Pokemon: Radical Redux

Chapter 582 582: Fight for Hoenn - 1

Wallace, Stern, Gabby, Ty, and Brendan got the civilians to the hospital, and the people there quickly made space, taking in all the civilians.

While they were there, Gabby and Ty filled Brendan and Wallace in on what they told Captain Stern.

"So basically," Gabby started while waving her hands around dramatically, "those Team Magma weirdos stole the submarine, Team Aqua stole the scanner thingy, and then instead of fighting each other like normal maniacs, they teamed up!"

Brendan blinked, "Wait, seriously?"

"It seems so," Captain Stern groaned, "And if what they were after was truly inside the Seafloor Cavern…"

Wallace's expression finally lost some of its playful attitude, "That would explain quite a lot," Wallace said quietly.

He looked around and called over one of the Nurse Joys that had to take shelter here in the hospital since the Pokémon Center was already flooded, "Is there a computer here? I need to call the Gym Leaders."

The Nurse Joy nodded and quickly led them to a room where there was still a functioning computer working off the hospital's emergency power generator.

When Wallace saw it, he got closer and started dialing, "The current leader of the Gym Leaders is Winona. I'll contact her to try and get more information on what's happening."

After a bit, the call went through, and after a moment Winona's face appeared on the screen, with a wild May in the background.

"Winona speaking."

"Winona, it's Wallace. I'm at Slateport City now," Wallace immediately said, "The Chairman told me you and the Gym Leaders were mobilized. What's the situation?"

"Wallace...it's not good. We're above Route 126 right now, but that's not important. The ancient Legendary Pokémon Kyogre and Groudon have awakened," Winona revealed, making everyone listening nearly choke on air.

Winona continued, "Wattson and Flannery, then Roxanne and Brawly, split into pairs to stall those Pokémon, but I don't think they can stop them for long."

"Okay. Sidney and Phoebe are already en route to assist Lilycove. Glacia is standing by at Sootopolis, and Drake is on the move with his ship. I'll call them to assist the battle—" Wallace started, but Winona quickly stopped him.

"No wait, I think you should keep the Elite Four there," Winona exclaimed.

Wallace blinked slightly, "..Explain."

Winona took a breath before speaking quickly, clearly trying to organize everything in her head while the wind howled loudly in the background of her call.

"Right now Hoenn is in complete chaos," she started, "The storms and droughts are spreading faster than we can contain them, and the Gym Leaders are already stretched thin just trying to slow the Legendaries down and keep evacuation routes open."

Behind her, May held tightly onto Altaria while looking around nervously at the shifting weather.

Winona continued, "If you pull the Elite Four away from the cities entirely, then the moment either Groudon or Kyogre breaks past us, there'll be nobody left to protect the civilian shelters."

Wallace's expression turned more serious.

"Slateport is flooding, parts of Mauville already lost power twice, routes are becoming impossible to travel through, and we still don't know how many places are going to get hit next," Winona explained, "Right now our first responsibility isn't defeating the Legendaries, it's keeping people alive."

"So here's the plan," Winona said firmly, "We continue monitoring both Legendaries while prioritizing evacuations and civilian rescue efforts. Once the major shelters are stabilized and the nearby towns are secured, we regroup."

Then she pointed toward Wallace through the screen, "You go north to support Roxanne and Brawly against Groudon."

Wallace took a moment to think, then he looked up, "And you?"

"The Chairman asked me to monitor the situation. As much as I'd like to go and support Wattson and Flannery against Kyogre, I have orders, and this is important too…" Winona muttered.

"I see…" Wallace muttered, "Then—"

But before Wallace could continue, suddenly there was static on the screen and a third caller joined.

"Hello, can you hear me?" It was the Chairman's voice coming through.

"Chairman, is that you?" Winona asked, "Why did you intercept our call? Is there news?"

"Yes. If you don't mind, why don't you look behind you?" the Chairman said, specifically to Winona.

Winona looked confused, but she turned, also turning the camera so Wallace and the others could see, and everyone's jaw fell.

Rising through the storm clouds was a giant hot air balloon with the letter P on it.

"Wha—!" May yelled in surprise, "It's some kind of airship, it's huge!"

"It's me," the Chairman said.

