Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. Otherwise, I would've told Masuda to say that only 7 new Pokémon have been promised for Sun and Moon.
"Speech"
'Thought'
Darkness and numbness were all that Brendan could feel. Memory slowly crept back to him, and he could piece together what had happened.
"Latios and I...we fought against Zinnia and won...?" The memories were returning to him slowly. Then he was reminded of his fall.
The fact that he had fallen off of Latios didn't seem all that surprising to Brendan. A feeling of carelessness glazed over and prevented any worry.
"...But shouldn't I be worrying? Am I dead because of that?"
Numbness and darkness started to fade as his senses returned. The ground felt hard beneath him, and water that clung to his clothes and skin. Color flooded his sight as he could see the blue sky.
Brendan's head rolled over to see that Erica was staring back at it with some worry. She lunged in and hugged him with some relief. Although a loving action, it stirred up some pain in his back.
"Thank goodness you're ok." Said the blonde as she hugged him tightly.
"What happened?" Groaned the boy.
"You fell off of Latios." His sight turned again to see Zinnia with an expression of indifference. Perhaps she hadn't found the proper response to give to him just yet.
"If your Swampert didn't come out to take the impact for you in the water you'd be dead." Explained the Draconid.
Natural recovery gave the brunette the strength to prop himself up after his girlfriend let go. The only pokemon present was his Swampert in the corner, who was resting.
"Aqua saved me?" The Swampert had always pulled through for his trainer when necessary.
Brendan gave a grin to his exhausted starter pokemon. "Heh...thanks buddy."
A silent smirk did appear on the face of the water-ground pokemon; he was too tired to show any other signs of happiness. That was a powerful impact that he had to take.
Zinnia looked down towards Aster, who was shivering. Obviously, the tiny pokemon knew about the possible death of her trainer and was very sad.
But there was also a happy smile. the Whismur was so happy that Zinnia was still alive.
Seeing her pokemon like this put the Draconid girl in an emotional state. This pokemon wasn't the sister she loved, but she still cared for her. She leaned down and hugged the Whismur.
"I'm sorry that I almost left you and all of my pokemon." Whispered the girl with sorrow. A tear rolled down her cheek yet again.
But this time, Aster reached up and wiped it off. That kindness rekindled joy into Zinnia's eyes.
'Aster...I know that I might not get to see you again. But I promise now, I will always try to stay alive for your sake too.'
Brendan struggled for a few seconds to stand back up. His girlfriend was more than willing to help him up.
"Why did I fall off?" Asked the boy.
"Dunno. But I guess that you needed some sleep after all of today." Explained the girl with a shrug of her shoulders.
An embarrassing blush spread across Brendan's face. This day had truly been a humiliating experience for him. Sleeping was indeed necessary, but that would best be saved for nighttime.
That moment of embarrassment fleeted when he realized that it was no longer night, but a clear day.
Panicking, he straightened his body for the situation.
"What time is it?!"
"I'd say about six in the morning. The meteoroid isn't here yet, but it is getting realy close." Answered Zinnia as she put on a calm expression.
Time was of the essence, and it was fading fast. But seeing all the trouble that she had put this guy through today, Zinnia understood if he needed a few more moments to rest.
That's why it was surprising when he pushed through the pain of his aching body. Such an action placed further concern in Erica.
"You sure that you can do this?" Asked the blonde.
"Yeah. Don't worry, I've been hit harder." Wheezed Brendan.
Erica smiled because she knew that that was a bad lie. But Brendan was stubborn and he didn't want to let that rock hit Hoenn. So she let him continue.
"Zinnia, please summon Rayquaza. I'm ready to destroy the meteoroid." Demanded the Champion of Hoenn.
The surprise on Zinnia's face was quickly replaced by a happy smile. Brendan felt like that was a clear sign that she was a friend now.
"Ok then. I suppose that you have something to help you ride into the atmosphere?" Proposed the girl.
"Yeah, my passion." Answered the brunette.
"And the Magma Suit that he has." Corrected Erica.
Zinnia laughed a little at this. Those two really did make a good couple.
Close to the edge of Sky Pillar was a tablet with several dome indents; there were six in total. Zinnia took out all the keystones that she had collected thus far and placed them into the holes.
When the six rainbow-colored gems were positioned correctly they formed the shape of a delta. A small light began to glimmer from each of them.
Zinnia backed up, clasped her hands together, and kneeled. Her position looked akin to one who was praying. She began to speak a chant.
"With jewel bright and borrowed might from the spirits departed...Through sacred rite, in thy great sight my life as well I offer..."
The light began to shine brighter from the six keystones as well as the one that Zinnia possessed. Her body began to show physical stress as the air around her began to shake.
"I summon thee...to aid us...in this fight...and save us from...this disaster..."
Strength began to fade from the girl's body, and she was beginning to lose consciousness. Will alone wouldn't be enough to complete this. Perhaps this wasn't something that she could accomplish on her own.
