Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon and am in no way affiliated with Nintendo or Gamefreak, or other companies that write or produce pokemon. Now that that legal stuff is out of the way, on to the story!

Pokemon Emerald

Chapter Forty One

Battle for the Cave of Origins

"I think this is getting worse by the second!" Sidney said to the group of gym leaders and Elite Four gathered around the pokecenter. Much of the buildings on the lower level of the crater had been knocked down by waves and Groudon had taken out two other buildings on the eastern and western edges of the crater while tunneling to avoid attacks. The group of trainers had decided to make protecting the pokecenter their priority in the event that they need to use its services before the battle is out.

"Perhaps the child should be taken somewhere safe..." Drake stated in a gruff voice. "Her family is safe and sound in Lilycove, one of my dragons could take her there."

"Wait!" Flannery called out to the group, pointing to the sky with one hand and holding Angela against her with the other. "Up there!"

Everyone looked to the sky, including the two titans locked in battle in the middle of the crater. A hole began to open up in the center of the clouds, allowing light to filter down from above. The hole began to grow wider, revealing the form of a green serpent-like dragon floating above the clouds. Soon the hole had expanded to cover the entire area around Sootopolis, but extended no further.

"It seems Rayquaza's finally arrived!" Wattson, who was standing next to Flannery, noted. "I guess now the real show begins, huh?" He added, giving a hearty laugh.

"Are May and Alex with him?" Norman wondered aloud, his voice full of concern. "I can't see them from down here..."

Rayquaza began to slowly descend towards the plateau in front of the Cave of Origins, lowering itself to allow its two passengers to get off. Norman breathed a sigh of relief when he saw May and Alex standing near the Cave of Origins.

"Why is May with that monster?" Angela asked, whimpering and hiding behind Flannery. "Its not going to eat her is it?"

"No, that one's on our side!" Flannery replied.


"-So, even after countless millenia you two seek to continue your childish squabble...-" Rayquaza bellowed to the two titans below. "-If you do not discontinue I will be forced to rob you of your powers once again.-"

"-You are nothing to us now, Rayquaza!-" Groudon bellowed back. "-Without the powers of the ruby or sapphire you cannot put us to sleep again, and you are no match for us with the powers drained from the crystals increasing our strength.-"

"-For once it seems we are in complete agreement.-" Kyogre added. "-Flee back to your tower, Rayquaza, there is nothing you can do here.-"

"-I had a feeling it would come to this...-" Rayquaza stated quietly to Alex, the only one capable of understanding it. "-We must get the power of the ruby and sapphire from them and back to the gems.-"

"We'll need to get the powers back into the gems somehow..." Alex informed May, still a bit perplexed as to why he could understand Rayquaza bit trying not to draw attention to it.

"How can we do that though?" May wondered. "Its not like we can just ask them nicely."

"Well that shoots down my first idea..." Alex said, rolling his eyes.

"If they are weakened through combat then perhaps we can retake the powers that way." Rayquaza said to Alex, now speaking to him telepathically through the crystal.

"Wonderful, I get rid of one voice in my head and gain another." Alex thought, looking up at Rayquaza. "Can this one read my mind too then?" Alex waited a moment to see if Rayquaza would respond, but the dragon didn't even seem to notice and instead had its attention focused on Kyogre and Groudon below them.

"Maybe we can try battling them with our pokemon to weaken them?" Alex suggested, repeating Rayquaza. "Once they're weakened then maybe if we struck a direct blow with the crystals themselves we could drain their power."

"Well you might just get your chance! Look!" Alex followed May's direction to see Groudon quickly burrowing into the mass of land it had formed below it. Alex realized Groudon must be tunneling its way to them.

"Guess we don't have much of a choice then..." Alex grumbled, reaching for a pokeball. "We'll do this the same way we've been doing things all along...I'll go after Groudon while you go after Kyogre."

"Right..." May replied, nodding in agreement. "How do we fight something that powerful though?"

"Whatever way we can!" Alex said quickly. "Alakazam, lets go!" Alex called out Alakazam from the pokeball he was holding. Alakazam looked back when it appeared, towards the hole Groudon had dug previously when it had trapped Alex in the Cave of Origins. Groudon was coming up that same hole.