"Wait, so you're inside—" Winona started, but he stopped her.

"Yes, I'm inside this mega-sized airship. This building was the Association's headquarters in Lilycove. Due to the circumstances, steps had to be taken. Therefore, I have activated the Crisis Relocation System I put in place in case of emergencies," he explained before raising his voice once more, "So this is the temporary headquarters of the Pokémon Association!"

Then he lowered his voice, "Thank you for your hard work, Winona. I'll take things from here."

Winona blinked, then realized what he was saying, "Wait, so you mean I can go help now?!"

"Yes. In fact, I want you to join the others who are already fighting! Stop those ancient Pokémon from moving farther into our region!!" the Chairman said.

Winona smiled and saluted, "Yes sir!" Then she turned to Wallace and grinned, "You hear that, Wallace? I'll be going to support Flannery and Wattson now!"

Before she hung up, they all heard May helplessly yell, "Wait for meeeee!" before the line was cut.

For a moment Wallace just looked at the screen. He didn't get to say the last thing he wanted to say.

"Winona...stay safe…" he muttered.

Brendan watched Wallace, but he quickly walked up and patted him on the shoulder, giving him a smile, "She's gonna be fine, isn't she? She's strong too, and she'd want us to go help out too, so let's do our best!" he said with a thumbs-up.

Wallace looked at Brendan for a moment before he snorted and got his smile back, "I suppose you have a point. I let my worries get the best of me," Wallace said, getting back into character.

He looked at Captain Stern, Gabby, and Ty, "I'm going out now. If you can, keep people safe, but if not, you know where to take everyone."

When they nodded, Brendan jumped in, "Hey, don't count me out, I'm going with you!" Brendan said, figuring the person Ash sent him here to meet was Wallace. But even if he wasn't, he wasn't gonna pass up the chance to help.

"You know it's going to be dangerous, right?" Wallace said, looking seriously at Brendan.

Brendan just scratched his nose, "Yeah, but this isn't my first rodeo. Besides, I'm going with or without you, so might as well take me with you so you can make sure I'm safe."

Wallace looked at him, then laughed, "I suppose I can't argue with that logic. Fine, if you want to help, then let's get to my car, but you better stay close to me."

With that, Wallace and Brendan ran out and got into Wallace's car. They put their seatbelts on and began floating before taking off.

Now the stage was set. Ash sent May and Brendan here to meet up with those two specifically. You might ask how he knew. Well, again, Ash has done a lot of research and prep time. Even if not everything can be predicted, he can at least predict this much, and he may or may not have also sent a few tips beforehand.

But the reason May and Brendan were sent to meet with Winona and Wallace was simple: they were the best teachers for them.

Not for training their Pokémon, their Pokémon were already strong enough, something Ash made sure of. One thing Ash couldn't do was train them in his battle style, because the way Ash battles is very different from their preferred styles.

And unlike Brock or Misty, who already knew their own battle styles because of their experience in the Gym, May didn't, so she just tried to copy either battle styles she saw on TV or Ash's, which didn't work for her. Brendan meanwhile already had one for himself, but it wasn't perfect.

That's where they came in. Winona's fighting style is more about speed, which is better for May to learn, while Wallace's style is about defense and attack, which was perfect for Brendan. Even if they couldn't learn everything, at least picking up a few things would give them both a big boost.

Again, Ash did not expect them to master those styles right away, but it was a bonus that would help them, and even a little would do a lot. Plus, there were many other reasons Ash needed them near Wallace and Winona, but those will be revealed when we get there.

—

{Pacifidlog Town}

An old man named Mr. Gemu looked out of his window at the raging sea as he muttered to himself, "Hmm...as always, I wasn't able to find Mirage Island…"

As he muttered that, a wave hit his floating house, causing it to tip a bit and making the old man fall out of the window. As he fell flailing his arms, a voice called out, "Gallade!"

A green blur jumped through the air and caught Mr. Gemu in its arms before getting to safety and landing back on the building.

When Gemu realized he was okay and looked up at the Gallade, then to the source of the voice, he saw a certain green-haired boy standing with his Pokémon.

"Mr. Gemu, you said you would evacuate with everyone if you didn't find it…" It was Wally.

