Chapter 40: When tides swell but the earth runs dry

Mid-morning

Johto

Dex criminal's hideout

It was a rare sight to see Ruby with bed hair, but as most of his team members were doing other missions, the fashionista allowed himself to look ugly just this once. Johto boasted a fine morning with clear skies and a shining sun. He stepped in Constellate's common room wearing pajamas and scrutinized his appearance in one of the giant mirrors. Ruffling his head, he concluded that he didn't look bad, even if he neglected to comb his hair and hide his scar. Putting his face close to the looking glass, he slowly parted his thick strands and stared at the slash marks decorating his forehead. Delicately, he traced the jagged edges and sighed. Bored of gazing, he spun around and grabbed a remote lying on the velvet couch. Switching on the television, he vacated the room and made a beeline for the kitchen. Fortunately no one was in there and he quickly grabbed a bottle of cold juice and bolted back to the common room. Unscrewing the cap and taking a swig, he took a quick glance at the screen and...

Froze.

"...Dad?" He whispered; his eyes wide as he sluggishly lowered the bottle. Discreetly, he observed as Norman dished out his most powerful attacks on the opposing legendary, despite his best efforts, the normal type gym leader was being pushed back. Slaking's hyper beams and punches were shrugged off like nothing. Forgetting his surroundings, the teenager moved closer to the giant screen, his mouth agape with shock. Groudon telepathically lifted his father and hurled the older male in the raging seas. Ruby's breathing became ragged and with a crash he dropped the juice to the floor.

"DAD!" he screeched and gripped the huge screen with both hands. The orange colored fluid spilled over the vinyl sheet and his bare feet. Moments later Blue and Platina rushed in to see the normally calm trainer shaking the monitor and screaming his lungs out. Without missing a beat, the oldest female took a customary peek and inhaled sharply, she knew what was happening in Hoenn thanks to Whi-2 and her younger brother but this...the situation had escalated beyond control. Gently, she pulled the screeching Ruby away from the flat screen and hugged him; however the red eyed teenager did not want comfort. He shoved his team leader away and whirled around to see if his father surfaced. The video cut to the elite four and Wallace who were keeping Kyogre busy, the water type trainer surfed expertly on the rough ocean and dodged the sea beast's attacks gracefully.

"My dad..." his voice rose in pitch "WHERE IS MY DAD?!"

"Ruby...Please calm down!" Blue spoke, her tone vacillating as well.

"HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO BE CALM WHE..." his breath hitched "WHEN HE...HE'S GOING TO DROWN. My dad...Is gonna drown..." he added bitterly, tears sliding down his face.

"No he's not going to drown. Believe in him. I'll call Whi-2 and Silver so they can update me on the situation." The Hoenn trainer ignored her in favor of gazing at the television. Platina quietly sat down preferring not to tangle in the already sticky situation. She silently observed her seniors. Blue perched on the other end of the couch and brought her poke gear out. Worry gnawed on her mind as she dialed her youngest underling's number first. At the third ring, the girl picked up and the Kanto native let out a sigh of relief.

"Ms. Blue!" Whi-2 choked out a sob but nevertheless managed to smile, "I got saved by a member of the police by the name of Brawly..."

Eh?

"I was really scared when he told me he was taking me to the Police headquarters in Mauville" Blue was not one who was easily surprised, but she had to admit this was one of the most bizarre situations she witnessed, there was a male voice sputtering in the background as her subordinate calmly rambled on about how Archie created a synthetic blue orb and assimilated it, now the boss had Kyogre perfectly under command. "But when you called me, it gave me hope. You do really care about me! Ah, this gave me some confidence; I think I'll escape now with the jigglypuff you lent me! Thanks Ms. Blue, please don't worry about me, I'll be okay. Till then!" The screen blanked with a little beep sound and the brunette simply sat there and blinked. A tiny smile tugged her lips and her visage morphed into a tender expression. Shaking her head, she dialed a second number and waited.

And waited...

The person you are trying to reach is currently unavailable.

Her hands trembled.

This was impossible. Silver always answered his calls, especially if they came from Blue; it was an unwritten code between the two siblings. Breathing deeply, she looked upwards, pressed her eyes shut and waited patiently for five seconds before retrying.

