Grey looked around the empty settlement. The stone houses and household tools were all perfectly intact, but there was not a single person in sight.
He asked in confusion, "Where did the other Draconid people go?"
There had clearly been people living here not long ago, but this situation felt more than a little off.
Zinnia gently shook her head, her eyes carrying the same confusion. "I'm not sure either… I haven't been back here in a long time."
Hearing that, Grey could only let it go and shrug helplessly.
"Come on. Since no one's here, I'll take you deeper inside."
Zinnia led the two of them through a forest of stalactites and into a hidden corner deep within the cave.
All kinds of Dragon-type Pokémon lived here.
Axew played among the stone pillars, Noibat hung upside down from the ceiling, and even the rare Goodra was lazily sprawled beside a hot spring.
Although this was the Hoenn region, there were traces of Pokémon from other regions living here as well.
Zinnia raised her hand and pointed to a rock wall ahead, illuminated by crystals. "This is the prophetic mural that we Draconid people have protected for generations."
Grey looked in the direction she was pointing and saw three ancient murals painted in vivid colors on the rock wall.
The first depicted a long, emerald-green dragon silhouette spiraling through the clouds. Its streamlined body looked as if it were patrolling the sky, but judging from its bearing, it seemed to have suffered serious injuries.
The second showed a gigantic meteor tearing through the heavens, dragging a blazing tail of flame as it fell toward the earth.
The third showed rainbow-colored evolutionary patterns appearing around the green divine dragon. Its originally long body had become even more majestic as it charged straight toward the world-ending meteor.
They corresponded to an injured Rayquaza, the meteor crisis, and Rayquaza Mega Evolving to resolve the crisis.
Zinnia's tone was grave. "There's less than a month left before the meteor arrives. We have to find a way to deal with it as soon as possible."
Grey and Steven exchanged a glance. Steven then asked cautiously, "Can you really determine that a crisis is coming based only on these murals?"
"The prophecies of the Draconid people have never been wrong."
Zinnia's answer carried unquestionable certainty. "What we need to do now is figure out how to resolve the crisis. Once the crisis is over, I will accept the League's judgment."
Hearing Zinnia say that, Steven could only set aside his grievances for the moment and put the matters of the Hoenn region first.
Seeing that Steven had temporarily put aside his prejudice, Grey turned to Zinnia and asked, "Did the prophecy ever mention a method to resolve the crisis?"
Zinnia gave a bitter smile and gently shook her head. "The mural only reveals the disaster. It did not leave behind a solution."
"…"
Grey, Steven, and Zinnia all fell silent for a moment.
No one said anything.
Clearly, this whole matter had left them speechless.
Tap, tap, tap…
Just as the three of them sank into silence, the crisp sound of a cane striking stone steps suddenly came from deeper inside the cavern.
They looked toward the sound and saw an old woman in traditional clothing slowly walking over.
When Zinnia saw who it was, she called out in surprise, "Grandma!"
The one who had arrived was the Draconid priestess in charge of the prophecies, the Dragon Elder.
She held a wooden cane carved with Rayquaza patterns. Her wrinkled face carried a kind of wisdom that seemed capable of seeing through the ways of the world.
At a glance, she was obviously an old priestess.
The Dragon Elder did not respond immediately. She simply looked at Zinnia in silence with her deep eyes.
"Ah."
After a long while, she sighed softly. "I already know the whole story. Zinnia, you are still as reckless as ever."
She turned to Grey and Steven, then gave a slight bow. "This child has caused the two of you trouble."
Grey and Steven hurriedly waved their hands.
"The most important thing right now is resolving the crisis facing Hoenn," the two of them said in unison.
Hearing that, the Dragon Elder nodded slightly, then turned around with her cane and gestured for them to follow. "Come with me."
The three of them followed her through several stone corridors and arrived at a simple little house.
Although the furnishings were old, every item was arranged neatly. A warm flame still flickered inside the stone fireplace.
On the stone wall above the fireplace, there was a lifelike, ferocious dragon head carved into the rock.
Its sharp edges and majestic expression were clearly Rayquaza's appearance.
However, this lonely dragon head looked especially eerie under the dancing firelight.
The Dragon Elder softly guided her. "Zinnia, let out your partner and place your hand inside the dragon's mouth."
Zinnia called out Salamence and reached into the stone dragon's mouth together with it.
