"Cynthia? That's Champion Cynthia, right?!"
"Ahhhh! Who is that man?! Damn it! What right does he have to hold Miss Cynthia?!"
"Uuu… Miss Cynthia actually has a boyfriend now. Is my youth just… over?"
"No way! Absolutely no way!"
"Damn it! I'm challenging him! I'm gonna kill that guy! How can Champion Cynthia kiss him!!"
Looking at all the mentally‑broken replies flooding the forums, Damian's mood shot through the roof.
So satisfying!!
Yeah, it had to be someone like Cynthia—a wildly popular female Champion. She was the goddess in the hearts of so many Sinnoh Region guys.
He wondered what kind of reaction they'd have when Cynthia eventually got pregnant.
Damian grinned, thinking about it with great interest.
Probably feel like the sky itself was collapsing?
The next morning, Damian and the others returned to the villa in Lilycove City.
"Damian!!"
The moment they came back, Zinnia rushed over.
"Do you know where Rayquaza went?"
Zinnia blurted out anxiously. She'd been doing special training with her Pokémon yesterday afternoon and hadn't checked her phone. When she finally did, she saw the top‑trending news.
The Legendary Pokémon battle at LaRousse City had left LaRousse City completely destroyed.
The report even had several photos. They were blurry thanks to the distance, but Zinnia still recognized them at a glance.
Rayquaza and Kyogre were in those shots—and Kyogre had been caught by Damian.
"How would I know? You're the one who skipped out on coming to hang with us," Damian shrugged.
"Caitlin called you yesterday afternoon too. No answer."
"Ahhh! I was in special training!"
Zinnia howled. A chance to see Rayquaza was right in front of her, and she'd actually missed it.
"It's fine. You'll get another shot." Damian tried to calm her.
"You've already got your Key Stone ready, don't you?"
For Damian, Key Stones weren't hard to get, so Zinnia actually had quite a few by now.
Summoning Rayquaza wouldn't be an issue.
"I'm still kinda nervous, though."
Zinnia ran her hands through her hair, clearly troubled. The closer it got, the more anxious she became.
What if her wish didn't make Rayquaza descend?
"If you don't even believe in yourself, how're you supposed to succeed?"
Damian was speechless.
Honestly, he didn't think there was any way Zinnia's wish would fail. Forget the games, where Zinnia had succeeded originally—
In this world, Aster had died in battle. There was no way Rayquaza had forgotten that.
A new Lorekeeper stepping forward to make a wish? Rayquaza wouldn't ignore that. It would descend.
"…What if I fail…?"
Even so, Zinnia still hesitated, lost and unsure. She didn't dare picture what failure would look like.
She bore the legacy and mission of her entire clan. She'd inherited Aster's Pokémon and Mega Anklet and carried Aster's blood on her back. She had every reason not to fail.
"We'll all be backing you up. Just go for it." Damian smiled, encouraging her.
"You're the most talented of the Draconid people, Zinnia."
His warm voice landed clearly in her ears.
"And even if, worst‑case scenario, Rayquaza doesn't descend, then just hand those missions you're shouldering over to me. I'll take care of them for you."
"You don't need to carry any of that alone, Zinnia. We're all in the same organization; our fates are tied together. I can shoulder your life right along with mine."
Damian patted Zinnia's shoulder, telling her to relax.
Even if Shiny Rayquaza hadn't fully accepted him yet, they did at least have a relationship now. Damian believed that if he brought this up, Shiny Rayquaza wouldn't refuse to go smash a meteor.
Not to mention…
It was just a meteor. Even without Rayquaza, a buffed Primal Kyogre could crush it with no problem.
Zinnia froze at Damian's sincere words, staring blankly at the boy in front of her. Warmth surged up in her chest, leaving her whole body light and toasty.
"What's wrong?" Damian noticed the change in her expression and raised a brow.
"It's nothing. You, mister, really know how to say nice things."
Zinnia came back to herself, turning her head away. Her tone sounded a lot lighter.
