I floated in the exosphere, staring down at the landmass that was created accidentally some time ago when Groudon and Kyogre got into a fight just for the fun of it and forced me to come down and 'secure' the arena with my ability, making sure they didn't destroy everything just by moving around.
I don't know if it is pure chance or fate that this land would become the home of the Mayan remnants that I had taken in back then, along with a few other tribes and people.
Even more ridiculous is the name that they've chosen for themselves, but that is a different conversation altogether.
Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and concentrated, knowing that what I was about to do was quite the delicate work and would take a lot of effort to get right on the first try.
Letting my instincts take over, I concentrated on my body, specifically, I visualized my scales, which acted as both a way to calm the weather through vibration and to generate heat within my body in the near vacuum of the Exosphere, and even in the vacuum of space when I Occasionally try to leave the Earth's magnetic field to experiment with new ways of flying around.
Over the millions of years I've spent in this world, I have long since learned to control every aspect of my body effortlessly, but some principles of physics I have never tried. Mainly because there was never a need or the opportunity to try them.
Such as this one.
Gently, I started vibrating my scales along with the golden rings on my body, which act as a biological solenoid, trying to create a magnetic flux tube.
In essence, I am turning my body into a giant, biological antenna.
Gently, and slowly, I changed the frequency of my vibration, 'modulating' myself to pick up different levels of radio waves.
And sure enough, within a matter of a few different modulation levels, I caught the man-made radio waves bouncing around in the atmosphere.
Now, here comes the tricky part.
Concentrating to the best of my limits, I pulled on the carrier waves and started the process of demodulation.
Removing the high-frequency carrier on the AM waves, while also reconstructing the voltage changes in the FM waves. A process that is a lot more difficult to do than just say out loud, especially since I am not a machine designed for that purpose, but a living creature.
Thankfully, the more I did it, the easier I got.
Within half an hour, I could do it with conscious effort.
Within an hour? It was barely worth mentioning.
Within two hours? It did not even require any effort on my part. Just a single thought, and I could directly tap into human radio waves.
'That's radio communication done. Now, the satellites.'
For a being like me who has spent the majority of their life in the boundary between the void and this world, I am no stranger to all kinds of radiations and waves, so it is extremely easy for me to pick out microwave beams that humans use in their satellite communications.
If I were to take in the whole beams to decipher, the humans would know that someone was messing with their communications. So, what I did was refract the beams a little bit, catching small parts of the beam into myself and listen into the communications.
But this is a whole different breed of headache, given that satellite communications are not just audio, but pure data.
Decyphering this will take time, but for now, the audio communications that I can listen to will do.
The very reason I am trying this in the first place.
I don't want to go down there for a talk, only to have a nuke or two pointed at my face because I could not tune into the humans' method of communication and did not know their plans beforehand.
Spending another hour going through their live communications, I was finally assured that this was not going to be an ambush, like what happened long ago with those Vikings, or even those idiots of the proto-christians from nearly two thousand years ago.
'Ok. Enough stalling. Let's get this over with.'
Taking another deep breath and snacking on a small, fist-sized meteor to calm my nerves, I plunged back down to the Earth, heading straight for Hoenn.
They want to talk to me so badly? So be it. Let's see what fresh hell they prepared for me this time.
——————————————————————————-
Sootopolis, Hoenn. 1999.
In the capital city of Hoenn, a storm raged for the first time in decades as the people watched the dark, cloud-covered skies, waiting for their god to descend.
And they knew that he was up there because the Sootopolis Astrophysical Observatory had been keeping tabs on him above their skies for the past few hours as he kept moving up into the exosphere and down into the atmosphere repeatedly.
While the people of Hoenn did not know why he kept doing this, the truth was that their god was doing his equivalent of a human pacing in a room with anxiety and stress.
At the base of the tallest structure in the city, called the Sky Pillar, a large group of men and women, dressed in an ancient style of robes decorated with red, blue, and green patterns, stood.
Some of them stared with blank white eyes into the atmosphere, knowing without the need of instruments that their ancient deity was circling their skies, while others opened up their minds, creating a primitive telepathic link with their fellow humans and the blind ones to convey what the descendants of the ancient Mayans were 'seeing' with their extrasensory perception.
These abilities were, of course, a secret that nobody outside of Hoenn knows. Even within this country, only those whose bloodlines stretch back to ancient times know of such things.
Because they knew better than anyone, the nature of their fellow man.
These 'gifts' that they had inherited from their ancestors, who got their own abilities from their god, were not meant for conflict, for which they would surely have been used if others knew of them.
Instead, these abilities were meant to maintain peace and understanding between their people, and to commune with their god should he ever choose to forgive them for their ancestors' mistakes.
A forgiveness, which seems to be on the verge of being granted.