In the darkness, Zinnia seemed to touch some kind of object.
She tried to take it out, but the thing did not budge.
A trace of disappointment flashed through the Dragon Elder's eyes. Then she turned to Steven. "Champion, please try."
Steven called out Metagross.
However, just as Metagross's massive steel arm reached toward the dragon's mouth, it was blocked by an invisible barrier. It could not even touch the object inside.
Grey seemed to notice something. He spoke thoughtfully. "Could it be checking the base stat total of Dragon-type Pokémon?"
After saying that, Grey looked at Zinnia. "Zinnia, do you have any other Dragon-type Pokémon? Preferably one with a base stat total a bit lower than Salamence's. Anyone will do."
"I do. Altaria, come out!"
Zinnia did as he said and released Altaria.
When her hand and Altaria reached into the dragon's mouth together, they could enter, but the resistance they felt was clearly much stronger than with Salamence. Even moving her fingertips became exceptionally difficult.
Grey could not help raising an eyebrow.
He had not expected his guess to actually be right.
It seemed this dragon head really was detecting the base stat strength of Dragon-type Pokémon.
Since even a pseudo-legendary Pokémon like Salamence found it so difficult, then perhaps only Legendary Dragon-type Pokémon standing at the very peak of base stats, beings like Rayquaza itself, could truly meet its requirements.
Hmm…
Under normal circumstances, this would become a dead loop.
To open this thing, they needed Rayquaza to come along, but to get Rayquaza to come, they might need to open this thing first.
Who was the genius who set this condition? Wasn't this just messing with people?
"Let me try."
Before Grey even finished speaking, Reshiram's figure appeared inside the stone house.
The two of them reached toward the dragon head at the same time. The moment they touched the inside of the dragon head, the stone carving's eyes suddenly lit up, as if life had suddenly been poured into it.
Witnessing this miraculous scene, a phrase surfaced in Grey's mind, the final stroke that brought the dragon to life.
Thinking that, Grey's fingertips touched the object inside the dragon head, and he tried to pull it out.
The moment he grabbed it, its rough surface felt like unpolished stone.
He applied a little force and took it out. Lying in his palm was a deep black stone, giving off a dark luster under the firelight.
It was a meteorite.
Grey took out the meteorite fragment he had obtained earlier at Mt. Chimney and discovered that the two were shockingly similar in texture and color.
It seemed these meteorites were all prepared for Rayquaza.
Hmm.
This should be enough.
Just as Grey felt that two pieces should be enough, Zinnia seemed to see what he was thinking from his expression. She pointed toward the distant mural and added, "According to the records, three meteorites must be gathered for it to work."
Grey: "…"
Damn it, why did everything have to come in threes?!
Grey felt slightly irritated.
But three it was. There was nothing he could do about it.
"How do we find the last one?"
Now Grey was a little unsure where to go.
Mt. Chimney and Meteor Falls.
He had already obtained the meteorites from both of those places.
If someone really asked him where else they could find the same kind of extraterrestrial meteorite, Grey could not remember for the moment.
So Grey simply looked at Steven. "Steven, don't you usually have a hobby of collecting stones? Do you have any stones in your collection room similar to these two meteorites?"
Steven closed his eyes and thought.
He did indeed enjoy collecting stones on normal days.
But if asked whether he had this specific type of meteorite…
It was honestly hard to say.
"How about this? I'll go back to my collection room and search later. If I have one, I'll bring it over to you directly. If I don't, I'll mobilize the League's Trainers and have them search for this kind of meteorite."
The plan Steven gave was the most they could do right now.
There was only one month left. Time was already pressing.
By then, the Trainers of the entire Hoenn region would probably have to mobilize and search. Otherwise, the Hoenn region really might be destroyed.
Grey nodded gently.
Then he walked out of the house.
He sent out Groudon and Kyogre.
"Human, you actually captured us inside Poké Balls!"
Groudon's tone was not particularly friendly.
It originally wanted to start cursing, but when it remembered that Grey held the orbs and could control them, it did not run its mouth. Instead, it questioned Grey.
"Ahem, wasn't this because I was afraid you two would go looking for trouble with Rayquaza? I had no choice but to resort to this."
Grey waved his hand.
Kyogre, on the other hand, had calmed down.
It looked at Grey suspiciously. "Human, did you send us out at this moment because you need something?"