That's when Brendan and Erica stepped in. They placed their hands upon her shoulders and encouraged her.
"Don't stop now!"
"We believe in you Zinnia!"
A momentary startle stopped her and almost made her lose concentration all together. But this encouragement from the ones that she had pained pushed her forward.
"Realize them...upon this world!...Realize them, for I summon thee..." She broke her stance and looked up to the sky. "Rayquaazzaaa!"
Suddenly, the air stopped shaking and everything appeared calm for a few seconds. Some doubt in Brendan's mind made him think that the ritual wasn't done correctly.
That doubt was quickly erased as the sky grew dark. Unlike the phenomenon caused by Groudon and Kyogre, this felt sacred and empowering. Darkness started to part above the summit and a light of emerald shone down from the sky.
A darkened green silhouette danced down slowly before the trainers. It descended before them atop the summit of Sky Pillar and let out a fierce roar. In doing so the sky returned to its previous state and the pokemon was clear to see.
"Is...is that..." Brendan struggled to find the correct words in his amazed state.
"Rayquaza..." Zinnia's face was awestruck at the appearance of her savior.
The afformentioend savior was the form of a serpentine dragon with no legs. It's elongated body was marked by red lined fins and a set of yellow circles along both sides. Four fins around its head vaguely resembled the fins of a missile.
Rayquaza's yellow eyes contrasted well against it's green scales. Those same eyes also seemed to stun Zinnia from saying anything, it was almost as if she was being judged. Though her fear was quickly overshadowed by feelings of success.
"I...we did it!" Cheered the girl. "Now the world can be saved; the disaster will be averted!"
She turned around with a happy expression like it was her birthday. Admittedly, this didn't last long enough because she realized that it would be Brendan who would take the challenge.
It was certainly bittersweet, but Brendan was right about her. Only he now had the right to ride upon Rayquaza. One deep breath and she bowed down to the dragon.
"Alright then, Lord Rayquaza, please take your mega evolution." Begged the Draconid girl.
Brendan tensed up when he heard that. He gazed upon the magnificent serpent in anticipation. If the wishes and desires were enough then the wish of Zinnia, Erica, and he should've been able to do it.
'Alright then, Rayquaza, please help us.' The brunette closed his eyes and tried to send his wishes towards the legendary pokemon as well.
Seconds passed...but nothing happened.
Zinnia looked back up in hopes of glimpsing the mega evolved dragon, but she saw none of that. Rayquaza remained motionless as it looked down to the three trainers.
Denial pushed the Draconid forward and she prayed again that her savior would take upon its form, which only hurt her more when nothing happened again. She tried harder and harder, but to no avail.
A low groan echoed from Rayquaza; it gazed sympathetically upon Zinnia's trusting form.
Although he couldn't understand it, Brendan could tell that the dragon was apologizing. It knew that it couldn't mega evolve.
"Lord Rayquaza, please...you have to." Pleaded Zinnia pathetically. Energy started to flee from her, and depression chained her down.
For the first time, Brendan could see that Zinnia didn't know what to do. He felt sorrow and sympathy for her.
'This is...just wrong. Sure she's done some bad things, but still...she was trying to save us. And this...'
Again and again, the brunette tried to explain to himself that this was a mistake. He hoped that this was only a dream and that he would soon wake up. But he knew all to well that this was the painful reality.
Thankfully, he wouldn't have to shoulder this burden all alone.
"Don't get down guys. I know what he needs." Attention directed towards Erica.
Reaching into her bag, she pulled out the case with the meteorite in it before removing the rock. Initially, Brendan and Zinnia didn't understand what she had planned. Erica walked up to Zinnia and handed it to her.
"What?"
"Just give it to Rayquaza, I think that he'll understand what to do." Said Erica.
While the command seemed vague, Zinnia trusted what the Kalos Champion was saying. She stood back up and presented the meteorite to her savior.
Rayquaza leaned down to examine the offering. Then he quickly snatched it from the young girl and consumed it. Then light emanated from the yellow lines around its slender body.
The yellow eyes of the dragon now looked down upon the humans with enthusiasm. It was obvious that Rayquaza was now ready to evolve.
"Erica-chan, how did you know?" Asked Brendan who was baffled.
"Well, I noticed how a meteorite in the past was responsible for Rayquaza mega evolving in the first place. I could only assume that another one could allow him to do it again." She shrugged her shoulders as she gave the explanation.
Now it made sense. Rayquaza drew energy from the meteorites. A lack of them in Hoenn drove it to search other skies for possible meteorites to charge the power.
A laugh started to come from Zinnia. This was so ironic, but it still felt so good and right.
"Thank you guys. I feel like this is a true sign that I wasn't destined to ride Lord Rayquaza after all." Said the Draconid girl with a trace of remorse.
