Chapter Text
The shoreline outside Lilycove City had always been beautiful.
Golden sand stretched along the coast while the ocean rolled toward land in slow, patient waves. Sailboats moved calmly across the horizon and the harbor bustled with life. Wallace had spent many peaceful afternoons walking that same beach when he wished to escape the noise of the city.
That morning the coast was completely different.
Across the length of the beach, members of Team Aqua had assembled their forces with admirable enthusiasm and extremely questionable tactical planning. Several clusters of grunts moved along the sand while their Pokémon spread across the shallows, clearly hoping to use the water to their advantage.
Wallace stood a short distance up the beach and watched them prepare.
He had to admire the confidence.
The decision to stage an operation centered around water while confronting the region’s water specialist required boldness. Whether it also required stupidity remained an open question.
Behind him, the rest of the response force moved into position with the quiet efficiency of experienced trainers. Rangers secured the nearby streets while several Ace Trainers positioned their Pokémon along the upper ridge of the beach.
Wallace adjusted the cuff of his sleeve and stepped forward.
Beside Wallace, the elegant Milotic rested upon the sand, her long body coiled with quiet poise as she watched the formation of Team Aqua spreading across the shoreline. Several of the grunts laughed when they noticed her position, clearly assuming a Water-type stranded on land would present little threat.
Wallace almost pitied them.
Almost.
“Milotic,” he lifted one hand with casual grace, “Surf.”
Milotic answered the command with immediate elegance as a powerful surge of water burst outward from beneath her body, the attack forming instantly across the sand before racing forward with explosive force. The wave carried her with it as she surged across the beach like a living spear of water.
The front line of Aqua trainers had only enough time to shout in alarm.
The wave struck them a heartbeat later.
Bodies, equipment, and Pokémon scattered in every direction as the attack plowed straight through their formation. Several unfortunate grunts were knocked from their feet and rolled across the sand while others collided with their own partners in a chaotic tangle of limbs and Poké Balls.
For a brief moment the entire maneuver resembled an elaborate game of bowling.
Milotic burst through the collapsing formation with graceful momentum, the surge of water carrying her past the stunned trainers before the wave finally crashed into the open surf.
The instant she reached the ocean her power doubled.
The sea welcomed her with a rushing embrace as she slipped beneath the surface and reemerged several meters from the shore, her long body now moving with effortless speed through her natural element.
Wallace smiled faintly.
“Much better.”
Aqua’s once orderly formation had collapsed into complete disarray as grunts struggled to stand and recover their scattered Pokémon. Several of them stared toward the water with expressions that suggested they were reconsidering the wisdom of challenging a former Champion beside the ocean.
“Hydro Pump, if you please,” Wallace gestured lightly toward the surf.
Milotic answered with enthusiasm.
Behind him, a familiar voice drifted across the beach. “Your entrance is very dramatic.”
Wallace glanced over his shoulder. Lorelei stood a short distance away, her expression composed as always while the ocean breeze stirred her hair. “I would expect nothing less from Hoenn’s champion.”
“Ex-champion, and I try to maintain certain standards,” Wallace replied pleasantly.
Lorelei’s attention shifted toward the advancing Aqua trainers. “Your opponents appear unimpressed.”
Wallace observed the shifting battlefield along the shores of Lilycove City while Milotic circled just beyond the surf where the ocean granted her full freedom of movement. The earlier Surf had already dismantled Aqua’s first formation, leaving several members of Team Aqua scrambling to reorganize their lines.
But another group of grunts had begun moving forward along the flank, attempting to push around the tidal assault and reach the Rangers positioned further inland.
Wallace nodded thoughtfully. “That will not do.” He gave a small gesture toward the shoreline. “Milotic, Whirlpool.”
Milotic answered immediately. She twisted through the water with elegant speed as the sea around her began to churn, a powerful current spiraling outward from her position before rushing toward the beach. The swirling water struck Aqua’s advancing flank and collapsed their formation entirely, dragging several trainers knee-deep into the surf while their Pokémon struggled to keep balance on the shifting sand.
Team Aqua had barely begun to recover when ghostly laughter echoed across the beach.
Phoebe had entered the battlefield with unmistakable enthusiasm. Her Dusclops appeared behind one of the Aqua trainers in a flicker of shadow while her Banette slipped through the battlefield with unsettling grace, striking from unexpected angles before vanishing again into the drifting sea mist.
