Saylee Pokémon: 20 Deaths: 7
Key Pokémon: 29 Deaths: 2
"She has it," Eric told Charlotte psychically, dropping a direction to look in her mind. It took her a minute to pick out the target human among the masses thronging the streets of the city below them, fairly consistently moving away from the seafront. Charlotte was pretty good at picking out lost individual humans in the wilderness by their body heat, but when too many were in the same place they tended to all look the same to her. It was lucky this one was wearing a bright purple jacket and flying about on the same fluffy white Pokémon that Saylee had been flying on.
"Hey! Lady!" Charlotte called, swooping low over the crowd and ignoring a spate of frightened screams. The extreme weather hadn't reached this city yet, but thunder, lightning and rain rumbled on the horizon. Huge waves crashed against the south end of the city and the ground occasionally shook to random quakes, making everyone frightened and on edge.
"Yeah?" the girl said, looking up. "Oh my god! A Charizard! What are you doing all the way out here?"
"Looking for you and the Green Orb," Eric informed her psychically. "We are here on behalf of Sar Kanto. I am Eric, and this is Charlotte."
"Sei and Aria," the human thought back, indicating her Pokémon. Eric picked up the species name Altaria as an undercurrent to the introduction. "Is Sar Kanto here? I was told to deliver this to her ASAP."
"She's a little busy in Sootopolis City right now," Eric said, offering up an image of the crashing waves and crumbling buildings to convey a good idea of what was going on. "But she told me who we do have to deliver that to. Quickly. We haven't much time."
"I hope he's close," Sei thought, although it seemed to be herself rather than Eric. "Been flying for nearly twelve hours straight and I'm freezing…"
Eric started trying to sense out the boy that Saylee had shown him. It wasn't hard; as soon as he was looking for it, he realized that the boy was throwing out a huge psychic signal, resonating with the pulse of panic and chaos on the air.
He communicated a general direction to Charlotte and Aria, and they began to fly further west, out of the city and over the wilderness, where panicked Pokémon were running every which way as the ground shook.
Rustboro City, when they reached it, was even more jam-packed with refugees than Slateport. Nobody seemed to really know where to go; there were shouts to get underground, to get upstairs, to get to open ground away from buildings. Police officers, rangers and a couple of people who looked like gym leaders were trying to keep people under control, but there were too many people and too much panic.
"Hey, it's doing something!" Sei shouted. Eric and Charlotte looked around to see her pull the round green orb out of her bag. It was pulsing and letting off intermittent flashes of light like a heartbeat. The flashes grew brighter as they approached the hospital. "The person we need's in the hospital? If they're hurt, how badly are we screwed?"
"He might not be hurt," Eric said, remembering the pale visage of the boy in Saylee's mental image. "He might be… very sensitive to impurities in the air. Just sick. But I'm sure he'll be at a window right now."
"What about that one?" Aria said, flying up the side of the hospital. "I see a window open there!"
At the open window was a pale, slight human boy who was staring intently at the eastern horizon, coughing into his hand. There were screams from below as another earthquake rocked the city, but he stared directly at Charlotte, Eric, Aria and Sei.
"Wally," Eric called. "That is your name, is it not?"
"Uh-huh," the boy said, coughing and pointing at the Jade Orb. "What… is that?"
"This?" Sei said, holding out the Jade Orb. "Wait, is this the person I'm supposed to give this to? This is a little kid!"
"I've seen boys like you before," Eric said for Wally and Wally alone. "With powers that nearly tore them apart. But aside from getting a little sick, it seems to have been easy for you."
Wally hesitated. "Before… at Sky Pillar… ever since then, I've been really ill." He coughed again, clutching his chest. "Will it… get worse? If I take that?" He gestured at the Orb.
"I don't know," Eric admitted. "Maybe. There's a LOT of power in there that belongs to you. Do you think you need it?"
"Will he be able to save Lee?" Charlotte asked impatiently. "That weather looks like it's getting worse and worse…"
Eric, too, kept looking nervously back in the direction of Sootopolis. "I'm sure Perun will see that she's alright," he said uncertainly. "Still… I hope Miss Saylee and that Key girl can hold out. I'd rather not lose another trainer."
"Saylee? Key and Saylee are there?" Wally said with concern. He looked back into the hospital room. "Ralph… what do you think I should do?"
A Kirlia hopped up and sat on the windowsill next to him. "This is your decision to make," he said softly. "That power belongs to you."