And Wally knew Mr. Gemu actually. He was a family friend, and he also made some stuff for Wally. He was supposed to come get it when he got here, but situations changed, and with all of this happening Wally got here sooner than expected, so Mr. Gemu couldn't finish it completely.

But he still gave what he was working on to Wally. It was an artificial breathing suit. Since Wally had problems with his health and breathing, with this he could pretty much act like any other kid. The only downside was that since this was incomplete, it could stop working at any moment.

But since it could help him run around to save more people, Wally happily took it. Besides, if it stopped working he still had plenty of inhalers in his bag, so there was no reason not to. And with this he went around Pacifidlog Town getting everyone to evacuate.

Although he left Mr. Gemu for last since he asked because he wanted to see if he could finally see Mirage Island, but again no dice, and he even almost fell.

So sadly Mr. Gemu nodded, "Yes, let's go Wally."

Together they got on the last emergency lifeboat. Wally had already sent people away and pointed them in the direction they should go, and he double-checked each house and even used Gallade, and he confirmed no one was left in the town.

Together they got into the boat and took off, officially leaving Pacifidlog Town behind, but what they didn't notice was that up in the air someone was watching them with their arms crossed.

As they floated down the water, Mr. Gemu watched Wally closely and noticed Wally took out a piece of wood and a small pocket knife and started whittling away at it, carving out some sort of hole in the center.

And every now and then he would look at Gallade, then look back down and keep carving some new detail.

He was just about to ask what he was carving when suddenly they felt the water shake, jolting them upright, and when they looked forward they saw a giant wave flying directly toward them.

Mr. Gemu nearly fell back out of the boat, but Wally managed to grab his hand and hold him. Then he pointed upward at the wave, "Gallade!"

Gallade nodded and jumped up off the small raft. Then when he was in the air his arm charged purple and he sliced down using [Psycho Cut], creating a slash through the air that shot toward the wave. The cut sliced the wave right down the middle, causing their boat to pass through harmlessly, and Gallade landed back gracefully.

Gemu slowly lowered himself back into his seat while breathing shakily, "M-my goodness…" he muttered while clutching his chest, "I think my heart nearly stopped…"

Wally let out a nervous laugh as he sat back down too, "Sorry about that…"

Gallade crossed his arms and looked off at the sea in case another wave came.

The old man looked toward him and smiled weakly, "Still though...that Gallade of yours really is incredible."

Wally smiled proudly and looked over at his partner, "Yeah...he really is."

Gallade glanced back slightly before giving a small nod.

Then suddenly a voice came through the fog and rain.

"Hmmm...not bad. Not bad at all."

Wally's eyes widened instantly while Gallade immediately stepped in front of the raft, blades extending from his elbows as he took a defensive stance, and yet Mr. Gemu didn't seem to flinch.

The voice continued calmly from somewhere within the storm, "That was an impressive use of your Pokémon...but I have one question."

Lightning flashed across the sky.

"Why did you not give your Pokémon a command?"

Wally froze.

"What if he chose the wrong move? You all could have died. Luckily, you lucked out and got the correct move...but what if you didn't?"

The rain continued pouring around them.

"Are you cruel, confident, clever, or maybe just stupid?" the voice asked.

Wally immediately stood up on the raft and shouted into the storm, "Who's there?!"

Gallade's stance sharpened further for only a second before he looked out and sensed who was there, and he noticed something, so his blades slowly retracted.

Wally blinked, "Gallade?"

Gallade looked toward the storm silently, and then Wally realized something too, but before he could say anything though, the voice boomed again through the rain.

"Tell me! Why did you make that decision?!" the voice yelled, demanding an answer.

Wally gulped, but then slowly he stood up straighter, "I-I trusted him!" Wally shouted back, "I might not be able to do much myself...but I trust my Pokémon to do anything!"

The person speaking smiled when he heard that and said nothing. Then he decided to fly down and spoke, "You've changed, Wally."

And that's when Wally finally saw the person who was speaking to him. It was Norman.

Norman was flying on a Flygon, and Wally actually recognized this Flygon. Remember the Flygon during the incident back in Mauville? This was that same Flygon. It looked like Norman went out of his way to go pick this guy up.

