[Chapter 3]
Hardly a word has been spoken since the tablet's arrival in Sootopolis. Phoebe and Wallace stand in silence on the roof of the Sootopolis Gym, water lapping at their ankles as the city continues to flood. Their tasks complete, neither knows what else to do besides watch and hope, eyes glued to where Steven is clutching the artifact so tightly they fear it might break in half.
Wallace fidgets with the ends of his cape, unused to the feeling of helplessness that washes over him with each rising inch of the tide. He swallows the shame in fearing that even if Steven's plan succeeds, there won't be much left of his city to save.
Beside him, Phoebe is tense, and she concentrates on keeping her breathing steady. When she handed the tablet over to Steven, she saw the way his hands shook. At first she thought it must have been from the chill of the storm, but now that she's seen the grim look in his eyes she isn't so sure…
That same look is now focused intently on the tablet in his hands. Steven's shoulders rise and fall with a deep breath before he sets his jaw and turns, walking away from them, closer to the edge of the rooftop. The sound of his splashing footsteps halt as overhead, Kyogre and Metagross's roars mingle with peals of thunder.
Steven's hand twitches towards his belt for a second before he stops himself. That particular pokeball is no longer in its usual place, left in the care of his friend with an unspoken guarantee that it will remain empty. It takes significant effort to think beyond the racing of his heart. He knows Metagross can feel it too. His gaze rolls skyward.
He's ready to start the beginning of the end.
And so he relays his farewell to the pokemon he's known for his whole life —his first pokemon, his first true friend— and he feels it in his heart as Metagross cries out with the desperation of its love. Kyogre screeches in pain as the bite of Metagross's resolve bolsters the steel type's attack, and in turn, his partner's renewed determination steadies Steven's nerve. How many nights had he spent lying awake, preparing for this moment? It would be unbecoming to stall any longer.
He takes another breath and closes his eyes, and as his fingers dance over the timeworn carvings, he begins to recite the incantation in a strange tongue known by only the oldest of the Sinnohan scholars. From the edges of the tablet, a surge of energy prickles at his fingertips; cold, powerful, terrifying. But he buries his fear and ignores it. To falter now would mean failure, and he would not fail.
After the first few lines, he pauses and palms a pokeball from his belt. Relicanth appears in the choppy waves next to the Gym, and the freshly caught pokemon regards him with wary eyes. But he cannot spare the time to reassure it, and he continues, bringing another pokeball to bear. Cradily materializes next to Relicanth, and Steven gives her a weary smile.
"Make sure Relicanth doesn't leave your side, okay?"
She chirrups in the affirmative and Steven's smile is genuine this time. Her loyalty is as boundless as her enthusiasm, and the guilt of not telling her of his plan's true intentions is especially hard to swallow.
But there's no time to waste on regrets, and as the incantation continues, Armaldo, Claydol, and Aggron all appear in short order and blissful ignorance, and are instructed to hold their position in line across the roof of the Gym. Then, Wallace's Wailord materializes in the water on the far side of the Gym, completing the row of all six pokemon.
Phoebe and Wallace both continue to watch in puzzlement at the strange parade happening before them. But their puzzlement turns to dread as moments after Wailord falls into line, Steven staggers forward with a gasp and lands hard on his knees.
Wallace tries to rush to his side, but Phoebe's hand clamps down on his arm with surprising strength. Her eyes are wide and terrified, but she shakes her head no. Something is stirring, awakening... They must not interfere.
The Sootopolis Gym Leader makes a tortured noise at the back of his throat, but stops trying to break from her grasp. Instead, they watch as a ring of light forms around where Steven is kneeling, strange glyphs forming in the pale light. Phoebe tries to convince herself that the ghastly color of Steven's face is just a trick of the light, but she can't ignore the way the spirits are trembling, shivering, cowering.
She realizes she's digging her nails into Wallace's skin, but he doesn't seem to notice. He's gone stock still, too fixated on where their friend manages another line of the scripture between heavy breaths. After the next line, Steven pauses, his breathing steadying for a moment before he hugs the tablet to his chest and doubles over with a strangled cry.
Wallace jerks against Phoebe's hand again, but freezes when he catches sight of her expression. She's staring into empty space, unblinking. What he doesn't know, though, is that the space above Steven's hunched form isn't empty.
Three shadows have grown from the circle of glyphs that only she can see. The power of their presence makes her body shake, and Wallace is almost lost in his panic.
He doesn't know that there is a terrible price to be paid for unlocking such guarded secrets. He doesn't know that in her silence, Phoebe's heart breaks for the man standing next to her, and tears roll down her cheeks for the man kneeling a few yards away.
