Groudon's Good Friend, Jirachi

"Roar~!!"

"Roar~!!"

Above Bluel Basin, Rayquaza's Dragon Roar rang out without end, its terrifying dragon might bearing down upon the earth with every cry.

To ensure Groudon woke up as quickly as possible, Rayquaza did not hold back. It directly invoked its authority over the sky—or more accurately, the power of its territory.

The clouds overhead churned ceaselessly. Within merely a dozen breaths, the clouds in the sky seemed to have descended all the way to the ground.

Yet the earth remained completely still.

The nearby wild Pokémon, on the other hand, fled in panic, clearly terrified by the power Rayquaza had displayed.

"Mark, why isn't Groudon awake yet?"

"Mew mew?"

"Brry?"

"Could Groudon be sleeping too deeply? Or maybe Groudon isn't actually here?"

Seeing no sign of Groudon waking up, the little ones quickly gathered beside Mark to discuss it.

In fact, it was not only the little ones.

Rayquaza in the sky and Mark were also puzzled by Groudon's complete lack of response, wondering whether Groudon might not actually be here.

Fortunately, Mark and Rayquaza did not have to wonder for long.

Under Rayquaza's repeated calls, the earth finally began to tremble violently. At the same time, a muffled roar came from deep underground.

Then, the roar vanished.

The earth returned to calm, as if nothing had happened.

—Groudon had chickened out.

Faced with Rayquaza's provocation and pressure, Groudon chose to back down.

The ground where the sky and earth met had always been Groudon's territory.

This time, upon sensing Rayquaza's pressure, Groudon retreated and gave up its territory on the ground. After all, the ground where the sky and earth met had originally been half Rayquaza's territory anyway. It was merely that Rayquaza usually did not care much about the ground, so that portion had been assigned