"Z! Help me take that kid down!"
Iron-Masked Marauder turned his head, licking his lips. "And that Shiny Metagross — something like that would fetch an extraordinary price."
The man in the full mask was quiet for a moment.
Then he said, flatly: "Are you out of your mind?"
Iron-Masked Marauder blinked. Then his expression soured. "What did you just say to me?"
"I said—" The man known as Z abandoned any pretense of composure and jabbed a finger toward Iron-Masked Marauder's masked face. "That is the Hoenn League Champion down there. The youngest regional Champion in League history."
He turned and pointed down at Steven.
"How exactly are you planning to subdue him? With a Tyranitar you caught in a Dark Ball? With that empty head of yours?!"
Below, Steven glanced up at the two figures arguing atop the machine.
"Metagross — Flash Cannon."
"Metagross!"
Metagross raised both arms. Two concentrated beams of silver energy launched upward and struck the machine's hull.
Buzz!
An energy barrier flickered to life across the machine's front face, absorbing the impact — but the force behind it was enough to drive the whole structure backward. It ground through several ancient trees before it stopped.
"Ha!" Iron-Masked Marauder sneered down at Steven, then rounded on Z. "See that? Couldn't even break through my shield! Youngest Champion — what a joke." He jabbed a finger back at Z. "If you're scared, get out of here. Useless."
Z said nothing.
He released a Honchkrow from its Poké Ball, looked at Iron-Masked Marauder one last time, and said: "Deal's off. Good luck."
He grabbed Honchkrow's feet and lifted off, clearing the canopy in seconds.
As he went, he looked back — just once — at the young man standing in the forest below.
He knew this name. He knew this face. He'd read the League report when it came out.
And before that — back at Mirage Tower — he had seen this same Trainer dismantle an entire operation single-handed.
The Hoenn League Champion. The youngest in the League's recorded history.
Z was many things. He was not foolish enough to count himself among the problems Steven Stone needed to deal with tonight.
That man is truly out of his mind.
Steven didn't spare Z a second glance.
The machine's outer casing was a more pressing matter.
"I'll help—" Latias began to move forward.
Steven stopped her with a gesture.
"Take Celebi to the Lake of Life. Get it treated." He met her eyes and gave her a short, quiet nod. "I've got this."
Latias looked at him for a moment — and something crossed her expression, a flicker of a tall, silver-haired figure she had known once before. Then she took Celebi carefully from Steven's arms, turned, and flew.
Steven watched her go.
Then he turned back to Iron-Masked Marauder, and the warmth left his expression entirely.
"Pathetic brat." Iron-Masked Marauder's voice had taken on a manic edge. He reached into his vest with both hands and pulled out the remaining Dark Balls, every last one of them, and hurled them into the air.
Bang — bang — bang—
Black light burst from each one.
Nidoking. Scizor. Two Houndoom. And Tyranitar, still on its feet.
They landed in a loose formation, and something was immediately, visibly wrong with all of them. Their eyes had gone grey, the pupils narrowed to hard vertical slits. A dark, oppressive energy radiated off each one — heavy and unpleasant, like pressure building before a storm.
Steven assessed them quickly.
Most were in the range of strong Trainer-level to mid-tier. Tyranitar alone was genuinely Elite-class. But all of them had been warped by the Dark Balls — their natural instincts twisted, their power pushed past its normal ceiling by something external and corrosive.
"Then let's see what you've got, Champion!" Iron-Masked Marauder threw his arm out and screamed: "Destroy them all!"
Steven's hand swept along his belt. Five Poké Balls opened in quick succession, releasing five streaks of light.
"Take down those Pokémon," he said, his voice steady. "Every one of them. I'll handle the machine with Metagross."
Scizor moved the instant the order landed, Quick Attack carrying it across the clearing and into Tyranitar with a heavy pincer strike.
Bang!
"Roar!"
Tyranitar staggered, shook itself, and summoned a swarm of sharp stones orbiting its body — Stealth Rock laced with rage.
Aggron drove straight at Nidoking, shoulder-first.
Heavy Slam!
Nidoking lowered its horn and charged to meet it. The two collided with a sound that shook the ground — and Nidoking was pushed back, overpowered.
Lucario looked at the Scizor across from it — controlled, reckless, a fraction of a real opponent's strength — and came forward with measured calm, striking it in a rapid sequence with Bone Rush. The Scizor threw up a Double Team, multiplying itself across the clearing.
Useless. Lucario closed its eyes. The Aura did the rest.
Its real position was obvious. Lucario raised its palm —
Aura Sphere.
Skarmory opened its wings and swept a Houndoom aside with Steel Wing, then launched itself skyward. Flames lit along its body as it climbed.
Brave Bird.
The Houndoom below spat a stream of fire upward to meet it — but something strange happened as the flames closed in. The fire on Skarmory's feathers shifted, deepened, turned gold.
It drove through.
"Awoo!"
Empoleon, wrapped in a shimmer of Aqua Ring, faced the remaining two Houndoom without moving. Then its fins came up and a surging torrent launched outward.
Hydro Pump.
Steven unclipped his brooch.
He tilted his head slightly and brought the Key Stone to his lips.
The Key Stone came alive in a cascade of colour. The Metagrossite on Metagross's body responded, glowing in kind. Four arcing lines of energy reached between them and locked.
"Metagross — Mega Evolve!"
The white light was instantaneous and total.
When it broke apart, a brief shimmer of colour streaked through the air — the double-helix pattern, there and gone — and Mega Metagross stood in the clearing.
Steven raised his hand and closed it into a fist.
"Comet Punch. Take that machine apart."
Mega Metagross pulled its legs together and launched itself upward.
Iron-Masked Marauder leaned forward at the controls, sneering as it came.
"This chassis is reinforced alloy — even Tyranitar couldn't put a scratch in it! What do you think you're going to—"
The machine's two arm-mounted conductors sparked to life, extending to meet Mega Metagross with a charge of electricity.
The arms lasted less than a second.
Mega Metagross's Comet Punch tore through both of them. The sound of metal sheering apart carried across the whole forest.
"Metagross!"
Iron-Masked Marauder slammed the controls — the black energy shield snapped back into place across the machine's front.
Mega Metagross's fist connected.
Bang.
A single point of impact. A hairline fracture. Then the crack ran outward in every direction at once, racing across the surface of the shield —
Crack. Crack. Crack—
Bang!
The shield shattered.
Iron-Masked Marauder stared at the space where it had been.
"That's — that's impossible—"
Steven's voice was quiet when it came. Not raised. Not angry.
"Tear it down."
Mega Metagross pulled back one arm and swung.