The New Normal – 13-14 – Interlude – Sinnoh
(Civilian POV)
The Sinnoh news agencies had yet to publish anything official, but they didn't need to. No matter where you were – in your home, at work, or even if you were simply strolling about, everyone could feel that surge of primal terror that just radiated across the region.
He knew instinctively that something big had just been summoned. What it was specifically, he had no idea. But he highly suspected that only a Legendary could radiate out this much power.
And it was definitely the only thing that could suddenly cause the sky to crack apart like something was trying to tear through the very fabric of reality. Seeing that had nearly made him void his own bowels.
Furthermore, he was far from alone in his fears – pretty much the entirety of Sunyshore had descended into barely controlled panic, with the Jennys doing their best to keep everyone calm.
Yet with the sky looking like it was moments away from somehow shattering into pieces, it was hard for anyone to believe in their comforting words. It didn't help that there were barely any Jennys around at the moment.
If Gym Leader Volkner was here, then perhaps they would have found comfort in the fact that their Gym Leader would protect them. But he wasn't, as he was deployed to help out with the ongoing crisis. As a result, his absence could be keenly felt, and he could tell that many of the residents were another piece of bad news away from leaving the city entirely and trying their luck in the nearby forests just so that they could create as much distance from Mt. Coronet as possible.
Furthermore, he doubted that his city was the only city that was affected by this general panic. He hadn't had time to call up his friends yet, but he suspected they would be in a similar state to him right now. If anything, the other cities were probably worse, considering that Sunyshore was basically as far from Mt. Coronet as it got.
He prayed for this crisis could be resolved soon. He knew the stories and myths, so he knew full well how terrifying a Legendary could be. And truthfully, if that was truly what was causing this phenomenon, he had no idea how the League would try to even fight one. Let alone win.
He really hoped he was wrong.
(Maylene POV)
Though she felt guilty for feeling this way, especially considering the situation they were in, she had mixed feelings about being told to stay behind – which she understood was partially because of her youth and inexperience. A part of her resented the order, even if she knew that her duties in reassuring the public and maintaining order were equally as important.
But despite the dangers of fighting against a Legendary, she wanted to be there – fighting for the future of the world like the heroes of old.
Unfortunately, she was one of the Gym Leaders ordered to remain in place in order to try to calm the public down and maintain a semblance of law and order despite the sky ripping itself apart. That, coupled with the primal surge of terror that exploded out from Spear Pillar, had put everyone on the verge of a panic attack – if they were not having one already.
Therefore, her task was far easier said than done. If anything, she might have preferred to be fighting a Legendary than be tasked with somehow dealing with the sheer chaos that had infected Sinnoh.
All around the streets of Veilstone, no matter where you looked you could see people running around frantically in a chaotic mass of fear as many of them scrambled to try to get as far away as possible from Spear Pillar. She had done her best to work with what few Jennys remained to try to restore some semblance of order and try to stop the people from forming a stampede and trampling over each other, but they found little success.
While a few people managed to retain their trust in the Sinnoh League and maintained their calm, many others could not. They were simply too ridden with fear and terror to listen to their instructions. Some of their Pokémon were no better as they ran in fear alongside their trainer. Worse, some of them could be seen leaving their trainer behind, choosing to simply run ahead without them.
And then there were those who had simply stopped moving – having given into the primal terror as their eyes were filled with nothing else but hopelessness and despair. Their blank eyes stared at the cracked sky aimlessly, as if they had given up on life itself and had simply accepted the doom that was seemingly about to fall upon them.
Those broke her heart to see. It hurt her deeply to see their lifeless eyes like that and not be able to reassure them that things would be okay.
It was like she had failed as a Gym Leader.
Therefore, she prayed for this crisis to be resolved soon. Things were already starting to get out of hand, but if the situation persisted, then things were only going to get worse from here.
But considering what they were up against, she knew they needed a miracle.
(Cynthia POV)
"…You too." She heard John say to her affectionately, his final words to her before he hung up the phone.
