The ocean was cleaved apart.
Even though it was only for a brief moment, and even though it was absolutely impossible to part the entire boundless ocean down the middle... within their line of sight, this terrifying effect was genuinely displayed.
"Hiss... so strong..."
Having witnessed the attacks of both super-ancient Pokémon being completely severed, Lance secretly clicked his tongue in awe.
He didn't doubt for a second that if it weren't Primal Kyogre and Primal Groudon facing that [Petal Blizzard] sword—but rather his Dragonite army—it could have dealt massive damage even through the 4x resistance of [Multiscale].
"Such domineering power. As expected of Hakuya."
Steven gazed down at the black-haired young man standing beneath the rain of cherry blossoms and sighed in admiration.
Not only were his looks on par with his own, and not only was he highly knowledgeable with profound expertise in various Pokémon myths and legends... but his strength was also immense, and he possessed the beautiful quality of being willing to dedicate himself to helping others...
...The more time they spent together, the more Steven found himself thoroughly impressed by Hakuya.
Truly worthy of being my internally designated future Hoenn Champion—
Like Steven, Zinnia had also become Hakuya's fan.
"So cool..."
The wild girl couldn't help but let brilliant stars shine in her eyes as she looked at Hakuya.
This was especially true when Hakuya and Floragato raised their hands and brought them down in perfect sync—not only did azure light flow across Floragato's entire body, but it also completely enveloped Hakuya. When the thousands-of-meters-long [Petal Blizzard] sword slashed down, it not only extinguished the ferocious [Precipice Blades] and [Origin Pulse], but it also triggered a breathtakingly beautiful rain of cherry blossoms.
That figure swinging a sword amidst the rain and the blazing sun looked exactly like a god no less magnificent than the Lord Dragon God!
Then, sharply noticing Hakuya's pale complexion, she immediately steered Salamence and rushed over.
"Hakuya, are you okay?!"
"Wooo..."
On the sea's surface, a trace of shock flashed deep within Primal Kyogre's eyes.
Even though its current strength had only recovered to half its peak, the full-power [Origin Pulse] it blasted out shouldn't have been severed so easily. Was this really... something an ordinary Floragato, lacking any divine authority and looking completely unremarkable from the outside, could achieve?
The 'fat fish' was weighing the value of continuing to fight Hakuya, Steven, Lance, Zinnia, and the others.
Having lived for so long, super-ancient Pokémon weren't idiots either.
Although the attacks from Hakuya and Floragato were far from enough to make them lose their ability to battle, the damage caused could not be ignored.
If it had been a one-on-many fight the entire time, Kyogre believed it could easily stall them to death. But right now, besides Hakuya's massive group, there was also that guy Primal Groudon eyeing it like a tiger watching its prey.
Destined rivals could become perfectly coordinated partners for a short time, but they could never become spouses sharing life and death.
Defeating these little bugs blocking their way was ultimately just an appetizer; the battle with its destined rival was the main event. If either of them exhausted too much stamina beforehand, the other party would likely laugh so hard their jaw would unhinge, utterly thrilled by the advantage.
"Wooo~"
Primal Kyogre rolled its eyes and, with considerable gentlemanly grace, yielded the initiative to Primal Groudon.
Primal Groudon, on the other hand, looked at its destined rival as if looking at a moron.
Seriously bro, do you really think I'm stupid?!
You want me to lead the charge so you can hide in the back, reap the spoils as the third party, and get a beautiful clean sweep?
You damn bastard! After all these years, your head is still completely filled with nothing but yourself—
Under such a chain of suspicion, the already fragile alliance between the super-ancient Pokémon instantly shattered.
On the other side, Latias flew over rapidly and grabbed her Trainer's collar with her mouth.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. I haven't reached the point of fainting on the spot just yet."
Realizing the little jet plane was worried he might stumble and fall flat on his face, Hakuya waved his hand, indicating he was okay.
His physical strength, tempered in the randomized world, told him he could still 'cook' for a while longer.
