steven expect of a cave that fit into a crater that was Sootopolis? There were several rather small floors leading down to a room with a small lake. The water was so still and dark that Steven had almost walked straight into it.

"It's odd that nothing's down here," Steven said. They had passed many zubats and golbats, even the occasional sableye and mawile, but on this floor there was silence.

"Eerie," Wallace agreed. "I think this is the last floor; where the name 'Origin' comes into play. They say this place is the opposite of Mt. Pyre – life ends there, whereas here, life begins."

"That seems hard to believe when I actually see living Pokémon on Mt. Pyre and not a soul here."

"A Pokémon's life begins in an egg, and yet once the egg has hatched you won't find a Pokémon in it."

Steven thought for a moment. "I kind of see what you're saying. Anyway, I've seen enough of this place. It's enough to give me the chills."

"Who would have thought a cave could make you feel anything but happiness?"

Steven took their hand. "I'm always happy when I'm with you. Thank you for letting me in here and accompanying me."

They began to climb back up. Wallace was exhausted by the end of it. "I don't think I've ever done so much lifting."

"I think you might have muscles as big as mine now," Steven joked.

"I hope not, unless that's something you'd like."

Steven squeezed Wallace's upper arm to test it. "Of course I'd love that," he said quietly as he leant in to kiss Wallace.

"What, really?" Wallace was confused. "Do you actually have a preference?"

Steven smirked and kept up his seductive tone. "Muscles really turn me on, I love knowing that such people will be able to dig with me all night long."

Wallace pushed him away. "Arceus, save me from this hell."

Steven let out the laugh he'd been holding back. "You actually thought I was being serious?"

"I have learned many things about you and you do have some preferences, so it was entirely possible."

"Appearance preferences are pretty non-existent though," Steven said.

"You said you still find some people more aesthetically pleasing than others."

Steven pulled Wallace close again. "I do, and I'm lucky I happen to be dating one of those more beautiful people."

OooO

Steven had just ended a call when the ground shook beneath him. Something was very wrong – perhaps Mt. Chimney was erupting? He rushed outside where several bystanders were already gathered, muttering about what they thought it could be. A quick ride on Skarmory told him it wasn't the volcano.

"May!" He spotted her after he'd returned to ground. "The twins just rang me about you. They're so cute, always calling as soon as they beat –"

Suddenly a green light shot up into the sky, the crowd suddenly silent.

"Okay, that's not…that's not normal. Where is that even coming from?" It seemed to be between Ever Grande and Sootopolis, but Steven had no idea what point of interest there was between the two cities.

"If I had to guess," May said in a rather bored tone considering what they had just witnessed. "I'd bet Team Aqua or Magma was behind that. Aqua really wasn't happy about me getting through their base. They escaped in their submarine."

"You've been busy I see." Steven was rather impressed.

"The pair of them have been trying to out-do each other and awaken some legendary Pokémon," May continued. "I'd say Archie succeeded because that looks like a lot of ocean."

"Well, if that's true then we're in a lot of trouble. Come with me." He led her to his house and began to rummage in a drawer. "Sorry about the mess."

"Somehow I imagined your house would be just like this," May said. "I don't even want to guess how many rocks are in here."

Steven handed her a disc. "That's the HM containing Dive. I figure you'll need it."

She took it and stared at it. "You're expecting me, barely a teenager, to go and deal with what we just saw?"

"I…no? You just seem to be in these guys' business so I just assumed that light was where you were heading?"

"Well, you're not wrong." She smiled. "Of course I'm going after them. I have to finish this."

"I would come with you for support, but I have a lack of water Pokémon at the moment."

She raised an eyebrow. "I thought you had all the fossil Pokémon – doesn't the omanyte line learn dive?"

"Yes, but I don't like keeping Pokémon locked up in the PC. I would rather keep them as fossils."

May shrugged. "Suit yourself. I should get going."

"Wait!" He rushed upstairs and dug deep into his wardrobe, pulling out his old scuba gear. By the time he returned downstairs, May was nowhere to be seen. He rushed out of the door and could see her surfing away in the distance. With Skarmory's help he began to give chase, but she was seemingly speeding away still.

He didn't catch up until she stopped at her destination, finding out she had been surfing on a sharpedo.

"That's a fast one you have there," he said as he hoped onto the ring of sand she had stopped at.

"No time to waste."

"Well, I don't know how you were planning to dive, but I figured you might need this." He handed over the scuba gear.

"Yeah, this'll be very handy."

She returned Sharpedo to its ball, only to release it again, this time into the pool of water inside the sand ring which was faintly glowing green. As soon as she'd secured the gear she jumped into the water with Sharpedo and was gone.

He looked at Skarmory. "Guess we'll wait here, buddy." He didn't know what to do other than wait. Going elsewhere at a time like this seemed like a ridiculous notion. Something incredible was unfolding literally beneath his feet and he wished he could be there to see it. Besides, if this teenager couldn't handle whatever happened, he felt that as the region's Champion, he had to step in and do what he could. They didn't warn him about reawakening legendary Pokémon in the job description, but who else was going to sort this out?

