In which Brendan's team is completed.

Even after the Claydol fell and Lairon reached her final stage, Brendan was starting to regret sending May and Wallace ahead of him. He had no idea where he was going, and Aggron was too heavy to climb up on the breakable upper levels. So, giving her the Aggronite as a reward, he called her back and made a promise to himself to use Shuppet and Grumpig more often.

The loud roar at the top of the tower told Brendan that he was going in the right direction, and he gave up on finding the right ladder. He wanted to be a part of that action.

"Grumpig, Psychic me through the hole!"

Grumpig had not been instructed to do something like that before, but he had watched Latias do it, and was kind of excited for his own moves to be used illegally. He even followed Brendan, self-levitation a bit trickier than moving his trainer but still within his range of abilities.

The floor shook, and this time it was answered with another, different roar, as if Gyarados had been called in to explain things. Grumpig didn't need orders that time, and soon he and Brendan were witnessing the action firsthand.

Wallace had sent out his Gyarados, just like Brendan had suspected. Latias, too, was a witness, and whatever they were saying in Pokémon-speak had the enormous green dragon focused. The dragon was terrifying, several times the length of a Seviper, and perhaps even longer than Groudon was tall. But, as it looked between the three humans, and then the three Pokémon, it seemed to reach a conclusion.

Rayquaza roared again, before taking to the skies. Brendan ran forward, pushing past Wallace, in an attempt to grab on to its tail, but the legendary Pokémon had already gone.

"It didn't stay?"

He wasn't sure why it was a question. Maybe it was because he had expected one of them to catch it. Maybe it was because he had expected himself to catch it. After all, legendaries did find trainers every so often, as May could testify.

Whatever it was, May had the answer. "It had to go," she stated, as Latias nodded to prove she wasn't lying. "Wallace said he was starting to get worried about Sootopolis." A loud boom of thunder made them all jump, but May picked up right where she left off. "So then Rayquaza started talking, and then eventually we decided to just have Gyarados and Latias speak for us, so we'd know the conversation wasn't one-sided."

"And it didn't let you catch it?"

May shrugged. "I guess it didn't find us worthy."

"But I could have been! Why couldn't you guys wait for me to get there?"

May pointed at the place where Wallace had already left, on his way to go back to Sootopolis and watch Rayquaza work its magic. "He had more important things on his mind than making sure were all deemed worthy."

Brendan heard the 'and so should we' that she chose not to add. Grumbling to himself about not getting a legendary, he climbed back down and led May out of the tower, where their tour guide had already disappeared. They saw something moving in the water that could have been Wallace and Gyarados, and something in the sky that was definitely Rayquaza.

Latias followed the sky dragon all the way back to Sootopolis.

Rayquaza took notice.

Wallace arrived before Rayquaza did, to the terrified greetings of his other Pokémon as they swarmed around him and Gyarados. Milotic in particular seemed panicked, and one look proved why.

Archie, Maxie, Shelly and Tabitha were standing in front of the Gym, trying to explain things to Steven.

"This isn't about me," Steven insisted, in response to something Tabitha had said. "This is about the entire planet. Brendan and May are cleaning up your messes, again, and you're lucky Wallace learned how to open the seal on the Sky Pillar. Thanks to them, we're going to be fine." He looked past them, focusing on Wallace. "You did find Rayquaza, right?"

"We found it," Wallace promised. Steven knew him well enough to tell that he was still stressed despite the calm exterior, and knew better than to press it.

Instead, he made a different observation. "You left them alone?"

Wallace carefully avoided eye contact by looking to the sky. "Rayquaza should have been here by now."

"Unbelievable," Steven said under his breath. "You really did leave them behind."

"You haven't been keeping a close eye on them, either."

There was a shout from the sky, and down went Latias, two kids on her back. Following this was Rayquaza, who was more furious than they had imagined.

"Just once!" it snapped. "Just once, I'd like a chance to come out of hiding and not be stalked by humans!"

"They didn't stalk you," Latias tried to protest. "We were heading back to Sootopolis anyway, remember?"

