"This is terrible. The Red and Blue Orbs must never be separated!" the old woman said.

"Yeah, well, I think we've got even bigger problems with those orbs now," Morgan muttered.

Sera sat on the mountain, watching her Nav playback- or listening now, as the case may be. She'd fallen on it when she was knocked out, leaving her with only audio after that point, so she didn't see exactly how everyone got away. But from what she gathered, Sapphron had abandoned his pursuit of Maxie to rush to Sera's aid when she was injured, and Archie had left at some point with a "Sorry, scampo~", and then…?

"Maxie said Archie was headed to Slateport, didn't he? I guess that's our best lead." That was Morgan's voice, and then a bunch of confused and chaotic noises, and then quiet. The old couple, when questioned, swore Morgan had literally disappeared. Not even all at once, like a Teleport, but from head to toe? Sera couldn't make any sense of it.

What she did know, though, was that she needed to get her Pokemon healed up, and then get to Mt. Chimney as quickly as she could. So, after a moment to officially capture her new Meditite comrade, she hopped on Sapphron's back, and off they went.


One minute, Morgan was on Mt. Pyre. The next, she was in Slateport.

At some point during that minute, she swore she saw the briefest flash of gold before her scenery changed, except she could still feel her feet on the mountain. By the time she processed this and got her body to cooperate to look down, however, all she caught was a glimpse of something dark collapsing and disappearing beneath her feet. … Well, that was weird.

Upon confirming she'd lost no time, however, she decided there was no sense looking a gift horse in the mouth. This way, she'd be able to intercept Archie. Maybe even set up a blockade for him?

… Or she could have, if anyone believed her right away. In her urgency to stop, you know, the literal apocalypse, she had momentarily forgotten just how pissed off the League was going to be with her. Upon trying to call the authorities and being reminded, there was a part of her that seriously considered just leaving Hoenn to its fate, but… unfortunately… If what Shelley had said about the Primal beasts was true, the destruction wouldn't be limited to Hoenn, would it… Fine…

Once Sera finally got in touch and was able to corroborate her story about Mt. Pyre, though, they did start making preparations for the Aqua Leader's arrival, even if they couldn't be certain where he'd show.

In the meantime, League officials were left trying to decide exactly what to do about Morgan. Surely, she couldn't just be let off the hook? But then, she'd proven effective against the teams in the past, so were they willing to deny themselves a potentially valuable resource simply to make a point? But then, what message would it send if they didn't? Officially speaking, her status for the next few hours was considered "Under Review". During that time, she was not to leave the Pokemon Center-

At least until Archie's voice came over a loudspeaker, echoing through a huge portion of the town. "Testing, 1 2 3… I hope you're out there listening, Stern." He paused, then with a sudden gravity said, "You picked the wrong side... But don't worry. Thanks to us, you can finally make up for it. I hope you appreciate this great honor!"

What was that supposed to mean!? Morgan rushed toward the door, only to be blocked by two League officials who had been sent to keep an eye on her. One was blabbering something about needing to escort her, but Morgan just huffed a sigh. She didn't have time for this, and with a wave of her arm, a burst of psychic force pushed both men aside.

Archie calling for Stern meant he was likely to be at either the Museum or the Shipyard, and the amount of ruckus coming from the latter made it very clear which as Morgan got closer.

She half expected to see a massive army of Aqua Grunts fighting, though she couldn't imagine how they would have snuck so many into town. Instead, she found no Grunts at all… only Boreas mowing down trainer after trainer. The average enforcer was no match for the legend, let alone the shipyard employees and security. Wattson had been called earlier during the planning of this failure of a blockade, and was supposed to be on his way from Mauville, but who knew if he'd make it in time.

Sighing, Morgan psychically pulled a trainer out of Boreas's line of fire to fling back behind her, then flinched from the effort. That took… considerably more effort than just shoving the guys aside, it seemed, and even that was still sort of a strain on her current ability level. She'd have to be more careful…

But for now, she'd cleared a path, and released Cerebus. "Mega Drain," she ordered, immediately getting the Suicune's attention. Even moreso when his Ice attacks barely phased the Sceptile. Spying the look of shock even in the legend's features, Morgan smirked. "Pyre wasn't a fluke," she told him. "We've gotten stronger."

Strong enough, in fact, that she trusted Cerebus to take care of Boreas all by himself while she made her way past the fray and into the shipyard, just in time to see two figures in blue boarding a submarine. "NOT SO FAST," Morgan shouted. She tried to use her psychic power to shut the hatch, but Archie caught it.

Turning to her, he raised his brows. "Well I'll be damned. Did you just get here or'd you actually beat us here from Pyre?" Morgan just clenched her jaw as she reached for Mithril's ball. Her eyes moved from Archie to the downtrodden face of Shelly, who seemed to be specifically avoiding looking Morgan's way. Damn right she should be ashamed. "That's a neat trick you picked up, too," Archie continued, pushing the hatch back to a full open position, climbing halfway down and reaching a hand back for Shelly, even as his eyes stayed on Morgan. "But I'm afraid you're too late to stop us now. We're gonna set things right."

The silver Metagross appeared, and Morgan barked, "You're going to kill us all is what you're gonna do! She knows that! And on that note, what the hell are you doing going along with this!?" Mithril levitated off the ground, then began hovering toward the submarine to examine it.

Shelly bit her lip, but did not respond.

"You say that like there wasn't already a massacre," Archie said, usual mirth suddenly drained from his presence.

"... What?" Not so much disbelief as confusion. The only thing she could vaguely imagine was the Pokemon casualties Shelly had mentioned from Sea Mauville, but surely some collateral damage wasn't inspiring all this?

