"And Phoebe and Wallace?" Steven's heart sank slightly.
The Sacred Church was clearly waiting for something, but with the current situation, they could not attack without causing damage to Ever Grande City and its inhabitants.
If Phoebe and Wallace were present, Steven would feel somewhat more confident.
"They're on their way, but they're not as fast as you. It will still take them a little while," Drake replied, fully understanding what Steven was thinking; both of them had reached the same conclusion.
That was precisely why the Sacred Church had chosen Ever Grande City: a densely populated city, and moreover located right in the urban center, the place where the largest number of residents gathered.
Just as Drake and Steven were worrying, what they feared ended up happening.
A pitch-black spatial crack opened behind the members of the Sacred Church, and from within it, figures dressed in black robes began to emerge.
Through the crack, one could vaguely see a world filled with countless islands floating in the air, a landscape completely different from the Pokémon world.
However, Drake and Steven's attention was not on that world beyond the crack, but on the figures that were emerging one after another.
To be honest, the fact that the Sacred Church had silently recruited so many members and infiltrated so deeply into the League itself was not something a Champion like Drake could feel proud of; rather, it was a humiliation, even if it was not directly his responsibility.
"Prepare yourselves, we are going to fight! This battle will not be small. Protect the inhabitants of Ever Grande City first," Drake ordered, not only to Steven, but also to all the fighters behind him.
"Yes!!" replied in unison all the League members prepared to fight.
Their morale was not low. With Champion Drake and the League's new rising star, the Steel-type Elite Four member Steven Stone, their confidence was firm.
Opposite them, the Sacred Church's leader —an old acquaintance of Cain, Marcus— also revealed a faint smile.
That's right, fight!
This time, his side was not weak. He had enough confidence to withstand Drake's outburst. As for the rest... only Steven posed a small threat, but this time he was not fighting alone.
Recalling his past cooperation with Cain, when Dialga and Palkia descended once more and they had nearly lost their lives, he felt fortunate that he had not carried anything that would attract the attention of those deities, nor possessed Giratina's Griseous Orb, which had allowed him to escape.
Moreover, Tony's death had allowed him to reap all his belongings.
After leaving the Space-Time Continent, although he did not obtain rewards, at least the Church's Bishop did not punish him, allowing him to redeem himself through merit.
With Tony's items, he exchanged them all for resources that could rapidly increase his strength.
With divine power, he could withstand Drake's burst. Although he could not defeat him, enduring was enough.
There had been six regions to choose from, and in the end he selected the Hoenn region, hoping to meet Cain again and take revenge.
However, after a month without any trace of him, Marcus reached the conclusion that Cain had likely been trapped in the Space-Time Continent, never to return. Although he was not completely satisfied, he did not mind too much; his mood was even quite good.
Both sides immediately clashed: soldier against soldier, general against general.
Drake confronted Marcus, and the one fighting Steven was his old rival, Irene, the former Steel-type Elite Four member of Johto. Now her identity was completely public: the White Messenger of the Sacred Church, holding a status no lower than Marcus, responsible for preaching in the Pokémon world on behalf of the Bishop.
The White Messenger and the Black Messenger did not necessarily stand out for their strength, but their identities were special.
Under normal circumstances, Drake and Steven together could contain them without difficulty. But today was different: those emerging from the crack were all formidable fighters.
In reality, they were the former regional overseers of the Space-Time Continent.
Before Phoebe and Wallace arrived, they were the greatest problem, and they could only be restrained through the cooperation of the other League members.
Calling it "restraining" was generous; in practice, it meant sending Pokémon one after another to apply pressure and prevent them from destroying everything at will.
But that could not last long. For a normal trainer, facing opponents of that level was little more than a sacrifice.
The only reassuring point was that, among the League's trainers, although most were of average level, there were one or two who were truly strong.
From their clothing, it could be seen that they were Chief-level Investigators of the Hoenn League, precisely the three that Cain knew well.
Steven's cousin, Vivian Stone; Joy Yui, a special member of the Joy family and bearer of Articuno; and Ayame Jenny, from the Jenny family, with a livelier personality than usual.
"Cousin! If you can't hold on, withdraw first and protect your safety!" Steven shouted, even while fighting against Irene.
"You still have time to worry about others while fighting me? Metagross, Meteor Mash!" an ethereal and cold voice responded from the front.
Boooom!!!
Steven's Shiny Metagross was sent flying after taking the attack head-on from Irene's normal Metagross.
From that moment on, Steven no longer dared to let himself be distracted.
In the Space-Time Continent, Steven's strength had still been slightly inferior to Irene's. If it had not been for Cain's two Mega Stones, he would not have been able to hold on. But now, both fought on equal footing: Steven was not at a disadvantage, though he did not hold any advantage either.
Vivian, upon hearing Steven's words, pressed her lips together without replying. The pressure she was enduring was immense; she could barely defend herself, with no chance to counterattack.
"Heh..." someone let out a cold laugh, clearly looking down on Vivian and the other two.
Little by little, the League began to fall into a disadvantage.
Later, Phoebe and Wallace finally arrived. However, their presence only relieved the pressure to a certain extent, without truly changing the situation.
As soon as Drake saw the Church members emerging from the crack, he had already sent a distress signal to the League. But reinforcements from other regions would still need time to arrive. And during that interval, no one knew how many League trainers would lose their lives.
Whoosh!
A whistling sound cut through the sky and reached everyone's ears.
"It seems the situation isn't very optimistic... Mega Salamence, Hyper Voice!!"
At the critical moment, a clear voice descended from the sky, followed by a powerful dragon's roar that resounded across the heavens and the earth.
The terrifying soundwave of the move Hyper Voice, like a raging gale, tore through the air from dozens of meters away and swept directly across the central plaza. Numerous Sacred Church members and their Pokémon were sent flying by the impact.
The trainers and Pokémon with lower endurance began to slowly bleed from their seven orifices, clearly affected by the brutal vibration of the sound.
Especially Grass- and Fighting-type Pokémon —disadvantaged against the Flying type—: anyone whose strength was insufficient was immediately defeated by the move Hyper Voice.
Absolute destruction!
(End of Chapter)