One grunt shouted something about shadows before collapsing into the sand when Banette knocked him aside.
The mist rolling in from the ocean only amplified the effect. Phoebe’s ghosts faded into the haze and reappeared several meters away, weaving between Aqua formations until the entire front line looked as though it were being harassed by spirits emerging directly from the sea.
Wallace watched the performance unfold with clear appreciation, resisting the urge to applaud.
The temperature dropped moments later as Glacia advanced from the opposite flank. Her Glalie floated forward with cold precision while a massive Walrein crashed heavily onto the wet shoreline.
“Blizzard,” Glacia commanded calmly.
The attack swept across the beach in a blast of freezing wind that transformed wide sections of wet sand into gleaming sheets of ice. Several Pokémon attempted to charge through the frozen terrain with admirable determination, only to lose traction entirely. One particularly determined Carvanha slid several meters across the ice before colliding with a startled grunt who had not yet realized the ground beneath him had frozen solid.
Elsewhere a Sharpedo skidded sideways while her trainer struggled desperately to maintain footing behind her, both of them traveling an impressive distance before either regained control.
The Rangers advancing behind Glacia encountered none of those difficulties. Her Pokémon shaped the battlefield with deliberate precision, leaving stable paths where Hoenn’s defenders could move forward while Aqua forces struggled across treacherous terrain.
Glacia herself watched the unfolding chaos with composure. The contrast between her serene expression and the widespread slipping disaster across the beach amused Wallace greatly.
The operation had begun as a coordinated League strike, but from Aqua’s perspective it had quickly become a natural disaster.
Wallace could already imagine how the stories would grow with each retelling. Rangers would speak of ghosts rising from ocean mist and entire battle lines sliding helplessly across frozen sand while enormous waves crashed against the shore.
He suspected the final version would sound considerably more dramatic than reality.
Even so, one particular maneuver unfolding farther down the beach captured his full attention.
Lorelei advanced toward the waterline with the same calm precision that had always defined her style. Beside her, a poised Jynx lifted both arms as cold energy gathered around her.
“Ice Beam.”
The attack struck the incoming tide and frost spread instantly across the shallow surf. Jagged ridges of ice rose from the water, forcing Aqua’s advancing Pokémon to halt as the terrain beneath them transformed into uneven barriers.
Several of them attempted to push forward anyway.
Their determination lasted only until Jynx reinforced the frozen surf with another precise strike, shattering the leading ridge and scattering shards of ice across the sand. What had been a clear shoreline moments earlier now resembled a maze of frozen channels that disrupted every attempt at coordinated movement.
Wallace watched the maneuver unfold with growing appreciation, he could not help smiling. “Now that,” he remarked aloud, “is artistry.”
Milotic, who had returned to his side, followed his gaze toward the spreading frost, studying the frozen structures forming along the surf.
“Milotic,” Wallace said lightly, “let us assist Kanto’s Ice Queen.”
Milotic surged forward through the water at once.
“Surf.”
The ocean swelled around her as she gathered the strength of the tide before releasing it toward the shore. The wave rushed between the frozen ridges Jynx had created, powerful currents filling the icy channels without breaking the barriers themselves.
Water and ice collided with elegant precision.
Trainers attempting to retreat toward deeper water ran directly into Milotic’s surging currents while those trying to escape inland found Lorelei’s frozen terrain blocking every easy path forward.
For a moment Wallace simply watched the spectacle unfold.
Milotic glided through the channels between the ice ridges while Jynx reinforced the frozen structures with careful strikes of frost. Together they created a shifting corridor of water and ice that rolled straight through Aqua’s remaining defensive line.
One particularly determined grunt attempted to command her Pokémon through the opening. The attempt ended with the unfortunate trainer losing her footing on the slick surface before the incoming tide swept both her and her partner several meters down the beach.
Wallace allowed himself a brief laugh.
Stories would inevitably claim that Lorelei had frozen the entire shoreline while Wallace unleashed waves powerful enough to shatter ships against the rocks. Witnesses would swear that towers of ice had risen from the sea while tides crashed against them with unstoppable force.
Those tales would grow more elaborate with every retelling.
The truth unfolding before him required no embellishment. Lorelei’s control of the battlefield worked with flawless precision while Milotic’s currents amplified every advantage she created, leaving Aqua’s forces trapped between water and ice with nowhere left to escape.
