Sootopolis, Hoenn.
Kaito watched with amusement and no small amount of reverence as his people worked on cleaning up the disaster zone.
A disaster zone that consisted of a space snake coiled drunkenly around the Sky Tower, a drunk moving mountain slumped over the local stadium, and a similarly drunk whale-like creature floating belly up off the shore.
In the myths and legends of their ancestors, they depicted the ancient trio as these all-knowing, all-powerful gods who could do anything they wanted and viewed humans like them as nothing more than ants that they let live because of their compassion.
However, in the past few days, they realized how wrong these ancient legends were.
Not about their compassion, because they truly were compassionate, based on the centuries of memories that they saw through the Sky Father's power.
But the legends about their temperament? That was a straight-up lie.
They were not the solemn, no-nonsense gods who always took themselves seriously.
They were, instead, fun-loving creatures. Especially the Moving Mountain and the Healing Seas. They seemed to take a special kind of delight in annoying their brother and fooling around with the humans.
On the night of the celebrations, Kaito even saw some children climb on the Moving Mountain, Groudon's plates, for fun.
Originally, the parents and the other humans were terrified, not because they believed that Groudon would do something to them, but because they knew that his ambient temperature was so high that he could incinerate the children on contact.
However, when they approached the children to save them, they realized that Groudon's plating was not hot. Instead, it was warm, like the warmth you would feel near a bonfire on a cold winter night, or the warm embrace of a mother.
They realized that Groudon was actively controlling his surface temperature to make sure the children and the humans were not harmed.
Similarly, they observed Kyogre consciously control the waters around him, making sure there was no turbulence with every flap of his fins. This made sure that the boats holding the people who wanted to celebrate with the Sea King were not overturned.
As for the Sky King, Rayquaza? He drowned himself in alcohol and dozed off to sleep then and there, done with the day.
"Still waiting here?"
Kaito smiled at Damian's words, noticing the happy tone in the man's voice.
He understood the man's joy, just like he understood the joy that Maya, their fellow Elder, and even the councilors felt, given that the entire upper echelon of Hoenn had been drunk under the table that day by Rayquaza.
The governing structure of Hoenn as a whole was structured in such a way that it would baffle most people out there.
The councilors, made up of the Iwi offshoots and the descendants of the ancient Mayan priests, were the de facto rulers of the country. They made all the laws, and they made all the decisions.
The Outer Tribe and the Inner Tribe were the tools with which the councilors enforced these rules.
The Inner Tribe, made up of two factions, is responsible for governing Hoenn and enforcing the rules of their people's lives.
The Moving Mountain tribe is responsible for regulating everything that has to do with the earth beneath their feet. From farming, manufacturing, transportation, and even the production of ground vehicles. If a task has to do with the Earth, they are responsible for maintaining it.
The Healing Seas tribe, on the other hand, regulated everything that had to do with the seas. From water purification, recycling, navigation, seafood production and farming, water material dumping regulation, cleaning the seas, and even the production of sea vessels used in the navy.
It was these two tribes that were represented on the flag of Hoenn in the form of the red and blue orbs.
As for the ring enveloping the orbs? That represented the Outer Tribe, made up solely of the Green Sun tribe.
The Green Sun tribe is the protector of Hoenn. They are the army, the navy, the air force, the military, the police, the spies, the internal peacekeepers, and everything else that has to do with protecting their people from harm.
But now, aside from himself and Damian, every other high-ranking official across all these branches of their government was sleeping off the booze's effects.
Because the Moving Mountain tribe was finally able to touch their very god without dying outright.
Because the Healing Seas tribe was able to see their god in person without imploding under the pressure of the waters.
And the Green Sun tribe was able to look their god in the eyes, finally having the burden placed on them because of their ancestors' actions removed.
That was why Damian and the others were so happy.
Because to them, this communion was a grand success where they finally reunited with their gods.
"Kaito?"
"Hm?"
"You haven't answered my question yet."
"Ah! Right. Sorry. I was lost in thought. To answer your question, no. I was just planning to move. We have a lot of things to take care of after that conversation we've had with them."
Damian's face twitched as he remembered the conversation that they had with Rayquaza, Groudon, and Kyogre after the Sky King finally forgave them and decided to coil around the Sky Tower.
To say that the ancient serpent was not happy with the way they had been doing things would be an understatement.