"Yeah, but you know your opinion matters more than anything to me," Wally insisted. "Do you think I should do it?"
Ralph looked out at the massive storm clouds. "If you think you can," he said, "then I think you should. If you think you need it."
"I think I do," Wally said, holding out his hand to Sei. "Miss… can I have that, please? I think I'll be able to stop all this if I have that."
"What are you talking about, kid?" Sei said, bewildered. "And do you mean Key Weaves? What's going on?"
"You have to give that Orb to him!" Eric said, rounding on Sei as a jolt of panic shot up his spine. The chaos in the atmosphere was thickening palpably, and the horrible sensation was growing on him that things were going wrong where Saylee was. I already lost one trainer because I wasn't there when he needed help… I lost friends.... "There's no time to explain! We've wasted too much time as it is! Please!"
Sei held the Orb out tentatively. Wally leaned out of the window, touching the smooth green surface.
There was a blast of light that sent Sei and Aria reeling back, the Orb gone from Sei's hands. Wally staggered away from the window, arms clasped tightly around the Orb, holding it closely to his chest as it glowed so brightly that it turned white. Bright yellow lines snaked out around his body from his chest, which the Orb was sinking into. Charlotte felt her tail flare up as a blast of clean air blew out when Wally exhaled. Ralph's eyes began to glow as he stared at his trainer.
"Don't worry, Ralph," Wally breathed. "I feel fine. Please, promise me you'll stay here and protect my parents. They're good people, to adopt me at my age with my health problems, and I love them. You make sure they're safe, and I'll make sure everyone else is, okay?"
Ralph nodded, staring raptly.
Wally stepped up onto the windowsill, then out of the window. Charlotte reached out to grab him, but he stepped past her and kept walking.
"What the—what just happened?! How is that kid walking on air?!" Sei gibbered.
"Rayquaza," Eric breathed.
"What are you—the Rayquaza, like—what's going on?" Sei demanded.
"I don't know, but that is definitely Rayquaza," Aria said, bowing her head to the god of the skies.
Eric did likewise. "I apologize if there should be some ceremony, Lord…" he began.
"Don't worry, I've got more important things to worry about," Wally said. His voice was deeper and more confident than it had been mere minutes ago. Charlotte and Aria managed to turn just in time to catch the strong gust of wind that carried Wally forth, towards Sootopolis.
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A searing blast of steam rose as a huge wave struck Groudon, simultaneous with Archie punching Marc hard enough in the face to send him reeling against the cliff wall. Archie froze for a second, twitching erratically, as Mary, Perun, Zac and Leslie launched a team effort to hit Kyogre with a massive bolt of lightning. Kalle tried to grab Marc and drag him to higher ground, but the older man pushed him aside with crazed strength and kicked Archie in the ribs. Kyogre howled as Groudon slammed boulders into her.
"Archie, wake up! ARCHIE!" Juan shouted sharply, grabbing the Aqua leader by the shoulders and shaking him. Archie and Marc both snarled and shoved Juan back, sending him flying over the barrier at the plateau edge and into the water. Juan resurfaced a minute later, clinging to his Kingdra's back as the waves buffeted them. The waters were continuing to rise as Kyogre's random bursts of torrential rain filled Sootopolis and Groudon's earthquakes shook stone and houses into the water; the three lowest levels of the city were already submerged, and while the last trickle of civilians were almost clear, despite all efforts there were bodies floating in the water.
Archie and Marc's battle had become fully synchronized with Groudon and Kyogre's, and so Saylee, Key, Shelly, Matt, Kalle and Juan were struggling to separate the two insane men and move them to higher ground, but their strength and endurance had been increased as much as their sanity had been depleted and holding onto them for any length of time was impossible.
Archie threw Marc to the ground, and Kyogre submerged Groudon, but the man and Pokémon both rose to launch themselves at their foes.
"Oh, gods…" Key gasped, clinging tightly to Shikoba's back.
"Yeah, that's the problem… ack!" Shikoba squawked as a patch of torrential rainfall crossed them, heavy enough to force them down towards the roiling waves, water assaulting them from every direction.
"You sayin' this is them at low power?" Skye called to Saylee, who was trying to watch the battling titans and struggling madmen at the same time while desperately watching for Key and Shikoba to resurface.
Saylee's pokégear buzzed. "How the hell am I still getting signal?" she asked as she picked it up.
"The miracles of modern technology," Steven said dryly. "The guardians are climbing the walls of Sootopolis, Saylee, and when they reach the top they're going to encase the city in a shield. Are the civilians out?"