"Please Silver...Pick up and tell me you are okay" she monologued and fixed her eyes on the T.V, currently, Hoenn was not a place one wanted to be in. The reporter on screen was the bearer of bad news, cameras showed scenes of disaster, Petalburg woods broke out in a fire caused by the intense heat of the sun's rays, she heard the baying and screaming of stampeding pokemon as they ran for safety. In the seas, numerous dead pokemon floated to the surface and large areas were dotted with the bloated, rotting corpses of water type beasts.

The person you are trying to reach is currently unavailable.

Her heart skipped a beat.

Mechanically, she put the gear away and slouched. Ruby still had his face glued to the monitor, the boy had stopped shouting. As for Platina, the heiress's face betrayed scant emotions. If the girl didn't blink or breathe, Blue could've considered her as a statue contributing to indoor decor. The team leader sat numbed as her instincts screamed at her to move, to do something. She didn't know what to do, deep down it occurred to her that something grave must've happened to Silver. For all she knew, he could be bleeding out his life somewhere and she wouldn't be there to help him. With these tormenting contemplations occupying her head, she got up from the couch and went out. Her feet carried her down slanting passages and numerous rooms. In the corridors, she briefly bumped into Yellow and Gold, the latter, wearing a perverted smirk, commended the skirt she wore. Brushing past them briskly, Blue allowed herself to get lost and only returned to the realm of reality when she stood outside a familiar door. Not bothering to knock, she entered and a blast of warm air hit her face. The bedroom was deadly silent, punctuated only by heavy breathing. Dragging herself across the carpet her eyes caught a framed picture dominating half of the wall. It was a portrait of them, the Dex-holders and Silver's unsmiling face leapt up to her. Swallowing down apprehension, she crossed the room and stared at the individual buried underneath duvet covers. Her mind was in a conflict, this was her problem, not his and since the three of them became best friends, she had a bad habit of relying on him during troubling situations. Inside this isolated space, it felt like time stood still. The curtains were not drawn and sunlight filtered in. Suppressing her morbid ponderings, she strode closer to the four poster bed and tugged on the thick comforter, with a flick of her wrist, she threw the heavy blanket off.

Red didn't wake up, he merely shifted and buried his face deeper in the pillow, his raven hair was a tangled mess and left the woman wondering when last he combed it. She stood next to his bed and once again wondered why she was doing this. Of course...

Green wouldn't help her anyway.

The spiky haired brunette would tell her to calm down and analyze the situation whereas the idiot sleeping in front of her would assure her that everything would be okay and proceed to shoulder the burden on his own. The two were different, one rational and calm, possessing a clear head and stable feelings; the other was irrational, fiery with emotions that swung from overly hopeful to despondently depressed, but they clicked together, complimenting each other perfectly. Blue felt guilty...It was like she used him when it suited her.

She used her co-workers.

"Red...Red please wake up..." Perhaps it was the shaking in her voice but the adolescent murmured a few garbled words underneath his breath and cracked open both his eyes. Blue was slightly taken aback by the sheer languor shown in those blood red irises.

"...I'd appreciate it if you didn't throw my blankets off like that...Next time I might not be wearing my black shirt." Blue didn't blush, instead she plopped down next to him as Red indolently pulled himself into a sitting position. "So what's up?" he questioned, "It's not every day you barge in here looking like someone cut your designer jacket into shreds..." he droned weakly and sighed.

"Silver" the woman couldn't speak anymore...Her voice was a whisper. "There is something wrong with him, Hoenn..." She felt him tense up, "...there is a disaster occurring in Hoenn. Groudon and Kyogre are fighting and Team Aqua and Magma's leaders are instigating the war. You know I sent him and Whi-2 to investigate right? Their mission was to find out the weak points inside the organization so your team could go in and take them down." Pausing, the brown haired female took a deep breath, "it didn't go according to plan. I already spoke to Whi-2...She is doing okay...Somewhat. But Silver...Silver..." at this point, Blue broke down crying, the thought of losing her adoptive brother was one too much to bear. He was the best in his group and due to this; the red head was frequently taken advantage of. Now she regretted ever sending him off alone. "He didn't pick up...Red...Please...Please go save him..." her words trailed off as she stifled a sob. Next to her, the man sat motionless and a few heartbeats later he reached out to the bed stand for his cap, smacking the article of clothing on his untamed hair, he hauled himself out of bed.