"May, go with Rayquaza and get out of here." May nodded, and Rayquaza quickly lowered itself for May to get on. Once May was safely on its back, Rayquaza took off out over the water, just barely avoiding having its tail grabbed by Groudon as it emerged from the hole. Groudon stood and watched its prey escape for a moment before focusing its attention on Alex.

"Alakazam, lets go!" Alex called out. Alakazam nodded quickly and concentrated. Groudon swiped at the two of them with its large claws, but Alakazam managed to teleport both itself and Alex away at the last second and reappeared inside the cave. Alakazam made sure they would be out of arm's reach inside as well.

"A direct assault isn't going to work." Alex said to himself. "Slowing it down with status effects is our best shot. Too bad I never really considered status attacks to be all that useful..."

Alex reached for a pokeball, his attention still focused on Groudon. "Need to get that thing's attention so it doesn't go after Rayquaza again. Alakazam?" Alakazam nodded, knowing what it'd have to do. Meanwhile, Alex released Sceptile from its pokeball. The grass pokemon appeared and looked ready for battle, not backing down an inch even upon seeing its potential opponent at the mouth of the cave.

Alakazam focused for a moment to use one of its attacks. It then followed up by unleashing a beam of psychic energy to hit Groudon from behind. The beam seemed to have little effect, but it succeeded in getting Groudon's attention. The massive pokemon turned to face the cave opening and immediately reached a claw out towards them in vain.

"Sceptile, Leech Seed!" Sceptile quickly spun around, flinging a seed out from its leafy tail. The seed hit Groudon's arm and sprouted vines to latch on. The seed began draining energy from Groudon, passing it on to Sceptile. Sceptile immediately fell to its knees in pain, however. The amount of energy drained by Leech Seed was relatively little as far as the pokemon it was drained from was concerned. However a small amount of energy to Groudon in its powered-up state was more than Sceptile could handle.

"Damn it...the one time we actually use that attack..." Alex grumbled. Groudon hardly seemed phased by the Leech Seed and merely looked at it's arm curiously. "Alakazam, can you blast the seed off?"

Alakazam nodded, then closed its eyes and concentrated. A blue glow surrounded the seed and Alakazam quickly ripped it off with its psychic powers. With the seed removed, Sceptile recovered from the pain and got back to its feet. Around the same time, a white beam of energy shot out of the air above Alakazam and struck Groudon in the face. Groudon roared in anger and withdrew its arm from the cave.

"Guess that won't work..." Alex grumbled. "We need a better plan before Groudon decides to re-evaluate how much it cares about this cave being intact. I wonder if May's faring any better?"


Rayquaza wasn't having much luck with Kyogre, unfortunately. It had planned to set May down on a lower level of the crater near the water, but once Rayquaza was in range Kyogre began firing off Ice Beam attacks to try and hit the dragon. Rayquaza was forced to put all its effort into dodging the attacks, knowing full well that at Kyogre's current power it would only take a single Ice Beam to fell the dragon.

"Kyogre doesn't seem to be any faster for having the sapphire's power..." May said, thinking out loud. "If it was then I doubt Rayquaza would be able to dodge its attacks. In that case..." May took a pokeball from her belt.

"Ludicolo, go!" May called out as she pressed the button on the pokeball. The beam fired out from the pokeball towards the churning water below, materializing Ludicolo in the water.

"Ludicolo, I want you to avoid Kyogre's attacks in the water while hitting back with Absorb!" May called out to Ludicolo as Rayquaza flew away from it, dodging another Ice Beam. Ludicolo nodded, having gotten the message. Ludicolo quickly swam close enough, moving with the same speed it had while swimming to Sootopolis with May. Once in range, it drew out a small amount of energy from Kyogre and absorbed it into itself.

The attack had very little effect on Kyogre, but it did get the pokemon's attention. This gave Rayquaza the chance it needed to fly over to dry land to let May off while Kyogre started focusing its Ice Beam attacks on Ludicolo. The swift swimming pokemon deftly dodged the attacks, diving under the water and resurfacing elsewhere near Kyogre after each beam was fired.


