Episode 49: Delta, Part 2
"Rayquaza," Courtney shouted. "You are mine!"
The green dragon that descended down to the platform, stopping only a dozen yards from the bottom, looked down at Courtney and the glowing red chain. As a result, its eyes began to glow a bright red as well. It then raised its head and let out an ear-piercing screech, causing everyone to double over while holding their hands to their ears.
"Courtney…why!" Niko shouted out.
The Magma leader turned around almost instantly. Her eyes exuded power as she stared down the young trainer. "I've already told you, Niko! To control Groudon through Rayquaza!" She turned back to the legendary dragon. "Now, you will obey me, Rayquaza. Let's leave these people and summon Groudon!"
As Courtney began to approach the dragon, Rayquaza's tail slammed into the ground in front of her, halting her progress.
"W-what?" She asked in bemusement. Rayquaza—eye's still glowing red—opened its mouth and prepared a hyper beam, aimed right at Courtney. "What are you doing!? No!" She shouted. She luckily got out of the way at the last minute, being pushed to the side by her camerupt, who took the hit and crumbled to the ground. "Why aren't you listening to me!?"
"Because," Steven said, "You weren't chosen to control it."
"Then who is!?"
"A Draconid is," Steven said, nodding to Zinnia, who was still knocked out on the platform next to her whismur, who was trying to wake her up.
Niko simply stood there, frozen at the sight of the enormous dragon pokémon from the sky. Suddenly, Courtney slowly stood back up and stared at Niko and Steven with hate-filled eyes.
"This…this is all your fault!" She spat out angrily, and suddenly ran for them, "Camerupt, eruption! Mightyena, go! Use take down! Crobat, aerial ace!"
Niko pulled out a pokéball of his own and sent out lairon. "Iron tail!"
"Metagross, meteor mash!" Steven shouted.
Meanwhile, Matt—in the midst of the chaos—tried to make a break for the stairwell leading downwards, but was stopped in his tracks by Brittany, Jake, and JJ.
"Where're you going?" JJ asked, smirking.
"Out of the way, kids, now!" Matt said, attempting to bowl over them, but was stopped by pichu, who leapt out of Brittany's arms and used thundershock to temporarily stun the Team Aqua leader, causing him to fall backwards onto the floor.
"Well then," JJ said, peering over at the massive man laying before them. "Good job, pichu."
"Pi! Pi pichu!" The tiny mouse pokémon cheered happily.
"Camerupt, eruption!" Courtney spat out angrily. Behind her, Rayquaza was losing it, using hyper beam everywhere while the Team Magma leader fought Niko and Steven. "Mightyena, crunch on metagross!"
The bite pokémon rushed forward, but was slapped away by metagross' meteor mash. The iron leg pokémon then followed up with a psychic to repel crobat, leaving only camerupt.
"Niko, I'm going to see if Zinnia is okay. Can you handle Courtney?"
Niko nodded. "Yeah, I got this. Go ahead!" Steven leapt onto metagross and, after dodging a few flamethrowers, were able to go towards Zinnia. Steven jumped off and helped pick her up while metagross protected its trainer from the rampaging Rayquaza. Niko then turned to Courtney, who was on a rampage of her own.
"You!" She spat out. "Camerupt, use earthquake!"
"Lairon, brace yourself! You can do it, buddy," Niko said, trying to brace himself as well for the attack. However, it was too much, and he ended up collapsing onto the ground, as did lairon.
"Hah!" Courtney laughed hysterically. Her hood had fallen off now, revealing short pink hair underneath. "Camerupt, finish him! Flamethrower!"
"No!" Brittany, JJ, and Jake all said as they rushed forward to help. But the eruption pokémon was too fast, and it belted out a stream of fire directly for Niko.
"Lai!" Niko looked up to see the flamethrower blocked by his lairon, who had gotten back up at the last minute to stop the attack.
"Lai-lairon?" Niko asked, slowly trying to get back up. The iron armor pokémon turned to look at Niko, taking one final look before it began to glow. "Lairon!"
