"Milotic, use Ice Beam."
The moment Wallace entered, he swept his eyes across the room and immediately issued an order to the Milotic at his side.
Milotic shared a perfect understanding with Wallace. The instant he spoke, she already knew his intentions. A thick, ice-blue beam shot from her mouth toward the secret passage.
In the blink of an eye, the passage whose stone gate had just been broken through by Team Magma was sealed once more beneath a wall of solid ice. Several Team Magma members who had already stepped into the tunnel were instantly frozen into ice statues.
In an instant, Team Magma found themselves trapped once again.
"Ninetales, use Blast Burn on the ice wall!"
The moment Courtney saw Wallace entering through the main entrance, her heart skipped a beat. When she noticed the Milotic beside him, her expression immediately stiffened.
She instantly abandoned the idea of having Ninetales continue dealing with Spiritomb and instead ordered it to attack the ice wall sealing the passage.
Milotic's aura was simply overwhelming. There was no doubt she had reached the Champion level.
Under those circumstances, Courtney no longer entertained any hope of snatching the Red Orb from the young man before her, whose presence gave her an overwhelming sense of mortal danger. Escaping with her life was now the only priority.
Ever since being captured last time, Courtney had secretly sworn never to become a prisoner again.
Unfortunately, dreams were beautiful, but reality was cruel.
Against absolute strength, she had no power to resist.
"Too bad. Milotic, use Hydro Pump."
Seeing Courtney trying to flee, Wallace let out a cold laugh and calmly gave another command.
The moment his words fell, a high-pressure column of water burst from Milotic's mouth. It traveled at an astonishing speed. By the time Ninetales reacted, the Hydro Pump was already right in front of it.
Left with no choice, it released the fully charged Blast Burn it had been preparing.
However, Milotic, having already crossed into the pseudo-Champion rank, was far stronger than Ninetales. Coupled with the type advantage, Ninetales' Blast Burn was shattered instantly by the tremendous water jet.
Even so, Blast Burn managed to buy Ninetales a brief moment.
It She immediately used Protect.
Thanks to Protect, Ninetales barely managed to block Milotic's Hydro Pump. But before it could catch its breath, Milotic had already closed the distance.
With a powerful swing of its tail enveloped in rushing water, it unleashed Aqua Tail.
This time, Ninetales could no longer defend itself.
It was sent flying by the devastating blow, crashing heavily into a wall. When it slid back down to the floor, it had already lost the ability to battle.
"Damn it! Camerupt, use Smokescreen!"
Seeing Ninetales defeated so effortlessly, cold sweat immediately broke out across Courtney's back.
She quickly released Camerupt, hoping to use the thick smoke to create confusion and somehow escape with her life.
The moment Camerupt appeared, it spewed a massive cloud of black smoke that rapidly spread throughout the chamber.
"Use Icy Wind."
Without the slightest hesitation, Wallace tossed another PokeBall, releasing a Pelipper.
Judging from the aura it radiated, this was yet another high level Pokémon.
The next second, Pelipper whipped up a freezing gale the instant it emerged. Not only did the icy wind disperse the smoke, but it also chilled Courtney and the other Team Magma members until their entire bodies stiffened, making even simple movements sluggish.
From that point onward, the battle became completely one-sided.
Under the relentless assault of pseudo-Champion-level Milotic and Pelipper, every Team Magma member inside the chamber was frozen into an ice statue.
"Kyekyekye... Thanks for stopping those little insects for me. In that case, I'll gladly take what's left."
After Wallace had defeated Team Magma, Spiritomb finally emerged from its invisible state.
Having restored itself by consuming more souls, it laughed triumphantly.
During the fighting, Spiritomb had secretly absorbed the souls of several Team Magma members along with those of their Pokémon.
Because of that, its strength had barely recovered to the Elite-Four level.
"Hmph. An overconfident fool."
"Milotic, Pelipper, use Hydro Pump."
As the future leader of the Ryurei clan, Wallace naturally knew that this evil Spiritomb had long been sealed inside the chamber.
He had witnessed Spiritomb's little tricks the entire time, yet remained completely unconcerned, immediately ordering Milotic and Pelipper to attack.
The next instant, both Pokémon obeyed.
Two tremendous Hydro Pumps blasted forward simultaneously, one from each side, converging on Spiritomb.
Before the attacks reached it, Spiritomb transformed into a cloud of black mist once more, effortlessly slipping between the twin water blasts.
Then it shot toward Wallace like a black arrow.
"Fell for it again. You really never learn."
Seeing Spiritomb charge directly at him, Wallace calmly raised his right hand, revealing a small object that had somehow appeared in his palm.
His expression remained proud and composed.
The object in his hand was none other than a rare Odd Keystone. The instant Spiritomb drew near, the Odd Keystone erupted with dazzling light.
Bathed in that brilliant radiance, the black mist Spiritomb had become was forced back into its true form.
Its speed instantly dropped to a crawl.
Taking advantage of Spiritomb being suppressed by the Odd Keystone's power, Milotic and Pelipper immediately struck again with another pair of Hydro Pumps, severely wounding it in an instant.
Without wasting the opportunity, Wallace hurled the Odd Keystone at Spiritomb.
The Odd Keystone truly was the natural nemesis of evil Pokémon like Spiritomb.
The moment it struck Spiritomb, the Ghost-type let out a pig-like scream of agony as its entire body was rapidly drawn into the stone and sealed once again.
After successfully sealing Spiritomb temporarily, Wallace picked up the Odd Keystone from the ground and placed it into a groove atop the stone table.
Then he removed another ancient-looking Odd Keystone from a nearby slot.
"You can all enjoy the cold for a while longer."
"Let's go, Milotic."
Wallace knew he was racing against time.
Nor was he someone who enjoyed unnecessary killing.
There was no time to deal with Team Magma properly, so he left Pelipper behind to guard the prisoners.
Afterward, he carefully placed the Red Orb into an exquisite box, returned the Blue Orb to its place on the stone table, and quickly turned to leave while carrying the box.
...…..
Meanwhile, as Wallace successfully retrieved the Red Orb from Mt. Pyre, Sato and the others were rapidly reaching the limits of what they could do against Groudon.
Even with four members of the Hoenn League's Elite Four and Champion present, it still wasn't enough to suppress the Super Legendary Pokémon.
Standing upon the earth itself, Groudon was simply too powerful. No matter how serious its injuries became, it recovered with astonishing speed.
Moreover, even when everyone attacked together, they could inflict little more than superficial wounds.
"Hold the line!"
"I've just received word that the item needed to reseal Groudon has been secured. It'll be here very soon!"
Steven commanded his Mega Metagross to join forces with the Pokémon of the other three Elite Four members, barely managing to block one of Groudon's wide-ranging Flamethrowers.
At the same time, he shouted encouragement to the Trainers still holding out around him.
But after fighting for so long, most Trainers and their Pokémon were already approaching complete exhaustion.
More importantly, Groudon's overwhelming power had driven home a terrifying realization.
The monster before them simply could not be defeated by human strength. Even the Champion and Elite Four had been beaten into complete submission.
Against such a terrifying Pokémon...
If Rayquaza didn't appear, who could possibly stop it?
The same question arose in the minds of nearly every Trainer present. Because of that, deep doubt began to grow regarding Steven's confident assurance.
"Please hurry... Most of them are already wavering."
"After all... what living creature is truly unafraid of death?"
Riding atop Mega Salamence beside Drake as they fought together, Sato watched yet another group of Trainers abandon the battlefield in order to preserve their own lives.
He could only let out a weary sigh.