Suddenly, as one, all the blind folk jerked their heads up with a reverent expression.
Without hesitation, they fell to their knees and bowed. An action that everyone else imitated as they too 'saw' what the blind fold did through the telepathic link.
The downpour suddenly stopped, yet the clouds remained. And from between these clouds, appeared a serpentine shape lined with emerald scales and golden lines.
He did not roar to show his arrival, for there was no need for him to announce his presence.
He did not slam into the ground to show his dominance, nor did he strike any one of them down, for he was not a beast.
Instead, he simply floated above the tower, staring at them with a cold look in his colossal yellow eyes.
There were no words spoken, and neither were there any appeasements made. Because they were well past that point.
The telepaths among the humans, those whose ancestors came from a place far too unbelievable for most people, a place so far below the Earth's surface that only the Titans and their gods could access it, felt their god's mind brush against theirs.
A gentle touch asking for a connection.
With great reverence, the telepaths freely opened their minds, hoping for enlightenment.
Yet, all they found was horror beyond words.
They saw it all.
From recent history, the horrors of the Cold War, moving backwards.
They saw the space race from his perspective. The junk accumulating in the orbit with each launch, hindering his mobility and reach, forcing him to fly even higher than he ever needed to.
They saw the monstrous actions committed by the space agencies in the name of the dominance of their respective nations.
Pure, innocent animals shot into space, knowing that they would die. People, shot into space in half-baked capsules, who were never told that it would be a one-way trip.
And even the rocket launches that failed to even take off from the ground, such as the infamous Apollo-1, where with each failed launch, lives were lost.
And he was there for all of it, watching from the skies.
Then, they saw his memories move back in time.
To the world wars. Each one a testament to humanity's ability for destruction. They saw the casualties, they saw the cruelties, they saw the concentration camps, they saw the speeches, they saw every single detail with crystal clarity through the eyes of their god.
They saw the Trinity test through his eyes, the damage it caused to the area.
Every single bomb, every single gun fired, every single plane that ever flew through the atmosphere, they saw it all.
Then, history started to turn back even more.
They saw the slave ships crossing the Atlantic. They saw the conquest of the world by the Western Hemisphere. They saw the barbaric acts of that generation of humans committed against their very kind.
They saw the fights between the pirates and the royal navies. They saw the colonization.
Then, time turned back once more.
They saw the witch trials. The innocent women accused of witchcraft and punished, purely based on the bias, greed, lust, and wrath of those in charge. Or sometimes, for trying to practice the power of science and enlightenment.
The smoke of the pyres stretching into the sky, filling his nostrils with the stench of burning human flesh.
The visions kept going back in time.
This time, they saw the fall of the Aztec empire. They saw the clash of the Aztec cold steel against the Conquistadors. They saw the outbreak of the plagues brought by the Spanish in the Americas.
Then, they saw the siege of Baghdad. Rivers running black with the ink of the books, thrown into the waters after being taken from the House of Wisdom. Ancient knowledge and enlightenment, thrown away in a quest for power.
They saw the same river run red with blood as the blood of the city's inhabitants polluted it.
They saw the Crusades, the oppression of those who chose a different religion from the one in charge.
They saw the burning of the Library of Alexandria. The loss of centuries of wisdom going up in smoke as the place of knowledge and enlightenment was caught between the power struggles of man.
They saw the sacking of Carthage. The salting of the earth, the poisoning of the wells, the physical and mental violation enforced on the people by the Roman legions.
They saw the debauchery of humanity. They saw the darkest of sins.
They even saw their own ancestors, the ancient Mayan people. They saw the hubris of the ancient king whose name was long since forgotten. They saw the blood sacrifices. They saw the purging of ancient knowledge that was startlingly modern. They saw the systematic hunting and killing of most of the priests who knew the rituals that were taught to them by their god, sparing only a few for the sole reason that their struggles amused that mad king.
They saw the entire breadth of human history, beginning all the way from the very first moment a primate decided to walk on two feet and grab things with its hands, all the way to the modern world.
They understood now the breadth of the knowledge their god held about their race as a whole.
He had been watching them all along, every joy and sorrow, every triumph and tragedy, he was there for all of it, barely missing any of them.
Not just watching, but actively trying to help them in any way he could.
While he could not truly show his full form to the humanity of the old, since they would be terrified instead of accepting his help, he tried to guide them telepathically or through other means.
With each age, with each civilization, he tried to put them on the path of knowledge, wisdom, enlightenment, and harmony. But at every turn, he was spurned one way or another.
But he did not give up that easily. He tried again, and again, and again, and again. Yet, it was all for nothing.
Their ancestors, the Mayans, were the final ones to disappoint him for good, forcing him to give up on humanity and return to his home, remaining as a mere observer from then on.
