Want to read ahead. You know where
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Inside the temporary Rocket Launch Base, the command room buzzed with tension thick enough to choke on.
"The equipment's been calibrated!"
"All systems ready to launch!"
Technicians rushed between consoles, their faces pale under the harsh fluorescent lights.
One of them stepped forward, clutching a silver case.
"Here it is, sir."
Wallace took the case, his usually calm composure now clouded with gravity.
He flipped it open.
Inside, one red button.
That single button carried the fate of the Hoenn Region.
He hesitated. His hand hovered above it, trembling slightly.
"President Stone," he asked quietly, turning to the man beside him, "are we really sure this will save us?"
The room went still. Even the hum of machinery seemed to fade.
That red button was hope.
As long as it wasn't pressed, there was still a chance to reconsider.
But once it was pressed, there would be no turning back.
Success meant salvation. Failure meant the extinction of Hoenn.
Wallace swallowed hard, the weight of millions pressing on his shoulders.
Around him, the air was thick with anxiety.
Steven Stone stepped forward and laid a reassuring hand on his friend's shoulder.
"Wallace," he said softly, "there's no other way. We've done all we can."
Wallace met his eyes.
In that brief exchange, the two shared an understanding only those who'd faced disaster together could know.
"…Alright," Wallace whispered.
He gripped Steven's hand, straightened his back, and pressed the button.
A deep, resonant click echoed through the room.
Then came the roar.
Chi-chi, !
The launch clamps around the rocket detached, falling away in sequence.
White flames erupted from its engines, blindingly bright against the dark sky.
"Lift-off!" shouted a technician.
Through the reinforced glass, everyone watched the rocket surge upward, a trail of white smoke carving a path toward the heavens.
Wallace exhaled shakily.
"Come on… please."
Far away, in Lavaridge Town, Flannery clasped her hands tightly, murmuring a prayer.
"Arceus, please… let this work."
In Fortree City, Winona looked up at the streak of light piercing the clouds, whispering under her breath.
"Fly true…"
The entire region watched together, their hopes, their fears, all bound to that single ascending flame.
Back in the command room, researchers scrambled to monitor readings.
"Rocket has entered the stratosphere!"
"Crossing the ozone layer now!"
"Entering outer space!"
"Estimated thirty minutes to reach target coordinates!"
Every report tightened the coil of tension inside the room.
Sam stood silently beside Cynthia, her hand in his.
The reflection of the rocket's trail flickered in her golden eyes as she squeezed his fingers.
Neither spoke. Words weren't needed.
"Trajectory stable!" someone called out.
"Impact in sixty seconds!"
The final countdown began.
"Ten… nine…"
The room fell silent except for the rhythmic beeping of machines.
"Five… four… three… two… one…"
"Detonate!"
On the screen, the rocket collided with the massive meteorite hanging in space.
The explosion was blinding, white and red light bursting outward in a silent bloom.
Fragments scattered in every direction, drifting like dying embers across the void.
"Did it… work?" someone whispered.
The monitors flickered as data streamed in.
The meteorite's shape emerged again through the haze of the explosion.
Gasps filled the room.
The meteorite was still there, smaller, cracked, but far from destroyed.
Only a third of it had been blasted away.
The rest, still enormous, continued its deadly descent toward Hoenn.
"No…" Wallace slumped into his chair, face pale.
The faint tremor in his hand betrayed the helplessness he felt.
Even without the numbers, everyone could see it, the meteorite was still large enough to wipe out the entire region.
Across the room, despair spread like wildfire.
Technicians stared blankly at their screens.
A few covered their faces.
Some just stood frozen, unable to breathe.
Outside the base, people watching the live broadcast broke into cries and prayers.
Children clung to their parents.
Hope, once burning bright, flickered out.
Was this the end of Hoenn?
Then,
"Wait!" someone shouted.
"There's something on the screen!"
A single point of light appeared on the radar, small, but moving fast.
Sam's eyes widened as recognition hit him like lightning.
"That's, Rayquaza!"
Everyone turned to the monitors.
The dot of light grew larger and clearer until the mighty serpent filled the view, emerald scales gleaming, body twisting through the stratosphere like a living storm.
Rayquaza, the Sky High Pokémon, ruler of the skies.
It let out a roar that shook even the instruments in the room.
Though they couldn't hear the sound through the vacuum, everyone felt it, a primal cry of defiance that stirred something deep within their hearts.
Golden energy surged along Rayquaza's body as it charged a beam of raw power.
The attack lanced through the void, striking the meteorite dead-on.
BOOM!
Chunks of rock shattered outward.
Gravel scattered across the black sky.
The meteorite's outer layer was peeling away, burned and battered under Rayquaza's relentless assault.
"Ho-oh, !!!" Rayquaza's voice seemed to thunder through the heavens, full of unrestrained dominance.
