PS250

← PS249 : The Beginning of the End with Kyogre & Groudon XI

Ruby & Sapphire arc

PS251 : The Beginning of the End with Kyogre & Groudon XIII →

The Beginning of the End with Kyogre & Groudon XII
Return of the Champion

VS カイオーガ & グラードン XII

VS Kyogre & Groudon XII

Info

Shogakukan full volume	Chapter 250 in Vol. 21
VIZ Media full volume	Adventure 250 in Vol. 21
Series	Pokémon Adventures

Other

Location

Sootopolis City Lilycove Museum Cove Lily Motel Abandoned Ship Lilycove Department Store

The Beginning of the End with Kyogre & Groudon XII (Japanese: VS カイオーガ & グラードン XII VS Kyogre & Groudon XII), titled VS Kyogre & Groudon XII in the Chuang Yi translation, is the 250th chapter of the Pokémon Adventures manga, and the 70th chapter of the Ruby & Sapphire arc. It is subtitled Return of the Champion (Japanese: チャンピオン帰還 The Champion Returns) in the VIZ Media translation and The Champion Returns in the Chuang Yi translation.

Plot

Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.

Gabby and Ty ride on top of Absol as it heads to where Groudon and Kyogre will battle. The spheres of energy holding Ruby, Sapphire, Maxie, and Archie head towards the same location. Using this information, Ty figures out that they're all heading towards a mysterious city known as Sootopolis City. Ty points out that Sootopolis is located where the harsh sunlight clashes with the heavy rain.

Because Ruby and Sapphire are currently trapped inside of the spheres of energy, Gabby tells Ty to inform the Pokémon Association Chairman and Captain Stern about the current situation. At the Pokémon Association headquarters, Stern is informed about Groudon and Kyogre's upcoming clash. The old couple get worried, as the situation had become worse than they expected. They reveal that after Groudon and Kyogre awakened their bodies at the Seafloor Cavern, they must be heading towards the Cave of Origin to awaken their minds. If the two Legendary Pokémon succeed in awakening their minds, the next thing they'll do is fight.

Groudon and Kyogre eventually reach Sootopolis City. Groudon digs through the walls surrounding the city, while Kyogre dives down underwater and enters through an undersea tunnel. As soon as the two see each other, they immediately begin a battle to the death.

Back in Lilycove City, Brawly continues his battle against Blaise at the Lilycove Museum. He has his Hariyama finish off Blaise's Slugma with Knock Off. The attack pins the two Pokémon into a wall, and knocks off a pair of hairpins. Brawly recognizes the hairpins as the ones that belong to Tate and Liza, which allows him to figure out that Blaise was the one who defeated the twins.

Brawly demands that Blaise tell him where the twins are, but Blaise refuses, as Brawly used up all his energy to defeat him. Although Blaise is exhausted as well, he's fine with it as his goal is to keep Groudon advancing without any obstacles. As Blaise disappears into the flames, he praises Brawly for being the first to defeat his illusions. At the Cove Lily Motel, Courtney also disappears in the flames as Roxanne laments her failure at stopping Groudon.

At the Abandoned Ship, Flannery's Vulpix continues to be attacked by Shelly's Ludicolo's Nature Power, which defeats it. Shelly decides that since they managed to keep the Gym Leaders from stopping Kyogre, the battle is over. Before she leaves, Shelly decides to finish Flannery off, but Winona steps in to protect her. This doesn't faze Shelly, who orders another Nature Power from her Ludicolo. Ludicolo attacks once more, but nothing happens when it uses it.

Shelly gets angry at Ludicolo for fooling around, but Flannery reveals that nothing is happening because of her Vulpix's Grudge move. Due to Vulpix being defeated by Nature Power, Grudge made Nature Power unusable. Annoyed, Shelly decides to flee, as there is nothing the Gym Leaders can do to stop Kyogre's advancement. Matt begs for Shelly to help him as he flops around in the water helplessly, but Shelly refuses and tells him to save himself.