She allowed herself to indulge in that moment of happiness before she shouldered the duties of a Champion once more. Needless to say, the current situation was nothing less than an unmitigated disaster.
Despite everything they had tried, including trying to venture through Mt. Coronet from the bottom up to reach Spear Pillar like Team Galactic had done, nothing worked. The spatial barrier that had been erected around Spear Pillar was completely impenetrable, as expected of a being as powerful as Palkia, which meant that Cyrus currently had free reign to do whatever he wanted.
…Though, what it was that he was actually doing, she didn't know. While not knowing the actions of a madman was certainly unsettling, Cyrus now had minutes to enact whatever plan he wanted to. However, as far as they were aware, aside from that initial outburst of power from Palkia's summoning, nothing else seemed to happen.
That could be because they had been cut off from all communication from Spear Pillar, and therefore they were blind to whatever was happening in there, but Cyrus' goal was to remake the world. Thus, you would expect with a goal like that for something to be happening – and yet there wasn't.
She decided to consider that a good thing. Maybe Cyrus was having problems executing his insane plans. Perhaps the Red Chain wasn't functioning as well as he intended. Or perhaps Palkia wasn't as omnipotent as he'd liked.
However, it was cold comfort as they still didn't have a way of stopping him – unless John succeeded in awakening Regigigas.
When John had come to her to ask for permission for the Plates, a part of her had immediately questioned just how John knew about the connection between Regigigas and the Plates. Why did he seem so certain that the Plates would be able to awaken the Legendary Titan?
It all came back to that mysterious connection that John had told her about. It likely explained how John had come across such knowledge, as he may have been nudged by the Legendary in the right direction.
Why John? She didn't know, but now wasn't the time to question their bout of good fortune. In her eyes, having John be the one 'chosen' to awaken Regigigas was as good as it got. If he does succeed, she trusted him to not abuse his newfound Legendary power.
And like she had told John, they could deal with the consequences later.
Therefore, she shook herself out of her thoughts as she picked up a call from her fellow Champions.
"Cynthia, any updates about the situation there?" Wallace asked, his voice completely serious and lacking in any of his usual charm, "Have you been able to get eyes on what's happening in Spear Pillar?"
"Unfortunately not." She replied, "But John has come up with a radical solution – he's going to try to awaken Regigigas. We're waiting to see if he's successful, it might be the key we need to achieving victory."
She heard the surprised gasp from Lance, "…Awaken Regigigas? That's…" He sounded completely confused, "What in Arceus is going on there? And why John?"
"Questions for later." Wallace reminded, cutting off Lance's confusion, "Right now, if he's successful, then having a Legendary on our side is likely what we need to fight against Palkia. We felt those shockwaves from all the way here. All that power… the fight ahead won't be easy. How's the situation in the rest of Sinnoh?"
She frowned, "Not good. It's chaos everywhere, and public order has practically collapsed ever since cracks started appearing in the sky. The Jennys and the few Gym Leaders left behind are trying their best, but they've mostly been unsuccessful. Luckily, we haven't seen anything too drastic yet, but it's only a matter of time before the fear and panic of the populace explodes into something nasty—"
Before she could finish her sentence, she was interrupted by the sounds of distant rumbling. Even high up in the air as she was, the resulting shockwaves caused her Togekiss to slightly stumble. Instinctively, she turned towards the sound of the rumbling, before realising that she was staring in the direction of Snowpoint City.
Just before she could fully process the implications, a voice in her radio confirmed it for her.
"Champion! John did it! Regigigas has awakened!"
Despite the situation they were in, a huge smile spread across her face. He had really done it. He had really managed to awaken the Legendary Titan. He had accomplished a miracle.
And now it was time to bring the fight to Cyrus.
A.N. I felt that the awakening and summoning of a Legendary deserved to be explored a bit more, as well as the general reaction by the public to everything that was going on. That's why I decided to focus on different perspectives from different people and the despair and terror that they feel. Needless to say, experiencing the Pressure from a Legendary is a very good reason to be afraid. I hope this matches your expectation of what it would be like for the common people if something as powerful as a Legendary is summoned!
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