And now, he showed it all to them, who hoped to seek his forgiveness and reconnect.
And truthfully, they were not the only ones yearning for reconnection either.
While most of them only got the knowledge and memories from their god, the telepaths themselves felt the sheer breadth of their god's emotions slam into them like a tide.
A mixture of raging emotions that changed with every image and memory. But the one that stood out the most to these telepaths was when he thought of the ancient Mayans, his former home.
The telepaths felt a wave of grief for the loss of life at the hands of the tyrant. They felt his rage at the human sacrifice and the absolute betrayal he felt.
However, aside from that, they also felt his guilt as he remembered his priests that he had forgotten all about while drowning in his own sorrow. They felt exactly what he felt, for his perceived role in the miscommunication that happened. They felt his yearning to redo it all, yet they also felt his guilt and fear of another betrayal stop him from taking any action. They felt his hesitation and fear to form a true connection one more time, after having such connections broken over and over again throughout human history.
To the telepaths, their god's emotions felt all too familiar and all too human.
Yet, instead of diminishing his divinity, in their eyes, this empathy, this capacity to feel emotions, this genuine care he felt for their ancestors, even after all this time, elevated his position even more.
Once the memories and the storm of emotions had receded, the Green Sun stared down at them with his yellow eyes.
He was not condemning them, and neither was he judging them. He was asking them a question.
'Are you truly ready? For what the future holds? Look back at the history of your species and my relationship with them, and tell me, do you believe your people are ready to truly live alongside me once again? Are you ready to trust me, and in return, have my trust again?'
That was the question that their deity was asking them. And honestly, the famed elders that have been alive for nearly a century, the revered councilors who are nearing the end of their lives at a hundred and fifty, the knowledgeable and traditional descendants of the Sky King's ancient priests, and even the descendants of the people from below, the distant relatives of the Iwi, had no answer to that.
So, in the end, they could only reply with honesty.
"We do not know. But we will try. We will try to be better than our ancestors. To be better than succumbing to our baser instincts. To use knowledge and wisdom instead of succumbing to fear and ignorance. We will try to be what Humanity is supposed to be."
There was no response to their collective proclamation because there was no need for one.
Kukulkan, the feathered serpent. The Green Sun of Hoenn. Zeus's Lighting bolt. The Emerald Shield of Russian myths. The Father of the Skies. The Old Man of the Heavens, whose voice was heard whenever humanity needed it the most. The Sky King. Ra-Harakhti of Egypt. Tianlong, the Celestial Dragon. The Celestial Watchman of the Industrial Era. The Aether. The Emerald Comet. The Bifrost of the Norse. The Emerald Dragon Trail, the guiding path of the ancient sailors through the localized aurora trails caused by his flight.
Rayquaza.
The ancient being of many names and titles slowly coiled around the colossal spire at the top of the Sky Pillar. Its materials and construction, an exponential improvement compared to the crude workmanship of their ancestors. Yet, its working principle and designs remained the same.
Power surged throughout the city and travelled to the batteries and capacitors already in place to take in said power.
For the first time in nearly two thousand years, the Sky King rested among humans once more.
And all of Hoenn celebrated this monumental moment that signified their reconciliation with their gods.
Yet, it would not be the end.
Suddenly, their god gave a huff as a wave of fond annoyance dominated the mind link between him and the telepaths and priests, making them face the same direction that he did.
Only to find that one of the mountains in the distance was collapsing, revealing a pillar of iridescent light that burst into the sky before collapsing inwards, creating a portal.
Rayquaza opened his maw wide open, power already gathered in his throat and ready to fire his Macron Cannon in a warning to his siblings should they do something as stupid as coming to the surface, knowing that they would kill everything around them.
However, he stopped when he saw the new appearance of his brothers.
A wave of shock rippled through the ancient being's mind as he saw his brothers in their new state. A situation that his older brothers took full advantage of.
Kyogre wasted no time and directly jumped into the ocean, happily swimming near the shore, while Groudon made a beeline straight for the factory warehouse where the people of Hoenn had stored their wine offerings, the drinks based on the Balch of the ancient Mayan people, prepared for Rayquaza.
Watching Groudon immediately start gulping down the wine without a care in the world, Rayquaza gave a distinctly human-like sigh, much to the amusement and bafflement of the people below.
Then, he turned a flat look to the humans below and transmitted an image that can be summed up in one sentence.
'Welcome to the circus. Hope you got enough wine to satiate us all.'
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Author Notes:
Rayquaza and humans: Trauma, death, destruction, and finally acceptance. Ready for a group hug.
Groudon and Kyogre: Let's crash this party and drink all of little bro's booze and leave him high and dry!
Rayquaza's arrival in Hoenn: (Click here for Image)
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