Lairon suddenly started growing, growing taller than Niko. Its body grew upwards and outwards. Its tail also grew out, and it became bipedal. The armor on its head now gained two horns, and its forehead plating extended past its upper jaw in a small point. Once the glowing stopped, it revealed itself to be an aggron.
"Agg!" Aggron shouted out at camerupt. It then lowered its head, which began to glow a bright gray color, and rushed at camerupt.
Courtney, her expression turning from hysteria to horrified, urged camerupt to use flamethrower, but the attacks bounced off. Aggron's head collided with camerupt's, knocking the pokémon backwards. The iron armor pokemon's tail then began to glow gray, and it spun around and slammed it into camerupt.
"Aggron, the iron armor pokémon. Steel and rock type. Its iron horns grow longer a little at a time. They are used to determine the Aggron's age. The gouges in its armor are worn with pride as mementos from battles."
"So aggron evolved to stop Courtney," JJ commented, in awe at the powerful steel type standing in front of them. By now the group was standing together, watching aggron defeat camerupt and Courtney, the latter of which was now frightened beyond belief. Aggron, having defeated camerupt, now turned to Courtney with eyes dead-set on her.
"Aggron, no!" Niko shouted. "We don't hurt humans. Let her go."
The iron armor turned back to Niko and nodded, picking camerupt up and dragging it over to Courtney, who returned it and started to make a run for it.
"No no," Niko said, grabbing her arm. "You're not going anywhere. Aggron, watch her for us."
"And Matt, too," Brittany added. Niko looked over at the stunned Team Aqua leader, chuckled a little silently, and nodded. Aggron grabbed Courtney's shoulder and motioned her over to where Matt was, and stood guard around them while Niko and his group turned their attention back to Rayquaza, who was flying around in the sky hyper beaming everywhere. By now Steven had returned with Zinnia resting on metagross.
"What do we do now?" Niko asked, looking up at the legendary pokémon.
"We have to calm it down somehow…" Steven replied. "Wait, what about that chain?" He pointed to the chain resting on the ground of the platform and then ran over to grab it. However, he was intercepted by the sky high pokémon, whose head descended to the ground and stared at Steven with vicious-looking red eyes. Steven then backed away a bit before metagross shot through the air and slammed its meteor mash onto Rayquaza's face, knocking it to the side and giving Steven an opening to take the chain and run back. Panting, he held the chain up to the group. It was just a collection of glowing red stones collected together in a ring-like fashion.
"So this is what Zinnia was using to summon Rayquaza…" Niko said, reaching his hand out to touch it. The moment he did so, he felt it burn on his fingertips. "Ow! What the hell?"
"It only responds to certain people," A weakened voice said from behind them. The group turned around to see Zinnia sitting up on metagross, holding her head. Her whismur—Aster—was sitting in her lap.
"What is it?"
"It's a collection of key stones. They're used to summon Rayquaza, but only under certain conditions."
"What sort of conditions?" Brittany asked.
"Well, only a Draconid can hold the chain of these specific key stones without being burned by it," She looked up at Steven, who dropped the chain to reveal burn marks on his hand. "See?" She said as she placed Aster back on metagross and jumped off and onto the ground. She walked over to the chain and picked it up again. Suddenly, the color shifted back to a bright green.
The Draconid took a deep breath and hobbled up the stairs and back to the platform where Rayquaza was waiting. She once more held the chain up to it, and its eyes suddenly turned back to their normal yellow color.
"Rayquaza! I am Zinnia of the Draconid people! And we request your assistance!"
"Request assistance?" Niko asked. "For what?"
"Let her finish, Niko," Brittany said, placing a finger up to her mouth.
"There is a meteor coming straight for earth. We need your help to defeat it," Zinnia shouted out. The sky high pokémon leered at Zinnia for a moment, as if trying to understand. It then turned back to the sky, removing the clouds from around Sky Pillar to reveal a dark night sky littered with stars. Moments later, they all saw something bright and orange piercing through the sky. Rayquaza then turned back to Zinnia, leaned its head back down, and ate the chain.