"Did you have to get so close?"

"My eyes aren't waterproof!" Latias snapped. "Gosh, it's almost like I have no control over a natural disaster! Who would have guessed?"

Rayquaza made a sound that might have been a snort, but turned its attention to the fighting Pokémon. "Back to your holes," it ordered, getting their attention like a drill sergeant commands his troops. "The idiot humans made a mistake. You don't need to punish the rest of the world for it."

"But they wanted us to do it!" Groudon dared to whine.

"What they want is of no concern to us," Rayquaza explained. "Now, go. Before I do something that all of us will regret."

"But -"

Kyogre's objection was drowned out by a loud roar. Sulking, both Pokémon disappeared, taking the weather disasters with them.

Brendan watched in mild surprise. Then he started laughing.

"Dude," he managed to choke out. "Rayquaza's a mom."

With the legendary fight done, and the weather disasters following, there wasn't much left to say. Brendan, of course, said what did need to be said.

"You didn't give Professor Birch his Wailord back, did you?"

Maxie looked mildly horrified. "No," he admitted. "We were halfway to Mossdeep when it all started getting worse, so I took it in a new direction."

Brendan was grinning, which took the 'mildly' off of Maxie's horrified expression. "That was disobeying a direct order," he told him, and Archie struggled not to laugh. "Do you know what that means?"

"That we have to return the Wailord from Sootopolis?"

"Nope." Brendan's smile reached Cheshire Cat proportions, and he turned to May. "Stop me if you were thinking this, too. I was imagining a punishment using a diaper, a car battery, and six pounds of tapioca..."

"Absolutely not," May interrupted.

"But Maxie wasn't going to be wearing the diaper!"

"I know," May reassured him, "and that was the scary part."

Maxie didn't want to know, and he gestured to Archie next. "And I don't see him and his..." he looked Shelly up and down, trying to phrase it in a way that he wouldn't have to explain to a pair of preteens, "treasure getting fed to their own Pokémon."

"Of course you don't," May promised, paying special notice to the awkward glances between the Team Aqua leaders. "I don't let Brendan do anything that would result in death. I'm associated with this guy, I don't want his criminal record getting longer than it already is."

"One bottle of soda," Brendan hissed.

"Which led to resisting arrest, to disturbing the peace, to assault against an officer," May finished.

"Not all of that was me!"

Now Maxie really didn't want to know, and was spared from Archie asking by May changing the topic. "I want the evil teams to swear they've reformed," she ordered. "And then I want their leaders to promise to keep them on the right track."

Archie, Maxie and their 'first mates' all made the promise, finally understanding that causing droughts or endless rain was not a good idea.

"Now," Brendan continued, "learn to get along. I don't want to get in the middle of your conflicts again."

That one was a little more difficult. Shelly and Tabitha didn't have anything personal against each other, merely different ideas and conflicting loyalties. Archie and Maxie, on the other hand...

"So we're friends now?"

They didn't throw punches. That was a step in the right direction. Still, Maxie replied to Archie's dumb statement with as much careful restraint as would be needed to keep their tiny tyrants happy.

"I'd start with 'no longer enemies.'"

"Good enough," Archie agreed, and let his Sharpedo out. "Now get that Wailord back to the professor before the kids have your heads. Shelly and I need to have a long talk about...the future. Of Team Aqua," he added, catching the 'inspiration' look on May's face and immediately understanding just what it meant. "Don't go pairing us off now, lass. I'm her boss, it wouldn't work out."

May just smiled back. "Archie," she said innocently, faking it just as well as Brendan would, "I never said anything about pairing you off. You came to that conclusion. Besides, I'm pretty sure your whole team ships you guys, so you should probably address it in your long talk, anyway."

Shelly's eyes flicked between May and Archie, and she eventually let out an obviously over-exaggerated sigh. "Annoying brat," she said, but it was almost fondly now. "I might actually miss your insane ramblings."

She let out her own Sharpedo, and she and Archie rode off together.

When asked about the Wailord, Maxie and Tabitha refused, giving it back to May. "I would prefer if we were given a ride with your Latias," Maxie told her, "but I would understand if you decided against it."

