Chapter 21: Legendary Duel
Groudon walked into the sea, which parted at its approach, it then walked along the bottom of the ocean, its drought ability repelling the water of the sea around it. The air was still intensely hot, but thanks to Kyogre's storm it was wet and cool at the same time. One without the other though, they'd be getting too wet or two hot.
Ash was still unconscious with the blue orb merged into his hand. May watched him with sadness and concern and Gyarados's back. They all followed Groudon who took slow but massive steps.
Shelly struggled in Tentracuel's grasp. "You know Kyogre is gonna win right? Archie has the red orb, and his love for the sea will be a grand connection with Kyogre! Your boyfriend doesn't have a love for the land like Maxie does!"
"Shut up!" May snapped, in no mood to deal with her present day nemesis. "You only seek to use Pokemon for your own desires!"
…
Below them around a mile behind, Team Magma's submarine made its way toward the rendezvous point.
"Maxie!" Tabitha's voice said. "Our sensor are detecting an increase in heat! Groudon must have awoken!"
"Someone must have acquired the blue orb," Maxie said. "Team Aqua wouldn't use it though! It must still be in the possession of Ash Ketchum. If he intends to use it to fight Kyogre that could work to our advantage. I doubt it will be enough, but hopefully he can stall time for us."
They continued through the sea, knowing that Archie was on his way as well. It was time for things to be decided at last, over who would rule the fate of the world and expand their vision of the land and sea.
…
He was on his way, grinning as he held the red orb, Kyogre directly in front of his submarine, growling menacingly.
But what neither Archie, nor Maxie, or even the heroes knew, was that someone else had just become a player in this game. In the ozone, miles above them all, a green dragonlike pokemon sensed the change in the atmosphere. He knew what it meant. Rayquaza let out a furious roar as he soared through his sky, the sky that had changed so drastically in an instant. This was his territory, and he would not have it ruled by other Pokemon. He'd once intervened before in the battle with Groudon and Kyogre to make sure they did not take things too far. They'd dueled and he'd been the witness to the outcome. He'd also strived to keep the balance between the land and sea, just as his sky gave rain to the earth. He understood that both were necessary, life on this world would not exist otherwise. Now, once again he would enforce that rule, for humans and Pokemon.
He flew off to do so.
…
Soon, the two legendries' reached each other. Red Groudon and blue Kyogre. The sun and rain danced around them.
"Defeat it! Kyogre!" Archie urged from his submarine before turning to his men. "Prepare to surface. I'm going to watch from the sky!"
They headed to the surface, arriving in time to see Kyogre launch a massive hyper beam at Groudon who countered with a solar beam. The two attacks met with equal force, canceling each other out. Kyogre had the type advantage since Groudon was a ground type, but its ability made water type moves weaker, so the two were equally matched.
Their instruments detected Team Magma's submarine as well.
…
May looked at the scene with fear as the rain and intense sunlight continually hit her skin. It was incredible, and terrifying. She was reminded of Dialga as she saw it, he'd been so unstoppable, they'd barely managed to defeat him all those times, and eventually he'd cornered them. It was a battle of two legendary pokemon, a battle of legends. At least this time she was not the primary target.
Suddenly Ash opened his eyes. She saw him get up on Gyrados's back then dive into the ocean headfirst.
"Sir Ash!" she exclaimed.
"Ash! No!" Lance exclaimed.
"He's still under the control of the blue orb!" Looker said.
May was about to dive in after her love but Glaceon pulled her back.
"Glaceon let me go!" May protested.
"You have to stay here, May!" Steven said.
"But Ash-"
"He'll be fine!" Looker reassured her. "Ash is a tough man. He's already moving."
Sure enough, she saw Ash holding onto Corphish speeding ahead. Pikachu looked with worry along with May. But he couldn't catch up now. Soon Ash leapt onto Groudon's back and climbed to the massive Pokemon's head. The storm and heat grew more intense, then a blue submarine emerged up ahead. Shelly grinned as she saw a small hovercraft emerge from it.
"Archie's victory will soon be at hand!"
As if on que, Kyogre bit into Groudon's arm. The red giant roared and swatted the blue one with its claws. The waves grew more intense, the sunlight faded somewhat.
"Yes! Soon I will conquer the world!" Archie yelled from above his voice echoing.
Then behind May and the others, Team Magma's submarine emerged, Maxie emerged onto the top of it and shouted out.
