“I didn’t expect the Embedded Tower arc to unfold like this. Because of what happened at the Sinjoh Ruins, too many things have already changed.”

“Uh, in other words, in the timeline I’m in, Hoenn is actually going to be destroyed, isn’t it?”

Just as the Draconids said.

Even though there is more than one Rayquaza…

There is only one Dragon God.

If even Hoenn’s Rayquaza is gone, then there’s even less point hoping for other Rayquaza—like that black Rayquaza—to Mega Evolve.

The original Delta Episode was merely supplemental postgame content, added in the second playthrough after the Hoenn remakes.

In Pokémon Adventures, the Delta Episode happens four years after the clash between Hoenn’s two supreme beings, and its timing almost coincides with the events of X/Y.

In short, it’s the story of Mossdeep Space Center detecting the approach of an enormous meteor; to prevent regional annihilation, they work together with the Draconids to help Rayquaza Mega Evolve, and then shatter the meteor.

Its main purpose was to fill in Rayquaza and Deoxys’ storyline.

At the same time, it also leads into Hoenn’s ancient history: every thousand years, a cluster of meteors falls from space and strikes Hoenn.

The first time was two thousand years ago, when Primal Kyogre and Primal Groudon fought over Hoenn’s abundant natural energy.

At that moment, a seven-colored meteor fell into Meteor Falls.

With the meteor’s descent, Rayquaza appeared from the sky and quelled the conflict between the two super-ancient Pokémon.

Another thousand years later, the great meteor swarm descended again. The impact crater triggered volcanic eruptions, and what formed in the aftermath became Sootopolis City.

The meteor strike stirred an immense surge of natural energy, and Primal Kyogre and Primal Groudon awakened once more—resuming their battle.

A successor of the Draconids prayed to the seven-colored meteor that had fallen into the sea, and Rayquaza answered the call.

After undergoing Mega Evolution, Rayquaza once again stopped Groudon and Kyogre’s conflict.

After that, the Draconids built Sky Pillar to enshrine that seven-colored meteor. They also prophesied that after a thousand years of peace, meteors would descend again—and prepared the necessary means of “inheritance.”

“If, among the meteors that descend every thousand years, there are one or more Deoxys…”

“Then perhaps we can finally explain why the super-enormous meteor insists on striking the planet?”

Is it here for revenge?

But traveling through space is inherently risky. Since it knows this planet might be a place favored by the Lord of Heaven, by the Sinnoh Almighty—why would it still insist on attacking it at all costs?

Or is it because it wants to siphon Hoenn’s abundant natural energy, so it keeps falling this way again and again?

“It’s basically like an alien invasion of Earth.”

As for the Embedded Tower storyline, that’s part of HeartGold/SoulSilver’s postgame.

Just like the Sinjoh Ruins arc, it’s also hidden content. But while the Sinjoh Ruins arc features Cynthia, the Embedded Tower arc does not include Steven—instead, a mysterious “mountain man” appears.

Notably—

The way this mountain man speaks is exactly the same as the hiker who appeared at the Sinjoh Ruins.

Which is to say—

If the hiker at the Sinjoh Ruins has already been confirmed in this world to be the immortal Volo…

Then the “eya~” mountain man who was originally supposed to guide the protagonist at the Embedded Tower should also be Volo!

Hikaru sent Steven a message:

“In Hoenn’s legends, Rayquaza resolves the meteor crisis. Even though disasters happen every thousand years, have Hoenn’s people always stayed on Hoenn’s land?”

Steven: “Hm… regarding Hoenn’s history, the Draconids know far more than we do. But many people in Hoenn were born and raised here. There shouldn’t be… Are you saying Hoenn’s people once left Hoenn?”

“There was such a history—on some day thousands of years ago… maybe because the world lost the sun, or because a meteor fell, because Groudon and Kyogre fought, or perhaps because of some other unknown catastrophe.”

“A group of Hoenn people left their homeland and migrated to Johto. At almost the same time, Sinnoh’s people, to escape the disaster of the sun vanishing, also arrived in the north of the Johto region.”

“Sinnoh’s people built a set of ruins in Johto and rebuilt their home—that’s the Sinjoh you once reached.”

