"Wait, hold on, I think there's been some kind of misunderstanding."
Maxie immediately took Axel for someone like Pryce, someone who coveted Kyogre and Groudon, and hurriedly spoke up to explain.
"We never got Kyogre or Groudon at all. If you want them, go down and take them yourself!"
'Huh?'
Axel froze. He had waited here for so long precisely to wait for Kyogre and Groudon to come out, so he could use those two legendary Pokémon as bait to fish out the remaining two Sky Pillars.
But now, after Archie and Maxie had finally climbed up, they were actually saying they didn't get Kyogre and Groudon?
"Really didn't?", Axel frowned, his tone carrying a trace of doubt.
Ever since the worlds fused, although some people's stories differed a bit from the plot given by GF, they wouldn't diverge that wildly.
In the original plot, Archie and Maxie, although they failed to control Groudon and Kyogre and were instead controlled by them, did in fact successfully release those two.
"Really...", Seeing that Axel didn't believe them made Archie and Maxie feel even worse.
Even outsiders felt that them releasing Groudon and Kyogre was a sure thing, yet the two of them just couldn't do it.
It was just damn miserable...
"When we went down, we also felt that capturing Groudon and Kyogre was basically guaranteed. In the end, we couldn't even get close to them, let alone awaken them."
"Then Pryce showed up... and after that he got chased off by Giovanni, and we ended up like this."
Archie and Maxie were like a pair of cross-talk comedians, taking turns clearly explaining everything they had gone through in the Seafloor Cavern.
After hearing their story, Axel's expression turned strange.
He had thought that with Pryce's strength, enough to subdue gods, even without the Red Orb and Blue Orb, awakening Groudon and Kyogre should have been easy.
He never expected that under Giovanni's pressure, Pryce would just show his face briefly and then run away.
So in the end, all these people failed because Giovanni's firepower was just too insane?
Even Axel himself hadn't expected Giovanni to be so aggressive about fighting Pryce, to the point of bringing most of Team Rocket along.
"Then do you still want to capture Groudon and Kyogre?", Axel pondered for a moment, then asked seriously.
If he wanted to fish out the remaining two parts of Aether Paradise, someone had to release Groudon and Kyogre first, so they would make a move.
And that person couldn't be too weak. Otherwise, like Archie and Maxie at the beginning, they wouldn't even be able to get close to the two legendary Pokémon.
They also couldn't be good people, because Axel knew that whoever released Groudon and Kyogre had a chance of being controlled by them, turning into puppets that only knew destruction.
After thinking it over, Archie and Maxie were still the most suitable candidates.
As for awakening Groudon and Kyogre, that was actually pretty simple.
Just have Archie take the Precipice Blade and smack Kyogre once. Axel refused to believe those two wouldn't wake up.
After hearing Axel's question, Archie and Maxie were confused.
Wasn't Axel a righteous guy?
Over these past few days, although they had been busy preparing to go to the Seafloor Cavern, something as huge as Axel saving Sinnoh was obviously impossible to hide.
And now a guy like that was asking them whether they wanted to capture Groudon and Kyogre.
Ten thousand percent a trap.
Archie and Maxie exchanged a glance and spoke at the same time, shaking their heads like rattles.
"Nope, don't want to!"
Axel's face darkened, "No, you do."
Archie and Maxie recoiled in fear, "We really don't!"
Axel's tone gained a hint of threat, "You really do."
Seeing that Axel didn't sound like he was joking and that his expression was getting worse and worse, Archie's eyelid twitched wildly, his heart growing more and more uneasy.
They cautiously looked at Axel, "Then how about you tell us... should we want to or not?"
"Of course you want to!", Seeing the two finally get it, Axel jumped down from the chariot and motioned for them to undo their transformations.
Then, holding the Precipice Blade, he sat down boldly between Archie and Maxie, scaring both of them so badly their eyelids twitched nonstop.
"You two are regional villains, after all. How can you be this lacking in dreams?"
"Go ask around. What villain doesn't covet their region's legendary Pokémon?"
"Look at Sinnoh's Cyrus. He almost wiped out the Lake Trio and the spatial-temporal twin dragons together."
"And then there's Pryce from Johto. Years ago he already caught Ho-Oh, dragged it around capturing kids everywhere, and even wanted to catch Celebi."
"And then look at you two. You're basically salted fish with no dreams."
Archie and Maxie listened, stunned. Was that really how the word 'dream' was supposed to be used?
Now they were starting to seriously suspect that Axel was the bad guy.
His whole 'saving Sinnoh' thing... couldn't it be that he first helped Cyrus catch the spatial-temporal twin dragons, then turned around and caught Cyrus himself?
'You bastard, you're farming merit points off villains!'
Archie and Maxie looked utterly pained and helplessly spread their hands, speaking bluntly.
"There's nothing we can do. We really can't beat them..."
"Kyogre and Groudon are just too terrifying. Even while sleeping, they're already affecting the environment. After so many years, the energy around them has condensed to an incredibly frightening level."
"Even with our two main Pokémon, both close to Champion level, we still couldn't get anywhere near Groudon and Kyogre, let alone awaken them..."
"If there were a way to awaken them, do you think we wouldn't go?"
Archie and Maxie spread their hands, deliberately putting on a helpless look.
Anyway, their previous crimes were just stealing a submarine, kidnapping a professor, and getting into a few fights with Devon Corporation.
As long as they didn't go release Groudon and Kyogre, even Axel could at most send them to Officer Jenny to be locked up for a few years.
Unless Axel really had a way to let them awaken Groudon and Kyogre.
But... The two exchanged a glance and couldn't help laughing.
That was completely impossible. If Axel had that ability, wouldn't it be better for him to go capture the two legendary Pokémon himself?
In their view, as long as they put on this act of "we also really want to, but we truly can't," Axel wouldn't be able to do anything to them.
"Really?", After hearing them out, Axel's eyes suddenly lit up.
He had originally been thinking about how to persuade these two. He hadn't expected them to be so bold, daring to say right to his face that they wanted to capture Groudon and Kyogre.
'As expected of villains. Even if they are a bit weak, at least they still have the most basic dreams.'
Axel grinned, pulling out the big sword he had casually slung behind him.
"Since you really want to capture Groudon and Kyogre, then I'm relieved."
"This is the Precipice Blade I got my hands on. Take it and go knock Kyogre on the head, and you'll be able to awaken both legendary Pokémon!"
Maxie, Archie: "???"
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