Wallace inclined his head slightly toward Lorelei across the chaos.
“What a delightful collaboration,” he murmured.
The battle along the shores of Lilycove City had already begun to tilt decisively in the League’s favor when a foreign presence brushed against Wallace’s thoughts. The sensation arrived with the unmistakable chill of psychic contact, smooth and deliberate rather than invasive, carrying the distinct mental signature of the poised Jynx who stood beside Lorelei near the frozen surf.
They are fleeing. The leader and the remaining admins have retreated toward a submarine hidden beyond the bay. Jynx continued, projecting the approximate location through a map-like impression of the coastline and the deeper waters beyond the harbor. It is already submerging.
Wallace’s expression cooled immediately.
Criminal organizations rarely accepted defeat with grace, yet the idea of their leader escaping was unacceptable. He reached calmly for another Poké Ball at his belt.
Light erupted across the shoreline as the enormous form of Gyarados burst into existence above the surf, the colossal serpent unfurling with a roar that carried across the water. Several nearby members of Team Aqua turned instinctively toward the sound, only to freeze when they recognized the predator now towering above the battlefield.
Wallace touched the Key Stone on his hat. “Let us make certain their retreat ends here.”
The Mega Stone answered instantly.
Energy surged between trainer and Pokémon as brilliant light engulfed Gyarados’s body. His form twisted and expanded within the radiance before emerging moments later as the far more terrifying shape of Mega Gyarados, the ocean itself churning violently beneath the newly transformed leviathan.
Wallace did not hesitate.
Jynx’s projected coordinates remained vivid in his mind, the submarine’s position marked clearly within the dark water beyond the bay.
He extended one arm toward the distant horizon. “Hyper Beam. Straight ahead.”
Mega Gyarados answered with savage enthusiasm. Energy gathered between his fangs as a blazing sphere of light formed at the back of his throat before erupting outward in a colossal beam that tore across the surface of the sea.
The attack carved a brilliant path through the water.
Several fleeing Aqua grunts and their Pokémon who had attempted to escape along the shoreline never even had time to react before the beam engulfed them entirely. Steam exploded into the air as the blast continued forward without slowing, drilling through the ocean’s surface and plunging deep beneath the waves.
Far below, the submarine attempting its desperate escape encountered the attack an instant later.
The impact shook the bay.
For a brief moment the ocean swelled upward as if something enormous had struck it from below, and then the explosion erupted beneath the surface with violent force. A plume of boiling water and shattered metal burst upward before collapsing back into the sea as fragments of the destroyed vessel sank rapidly into the depths.
Mega Gyarados hovered above the aftermath, the fading glow of the Hyper Beam reflecting across the churning water. Wallace lowered his arm slowly while the ocean settled once more.
Behind him the battle had ended, yet the work never truly stopped.
Cleanup operations stretched across the beaches of Lilycove City long after the last members of Team Aqua had been secured. Rangers moved across the sand cataloguing confiscated equipment while League officials coordinated the transport of prisoners and injured Pokémon. The shoreline slowly returned to something resembling order, though the scattered craters of ice and churned sand still carried clear evidence of the conflict.
Wallace stood near the edge of the water while the tide washed quietly against the shore.
The ocean had already reclaimed most of the chaos. Waves rolled in with patient rhythm, smoothing over the marks left by battle until the beach began to resemble the peaceful coastline it had been only hours earlier.
The same could not be said for everything else.
Several covered shapes rested farther down the beach where Rangers had marked the area. Trainers moved respectfully around them while investigators recorded the necessary details before the bodies would be transported away.
Wallace watched the scene with an expression that carried far less surprise than it once would have.
The first time he had stood on a battlefield had been very different.
That earlier memory still lingered with embarrassing clarity. Younger Wallace had finished his first real confrontation shaking and pale, the smell of burned sand and blood lingering long enough that he had excused himself behind a nearby structure where he promptly lost the contents of his stomach.
The nights that followed had been worse.
Sleep had refused to cooperate for several weeks after that encounter. Every time he closed his eyes the battlefield returned with uncomfortable persistence, and the quiet elegance he liked to present to the world had temporarily vanished beneath exhaustion.
Standing here now, Wallace discovered that the same sights produced a far more subdued reaction.