"Give me...A few hours first." He crouched down to her level and looked at her, "Don't cry Blue...It looks all wrong on you. Anyway, the legends say Groudon and Kyogre can only be stopped by Rayquaza is it? I heard it from...Green. You have to inform Saph about this. I'll go see him." He got up and headed towards the door.

"Wait! I'm coming with you!" Furiously wiping her tears, Constellate's commander followed suit.

The jade eyed male trained his poisonous gaze at Blue. He resisted the urge to lash out to his best friends. Red stood protectively in front of her, like he was trying to shield her from the glare he sent them. Green knew this was a crisis and immediate action should be taken but Blue...Always went to Red when she wanted things done quickly and brutally...And when he, Green, was being an obstacle.

"You want to train with Rayquaza, fly over to Hoenn and stop the war that's taking place, save Blue's adopted brother...And you want to do all of this today." The man lowered his eyes to the floor. "Tell me Red...Do you have a freaking death wish?"

"At least it'll save me from the look you are advertising..." the black haired trainer retorted and Green's eyes snapped back upwards.

"Stupidity must be contagious" he muttered lowly and turned, "Do whatever the hell you two want." With a few papers in his hand, Green stalked off to his department's room and as soon as he entered, he saw Yellow getting up from a chair. His face twitched in annoyance and he tried to avoid her; alas, the determined young woman posted herself right in front of him. Swerving around her, he dropped the documents he was carrying on the large table and sat down heavily on one of the chairs. His body posture screeched a warning to anyone idiotic enough to veer near him, however his aide was as thick headed as his moronic best friend and in a few moments she pulled up a chair and sat down next to him.

"What happened?" her soft voice flowed over him; however it did nothing to sooth his rage.

"Nothing..." he breathed and rotated, reaching out towards a laptop, he was about to boot the contraption up when Yellow spoke up again.

"Senior..."

"If you want to talk, try and convince Red not to fly to his death that...half-wit wants to tame Rayquaza" Green waited for Yellow to rush out of the room with her face scrunched up in concern. After all, the blonde did care very much for his friend. To his astonishment, she sat there and a moment later, her hands slowly went up and gently brushed his bangs to the side, she did this several times and Green found his heart beating an erratic rhythm. He was definitely dreaming...well whatever, might as well enjoy the dream while it lasts.

"Senior" she tried again, the man in front of her had zoned out, "Uhm...Green?"

"Yes. What?" he jolted.

"I know you are feeling mad, but please try and consider Senior Blue's feelings as well. I heard that Silver could not be contacted and she is very worried about him. As for Red...we both know his head is thicker than aggron's iron hide and ever since you two fought...none of you have been acting like yourselves. I hope you two make up soon okay? It's affecting the entire organization when the top leaders argue. I don't like it either..." She folded her hands in her lap and stared at the ground.

"I'd never thought I'd live to hear you out of all people scold me..." the female blushed in embarrassment and Green stood up, "thanks for the pep talk...I guess I'll go cool off a bit." Pulling the lab coat tighter around him, he left the room whilst touching his forehead.

Afternoon

Mahogany Town

Dex criminal's hideout

To her surprise Sapphire didn't throw a tantrum when Blue informed her about Hoenn's condition. Instead the female, who was sparring with Black, merely dropped to the floor like a puppet whose strings were cut. She listened with rapt attention and nodded when she heard of Ruby's predicament. When Constellate's commander finished narrating, the Hoenn trainer got up and announced that she was going to tell Emerald about the events and will later join Ruby. Drained of energy, Blue wandered aimlessly around the base and ended up in the room Red was training. She didn't want to go inside and destroy his concentration. He needed it. Lots of it. When the mythical creature was released from the holding cell, it wasted no time and came at Red with open jaws, the crimson eyed trainer saved himself by sidestepping just in time but the beast dipped and tore off the lower part of the once champion's jeans along with a good portion of his skin. Red shrugged the wound off and proceeded to haul Rayquaza to the training room where the two were now engaged in battle. Standing on the threshold, she quietly observed the emerald serpent leering at Red and coiling around in a threatening manner, any glass surfaces or fixtures in the room had shattered and the adolescent's pokemon grouped close to him.

The lord of the skies writhed, a snake poised to strike. Red gripped his cap and his eyes bored onto the monster, beads of sweat ran down his face and neck. Trying to command a legendary was extremely taxing, the creature constantly sought to finish him off for good and it was taking his everything just to keep Rayquaza at bay. The wound on his leg was also boiling agony and he briefly regretted not having Yellow bandage it up. Shifting his weight on the other leg, he stiffened when the serpentine creature suddenly lunged at him.

