The Delta Episode is the big story addition of Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire. It starts once you have beaten the Hoenn Pokémon League for the first time and extends the adventure with a real story: an asteroid is hurtling towards the Earth, a Trainer named Zinnia is trying to awaken Rayquaza, and it is up to you to decide the outcome. This page runs through the episode in order, with the locations, battles, levels and rewards.
Before you begin
The episode is announced at the end of the credits: the hero’s parents mention a meteor shower visible from Mossdeep City, then a triangular symbol appears before the words “To be continued”. Reload your save to start the opening cutscene: a siren sounds at the Mossdeep Space Center, because an asteroid threatens to crash onto an islet south-west of Sootopolis City, near Route 131, where the Sky Pillar stands.
- Unlock condition: having defeated the Pokémon League and entered the Hall of Fame for the first time. You find yourself back in your room in Littleroot Town.
- Difficulty: opponents go up to level 62 (Zinnia), 70 (Rayquaza) and 80 (Deoxys). A team around level 60 is comfortable.
- What to prepare: a free spot in your team for Rayquaza, which you must catch to continue. The game asks you to send a Pokémon to the PC if your team is full.
The episode, step by step
1. Littleroot Town and Petalburg City
Your father Norman is waiting for you in the living room and gives you a Pair of Tickets for the astronomy show, suggesting you take Brendan or May along. On your way out, Zinnia approaches you: she knows about the new League Champion and their mastery of Mega Evolution. At your neighbour’s house, you learn that she has taken his Key Stone and is heading for Petalburg City.
In Petalburg City, the enemy team’s Admin is harassing Timmy to get a Key Stone: Courtney in Omega Ruby, Matt in Alpha Sapphire. Timmy does not have one; the Admin turns on you and challenges you (level 53 Camerupt or level 53 Sharpedo). Steven Stone then contacts you on the PokéNav Plus, using a brand-new function, and arranges to meet you at the Devon Corporation.
2. Rustboro City and Granite Cave
The president of the Devon Corporation tells you the story of the weapon created 3,000 years ago by A.Z. and of the Infinity Energy his company drew from it. He sends you to look for a meteorite shard in Granite Cave. There, you meet Zinnia again in front of the Primal Reversion mural. She challenges you: Tyrantrum (level 55), Altaria (level 55) and Salamence (level 57). Your victory earns you a Meteorite Shard, which you bring back to the Mossdeep Space Center.
3. Mossdeep City, Meteor Falls and the return to Rustboro City
Professor Cozmo sets out his plan: combine the Infinity Energy of the rocket with the energy contained in the Key Stones to open a wormhole that would teleport the asteroid away. Zinnia interrupts him to condemn a plan that would repeat the mistakes of the past. A second, purer fragment is missing, and it can only be found at Meteor Falls.
At Meteor Falls, behind the waterfall, an elderly woman tells you the story of the Draconids, who have kept alive the memory of Mega Evolution since Rayquaza. She reveals that Zinnia is the Lorekeeper and that she taught the enemy team how to bring about Primal Reversion. Back in Rustboro City, you chase off the Grunts who are pursuing a scientist: one of them has stolen the convector essential to the Link Cable.
4. The Mossdeep Space Center
A group of Grunts blocks the stairs of the Space Center. The Horde Battle clears them out, then you face the Admin in a Double Battle alongside Steven Stone: Courtney and her Mega Camerupt (level 55) or Matt and his Mega Sharpedo (level 55), accompanied by a Grunt whose Pokémon are level 51. The Admin wanted to make their Key Stone resonate with the rocket, which would have destroyed the world, against the will of their leader, who only wanted to return the world to its original state: that was the spirit of Project Azoth.
Zinnia then steps in, seizes the convector and destroys it: according to her, saving Hoenn at the cost of another world is still unacceptable. She takes the Admin’s Key Stone and announces that she has one last item to collect from the team’s hideout in Lilycove City.
5. The hideout in Lilycove City
Make your way through the Magma Hideout (Omega Ruby) or the Aqua Hideout (Alpha Sapphire), defeating the Grunts who have been put on alert. In the leader’s room, Zinnia has just beaten him and takes his Key Stone. She invites you to join her at the Sky Pillar. The team leader has a Mega Stone handed over to you that is of no further use to him without a Key Stone (Cameruptite in Omega Ruby, Sharpedonite in Alpha Sapphire) and is counting on you to stop Zinnia.
