In Sootopolis City, most residents hurried about anxiously.
Although the Hoenn League had repeatedly guaranteed that Groudon and Kyogre would not threaten Sootopolis City, for humans, seeking safety and avoiding disaster was instinctive. Most people wanted to temporarily leave Sootopolis City, but considering the city’s total population, this was an undertaking that was almost impossible to complete in a short period of time.
The mayor of Sootopolis City and Juan of Sootopolis Gym spent half an hour giving speeches to calm the public, but they only managed to slightly ease the worries of ordinary citizens.
“I heard Master Wallace has already gone to the front lines…”
Sootopolis City regarded Wallace as its pride, and Wallace’s decision to join the battle influenced many people. In fact, the root cause of the desire to flee was not the earlier unrest, but rather the fact that some members of the upper-middle class had evacuated first, awakening the weakness in most people’s hearts. This caused the following crowd to grow from a few into many, until eventually all the citizens wanted to temporarily escape Sootopolis City.
Inside a conference room.
After the mayor of Sootopolis City made his decision, Wallace’s master Juan was the first to voice his agreement. Once the idea of “sharing Sootopolis City’s fate, in life or death” was proposed, it meant that the city’s higher-ups would remain constantly in public view, serving as a stabilizing presence to reassure the citizens.
“Sootopolis City is my home to begin with. As its Gym Leader, I have no reason to abandon it.” Juan shook his head.
Aside from the mayor of Sootopolis City and Mr. Juan, most of the city’s higher-ups remained completely silent. Although this was currently the only way to resolve the panic, it was much easier said than done. When the critical moment truly arrived, probably no one would be willing to die together with these citizens. They still had bright futures ahead of them.
The instant this proposal was raised, the conference room erupted into chaos, with shrill voices of opposition sounding one after another.
Some were pessimistic and considered the worst possible outcome, while others were optimistic and believed that the Hoenn League could perfectly resolve the matter of Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre.
Steven, along with Elite Fours Glacia, Phoebe, Drake, and Sidney, was still commanding twenty-six Pokémon in a bloody battle against the two Super-ancient Pokémon. Although the scale of their fighting force was greater than when Terrance had suppressed the two Super-ancient Pokémon, the strength of the two Super-ancient Pokémon was also completely different from before.
Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre, to use a simpler analogy, could be understood as being equivalent to Altaria in its peak state.
The previous Groudon and Kyogre, meanwhile, could be regarded as equivalent to Altaria in its normal state.
After undergoing Primal Reversion and receiving the enhancement of natural energy, the two Super-ancient Pokémon had become so powerful that they could shatter the Fairy Domain in an instant—
“Elite Four Sidney, can you still hold on?”
As the five of them began seeing their main Pokémon suffer severe injuries, their tactical formation was no longer complete. Terrance also sent out Pokémon to relieve some of their pressure. As for coordinating with them, although they could not temporarily come up with any top-tier tactics capable of suppressing the Super-ancient Pokémon, with their experience and insight, they could still manage some advanced coordination and share the burden among themselves.
“It hurts like hell.” Sidney’s arm had been engulfed by scorching waves during the battle, leaving it a bloody mess. Fortunately, his Pokémon had treated him in time; otherwise, he might have lost the arm. Fighting over the ocean placed Elite Four Sidney at an extreme disadvantage. Without flat terrain, the core of his tactics could not be brought into play at all, and it was also difficult for him to protect himself properly. Because of this, he became the first among the Top Trainers to be injured.
“Once Mr. Lance and Wallace arrive, we’ll finally be able to catch our breath for a while. Hold on just a little longer…”
Steven looked exhausted. Although none of his Pokémon had suffered injuries severe enough to render them unable to move, their stamina consumption had been enormous. Up to this point, however, Groudon and Kyogre still showed no obvious injuries, only a few marks left on their bodies. One could imagine just how grueling the struggle had been for the group.
The excitement they had felt at the beginning was gradually being worn away by this enormous, seemingly hopeless disparity.
If only they were on land…
All of them had the same thought. If they were fighting on land, their combat strength could increase severalfold at the very least. They would have more Pokémon to choose from, more tactics to combine, and they could fight far more freely. There was no way they would be as stifled as they were now.
Unfortunately, aside from the former Monsu Island, the only nearby island was the one where Sootopolis City was located. Monsu Island had already been sunk by the two Pokémon, and Steven and the others obviously could not lure the two Pokémon onto Sootopolis City. As a result, they had no choice but to keep fighting.
As the battle continued, not long afterward, a Milotic and a red Mega Gyarados entered the battlefield, followed by even more Water-type and Dragon-type Pokémon.
“That’s… Wallace’s Water Army and Lance’s Dragon Army.”
Upon seeing these two groups of Pokémon, the nearby League members immediately revealed delighted expressions.
When it came to battling at sea, Wallace could be said to be the strongest in Hoenn.
Champion Steven and Contest Master Wallace had held many private simulated battles against each other. Both had wins and losses, and the difference in their strength was actually not very large. Even if Steven was slightly stronger, it was not to the point where Wallace had no hope of victory. It could be said that Wallace’s strength was already close to Champion level, and he could even easily suppress the Champions of some smaller regions.
In fact, in the original work, it was Wallace who succeeded Steven as Champion. The gap between their strength was not large, but the battlefields they usually fought on actually restricted Wallace’s performance. The sea was the true home field of this Water-type master.
So when Steven saw Wallace arrive, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
Aside from him, Lance also drew a great deal of attention. He came from the Dragon Tamer clan of Blackthorn City and had the Dragon’s Den behind him. In the eyes of some ancient forces, Johto’s Dragon Tamer clan, Hoenn’s Draconid people, and Unova’s Village of Dragons were regarded as the three great orthodox lineages of Dragon-type inheritance, and their foundations were extremely deep. In fact, aside from certain legendary Dragon-type Pokémon, Lance’s Dragon Army included nearly every species of Dragon-type Pokémon. He had even raised powerful Pokémon that were not Dragon-type but possessed Dragon-type genes.
In ordinary competitions, Lance usually used only Pokémon native to Johto, with very few pure-blooded dragons among them. Even so, he had still displayed an invincible bearing. Only when facing opponents of equal strength would he reveal his true foundations. It could be said that the young Lance had already surpassed Drake, this veteran Dragon-type Elite Four, by far too much.
Lance, Steven, and Wallace could effectively be regarded as three League Champions. Combined with Elite Four Glacia, who could also perform quite well in ocean battles, the Trainer side could be said to have assembled an extremely powerful force. Elite Four Drake, Elite Four Phoebe, and Elite Four Sidney nodded to one another and yielded the main attacking positions to the newly arrived Wallace and Lance.
“I have a proposal.”
Once the pressure eased, Terrance quickly spoke.
“My Fairy Army can gather all of its Fairy energy together and condense it into one super move. But if I want it to succeed and reach its maximum possible power, I’ll need cover, and I’ll need time.”
“How powerful can it become? Can it injure Groudon and Kyogre?”
“If we go all out and I’m given enough time to prepare, then at the very least, its power should be far, far greater than the moves Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre are currently using… I think it’s worth taking the gamble. There may be a chance to severely injure them,” Terrance said.
The others quickly agreed to Terrance’s proposal. Now that Wallace and Lance had joined the battle, Terrance also had much greater confidence in preparing that attack.
You can read ahead upto 65 chapters on my patreon and I’ve also activated (date to date) subscription model on my patreon.