Yeah. She wasn't a lonely Lorekeeper anymore. She had reliable teammates now.
That feeling… was pretty amazing.
"Anyway, just get yourself ready. When you feel like heading to Sky Pillar, just let us know."
"Okay!"
Zinnia flashed her trademark fearless, energetic smile.
Watching this, Caitlin's lips curved into a soft, gentle smile of her own. Damian～
Over the next few days, Damian took Lillie sightseeing around Lilycove City and the surrounding area.
And he also confirmed something.
"Looks like the power of Viridian really does wake this little one's consciousness for a bit."
Damian glanced at the purple crystal on the table—that was Jirachi's slumber stone.
"Yeah, yeah! Your energy feels so good."
Jirachi's crisp, adorable childlike voice rang beside Damian's ear.
"Can you feed me a little more of that energy? I don't have enough to move." Jirachi asked innocently, full of expectation.
"You're the one who poured all your energy into Forina," Damian said helplessly.
Every time it woke, Jirachi would absorb comet energy. Then, when it fell back into slumber, its energy would unconsciously flow into the whole Forina region.
That's why Forina was so full of life.
But because it gave all its energy to Forina's land, Jirachi itself didn't have enough left.
Its body had already turned to stone. Without sufficient energy, it couldn't fully awaken at all.
Only when the Millennium Comet appeared, bathing it in comet energy, would Jirachi's body revive.
"Because Forina needs me～!" Jirachi answered with utter simplicity.
"Forina's doing great already. It'd be fine even without your energy." Damian was at a loss. He honestly didn't know how to describe Jirachi's selfless devotion.
But that was one of the charms of Pokémon.
"My power of Viridian is limited too. I'll pump a bit more into you every day. For now, you should sleep."
Damian sent another dose of power of Viridian into the stone Jirachi had become.
Power of Viridian was tied directly to his mental energy. It wasn't an infinite‑use thing. Even Green in Kanto would get dizzy or pass out if she used too much of it.
Damian's own Viridian power reserves weren't low, but even he couldn't fuel all the energy Jirachi needed in a short period.
"Mmm～ Damian's so cold…" Jirachi sounded pitiful. It had finally "woken up," after all.
"Once you're awake for real, you can play with whatever you want."
"Then can I ride on Kyogre? I've wanted to ride a big fish forever!" Jirachi's voice was full of longing.
"?"
Damian tilted his head. If that big fat fish could hear this, it'd probably be very grateful.
...
Elsewhere.
On a small island out at sea, Steven and the others descended on their Pokémon.
"This is the last location on the list."
Steven checked the rough hand‑drawn map in his hand. Crude as it was, it at least gave them a clear spot.
"Yeah. Let's head in."
Leon looked at the cave entrance ahead. If they didn't find Groudon here either…
That would really be bad news for them.
They walked into the cave. It wasn't cool at all inside—in fact, Steven actually felt it was kind of stifling.
And the deeper they went, the more oppressive the heat became.
The cave's interior tunnels were wildly complicated. After about an hour of searching, Steven and the others finally found a passage leading down to the very deepest section.
"It's so hot!"
Wallace wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked at the surrounding reddish stone walls. It felt like he'd walked into an oven.
For someone who adored Water‑type Pokémon like Wallace, this scorching environment really wasn't his thing.
"This should be a dormant volcano. We're getting very close to the core." Giovanni said in a low voice.
"Everyone! Look up ahead!"
Steven, walking in front, suddenly froze up, eyes going sharp. He strode out of the narrow passage and called back to Cynthia and the others.
They hurried to catch up—and the tunnel opened up into a vast chamber. At the far end was a roiling, steaming lava pool.
But that wasn't the main point.
The main point was the Pokémon sitting in that lava.
It was a massive bright‑red beast, shaped like a gigantic monster. Its eyes were closed, its two huge arms resting in front of it, and half its body was submerged in magma.
From the posture, it looked like it was just… sitting in the lava?