"Don't worry, I've got a better idea." May picked up her Pokenav and called her father.

Professor Birch answered this time, though from the noise that could only be described as hail, Castform had accompanied him on a field research trip. "Yes? Hello?"

"Hi, Dad!" May held up a finger to keep Brendan from shouting a greeting of his own. "We need to borrow another Pokémon or two. Ones with Fly."

"Can't you use Latias?" The hail stopped, and May imagined Castform floating beside the professor's head as she tried to listen to both sides of the conversation.

"Brendan and I can use Latias," May answered cryptically. "This one is for a few...let's just say 'no longer enemies' and leave it at that."

Once Maxie and Tabitha had gotten rides on a borrowed Tropius (they hadn't been fond of the skies, either, apparently) and both kids had reassured the professor that they were fine after being in the center of the disaster, that left them alone in front of the Sootopolis Gym with Steven and Wallace.

"Rayquaza has gone back to the Sky Pillar," Wallace told them, looking up at the sky one more time, as if looking for its return. "I suppose it's going to wait there until the next disaster."

"It didn't even let me catch it?" Brendan complained. "May got a legendary! Why not me?"

"Because even legendaries don't trust you with their kind," May answered at once.

Brendan gave her a not-so-gentle push, but not enough to knock her into the water.

Steven picked out a ball, and handed it over to him. "I hope this will make up for your lack of legendaries," he said, though he seemed more entertained than apologetic. "It's a Beldum that I bred a while back. I've been raising it for you, so it might evolve into a Metang by the time you get through Victory Road."

Brendan already had a Steel-type, and a Mega Steel-type at that. Still, he didn't want to turn it down entirely yet. "Don't you want the Metang?"

"Actually, I bred it as payment for playing mail carrier for my father. It was always intended to be yours, I just took care of it until it was ready for you. It even has an Exp. Share to keep it from going directly into battle." He saw their awed faces and continued. "Dad apparently thought that it was enough to repay you with the Beldum, but then one of his employees mentioned how you saved him in Petalburg Woods as well as when you stopped Team Aqua from taking the Goods."

"Huh," Brendan commented, taking his Beldum without further complaint. "I guess that guy was kind of useful, after all."

"And I guess Flannery was right," May added, "in an unimportant way." When all three of the guys gave her confused looks, she pointed at Wallace. "She said that he could help us stop Team Magma. He unlocked the Sky Pillar for us. So I guess he did help."

"He could have stopped them on his own." Steven commented, but was cut off by Wallace.

"And you could have stopped Team Aqua. But the fact was that neither of us could find where they were hiding, while Brendan and May could. The assistance we managed to give them is all we could give." His point made, he returned to the kids. "That said, I don't think you should mention this to Lisia. This Team Breakneck thing is a game to her, and I wouldn't want her to risk her life in an attempt to continue the legacy."

"Don't worry," Brendan promised, faking innocence with all the practiced perfection he needed to fool most adults. May chose not to comment. "Lisia is going to be stuck with costume design and publicity work from now on."

Wallace didn't seem convinced, but, like May, he chose not to comment. "I'm going to go and re-seal the Sky Pillar. The last thing we need is for someone like Team Magma or Team Aqua getting their hands on Rayquaza."

"And I'm going back to Mossdeep," Steven announced. "Do you want a ride, Wallace?"

"I'll take Gyarados." Once Steven was gone, Wallace stayed to finish. "The Gym closed for the weather, as the Gym Leader was taking part in the evacuation. It will be open tomorrow."

"So where is the Gym Leader? Why haven't we seen him?"

"He started the evacuation." Wallace released Gyarados again, but gave them all a farewell gesture. "I look forward to battling you one day. Thank you for your help."

And that was how Brendan and May were left alone in front of the Sootopolis City Gym.

Pokémon teams:

Brendan: Adam, Breloom, Aggron (evolved this chapter) Grumpig, Shuppet, Beldum

May: Jerry, Masquerain, Pikachu, Torkoal, Latias, Dusky