“And Hoenn’s people built a sturdy tower in southern Johto, using it to connect the sea, the land, and the sky.”

“They say the tower was built to enshrine Kyogre, Groudon, and Rayquaza. But there’s also another theory that the tower was actually built to capture them.”

“Under normal circumstances, the Embedded Tower can’t be entered.”

“Its exact location should be in the mountains west of Cianwood City, on the way to the Safari Zone, near some cliff face. Its entrance and interior collapsed many years ago. The tower body fused into the western mountain cliffs themselves—so thoroughly that it’s hard to distinguish.”

Steven: “The tower collapsed? So we can’t learn Rayquaza’s situation from the Embedded Tower? How could this happen…”

“Don’t be so impatient.”

Hikaru sent a Slowpoke “calm down” sticker. “When I say it can’t be entered, I mean under normal circumstances.”

“But in our world, the ‘not normal’ happens all the time.”

“You asked Professor Burnet-sensei, who studies space, didn’t you? Didn’t Burnet-sensei tell you about ‘ultra space’?”

Steven: “Burnet-sensei did mention that, and it’s her main research direction. But we confirmed Sky Pillar isn’t an ultra space. Are you saying the Embedded Tower is an ultra space?”

“This is only my personal guess.”

“Listen to me.”

“First, go find the entrance to the Embedded Tower. If the entrance clearly exists but you can’t get in… then bring the Red Orb and the Blue Orb. That should allow entry—though that’s only one possible scenario.”

“The inside of the tower may have collapsed, but the Embedded Tower is still doing its job. In the old legends, there are two interpretations. Compared to ‘capturing,’ I think ‘enshrining’ is more accurate.”

“It’s the tower that connects land and sea and sky. Once you successfully enter, you should see—right in the center of the cavern, on the floor—a crest representing Groudon, the Omega (Ω) mark, or a crest representing Kyogre, the Alpha (α) mark.”

“If you don’t see them, do what we did before—bring the Orbs and try going in again.”

“What I’m saying is: the Embedded Tower is very likely an ancient ruin composed of three ultra spaces. In Johto, ruins with ultra space or teleportation capabilities are everywhere.”

The Ruins of Alph, the Sinjoh Ruins, the time-travel ruins that Dr. Hale once visited, and Celebi’s forest shrine.

“Therefore, to enter the corresponding ultra space, you must possess the corresponding Orb.”

“This may have been an emergency measure—so that when a calamity arrived, Hoenn’s people could avoid the disaster by summoning the mythic Pokémon of Hoenn.”

“I have one more question.”

“Two years ago, did you detect places called Terra Cave and Marine Cave? If so… were those two places, like Mirage Tower in the desert, appearing and disappearing?”

Hoenn’s ruins and special locations almost all share one trait:

They love to “vanish.”

Mirage Tower does that. Terra Cave and Marine Cave do that. Mirage Island does it even more.

And secondly, Hoenn’s ancients loved speaking in riddles—Braille puzzles and the like.

From Steven’s messages, Hikaru judged that after the clash between Groudon and Kyogre, neither of them had been captured by the protagonist or anyone else, nor had they appeared in the deepest part of the Cave of Origin. Instead, they had gone to unknown regions to slumber.

Normally, Kyogre would go to Seafloor Cavern, and Groudon should be inside Mt. Chimney.

However, since this worldline contained parts of Emerald’s plot, Hikaru began to consider whether those anomalous spaces—appearing and disappearing within Hoenn—also existed in this world.

Steven seemed confused: “Terra Cave, Marine Cave?”

Hikaru: “Yeah. Let me put it another way—during the period when Groudon and Kyogre were asleep, did Hoenn have places that would sometimes get unnatural sunshine, and sometimes get rain that shouldn’t exist?”

Steven: “Ah, yes. That’s been observed many times. The researchers at the Weather Institute believe it’s residual abnormal climate caused by Groudon and Kyogre’s activity. But for warm and humid Hoenn, it isn’t considered a major problem.”

As expected—Terra Cave and Marine Cave might truly exist!