Of course, they weren't actually as relaxed as they appeared on the surface.
Just maintaining the [Omni-Transformation] state for a few seconds had consumed a massive amount of their physical and mental stamina. If it weren't for the fact that the battle wasn't over yet, Hakuya and Floragato would have probably chosen to play dead and go to sleep right then and there.
"Nai~" Alcremie considerately conjured some fresh whipped cream and offered it to him.
With their stamina so heavily depleted, they needed to replenish their energy as quickly as possible.
"Meowha~" "Thank you, Alcremie."
Receiving Alcremie's cream feeding alongside Floragato, Hakuya squeezed a smile onto his pale face.
Although his current physical constitution could support him Mega Evolving four Pokémon simultaneously in a battle, the final, reckless burst of their Bond Phenomenon had nearly exhausted all his remaining strength.
Battling a box-art Legendary in reality was truly a terrifying ordeal.
Fortunately, Floragato's [Petal Blizzard] had been highly effective, successfully intimidating the two super-ancient Pokémon before them.
Hakuya looked at Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre, whose faces were full of wariness but who hadn't made another move. The corners of his mouth twitched slightly, instantly seeing through their true thoughts.
—As legendary super-ancient Pokémon, these battle-hardened veterans could naturally see his and Floragato's weakened state. But neither dared to be 100% certain that they wouldn't desperately unleash another [Petal Blizzard] sword.
To prevent the other party from finding an opening to exploit, they both chose to hold their ground and observe for a while longer.
"Hah~ What kind of 'Pokémon Deterrence Era' is this?"
Swallowing the cream and successfully replenishing his energy, Hakuya shook his head, finding it a bit funny.
And at this moment, a dashing, crisp female voice suddenly rang out from the sky.
"Even though it looked incredibly badass... Hakuya! You were way too reckless just now!"
Jumping down from Salamence's back, Zinnia walked nervously over to Hakuya.
As soon as she finished speaking, her small hands immediately started groping all over Hakuya's body to check if he was currently okay.
Seeing this scene, for a moment Hakuya really couldn't tell if she was showing concern or taking advantage of his vulnerable state to sexually harass him.
But after a quick second thought, he immediately let it go.
Given the girl's wild and dashing personality, she had definitely just categorized him as a "bro."
"Stop groping me everywhere! I'm already fine!"
Seeing the girl's hands about to reach places they absolutely shouldn't touch, Hakuya finally pushed her hands away, speechless.
—Wild Girl? [X]
—Creepy Girl? [✅]
"Hehe!"
Stopped by Hakuya, Zinnia scratched her head in embarrassment.
"I just wanted to check how exactly you managed to do what you just did."
"Logically speaking, a Trainer and a Pokémon are absolutely two separate, independent entities. The Trainer commands, and the Pokémon battles. But just now, not only was powerful Grass-type energy flowing across Floragato's body, but even your body was glowing with a very, very bright light, Hakuya!"
Saying this, a hint of disbelief flashed through Zinnia's eyes.
As the Lorekeeper of the Draconids, she naturally knew many secrets unknown to ordinary people in the world. For example, in the remote Ninja Village of the Kalos region, a never-before-recorded new form of Greninja had supposedly appeared a thousand years ago...
Something far more powerful than Mega Evolution, praised as Bond Evolution.
Although Floragato's appearance hadn't changed significantly, Zinnia still believed she had already grasped the rudimentary form of Bond Evolution.
Therefore, she wasn't deliberately trying to take advantage of Hakuya.
She just genuinely wanted to know what kind of physique was required to forge such a profound bond with a Pokémon.
"It was super cool! With just one attack, even Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre don't dare to move a muscle now!"
Zinnia gave a thumbs-up, affirming her praise once again.
"While I'm very happy to receive your praise, now is not the time to let our guard down."
"Our attack looked spectacular, but the actual damage caused wasn't that high. They are currently only worried about their internal conflict. It won't be long before they launch another attack against us."
Hakuya spread his hands, timely extinguishing Zinnia's inflating confidence.
