Underwater

It sure is cold down here at the bottom of the sea, it’s very wet here too. There are pokemon down here, let’s see who pops up first, a clamperl. Dive ball go!

Clamperl: That pearl sure looks pretty… watch out for the clamp!

- Welcome to the bench, Shelly!

Shelly ♀ Lv. 22

Being the one with a pokemon that can use dive, Maxie and I decided I’d take the low path and he’d take the high path. He didn’t have much choice since his pokemon can’t even surf and I wasn’t going to wait while he “acquired” a boat.

I wonder how much air I have in this dive bubble. I figure it’s best not to think about it and carry on to under route 128. Before the air in the bubble gets a little too stuffy I find my way into an underwater cavern.

Seafloor Cavern

Seeing the submarine crudely parked in this cavern leads me to believe the aqua crew are here. I doubt the submarine will get them out, it seems to have collided with the cavern wall and is taking on water. I guess that’s why all the crew have abandoned ship.

Exploring into the cavern reveals several aqua goons trying to stop me, I deal with them swiftly and carry on going deeper into the cavern.

Well, well, look who it is… wait. How did you get in here without a submarine?

- The question is how do you get out without a submarine.

We’ll figure something out…

- If Groudon is anything to go by, I reckon Kyogre is a giant pokemon too. Do you really want to anger it by waking it up in a place like this? This whole place could collapse in on us.

Archie has the red orb, he’ll control Kyogre!

- You still think that after Maxie failed to do the same to Groudon with the blue orb?

Oh boy… but I can’t betray my captain!

- Just let me past and let me try to stop him.

… fine.

I make it to the deepest point, as I walk down it opens up to reveal a large cavern half filled with water. Another statue-like pokemon is in the middle of the pool, my guess is that this is Kyogre sleeping.

Must… awaken…

- Archie, stop!

No distractions!

Archie immediately orders his pokemon to attack me, the Colonel and Zuul knock them out in short order.

No matter, the time is now!

Oh crap!

The red orb fills the whole cavern with red light, Kyogre wakes up, dives under the water and swims away.

Arr… what foul magic be that? It ignored me?

Sorry I’m late. You’ve gone and done it now, Archie!

- What now?

See for yourself.

Maxie leads us through the cavern to a way back to the surface. Outside, a thunderstorm is raging, the ocean has gotten very choppy and a torrential downpour has begun. What little ground we’re standing on is slowly being swallowed up bit by bit each time a wave sweeps over it, soaking our feet in the process.

This ain’t be exactly what I be wantin’ t'happen…

Look there! Kyogre’s heading north!

Flying on a skarmory, Steven comes landing on the tiny island we stand on.

Kyogre is heading to Sootopolis City, Groudon is already there. It looks to be issuing a challenge and it seems Kyogre has accepted.

- How do we stop them?

There’s someone I want you to meet, follow me.

Steven hops back on his skarmory and takes to the sky.

- Go Nimbus! Take me up, follow that skarmory!

Oi, an’ we just be chopped lily-liver’d landlubbers?!

We should go to Sootopolis too, maybe we can use the orbs again to stop them! My boat is just over there.

Ye gots yerself a vessel? Maybe ye not be such a landlubber after all! Yarr!

Sootopolis City

The city seems to be built on the inner walls of a giant crater, a lake in the centre has Groudon and Kyogre in it exchanging blows. Above the city there are oddly shaped storm clouds.

Steven and I find a gap in the clouds to fly through and land near the city’s gym where someone in a sailor outfit is standing. One side of the city is being pummelled with torrential rain and the opposite half appears to be baking in unnaturally bright sunshine.

Let me introduce you to Wallace. He was the gym leader here but he recently handed his title over to his mentor, Juan. Wallace, this is Caldar.

Hello, I’m glad you’re here.

- Hi.

I need your help since I can’t leave my city while it’s in need. These weather distortions above us right now are going to spread over the earth eventually if we don’t stop it. Groudon seems to be displacing the upper atmosphere so raw solar radiation can burn everything away and Kyogre is going to drown the whole planet until the surface is nothing but water!

- So how do we stop it?

I doubt they’re distorting the weather on purpose and they just can’t control their powers while they fight eachother. But there is legend of a third pokemon who keeps the other two in balance; Rayquaza.

- Right, so where do I find Rayquaza?

It’s rumoured that Rayquaza has been spotted recently to the south at Sky Pillar.

- Then that’s where I’m going, maybe I can anger it into chasing me here or something. Nimbus! Take me up!

Pacifidlog Town

As I flew south I easily spotted the Sky Pillar but strong winds kept me from landing near it so I decided to land at this nearby floating settlement.

Storm clouds are slowly approaching from the north and the sea is getting a little choppy here already.

Beauty carries me across the water to the island where the Sky Pillar stands.

Sky Pillar

As I climb the tower a claydol blocks my path. Well it’s the first pokemon here so… pokeball go!

Claydol: Um… I don’t even… are those cannons in place of it’s arms?!

- Welcome to the bench, Dollface.

Dollface Lv. 36

I finally make it to the top of the tower to see Rayquaza sleeping. I step closer, it raises it’s head and stares at me. The storm clouds roll around the tower, Rayquaza looks up at them.

- So.. uh… Ray, can I call you Ray? I hope you understand what this means, right?

Rayquaza leaps up and takes flight above the clouds, heading north.

- I think he understood. Nimbus! Let’s fly, follow that dragon!

Sootopolis City

From above I can see Archie and Maxie holding up the red and blue orbs, pleading for Kyogre and Groudon to stop.

The magma cultists are rescuing people from being washed away as half the city’s streets have become rivers. The aqua crew are using their water pokemon to douse the buildings in the sunny half of the city as the intense heat is starting to make some buildings smoulder and catch fire.

Rayquaza bursts a hole in the clouds and swoops down between Kyogre and Groudon. Kyogre and Groudon pause their attacks and Rayquaza roars loudly, a shockwave pulses from it and it clears the storm clouds.

Kyogre and Groudon back away and retreat, the sky returns to normal and the sunlight dims to it’s normal intensity. Rayquaza flies high above and heads back south.

I have Nimbus land me next to the gym.

Wow, you did it!

Yarr, ye did what we could not.

Impressive that such a powerful pokemon would heed you.

- Thanks, but I hope you won’t try something like this again.

Narp, I learned me lesson. There be better ways t'protect th’ seas.

We’ve already both agreed to return the orbs to Mount Pyre.

Thank you for saving Sootopolis. As a reward I’ll give you this HM07, and this information. Your friend Professor Oak is waiting for you in Ever Grande City, but they won’t let you in unless you get the eight badges of Hoenn and beat the champion.

- Finally someone tells me what I need to know! Thanks for the waterfall HM, I only have this gym left to go.

Well, I wish you good luck in your battle against my old mentor. I’ve got to go now, there’s something I need to take care of…