Mithril rammed the sub, leaving a noticeable dent and causing Shelly to fall as she followed Archie, though she just landed in his arms, because of course she did. Morgan rolled her eyes and groaned.

"Shelly," Archie said, tone clearly an order. His eyes were set on Mithril, who was beginning to charge a stronger attack.

Her eyes faintly glowing, she mumbled, "Please… He's so weak."

"We need him," Archie insisted.

With a staggering breath, Shelly's eyes flashed bright, and a Hydro Pump burst through the wall of the building with such force that both it and the debris it now carried fired straight into Mithril, throwing off xir attack and sparing the sub. Cerebus soon followed, but Boreas was able to distract Mithril long enough for the Aqua duo to retreat into the sub and begin its descent.

...Were- they abandoning Boreas?

As Morgan watched the sub disappear underwater, it appeared so. She'd nothing with her to go after them, but together, her Pokemon were able to pretty quickly subdue the Suicune.

When Wattson finally arrived, he appeared downright shocked. To Morgan's pleasant surprise, he even congratulated her on dealing this blow, and assured her they still had time to track down the sub, that she couldn't possibly have been expected to stop them when so many others failed. She'd expected berating, either for failure or for rebelling against orders again, but she supposed Wattson always had struck her as one of the cheerier League members she'd met. She certainly couldn't complain.


"You can't do that!" Morgan protested- nay, demanded.

"I'm afraid they can, dear." Genevieve on the visi-phone was being no help at all.

"I won't let you."

"You don't really have a choice." This was some League suit whose name must have been said at least ten times already, but Morgan couldn't have cared less. All she cared about was what they were trying to do.

"Competitors who leave the Games don't just get to come back willy nilly. Circumstances being what they are, you're already screwing a lot of rules just being here. Please don't test the razor thin ice you've managed to stand on and just cooperate," Genevieve begged her.

"How can you ask me to cooperate when they want to take Cerebus?!" Genevieve fidgeted a bit, then seemed like she was trying to hide it. Morgan leered skeptically. "...What is it?"

"Ah… Nothing, dear." When Morgan clearly didn't buy it, she admitted, "...Just ...did you say Cerebus?"

Morgan borderline startled. "... I guess I did. I'm not… sure when I started calling him that-" Maybe after her head injury? She shook her head violently. "But that's not the point! Cerberus or Cerebus, I can call him whatever I want because he's my. Partner. I'm not just gonna-"

"He's too strong," the suit barked. "Compared to the strongest Sceptile ever on record- the peak of what we know the species is capable of- he's at nearly 90%! Ninety! Do you have any idea what- How did you even train him so high in such a short time!?"

Morgan's mind immediately flashed to her secret weapon, her Experience Share, and then to Mithril, who had been with her as much as Cerebus. Would they try to take xir, too…? Fear not, Mithril's calming voice assured her. Technology and I get along well… Ahh, good. If xe could scramble their readings, they wouldn't realize how strong xe was, right…? Xe'd be safe, with Morgan…

"That aside," Genevieve interrupted. "It's true that normally, taking away an overpowered Pokemon would be one of the more lenient punishments a rebellious trainer could expect, but in this case, it serving as punishment is more of a happy coincidence for the League, if an unfortunate one for you. You know good and well why we can't accept any alternative, don't you?"

Morgan clenched her teeth, then slowly sighed between them. She did. When they'd tried to capture Boreas, his energy rejected the ball. And since he was apparently uncapturable, he'd need to be physically restrained. But if they did that, he'd soon recover, and no doubt escape to seek out Aqua once again. Which meant they needed a guard who could keep him subdued… and there was only one Pokemon who had easily stood up to Boreas thus far and also had self-healing capabilities.

Cerebus was the obvious candidate, but Morgan didn't have to like it. "Suicune's been Aqua's trump card up until now, but he's not their only Pokemon, you know. What am I supposed to do next time I face them? And what if they do manage to awaken that sea beast?" After the League's shameful failure today, they seemed to have stopped insisting Morgan leave things to them when she was clearly more qualified for this fight, even if they couldn't understand how. They could save face by insisting they didn't have adequate time to prepare, and even Morgan believed it to a point, but today not being their best did not nearly prove their best would be good enough. Perhaps if they could manage to assemble all the Gym Leaders and Elite, but getting them all in one place seemed a danger all its own, as it would leave the entire rest of the region vulnerable.

"... I'll… make arrangements," Genevieve promised. "I'll find you a replacement, just until something else can be sorted out for Suicune's containment. It won't be as strong, but hopefully strong enough to be of help. Another grass-type, even. …. Would.. that be acceptable?"

Morgan dragged out another sigh. "Just promise I'll get him back."

"...I'll do what I can." That wasn't reassuring.


Deep below the ocean's surface, Archie held Shelly close. "Don't worry," he told her softly. "He'll be fine. What could mortals really do to him?" Shelly didn't have the heart to answer 'torture', or anything else that jumped to mind. "And we still owe you, y'old sea dog," he said to someone on a video call. "If we somehow all make it through this, we'll have to treat ya somehow in our new world, eh?"

Shelly knew too well that grin meant he wasn't very confident they would, yet as unsettling as that was, it was also… part of why she was still here… wasn't it?

"I've told you since Sea Mauville…" the man on the other end said, sounding weary. "I'm on the side of nature. I just… really hope you know what you're doing, Archie."

Me too, thought Shelly. She supposed she should thank their ally as well, tipping them off about how best to sneak past the blockade, then showing up 'too late' to stop them. But she could only find the strength to nod toward him.

"Here's hoping, eh?" Archie half-joked. "Guess we should be going, but thanks for checking in, and for everything else. Later, Wattson."

The Mauville Gym Leader nodded. "Good luck, Archie."