On the shore of Mossdeep City, Sapphire successfully ambushes Zinnia, and quickly engages in a heated battle with the Draconid among the densely grown mangroves. Her Gallade, Kirry, wields its blade-like arms to strike at Goodra, while her Aggron, Rono, rears its head and takes on Salamence. Zinnia grins that the ambush really caught her off guard, and admits to have never expected it. She recalls their recent encounter at Sea Mauville, and remembers that Sapphire supposedly fell through a hole to a location unknown. Before Sapphire showed up, she has wondering why the folks at the Space Center are already launching the rocket, but she now knows that it's because it was Mossdeep that Sapphire ended up at and she has delivered to them the Dimensional Shifter.

Zinnia grunts that she shall use other means to tackle the problem, but thinks the more pressing issue now is to reclaim the scroll that Sapphire stole from her. With that, she orders a Fire Fang from Salamence, and the powerful bite on Aggron's neck creates a blast so strong that it throws Sapphire off its back and onto the ground. Wincing in pain, Sapphire is confused by what the 'scroll' meant, and Zinnia realizes that she wasn't the one who took it. This honestly makes her troubled since she has already obtained the five Keystones required as offerings to the dragon lord during the ceremony, and the scroll is the only thing she currently misses.

Pausing for a moment of thought, Zinnia decides that she will deal with the rocket first after all, and tells Goodra to keep Sapphire busy before their backup arrives. However, as she goes airborne on Salamence, Sapphire leaps up using Goodra's head as a stepping stone, and charges into the Draconid, knocking her into the waters below. Soaked from head to toe, Zinnia feels extremely irritated, and demands to know why Sapphire is interfering with her work. She reminds her of the horrific state her Blaziken became when its bioenergy was completely drained, and fails to understand why she is still supporting a company like Devon who doesn't bat an eye to Pokemon sacrifice. Sapphire replies with a nearly inaudible voice that she couldn't let Chic and Sceptile's suffering go waste, which is why she wouldn't let Zinnia thwart their plan. She states that if sacrifices are necessary to save the planet, she will go through with it and not regret a thing.

Sapphire's broken tone astonishes Zinnia, and she gasps in realization that the girl has lost her voice. Almost immediately, painful memories flood in, and the young woman vividly remembers the day she found Aster's charred cape surrounded by burning flames. At that time, she refused to accept what became of Aster and desperately called out for her, losing her voice as she felt her heart broke.

Zinnia's momentary distraction allows Rono to cut in for an ambush attack, and the Draconid quickly retaliates with another Fire Fang from Salamence. However, Rono bides the pain, and suddenly hits back at the flying dragon with a powerful shock wave. Zinnia sees that it has used Metal Burst, and is impressed that its connection with Sapphire is so deep that the girl doesn't need words to communicate with it. If she is not mistaken, an Aggron's age is reflected in the length of its horn, and judging by that of Rono's, she believes that Sapphire must have had it for almost ten years. The truth is, encountering Salamence has sent Rono down memory lane as well. Years ago, when young Ruby and Sapphire fought this Salamence, Rono actually watched the whole thing inside its Pokeball. Back then, it didn't get the chance to fight, and it seems fateful that it should stand up against this very foe after all this time.

At that moment, a voice comes on to ask why Zinnia is still there with the rocket's pending launch, and Sapphire looks over to see the arrival of two submarines, one shaped like a Camerupt and the other like a Sharpedo. A chubby man and purple-haired girl wearing Team Magma uniforms emerge from the Camerupt submarine, while a burly guy and long dark-haired woman wearing Team Aqua uniforms come out from the Sharpedo one. They declare to be the Admins of Neo Team Magma and Neo Team Aqua, and shall act as the opponents of Sapphire.

Zinnia complains that it took long enough for them to show up, and thinks they should do a little introduction of themselves. The chubby man calls himself Tabitha, the purple-haired girl Courtney, while the long dark-haired woman grins that she is Shelly and the burly guy Matt. The four names instantly ring a bell in Sapphire's mind, but make her extremely confused at the same time since the Courtney, Tabitha, Matt and Shelly she knew didn't look that way. Seeing the baffled look on the girl's face, Tabitha realizes that she must be thinking of his predecessor, and reveals that these are actually codenames in their organization, which are passed on and succeeded as the former calls it quits. Matt states that he has no idea how many Matt there has been, but he is currently the Matt of Team Aqua. Zinnia adds that the present Tabitha and Shelly used to work for Devon, and even belonged to the same research development team. Although they work for different organizations now, they still share the same hatred and discontent towards Joseph Stone's monopoly policy in running the company.

Suddenly, a low rumble fills the area, and they hear an announcement from the Space Center that the rocket will be launched in 3 minutes. Tabitha urges Zinnia to go and leave Sapphire to them, and offers her the special Magma Suit which will protect her when she reaches the stratosphere. Almost simultaneously, Shelly makes the same offer with the Aqua Suit, and Tabitha cries that it is just the gear they used for deep sea exploration. Shelly retorts that Team Magma's one is also the same one they used for investigating volcanoes, and reminds him that he stole the idea from her when they were still in Devon.