"Archie! Stop this at once! Your waves are getting too strong! Neither my submarine nor your will be able to stand it at this rate! You'll be hurting your own team!"
Shelly gasped.
"Who cares!" Archie asked arrogantly.
"What?" Shelly exclaimed before yelling. "Archie, you've always cared for Team Aqua!"
Even if he might be less altruistic then Maxie, Archie did have a heart. He'd tended to members of his team that got wounded in fights with Magma, as well as their Pokemon.
"No, now that I have this red orb you are no further use to me!" Archie said, his voice sounding distorted.
Looker brought out a telescope carried, and saw the red glow in Archie's eyes that matched the red orb. The waves were getting intense, and May had to hold onto Gyarados desperately, Wailord however got under it and took it and the others onto it as well. Team Magma's sub then approached them.
"Please, give me the blue orb! I can help Groudon!" Maxie shouted at them.
"No! Even if we had the blue orb we wouldn't give it to you! Its taken control of one of our own!" Lance said.
"What?" Maxie exclaimed.
"The blue and red orbs are connected to the will of Groudon and Kyogre. No human can fully control them!" Steven said. "You maybe able to put desires into their hearts but you can't control them! The orbs will only corrupt the one who holds them and makes them forget all their morals!"
"No, that can't be true!" Maxie said. "We need Groudon to make a better world for everyone!'
"That is nonsense!" Lance said.
"Look at what Archie is doing! And see Ash on Groudon! Does he look like he is in control of his actions?" Looker said tossing his telescope.
Maxie caught and reluctantly looked up at Ash, seeing the mad look in his eyes as he stood on Groudon's head. He then looked at Archie and saw the same. The truth came falling on him like a pile of bricks.
"I was a fool," he said looking down before the waves nearly caused him to fall. He then looked at those that had stood in his way. "I'll help you."
Shelly sighed. "So will I. Archie has gone mad too. We need to stop this."
May looked at her with a frown. But seeing the look in her eyes, she saw no treachery. The princess sighed, supposing everyone deserved a second chance. Dialga had changed after all, once he realized his mistake.
"Alright, Maxie, Shelly, you can take my Dragonite up to Archie," Lance said jumping off the Pokemon. "Try to reason with him, it might at least divert his attention from Kyogre."
"But how to we free him and Ash?" May asked.
"I don't know," Steven said honestly. "But somehow we'll have to. We'll just have to try and get Groudon and Kyogre to calm down. If we can stop Archie, then hopefully that will be enough. The rest of us will try and focus fire on Kyogre is we can't reason with Archie."
They all nodded. Lance got on Wailord and Maxie and Shelly (who was released from Tentacruels tentacles) took to the air on Dragonite. This was certainly an unexpected turn of events for them.
"I never imagined we'd be teaming up, Maxie," Shelly said.
"Nor did I," the magma leader agreed.
They flew up to Archie as he hovered below. The sea was becoming more deadly, the submarine's pushed by the waves, the water pressure increasing even at the top. Kyogre was taking its revenge on the humans who had tried to control it.
"Archie! Stop!" Shelly yelled in desperation. "I know you care about Team Aqua! This isn't you!"
Archie looked at her. "Shelly?"
"Yes," she said.
Archie's eyes widened, the red glow flickering slightly. Then he caught sight of Maxie, and the glow returned.
"You! You betray me to Maxie!" Archie exclaimed.
"No! I-"
"Kyogre! Use hyperbeam on that Dragonite!" Archie ordered.
Kyogre, who had been circling Groudon, broke through the water and fired a hyperbeam into the air at Dragonite. The dragon pokemon was forced to perform a hasty maneuver in midair, but Maxie and Shelly were both thrown from its back. They fell with a scream and Dragonite dove, moving at an incredible he managed to catch Shelly, but narrowly missed Maxie who continued to fall, and hit the ocean. Shelly's mouth fell open, knowing there was no way he could have survived that fall. Archie also watched, his eyes widening, his mouth falling open.
"Maxie… no. This is not how I wanted it to end," Archie said.
His eyes returned to normal, as did Kyogre's. The water Pokemon stopped and the sea began to calm. At that moment Groudon attacked, swiping its rival with its claws, a deep gash appeared on Kyogre's side. Groudon took hold of Kyogre, preparing to unleash a point blank Solarbeam.