"N-Norman," Wally said, surprised. But he guessed that made sense why Gallade calmed down. Wally noticed, but he only figured out that it was because the person wasn't here to hurt them. He didn't think it would be Norman.

"Long time no see. Last time we saw each other was way back in Petalburg City after you and May caught your first Pokémon," Norman smiled, then he looked over at Mr. Gemu.

Mr. Gemu rubbed his beard, "I've been waiting for you, Norman."

Norman nodded, "You look good too, old man," making Wally realize these two knew each other and he didn't know, "Like you predicted, I got to see Wally's hidden true talent with my own eyes."

Wally blinked in surprise and looked back at Gemu, who gave him a peace sign.

Now this was something else Ash set up beforehand. When he called Norman, he told him that Wally would be waiting for him and he should call Mr. Gemu. While Norman didn't know how Ash knew that name, he didn't have time to ask questions. Those could wait until after Hoenn wasn't being destroyed.

When he called and filled Gemu in, he used his special ability to tell him that Wally would show him his talent and impress him, causing Norman to take Wally with him and train him.

At first it was hard to believe, but now he realized it was all true.

But Wally was still confused, "W-wait, what is going on here?!" Wally exclaimed.

"Weren't you listening to me? Just what I said," Norman closed his eyes and explained like that solved anything, "But first we should move to a better spot. This place isn't suitable."

"W-what?" Wally asked, "Suitable for what?"

Norman looked back at him, "Your training, of course."

"Whaaaa!!!" Wally exclaimed in shock.

Norman nodded again, "Ash filled me in on some stuff. He's the one who told me you would be here and that I needed to take you with me," he explained, and that made Wally realize that Ash sent him here to join Norman, but he was still in shock.

But Mr. Gemu put a hand on Wally's shoulder and smiled at him, "I think you should go. Don't worry about this old man. Besides, your Pokémon seems like he wants to go too," he said and pointed over to Gallade.

Over in the corner, Gallade was trying to act cool, but he was also excited, making Wally let out a small snort, "Okay…"

Norman nodded and helped Wally up onto his Flygon. Then he looked at Mr. Gemu, and the old man handed Norman a small black bag, which he took. Then Gallade jumped on Flygon too, and they flew off into the sky.

"So, um, where are we going?" Wally asked as he held onto Flygon's back while Norman was just standing there crossing his arms.

Norman didn't even need to look back at him because they could already see the destination in the distance.

"Hoenn is in chaos, and we need something to stop everything, so we're going to kill two Pidgey with one stone. We're going to the Sky Pillar."

As he said that, they finally flew out of the storm and Wally could see the tall tower that was so high it went above the clouds.

"It's so tall…" Wally muttered as they landed on the ground and Norman jumped off.

"It is said that the Sky Pillar is a massive tower that extends above the clouds and soars into the heavens," he said as he started walking in, "Follow me. Your first lesson starts now."

Wally gulped and followed. When they got in, Norman opened the bag and pulled out a box, sliding it to Wally, "Take these."

Wally took the box and opened it, seeing that it was a pair of gauntlets with slits for his Pokéballs.

"Put those on. They will attach to your suit. Then put your Poké Balls in there," Norman explained, "Then we are going to climb this entire tower to the top."

"What? But why?!" Wally asked immediately. He didn't know if he could do that. Even with his new suit he might die before he got up there.

"Because if we want to save Hoenn, we need to awaken Rayquaza," Norman finally revealed, explaining why he chose this place specifically.

"W-what, Rayquaza?!" Wally asked in shock, "B-but if we are here for Rayquaza, why don't we just fly to the top? Surely saving Hoenn is more important than training."

"It's not that simple," Norman explained, "Right now, Rayquaza is watching us, and it will only appear if we climb every floor of this tower. Rayquaza won't appear for people that try to cheat and fly up. This is the only way we can get the chance to see Rayquaza and convince it to help us."

Wally gulped, "If I said no, would that change things?"

Norman shrugged, "Not really. You're already here, so let's climb to the top of the tower and save Hoenn."

Wally sighed as he put on the gauntlets, attached them to his suit, then put on the respirator for his suit. Looks like this was gonna be a long day.

With that, he started running up to climb the tower.

