Rumble—rumble—
The ground trembled, each quake heavier than the last, as if a titanic colossus was drawing near—one that could shake the heavens and earth.
"It's here."
Lance stood firm, his expression darkening. The immense force pressing toward them was as though an entire continent was crashing in his direction.
Groudon's colossal figure soon emerged from the heart of the volcano, its sheer size forcing all Infinity Energy Weapons to swiftly lock on to its position.
"Where's Mewtwo?"
Lucius scanned the crater with narrowed eyes. Only Groudon had surfaced—there was no sign of the Psychic-type legend.
Invisible?
Lucius activated his psychic senses, unleashing a sweeping mental pulse across tens of thousands of meters, like a living radar. But there was nothing—no presence, no fluctuation.
It seemed… Mewtwo had already left.
If Mewtwo had chosen to cloak itself and follow Groudon, Lucius would have sensed its psychic signature. Cloaking might mask its body, but not its will.
As Groudon emerged, Steven Stone issued the command—"Infinity Energy Weapons, full firepower!"
Waves of ultrasonic-like energy rippled outward, enveloping Groudon in a barrage of shimmering pulses.
Groudon stirred slightly, then turned its gaze. Its eyes, radiant and golden from its Primal Reversion, pierced through the distance with terrifying pressure that could be felt even kilometers away.
Twin beams of brilliant gold burst forth from its eyes—charged with power potent enough to pierce the planet's core.
Groudon had fired Hyper Beam from its eyes.
A sharp whine split the air as layer after layer of Light Screens, formed by intricate diamond-shaped energy fields, unfolded defensively.
BOOM—BOOM—BOOM!
A volley of explosions thundered through the skies.
The combined defensive skills of Anabel's and Steven's two Metagross, Lucius's Gardevoir, and even Alakazam—all collapsed under the overwhelming force.
"To take Groudon down, we'll have to strike from the air… and from all angles," someone muttered grimly.
As the only Mythical Pokémon known never to possess flight, Groudon's mobility was its greatest weakness.
Metagross x2, Alakazam, Gardevoir, Dragonite, Garchomp, and over ten other elite-level Pokémon launched a synchronized airborne assault, surrounding Groudon on all sides.
Hyper Beam, Ice Beam, Gravity, Shadow Ball—an array of moves rained down like meteor showers.
But against Groudon—a god among Pokémon—type advantages meant little. The elite Pokémon used whatever moves they had mastered best.
Groudon roared skyward, its orange and yellow energy erupting like a geyser and wrapping around its body in a protective surge. Though bombarded by countless attacks, the massive creature remained unmoved, like a mountain unshaken by wind.
It swung one enormous claw, generating a violent gale that swept through the air like a flyswatter, scattering Dragonite, Garchomp, and others like leaves. Even the clouds above were shredded to tatters.
Lucius's brow furrowed. This Groudon, in its Primal Reversion, was even stronger than the Giratina he'd once encountered in the Distortion World.
The elite Pokémon could only restrain it at best—they simply couldn't inflict meaningful damage.
Indeed… only a Mythical Pokémon could truly face another.
But this wasn't the time to summon Kyogre. If the two ancient titans met again, it could trigger a cataclysm of world-ending proportions.
Lucius glanced toward the Infinity Energy devices surrounding the area. The machines were actively weakening Groudon, but the process needed time. As long as the champion-level Pokémon could hold out, the machines might just render the titan vulnerable.
That was the plan.
But the execution was far from smooth.
Though powerful, the elite Pokémon were still leagues below Groudon. They had to stay in constant motion, never remaining in one spot long enough to be struck directly.
Those in the air—Dragonite, Garchomp, and the like—were holding their own. But those on the ground were less fortunate.
Steven's Aggron, despite its elite status and formidable defense, was impaled by Groudon's jagged tail, then instantly incinerated by its searing heat.
Cynthia's Milotic took a direct hit from the earth-shaking Earth Power, its elegant body nearly torn in two.
And this wasn't even the worst of it.
The sheer magnitude of power unleashed by both elite and Mythical Pokémon was too much. In less than two minutes, the terrain of northwest Hoenn had been irreversibly altered.
Except for Lavaridge Town, which Lucius had protected with barriers, the surrounding Route 111, Route 112, Fiery Path, and even the Jagged Pass were all obliterated—collapsed into rubble and ash.
To the east of Mt. Chimney, the desert cracked open, forming a massive canyon that sank deep underground.
Lucius grimly estimated the Desert Ruins might have been completely annihilated.
Fortunately, the surrounding areas were mostly desert, forest, and mountain—there were no major cities nearby. Otherwise, the casualties would have been catastrophic.
Even so, the local wild Pokémon population had been devastated.
"Pull back the non-flying Pokémon," Lucius instructed the other Champions.
Groudon favored Ground-type moves against grounded opponents. A few more hits like that and the heat it generated could awaken the magma core—possibly triggering a full volcanic eruption.
As the grounded Pokémon retreated, Lucius released multiple clusters of virus swarms.
These virus entities were carried through space-time via Anabel's mastery of Temporal Force, deployed directly onto Groudon.
If it had been the original Veronica—before its mutation into the Mindworm Form—the heat alone would've annihilated the viral lifeforms before they even got close. But now, with its evolved Mindworm physiology, the viruses had adapted, functioning as mental parasites, impervious to heat.
As the Mindworms latched onto Groudon's colossal body, they launched an assault not on its physical form—but on its will.
Unlike Kyogre's oceanic calm and flowing mind, Groudon's spirit was an endless sea of magma and fire.
Of course, this "sea of fire" was a metaphysical construct—a mental plane—not literal magma.
Once inside, the Mindworms rapidly multiplied, infecting and blackening vast regions of the spirit-fire. The once-vivid mental ocean began to congeal into a hardened, obsidian state.
Groudon's massive body froze for a moment as a psychic inferno erupted into a tidal wave within its mind. Molten magma surged violently all around.
It had realized the intrusion.
Unlike Kyogre, who had been heavily infected during its slumber, Groudon was fully conscious and intact—discovered just as the Mindworm infection had begun to spread.
Though Groudon did not halt its physical assault, it redirected the core of its focus toward resisting the mental invasion of the Mindworm Form.
Groudon was one of the ancient beings born from the world's creation itself—its willpower rivaled only by the mightiest. But the Mindworm was no product of natural evolution within this world. As such, it was unaffected by Groudon's oppressive aura. On the contrary, the infection spread even faster the longer it remained unchecked.
Worse still, the effects of the Infinity Energy Weapon were compounding over time. Groudon's movements began to noticeably slow, its titanic strength weighed down by invisible chains.
It didn't take long for Groudon to understand: it could not repel this viral invasion by mental force alone. With a furious roar, Groudon unleashed wave after wave of raw energy, blasting the besieging Pokémon into disarray.
At that moment, a figure glowing with a blue psychic radiance blinked into existence before Groudon. Though the newcomer stood no taller than a human, their presence matched Groudon's overwhelming aura.
"How about it?" Mewtwo hovered just inches from Groudon's colossal face—his entire body barely the size of one of Groudon's eyes. "Agree to our terms, and I'll help you rid yourself of this… nuisance."
-------
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to my Patreon ——— patreon(.)com/Madbot635 [remove the parentheses ( )]