I sort of closed my eyes, trying to drown it all out. Aria stumbled over her words, trying to find the right way to answer Winona, and Laila straightened herself, still sniffling. Riley was silent, and I couldn't tell what he was thinking, doing, or feeling.

I stayed in the trance-like state for as long as I could, until I felt a hand on my shoulder. Riley looked down at me, his eyebrows flicking up slightly. He slipped ahead of me, and I followed him out of the cavern and back into the maze of dully-lit pathways. We were following Wallace, I noticed, and he led us about a hundred meters away from the cavern. I could still hear the warcries of the Groudon and Kyogre, though they were slightly softer.

Aria addressed the Gym Leaders with a quick, bow-like dip of her head, and introduced us. Her voice wobbled only slightly as she began; the rest of us were too speechless to introduce ourselves. "I'm Aria, and this"—she motioned with her hand to Riley, whose red hair was flattened against his head with sweat—"is my brother Riley. These are Laila and Julianne, our traveling companions." She introduced each of us in turn, and added, "Laila and Julianne became trainers after the fire in Fortree."

Winona closed her eyes, as if that were particularly painful to bring up. I was too numb with shock to even think about it. Though it hadn't even been a week ago, it felt like centuries before.

"You can trust us," Riley blurter out, slapping his hand over his mouth as soon as he said it. He earned an suspicious glance from Liza and Wallace, a stern glare from his twin sister, and a soft giggle from Laila.

My heart stopped beating at hyperfast, though it was still pounding against my ribcage. The four Gym Leaders exchanged glances—I could almost swear I could see encoded messages flying from their eyes—and finally they nodded. Was it just me, or were Liza and Tate's nods simultaneous? I mused.

There was an awkward silence, but finally Wallace spoke: "Then we will tell you what you—we—are doing down here."

The eight of us separated into two groups—the four Gym Leaders, and the four of us, backed up onto parallel walls. Winona stepped forwards, looked each of us briefly, unnervingly, in the eye, cleared her throat, and began her stunning soliloquy.

"You have to know…" she began, "What you need to understand is what you just saw back there is a highly classified, top-secret case. I don't know how you got into these tunnels, let alone navigate yourself all the way to the Cave of Origin, but what you saw will never be released to the general public."

I blinked, cocking my head a little bit. Cave of Origin? I wondered. The Cave of Origin was in Sootopolis—a tourist attraction that no tourist was allowed into. That was the Cave of Origin? But how…

Aria cleared her throat, taking an uncertain step forwards. "Did you say Cave of Origin?" She asked, putting my exact thoughts into words. "Were we just in the Cave of Origin?" She looked Winona in the eye, and nodded quickly. I admired Aria's bravery, and was glad that she was the one doing the talking. I was content just to watch.

"As you might have guessed, these tunnels lead under the sea. The tunnels were built by Team Aqua." She smiled mysteriously at us. "How much do you four know?"

Riley and I turned to look at Aria, expecting her to instantly launch into our story, but it was Laila who stepped forwards to stand, front and center, in the middle of the long hallway. "We four decided to travel together," she said. Her voice was small, far from her usual, bubbly chirp. "At the Lilycove Beach, Julianne discovered a rock—a rock that could open if a dial was twisted. It revealed a cave, and…" Laila shuddered involuntarily, "We went in. We navigated through the tunnels"—'navigated' was the wrong word, I thought instantly, to describe our endless wandering, "And we found the…the…" Laila seemed to be faltering a little, "…cave. That…" She almost seemed to refuse saying the words Cave of Origin, as if she in as much disbelief as I was that we had entered the sacred cave.

"Let me explain," Winona said after a reflective pause. "The tunnels were built by Team Aqua as their headquarters. You know that their mission is to expand the seas, and they stole the Blue Orb from Mt. Pyre in order to awaken Kyogre. Kyogre, the legendary beast of the sea, is the only Pokemon capable of expanding the seas to completely cover the land.

"But Team Magma also grasped control of the Red Orb, and they, too, dug tunnels leading to the cave of Origin. This served as their base as well…only their tunnels led away from the beaches of Mossdeep. They were discovered by Liza, at a training session at the beach, I believe."