"Not all of them," Saylee said, directing Skye down towards a semi-collapsed hotel. "And I think there's people still trapped in the rubble."
"Then you're going to have to protect them, because there's no way to stop the guardians raising the shield without turning them off entirely," Steven said, "and I'm not prepared to do that. Tsunamis are hitting every coastal town in Hoenn. I just got a call that Pacifidlog has sunk, casualties unconfirmed. This needs to be contained, now."
"I understand," Saylee said, getting Skye to start smashing windows of the collapsed building. Somebody screamed inside of a room when she did. She tucked the pokégear into her neck and yelled, "is someone there?! Can you move? I can take you to higher ground!" A pair of tearful-looking women started crawling across the steeply slanted floor towards her.
Saylee turned to check over her shoulder that a wave wasn't about to hit them and saw Tobias fly past with Thomas and Oberon on his back. They fired a barrage of Razor and Magical leaves down on Groudon. Groudon and Marc both roared in agony as the entire city shook. Saylee managed to grab one woman's hand as the hotel started falling again, slipping entirely into the water. Skye flew up and out of the way as Saylee clung desperately to the screaming woman's hand, unable to look down and see if she'd managed to grab her friend or…
Skye flew back up to the highest level to deposit the lone, hysterically sobbing woman on safe ground. The sky overhead flashed, and Saylee looked up as the rain and blazing sunlight both softened abruptly. A shimmering dome of white had covered Sootopolis; looking up, Saylee could glimpse figures standing around the rim of the crater that contained the city. There were at least a dozen of them—some dark grey, some brown, some pale blue. She put her pokégear back to her ear and noticed that Juan and Key had been patched back into the call, probably due to her own unresponsiveness.
"—don't do it again," Steven was saying. "The worst of the weather effects can be contained, but Groudon's tremors run deep underground. We can't stop them, and they probably felt that one in Orre."
"You mean we can't attack Groudon without just doing more damage?" Key groaned. Saylee saw Key and Shikoba flying towards Tobias to relay the news.
"Concentrate all attacks on Kyogre!" Saylee bellowed, pointing towards Topaz, who was on the far side of the crater, staying as aloft as she could with two electric-types and two Linoone on her back, and then pointing at Kyogre. Topaz carefully hovered closer as Zac, Leslie, Perun and Mary glowed with charging power.
"It would be nice to think we could stop them by knocking Marc and Archie out," Juan said, "but I just saw Marc crack Archie's head against a rock—that moment where Groudon used a boulder as a club on Kyogre—and it hasn't slowed him down. Even he's not that hardheaded."
"Groudon and Kyogre are controlling them," Saylee said, shivering as she watched the eerie, loose-limbed way that Marc and Archie attacked each other. "They'll probably fight to the death, or even longer…"
The fourfold lightning bolt struck Kyogre again and again, as did hails of leaves, but it only slowed her down without stopping her, and Groudon—and Marc—kept coming, brutally attacking their foes and anyone who got in their way. Matt had already sustained a badly broken arm and a collection of shattered ribs in attempting to protect Archie from Marc, and Juan, Shelly and Kalle were all taking a lot of beating from trying to keep Marc and Archie apart. All the while, Sootopolis City continued to collapse. Some people had ignored the evacuation order, thinking that they could hide in their homes until the danger had passed, and some more unscrupulous members of the public had thought to try and lift something valuable from abandoned houses and shops, and now many of them were being swept away by waves or caught in collapsing buildings despite the best efforts of Saylee, Key and a few members of the police with flying Pokémon.
Saylee was flying a pair of terrified teenage looters that reminded her vividly of Ledah up to the top level when Tobias suddenly broke off the attack and flew towards her. "Lee!" he shouted. "I can hear Eric! They found him! They're coming!"
"YES!" Saylee shrieked, hugging the startled teenagers.
"What the hell?!" one of them yelled, struggling out of Saylee's arms as soon as Skye landed.
"Sorry," Saylee said, letting them go so they could seek shelter. She picked up her pokégear again. "Steven, turn them off! Drop the shields! The cavalry is coming!"
"About time!" Key screamed.
"I see them! Hold on…" Steven said. The teenagers stumbled to the ground, falling over as a sudden rush of air from the opening of the shield buffeted Skye away. Saylee yelped and clung to Skye's back. There were more screams at the rush of wind; fliers were flung up into the air, while Marc, Archie, Kalle, Shelly, Matt and Juan were all sent tumbling into the water.