"Don't get down about it. You still managed to summon him right?" Said Brendan in an effort to cheer her up.
In silent thanks, Zinnia smiled at her new friend's gesture. This affirmed the fact that he was the one who would carry their wishes.
Making haste with the amount of time that was left, Brendan retrieved Aqua and placed all of his pokemon aside; there wouldn't be anyway to battle with them up there. He donned the Magma Suit and prepared himself for the ride up.
He knew that breathing wouldn't be easy once he got closer to orbit. What he wasn't aware of was that the ride up would exert a Wailord load of pressure. Hopefully, the suit would be enough to get him past all that and destroy the meteoroid.
'But the mega evolution...I'm not sure that I'll be able to do that.'
While Erica had learned quickly how to perform mega evolution multiple times, Brendan still struggled with doing it more than once. He had already evolved Latios and could already tell that his ability to conjure up the power was spotty, at best.
This would be made even harder by the fact that he had only just met Rayquaza and had yet to form a bond. He would have to try harder than ever to achieve this.
"Brendan-kun," He turned over to see that Erica donned the Aqua Suit and held her helmet. "I'm coming with you too."
Without saying anything, he walked over to her and noticed something about the helmet that she held. The yellow glass was cracked, and many of the buttons were damaged; she couldn't go.
"You should stay here." Insisted the brunette.
"Brendan-kun."
"Your helmet is cracked, there's no way that you'll make it without getting hurt."
"Well, I'll just find a way!"
Erica's face showed frustration and denial at her boyfriend's concern. But instead of arguing back, Brendan began to chuckle a little in response.
"What's so funny?"
"You just sounded like me." Said the happy brunette.
All that previous determination to follow him was washed away by a bashful face. The blonde champion couldn't deny that she did sound just like Brendan just then.
Perhaps instead of just him learning from her, he rubbed off on her as well.
Being comforting, Brendan placed his forehead against Erica's. She wouldn't reject this comforting gesture. It was probably the one thing she wanted more than anything.
"Why do you always have to go?"
"Dunno. But I do know that I want to protect this place and you."
A small laugh escaped Erica's lips before she connected them with Brendan's for a few seconds. It felt like she was passing on her tenacity to his passion. They broke and Erica looked deeply into Brendan's eyes.
"I don't want you to die."
"Then just promise me that you won't forgive me if I do." Brendan flashed a huge happy grin at his girlfriend.
"Well, then I'll give you this."
Erica undid the gloves on her hands and reached over to her mega ring. Holding onto it, she seemed to conjure up some sort of energy from it. Her left hand connected with Brendan's right wrist and his bracelet glimmered a little.
"This will help you." Promised the blonde.
"I'll give you a hand, too." Zinnia placed her hand on the keystone of her mega anklet and drew out some energy; she placed it on Brendan's mega bracelet.
The lights conjured together and caused the white accessory to glow faintly. Accomplishment spread across the brunette's mind. He could feel that he was carrying the hopes and wishes of his friends.
It didn't end there. As if responding to Brendan's thoughts about a bond, Rayquaza hovered over and offered a place on its head. Its yellow eyes displayed trust for the boy.
"I think you've already earned Lord Rayquaza's trust, Brendan." Said Zinnia with some surprise; she had no idea that it was this trusting of people.
"But you need to trust in Rayquaza; he is going to use Dragon Ascent which is so dangerous to him. It is powerful, but it shouldn't be used too much."
Brendan had a small hunch that Rayquaza had its own move. If it would be anything like Groudon's Precipice Blades, then it would most certainly be powerful.
He glanced over to those yellow eyes. It felt like they always knew about Brendan and awaited for their meeting. Confidence in this gave him the trust he needed.
"Alright then, I trust you too Rayquaza." Said the brunette before placing on his helmet and gloves. Although the glove was covering his mega bracelet, he could still feel the light brimming. He gave both girls one last glance before closing the helmet.
"Don't worry, I promise we'll be back soon."
Brendan boarded Rayquaza, and they both looked back at Aster, Zinnia, and Erica before the green dragon pointed its head to the sky. Tightening his grip, Brendan prepared himself.
They rocketed off of Sky Pillar with a flash of green light going ever faster with so much power. The trail of emerald light started to disappear from view as they picked up speed
Faster.
Blue started to vanish from the sky; all that could be seen was the cosmos and the stars. Brendan could feel the forces pushing back against him as they kept going even higher. He held on with all of his might.
Faster.
But the mega bracelet was out of his hand's reach. How would he achieve the evolution? As the forces pushed down on him, Brendan pushed back even harder. He had come too far now.
There were simply too many people counting on him for this.
And Brendan would not let them down.
'I...I can...I will do it!'
Energy of a rainbow light erupted from Brendan. The energy surrounded Rayquaza, and it transcended to its magnificent mega evolution.