"Oh, right~" The girl's expression froze.
Those words were indeed very true.
Despite them fighting to a standstill the entire time—even appearing to suppress them at one point—the reason gods are gods is that even after just awakening and not being at their peak, they hadn't suffered any severe injuries from their attacks. Instead, as time passed, their terrifying aura only grew stronger, as if their spirits were gradually awakening amidst the battle.
"Sigh~ We can only pray that the League personnel hurry up and send a few more airships to recover it during this window."
Also riding his Metagross over to them, Steven looked up at the seven-colored raw stone directly above.
This standoff was originally the perfect opportunity to recover the Giant Rock. However, due to Primal Kyogre's attack earlier, all the airships that rushed here had lost their flight capabilities and could only obediently wait for new airships to arrive.
Steven, the rock collector who had always wanted to track down the Legendary Giant Rock, felt for the first time that this thing was a hot potato.
Regarding this, Hakuya felt understanding, but couldn't help but look completely helpless.
It couldn't be helped. They called this Giant Rock a stone, but it actually had absolutely nothing to do with being a normal stone. Even when Mega Rayquaza tried to destroy it with [Draco Meteor] in the anime, it simply tanked the [Draco Meteor] and used its spatial teleportation ability to vanish.
Furthermore... it was true they were maintaining a standoff right now, but Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre would eventually snap out of it. Their thirst for the Legendary Giant Rock's energy would prompt them to attack again, and when that happened, it would absolutely not be something they could stop.
He could only say the Hoenn League's operational efficiency was surprisingly slow—
But just at this moment, a sudden anomaly occurred on the magnificent, turbulent ocean.
A pitch-black submarine breached the surface. A massive number of launch tubes opened on its hull, firing dozens of pure white missiles. Upon reaching a certain altitude, they detonated violently, enveloping the entire sky in a blinding, dazzling white light.
The glare was so intense that even Primal Kyogre and Primal Groudon were temporarily blinded, unable to clearly see their surroundings.
"Mr. Steven, the energy signature of the Giant Rock seems to be continuously weakening!"
Following the intel officer's exclamation in the headset came Steven's grave voice, "It disappeared?"
Possessing years of experience dealing with [Flash] in mineshafts, his Metagross deployed a light-dampening psychic barrier without needing any command—after the submarine fired the intense flashbangs, it launched a bizarre, five-colored beam of light, capturing the Legendary Giant Rock.
"As expected, Lysandre and his Team Flare are also involved."
Watching the familiar scene of the submarine stealing the Giant Rock before his eyes, Hakuya furrowed his brow.
This scene was practically a 1:1 replica of the XY Anime Special. Furthermore, relying solely on the grunts of Team Magma and Team Aqua, it was absolutely impossible to develop a system to seal the Giant Rock's energy radiation in such a short time. Only Lysandre and the researchers at his labs could accomplish such a feat.
He had originally planned to have Latias blast it with a [Dragon Pulse], but unfortunately, the submarine submerged far too quickly.
And riding on his Skarmory, Steven, who had also witnessed the entire scene, furrowed his brows tightly.
"Was that the Submarine Explorer 1 just now? Those Team Aqua bastards still haven't given up on the Giant Rock."
"It shouldn't just be Team Aqua; they have other accomplices. I'm guessing that while we were locked in a bitter struggle, they highly likely took that submarine and silently observed from the sidelines, just waiting for the perfect opportunity."
Hakuya supplemented the intelligence he currently possessed.
"Sigh... If that's the case, then the situation has become even more complicated."
Steven rubbed his temples, a very ominous premonition rising in his heart.
The Submarine Explorer 1 was built by their Devon Corporation. With that high-tech submarine, they could easily come and go freely, whether in the depths of magma or the ends of the ocean. As long as they wanted to, there were simply too many places they could hide. The difficulty of finding their organization's leader had increased exponentially.
To this, Hakuya also sighed helplessly.
After obtaining the information from Courtney, he knew that Archie, Maxie, and the others would definitely be near the Rustboro City sea area.