“Mm. Terra Cave and Marine Cave should be connected to the Embedded Tower. In other words, the Embedded Tower may have the power to call Groudon and Kyogre there. And if it can call them, then naturally it can also call Rayquaza.”

“The space where Rayquaza resides is the ‘sky’ portion connected within the Embedded Tower. Perhaps Sky Pillar, built in Hoenn a thousand years ago, is essentially an imitation of the Embedded Tower.”

That claim had grounds.

In Pokémon Adventures, the Embedded Tower is mentioned in passing. In short, it was the “Rayquaza capture plan” initiated by the Pokémon League, with the Berlitz family of Sinnoh, the Devon Corporation of Hoenn, and Greater Mauville Holdings as collaborators—attempting to capture Rayquaza and thereby research a “Jade Orb” capable of controlling Rayquaza.

And at that time, Rayquaza’s hiding place was precisely the Embedded Tower!

Because it was captured there, it later fled to Sky Pillar to recover—hiding itself away.

And the inheritor before Zinnia also died in that incident. That was the root cause of Zinnia’s breakdown.

Having thought of that, Hikaru suddenly began to reflect.

Even though she knew this worldline was closer to a hybrid of the games and the anime…

It had nothing to do with Pokémon Adventures.

So there was no need to worry about Devon or the Pokémon League suddenly going insane. After all, only the Adventures version of those companies and organizations would come up with bizarre “brilliant ideas” that triggered cascading disasters.

Under normal circumstances, they were simply standard R&D enterprises—companies focused on aerospace and item development.

However, in the game continuity, Devon still obtained partial data on the Kalos ultimate weapon and conducted research into Infinity Energy—research that had already begun in President Stone’s grandfather’s generation.

Starting from that, Devon successfully developed technology to convert life energy into Infinity Energy.

They even used that as the foundation to build rockets and submarines driven by Infinity Energy. This technology elevated Devon into one of Hoenn’s leading corporations.

And with that new setting added, Steven went from “rich kid” to “fourth-generation rich.”

“People dying and tragedies being brewed happens all the time in the Adventures world. There’s no shortage of ‘good intentions causing bad outcomes.'”

“But in the game-and-anime worldview, there are far fewer such people. Usually it’s malicious intent that accidentally produces a good outcome—or simply pure evil. The ‘good side’ rarely has a history of turning dark.”

“But life energy itself is not a normal energy source. Even if Infinity Energy is developed on the basis of life energy, as technology advances, the amount of life force demanded will only grow larger and larger.”

“In the end, it will become the same as in Adventures: they’ll start extracting Pokémon’s life force. So when Zinnia says it’s wrong in the games, she isn’t wrong at all.”

“The ultimate weapon itself was a mistake created by those who came before. Borrowing its technology again, even if you ‘optimize’ it, is still repeating the same disaster.”

Hikaru sent Steven a message—along with advice as a friend.

“If this time you awaken Rayquaza and resolve the meteor crisis, my suggestion is: it’s best not to keep developing Infinity Energy.”

“Zinnia already told you, didn’t she? What you’re doing is simply repeating the same mistake.”

Steven was quite surprised: “…You know what Zinnia said? I’ve always felt you were mysterious, but… you can’t possibly know exactly what someone in a distant region is saying, too.”

Steven was someone who could listen.

Even President Stone could listen.

Of course, as a corporate president, he couldn’t casually change Devon’s research direction—but this was the Pokémon world, where usable energy sources were everywhere.

If they didn’t change…

Chairman Rose’s ending might become Devon’s future.

“Developing a dimensional transfer device is a mistake.”

“It requires enormous energy. I know you only used limited Pokémon energy, and then added the life force that overflows when humans resonate with Key Stones—that was your optimization, but the essence is the same.”

Yes—this was exactly how Devon “optimized” things in the games.

Thus, they avoided many tragedies. It looked like the outlook was bright, as though no one and no life would be harmed.

“However, as the device demands more and more power, you won’t be able to rely only on resonance and leaked life force. You’ll still return to the old road of extracting life energy.”

“Zinnia should have said it: that device from three thousand years ago was infamous, right? I can tell you—everything she said is correct.”