"What!?" Niko shouted out in shock. "Rayquaza ate it!" As he said this, he noticed the sky high pokémon changing shape. It body grew longer, a small delta symbol appearing on its forehead. Its jaw now protruded outwards in the shape of a triangle with the middle-section missing. Long, yellow stream of tendrils extended from the jaw. "What happened to it?"
"It mega evolved," Steven said plainly.
"Mega evolved?" Brittany asked.
"Yes. It's a form of evolution that is unique to certain pokémon. However, sometimes the conditions for mega evolution are different, depending on the pokémon. Rayquaza here is unique in that it is the only known pokémon with an organ that is dedicated to mega evolution, called the Mikado organ."
"So…now what do we do?" Niko asked.
"It's not what we do. It's what Rayquaza does," Steven said, "And, apparently, what Zinnia does, too," He said as he watched the Draconid climb on top of Rayquaza, and the two shot through the air towards the meteor.
"Wait, won't she have difficulty breathing?" Jake asked.
"Yeah, guess so…" Steven replied. It was odd seeing him so passive, as if he knew exactly why Zinnia was doing what she was doing. Moments later, there was an explosion in the sky. The meteor burst into thousands of pieces that fell through the sky, and moments later Mega Rayquaza was descending back to the top of Sky Pillar when something quickly struck it in the side.
"Zinnia!" Niko shouted. "Rayquaza!" They watched as the sky high pokémon lurched around to see what collided with it. It looked like a pokémon. An orange, humanoid-shaped pokémon.
"W-what is that?" Brittany asked, terrified of the relatively small pokémon fighting Mega Rayquaza.
"I know exactly what that is. Metagross, go and help Mega Rayquaza!" Steven shouted. The iron leg pokémon charged through the air towards the battle. "It's the pokémon Deoxys. A psychic-type pokémon said to come from space."
"Space!?" Jake shouted. "That's a space pokémon?" Steven nodded.
"Indeed. It's incredibly powerful, too. And Rayquaza has had to face pokémon like it on a few occasions already, since in order for it to arrive here, it passes through Rayquaza's territory by default."
"Can we help stop it?" Niko asked.
"You can try, but unless the battle comes back down here, I don't see how any of us can do much now," Steven replied as Zinnia's salamence joined in the fight against Deoxys.
"Let us help," Courtney said from behind the group. Matt was now awake, and had previously tried to escape, but was thrown back onto the ground by aggron, who was watching the both of them. "Our crobats can fly up there and join them."
"Alright, go for it," Steven said with a cautionary tone. "But if either of you try anything, we won't hesitate to stop you."
"Got it. Crobat, go and assist Mega Rayquaza!" Courtney shouted. Matt said something similar, and the two large bat-like pokémon charged through the air. Now the fight was five against one, with Deoxys launching itself at Mega Rayquaza while dodging the variety of attacks aimed at it. Just then, they saw a beam of ice unexpectedly hit Deoxys in the side, freezing it and causing it to fall to the ground below. Rayquaza shot downwards and caught the alien pokémon in its mouth to bring it to the top of Sky Pillar. Meanwhile, Niko and his friends looked to see the source of the ice beam.
"Wallace, you finally made it," Steven said, turning to the tall man with light skin, turquoise hair, and a white cap, along with green and teal scarf-like clothing standing next to a milotic.
"Yeah, looks like I missed a lot. How are you, Steven?" The man named Wallace said as he walked up to Steven and shook his hand.
"Fine now. Looks like you dealt the final blow to Deoxys."
"Deoxys? Really?" Wallace asked, turning to Mega Rayquaza, who dropped the alien pokémon from its mouth onto the ground, which shattered the ice. Regardless, Deoxys wasn't moving, indicating defeat. "Well then, looks like you need to bring me up to speed."
"I will, but we need to finish up here. Wallace, we've apprehended Magma and Aqua's leader," Steven said, motioning his hand over to Courtney and Matt, under the gaze of Niko's aggron.