"Aero!" he rasped and his grey dragon fended the opponent off with a steel wing, numerous jade scales chafed off and fell to the floor, glittering akin to gems. Doing a half turn, the mythical beast struck outwards and Pika jumped off Red's shoulder and met its teeth with an iron tail, it gave an anguished squeak when Rayquaza punched holes in the hardened appendage. Dragging the tail out, Pika hit back with several volt tackles and the pseudo dragon gave the human a wide berth. It circled around the room and Red mumbled a command, at once several vines exploded out of Saur and tried to force the flying beast to the ground, Aero rushed to the constricted snake and gripped it, sharp claws tearing into reptilian skin. Rayquaza roared and poliwrath smashed a fist down its open mouth. The blow was so heavy, the legendary bled and hissed in pain, with a jerk and twist, it tore out of the vines and buckled, however aerodactyl stubbornly held on, digging its nails further in muscle, beating ancient wings in an effort to control the target.

In the hallway, Blue went rigid as she saw Green walking towards her, the individual still had vestiges of anger stamped on his face. Like her, he paused at the entrance and peered inside. The training room was constructed sturdily and because it was used for battling, it did not contain any lavish decorations, the roof was supported with a few pillars whilst parts of the walls were inlaid with steel. The ground was drab grey concrete, no carpet and certainly no tiles. Green watched his friend fling the trademark jacket off to a corner; the male limped a few paces back and wiped sweat from his face. The black shirt he was wearing was wet and plastered to his form. With bated breath, he watched the legendary head-butt one of the attacking creatures away, despite sustaining quite a few injuries; it showed no signs of letting up. The spiky haired professor reached inside his pockets and retrieved a jade colored jewel, tossing it to Blue he added:

"Give that to him, it's the core of the Jade Orb and will tame Rayquaza"

The woman scrutinized the diamond shaped gem. "You...picked this off Emerald's forehead didn't you? I hope you didn't threaten him too severely."

"I don't know why the brat wears a piece of the Jade Orb as a forehead decoration." The commander shrugged, "but I told him that I needed it and he gave it to me..." saying this, he ambled away. Clutching the piece, Blue waited for an opportune moment to present him the piece.

Red snapped his fingers.

Poli spread his feet apart on the ground and lowered, it followed Rayquaza with an analytical stare, the dragon was still struggling to shake the prehistoric beast that clung to him. Holding both of his hands outward, the toad-esque pokemon croaked once and Aero dug out it's claws and flew away in a rapid manner, at the same time the legendary serpent paused and hydro pump hit, a compressed stream of water fired into Rayquaza and sent it sprawling backwards and smacking into a wall. As it slid down and shook itself free of water, Pika executed a thunder whilst giant boulders began forming in midair around Aero, those rocks were hurled and when they impacted, they splintered into pieces leaving large bruises. Unbeknownst to the trainer a neglected pokeball at his belt wriggled and shook, the capsule broke apart and gyarados announced its presence amidst a shower of light. Without waiting for instructions, it shot out to the injured legendary and clamped its saw-toothed jaw down on the dragon's throat. Glimmering green blood seeped out and pooled to the floor, only when Rayquaza stopped thrashing did the sea serpent let up.

"Gyara, return!" Red called out loudly and encapsulated the beast using another ball. Exhaling, he beheld the inert monster and sat down on venusaur after the grass type lifted him up with its vines. The seed pokemon released a few spores and its trainer watched gratefully as the ugly wound on his leg began to heal. Outside Blue cracked a smile and gingerly entered, perhaps the core won't be needed. In a split moment, Rayquaza roared and sprung up, spying a new target it barreled towards her and she screamed, instinctively she held the Jade Orb out and the serpent stopped short of ripping her in half.

"BLUE!" Red jumped down and winced, "...are you okay?"

"Ye-Yes" she shakily answered "I'm okay, more importantly take this, it'll bend Rayquaza's will to follow yours. We can't waste time here Red." The battler's pride was wounded, nevertheless he accepted the jewel. Moments later, Rayquaza was safe inside a pokeball.