"Does May actually...intend to battle Kyogre?" Norman wondered, watching from outside the pokecenter. "What does she think she could accomplish but get herself hurt?!"

"Calm yourself, Norman." Glacia said to him, arms crossed. "If anything, she is clearly on the right track, exploiting Kyogre's only noticeable weakness. Its speed. Her Ludicolo is able to take advantage of Kyogre's storm to make itself faster, giving itself a chance. Only Juan's Luvdisc and Kingdra share a similar capability."

"Perhaps..." Juan stated quietly, interrupting Glacia. "I will be keeping my pokemon safe in their pokeballs for now until they are needed. May's Ludicolo seems to have Kyogre distracted well enough, however Alex seems to have once again cornered himself in the Cave of Origins. He may be attempting to distract Groudon, giving May and Rayquaza the chance to focus on Kyogre."

"Yes..." Glacia stated in agreement, nodding reassuringly to Norman. "They are our best hope for success now, but we will be here to help them should they get into trouble."

"Should we help Alex, then?" Roxanne asked. "My rock pokemon could easily dig their way to him..."

"Groudon wouldn't take to kindly to that." Phoebe countered, waving her finger. "Alex is safe in the cave anyway since Groudon refuses to damage it..."

"Yay! May's going to beat the monsters!" Angela cried out excitedly, loosening her grip on Flannery slightly.

"I sure hope so..." Norman stated solemnly.


"I don't think Ludicolo's actually doing anything but annoying Kyogre..." May said to herself in dismay. "Can that thing actually be hurt? Does it have some big red glowing weakspot that I'm missing and every other part of its body is invulnerable like in some kind of game?!"

"-If only it were that simple...-" Rayquaza stated quietly. "-You will somehow have to achieve the same strength level as they have...-"

"How can I fight this thing?" May wondered. "Wait, Kyogre is focusing completely on Ludicolo...so maybe I can take the chance to power up another pokemon!" May smiled to herself as she pulled a pokeball from her belt, formulating a plan in her head.

"Go, Altaria!" May called out, releasing Altaria from its pokeball. "Altaria, use Dragon Dance and keep it up!" Altaria appeared from its pokeball, flapping its wings to hover in front of May. Its body became surrounded in orange flames as it began to power up with Dragon Dance. Kyogre looked over at the group briefly but kept up its attacks against Ludicolo.

"An interesting strategy..." Rayquaza noted mentally. "If I tried the same, however, I am sure Kyogre would not stand by idly. However, if this girl can distract Kyogre with her powered up Altaria... "

Ludicolo, meanwhile, seemed to be having the time of its life. It was enjoying the pleasant rain falling around it as well as toying with such a powerful pokemon.

"-You're never going to catch me!-" Ludicolo taunted Kyogre before diving beneath the waves, quickly moving to resurface beside it and avoiding another Ice Beam from Kyogre.

"-Might as well give it up!-" Ludicolo called out again, diving to dodge yet another Ice Beam directed at it.

"-Silence, fool!-" Kyogre bellowed in rage. "-Stop with this infantile game already!-" Kyogre fired off another Ice Beam attack, which was once again swiftly dodged by Ludicolo. Though just barely this time, as the surface of the water froze just after Ludicolo dove down to avoid the beam.

"Come on, Ludicolo...hang in there just a little longer..." May whispered pleadingly, her attention divided between Ludicolo continually evading Kyogre's attacks and Altaria powering up with Dragon Dance. After several tense minutes in which Kyogre seemed to be coming closer and closer to actually hitting Ludicolo, Altaria finally stopped. It had reached its maximum power level.

"Altaria, you ready?" May asked her pokemon. Altaria nodded in response, prompting May to quickly recall Ludicolo much to the water pokemon's dismay. With its target gone, Kyogre turned its attention to Rayquaza, May, and Altaria.

