Wind swept down the mountain slopes, carrying dust and ozone from the clash of gods.
Even from afar, the sky still trembled from Rayquaza's power.
"I didn't expect Rayquaza to be this powerful," Maxie muttered.
"Such a clean end."
Archie didn't answer. His jaw was tight, eyes fixed on the distant sky as if replaying the battle in his mind.
Giovanni, watched the entire fight from a ridge several kilometers away, lowered his binoculars.
His expression was unreadable, calm, and collected, but a faint disappointment tugged at his mouth.
"At first," he said quietly, "I thought the three gods of Sinnoh might have reached their limit. But this… this was something else."
The lingering pressure of Rayquaza's dragon aura still rolled through the air like waves.
Even from this distance, Maxie felt it pressing at his lungs.
"Black… Mega Rayquaza," he whispered.
"It's just too strong."
Archie finally exhaled, his voice low with frustration.
"Cyrus' failure is our failure."
And they all knew why.
Giovanni had given them instructions, methods, and ways to trigger Groudon and Kyogre's Primal Reversion.
All the preparation, all the planning,
None of it mattered.
Rayquaza simply stood above everything.
Giovanni suddenly laughed, short, amused, without bitterness.
"Still, the world never lacks strong dragons."
Maxie and Archie glanced at him.
"The legendary, Kyurem," Giovanni continued, eyes gleaming.
"Said to be the strongest dragon. But Dark Kyurem, the fusion with Zekrom, now that is a sight I'd like to see. I wonder… how would it compare to Black Rayquaza?"
The two men straightened. Giovanni's voice was calm, but the direction was clear.
"It's about time Ghetsis learned where to find the DNA Splicers," Giovanni added lightly.
DNA Splicers. Dark Kyurem. The strongest dragon.
The idea alone electrified Maxie and Archie.
If Rayquaza could be kept away, if something else could challenge it, then Groudon and Kyogre would be free to clash without interference.
Land and sea are rising without restraint.
Their dreams are given space to grow.
Giovanni waved casually.
"That's enough for now. Let's move."
"Yes, sir!"
They followed him without hesitation, shadows swallowing their figures as they retreated from the mountain.
Further down the valley, Cynthia was already directing the Sinnoh Elites to round up the remnants of Team Galactic.
Cyrus had collapsed to his knees earlier, hollow and silent, his plan shattered along with his spirit.
The remaining Galactic members were scattered, injured, or too frightened to resist.
The investigation teams moved through them like a tide, securing one after another with practiced efficiency.
"Everyone, move! Bring them back to the Alliance. They'll face trial for everything they've done!" Cynthia ordered.
Sam stood beside her, watching the gods that lay on the torn ground.
The energy of the battle still crackled faintly around them.
"Sam…" Cynthia's voice softened.
She pointed toward the fallen forms of Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina.
"Will they be alright?"
"They're beings of concept," Sam said with a small smile.
"They're not going down that easily."
And it was true, legendary Pokémon were built differently.
Their bodies could endure things normal Pokémon never could.
Right now, they weren't injured so much as drained, their power spent in the clash with Rayquaza.
A low rumble stirred the air.
Dialga, least harmed among the trio, shifted first.
Its eyes opened slowly, glowing faint blue.
Palkia followed, rising with a tired but steady motion.
Giratina, still partly fading between realms, drifted upward last.
One by one, the three focused on Sam.
He met their gazes without flinching.
He didn't need to hide the fact that he was the one who guided Rayquaza.
They all felt it. And strangely, there was no hostility in their eyes.
Only acknowledgment….
Even if any of them had wanted revenge, Rayquaza was still hovering somewhere above like a silent warning.
Dialga's deep voice echoed directly in Sam's mind, heavy and reverberating like time itself shifting.
"Heir to our Little Brother… thank you. Your intervention allowed us to break free…"
Palkia and Giratina lowered their heads in agreement, power rippling faintly around them.
Sam waved the thanks away, more focused on something else, something bigger rising in the air, like a heartbeat pulsing beneath the world itself.
"Lord Arceus should be waking up soon… right?"
He said it calmly, but the air instantly felt heavier.
Even the three gods of Sinnoh paused.
And Cynthia, standing beside him, swallowed hard as the sky trembled once more.
This world wasn't like the one Sam remembered from games or anime back on Earth.
It was a merged version, characters, events, and arcs from games, manga, and animations all woven together into one living, unpredictable reality.
A world where anything could cross paths with anything.
And somehow, Sam had been dropped right into the middle of it.
He had already met people he'd admired through a screen, formed bonds with Pokémon he once only knew from stats and sprites.
If he could, he wanted to spend the rest of his life here, living, training, and traveling.
But peace was rare in this world.
Evil organizations lurked in every region, some more dangerous than their fictional counterparts ever were.
Their schemes weren't just plotlines; they were real threats.
And above all of them… rested the biggest danger of all.
Arceus.
The Creator.
And, in this world, a god holding deep resentment toward humanity.
'If I relax for even a moment,' Sam thought, 'this entire world could end before I even get the chance to die of old age.'
The shift in atmosphere was instantaneous the moment he mentioned Arceus.
Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina exchanged stunned looks.
For a second, they stared at Sam.
He wasn't supposed to know this. Very few beings did.
But after a brief silence, the three legends stopped trying to hide anything.
Dialga lowered its head slightly, power pulsing like a heartbeat.
"The fluctuations from the Hall of Origin grow stronger," it projected.
"Within a year, Father will awaken."
Palkia's stance tightened. Giratina's wings folded closer, shadows rippling around it.
"When that happens," Dialga continued, "crisis will follow."
Even Cynthia, usually steady and calm, drew in a sharp breath.
Her eyes widened, remembering something said to her back in the Kalos region.
'A real disaster that could end everything…'
The weight of Dialga's words pressed heavily on the air.
Sam wasn't shocked, but the timeline threw him off.
"One year…" he murmured.
"I didn't think the Lord would wake up this soon."
The three legends exchanged another glance, something like hesitation passing between them.
Dialga spoke again, in a solemn voice.
"We ask for your aid. When Father awakens, we wish for you to stand with us, to help us calm His rage."
"Don't worry, fate is in your favor, everything is predetermined."
Sam blinked.
For a second, he wondered if he'd misheard.
'They… want me to help fight their dad?'
Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina, creations of Arceus himself, were seriously asking him, a human, to join them in confronting the creator.
'Wow,' Sam thought.
'That's… impressively disloyal. Legendary family drama right there.'
He glanced between the three massive dragons, all of whom stared back with honest expectation.
He couldn't help it; his mouth twitched.
"These guys," Sam muttered internally, "are really something. Asking a human to help take on the Father of All Pokémon? That's basically throwing me under the bus…"
But their desperation was real.
Even Cynthia beside him could feel the tension rolling off the three legends, her expression softening with concern.
They weren't joking.
The Sinnoh gods, beings worshipped across the world, were asking Sam for help against the strongest entity in existence.
And the worst part was…
Sam knew they weren't exaggerating.
Arceus waking up meant the world could end.
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