"I do have something to ask you. Suppose a meteor comes crashing down, and Rayquaza cannot completely shatter it. If I have you two release moves together and blast it into dust, are you confident you can do it?"
Grey was considering the worst-case scenario.
That was, if they failed to collect the third meteorite within this month, they would only feed Rayquaza two pieces and have it shatter most of the meteor.
Then Mew, Reshiram, and Kyurem would act together, all three Pokémon unleashing their strongest attacks to destroy most of the remaining meteor.
The remaining part would be left for Groudon and Kyogre to handle.
If that happened, then there would be five top-tier Legendary Pokémon and one Mythical Pokémon acting together to stop the meteor crisis. Surely that should be enough to resolve the disaster, right?
Although Rayquaza had the home-field advantage, they were all top-tier Legendaries. Grey felt that using this kind of high-quality Legendary lineup to make up the gap should work.
"To be honest, I really can't say for sure."
Kyogre did not boast.
It understood what Grey was saying.
"If it's the kind of supermassive meteor you're talking about, I'm afraid I truly might be powerless."
"Then what if you undergo Primal Reversion, make the weather turn into Primordial Sea, a heavy rain, and use Water Spout at the same time? Could you do it?"
"Difficult. The main issue isn't actually the meteor."
Kyogre seemed to think of something and said to Grey, "You have a Pokémon from beyond the sky with you. I think asking that one would be better than asking me."
Kyogre was referring to Kyurem.
Kyurem had originally entered this planet under Rayquaza's watch.
Naturally, it would know the specific situation.
When Grey heard that, he felt it made sense.
So he directly sent out Kyurem and asked, "Kyurem, I remember you also arrived here through a meteor back then, right? At that time, I remember Rayquaza said it intercepted you and used many moves. How did you break through Rayquaza's fierce assault?"
"Hmm… Let me think."
Kyurem's memories were not very complete either.
It only remembered scattered fragments.
"Basically, before I descended, I caused a bunch of meteors to come over first. Rayquaza blew up the others first, and by the end, it didn't have much strength left. Then I entered as the main event and directly smashed through Rayquaza's attack."
Kyurem explained.
Grey: "…"
"How big was each meteor?"
"Very big."
"How big is very big?"
"Very big means very big. It can't be described in words. But if one really descended, it could smash this entire region apart."
Kyurem was not exaggerating.
The piece of meteorite left from back then had been very small, but when that meteorite struck the ground, it caused nearly half of the Unova region to tremble.
"Groudon, can you put in some effort? You're the creator of the land. Someone is trying to mess with your territory. As the master of this land, you wouldn't just stand by and do nothing, right?"
Grey looked at Groudon, whom he had yet to ask.
"I will act."
The moment Groudon heard that, it immediately became anxious too.
This was the land it had worked so hard to create.
Now some foreign meteor wanted to cause trouble again!
It definitely would not stand by and do nothing.
At this moment, Groudon and Kyogre reached a consensus.
They would set aside their personal grudges for now and resolve the meteor crisis first.
"Human, that said, if we really have to act when the time comes, you will owe me a favor."
Kyogre felt that it could not take a loss.
It quickly brought up its demand to Grey.
Right away, it asked for a favor from Grey.
"Oh? Then as compensation, if you two don't end up needing to act when the time comes, what benefit do I get?"
Grey was the type who did not get up early unless there was something to gain. His whole approach was not taking a loss.
Since Kyogre was asking him for benefits, then Grey asking Kyogre for a benefit in return was not excessive, right?
"How about this? If Groudon and I don't have to act when the time comes, then the two of us will follow you from now on."
Kyogre dragged Groudon in as well.
"Kyogre, you!"
"What? Groudon, you don't want this human to owe you a favor?"
"I do want it a little."
"Then that settles it."
"Fine. Deal."
One human favor in exchange for the true loyalty of two top-tier Legendary Pokémon.
There was nothing wrong with this trade.
Right now, Grey was still relying on the Red Orb and Blue Orb to stop the two of them from bursting out of their Master Balls.
If the orbs were returned, those Master Balls would probably explode in the very next second.
"Hmm… We need to find information on the third meteorite as soon as possible."
Grey was also thinking about how to search for the meteorite.
With his prestige alone in the Hoenn region, it would probably be very difficult to convince a large number of people.
Moreover, it could easily cause panic.
Suddenly…
Grey thought of someone!
// 20 chapters today!
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