The ground began to move again and he held onto Skarmory for support. Something moved under the waves and he just caught a glimpse of the blue giant before a wave of water hit him. He was about to complain about getting wet, but that was unnecessary as tidal rain began to fall within seconds. Steven tried to ascertain where the Pokémon had fled to, but he could barely see anything but the rain now. If it had continued in the direction he had seen it going…could it be going to Sootopolis? Oh…

"Look at this mess!"

Steven turned to find he had been joined by several people, he had seen them on the TV, and May was back.

"C'mon, Maxie, I just wanted to make more water for the Pokémon to live in."

"And look what you've done! It won't stop raining, Kyogre is angry – what happens now, Archie?"

The pair continued to bicker like children.

"Neither of your ideas were going to be good for the environment," Steven interjected. "I think we have quite a good balance as it is."

"Well, it was Archie who did this, not me," Maxie said, trying to act as if his plan wouldn't have ended with something equally terrible.

"Honestly, these two will argue all day," May said. "We need to figure out how to stop this, and hopefully they'll figure out how to apologise and learn from their mistakes."

"Wow, Maxie, even lil' May is disappointed in us."

"We haven't been very good adult role models for her certainly," Maxie agreed.

"I think Kyogre's gone to the Cave of Origin," Steven said. "I saw it headed in Sootopolis' direction, but I trust you to have a better idea than me."

"Best lead I have at the moment."

"I guess I'll see you there." Steven hopped onto Skarmory and they began their journey through the rain. He had never been more grateful that Skarmory's wings were made of steel rather than feathered. His wings beat through the water with determination; he knew that the world was in danger and he needed to get them closer to the solution.

They touched down outside Wallace's house. The lights were still on, but no one seemed to be home. Although they had traded keys some months ago, Steven didn't like just inviting himself in, but it could be helped. He stepped in and called for Wallace, but there was no reply. On the table there was a sewing machine with a garment half-sewn; Wallace would never leave something unfinished like this.

He tried to call them on the Nav, but the call wouldn't go through. It seemed Kyogre's weather was doing more damage than he thought. Before leaving he flicked the lights off, a sign that he had been here – or at least he hoped Wallace would interpret it as such. Without thinking he was heading towards the Cave of Origin. Wallace stood there, just staring at the closed doors.

"Wallace."

They turned around, still looking fabulous despite this torrential rain. "Steven!" They rushed forward to hug him. "Steven, this is all my fault."

"What?" He was baffled.

"I was always warned not to go into the cave and they were right – look at what's happened!"

"So Kyogre's definitely in there?" Steven asked.

"We all heard it." Wallace shuddered. "It shook the city and roared with a thunderous cry."

"Well, that's great news."

Wallace looked at him like he was mad. They put a hand to his forehead, trying to find the words they wanted.

Steven laughed. "I guess I do seem a bit calm about all this. Basically Team Aqua awakened Kyogre and it fled here. But now we know that we can put a stop to it."

"How do you quell the rage of a beast such as this?"

"Surely you know about the red and blue orbs that are supposed to calm the legendary beasts?"

"Of course, everyone knows the old stories. I've even been to see them on Mt. Pyre." Wallace sighed. "I don't suppose you just happen to have the one we need? It seems like the kind of thing you'd have, being a kind of stone."

"I wouldn't dare take something so precious, as much as I'd love to own such a treasure."

"Well, aren't you two in luck?" a voice came from behind them.

"May!"

After introductions were finished, May produced the blue orb from her bag.

"Where did you get it?"

"I stole it." Archie and the others he had seen on the sand ring had arrived too. "I used it to awaken Kyogre and I realise I shouldn't have done that."

"But we can also use it to calm it, right?" Shelly asked.

"According to legend, but who wants such a responsibility?" Steven wondered.

May slipped the orb back into her bag. "The orb is mine now," she stated.

"Yeah, I gave it to her because I shouldn't be trusted with that kind of power," Archie said.

"Oh, so you would rather send a child to fix your mistakes than face them?" Maxie asked.

"Man, you don't have to say it like that."

"I would rather go down there than put my hopes in one of you," Wallace said.

"May," Steven looked at her with a seriousness in his eyes. "I can see you don't want to give the orb up, but someone needs to go down there and put a stop to this. I volunteer to do this." He felt Wallace squeeze his hand. Deep down he was terrified; he didn't want to face such a large Pokémon in such a rage. As much as he believed Metagross could handle this, Kyogre could probably kill him before he had the chance to throw a pokéball.

"No," May said firmly. "This is my destiny now." She stepped forward. "Open the door."

Wallace hesitated, but they weren't going to stop her. She stepped into the cave, head held high. Steven wanted to follow her, but he could tell she wouldn't allow such a thing.

"Was that the right thing to do?" Wallace asked.

"I don't know," Steven said honestly.

"May's one of the best trainers I've ever seen," Archie said like a proud father. "She's gonna do what needs to be done and when she returns it'll all be fine again."

He hoped Archie was right.

The uncertainty could be heard in the silence. Everyone was listening for any sound from the cave. In his head, Steven was tracing his steps from the other day, trying to picture how far in the cave May had gotten.