This time, I shall be victorious, and my territory will be increased! Groudon spoke to Kyogre through telepathy.
A loud roar sounded from above, sending a shiver down everyone's spine in response. Looking above, they saw a gigantic green dragonlike Pokemon.
"Rayquaza!" Steven exclaimed. "It can't be! He never leaves the ozone unless… something forces him to!"
May had heard stories of Rayquaza even in her time. He was very rarely seen, but some had heard of him. Now she knew all too well that some legends were in fact true. She was a living legend herself as well since she'd traveled through time, vanished, and then returned to be with her love.
Rayquaza let out a loud roar and released a powerful hyper beam that hit both its fellow legends, doing some good damage. Groudon released Kyogre who fell back into the sea. Meanwhile, Ash and Archie both returned to normal, the blue and red orbs separating from them and falling. Both let out a breath of exasperation as they returned to themselves. The orbs, meanwhile, fell into the sea, where no one knew what would become of them.
Rayquaza then began speaking in his language of growls and grunts.
"Arr! Rarr! Arrar!"
"Stop this both of you! Your battle has been wreaking havoc with my sky! Do you want to see Hoenn drowned or turned to a desert?"
The blue and red legendaries bowed their heads in shame.
"Grou."
"Ogre."
"Sorry. I was just trying to protect my territory."
"I am sorry as well, these humans took control of me."
Groudon and Kyogre spoke to each other. Groudon then deactivated its drought ability once it was at a reasonable level, Ash was able to swim to a nearby island where he reunited with the others.
"Oh, Sir Ash!" she said as she embraced him. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah," he said.
"Pika!" Pikachu jumped into Ash's arms after he looked at May.
"Good to see you too buddy!" Ash said.
Archie landed on the island as well. Shelly looked at him as Team Magma and Aqua got off both of their submarines. Tabitha looked around.
"What happened? Maxie?"
Archie bowed his head. "I … killed him."
Tears began to form in his eyes. "I never wanted this. The powers of these two legendary Pokemon, are too much for any human to control. We should never have attempted to do so."
Suddenly Kyogre emerged from the water, he opened his mouth and Maxie's corpse suddenly fell out, unharmed.
"Maxie," Tabitha exclaimed.
Suddenly, Kyogre and the sea it still had a good amount of its body in glowed. The water in the immediate vicinity shined and Kyogre doze back in, creating a large splash of water that drenched Maxie's body which glowed white as the shining blue water hit. Then Maxie suddenly let out a large breath.
"Maxie!" Archie asked running over.
The Team Magma leader coughed and opened his eyes as everyone watched. He looked around and looked at his hand in disbelief, flexing his fingers.
"I'm alive!" he exclaimed. "But how?"
"Kyogre! Oh, that was amazing!" Archie said as he looked after the retreating Pokemon. "He brought you back to life Maxie!"
Ash smiled. Even though these men were his enemies, they seemed to have learned they were wrong. Around them, Groudon began to march back to his volcano, Kyogre retreated back into the sea, and Rayquaza flew high up into the sky. It was over.
Maxie and Archie both stood before Looker and Steven. "We're sorry. We see now that controlling Groudon and Kyogre is impossible."
"If you wish to arrest us, we will not resist," Archie said. "But… Maxie had the more altruistic goal. I was more concerned with power. Give me the harsher punishment."
Steven gave a serious look. "You will all serve your time for a while."
Shelly then approached Ash and May. "Hey, you two. I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused you."
Ash looked at her and sighed. "I guess it's important to forgive."
May nodded. "I'm just glad you have learned your lesson."
"I know you had good intentions," Looker said. "And perhaps your research into Groudon and Kyogre can have something that could help us in the future, as long as we don't try and control them."
"Speaking of which what happened to the orbs?" Tabitha asked.
"With luck, they are at the bottom of the ocean where no one will ever be able to use them again," Maxie said.
Far below them, the two orbs fell into underwater volcano. They melted away, never to be used again.
Back on the surface, Team Magma and Aqua got back onto their submarines with Ash, May, and their companions on Wailord. They then headed to Sootopolis city, where both teams would be tried.
…
Back in Mossdeep, Harley lay in his jail cell. Finally, a green light shined.
"Oh Celebei at last!" he said. "I… need your help!"
Okay, Magma and Aqua are defeated. But they'll still do some time for their crimes. And Harley is coming again! What will happen now? Wait and see.