We took the steps down to the fourth basement floor of the Snowpoint Temple. No puzzle or challenges awaited us there, only erie etchings upon the walls.

My footsteps echoed throughout the halls, each step once again making me aware of the isolation. It felt like we didn't belong. I shone my flashlight on the walls and looked at the carvings. There were many illustrations of Regigigas itself, each one telling a different part of the same tale. A tale that I knew from my textbooks all too well.

-----

Long ago, the regions blurred together. They were one. The land, the sea, the sky: they were all united, undivided by each other. However, this lead to some problems.

Just as the land was undivided, so were the people. One city in particular stood proud and tall among the rest; smack dab in the middle of the supercontinent was the capital of the world: Aegis City.

Aegis was a prosperous land beyond that of any before it. The people there thought incredibly highly of themselves, and set out to use their collective power to capture the legendary pokemon of the world. This ended up being their downfall.

Enraged at humanity's actions, Regigigas and a few other legendaries laid waste to the great city, tearing it apart. While the humans were still weakened, Regigigas pulled apart the world, right down the center of Aegis, splitting the supercontinent into several smaller continents, which are today known as the regions of our world.

The people of the world found ways to travel and communicate with each other, but never again would they be physically capable of uniting in such a way. They had gotten too full of themselves, and Regigigas had brought them back down to earth.

Exhausted from the act of pulling apart the continents, Regigigas set out to accomplish one last thing before falling into a sleep that would last ages. Taking lava, rock, and the coldest ice it could find, Regigigas fashioned three golems and gave them live. Those golems were Registeel, Regirock, and Regice.

Regigigas spread its new minions across the world, namely the Hoenn region, and then retreated to Sinnoh where it sought rest. A small group of humans sympathized with the titan, and assisted it in the creation of several temples for it and its golems.

Satisfied and very tired, Regigigas trusted these loyal humans and took its rest. It's said that the humans that it intrusted have survived in succeeding generations in small numbers to this day, still loyal to the cause that they were enlisted for. However, if the trio is brought together once more, they would form the key to get to Regigigas, which even the loyal clan would not interfere with.

-----

The familiar legend told its story on the walls in vivid pictorial detail. My flashlight lit up the brilliant stone carvings, which were so well preserved that they looked brand new.

"Flashlights forward Elron!" barked Daron from the front.

"Yes sir!" I obeyed. At the end of the floor was a staircase, strangely lit up by some unknown light. It was actually quite warm at this floor, and I wanted to take off my heavy clothes.

"We'll stop here and prepare for the final floor," said Daron. "Feel free to take off any unnecessary clothing and leave it here with any other items that you won't need any time soon."

Relieved, I took off my coat and gloves and tucked them into the corner. Flora removed her several layers like she was peeling an onion.

"This is it! Let's head down and see what we find!"

Down the stairs we went. Into the light we stepped, revealing a floor that was massive both in area and height. Stone columns stood around in juxtaposition. The tan stone reminded me of sandstone, but it appeared to be what was giving off the light. Down the long staircase we went.

When we reached the bottom we turned to our side and found something that we all expected, but which shocked us at the actual sight of. Sitting on a huge stone chair was what looked to be a statue of Regigigas in cold gray stone. It rested its arms on the side of the chair stoically, as if it was royalty waiting patiently as it was being painted, and moss grew around its limbs from its seemingly infinite rest.

I marvelled at the stone figure, but only until I felt someone grab my from behind. I struggled to escape but it was no use. I looked around frantically and managed to see Flora and Brandon meeting the same fate.

"Let go of me," shouted Brandon. "What is the meaning of this?!"

Daron stepped forward, bringing Archie and Maxie in tow. He stopped and turned to face us.

"Thank you for your help up to this point you three, you were invaluable to getting this far. You'll find quite the sum of money deposited into your accounts when this is said and done."

"This isn't about the money!" yelled Brandon. "Let me go! I only agreed to help you because you seemed interested in simply observing the ruins!... Don't tell me you actually have some sort of purpose!"

"Ah, but I do. Why else would I waste so much time and money? To discover forgotten history? Don't make me laugh. I came here for power!"

A bead of sweat rolled down from my forehead. "What power?"

"Elron, can you not tell?! Someone as sharp as you should be able to gather that much!" A wicked smile came over Daron's face.

I looked at the floor. "Regigigas."

"That's right! Now was that so hard?"