The black clouds above them swirled and expanded, before suddenly splitting, accompanied by a shocking silence as Groudon and Kyogre stilled.
Everything calmed: the wind, the water, the shaking ground. Groudon and Kyogre stared silently upwards as the clouds faded to nothing and the sunlight weakened until it was soft and pleasantly warm. The sky glowed green.
Charlotte, with Eric on her back, swooped down towards Saylee and Skye, a black-haired girl on an Altaria following them. "Are you quite alright, Saylee?" Eric asked.
"Fine now," Saylee said, looking to the girl. "Did you bring the Green Orb?"
"Is that Kyogre?" the girl said, ignoring Saylee and staring at the titanic gods with much more joy than Saylee felt anyone had any right to feel in the rubble of Sootopolis City.
"Oh, hey Sei… Oh my god… is that Wally?" Key said in shock, pointing up into the sky. A figure was floating above them, glowing yellow-green.
"Fully empowered," Saylee said softly. "I don't know why Rayquaza's powers were split, but… he seems to be handling it pretty well…"
A pillar of stone was rising out of the water with Archie and Marc kneeling on it, blank-faced and staring at Wally.
"Stop it," Wally ordered. His voice resonated through the air, sounding to everyone as if he were speaking directly into their ears. "You stop that right now and go back to sleep."
"But—" Groudon roared.
"We—" Kyogre called at the same time.
"GO!" Wally ordered. The word cracked through the air.
Slowly, sullenly, Kyogre sank under the waves. A fissure cracked open in the rocks that Groudon was standing on, and she dropped into it. Marc and Archie collapsed, unconscious. Juan and his Pokémon started swimming through the gently rippling water towards them.
"Did that… just happen?" Sei said weakly, staring at the slowly calming water.
"BRILLIANT, WALLY!" Key shrieked. "You're AWESOME!"
"Thanks," Wally said softly, his voice still floating gently through the air like he was next to them rather than floating high above. "That wasn't… as easy… as it looks…" the sky turned from green to blue as Wally sighed, then dropped out of the air.
"I have him!" Tobias cried, flying towards Wally. Thomas leapt off of the Togekiss' back and caught Wally before landing neatly on Tobias' back again. Saylee and Skye flew over to retrieve them.
"He just fell asleep?" Thomas complained, handing over the unconscious boy to Saylee.
"Bending the wills of Groudon and Kyogre to your own can't be easy," Tobias chuckled.
"Can ya believe this kid just saved Hoenn's ass?" Oberon marvelled.
"We still need to arrest Marc and Archie," Saylee said, looking around. "Where'd Matt, Shelly and Kalle go?"
"They jumped into the water and swam off," Key reported, flying up to them. "Come quick, I think Juan might be in trouble!"
Someone had retrieved the submarine. Marc and Archie were both being dragged into it while Juan and his Kingdra faced down Archie's huge old Sharpedo.
"Don't make me biter yer fins off, Drickhead," the Sharpedo snapped.
"I'd like to see you try, Shanks," the Kingdra responded, spitting dragonfire. "And for the millionth time, my name is Kendrick."
"Calm down, Kendrick," Juan said sternly. "Shanks, let me take them back to the gym."
"How 'bout no?" Shanks snarled. "Sorry, brocean, but I know how much trouble the kiddo's gonna be in. We're outta here." Kendrick shot forwards as the submarine door closed and the sub began to sink. Shanks bit into Kendrick, but noticeably on the Kingdra's armoured belly rather than his fragile fins.
"Dragonbreath!" Saylee ordered as soon as Skye had flown close enough. Skye and Topaz both swooped in, breathing blue fire at Shanks, who let Kendrick go and dived under the water. Kendrick and Juan dived after him.
"I think we're gonna have to leave that chase to Juan," Key opined.
Saylee nodded, shifting her grip on Wally as she looked up to see rescue workers flying in from above and spilling out of the half-crushed travel centre on the top level. At the top of the crater, the guardians were all long gone, and Steven was nowhere to be seen.
"C'mon," she sighed. Her side was starting to ache again, and she felt terribly tired. "Let's find somewhere safe for Wally, then get to work on helping the rescue and cleanup."
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Happy New Year! Here in the nuzverse, we're staring off with a bang and a casual reminder that this series started out as an apocalyptic scenario :P Hope you've all had a good new year and that you have a great 2015!