"-I shall give you one last chance to flee, dragon...-" Kyogre addressed Rayquaza. "-Although I still do not match your speed, that will only save you for so long. You cannot hope to inflict any damage to me, and even if you do it will never amount to anything.-"

"-I shall not be going anywhere.-" Rayquaza replied, a smirk forming on its lips. "-You would be wise to return your power and flee. Your powers may dwarf mine now, but it seems human ingenuity will always be more powerful.-"

"-Hmph. I highly doubt that.-" Kyogre replied indignantly, turning its attention to Altaria now. "-I do not know what you are supposed to be, but I will end you.-"

"Altaria, attack with Take Down!" May quickly called out, fearing an attack from Kyogre. Altaria moved to attack before Kyogre could even react, tackling Kyogre with tremendous force and sending the legendary pokemon sliding backwards through the water until it hit the edge of the other side of the crater, cracking the ground.

Despite such a tremendous impact, Kyogre still looked ready for battle and cast a glare back at Altaria. Altaria, however, wasn't faring nearly as well. To Altaria, it felt like it had rammed headfirst into a brick wall and was dazed for a moment after the impact. It managed to regain its composure as Kyogre launched an Ice Beam towards it, allowing Altaria to swiftly dodge the attack.

"Take Down is too risky..." May thought, taking notice of Altaria's condition after the attack. "I'll have to try less powerful attacks...but even a fully powered Take Down doesn't seem to phase that thing! Maybe this won't work afterall?"

May was about to call out another attack when she caught sight of something glowing out of the corner of her eye. Looking up, she saw Rayquaza surrounded by the same aura her Altaria had earlier when using Dragon Dance.

"Rayquaza knows Dragon Dance?" May thought, a smirk crossing her lips. "Alright then! I just need to keep Kyogre busy with Altaria then. After that last attack Kyogre definitely can't ignore the threat Altaria poses to it."

"Altaria, don't let up! Fury Attack!" Altaria swooped down low to avoid another Ice Beam attack from Kyogre, moving in quickly with its enhanced speed and unleashing a flurry of swipes and pecks on Kyogre. Kyogre seemed to reel in pain from every strike, but when Altaria finally let up for a moment Kyogre still didn't seem any worse for wear.

"Either that thing is even more durable than it is powerful..." May thought to herself. "Or the power Kyogre absorbed from the sapphire made it nearly indestructable. All we can do is keep hitting it and getting nowhere until we can think of a way to take back the sapphire's power..."

Altaria wasn't giving Kyogre the chance to strike back, it kept up its assault with Fury Attack. It was clear, however, that the dragon pokemon was getting more and more exhausted as it continued its attack. It soon got a chance to relax for a moment as something distracted Kyogre, as well as everyone else present.

Groudon, who had been standing in front of the Cave of Origins, had suddenly been blasted out over the water by a rainbow-colored beam of energy. Once out was out near the middle of the crater, a white beam of energy fired down from above it to blast the titan into the water below where Groudon disappeared below the surface.

"What was that?!" May shouted in surprise. A white flash of light suddenly erupted next to her as Alakazam teleported in with Alex.

"Well I guess that ends that..." Alex commented, rubbing the back of his head. "Kinda disappointed actually, all that power but because it refused to damage the cave it couldn't stop Alakazam from overpowering it with...huh?"

Alex quickly found himself eating his words as a mass of land rose up out of the water, Groudon riding on top of it and looking virtually unharmed despite enduring two powerful attacks. Alakazam was fully powered up with its Calm Mind technique and had hit Groudon with both a Psybeam and a Future Sight attack, but Groudon didn't even seem damaged.

"There's no way..." Alex stammered, completely in shock.

"Well, if that doesn't hurt them, nothing will..." May added, not at all phased by the situation. "I thought that might be the case when Altaria's attacks seemed to hurt it but had no lasting effect..."

"Well thats just great..." Alex muttered, clenching a fix. "And to add insult to injury you figured it out before me..."

"They are not entirely impervious..." Rayquaza informed Alex mentally while still powering up. "A powerful attack will leave them vulnerable to have their powers removed from them. We must hit them with a powerful attack and leave them momentarily weakened, allowing the sapphire and ruby to regain their power if in the hands of someone with a strong spiritual energy. Alakazam or Altaria may suffice at the moment as well..."