"For what purpose do you want Regigigas?!" asked Brandon. Him, the mighty adventurer, was trembling.

Flora had yet to utter a single word.

"Let me tell you a short story," said Daron. "I promise it won't be long."

We certainly weren't going anywhere any time soon.

Daron's smiled faded and he began his tale of woe.

-----

When I was still youthful and ambitious I dreamed of owning my own shipwright company. You see, ever since I was a child I loved the sea, so what better way to express those feeling than to create ships to let others experience the sea just like I had? It was while trying to start up my business that I met her.

One day while unloading a new shipment of parts I caught a pair of eyes from around the corner that didn't belong there. A pair of vibrant green eyes.

I nonchalantly walked past the spot, then snuck up behind the owner of the eyes while they were still glued to the warehouse.

"Can I help you?" I said, startling the girl.

She turned around slowly, a goofy but energetic grin laying on her face. She was a blonde haired girl that was two years younger than me. "Busted huh?"

I crossed my arms and smirked. "You bet you are. Now what are you doing watching us from your little hiding place?"

Her face turned bright red. "Oh n-n-nothing really. I just r-really wanted to see how a boat was made. That's all."

I laughed. "That's not what I meant. Why were you watching us in hiding? It'd be much better to get an up close and personal look at it right?"

Her face lit up. "Really?!"

"Really." I smiled. "The name's Daron."

"Veronica."

Things went quite smoothly on from that day forward. Every day Veronica would come by and check our progress. She was quite the curious girl, always interested in everything from the welding to the number of bolts used in the entire structure. If I had to guess I would have said that she was planning to build her own ship using our plans.

It wasn't long before we started seeing each other more often than that though, and outside of the warehouse at that. We talked of all the places that we would sail, riding the tailwind to wherever. Well those dreams and conversations soon turned into plans, more specifically honeymoon plans.

I was at the height of my life. My small company was growing and was selling the few ships we managed to make. I was about to be married to a beautiful, kind woman. The only direction that we thought we had to go was up.

The marriage came and went, and then came the vacation that we had dreamt about. Just for this trip, I had designed and built a special new ship. I had insisted on it being of my design instead of my architect's, because I wanted Veronica and I to have first say in absolutely every step.

A brilliant white spectacle, our boat was ready by the time of the honeymoon, ready to take its first voyage. But I was foolish.

It was the third night of the trip.

"Hey, maybe we should turn around," I said. "Looks like quite the storm is coming. I'm worried that it might be too much for this vessel."

"You worry too much," she said. "Modern ships like this can brave storms a lot better than you give them credit for. Plus, I want to experience the storm up close and personal."

Foolish, foolish me! That was all it took to convince me. Oh how much I wish that I would have listened to myself instead! The storm hit, and it hit hard. She was right, normally a ship of this size would have been okay in that sort of storm, but this ship wasn't normal. It was designed by us, the ones who had never designed a ship in our lives.

"Get back in here!" I yelled out to her.

She grabbed fastly to the iron bars, letting the storm hit her with all of its might. "Why? Afraid of a little rain?!"

"This is more than a little! You're making me worried!"

"Don't be such a downer! I know how to stay aboa--"

A wave hit our sides with great force, and the boat tipped quite a bit over before returning upright.

"Get in NOW!" I shouted.

Terror hit her eyes as she realized that she was no longer safe. Using the railing as a crutch, she carefully made her way over to me. I threw on a life jacket and grabbed a second one. I think we both knew then that we had designed the ship to be too sleek looking and not realistic enough, as that wave shouldn't have tipped us over that much. The shape of the boat was too risky and easy to push over, and worst of all that part of the designs had been suggested by me.

She was almost to the cabin when a second, even more powerful wave hit. The boat tipped over, and she lost her footing. She held onto the railing with all her might.

"Hold on!" I yelled, grabbing onto the cabin door the best I could and extending my arm with the life jacket as far as humanly possible. But it wasn't enough. A third wave of water hit us on the other side, Veronica's side, and slingshotted the boat upright. She lost her grip, and was carried off by the waves.

"Veronica!" I screamed. I threw the life jacket into the ocean in a last ditch effort, hoping with all my heart that it would reach her. I ran back into the cabin and took control of the wheel. For hours I reached for her, tossing and turning among the waves.

I never found her. By a stroke of fortune or misfortune, I did find the life jacket that I had thrown into the ocean. It had never reached its target.

