Mewtwo… it has returned.
"Quick! Aim the Infinity Energy weapons at that Pokémon!" Lance shouted.
Lucius had already emerged from within the volcano and shared Mewtwo's data with the Champion Leaders. Each of them understood just how powerful this Pokémon truly was.
The Hive's operators immediately rerouted the targeting systems, redirecting the majority of their weapons at Mewtwo. A barrage of energy pulses fired through the sky.
But the moment the attack launched, Mewtwo merely turned its head slightly to glance in their direction.
BOOM—BOOM—KRSSHH—
Even from over ten kilometers away, with a single glance, Mewtwo caused more than ten Infinity Energy weapons to explode simultaneously…
At that moment, Steven Stone's face turned pale.
Those weapons weren't just expensive—they cost more to build than a rocket launch. And now, Mewtwo had destroyed more than a dozen of them in the blink of an eye. The financial loss for Devon Corporation was beyond comprehension.
"Detach the energy collectors—now!" Steven shouted.
The core functionality of these weapons was split into two: one unit for weakening, the other for collecting. The energy collector could absorb and store the energy drained from weakened Pokémon for other uses.
In the original records, Devon Corp. had developed this energy-conversion tech for spatial manipulation—to deflect incoming meteors and prevent planetary collision.
At this moment, though Groudon's body was unscathed, its expression faltered. It gazed deeply at the approaching Mewtwo and gave a solemn nod.
With Groudon's approval, a blinding blue glow surged around Mewtwo. The skies above churned with violent clouds, the earth began to quake, and even those standing tens of kilometers away felt their breath catch. Their scalps tingled—as though gravity itself had shifted.
Radiance built up around Mewtwo's hands. It reached out and placed its glowing palm atop Groudon's head.
Lucius, mentally linked through Groudon's spiritual network, "saw" it—a colossal hand of pure energy reaching deep into the infernal spiritual blaze within Groudon's mind.
Even before it touched anything, the virus—Mindworm Form—was already trembling in fear. It had encountered something that felt like a natural predator.
The giant hand plunged into Groudon's mindscape and seized a portion of its spirit—infected and hardened into a molten, congealed form by the virus—and tore it out violently.
What…?
Lucius hadn't expected Mewtwo to possess such a terrifying capability. With that one motion, it had severed the infected portion of Groudon's consciousness, effectively purging the virus.
Groudon let out a thunderous roar—what Mewtwo had done was equivalent to mentally ripping part of its very essence apart. The pain was so intense that Groudon began stomping the earth in fury.
As the Lord of the Land, Groudon's uncontrolled stomping caused a massive seismic reaction—half of Hoenn trembled in response.
Nearby Mt. Chimney quaked violently. Black smoke spewed from its vast crater.
"This is bad. If this keeps up, Mt. Chimney will erupt," Steven muttered through clenched teeth. By now, most of the Infinity Energy weapons had been destroyed, and the remaining ones couldn't do much to weaken Groudon further.
"We don't have a choice. Kyogre must intervene," Lucius said. He transmitted Kyogre's coordinates to Anabel, who immediately opened a massive dimensional portal.
The moment the portal formed, torrents of seawater poured through, forming a sky-piercing waterfall.
Seconds later, Primal Kyogre emerged from the wormhole, its massive wings stirring the clouds as it flew out from the oceanic rift.
Though ancient rivals, the severely pained Groudon showed no sign of acknowledging Kyogre. It continued to lash out, consumed by the agony of its recent ordeal.
Lucius teleported directly to Kyogre's position. "Use Sheer Cold."
Kyogre's body burst into radiant blue light. It opened its massive maw and fired a beam so cold it seemed to freeze even time itself. The ice-blue ray struck the smoke-belching Mt. Chimney dead-on.
Within a single second—before humans or Pokémon could even react—the entire Mt. Chimney was transformed into a colossal mountain of ice and snow. Groudon and Mewtwo, still at the base of the mountain, were frozen solid, locked within the crystalline structure.
"F-Frozen…?" someone gasped, wide-eyed.
Even the Champion Leaders were shaken by the sheer scale of Kyogre's power.
A volcano over a hundred kilometers wide—sealed in an instant by frost and silence…
Soon, a crimson hue emerged beneath the frozen mountain's base. Against the pale blue and white, the color stood out starkly.
As the ice began to melt into cascading waterfalls, Groudon and Mewtwo's figures became visible again.
A vast, swirling space-time portal opened next to them, glowing with violet light.
Perhaps the freeze had calmed Groudon's mind. It did not unleash more power. Instead, it turned, casting one final glare at Kyogre and Lucius, then stepped into the portal, vanishing into the void.
Mewtwo followed, briefly locking eyes with Lucius in midair. Their gazes collided in silence—then Mewtwo turned and flew into the wormhole as well.
As the two mythical Pokémon disappeared, everyone present finally exhaled in relief.
"I didn't expect Groudon and Mewtwo alone to be this difficult to handle," Cynthia said, wiping sweat from her forehead.
The others remained silent. All of them were doing the same grim calculation:
What would happen if Lugia and Ho-Oh had shown up as well…?
Kyogre flapped its fins and soared back toward the sea, while Lucius teleported to rejoin the others.
He could read the disappointment and weight in the Champion Leaders' eyes.
The Hive's operation to bring Groudon under control had not only failed—it had nearly destroyed all of Hoenn.
Freezing Mt. Chimney was likely to cause massive environmental repercussions. The entire region's climate, monsoons, and geological structures would shift drastically.
The most immediate fallout? Lavaridge Town's hot spring industry was now, without a doubt, ruined.
Steven could already imagine Gym Leader Flannery's face when she found out.
"Clean up the battlefield. We're heading back," Lucius ordered before vanishing in a blink of light.
The massive battle that unfolded here today would no doubt make global headlines in mere moments. Predictably, the media would frame it as Team Magma attempting to awaken Groudon, nearly triggering a cataclysmic eruption of Mt. Chimney. It was only thanks to Volkner—leader of the Hive—and Kyogre's timely intervention that the destruction of Hoenn was narrowly averted.
Lucius understood why Lugia and Ho-Oh hadn't intervened directly. It was the pact overseen by Arceus—a divine contract that bound them from direct interference. Instead, they had sent someone who was unbound by such restrictions: Mewtwo .
Apparently, Groudon had rejected Lugia's offer while still dormant within the volcano, prompting Mewtwo to withdraw.
It wasn't until Groudon was on the verge of viral infection that it finally relented. Naturally, accepting Mewtwo's assistance came at a cost: allegiance to Lugia's faction.
Lucius's form flickered and reappeared beside Kyogre in the sea.
Though today's attempt to capture Groudon had failed, the mission had not been fruitless. The method Mewtwo used to extract the virus from Groudon had sparked a revelation in Lucius's mind.
So it can be done like that...
He glanced at the silent Kyogre, his eyes glowing a soft, eerie blue.
In the next instant, his consciousness entered Kyogre's mindscape—a vast mental ocean, calm yet ancient.
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