"Yeah, alright! Let's do this, Rayquaza!"
The green dragon, now longer, sharper, adorned with streaks of gold, and bearing the symbol of Delta, shot forward even faster as Brendan cheered it on.
There wasn't much left to go before the meteoroid could be seen. Its fall was becoming faster and starting to catch fire.
"There it is, that's the meteoroid!"
Descending even more rapidly, the giant rock was approaching the duo even faster. Brendan knew that this was it; this is were history would be made.
"You can do it! Use Dragon Ascent!"
Rayquaza shot forward with more energy than ever before and pierced the meteoroid! It was flooded with the emerald light before exploding and sent small debris flying in every direction.
Brendan looked up at the calm cosmos before him. The ascent was so exhilarating that he barely noticed it. Such a calm sight gave him the reassurance he was looking for.
The crisis was over.
"We did! Way to go Rayquaza, you really are a savior!" Cheered Brendan, despite the fact that the dragon couldn't really hear him.
Even though the protagonist felt that everything was over, Rayquaza didn't appear so calm. Moving its head, the legendary pokemon turned its attention towards one of the fragments of the meteoroid.
Brendan too looked at the black shard. Something about it didn't seem right. That one didn't fly away like the other parts of the meteoroid. It was even bigger than the rest of the debris. What was even more ominous was how it was perfectly shaped as a black triangle.
"What is that?" Asked Brendan. He could feel some vibes of uncertainty.
Then, without warning, the black triangle began to move. Gravity failed to pull it down as it would fly up and then back down at its own leisure.
As it continued the erratic and curious movements the black triangle gained a hue of red, almost like blood.
"Rayquaza, try to keep on guard here." Brendan patted the head of the dragon to keep it calm. Though he was stating what the dragon was already doing.
But the worst had yet to come. Four tentacle appendages sprouted from the triangle. They drooped and rose at a steady and haunting rate. All of the sudden, they twisted and the triangle shattered.
"Nani?"
Out of the shard rose a humanoid orange and blue being with a purple gem in the center of its body. The DNA pokemon, Deoxys.
Suddenly, the alien pokemon thrust itself forward towards Rayquaza and Brendan. The former of the two twisted its body around to dodge before roaring back instinctively.
An odd surge of anger and irritation started to well up inside Brendan, but they weren't his emotions. They felt foreign, yet familiar.
"Rayquaza, are these your feelings?" Questioned the boy. Somehow the dragon actually heard him and acknowledged this.
A flick of those fierce eyes appeared as a confident affirmation to him.
Curious as to what this meant, Brendan turned over to Deoxys. He saw that it was patiently watching them, and it had some haunting vibe to it; the same haunting vibe that they got from the meteoroid.
Whatever Deoxys truly was, it meant to destroy.
"Alright then, I understand what we need to do." Proclaimed Brendan as he and the dragon faced Deoxys. "Let's beat this guy and protect our home!"
Accepting the challenge, the DNA pokemon rushed forward and attacked with zen headbutt.
"Take him on Rayquaza!"
The pokemon collided into each other with tremendous force. Rayquaza's sheer power and mega evolved state gave it the advantage, and it began to push Deoxys back.
Continuing to struggle against its opponent, Deoxys began to twitch its head around. This gesture was peculiar and made it look like the pokemon was computing data.
"What are you doing now?" Asked the irritated brunette.
As if answering, the pokemon changed its form by becoming much sharper and thinner. All of a sudden, Rayquaza was starting to be pushed back by Deoxys before it was knocked back altogether.
'Crap, that form must've boosted his power.' Thought Brendan. "Attack with dragon pulse!"
The delta dragon fired the attack and managed to hit Deoxys with no issues. The attack literally blew off a whole chunk of its right side.
Initially, Brendan felt bad about that attack, but no changes in Rayquaza's emotion pushed him to stay on guard.
A good choice because Deoxys instantaneously regenerated its arm and missing torso chunk. It decided to pay Rayquaza back with a psybeam attack.
'Was that recover?...No, it was way faster...That guy managed to make new body parts for himself.' Deduced Brendan. "Charge forth!"
The delta dragon flew towards Deoxys with quick speed, but the alien pokemon anticipated this. It changed again by slimming down its body even further and quickly spun around the Rayquaza but not entirely.
"Dragon tail!"
Right as Rayquaza almost passed by, it swung its massive tail into Deoxys and launched it away. Brendan took notice of how Deoxys was launched incredibly far.
'That form must not be good on defense.'
Deoxys quickly rushed back and changed back into its sharper form before unleashing a wave of power psychic energy on both Brendan and Rayquaza.
It was a very painful attack for Brendan to take on, but he felt something odd about it while it occurred.
'What is this?' The sensation of pain and intrigue paralyzed him from making any decisions.
Rayquaza saw no other option than to lead Brendan away to minimize the pain. The moment that happened, Deoxys tried to dive through the atmosphere to Hoenn.