Zinnia states that she will need neither since she plans to destroy the Dimensional Shifter before it reaches space, and quickly goes airborne on Salamence. Sapphire attempts to give chase, but Courtney thwarts her with a blast of flames from her Numel, forcing the girl to duck and evade. Matt commands his Carvanha to tear Sapphire into pieces, but Rono easily smacks it off. Sapphire knows that she has no time to deal with the Admins and must go after Zinnia right away, and whistles to call upon Troppy. Soon enough, the Tropius flies down from the sky, and picks up its trainer onto its back as it knocks down the Numel and Carvanha.

Inside the control room of the Mossdeep Space Center, Prof Cozmo, Joseph Stone and Steven Stone keep their gaze on the monitor screen as the system counts down to the rocket's launch. All of a sudden, something swoops past the camera focusing on the rocket, and Joseph wonders what it is. Cozmo thinks it is probably just a Taillow or Wingull, but on a closer look, Joseph exclaims that it is Zinnia and her Salamence, who are quickly approaching the rocket.

Hovering near the top of the rocket, Zinnia discovers where the Dimensional Shifter is, and gets ready to destroy it. She hollers that she will not allow Devon to create a wormhole with such kind of device, and declares that it is the dragon lord and the Draconids who will take care of the asteroid. Just then, a powerful hurricane of leaves strikes at Salamence, and makes it impossible for Zinnia to see clearly. She recognizes the move as Leaf Tornado, and in that instant, Cozmo hits the launch button, causing the rocket to take off. Down at the mangroves, Tabitha, Matt, Shelly and Courtney wonder why Zinnia made it in time, while those inside the Space Center control room hope that the young woman has failed to interfere with their plan. Yet, Cozmo's assistants soon notice something near the tip of the rocket, and after magnifying the image captured by the camera, everyone gasps in bewilderment that Sapphire and Zinnia are both on the rocket's surface.

As the rocket rapidly gains altitude, Zinnia demands Sapphire to get lost, but the girl shakes her head and continues to stand between the Draconid and the Dimensional Shifter. Zinnia grunts that she is really a reckless child, and wonders if she thinks she could really win against her. With her broken voice, Sapphire wants to know why Zinnia must wreck the plans of others when they are all just trying to solve the planet's crisis. She hollers the method doesn't matter as long as they could save the planet, but Zinnia unfortunately doesn't share the same view. Without another word, Zinnia gestures Salamence forward, and the dragon lashes out its claws at Sapphire and Troppy, causing a splatter of blood as it knocks them off the rocket.

Meanwhile, off the shoreline of Route 115, the powerful energy radiating from Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre is making it impossible for Ruby and Emerald to get through to reach the Meteor Falls. Emerald wonders if they should reroute, but Ruby doesn't think it is a good idea since they don't know how far the titans' energy fields reach. He suggests they use brute force to break their way through, and the two proceed to order a combined Luster Purge and Ice Beam from Latios and Latias. However, the energy blasts barely faze the titans, and Ruby notices in particularly that the supposedly supper effective Ice Beam isn't inflicting the damage it should on Groudon, indicating that its type may have changed due to its new forme.

At that moment, a voice comes on to compliment on Ruby's acute senses, and says he certainly lives up to being a Pokedex Holder. Ruby and Emerald only then realize that someone is standing atop the land titan, whose face they couldn't see clearly due to the smoke and rain. The man states that with Primal Reversion, Groudon gained an additional Fire type to its existing Ground type, which removes its weakness to Ice attacks. Another silhouette then appears on top of Kyogre, and says they really don't have time to deal with these kids since they must make Kyogre and Groudon learn Origin Pulse and Precipice Blades respectively as soon as possible.

Ruby becomes unsettled upon seeing one man each atop the ancient titans as it is reminiscent of something several years ago. Emerald thinks it couldn't be possible, but knows they must stop them before Groudon and Kyogre get even harder to take down after they learn their new moves. He promptly charges forward with Latias, but Primal Groudon easily whacks them off. Latios and Ruby catch their companions as they tumble, and the two men state that it gets truly frustrating when they are people who do not see the big picture. With that, the two men come into clear sight, and both Emerald and Ruby gasp in disbelief that they are indeed Archie and Maxie. In the next instant, Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre unleash a combined blast on the two young trainers, and knock them off the air along with Latios and Latias.

Towering over the now unconscious Dex Holders, Archie states that everything happened for a purpose. Whether it is the shattered jewels returning to their orb formes, Groudon and Kyogre showing up as the Orbs return to Hoenn, or the fact that the titans successfully underwent Primal Reversion with the Orbs' powers, all of these happened for the purpose of saving the planet from its impending crisis. In fact, it is also for this reason that the two of them have returned from that particular realm. That said, Maxie finds it a pity, since those who need to hear these words cannot hear them now…