"Groudon!!"
Leon and the others all brightened. Even if this was their first time seeing the legendary Groudon, there was no mistaking it.
This was the legendary "crimson lord of the land"—Groudon!
"We finally found it!"
Wallace was just as excited. These last few days, they'd been trekking all over, crawling through every kind of cave.
But at least the result was good: they'd finally found Groudon.
The Legendary Pokémon said to be the very incarnation of the earth.
"So what now? It looks like it's still slumbering."
Giovanni eyed the Ground‑type Legendary with great interest. He really did find it fascinating.
"And it seems to be sleeping really deeply," Nemona added, glancing at Groudon, which hadn't reacted at all to strangers traipsing into its home.
They'd been chatting away—and Groudon still hadn't stirred.
"According to Tabitha, if we had the Orb, its power should be able to stimulate Groudon awake." Steven mused.
"But we don't have the Orb." Leon looked helplessly over at Wallace.
"Damn that born‑evil Team Rocket. Using my name to trick people!"
Wallace's face flushed red with anger. Just bringing it up made his blood boil. Who in Hoenn didn't know Wallace was noble, elegant, and pure as fresh snow?
Using his name to scam an elderly couple out of the Orbs—what kind of monster would do that?!
If word got out that Wallace had cheated old folks out of their Orbs, how was he supposed to show his face in Hoenn ever again?
Couldn't they have used Steven's name instead?
"Groudon, we'd like to ask for your help! Groudon?"
Steven thought about it, then shouted up at Groudon for a while. But Groudon kept sleeping like a dead log, not responding at all.
Steven's throat started to go dry—and the suffocating heat wasn't helping.
"What do we do now? Yelling doesn't work," Nemona said after a drink of water.
Steven felt a massive headache coming on. They'd finally found Groudon, only for this guy to be dead asleep and impossible to wake.
"Let me try?"
Wallace wiped at his sweat again. His white cloak was already soaked through.
At this rate, he really was going to become the literal "Prince of Water."
"If shouting won't wake it, then we'll just have to try something a little more… physical."
Wallace's expression firmed. He pulled out a Poké Ball and sent out Milotic.
"Huh?" Nemona stared, stunned.
"Is that really okay? What if Groudon mistakes us for enemies?" Cynthia frowned slightly.
"Relax, everyone. My Milotic knows how to hold back. We have to awaken Groudon."
Wallace waved a confident hand.
"It's worth a shot," Giovanni agreed after a moment. "If Groudon won't wake up, everything we've done here will be for nothing."
"Alright, then I'll leave it to you, Wallace." Steven thought for a second, then nodded.
"Of course! Steven, you can always count on me!"
Wallace spoke with easy confidence. No matter how deeply it was sleeping, he didn't believe Groudon could keep snoozing after getting sprayed in the face.
Steven: "…"
"Milotic! Use Water Gun!" Wallace swept his arm out in a dramatic arc.
Milotic opened its mouth and fired a thin Water Gun straight at Groudon, hitting it square in the face.
But the moment the water touched Groudon's body, the blistering heat instantly vaporized the Water Gun into steam, a white cloud billowing upward.
Groudon: zzzZ～
Steven and the others: "…"
Wallace: "Huh?"
Wallace froze. Seriously, just how hot was this guy's body?
Wallace refused to accept that.
"Milotic! Use a stronger Water Gun!"
"zzzZ～"
"Milotic! Use Hydro Pump!"
"zzzZ～"
"Milotic! Use Hydro Pump at full power!"
Milotic blasted a massive water column straight into Groudon's face, a thick fog of steam exploding outward.
The land‑god finally reacted a little. It absent‑mindedly lifted a claw to scratch its face, then rolled over and went back to sleep.
It probably just thought some bug had bitten it.
zzzZ～
"Now that's insulting!!!"
Feeling the strange looks from Cynthia and the others, Wallace's face went bright red. How could Groudon do this to him!!
The way it reacted was actually… kind of humiliating.
~~~
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