Seeing this instantly pushed Brendan to disregard his pain.
"No, go back! I'll be fine!"
The sky titan knew better, however it understood the importance of protecting Hoenn and darted back towards the opponent. "Use crunch!"
Deoxys quickly noticed its oncoming blitz and changed into another form. This time its body thickened and grew more round. Rayquaza's attack connected, but it couldn't do nearly enough damage.
"Gotcha!"
Brendan leapt forward while Rayquaza had the alien pinned down and punched it right in the face. In response, Deoxys slammed its tentacle into the boy's torso.
The force knocked him back a little but he was able to grab onto the fins on Rayquaza's head. That force carried the same feeling that he experienced earlier. It was obvious that it was no coincidence.
'There it is again, what is that feeling?'
Probably by accident, Deoxys was transmitting an eerie sensation to Brendan repeatedly. It broke out of Rayquaza's maw and made some distance before regenerating again.
"This guy sure knows how to fight really hard." Commented the brunette. "But I think we're getting through to him."
His partner nodded and glared at their opponent menacingly, who seemed to glare back equally with its blank eyes.
From the peak of Sky Pillar, Erica and Zinnia looked up to the big blue sky. It had been more than a few minutes since Brendan and Rayquaza had vanished from sight, so there was obviously something wrong.
"What's going on up there? He should've finished by now." Remarked Zinnia.
"He's fighting with something." Answered Erica in a deep tone.
Disbelief was painted on the Draconid's face when she turned to the blonde.
"How are you sure?"
"I just know, that's what Brendan does." Explained Erica. "Whatever force sent that meteoroid hasn't given up yet."
Zinnia dipped her head in deep concentration. "I wonder, why are these events folding out now?"
Erica glanced over with a hint of concern for a few moments. She grasped her special gemstone and gripped it tightly.
"I can't say for certain, but maybe the legendary pokemon were waiting for people with tenacity, determination, and passion like us. Perhaps they need us to move things forward with them."
Looking back up to the sky, the Tenacious Fighter felt irritance at her inability to come and helping the one she loved. All she could do was hope and believe that Brendan would prevail.
Back above the stratosphere, Deoxys shifted back into its sharp form and collided its right tentacles with Rayquaza's dragon claw. The two were on par in power this time.
"Crap, why is this so hard?" Asked Brendan to himself.
There was no doubt in his mind that Rayquaza was powerful enough to take on Groudon and Kyogre in there primal states. So he was left baffled as to why it was struggling against just one pokemon.
'I know that Zinnia said that Dragon Ascent is some kind of one shot deal, but I didn't know that it would only work that-'
It then hit Brendan what was going on, Rayquaza probably hadn't used this form in decades. This power, while not new, was still hard to readjust to. Not to mention that it had to fight against gravity all the way up into orbit and Dragon Ascent must've had some lowering its power.
If any of those factors didn't occur then the battle wouldn't be so difficult.
'And that guy must be able to change its stats with each form.' Thought the brunette.
He rationalized after seeing all of those forms that the sharper one is for attack, the thicker one is for defense, and the slimmer one is for speed. That left the original form as some kind of balanced state.
Deoxys shook the boy out of his thoughts by mega punching Rayquaza in the torso. The attack was far from super effective, but it was certainly enough to cause some damage.
Brendan didn't have enough time to come up with another strategy after being whisked out of concentration.
"Dragon claw!"
From a mile away, the alien could see that the dragon prepared to slice through it, so it countered with another mega punch.
They struggled against one another before Rayquaza got the upper hand and knocked Deoxys back.
"Now use dragon pulse!"
Seizing upon the moment, a purple beam erupted from the delta dragon and blasted off a chunk of Deoxys again. What surprised Brendan was that it was still in its attack form. Switching over to the defense form would've been more effective.
Deoxys twitched in possible pain before regenerating part of its body again. Brendan noticed something crucial in the pokemon's eyes: stress.
'I get it, he can make new body parts, but that still costs energy.' Thought the boy with a smirk. There was now a chance, albeit a steep one.
"Rayquaza, use extremespeed!"
The sky titan rushed forward with incredible speed. Deoxys responded by changing into its speed form and rushing towards Rayquaza with even greater speed. The pokemon clashed and flew in the edge of the atmosphere with great speed while Brendan held onto his as best as he could.
Surprisingly, Deoxys was shying away from being on the offensive; it was starting to evade its opponents. It made that evident when it dashed away from them.
"Men don't run, use dragon pulse!" Said Brendan.
Rayquaza fired the beam and Deoxys only barely managed to dodge it with its left leg being annihilated by the attack. The descent stopped there, and Deoxys started to ascend upward.
The leg grew back in an instant, and the alien reverted to its original form before turning to face Brendan and Rayquaza.