Late afternoon

Johto

Mahogany Town

"Eh! You are leaving? I wanna go with you!" Gold whined like a child and Lack-2 grimaced, the amber eyed trainer was trying to board the Rayquaza express as Saph dubbed it. "I'm your student! You can't neglect me!" The red eyed trainer regarded him with a soft expression.

"I'll give you some coins to spend at the game corner...You have to stay here Gold, It's dangerous." He placated

"Deal...NOT! That's why you need me! I have to help you kick some villain butt! And Silver is there, jeez what is that idiot doing at a time like this?"

Red blinked...Didn't he know? "Silver is-"

"Doing great, he's busy tailing the Magma boss" Blue cut in with a cheerful facade and the Johto native huffed in annoyance and grumbled under his breath, he complained about how his best friend ignored his calls. With a pout he retreated inside the base after waving his leader goodbye and Lack-2 followed him. Green watched as Red hopped on Rayquaza, after a harrowing argument between him and Ruby, the eldest male agreed to take Ruby with him and when Sapphire protested, he threw her an acrid glare and the girl quieted down and shuffled closer to Blue.

"Ideally a train or ship would be better" Red opened his mouth but Green held up his hand, "I understand you need to get there immediately...Rayquaza flies at supersonic speeds. I hope your skin doesn't peel off." He took a breath, "Blue will go via train to the Gnarled den..." he stopped right there, Crystal still had no idea in what condition her friend was in.

"Thanks for your concern" Red drawled and grinned, "If I come back without skin, you'll have a new specimen to experiment on..."

"I wasn't joking...Che...He's gone" pressing his lips into a thin line, the brunette was pushed back by a violent gust of wind as Rayquaza launched off. Unseen by anyone, his jade irises swirled with unfathomable distress.

His intelligent friend was right. The legendary dragon flew at a mind numbing speed and Red couldn't appreciate the scenery, he screwed his eyelids shut and held on the beast's head with all his might. It felt like the skin was being stretched from his face and exposed parts of his body. Behind him, Ruby gripped him around the waist and pressed his face on his back. At least the he was a good windbreaker for his junior. Red was unable to breath properly and he desperately jerked on Rayquaza's head to command it to slow down. If possible, the pokemon went faster and just as he felt his chest bursting, it stilled. Grateful, he opened his eyes and sucked in lungfuls of air. With a gentle tap, the beast rocketed forward again and both occupants who hitched a ride on it cursed loudly.

Black.

Steven blinked again.

Black.

"I'm blind" he plainly stated and Norman angled his head sharply and looked at him. The champion was bleeding heavily from his eyes. Archie had taken a dagger and slashed the upper part of Steven's face. With a growl, he ordered his pokemon to go after him; instead he was lifted in the air and hurled in the open seas.

Alone, Steven panicked and held out his hands helplessly. He heard the whoosh of water and turned his head. Fear rooted him to his spot and when Kyogre roared, he flailed his hand and accidentally struck his metagross; thankfully the metallic beast did nothing. Wallace who surfed by at that time almost fell off his pokemon when he saw Steven thrashing about. His attention diverted, the sea beast stirred up water and Wallace was thrown up in the air, Winona saved him from crashing into the dangerous ocean.

"Something is wrong with Stevie." He intoned as he hung from altaria's talons, "Winona, let me down next to him and search for Norman, he's not next to Steven...So that means he might be taking an unintentional dip in the sea."

"Roger" she dropped him on the little island and was about to fly away.

"Stay safe" the gym leader murmured tenderly and dashed off without looking back. The flying type master gave a small smile before setting off for her task.

The Hoenn champion held both of his hands up defensively as Archie observed with a sardonic sneer. Steven looked utterly pathetic and next to him, metagross did not fare any better; the psychic type noticed its master's profound distress and was at a loss for what to do. Moments later, the leader of Team Aqua noticed a teal haired man land on the island, the newcomer made a beeline for the steel haired man.

"Stevie! Wha-" Wallace stopped after seeing the man's condition. Inhaling, he glared at a smirking Archie and distastefully curled his lip. Luvdisc fired a water pulse and shooed the boss away. For the moment, the two were alone and the older male gripped his friend's shoulders tightly and asked: "What happened?"

"I've been blinded" Steven repeated in a dry voice.

"..." The water type gym leader scrutinized him, blood caked, grey irises shifted uneasily about, the bridge of Steven's nose sported a cut wound and he noticed the younger man trembling. "Stevie...You can do this...Don't worry about the rest of us, you focus on your battle, the rest of us are back-up and we are here to support you. I'm right next to you."