—

{Back at the Seafloor Cavern}

Archie and the members of Team Aqua were hunched over a mini computer that Amber brought so they could monitor the situation on the surface. At this point no one even mentioned that Audrey was missing.

Archie watched as the system was saying that Kyogre hadn't moved yet, but Groudon had been steadily moving.

Archie grit his teeth, "This can't be. We had the advantage...this can only mean one thing." He looked back at the cave with anger, "Team Magma is to blame. Maxie must have done something. How dare he!!!"

"Amber, you know what to do," he commanded.

Amber flinched but nodded quickly, "Yes sir! I'll deal with it right away."

He took off running, finding a small opening so he could go cave diving to get a better angle to spy on Maxie.

And meanwhile, back with Team Magma, Maxie was doing exactly what Archie thought he was doing. He was using the red and blue orbs to keep Kyogre standing still and Groudon moving.

But to bond with an orb you had to touch it with your skin, so Maxie was touching both. After a bit the strain started to affect him and he began screaming in pain and sweating heavily.

With one final push Maxie was thrown back and fell on the ground, breathing heavily.

Tabitha, who was the closest, rushed up to him, "Maxie, are you alright?"

But even on the ground Maxie still had a smile on his face, "Huff...huff...Tabitha...this is far more strenuous than I thought. Sending orders to two Pokémon at once...I'm losing my mind here...must keep my concentration…"

"Tabitha...how would you like to be in charge of controlling Kyogre?" Maxie asked as he started pushing himself up.

Tabitha nodded, "Sure, leave it to me."

As Tabitha took off his glove and reached down to grab the blue orb, Maxie spoke again.

"The orbs seem to repel each other's energy when they're in close proximity."

Tabitha nodded as he grabbed the orb, "Got it. I'll send the orders from somewhere else."

Tabitha took the orb and started walking away. Meanwhile above them Amber was secretly watching, and he heard everything.

So it was the orb, huh? If the Blue Orb controlled Kyogre, then he'd just have to take that. He pressed a button on his communicator and called Archie to meet him at the submarine.

—

{Meanwhile}

Audrey and Zenith had been fighting this entire time, and unfortunately they had been evenly matched and taken each other down to their last Pokémon. They were down to their Ludicolo and Chandelure respectively.

And they were both tired since obviously they were also trying to just kill each other. I mean, why would they play fair? If all it took was one hit to kill the other, they would be stupid not to try.

But as they were catching their breaths they heard the sound of footsteps, making both of them look back in shock. They thought they were supposed to stay down there in the cave. Both of them were actually planning on collapsing the cave on their so-called teams, but in the battle they forgot.

They both cursed under their breath and jumped behind a rock, returning their Pokémon, but when they peeked their heads out they only saw Tabitha walking out, and in his hand they saw a blue orb.

Audrey recognized it immediately as the Blue Orb, but just as she was about to make her move and go steal it, Zenith grappled her and started pulling her down. After all, if he couldn't get his orb first, he wouldn't allow Audrey to get the Blue Orb first.

As the scuffle was going on in the background, Tabitha walked to the submarine and planned to do it inside, but when he started walking up onto the deck and opened the door, suddenly he saw a light appear, then another and another and another until he was surrounded by small lights.

He recognized them immediately, "Isn't this [Tail Glow]?"

He immediately got on guard and threw a Poké Ball out yelling, "Torkoal, [Yawn]!"

The ball opened and a red turtle stepped out and immediately let out a big [Yawn]. After a second something did get hit by it, and it fell out of the air asleep on the ground. It was a Volbeat.

Tabitha looked at the Volbeat, then he heard something behind him. He turned and saw Amber with two more Volbeat behind him walking toward him, "Hm, so you have the Blue Orb. I guess that makes sense why we could never find it."

Tabitha clicked his tongue and called out again, "Torkoal, use [Yawn] again!"

But this time Torkoal couldn't do it, Tabitha looked at Torkoal, then back at Amber and his two Volbeat, "You used [Torment] to stop me from using [Yawn], didn't you?!"

"Why should I tell you? Now will we do this the easy way or the hard way? Hand over the Blue Orb," Amber asked.

Tabitha huffed again, "Why are you even asking? Torkoal!"

Amber smirked, "Volbeat!"

With that, the Pokémon charged at each other to start the battle.