Alex thought over this new information for a moment while Alakazam went back on the offensive, lifting Groudon with a Psychic attack and flinging it into the far wall of the crater away from any structures. Once again, Groudon seemed unfazed by the attack and prepared to counter with a Solar Beam. From where Alex and May were standing, Kyogre and Groudon were nearly side by side now although Groudon was further back than Kyogre.

"Alakazam, you should be able to take that Solar Beam attack." Alex stated. Alakazam nodded in agreement and teleported out in front of the group as Groudon fired the energy beam and was joined by an Ice Beam from Kyogre. The two attacks hit Alakazam and created a blinding flash of light. When the group could see again, Alakazam was on its knees. The attacks had weakened it greatly but it could still fight.

"I think I have an idea now..." Alex said, noticing Groudon and Kyogre's relative positions. "Maybe we can hit them both with one powerful attack and then drain their power..."

"But none of our attacks are working so far!" May countered. "What pokemon would be strong enough to pull that off?" Alex raised a finger, pointing to Rayquaza. The dragon pokemon was finished using its Dragon Dance technique and had reached full power.

"Oh...but will even Rayquaza be enough?" May wondered.

"Oh Rayquaza will be more than enough..." Alex replied, snickering softly. "May, you have Plusle with you right? Release it..." Alex instructed May, while taking Minun's pokeball from his belt. May retrieved Plusle's pokeball as well, and the two trainers released their respective electric pokemon. Plusle was quick to take its perch on May's shoulder when it appeared. Minun, seeing this, decided to hop up on Alex's shoulder as well.

"So now what?" May asked Alex curiously. Alex didn't respond, instead he reached into his backpack and pulled out a green crystal. May's eyes went wide, realizing it was the emerald.

"Alex! How long have you had that?!" May yelled at him, startling Plusle.

"Long enough." Alex replied calmly. He held the crystal up to Rayquaza. "Rayquaza, you should be able to use the emerald's power the same way Kyogre and Groudon used the sapphire's and ruby's..."

Rayquaza thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement. "-If you are willing to go through with such a plot, then so be it. I will use the emerald's power for myself.-" The emerald glowed briefly but then began to fade as Rayquaza absorbed the emerald's power.

Kyogre and Groudon weren't about to stand by idly while Rayquaza powered up. The two of them fired off their ranged attacks in hopes of striking Rayquaza, Groudon firing a Solar Beam while Kyogre attacked with Ice Beam. The two attacks began to converge on Rayquaza, however a timely Psybeam from Alakazam proved strong enough to stop both attacks. Alakazam's boosted power was more than a match for the two legendary pokemon, at least offensively.

The emerald finally faded completely to black as Rayquaza drained the last of its power to use for itself. Rayquaza gave a triumphant roar, as now with its boosted power from Dragon Dance as well as the power from the emerald. The sky overhead responded to Rayquaza's increased power as the area of clear sky expanded until Kyogre and Groudon's weather distortions were completely negated.

"-Would you two like to consider your decision to remain and battle?-" Rayquaza asked the other two legendary pokemon.

"-Not a chance.-" Groudon shot back. "-Even with your power there's no way you can defeat both of us.-"

"-You are as stubborn as ever. Very well then...-" Rayquaza opened its mouth, preparing to attack.

"Rayquaza, wait..." Alex stated calmly with a wide grin on his face. "We're not finished yet...heh heh heh..."

"Alex...you're scaring me..." May said quietly. "Just what are you planning?"

"We're adding Plusle and Minun's helping hand technique into the mix..." Alex replied with a frightening calm. "Dragon Dance...two Helping Hands...and the power of the emerald...Rayquaza's power will be off any chart you could imagine..."

"Clearly, you've become drunk with power. Allow me to bring you back down to Earth..." Alex turned to May curiously and received a light tap on the nose.

"Augh! MAY!" Alex cried out in pain, placing his hands over his throbbing nose, dropping the black gem to the ground.