Spilled blood no longer shocked him.
The realization irritated him slightly.
“Marvelous,” he muttered under his breath while watching another group of Rangers secure evidence near the surf. “Years of defending Hoenn have turned me into someone who accepts murder as an occupational inconvenience.”
The ocean rolled forward and retreated again with calm indifference.
For a brief moment irritation flared inside him. The world is filled with people who believed conquest and destruction were acceptable hobbies, leaving the rest of them to clean up the mess afterward. That particular cycle forced otherwise reasonable individuals to become very good at ending lives.
Wallace disliked the necessity.
He watched a pair of Rangers carefully guide an injured Pokémon toward a waiting medic while another trainer helped a shaken co-worker to her feet. Nearby, members of the League moved through the wreckage with quiet determination, already working to restore order after the chaos.
The anger faded as quickly as it had appeared.
For every person who tried to tear the world apart, there were dozens who stepped forward to repair the damage. Champions, Rangers, trainers, researchers, and ordinary citizens all moved together with the same stubborn refusal to surrender the world to criminals.
Wallace took a deep breath.
At least he had not become indifferent to killing, that would have worried him far more. The thought reassured him, so he turned away from the shoreline and left the Rangers to finish their work.
Several days later the aftermath shifted from battlefields to meeting rooms.
The administrative response to the simultaneous collapse of Team Aqua and Team Magma required an astonishing amount of paperwork. Investigations, recovery efforts, public relations statements, and coordination with international authorities filled the schedule of Hoenn’s leadership from morning until late evening.
Wallace found himself seated across from Steven Stone in an office that looked increasingly buried beneath stacks of documents. Steven reviewed another report, while Wallace leaned back in his chair and studied the growing mountain of paperwork with theatrical sympathy.
“I must say,” Wallace remarked casually, “retirement from the Champion’s office has proven to be an excellent decision.”
“I suspected you might feel that way,” Steven commented as did not look up from the page he was reading.
“The responsibility suits you far better than it ever suited me,” Wallace folded his arms comfortably. “I enjoy dramatic battles and elegant performances, yet administrative obligations remain tragically incompatible with my artistic sensibilities.”
Steven signed the report in front of him before finally glancing across the desk. “You have spent the last hour helping with those administrative obligations.”
“Of course,” Wallace replied with an easy smile. “Idle hands encourage philosophical reflection, and philosophical reflection leads me to uncomfortable thoughts about the morality of killing people. Paperwork provides a much healthier distraction.”
Steven regarded him for a moment before returning his attention to the next file. “Noted.”
Several minutes passed in relative silence while Wallace sorted through another set of documents. Eventually Steven set aside the report he had been reading and rested his pen against the desk. “We should formally thank the Indigo League for their assistance.”
Wallace shrugged lightly. “That seems reasonable.”
Steven tapped one finger against the stack of papers. “Their cooperation played a major role in stopping both organizations.”
“In that case you should simply give something to Ashley,” Wallace tilted his head thoughtfully.
Steven looked up again.
“A gift?”
Wallace nodded with easy confidence.
“The Champion and Elite Four in Indigo absolutely adore that girl. Providing her with a token of appreciation will ensure the gesture reaches everyone who matters.”
Steven considered the suggestion for a moment. Then he opened a drawer nearby and removed a small case before setting it on the desk. “Would this work?”
Wallace leaned forward with curiosity. Steven opened the case, and inside rested a gleaming stone.
Wallace stared at it.
“A Mega Stone for her Lucario.”
Wallace leaned back slowly in his chair.
“That girl now possesses a Mega Charizard courtesy of Lance and will soon acquire a Mega Lucario from you.”
Steven watched his predecessor warily, as Wallace crossed his arms and frowned with theatrical displeasure. “None of her water Pokémon can Mega Evolve.”
“-what?” Steven asked in disbelief.
“This is profoundly unfair,” Wallace sighed dramatically, ignoring Steven’s reasonable confusion. “Lance gives her a Charizardite X, you will present her with a Lucarionite, and I remain completely unable to contribute a Mega Evolved water Pokémon to the collection.”
Wallace’s beautiful face twisted with an exaggerated pout.
“I refuse to accept a reality where the water specialist fails to provide the most impressive aquatic gift.”
Steven had clearly given up trying to understand artists, and he had gone back to review his paperwork. “You do you.”