Although its expression remained virtually the same, something about those eyes seemed to be glaring at the trainer and legendary pokemon.
"Hey, don't get mad at us. You tried to run away like a coward." Joked the boy with a hint of pride. However, Rayquaza remained vigilant for whatever action would come next.
Deoxys combined the tentacles on each side of its body and eerily created two human-esque arms. It then directed both arms towards its enemies before unleashing a wave of orange psychic aura, psycho boost.
Such a powerful attack caused Rayquaza to flail in pain, but it wasn't suffering alone. Brendan felt a lot of the pain, as well.
However, in this attack Brendan could clearly see what he failed to comprehend earlier. That odd feeling started to become more vivid until it flooded his senses.
'Is this guy trying to show me something?'
In the psychic wave, he could clearly see a depiction of the world destroyed. Fire engulfed forests and towns while mountains and cities were flooded.
Brendan couldn't form any response when he saw the Radio Tower of Goldenrod collapsing along with the rest of the city in a tsunami. The pain only intensified when he saw Littleroot Town burn down to nothing.
As if he was there Brendan tried to run to his house for fear of his mother and father, but the collapsing building only got further and further away from him.
His legs gave out just like his will did upon seeing that.
"W-Why? Why is this happening?"
Despair only gripped his heart more before the scene changed once more to where the land met with the sea. He could clearly see two beings fighting.
Groudon and Kyogre raged their battle against each other as primal beings. Rayquaza was also there, trying to quell this battle as best as it could. But it was without mega evolution and didn't stand a chance.
The primal pokemon turned their attention to Rayquaza before engulfing it in attacks. The power overwhelmed the dragon before detonating around him.
Falling without grace, the light of life died from the dragon's eyes before being crushed by the ground and washed away by water.
The world shook and fell into calamity as the two titans resumed their battle. Hopelessly watching was all that Brendan could manage.
"But...we stopped them. Those guys didn't get to battle each other!"
Answering to his outburst, the ephemeral plane changed to depict Mt. Pyre where the Magma and Aqua balls sealed. Time seemed to pass at an alarming rate before he could see Groudon and Kyogre being freed from their prison and resume fighting. He was not aware that they were there.
"Did Erica-chan know about that?"
The image before him reset to the current time, but something different was about to occur. A loud rumbling filled the brunette's ears as a giant meteoroid fell onto it. A destructive explosion erupted from the impact.
A force dragged Brendan away from the explosion that decimated everything in Hoenn. Leaving the champion with heavy eyes of concentration.
Somehow, this was coming together for him.
"...I get it now..."
All of the psychic imagery disappeared and Brendan could feel the Magma Suit around him again.
Rayquaza continued to chase Deoxys around and attacked while the trainer was recovering from the attack. Retaliation was in the alien's mind, but it was still aiming to keep a distance from the sky titan.
Watching this battle atop Rayquaza's head, Brendan now saw this battle in a different light. He now understood, at least partially, what Deoxys was doing.
'Groudon and Kyogre almost destroyed the world a long time ago, and they almost did it again a little while ago.'
While he had no proof Brendan could see that it was entirely possible that they would awaken again to destroy the world. If it weren't for the legendary dragons of Hoenn, there wouldn't be a chance.
In time, those events could repeat. People could foolishly revive the ambition of using uncontrollable power to change the world.
'And more people like Zinnia would have to suffer. More people like Erica-chan and I would have to stop it. It would be a never ending cycle.'
But there wasn't even a guaranteed chance that people like that would be around again. The world could fall to ruin as long as the titans of land and sea still lived.
"Rayquaza, stop." Commanded Brendan. Reluctance caused the dragon to ignore him. "C'mon, I need to talk to this guy."
The sky titan narrowed its eyes in concentration before trusting. Their flight stopped and Deoxys took this chance to race to Hoenn again.
However, Rayquaza intercepted Deoxys to prevent this. Brendan stood atop his partner's head and attempted to reason with their opponent.
"Ok, I think you should be able to hear me like Rayquaza can. So can you give me a sign?"
In response to this vague request, Deoxy's lowered its head down and back up. That was good enough for Brendan.
"Look, I get it now. You know that Groudon and Kyogre are destined to fight again. But there has to be another way. Destroying all of Hoenn, or even just those two, isn't right. You'll just be making this worse for other people, somehow."
Rayquaza heeded to those words and was surprised at how Brendan was able to interpret what Deoxys was aiming to do. There was always faith in humanity by this dragon, but this was unexpected.
It was the right choice to fly with this boy.
As for the alien, it was calmly listening to whatever the champion would have to say.
"I know that Erica-chan is a better person to talk about for this. I mean, I like pokemon battles a lot, but we don't like hurting people or pokemon. So as long as I'm around, nobody is going to destroy our world."
Although his promise was being heard, it wasn't being accepted. It was difficult to tell but Deoxys hadn't relented from its goal.