Steven's body shakes as he takes another shuddering breath. He's never felt a pain such as this. A sudden weight is pressing down against his shoulder blades, forcing him to hunch closer to the earth, and each lungful of air is a battle. The icy hand of dread that had seeped from the tablet the moment he spoke the first words of the scripture snakes its way around his heart. He can feel it pulse with growing strength as its fingers close tighter. It hurts, it hurts so badly, and he cries out as another presence, sharp as steel, jabs through his gut.
Through the sound of his own pulse ringing in his ears, he hears Aggron roar with protective righteousness. The Gym roof shakes as his partner charges forward, ready to tear whatever is harming his trainer into little tiny shreds. But Steven can't let that happen. He is barely able to pry his hand away from the tablet. It flies up, palm out, and Aggron freezes mid-charge.
"No! Stay there!"
The shout is all he can muster, but it's enough. Aggron is terrified and confused, but it obeys with a keening whine. Squinting through the pain, Steven can see it retreat next to where Armaldo is shaking and fidgeting with nervous uncertainty. Cradily tucks a tendril around Relicanth, keeping it near, and she shares a worried look with Claydol. It knows, just like Metagross knows, but it remains silent; it can't bring itself to upset her. Their line remains unbroken, so Steven continues while he still can.
The last verse he knows by heart. He's rehearsed it so many times in his head, trying to envision how it would be, how it would feel...
He never imagined it would feel like this.
With every word, the icy hand tightens, and the knife in his gut digs deeper, and weight on his back grows heavier, and by the last line he can bear it no more. He gasps, eyes squeezed tight. Any trace of the ancient language gone as he all but shouts the last line.
"—Those with courage, those with hope in your hearts, open the door where the eternal titans sleep!"
The words rip from his throat and Wallace loses it, tearing from Phoebe's grip. She doesn't try to stop him this time, she's openly sobbing now. The spirits have told her. The air is thick with the omen of death.
But Wallace never makes it to Steven's side. A swirling gust of wind bursts from the ground where Steven kneels with such ferocity that it blows Wallace backward. He recoils in horror as Steven's head rolls back, his eyes wide and staring, jaw slack, trapped in the center of the vortex. The tablet clutched tight to his chest begins to glow and the sky rumbles with something other than Kyogre's wrath. The white light surrounding the tablet grows, tracing lines down Steven's form and merging with the pulsing glyphs at his feet, completely engulfing the Champion in its aura. And for a second, time seems to stop.
Everything feels lighter, whiter, and Steven can finally open his eyes. But Sootopolis is gone. Instead, he finds himself in a chamber of rock and steel and ice. Empty, cavernous, save for the three titans standing before him. Larger than life, they loom over him, and he finds it hard to breathe from where he's kneeling on the rough chamber floor.
"Why have you summoned us?"
Their voices are booming, the pressure so strong he can't move.
"Hoenn—" he falters as the heavy weight on his shoulders presses down. "Hoenn needs your help."
An otherworldly sound erupts through the chamber —the rattling of stones, the chatter of ice, the screeching of steel— and he realizes the trio is laughing. They're laughing.
"Why would Hoenn need our help? She should know better after her people had forsaken us."
"We're… we're not the same people," Steven musters, a dull throb pulses in his stomach, and a chill wraps itself around his chest.
"You're not?" The rock titan leans down, easily towering over where Steven is hunched in the dirt. "Tell me, do you not fear us?"
"I—" The sharp sensation of steel stabs Steven through the midsection, and he gasps, but does not avert his gaze from the titan's leering face. "I do not fear you."
Regirock stands back up and hums in thought, but before it can speak, Steven continues, short of breath as the pain continues to grow, the icy sensation spreads its fingers through his ribs.
"Please, Hoenn needs you. Kyogre… Kyogre will bury her in the depths of the sea without your help."
All three titans pause in their rumbling. Registeel turns to its companions.
"Perhaps Hoenn finally understands our worth."
But Regice grates another laugh. "I am doubtful. Tell me, human, do you know what you must give to obtain our power?"
Steven clutches the tablet closer to his chest, nails digging into the coarse, ancient stone. "I do, and I am prepared to give it in exchange for Hoenn's protection."
The mirth in Regice's voice disappears as it turns the glyphs of its face toward Steven.
"Good."
And the hand of ice around his heart squeezes.
The air around Steven explodes outward in a shockwave as he screams. The force is so powerful, the rain evaporates before it even gets to the ground. The white aura of the tablet swirls into a great column around him. There it hangs, pulsing in and out like a heartbeat —once, twice, three times— before the light rockets skyward where it splits into three separate directions and shoots off beyond the city's walls.
Then all at once, Sootopolis falls into silence, save for the renewed hammering of the rain across the flooded crater basin.
Steven lies face down in the water, unmoving.