However, due to the urgency of the situation at the time, and completely not knowing the submarine's exact location, he could only choose to ignore it. He just didn't expect that because Kyogre's appearance damaged the airships, these guys would end up reaping the rewards of their hard work and stealing the Giant Rock.
"Flashbangs of this caliber are even stronger than the [Flash] move used by Pokémon. As expected of human black technology."
Hakuya looked at the two super-ancient Pokémon, who had opened their eyes and were looking around in utter bewilderment for the Giant Rock, and sighed.
In a world-view leaning toward the anime, even though Legendary Pokémon like Groudon and Kyogre possessed unimaginable mighty power, they sometimes couldn't handle the endless stream of human black technology, and could easily be played for fools for a while.
Besides this, there were many other terrifying examples of black technology.
For example, the most well-known, Mewtwo. Created through human experimentation, its strength rivaled that of many Legendary Pokémon possessing divine authority.
And the Team Rocket trio from the alternate world that appeared during their journey. Empowered by high-tech equipment, not only could they use unknown particle machines to render Poké Balls unable to open, but their member Meowth could even engage in a passionate brawl with Cynthia's ace Garchomp, fighting it to a standstill the entire time.
For a moment, Hakuya expressed that his feelings regarding Team Aqua taking advantage of the chaos to snatch the Legendary Giant Rock were somewhat complicated.
Anyone with eyes could see that their motives for wanting the Legendary meteorite were absolutely not pure.
But regarding the act of recovering the Legendary meteorite itself, to a certain extent, they had actually done them a huge favor. Otherwise, by the time the League's recovery airships arrived, they probably would have already been sent to the Spirit World by Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre.
"Speaking of which, without being able to absorb the Giant Rock's energy, aren't these two super-ancient Pokémon supposed to weaken?"
Zinnia rubbed her hands together, seemingly remembering something, her tone eager to try.
Since they couldn't lock onto the submarine's location, the matter of Team Aqua stealing the Giant Rock could only be shelved for now, left to be handled by the League issuing a region-wide wanted poster later.
At the current stage, the more important task was to properly resolve the Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre right in front of them. They couldn't let these two guys brawl and destroy the cities anymore.
"That's right. Metagross can already sense their power constantly weakening. It's about time we sounded the horn for our counterattack."
Responding to Zinnia's inquiry, Steven nodded, a smile appearing on his face.
Having been brutally beaten for so long, even someone with his elegant demeanor had accumulated a considerable amount of anger inside.
Without [Primordial Sea] and [Desolate Land], it was about to be his Sandstorm weather home-court advantage!
"Since that's the case, let's immediately launch our grand counterattack and strive to resolve this as quickly as possible."
Standing on Dragonite's back, Lance crossed his arms over his chest, reverting back to the invincible posture of the Dragon Master.
His Dragonite army had already rested for a round using [Roost] and were now ready to fight again.
"Wooo?" "Roar?"
Discovering that the Legendary Giant Rock had disappeared right under their noses, Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre's expressions instantly froze.
Without the augmentation of the Red Orb and Blue Orb, the reason they were awakened and entered their Primal Reversion states was, in the end, due to the influence of the Giant Rock's energy. Now that the Giant Rock had disappeared, the energy sustaining them was also rapidly draining away with time.
It wouldn't be long before their strength plummeted.
—Because they had only just awakened, they had only recovered to half of their peak strength to begin with. Add to that the fact that they would have to drop out of their powerful Primal Reversion forms... they genuinely didn't even dare to imagine what level their strength would ultimately plummet to.
"Steven! Hakuya! Hold on, we're coming right now!!!"
At this time, noticing the dozens of warships appearing on the coastline, and Wallace and the others shouting as they prepared to gang up on them, Primal Kyogre and Primal Groudon simultaneously sprouted the idea of running away first.
The battle of destined rivals can be put on hold for now. Honestly returning to our lairs to rest and recuperate is the right path.
They looked at each other silently, like a pair of doomed, star-crossed lovers whose time had passed.