"Trust me. I might not always be around, but I know that there will always be somebody who will be a hero. This guy sure knows it."
He patted Rayquaza's head to indicate who 'this guy' was.
"Rayquaza's been around for thousands of years, so he has been doing a lot to look out for Hoenn. I'm sure that a thousand years ago he knew that there would be many people who would try to save the day."
The delta dragon closed its eyes when it heard those words. Brendan had only met with it about five minutes ago, and yet he already understood.
"So, come on. Trust that we'll protect this world."
As one final gesture, he stuck his hand out openly for Deoxys to grab with its. Rayquaza also looked to Deoxys with a hopeful look that they could end this painful conflict.
Quietly, and without any signs of hostility, Deoxys looked at Brendan's hand. It didn't make any gesture as if it was considering the options or reflecting on the past attempt of destruction.
As for Brendan he quietly waited for the answer that could be given. The battle had worn on him for a long time and he awaited the end of this struggle.
Eyes of a hot-blooded battler hoped for peace to pass on to his home.
A flash of orange and blue crushed that hope. Brendan was punched by Deoxy's and sent off of Rayquaza.
"Wha-?"
Quickly in retaliation, the sky high pokemon slammed the alien with a dragon claw and grabbed Brendan with its tail. Rayquaza pulled the boy back onto its back and chased Deoxys.
Brendan needed a few moments to pull himself together and realize what this meant.
"Sorry Rayquaza, but it doesn't look like we can reason with this guy."
Rayquaza didn't seem to keen on continuing this battle because it hoped that everything would've been solved by words. With both pokemon having endured the duration of the battle, it was anyone's best guess as to who could win.
Deoxys shifted to its attack form and fired a zap cannon attack. Because Rayquaza was chasing rather than dodging, it took the full force of the blow head on.
"Don't give in, hit em' with dragon pulse!" Urged Brendan as he felt electricity coursing through his body too. He had found the resolve to continue fighting.
Rayquaza shook off the shock and blasted Deoxys directly. As expected, the alien then tried to regenerate its lost body parts again.
But Brendan anticipated that move.
"Now, extremespeed!"
In a blur of emerald, Rayquaza dashed forward and slammed into Deoxys's regenerating area. This inflicted a lot of pain and even caused Deoxys to telepathically wail. It then retaliated by slamming the sky titan's snout with all mega punch.
"Quick, use dragon claw!"
Brendan hated to even think it, but he was running out of ideas for this fight. Such a versatile opponent like Deoxys was hard on its own, and adding in an environment that he had never fought before in made this even more difficult.
'I was really hoping that he would just agree about earlier.'
His disadvantages were made more evident when Rayquaza attempted to slash Deoxys but was held back by a psychic attack.
The DNA pokemon took the opportunity to back away from the two and shifted back into its attack form. All four of its tentacles converged around its center as a bright purple light started to emerge from it.
Seeing this instantly worried Brendan.
'That's hyper beam.' Such a powerful attack could kill him and Rayquaza in their weakened states.
'There's only one more option left for us...but it's really risky.'
Glancing back at his opponent reminded him that it was do or die.
"Rayquaza, use Dragon's Ascent from below!"
The red eyes of the delta dragon quickly scanned the area and realized exactly what Brendan meant. It quickly propelled itself up further into the atmosphere while being adorned in by that emerald aura.
Deoxys attempted to keep track of Rayquaza as it attempted to use some of the planet's gravity like a slingshot.
In a quick panic, it launched hyper beam right into Rayquaza's Dragon Ascent. Both attacks collided into each other with a blinding light that could've been seen from the surface of the planet.
Pain flared throughout the sky titan's body as it struggled against all the forces pressing down on it. Persevering through all of that, Rayquaza burst through and shattered the hyper beam.
The blank eyes of Deoxys started to light up with surprise as its opponent darted forward to finish this.
Suddenly, Rayquaza's ascent ended along with the mega form. Intense red was replaced with surprised yellow in the dragon's eyes. There was no longer a mega dragon in the skies now.
"I won't let it end like this!"
And then the most bold thing happened. Brendan leapt up from Rayquaza's head and towards Deoxys.
His left fist was coaxed in its ruby aura before he connected it with the alien's face.
"Eat this!"
He connected the attack and actually succeeded in moving Deoxys's face along with inflicting a lot of damage. Such a glorious moment was quick to fleet as Deoxys struck back with its own fist.
Brendan had no choice but to take the fist without anything to stand on. Although there was a lot of pain from that, he managed to keep a strong face.
He didn't falter one bit, even as the glass from the Magma Suit started to crack.
Rayquaza noticed that its partner was starting to fall back to earth and tried to help him. But the damage from the battle started to wear down on its weaker form. He could barely move towards either of them.
Making matters worse, Deoxys slowly and ominously approached Brendan. The blank eyes now seemed hungry to finish this battle.