"Yes, I understand. I'll do my best." metagross levitated calmly next to him. "Metagross...Use meteor mash on Groudon." Maxie didn't see the move coming, the steel monster lifted its four arms to its side and blitzed at a high speed towards the cyborg. A deafening sound of metals hitting together ran out in the air and soon there were four huge dents in Groudon, the mythical master of land swiped a claw but metagross dipped down and it missed. Streaking around, it executed another meteor mash and swiftly returned to its partner. The magma leader gritted his teeth so loudly, it was audible. He sputtered a command and Groudon retaliated with fury.

"Rain dance, aqua ring and milotic use Ice beam." Wallace rattled off in one breath; his seaking conjured up rain and surrounded them with a curtain of water whilst Groudon's raging was stopped by a powerful beam of ice which froze it in its tracks. Unfortunately the ice began steaming and cracking almost immediately, milotic slithered forward and bashed it with a cream colored tail, shattering the mass completely. The red beast caught the tender pokemon by its tail and dragged its claws through it. Fearful that Wallace's milotic will meet its end, Steven commanded a psychic, to his astonishment, the move was countered.

A heavily wounded milotic slinked back; Wallace almost retched at the sight of its partially protruding entrails.

"Ha!" Guffawed Maxie when he saw their dumbfounded looks, "I created a God, don't think it's going to be so easy to take it down! Show them what you are capable of...Earth power!"

The island quaked and fissured.

"WINONA! DRAKE! We need help!" Wallace hollered through the wailing winds. Instantly the two swooped down and gathered them up right as plumes of fire exploded. Lava erupted, flowed into the sea and cooled down to form new land. Enraged by this development, Archie landed an attack and the force of it blew the police members away. Turquoise eyes swept the ground and Sootopolis' gym leader spied a soaking Norman heaving himself up on the burning islet.

"The guy has guts" he said to himself and Winona nodded. Turning to the female he saw her face was laced with shallow lacerations, reaching up he gently stroked her cheek but she pushed his hand away.

"We are in the middle of war..." her voice wavered. "Please behave appropriately."

"They sent us to die didn't they?" His tone was soft, "Look at Norman...Stevie...Look at you Winona." Altaria swerved aggressively to the side as a condensed ray of light fired past them. "Steven has been blinded...If the champion is gone..."

"We have another one amongst us...Unfortunately he is shirking his duties." the woman replied crisply and he grinned lopsidedly.

"No...I'm not fit to be a champion. The boy is doing great."

"Wallace...Get down there and do what you are supposed to do. We all know you beat Steven fairly when you challenged him, yet when you were offered the champion's mantle...You refused. You are a disgrace; you let your new duties slide and opted for an easy life."

"I wanted to be close to you." The flying gym leader allowed herself to be embraced; a second later she shrugged him off when Drake hovered closer to them.

"Any plans?" his gruff voice snapped Winona back to reality.

"Try not to die" Wallace replied drily.

On the island, Norman climbed on solid ground and swore. His clothes began steaming and the rubber soles of his boots were beginning to melt. Summoning staraptor, he flew with his bird and joined the airborne council taking place. The others were a bit surprised at his disheveled appearance and he irritably explained that he was flung into the sea. Several flying types performed acrobatics whilst the trainers hung on for dear life, once again, both beasts of land and sea targeted them. Near Phoebe, a media helicopter exploded, whizzed away and eventually crashed into the ocean. The mood was grim and dire and everyone felt exertion seep in their bones. As the impromptu meeting broke up and the members psyched themselves with a new strategy, another disaster struck.

"Origin pulse" Archie growled.

"Precipice blades" Maxie rumbled

Orbs of intense blue light soared towards them at a frightening speeds, the floating personnel scattered desperately. The flying types strained their wings in order to fly faster and save their masters from doom. Their instinct warned them of the horrors of the attacks. A destructive light, coupled with hail and wind. The weather was unnatural. To man and beasts' shock, the spheres tailed them like heat seeking missiles and briefly Wallace wondered why the chief of police didn't order the military to attack. It would've been reassuring to see a fleet of ships with cannons and fighter planes training their guns on the havoc causing duo. Winona's altaria did another steep dive and veered away from a glowing ball, only for its flapping wing to smash into another one. Instantly, its wing disintegrated and it tumbled. Its trainer screamed and Wallace held on to her with all his might, inch by inch, the entire dragon broke down into nothingness leaving two clinging individuals falling to the newly formed land. Wallace landed back first and passed out and Winona kept on calling his name and holding his hand. Up in the air with Drake, Steven's face morphed into a grimace, the battle was not going the way he expected.