Shock coursed through me, and I finally was able to stammer out a question. "They…they both created headquarters leading to the Cave of Origin," I said finally.

Winona nodded.

"Did they know that they had the same plans; they were headed to the same place?" I asked incredulously. It seemed hard to believe, a rare piece of timing that would rip Hoenn apart at its seams. Slowly, things began to fall into place. "They awakened Groudon and Kyogre! They control the weater…they…the weird weather patterns in Hoenn…"

"The weather has worsened," Liza reported, in an emotionless voice. "Sootopolis was flooded, killing hundreds of people and Pokemon. The lightning and harsh rains have created blackouts, shutting down hospitals all over Hoenn. Our fate hangs in a precarious balance."

I shivered, imagining Sootopolis—a beautiful island city surrounded by the sparkling, deep blue ocean—flooded. There was no inland for the inhabitants of the city to run.

Winona cleared her throat, cutting through my thoughts. "I am not sure whether the two organizations knew that they were headed to the same place, at the same time. The only thing I know is that Archie and Maxie met in the Cave of Origin, and awoke Groudon and Kyogre. Enraged, and out of control, the two Pokemon have been battling for months now."

"Can you use the orbs to calm the Pokemon down?" Laila asked, gulping. I could see fear glowing in her bright blue eyes.
"I believe you cannot," Winona answered with a shrug. "How would I know? I have never experimented with the powers of an ancient Pokemon."

"S-sorry…"

"Anyways, even if there was that possibility, the Red Orb has gone missing with Maxie. I'm not sure whether he realized the magnitude of what he and Archie have done, but Team Magma hasn't been sighted or detected since Groudon and Kyogre awakened. They are believed to have disbanded, and fled."

Riley brushed his bangs to the side of his face. "What about Team Aqua? A grunt attacked us in the hallways." A brief glow of pride appeared on his face. "Though we fought her off."

Winona looked brooding. "When Liza and Tate entered this labyrinth from the side of Team Magma, they found the Cave of Origin," she explained carefully. "However, Team Aqua detected them. Liza and Tate ingeniously lured Archie out of the cave, I believe, with a very low-tech chase leading them out of the tunnels, and into Mossdeep."

Liza and Tate looked at each other and nodded with almost scary synchronization. Winona took a deep breath before continuing the story. "Once Team Aqua found that their leader was gone, without much of a trace, they were directionless. Some extremely devoted supporters may have stayed in the base, waiting for Archie to come back to them, but the others scattered, as Team Magma did."

"What happened to Archie?" Laila wanted to know.

"Archie was defeated by Tate," Liza chimed in instantly. "We don't know where he went. He fled." She smiled briefly, and her brother returned the expression.

Winona smiled a brief, sad smile. "There's more, though. Earlier, you asked if the Orbs could calm the two Legendary Pokemon down? Well, the red orb has gone missing with Maxie…and the Blue Orb was broken."

The four of us—Laila, Riley, Aria, and I—gasped. Even Aria was astounded to the point of being speechless. However, Laila finally managed to stammer out, "H-h-how?"

Winona shook her head. "That is unknown," she said after a long silence. "However, with both of the Orbs out of the question, the only way that Groudon and Kyogre will be subdued is to defeat them in a Pokemon Battle."

"How?" Riley demanded, a trace of fear edging into his voice.
"Liza and Tate, after defeating Archie, they alerted the Pokemon League. The Elite Four held a council, and they selected the four of us to come down and try and defeat Groudon and Kyogre."

"And…this has to do with getting the world back to normal…" Aria said. Her voice was edgy, and on the verge of being rude. I knew, though, that she must have been as scared as I felt—helpless and scared.

Winona shook her head. "We don't know," she said finally.

Aria cringed, a hopeless, fearful look in her eyes. "Does the Pokemon League know?" she questioned, twirling the end of her braid around her index finger.

Wallace nodded gravely. "Our mission is practically compromised. Winona and I both faced up to the two Pokemon, with no luck. We need some sort of backup."

A shiver chilled the air around me, even though it was still incredibly warm and humid. "Is…is there a way to defeat the two Pokemon?" I inquired, fear shaking my quiet voice so much that I was afraid nothing would come out.

