Chapter 164: Well, Well, If It Isn't Little Rayquaza — How's Your Dad Doing?
Seeing Steven suddenly collapse, Leon and the others were immediately alarmed.
Leon caught him — and found Steven's face drained of all color.
"Steven!"
Wallace's expression changed drastically too. He tried urgently to get up and run to Steven, but his hands and feet were still bound, and he simply couldn't get himself off the ground.
Caitlin noticed Leon and the others rushing over. She glanced at her phone.
As expected — Mammon had already messaged her.
She had Alakazam levitate Wallace into the air, ignoring the shriek of protest this produced, and launched him in the general direction of Nemona's Talonflame.
"Talonflame!"
Nemona had Mega Talonflame dart over and catch him.
"You're burning hot!"
Leon pressed a hand to Steven's forehead and startled. The fever was severe.
"He needs a hospital. Now." Giovanni said it quietly.
"Mauville."
Cynthia glanced across at the Team Rocket side of the island, where Caitlin was retreating calmly back to Archie and Gladion. She had evidently received her instructions.
Cynthia's expression was complicated. In this moment she felt with complete clarity the existence of a gap between herself and Caitlin — one that had grown very nearly unbridgeable.
Sky Pillar.
A thousand years ago, Rayquaza descended and halted the clash between Groudon and Kyogre, saving Hoenn once more.
And so the Meteor Clan built Sky Pillar as a resting place for it.
In the strictest sense, Sky Pillar was Rayquaza's home.
Today, this tower — sealed for no one quite knew how long — opened once more.
Kagura stepped down from Mega Flygon and walked inside, making her way up, floor by floor.
The tower was a thousand years old. The interior showed its age at every turn — the quiet, unmistakable texture of something ancient in a state of long neglect.
Kagura paid it no attention.
She walked upward, eyes passing over the murals that lined the walls — the preserved record of a history — until at last she reached the summit.
The top of Sky Pillar was an open-air altar, unobstructed sky in every direction. Kagura walked to the very front of it and tilted her head back to look at the sky, which seemed close enough to touch.
The smile had left her face. She looked down at the small Wynaut nestled by her feet — her most precious Pokémon.
Its name was Shelly.
"Stay here, and don't worry. I'm going to do this."
Kagura crouched down and stroked the Wynaut's small head, her voice very gentle.
The Wynaut gave two soft, worried cries — but it was obedient, and slowly stepped back.
"Here we go."
Kagura reached into her pocket and drew out a great many Key Stones, laying them carefully on the ground.
Then she rose to her feet, drew a deep breath, closed her eyes, and began to pray.
The Lorekeeper's heir. Carrier of the ritual the Meteor Clan had passed down to call Rayquaza — she was to follow the same path as the Lorekeeper of a thousand years before.
A thousand years ago, the Meteor Clan had prayed to the rainbow meteorite and brought Rayquaza down once more.
A thousand years later, the heir began her prayer.
This ancient ritual had always carried a mysterious quality — like the dance passed down through the priestess lineage in Ecruteak City.
The prayer ended. Kagura opened her eyes and raised both arms high.
"Rayquaza!!"
A pillar of green light plunged straight down from the sky, landing on the Key Stones spread before her.
A powerful gust swept outward, making her cape snap and billow.
Kagura raised one arm to shield her face — but the eyes above it blazed with excitement.
Because she could see it.
Within the green light, the silhouette of something enormous shifted, present and vast.
Her prayer had worked.
The vivid green light slowly faded. A Rayquaza hung in the air above the altar, its imperious draconic eyes looking down at Kagura.
"Rayquaza!!"
She stared up at it with undisguised elation. She had done it.
She had summoned Rayquaza. And if she could get it to Mega Evolve, the disaster prophesied by her clan could be averted.
She could complete what Shelly had left unfinished.
But in reality, the way Rayquaza was looking at Kagura wasn't warm. It was watchful. Questioning.
It had come because it sensed the heir's prayer — that much was true. But sensing the heir didn't mean it would accept her.
As its father would have put it: it was of the great Rayquaza line.
And yes — this was the black Rayquaza's child. The one that had gone flying to its father's rescue during the Larousse battle.
But when Rayquaza's eyes fell on what was at Kagura's ankle, something in its gaze sharpened.
That Mega Anklet.
The sight brought back the memory of the incident — the other girl, the one whose ankle had carried one just like it.
"What is your connection to Shelly?"
The low telepathic voice reached Kagura's ears.
Her expression shifted.
"Shelly… was my sister."
The dark-haired Lorekeeper's voice was quiet, her lip pressed briefly before the words came out.
"She—"
Rayquaza went silent. It looked at the Mega Anklet with an expression that held something it couldn't quite name.
After Shelly's death, it had thought about going after those who had done it.
But Rayquaza wasn't Groudon or Kyogre. Rayquaza was arrogant — yes — but it did not attack humans.
And the battle at the Buried Tower had made something clear: humans were not entirely without power.