“Even the one who created that device in the first place—after destroying a region and killing massive numbers of Pokémon—felt heartbroken when he was separated from his own Pokémon. In the end, he understood everything and knew his sins were unforgivable.”

“The people before you already realized what kind of wrong they committed. Anything that touches life—no matter how great the power it grants—must not be used.”

“You’re simply walking the same mistaken road again, but the destination doesn’t change. It’s an abyss.”

“But I also know Mossdeep Space Center has another way to convert energy: using meteors as a power source. That, I support. And hasn’t Devon recently developed machines that generate energy by using magma as fuel?”

Burn rocks—thermonuclear aggregation technology.

Hoenn’s tech tree really was skewed in bizarre directions.

Extracting immense energy from meteors was technology developed by Dr. Cozmo.

Come to think of it, Pokémon like Electivire, Heliolisk, and Electrode can casually generate enough electricity to power a large city for a long time. That’s why such Pokémon sometimes work around power plants—and Team Rocket once forced Electrode to generate power.

So instead of pursuing life energy, it would be better to focus on researching Pokémon’s internal power and the plentiful natural energy of the world.

Steven: “…After talking with Zinnia, I’ve had many thoughts as well. Perhaps Devon never should have researched life energy to begin with.”

“And things like ultra space, and other worlds… Zinnia told us those too.”

“I already promised Zinnia that unless it’s the final moment, I will never activate the dimensional transfer device. If an accident happens… then I will be the first to offer up my own life energy.”

Hikaru laughed.

“Steven, you don’t need to worry about that super-enormous meteor. With the blessing of the Sinnoh Almighty, the sky won’t fall.”

“This world is being watched. There are many ways to shatter the meteor. Go get the Orbs first.”

“My guess matches yours: Rayquaza should be accumulating power inside the Embedded Tower, because that tower still retains abundant natural energy. At the same time, Rayquaza also needs meteors—only by consuming large quantities of meteors can it complete its evolution.”

“It feeds on water and particulates in the atmosphere, and it eats meteors as food. It stores meteor energy in its body to Mega Evolve.”

“But even so, what it needs aren’t ordinary meteors—it needs meteors that shimmer with seven-colored light.”

Steven: “This… is vital information! Thank you! We’ll begin searching for seven-colored meteors immediately. The Orbs… you said earlier that holding the corresponding Orb is required to find the corresponding space, but Rayquaza…”

Hikaru: “That seven-colored meteor is the Grand Meteorite.”

“Or maybe it isn’t called that.”

“But regardless of whether it’s Team Magma or Team Aqua, one side always stole the meteorite and tried to use it to control Mt. Chimney’s activity, right?”

“If that’s the case… is that meteorite on Brendan right now?”

“Take that seven-colored meteorite, bring the Red Orb and the Blue Orb too, and test the Embedded Tower.”

“The corresponding Orbs will alter the crests and relief murals inside the tower. Rayquaza isn’t without a corresponding Orb—it actually has its own Orb too!”

That message clearly shocked Steven.

Steven: “How can that be! No one has ever mentioned it—there’s no record of it in history or legend! Even the Draconids seem to have no idea!”

Hikaru: “Exactly. The lost Orb—its name is the Jade Orb, and it’s identical to the grass-green radiance that erupts from Rayquaza.”

“Unfortunately, it’s almost impossible to see, and it was never enshrined in Hoenn. That’s because it doesn’t have the ability to let Rayquaza Mega Evolve, nor can it strengthen Rayquaza’s power. Though it’s a crystallization of sky energy, it’s unexpectedly useless—so it was forgotten by history.”

“And now…”

Hikaru took the Jade Orb from her backpack.

Suddenly, the Jade Orb began to glow.

In that instant, a voice rang out in her heart.

[It’s not time to summon me with the Orb yet. My power hasn’t been stored enough. The energy accumulated over a thousand years has already been exhausted. With my current level and physical condition, Mega Evolution will fail.]

[I still need at least one month. One month of time… Prepare more meteors for me. They have to… have to give off a faint light.]

“…?”

What was that?

Hikaru blinked and looked toward the distant horizon.

Was that Rayquaza’s voice?

(End of Chapter)

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