Winona answered us, pushing her long violet hair onto one shoulder. "We were going to split up," she said finally. "Liza and Tate want to stay down here in the tunnels, and have their shot and defeating Kyogre and Groudon. Winona and I need to go back up to Hoenn…our Pokemon are hopelessly defeated, and we need to travel to Ever Grande to request to the Elite Four some backup."

All of us nodded, trying to absorb and believe everything we'd just heard, but Riley was the first one to speak up. "I want to help do something."

The Gym Leaders exchanged glances among themselvesv, but it was Aria's reaction that startled me. She gasped, putting a hand on her brother's shoulders. Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes, and I was shocked. Out of all of us, Aria had always seemed the most unshakable. Her tears brought some of my own bubbling up to the surface. "Are you crazy, Riley?" She demanded. "This is dangerous! Wallace and Winona and Gym Leaders. If they can't defeat Kyogre and Groudon, then we certainly can't."

Riley looked indignant, and a glow blazed in his hazel eyes. "We stumbled here for a reason," he insisted. "We can't possibly just walk away—not when we know the truth now."

Chiming in with an incredibly cliché remark, Laila added, "The fate of the world is in our hands!"

Aria was losing ground quickly. It's not every day that you walk into a battle that could tear apart the world, and I know that I could never walk out without helping without feeling huge guilt pangs. "But…what if they don't want our help?" She suggested desperately.

Riley and Laila turned to look at the four Gym Leaders, who were huddled close together and deep in conversation. Tate glanced over his shoulder and nudged Winona, who turned to address us. "We would split up," Winona said finally, "If you wanted to help. Two of you would go with me and Wallace out of the tunnels—two of you would stay with Tate and Liza and try to fight Kyogre and Groudon."

Laila flashed a pleading glance at Aria, who sighed. "I don't want to split up," she said finally, sounding deeply resigned. "It doesn't feel safe."

"You think there's a choice?" Laila whispered. Her voice was loud enough to reach us, but not loud enough to be heard by the four Gym Leaders. "We have to help, Aria—even if it means splitting up." Turning to the Gym Leaders, she combed her hand through her blonde hair and added, "How would we split up?"

Liza and Tate exchanged glances. 'It's up to you," they said finally. Their voices were a little bit monotonous, and a lot synchronized. It was freaky.

Aria grabbed me and Riley by the shoulders, bringing us in to a tight circle. In the damp, hot air, our body heat was particularly unbearable. Aria was staring daggers at everyone, and it took a lot of courage to speak up.

"I need to stay with Tate and Liza," I said finally. "I want to help that way. I don't have experience with Pokemon, but I know that that's what…" I was meant to do was how I meant to finish my sentence, but I was afraid of sounding stupid. I scraped my sneaker against the linoleum, waiting for someone to contradict me.

Aria sighed deeply. "I do to," she said finally. "You all know that I'm opposed to this—it's the job of the Pokemon League, not of four teenagers, but I want to be where the action is. I want to feel like…" she shuddered, her shoulder brushing against mine, "I want to feel like, if I sacrifice my life, then I was in the thick of the battles." Her voice and tone were completely serious, so intense, and it made me inhale sharply. Are we in danger of dying? I wondered. Is that what we're getting ourselves into?

Laila shot a sidelong glance at Riley. "So Riley and I would go up with Winona and Wallace?" She asked. "We would go with them…to the Pokemon League, I guess?"

Aria looked distrustful. "I don't see why they need an escort," she said scornfully. "I'd feel safer if we were all down here."

Laila looked hopeful. "I'm sure they have their reasons," she said, talking quickly. She looked a little more serious, and added, "I don't like being down in these tunnels, Aria. I feel trapped. I need to be…I need to be at the surface." She shot another meaningful look at Riley, who met her eye. Laila looked away quickly.

"We would go, then?" Riley's question was more of a statement. There was a certain finality that made this decision painful. "Should we go tell them?" He took a step back as if he were about to leave, but Aria pulled him in closer.

Tears slipped down Aria's cheeks as she pulled us all closer. "Don't let anything happen to you," she breathed softly. "Please."

Laila's voice was shaky, but at least she had the courage to speak. "We'll meet you here again," she vowed. We split apart, and she turned to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Riley. "I promise you that."