"Ah, well, not technically apprehended yet, but I see what you mean. They won't escape your aggron."
"Oh, no no, that's not mine. It's Niko's," Steven explained, turning to the brown-haired trainer standing behind him. "Wallace, this is Niko. He's just finished his gym challenge and will be entering the Ever Grande Conference. Niko, this is the champion of the Hoenn region, Wallace."
"Niko, it's a pleasure. Thank you for all you and your friends have done tonight. I'm sure it wasn't easy for you all."
"No, sir, no it wasn't. But we all worked together, and that's what matters, right?"
"Of course. So, you're competing at Ever Grande. I'll be looking out for you. Best of luck," Wallace said before turning to Mega Rayquaza. "So, who is this?" He asked, pointing to Zinnia.
"Champion Wallace, I am Zinnia of the Draconid people."
"Pleasure, Zinnia. Now, were you the cause of all of this?"
"No sir, I was merely trying to help out."
"Zinnia commanded Rayquaza to not only mega evolve, but also to stop the meteorite from colliding with the planet. She also helped stop Deoxys," Steven explained. "She is on our side."
"Indeed I am."
"Well Zinnia, thank you as well. On behalf of all in the Hoenn region, I thank you. Now, we should probably leave you be with Rayquaza. I trust that you'll take care of it?"
Zinnia nodded. "It will do no harm, sir."
"Thank you," Wallace said, turning his attention back to Steven and the group. "Let's leave this place. Steven, meet me in Sootopolis. We can talk there."
"Sure, let me get these kids back to Pacifidlog Town first. They're on their way to Slateport City."
"Oh? For what?" Wallace asked, now looking curious.
"I'm competing in the Grand Festival," Brittany stepped forward.
"Oh? Well then, I wish you the best. I was once a coordinator as well, just like my mentor Juan. Like him, I also won the Ribbon Cup in Slateport many years ago with milotic here."
"Oh?! That's awesome!" Brittany exclaimed.
"Yes, indeed. Well, if I don't get to see your performance there, then I wish all the best. Niko, I will be at Ever Grande, and I hope you go far. If Steven recognizes you as a good trainer—and I'm sure he does—then you must be."
With that, Wallace turned his long white cape around and walked down the stairs. Steven motioned them to follow, and by the time they all made it to the bottom of Sky Pillar, Wallace was long gone.
"Now, to deal with these two," Steven said, turning to Courtney and Matt. "I've already got authorities on their way. You'll get to see your former bosses very soon, I think."
Neither leader said anything as a fleet of police boats arrived at the island Sky Pillar was on. Half a dozen Officer Jenny's and other officers got out of their boats and proceeded towards Steven, who spent some time talking with them while the four trainers turned to each other.
"Wow, what a night guys," Niko said, looking back at the officers.
"Yeah, almost feels like a dream actually," Brittany added. "I'm just ready to get to sleep. It's been a long day."
"You've got that right…" JJ said, yawning. Soon enough, each of them were yawning. Moments later, Steven walked back over to them, realized how tired they were, and brought them back to Pacifidlog Town.
"I can't express to you four how much I appreciated the help. You really showed your stuff today. Thank you."
"Anytime Steven," Niko said, shaking the ex-champion's hand. "After all, it looked like the world might have ended. Or at least Hoenn."
"I don't think it would have gotten that far, but you certainly prevented a lot of people from getting hurt in the process. Anyways, you've all had a long day. Get some rest, you'll need it," He was just about to leave when he turned back to them. "Say, how exactly are you getting to Slateport City?"
"We don't exactly know yet…" Brittany admitted.
"Alright, I'll keep that in mind. Good night," The ex-champion said before he exited the Pokémon Center and disappeared on metagross, leaving the exhausted group of trainers to immediately head to the only available room and crash instantly on their beds.
Author's Note: I understand that I might not have executed the Aqua/Magma/Draconid plot as well as I could have, but i'm satisfied with how it turned out. Hopefully you are as well. Now we've just got the Grand Festival and the Ever Grande Conference! Enjoy!