Flannery tries to chase after Shelly, but Winona stops her as she doesn't want any more sacrifices like what happened to Wattson. Flannery reluctantly agrees as she mourns over Wattson's death. Suddenly, a large burst of water shoots up from the sea with Wattson on top of his Manectric. The water is revealed to be Sapphire's Lorry, who had saved Wattson with Water Spout. After thanking Lorry for rescuing Wattson, a small box is thrown near them. Winona figures out that it's the black box from the Submarine Explorer 1, which reveals that Team Aqua's base is located in Lilycove City. As they head off to go rescue Professor Cozmo, Amber watches them from behind a tree.

Meanwhile at the Lilycove Department Store, Wallace's Phillip, manages to easily defeat Tabitha's Torkoal. Wallace tells Tabitha that he has been defeated, only for Tabitha to suddenly lose it and go on a rampage. Tabitha begins chasing Wallace throughout the store, until they end up on top of the roof. When Wallace questions why Tabitha suddenly went crazy, a voice from above tells him that Tabitha had come in contact with one of the Orbs that control Groudon and Kyogre.

A Metagross comes down from the air and defeats Tabitha with a powerful Meteor Mash attack. Wallace berates the voice for taking so long to save him, revealing the voice to be from Steven Stone. Steven apologizes for being late, but tells Wallace to come with him because he needs his assistance.

Major events

• Kyogre and Groudon arrive at Sootopolis City and battle each other.
• Having prevented the Gym Leaders from stopping Groudon and Kyogre, Team Magma and Team Aqua retreat.
• Amber betrays Team Aqua.
• Tabitha goes crazy from the influence of the Blue Orb.
• Steven arrives to ask Wallace for help.

For a list of all major events in the Pokémon Adventures manga, please see the history page.

	Spoilers end here.

Characters

Humans

• Ruby
• Sapphire
• Roxanne
• Brawly
• Wattson
• Flannery
• Winona
• Tate and Liza (fantasy)
• Wallace
• Steven Stone
• Archie
• Maxie
• Matt/Ark
• Shelly/Angie
• Amber
• Blaise/Mack
• Courtney/Marge
• Tabitha/Mitch
• Gabby and Ty/Maryann and Tyler
• Pokémon Fan Club Chairman
• Captain Stern
• Dock/Tuga
• Pokémon Association Chairman
• Old couple

Pokémon

• Wailord (Lorry/Walo; Sapphire's)
• Nosepass (Roxanne's)
• Hariyama (Brawly's)
• Manectric (Wattson's)
• Vulpix (Flannery's)
• Altaria (Winona's)
• Whiscash (Phillip; Wallace's)
• Luvdisc (Elizabeth; Wallace's)
• Metagross (×2; Steven's)
• Vibrava (Matt's)
• Ludicolo (Shelly's)
• Vibrava (Shelly's)
• Slugma (×2; Blaise's)
• Torkoal (Tabitha's)
• Kyogre (Adventures)
• Groudon (Adventures)
• Absol

Trivia

Errors

• In the Chuang Yi version, the Seafloor Cavern is mistakenly called the Cave of Origin.
• In the Chuang Yi version, Mt. Pyre is called its Japanese name, Mt. Okuribi, on page 18.

In other languages

Language		Title
Mandarin Chinese		VS 蓋歐卡&固拉多 XII (Taiwan) VS 盖欧卡&固拉多 XII (Mainland China)
European French		L'âpreté de la défaite
Korean		VS 가이오가 & 그란돈 XII
Brazilian Portuguese		VS Kyogre & Groudon XII
Vietnamese		VS Kaioga & Groudon XII - Vị quán quân trở về

← PS249 : The Beginning of the End with Kyogre & Groudon XI

Ruby & Sapphire arc

PS251 : The Beginning of the End with Kyogre & Groudon XIII →

This article is part of Project Manga, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each series of Pokémon manga.