It hadn't wanted to involve its parents. That event was its own to answer for. And so it had been waiting — waiting for a new heir to appear.
"Shelly was always with me. And I will carry on what she left behind."
Kagura put on the fearless smile that was hers alone, and said it clearly.
"I will also — avenge her."
The girl's declaration, and the conviction running through it, made Rayquaza pause. Then, gradually, its eyes softened.
Truthfully, its first impression of Kagura hadn't been particularly favorable. It could see clearly that her heart wasn't entirely pure.
Kagura's will to shatter the meteorite from the clan's prophecy was genuine and strong — but what sustained that will wasn't entirely compassion for the people and Pokémon of Hoenn.
It was the weight of being the last heir. The duty that couldn't be put down.
And it was Shelly's wish.
Because of that, Kagura wanted to see it through.
This was what Rayquaza had sensed. It was why its first impression had been lukewarm.
A person who seemed to be living forward for someone else — could something as proud as Rayquaza embrace that?
"Then come, Lorekeeper."
Rayquaza's telepathy was still low and measured. Its impression of Kagura had shifted — a little. But not enough.
One more thing remained.
"Yes!"
Kagura's face went serious. She looked up at Rayquaza.
Now came the crucial part. She needed to achieve Rayquaza's Mega Evolution.
But she believed she could do it.
The Mega Anklet she wore had been Shelly's. The Key Stones she had brought were more numerous than what Shelly had used.
She had spent so long preparing for this moment. She had reasons she couldn't afford to fail.
Kagura drew a slow breath. The Mega Anklet at her foot and the many Key Stones on the ground began to shimmer with quiet light.
At the same time, a faint green glow rose across Rayquaza's body.
Would it work?
Kagura watched Rayquaza with breathless anticipation.
One second. Two seconds. Three—
The green light on Rayquaza's body continued to glow faintly.
But the Mega Anklet and the Key Stones were dimming. Gradually going dark.
Kagura's face went white as paper.
This was—
Failure?
"How—"
She stared at the Key Stones, unable to process it. Disbelief, and a panic unlike anything she had ever felt before.
How could it fail? It shouldn't have failed. It shouldn't have.
Was it the Key Stones?
She moved to check — stepped forward — and her legs gave out beneath her. She hit the ground hard, knees striking the cold stone floor. The skin broke.
But she felt nothing. Her trembling arms could barely hold her up.
"Why…"
Her head was splitting. A needle-sharp pain radiated through it, and she pressed a hand against her temple, her face twisting with it.
Her clan's legacy and faith. Shelly's death. The meteorite, the disaster.
She had been carrying all of it. And she had failed.
The world in front of her seemed to have gone gray. The light in the girl's eyes was slowly going out.
"…"
Rayquaza looked at Kagura, crumpled on the ground, and felt something like a quiet exhale.
It couldn't perform its own Mega Evolution unaided — it needed an external catalyst. But the moment a human partner was involved, that subtle, unavoidable question of recognition entered the equation.
The same Mega Anklet, the same Key Stones — when Shelly had used them, Rayquaza had Mega Evolved without difficulty. Because it already recognized Shelly. It had accepted her resonance without resistance.
But it didn't feel that same recognition for Kagura. Even with the impression improving, it wasn't there yet.
And that was exactly why the Mega Evolution had failed.
"Lorekeeper — pull yourself together. You are—"
But looking at Kagura's despair, Rayquaza found it couldn't be entirely without compassion. After all, this girl was Shelly's sister.
Rayquaza's telepathy hadn't finished.
Uuunn~
A long, low call drifted in from across the sky.
That sound—
Rayquaza went instantly sharp and tense, body coiling, head swinging toward the direction of it.
On the horizon, a vast golden-blue creature was coming, great fins sweeping wide.
Primal Kyogre.
Rayquaza's eyes went very still.
Why was Primal Kyogre here?
It wasn't coming to start something with me, was it? Should I call Dad right now?
The anxiety was real. It had no access to Mega Evolution at the moment. It was not a match for Primal Kyogre.
And last time, Primal Kyogre had beaten its father.
Primal Kyogre glided in slowly and landed atop Sky Pillar above them. It glanced sideways at the very tense young Rayquaza with an expression of aloof indifference.
Rayquaza's body went even more rigid.
Primal Kyogre had no intention of attacking it, though. It had just finished thoroughly waterlogging Groudon, and it was in an excellent mood.
That mood improved further the moment it noticed Rayquaza's barely-concealed anxiety.
This was the deterrent power of being Kyogre. Could the non-flying smelly lizard manage something like this?
Oh, right. The non-flying type was probably still expelling water.
Primal Kyogre swayed its tail with great satisfaction.
A small-time junior Rayquaza? It had already beaten the black Rayquaza. Why would it bother?
It even felt like making a little small talk.
Oh~ Well if it isn't a Rayquaza! How's your dad doing lately?
(End of chapter)
☆☆☆
-> 20 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Inkshaper
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you