In every city across Hoenn, people watching the broadcast cheered through their tears.
Hope, once lost, was reignited by the sight of the Sky Lord fighting for them.
On the monitors, Rayquaza charged again, energy flaring brighter than ever as it dove toward the falling meteorite, determined to grind it to dust.
On the giant display, Rayquaza's attacks blazed like comets, slamming into the meteorite again and again.
Each strike was spectacular, each explosion scattering molten shards into the void, but the core of the meteorite still burned fiercely, untouched.
The screens trembled with every impact, the room filled with the rhythm of distant thunder.
"DL, !!!"
A roar reverberated through the feed.
Rayquaza's eyes burned with realization, it wasn't enough.
Its body began to glow, emerald scales flashing with a strange, pulsating light.
The ancient delta symbol etched on its body shone brighter and brighter until the entire sky seemed to pulse with its radiance.
Power gathered in waves around Rayquaza.
Winds coiled into storms.
The atmosphere itself seemed to tremble.
In the command room, Sam could feel it, a bond.
Not just sight, but connection.
His heart pounded as if it shared the same rhythm as the Sky Lord's.
"Rayquaza," he whispered under his breath, "it's time… Use Dragon Ascent!"
"Raaahhhh!!!"
Rayquaza shot upward its energy forming a blazing trail.
Then, with divine fury, it dove, like lightning tearing the meteorite apart.
The soundless roar of its descent rippled even through the instruments.
BOOM!
The meteorite exploded outward in a flash of red and gold.
It was now half the original size.
The impact sent waves of debris spiraling into the blackness of space.
"Go, Rayquaza! Go!!"
Wallace's voice broke through the stunned silence, his fists clenched.
That cry spread like fire.
"Come on, Rayquaza!"
"You can do it!"
From the command room to the crowded streets of Slateport, voices rose in unison, millions of people praying, shouting, begging the Sky Lord to save their home.
Maybe Rayquaza heard them. Maybe it felt them.
It stopped midair, drawing back, the glow around it intensifying until the entire sky seemed alive with emerald light.
The energy around its body twisted into roaring tempests.
Sam's breath caught.
He could feel what was coming.
"Rayquaza," he whispered again, his voice trembling, "this is it. The strongest attack."
Rayquaza roared, an earth-shattering sound that seemed to echo inside every heart watching.
Its power surged to unimaginable levels.
The air around it burned gold, green, and white.
Then,
It struck.
The sky itself split open.
A blinding light filled every screen.
The shockwave slammed into the planet's upper atmosphere, rattling satellites out of orbit.
Monitors flickered.
Power lines sparked.
The entire base shook violently as if Hoenn itself was quaking in fear.
"Adjust the feed!" shouted one of the technicians, hands flying over the console.
"Hurry!" another yelled.
"We've lost the signal!"
For a moment, there was only static.
Then, the image cleared, showing the meteorite, now reduced to half its original size, still hurtling toward the region below.
But Rayquaza,
There was no sign of it.
Sam's heart dropped.
"No…"
He felt something, something fading.
The faint bond he'd sensed moments ago flickered like a dying flame.
"Where's Rayquaza?!" Sam shouted, slamming his hands on the console.
"Find it! Now!"
The technicians scrambled, reorienting the satellites, recalibrating the feed.
The cameras swept across the chaos above the atmosphere until,
"There!" someone pointed.
The image zoomed in.
Rayquaza's massive body was falling, slowly, silently, its once-blazing scales dimmed to dull green.
The diamond-hard armor that once shone like starlight was cracked and darkened.
Its golden eyes… closed.
For a long moment, no one spoke.
Then Wallace whispered, almost in disbelief, "…It's over."
The words hit the room like a death sentence.
Steven slammed his fist onto the table, the sharp crack echoing through the silence.
"Damn it!"
President Stone slumped into his chair, his expression hollow.
"We've lost… even Rayquaza couldn't stop it."
Despair swept through the command room like a storm.
Some sat down in silence, others stared blankly at the falling meteorite on the screen.
The light that had once filled their eyes, gone.
Outside, across Hoenn, the broadcasts continued.
People wept openly in the streets.
Some prayed. Some screamed.
Others just stood there, watching the fiery streak fall from the heavens.
The hope that Rayquaza had ignited was dying once more.
Sam's jaw tightened.
He looked at the fading image of Rayquaza, then at the meteorite streaking toward their home.
And something inside him snapped.
Without a word, he let go of Cynthia's hand and turned toward the door.
"Sam, !" Cynthia reached out, but he was already gone, sprinting down the hallway, his footsteps echoing against the cold metal floor.
The guards outside called after him, but he didn't hear them.
His mind burned with one thought:
If even Rayquaza had fallen, then it was his turn to act.