"In any case, I'll go along with this." May stated, crossing her arms. "Only because I want to make sure its enough."

"Then what the heck did you hit me for if you're going along with it?!" Alex demanded.

"Because you looked like you were going crazy." May replied. "Plusle, Minun, you two ready?" She then asked the two eletric pokemon. They each nodded and jumped from the shoulders of their respective trainers to land on Rayquaza's back. They ran up to stand on Rayquaza's head then each used Helping Hand, placing their hands against Rayquaza's head to increase the dragon pokemon's power.

"With this much power I can decimate both of them with a Hyper Beam attack." Rayquaza informed Alex mentally. "After the attack hits you will need to be ready with those crystals. They won't be in any condition to fight back but the power must be retaken before they are at full strength again."

Alex was forced to remove his hands from his aching nose to take the ruby and sapphire from his backpack. He then handed both of them to Alakazam. The psychic pokemon nodded, knowing what it would have to do.

"-This ends now...-" Rayquaza opened its mouth again and gathered a white ball of energy in front of it. Groudon and Kyogre decided to try for one final attack, Groudon firing a beam of charged up light energy and Kyogre firing a cold blue Ice Beam attack. Before the attacks could reach it, Rayquaza fired a massive Hyper Beam attack that was nearly as large as Rayquaza was.

Rayquaza's Hyper Beam easily overtook Kyogre and Groudon's respective attacks. The Solar Beam and Ice Beam both disappeared as it swallowed up by the Hyper Beam. The beam struck Kyogre first, pushing the pokemon along until it hit Groudon. Both pokemon were pushed into the far wall of the crater and a huge explosion ensued, taking out part of the wall of the crater and leaving Sootopolis open to the sea now. The blast sent a cloud of dust into the air, concealing Groudon and Kyogre.

Seizing the moment, Alakazam teleported away before the dust had even settled. It returned a bit more than a minute later, holding the crystals in its hand. Both the ruby and the sapphire had their power restored now. The sapphire was back to its original blue color and the ruby was red again. Shortly after Alakazam had returned the dust finally settled completely, revealing that Kyogre and Groudon were still concious. They were pretty banged up though, the first sign of any damage on either of them.

"No way! They actually survived that?!" May gasped out in shock.

"Probably due to the crystals power..." Alex stated calmly, taking the two gems from Alakazam and placing them back into his backpack. "So I guess all thats left now is for Rayquaza to send them to dreamland and hope no one's stupid enough to wake them up this time..."

"-You have both been removed of your power increase.-" Rayquaza bellowed. "-This is what your arrogance has lead to. For this, you shall...-"

Before Rayquaza could even finish his speech, Groudon and Kyogre began to flee. Kyogre crawled its way back to the water, then dove down and swam away through the new opening in the crater. Groudon began digging at the ground and was soon tunneling its way out of Sootopolis. Rayquaza decided not to pursue them, as it had seemed they were finally agreeing to end their quarrel.

"-It seems they have finally come to their senses and have gone their separate ways.-" Rayquaza explained. "-My task here is complete. I will return my powers to the emerald now." Rayquaza closed its eyes and concentrated on sending its energy back to the emerald. The black crystal began to turn green again, then glowed vibrantly briefly as Rayquaza once again sealed its powers inside emerald.

"Well, thats it I guess. World saved." Alex said as he bent down to pick up the emerald. He looked it over and gave a slight 'hmph' before putting it in his backpack.

"Doesn't feel like we did a whole lot in the end..." May said quietly. "I mean...we screwed up stopping Team Aqua and Team Magma, and then we went to wake up Rayquaza but it was already awake. Going through all those traps seems kinda pointless now..."

"-This is only the beginning for you young trainers.-" Rayquaza said to them. "-You will always have a role to play in the fate of pokemon of legend.-"

"Whats Rayquaza talking about?" Alex wondered for a moment. "Wait a minute...thats right! The images in the Sky Pillar!" Alex thought back to the images he saw, the last one in particular. "Something even bigger than this is going to happen...but what? And when?"