Rayquaza was happy to know that they had been keeping the spirit of his wisdom alive by saving every endangered species driven to extinction by human hands and putting them on Hoenn.
He was happy to see that there was no discrimination in their land and everyone led as happy a life as possible. He was especially happy when he learned that they were trying to use as much clean energy and clean technology as possible.
He was also happy to know that every astronaut and animal he saved from their death in space had been saved by The Outer Tribe and given a place on Hoenn.
However, he was not happy to know that they had silenced a lot of people in the past thousand years to keep his existence a secret.
According to Rayquaza, he did not particularly care how the humans viewed him, and neither did he wish to remain anonymous, especially if it cost the lives of living beings. He said that he had already been called many a name throughout history, some of them good, most of them bad, so he really did not mind what the humans called him.
Of course, the Councilors vehemently protested since they did not want to see the image of their gods be tarnished by the ignorant and scared masses of the outside world.
However, Rayquaza made it clear that this rule about no longer silencing people was non-negotiable, so the council reluctantly relented.
That being said, Kaito knew that neither the councilors nor the elders would stay silent. Hell, even he was not going to stay silent about this.
That is why the councilors gave him and his tribe a secret task.
To spread the greatness of their gods subtly throughout the world.
Books, movies, games, plays, the method did not matter. What mattered was that the existence of the three gods must be lodged in the collective minds of all the humans on the planet as benevolent and compassionate entities.
Kaito smiled a little before speaking up.
"You know, I think I just got a really good idea."
"What?"
"You remember that game you bought for your niece recently?"
Damien thought for a bit before remembering.
"You mean that game from Nintendo? What was it called again? Pocket Monster or something?"
"Yeah. But the people are taking to calling it Pokémon these days. Anyways, the point is, we could plant some of our agents and slowly take over Nintendo. Then, over the years, we will slowly model some of the sprites on the gods and paint them as the 'good guys' in the minds of all the children who play the game. Given the reach of the entertainment sector, most of the next generation should be able to grow up with this kind of thinking in place, making it easier for them to accept the three when the time inevitably comes for us to expose ourselves."
"....Devious. Very devious. I like it!"
Kaito smiled at Damian's words.
However, the conversation between the two came to an abrupt end as Kaito's Nokia 3210 phone rang.
"Yes, Ishiro. Wait, calm down....WHAT!?? GET ON THE CASE IMMEDIATELY! I'LL MOBILIZE MY FORCES RIGHT NOW!!"
"Kaito...?"
Kaito's face took on a grim look.
"No time to talk. There has been an incident in Japan. I need to go-"
"Hold on. What happened? Maybe I can help?"
"Remember that parasite that Monarch was tracking? They found it in Janjira, Japan. After it caused the local Nuclear Reactor to collapse."
Damian's face turned to stone as he marched alongside his friend, taking out his own phone and dialing the number to his subordinate.
"Casualties?"
"In the dozens, and rising. Monarch has already been mobilized, but we don't know anything about the parasite, so we need to be extra cautious about this."
"....Should we tell them?"
"No."
Kaito shook his head as a chopper approached the nearby landing pad, ready to take the two elders to their respective destinations.
"If we depend on them for everything, we will be no different from a type of parasite. We must take care of our own things as much as possible. Asking the gods for help should be the last resort."
"Very well. I'll have my tribe on standby and inform Maya as well. Should things go south, we will be ready to back up Monarch's forces."
With that, the chopper flew away, heading straight for the port city where a plane was ready for Kaito and his forces.
However, what the two humans did not know was that Rayquaza was only half-asleep and had heard their entire conversation. He was also actively using his ability to intercept their calls and was pretty much up to date on the situation.
With a huff, the ancient dragon stretched lazily around the spire before straightening up and shooting up into the sky.
Several hours later, by the time Kaito and his people got to Janjira, expecting refugees fleeing the city full of radiation and panic all around, the only thing they found was an eerie calm as the people were too stunned to speak or say anything, with many of them left in a catatonic state.
As for Janjira's Nuclear Plant? That place was no more. In its place was a colossal crater and a hole that looked like someone sandblasted a tunnel to the depths of the Earth.
Days later, Monarch would finally conclude that the parasite that had caused all of this discussion was obliterated by what the witnesses described as a beam of light from the sky that incinerated everything.
As for the main culprit behind this? He was back in Hoenn, drinking away happily from his offerings while having a few debates about science, technology, and history with the local scientists and historians.
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