6. Sootopolis City, the Cave of Origin and Route 131
Steven understands that only the keepers of ancient knowledge can cross the threshold of the Sky Pillar. Wallace, Gym Leader of Sootopolis City, is one of them: he waits for you at the foot of the big tree, then opens access to the islet on Route 131. Before letting you in, he demands a battle.
7. The Sky Pillar
Zinnia is waiting for you behind the door and, as you climb, tells the story shown on the mural on the far wall: that of Primal Groudon, Primal Kyogre, the meteorite that shone like a giant Key Stone and Rayquaza’s first Mega Evolution. At the summit, in front of the Dragon altar, she puts you to sleep while she prepares the summoning.
Rayquaza answers the call, but is unable to Mega Evolve: its internal meteorites have lost their power. The meteorite you have been carrying since Mt. Chimney then starts to shine like a Mega Stone. Rayquaza swallows it, regains its Mega Evolution and demands a battle. You must catch it (level 70, Ability Air Lock). Zinnia then teaches it Dragon Ascent and challenges you so that you can learn to master its power.
8. Space and Deoxys
Zinnia entrusts you with the mission of stopping the asteroid. You put on the suit worn in the Cave of Origin and take off on the back of Mega Rayquaza. The dragon blasts the projectile apart; amid the debris floats a black triangular capsule that breaks apart and releases Deoxys (level 80, Ability Pressure). You battle it while keeping Rayquaza Mega Evolved; no other Pokémon can therefore Mega Evolve in this battle. Whether you catch it or not, the episode continues. If you knock it out without catching it, Deoxys reappears at the top of the Sky Pillar after another victory over the League.
Rayquaza brings you back to the Dragon altar, where Zinnia’s Whismur hands you a farewell letter from its Trainer. The epilogue shows the scientists relieved at the Space Center, Timmy setting off on an adventure again with his Key Stone and an S.S. Ticket given by Norman, the Admin’s reconciliation with their leader, Steven Stone and Wallace talking about the future, then the two families reunited for dinner before the meteor shower.
Battles and levels
| Location | Opponent | Team |
|---|---|---|
| Petalburg City | Courtney (Omega Ruby) or Matt (Alpha Sapphire) | Camerupt Lv. 53 or Sharpedo Lv. 53 |
| Granite Cave | Zinnia | Tyrantrum 55, Altaria 55, Salamence 57 |
| Mossdeep Space Center (double) | Admin and a Grunt | Mega Camerupt or Mega Sharpedo 55; Grunt Lv. 51 with two Pokémon |
| Route 131 | Wallace | Wailord 55, Tentacruel 55, Ludicolo 55, Whiscash 55, Gyarados 55, Milotic 57 |
| Sky Pillar | Zinnia | Goodra 60, Altaria 60, Noivern 60, Tyrantrum 60, Mega Salamence 62 |
| Sky Pillar | Rayquaza (catch) | Level 70, Dragon Pulse, Extreme Speed, Dragon Dance, Dragon Ascent after capture |
| Space | Deoxys | Level 80, Cosmic Power, Recover, Psycho Boost, Hyper Beam |
Zinnia’s team at the Sky Pillar consists only of Dragon-type Pokémon or part-Dragon Pokémon, including Goodra and Noivern, two sixth-generation Pokémon. As for Wallace, he fields here the same team as the League Champion in Pokémon Emerald.
What the episode unlocks
- Rayquaza and its Mega Evolution, as well as the chance to catch Deoxys, a Mythical Pokémon obtained for the first time in the game itself, without a distribution event.
- The Battle Resort: Norman gives you the S.S. Ticket to board the ferry that leaves from Slateport City and Lilycove City, and head to the Battle Resort.
- The League rematch teams, stronger than the first time, with Mega Evolutions and Pokémon from outside Hoenn.
- Several Mega Stones: Galladite (Professor Cozmo), Salamencite (Zinnia’s grandmother at Meteor Falls), Latiasite or Latiosite (your mother), among others. The full list is on the Mega Stones page.
- Both bikes for the same Trainer, after a little advertising mission for the bike shop.
Going further
Our 2014 archives tell the story of this episode in detail: part one and part two, the profile of the Trainer Zinnia and the feature on Project Azoth. The episode has direct echoes of Pokémon Emerald, whose Rayquaza quest at the Sky Pillar served as its model: find that version in the Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald mini-site.