Norman was worried. He saw Wallace and Winona plunge into the earth below; nearby a colossal battle was taking place between land and sea. Kyogre leapt up and targeted a heavily crumpled Groudon with a barrage of brilliant blue spheres. Circling cautiously on his staraptor, he edged forward, hoping to land an attack on either of the legendries. As he flew closer, huge monoliths of rock sliced up from underground and rocketed outwards. The normal type gym leader changed course instantly, urging his avian monster to get out of the blast radius, a fist sized piece of stone broke away from the rock blades and cannoned straight into the small of his back, striking his tail bone. Norman hissed and shifted, thankfully he only felt an intense pain, nothing was broken. Rubbing his aching back and cursing, he felt hopeless as he observed the incidents like a bystander. It was impossible to get near the legendary duo. If only they had Rayquaza...He tried to shake his mind free of thoughts, his ponderings were getting dangerously close to Ruby. Deep down in his heart, the man was relieved to know that his son was not in Hoenn, at least, wherever they boy was, he would be safe.

The clouds parted, immersed with trying to hold back the weather titans, no one noticed a serpentine creature make an entrance in the area. Rayquaza with Red and Ruby atop its scaly back flew in from the east and as soon as he did so, a change in the weather occurred. The sleet let up, black clouds lighted and gradually disappeared. Winds died down and the sun stopped scorching everything it touched. Coming to a standstill, the sky high pokemon regarded the quarreling duo with a hypnotic gaze. Kyogre and Groudon stopped fighting and trained their eyes on the dragon. All activities ceased and the two leaders of Magma and Aqua gritted their teeth in fury. On the other end, the members of the police and gym leaders were puzzled. There were two individuals riding on Rayquaza, Steven, sensing things had taken a drastic change urged Drake to get closer to the serpent. The moment flygon neared, the trainer lifted a hand and Rayquaza fired a dragon pulse forcing the strike team to keep a respectable distance.

"Who are you?" Steven queried harshly, although he already had a very good idea.

"..."

Red didn't reply, his blood red irises gave the injured team a once over and settled on the chaos below him. Swiping his bangs out of his eyes, he droned a command and Rayquaza shot downwards leaving a ring of compressed air behind. At the very edge of the aerial formation, Norman felt his arms go slack. There was no doubting the white furred hat. The Dex-criminals were here.

His son was here.

A/N: Heartfelt gratitude to srsbest and GrotesqueChimera for following and favoriting this story. Hopefully you will continue to support and read it. Okay, I know only Primordial Kyogre and Groudon can use those ultimate moves, but let's imagine them as that shall we? I hate to think a petty stone is the only reason of them going into ancient power up mode. At Lebensmude: Whoa…words can't really describe how grateful I am to see some constructive criticism. Thanks for pointing out my excessive use of passive voice; I'll strive to write my future chapters in a more interactive form. I like the formatting and POV changes as it is since (I believe) it adds to the mystery and general confusion of the story. Thanks for pointing my punctuation errors out…I admit, I do make a lot of mistakes. And I fail to see how the quote from Kierkegaard is related to the first chapter. The quote is the central theme of the first arc, not the first chapter. You may have misinterpreted it. At Jack54311: Heh, like I said, those instincts don't lie. Look forward to the next chapter which will reveal the aftermath! At AceTrainerLeaf: Your reviews remind me of my best friend (please don't mind my ramblings). Eh, you will have to wait for the third arc to see how they get the information out of team Galactic. The top three have good harmony don't they…when they're not fighting that is. At Silver: I suppose I hurried the pacing a bit, but apocalyptic disasters don't wait for anyone do they…wanted to impart the same feeling here. And chocolate chip cookies…don't make me drool. I'm hungry as I type this.

So dear readers, please keep on reading and reviewing and supporting this story. I'll continue to improve so that I may be able to give a better reading experience (hopefully). Thank you very much and virtual pizza for everyone. (I hope everyone here likes pizza)