-Blessed by Divinity: Eternity-

Primal Instincts

"Archie! Maxie! Did you miss me?"

Salamence landed on the rocky cave floor, a few metres away from the two people I had spent years chasing after. The room was swelteringly hot, a deep pool of lava at its center.

My eyes scanned over the surroundings, seeing columns of water pouring through gaps in the roof around the edge of the chamber. Smoke billowed out of the molten core, a huge stone husk floating in the lava.

Neither of the ex team leaders were particularly happy to see me, especially after they tried to make a quick getaway back in Eterna City. Salamence stood beside me, his fierce gaze piercing through the air, freezing Archie and Maxie to the floor.

"Kid it's already too late. Even you can't stop us now."

"Hmph, Archie's right. With this newfound power we will recreate the planet in our image."

Sweat beaded on my forehead, my hair matting against my scalp. I didn't know what deal either of them brokered with Cyrus and Team Galactic, but from what I was seeing, it looked like these two had their own plans.

"Your silence is rewarding. Even you can't comprehend the true strength of these legendary titans!"

Maxie turned away, looking to the stone husk in the pool of lava. Now that I looked more closely, the statue resembled a certain pokemon that was known for their affinity with the land.

The red haired man took a step forward, reaching into his pocket to retrieve something. From where I was stood, I could see the object in his hand glowing a deep crimson. Maxie struggled with its weight at first but recovered to hold it in one hand. He turned to me, a malicious smile wide on his lips.

"Now watch as we turn the world you love into ash and dust!"

With that, he threw the glowing red orb toward the husk. There was no impact, instead, the orb stopped in mid air, floating in the space in front of the stone statue. A bright red light engulfed the room and I had to turn away so I wasn't blinded.

When the light faded and I turned back, the stone husk had come to life. The continent pokemon had awoken from its slumber, cloaked in a mystifying red light. Its eyes darted around the room, looking around to see what had woken the resting giant from its sleep.

"Huh, now all we have to do is wait for the oth-"

Before Archie could finish what he was saying, the ground started to rumble violently. The pool of lava stirred, splashing out over the rock face beside it. The columns of water evaporated in an instant, the light cloaking Groudon glowing stronger and stronger.

Then all of a sudden, the continent pokemon was engulfed by the light. The ground continued to shake as the light faded, Groudon emerging as an entirely new pokemon. The crevices in its scales glowed a bright yellow, magma coursing through its body. Its underbelly had become darker, its eyes now glowing fiercely in the underground chamber.

There was a deafening roar from above the room, the columns of water started to flood the room from the sides once again. Even under this extreme heat, the water didn't evaporate. Groudon let out a bellowing roar of its own in return as the roof above the chamber began to crumble away.

All of a sudden, the room was being flooded with water. Salamence swept me off my feet before I was pulled under by the tide, taking flight as he manoeuvred through the falling rocks.

Before I knew it, water had completely flooded the chamber, burning away as it collided with the pool of lava. Once again, there was a terrifying roar from above as a huge shadow leapt down from above, crashing onto the rocky floor of the cave.

As the dust finally settled, I had to do a double take to ensure I was seeing correctly. The deep sea basin pokemon had emerged from its hiding, turning to Groudon with a look of intensity in its eyes.

Archie climbed out from under the rubble, reaching into his pocket as he pulled out another orb, this one glowing a deep indigo. Without saying anything, he launched the orb across the chamber toward Kyogre.

As with Groudon, the glowing orb floated in the space in front of the water pokemon. Engulfed in a deep indigo light, Kyogre grew in size. As the light faded, the sea basin pokemon's scales had become a deeper blue, a thick bright yellow liquid coursing through its body.

Before I could even react, the now lofty chamber began to fill with rain. Precipitation began to wash over the room, a heavy rainfall quickly descending onto us.

Then all a sudden, the rubble began to stir, Groudon bursting through as it let out a deafening roar. The chamber was quickly filled with a sweltering heat, even in the heavy downpour. Both legendary titans stared at each other intensely, neither averting their gaze for a moment.

"Groudon! Kyogre! You are not each other's enemies!" Maxie stepped out from the rubble, standing beside Archie. Somehow, he had managed to get both of their attentions, the two pokemon turning ever so slightly to the two ex team leaders.

Archie stepped forward, "That's right! Only one person is standing in the way of your true power!" He quickly pointed toward Salamence and I, the two titans following his gaze.

I remained silent, unsure how to react to what I was seeing. The two idiots from years ago couldn't have even hoped to even communicate with these two pokemon. After all, they were in a whole league of their own.

Back in Hoenn, it was up to me to put an end to their rampaging. But now, something was different. As the air of familiarity settled, I could tell this time wouldn't be like the last. After all, I didn't have to deal with both of them at the same time. And now, both titans were in a completely different form, their new power emanating from their bodies.

Both pokemon let out deafening roars, threatening to collapse the chamber in on itself. It was clear their attention was fixed on me, meaning there was only one way out of this.

Before I could say anything, a huge torrent of water was fired toward us. Salamence evaded quickly, the jet stream crashing into the wall of the chamber. I quickly surveyed my surroundings, seeing that there wasn't a safe space to land in between the rubble, the pools of lava and the surging tides of water.

"Alright, there's only one way we're getting past this. Blaziken, Flygon, come on out!"

There was a flash of light as both pokemon emerged from their pokeballs. The fire type landed atop the dragon as Flygon hovered beside Salamence and I. I trusted those two to keep our opponents busy for a moment as I turned to Archie and Maxie.

Both of them were fixed on the legendary titans, too busy to notice Salamence descend right next to them.

"You finally got what you wanted and you won't even be able to see what comes of it. Salamence take them out with fire blast!"

I showed no mercy to the two corrupted minds as a scorching blast of fire crashed into them. Both struggled to their feet but recovered in time.

Archie stood up, now turned to me. "Kid, don't you get it? This is all part of the boss' plan! The day he returns to us, none of this will matter. We'll take our rightful places in the new world!"

Maxie returned to his feet, "It's just as it seems. This world was destined to crumble away. The foundations for the new world have all been laid out. This time, our victory is guaranteed!"

"What? So you sold yourselves out for some delusional plan? You're even worse than last time!"

Both ex team leaders smirked. Maxie pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he turned to me, "You don't seem to realise that no matter what you do here, it does not matter! This fight is already won!"

I gritted my teeth, shutting out the nonsense they were spewing. Whatever they were talking about didn't add up. Now that I thought about it, everything about this new, reformed Team Galactic was off. They didn't operate the same way as every other criminal organisation did before them. Something deeper and darker was pulling them from the shadows because there was no way both Archie and Maxie would discard what they had been working to for the last few years so easily.

"And you don't realise this either. We've heard this all before. There's only one outcome to all of this and I'll be damned before I let anyone of us lose here!"