I was torn about by my feelings. I became cynical and selfish. My work was all that I had, so I ended up putting everything I had into it, making it climb to the very top. This wasn't enough though.

It was then, after reaching a point of wealth and success that I would have never imagined myself to reach, that I concocted my plan. I would once again reunite the land and sea. A new kingdom of Aegis would form, and we would never again need to travel into the dangerous ocean. If everything is practically in one place, no one would ever need to leave its safe boundaries. No no would have to ever die at sea the way Veronica had.

It was an illogical plan, a broken delusion, but it sounded appealing. In the name of Veronica, for her sake and not mine, I would change the world as we knew, and I would risk everything that I had built up for it. My reasons do not make sense, and I see that now, but for the sake of humanity I will do the impossible. Just as she outstretched her hand for anyone in need, I will sacrifice my entire arm if necessary to build a better future.

-----

He finished his monologue and stepped further back. He then threw his hands in the air and spun around. "Will you look at all this?! It's brilliant! What the spectacular stage for a legendary performance to occur!" He stopped and pulled out his three masterballs. "Regi Trio! I call upon you to awaken your creator!" He released all three of the pokemon, and the took their stances in front of the stone giant.

"This is madness!" I screamed.

"Perhaps so," he said, briefly turning back to me. "But how could you understand me? You haven't lost someone that you care so deeply for at your own fault like I have."

The trio beeped and sputtered out mechanical, incomprehensible words. The ground started to shake, and a cracking sound came from the seated giant. Sounds of stone against stone broke out, and little by little the stone came alive. The gray gained full color and what was before us was no longer a statue, but a fully fledged legendary pokemon.

It stood up, shaking the ground with its baby steps. It looked down at the three smaller forms that had given it its wake up call, and they talked in an alien language. Regigigas looked at the invading humans.

"That's right! I'm the one who had you wake up!" shouted Daron. He pulled out a pokeball, a fourth and final masterball, and held it up for all to see. "I've got a job for you!" He walked forward, getting closer and closer to the beasts but further from us.

Registeel unleashed a Hyper Beam right then and there at Daron. He didn't have enough time to react, and was hit head on. He flew right into one of the stone pillars, then fell to the ground, singed and unable to move. The masterball that he had shattered on impact.

The pokemon... They rebelled?!

Our captors and the rest of the crew ran away and up the stairs.

"Boss!" Maxie and Archie yelled, running towards their fallen leader.

"You can't go yet, we don't have our united ocean yet!"

"We still have all that land to join! Stay with us!"

I was paralyzed on the spot. Should I run? Should I try to contain it?!

"Go, Ninetales!"

A silver nine tailed fox showed up in front of me. It bore its teeth immediately.

"What are you waiting for Elron?! Get out your pokemon!" Flora yelled at me.

"R-right." I reached for my pokeballs and threw them all forward. "Aaron! Bagel! Gyarados! Heracross! Absol! Manectric! Come on out!"

All six of my team came out and got ready for action.

Regigigas was stretching its limbs, regaining the feeling of mobility.

"I applaud you two for doing this, but there's nothing you two can do against something that can move the very land that we stand upon," said Brandon. "I'm going to work on evacuating as many people as possible, and I'd recommend that you do as well."

I thought back to the Heatran. It had just about destroyed everything around it, and it took the Elite Four to even distract it. I tightened my fists. "Sorry, but I'm not going to stand around or run when there is something this dangerous around. I'm going to hold off this thing--I swear upon it!"

"And I hope for your sake that you are able to do so," he said. "Let us meet again." He brought out his Braviary and soared up the stairs.

The irony, I thought to myself.

Archie and Maxie were carrying the injured Daron away now. It was just Flora and I against the invincible opponents.

The golems gave us one final warning signal. They were mad.

"Are you ready Flora?"

Determination and sadness made up her expression. "You bet."

"Let's go!"

Our group rushed forward. The earth shook violently, and cracks and fissures broke out all of the structure. Parts of the ceiling started coming crashing down. Regigigas wanted out of that temple. We kept running, but Flora stopped in the middle of the floor.

I glanced back just in time to see her looking hopelessly at the stairs as a fissure broke out underneath her, swallowing her and her Ninetales. I saw as if in slow motion her falling. She turned to me with eyes flowing with tears and a reluctant smile. Then she was gone, eaten up by the earth.

"FLORA!!!"