"-For now, I bid you both farewell...-" Rayquaza glanced upwards. "-You two might want to get off my head now.-" Plusle and Minun nodded and jumped off Rayquaza's head, landing precisely on the shoulders of their respective trainers. Rayquaza then began to float upwards until it was clear the crater, then took off back towards the Sky Pillar.

"Ack! No!" May screeched suddenly, falling to her knees. "I didn't even think to scan those legendary pokemon! Just having them recorded on my pokedex would have given me something over Brendan but I didn't even think about it! So not fair..."

"Well, I guess this means everything is back to normal..." Alex sighed, shrugging his shoulders lightly. "Well in any case. Alakazam, Minun, congratulations! We just meddled in the affairs of legendary pokemon and lived to tell the tale."

"-For such powerful pokemon, I found that mildly disappointing.-" Alakazam stated, crossing her arms. "-Though I suppose it does stand to reason that where such pokemon are involved there would be some trick to defeating them rather than a straight up battle. They were quite easily taken advantage of, however...-"

"-I helped Rayquaza!-" Minun exclaimed cheerfully.

"-Yeah, good for you.-" Alakazam muttered in response.

"-Well I got close up battling Kyogre!-" Altaria interrupted the two. "-You may have been doing more damage but I didn't see you in there getting mixed up in it!-"

"-And I don't recall seeing you taking an attack.-" Alakazam shot back. Altaria frowned, her argument completely deflated.

"Splendid performances, all around!" May and Alex looked up to see Juan applauding them. The rest of the gym leaders and the Elite Four joined in, causing the two trainers and their pokemon to blush slightly.

"But we didn't really..."

"May!" Angela called out, interrupting May as she rushed out to greet her. "May! You were so cool out there! Your pokemon was beating up that monster good! I wanna be a great trainer like you someday!"

"Well when you put it that way..." May began, smiling at the little girl.

"-Finally, recognition! See, Alakazam, I...-" Altaria looked to where Alakazam was before, but the psychic pokemon was gone. As were Alex and Minun. "-Huh? Hey! Where'd you guys go!-"

"Umm, wasn't there a boy with you?" Angela asked curiously. May blinked and looked back to where Alex was, finally noticing he was gone.

"Hmph...well that figures..." May thought. "When everything's over with, he takes off on me without a word. Well, I still have his pokenav number. I'll chew him out later..."

"I'm sure he's around somewhere..." May eventually replied, smiling to hide her hostility. "Isn't it about time someone got you back to your parents though?"

"Well whats the hurry?" Juan asked May, chuckling politely. "Correct me if I'm wrong, May, but aren't you collecting badges?"

"Well yeah, but what about your gym?" May asked in response. "And someone should take Angela to her parents..."

"A gym is not required to conduct our battle." Juan stated, giving a sweeping gesture of the area around them. "Sootopolis itself will serve as our battlefield. The open waters are a perfect susbitute for the gym's pool." Juan then smiled and folded his hands behind his back. "As for Angela, I'm sure she would enjoy the opportunity to watch you battle..."

"Yeah yeah! I wanna watch May battle again!" Angela shouted enthusiastically.

"Well I guess it couldn't hurt then..." May replied, rubbing the back of her head. "The fans have clearly spoken..."

"Great..." Sidney groaned. "Someone's going to have to call this brat's parents then and-OW!" Sidney's choice of words earned him a quick jab in the side from Phoebe.

"I will call her parents." Phoebe stated, glaring at Sidney. "So you can stop your bellyaching mister."

"Eh...whatever..." Sidney grumbled in response, looking off to the side.

"It may be in our best interest to watch as well." Drake stated, a slight smile crossing the old sailor's lips. "We may be looking at a future challenger, afterall..."

"Umm...just one thing..." May interrupted them, twiddling her fingers. "Can I go to the pokecenter first?"


Author's Notes: I can't help but feel like I didn't put enough into this chapter but can't think of what I should have done honestly. Anyway, Kyogre and Groudon weren't actually 'invulnerable'. They were simply recovering faster than May and Alex's pokemon could damage them. As for Alex's disappearance at the end, thats going to be covered the chapter after May's battle.