"What? Are you going to kill me or something?"
Answering to that question, Deoxys started to charge up its hyper beam again.
"You won't get away with this. Even if you kill me here, I know that Erica-chan will stop you!"
As Deoxys prepared to finish off Brendan, it stared into his expression. There weren't really words that could explain what it was seeing or even the reaction that it felt, but the hero's eyes showed something great and moving. His eyes boasted passion as the planet shone from behind him. There was more than just passion in those gray eyes.
There was hope.
Deoxys withdrew the energy that it was charging and came closer to Brendan. He tensed up for a potential thrashing, but was surprised by the DNA pokemon grabbing his arm.
"What're you doing?" Asked the confused boy.
He was answered by a guiding motion towards Rayquaza and being placed back atop.
A momentary surprise was washed over as Brendan started to understand. One final movement was given by Deoxys, it formed human hands from the tentacles and extended its left.
Brendan drew up a smile before he extended his left hand out as well.
"Thank you. We won't give up."
Deoxys gave one more glance and a nod to Rayquaza before darting off out of orbit and sight.
The dragon remained vigilant as its former opponent darted off. But at the same time it wasn't concerned anymore.
"Don't worry Rayquaza. That guy understands us now." Explained Brendan.
Rayquaza turned its attention to the champion and nodded. It seemed happy as well before descending back to Hoenn.
As he began to descend down atop the legendary pokemon, Brendan's vision started to fade again. It only became truly weak when he started to make out Sky Pillar.
Atop the sacred ground of Sky Pillar, both girls still waited patiently. Their patience was rewarded when they could make out a green blur in the sky.
Erica's heart was filled with elation when she could see the green dragon coming from the blue sky. Once Rayquaza had calmly landed at the summit of the tower, it was apparent that Brendan was slumped over.
A little panic arose from the blonde champion when she noticed the crack in his helmet.
"Oh no." She quickly pulled him over and took the helmet off to reveal Brendan with his eyes closed and his mouth wide open.
"Don't worry." Reassured Zinnia. "He just needs some more sleep is all."
Seeing his chest rising up and down at a moderate pace calmed Erica again. She turned her attention to Rayquaza.
"Thank you for bringing him back to me, Rayquaza." Said the blonde girl genuinely.
The sky high pokemon nodded to her before turning its gaze to Zinnia. Initially, she appeared startled that it put attention on her. However, its eyes displayed empathy for the Lorekeeper before it.
Zinnia quickly understood what that meant and yearned to ask more. But Rayquaza flew off of the tower into the sky with a trail of emerald light.
"I think he knew." Stated Erica. "About your suffering. Maybe your savior was waiting for Brendan to free you from your sorrow."
"Perhaps." Answered the Draconid. She took another look over to Brendan's sleeping form and began to realize something about him.
"You know, I can't help but think that maybe this guy is able to help out just about anybody. It's like he becomes a place for people to fill their hope into, and he'll heal them of their pain."
Erica laughed happily hearing that. "You're right, Brendan does have that effect on people."
Feeling some form of forgiveness from the blonde girl, Zinnia bore a smile. She had come from being hated by this person to being accepted by her in one day alone.
Without another word, she got up and started to depart from the scene.
"Where are you going?"
"My adventure is almost over; I've got some amends to make." Admitted the girl shamefully. "Please give Brendan my thanks for me."
A content sigh came from Erica after hearing that. Now she was sure of Zinnia's good heart.
"I'm glad that your doing that, but there is one more thing that you need to understand."
Zinnia turned curiously over to Erica; she had absolutely no idea of what would come next.
"The adventure never ends."
One more laugh was given by the Draconid girl before she left. Aster quickly proceeded to follow after her, but not before giving one last wave to the couple.
Now all that was left were the two atop Sky Pillar's summit.
Reassurance coaxed over the blonde's mind. It felt like months since she had a chance to breath without worrying about some world ending crisis. Once again, the thoughts of originally coming to Hoenn for a vacation were foreign once she perceived them.
Brendan's state of being in deep sleep seemed rude, but he had been running around Hoenn for almost twenty four hours battling again and again.
"Can't really blame you. That was amazing how you held out that long."
Erica's vision started to weaken, and she began to fight back yawning.
"I'm really tired to. I guess it can't hurt to take a rest as well."
She laid down next to her boyfriend and immediately began to fall asleep. The couple remained atop the tower, undisturbed and content.
Unconsciously, or perhaps with some intent of dreams, their hands clasped onto one another and held tight.
Impact Averted.
Yes! Finally!
There really is no excuse for how long this took for an update. I apologize to all my fans who were waiting for this (if that is many at all). There is only one more chapter left for this story, and hopefully it won't take me a literal month to write.
As usual, thanks for reading this chapter. I hope you liked it. Please leave a review, favorite or follow (well maybe not that last one, there's only one more chapter left).