A faint roar could be heard and they exchanged worried glances.

"How long should we wait?" Maxie asked.

"Well, surely Kyogre will quieten down if…" Wallace wasn't sure they wanted to complete that sentence.

"I think what they're trying to say," Steven said, "is that we will know when – if – we should act."

It sounded like a good battle was going down and now Steven really regretted not going along – if only to watch. Things began to quieten down, but it was difficult to tell what was happening. Soon there was silence.

"I think it's over," Archie whispered.

"Yeah…" Steven looked up at the sky. No one had noticed the rain slowly subsiding as the battle below had waged.

"I'm glad you all still look as wet as me." May has appeared beside her gardevoir. "I'm surprised that lake has any water left."

"May!" Archie ran up and pulled her into a bear hug. "Man, I've gotta make this up to you somehow. I'll treat you ice cream or something."

"I think it'll take a lot more than that," Maxie muttered.

"So, what happened down there?" Steven asked.

May held out a net ball.

"What? Kyogre's in there?" Wallace stared in disbelief.

She shrugged it off. "Gotta catch 'em all, right?" She pocketed the ball and began to walk away.

"Huh? Where are you off to?" Steven called after her.

"It has been a long day," she said. "I'm looking for a comfy chair and a change of clothes."

And so it was that Wallace ended up with more guests than they were expecting at any point today, all gathered in their living room. May was sat in one of Lisia's old outfits while her clothes dried, enjoying the sofa all to herself. The team members were told to stuff it (even though Maxie would probably have fit into something of Wallace's), they were given some tea and a wooden chair to sit on while they air-dried.

May filled them in on her adventure so far, with the occasional addition from the others – they didn't like being painted as bad guys who'd tried to end the world (no, it wasn't 'ending', it was 'adding to').

Wallace listened to every word, finding it absolutely fascinating. If only their adventure had been this interesting. "I suppose my gym is your next destination?"

May nodded. "Thanks for letting me stay here, but I won't go easy on you because of that."

"I fully expect to get beaten."

Eventually Wallace successfully hinted that it was getting late and that people should make a move. They showed May to her room; Wallace's sister's old room. The room was largely unchanged since she moved out as they kept it as a guest room – Lisia and Steven had often spent a night in there. Being exhausted from possibly the most adrenaline-filled day of her life, May turned in early and wouldn't be seen for the next 12 hours.

"Steven…" Wallace cuddled up to him as soon as he climbed onto the bed. They said nothing, just held him tight.

"Is everything alright?" Steven asked. This wasn't the usual kind of cuddle Wallace gave, there was something different in the way Wallace held on to him.

"I was so scared today," Wallace admitted. "When you said you'd go down into the cave… I didn't want to think about it."

"I was scared too. I didn't want anyone to go down there, but it had to be done. When I saw the determination in May's eyes…she gave me strength to volunteer, but when she went down I had complete faith she would succeed."

"But it could have so easily have gone differently…and if it had been you… Steven, I don't ever want to lose you." Wallace entwined their fingers. "You're my best friend and the best boyfriend I could ask for." They sighed and moved so they could look into Steven's eyes. "I know this won't keep either of us from getting into dangerous situations, although I think today is enough for one lifetime, Steven…I…" They looked away, uncertainty on their face.

"Wallace?"

"I don't know how you'll react to this. I don't want to put you under any pressure."

He stroked Wallace's cheek. "Tell me."

"This isn't how I ever envisioned asking this, but," they took his hand in both of theirs', eyes locked. "Steven Stone, will you marry me?"

Steven's eyes widened; this certainly wasn't what he was expecting. "Wallace, I…"

"I know, it's quite a question." Wallace laughed nervously.

"'Quite' is an understatement. That's a question of a lifetime." Steven ran a hand through his hair. "And yet I have no reason to say no, nor can I imagine saying yes to anyone else."

"I don't need an answer right now. I don't even need an answer – I guess I just wanted to tell you how much I love you by asking you something so special."

"Well, I've put up with you for ten years already," Steven joked. "What's another 60?"

"We weren't dating for ten years," Wallace pointed out.

"Dating you isn't much different from being your friend. Sometimes I forget there was a time when I wasn't all soppy with you."

"You could be a lot more soppy. When was the last time you randomly sent me flowers?"

Steven scrunched his face in disgust. "Because that is a terrible way to show someone you love them. I would send you rocks – rocks last forever while flowers die. Although I would rather just turn up myself."

"I prefer that too." Wallace leaned in to kiss him. "Imagine if everything had gone wrong today and Kyogre had flooded the city – yesterday would have been our last day together."

"And we spent it well in the Cave of Origin, thank you for a wonderful last day, I would have said."

Wallace sighed. "And then you went home."

"Are you asking me to move in? Or asking to move in with me?"

"It's what married couples do, right?"

"I haven't said yes officially," Steven reminded them. "I'll have to think about this condition. Oh…I suppose I could live here and turn my Mossdeep home into a small rock museum."

Wallace had no words, but what else would Steven be thinking about when it came to moving home? At least they wouldn't have to suffer trying to move the whole collection into their house.