Originally thinking they hadn't alerted this group of little thieves, they unexpectedly still caught their tails?
Steven reacted swiftly. The moment the two appeared, he threw a Poké Ball high—
"Metagross!"
"Metag!"
Riot and Marilyn's target wasn't Lorze, but—
"Mystical Fire!" "Dark Pulse!"
Delphox and Greninja both released scorching flames and dark wave energy, intertwining and rushing straight towards Metagross!
"Flash Cannon!"
The dazzling steel cannon clashed with Dark Pulse and Mystical Fire. A massive roar rolled up along with billowing smoke and dust!
"Two o'clock direction, Thunder Punch!"
"Metag!"
Wrapped in crackling lightning, Metagross rushed towards Greninja's position like the wind, punching!
The small body was shattered by the fist, but Metagross didn't feel any physical impact.
Could it be Double Team?
"Clang!"
Behind Metagross, Greninja used Water Shuriken to scratch a small mark on the metallic body...
"Metag?" (Just a scratch, little bro?)
"Gre!?"
Greninja hurriedly backflipped, followed closely by Delphox's Fire Blast!
"Bang!"
Combat instinct made Metagross subconsciously prop up a Protect barrier, flames filling its vision!
After all, they were well-known thieves in the industry, and their Pokémon's strength was commendable. Water/Dark and Fire/Psychic had quite an advantage against Metagross's Steel/Psychic. The combination of agile movement and violent bombardment actually managed to pin down Metagross for a while.
"Sir Lorze, you take Diancie and leave first. Leave this to me."
Seeing Steven's effortless appearance, he clearly didn't take the two little thieves seriously.
However, Lorze still opened the internal team comms. Do we need to run in this situation? Call for backup!
"Big Sister Mewtwo!"
"Not going, not going!"
"Eh?"
"Don't always rely on me. At least let Kirlia and Braixen accumulate some practical combat experience. Those people aren't particularly strong either, they're perfect for practice."
"Uh, that makes sense. Alright then..."
"Big Brother Lorze, look out!"
Sensing danger approaching, Kirlia took a light step to stand in front of Lorze. She immediately condensed a bright Moonblast above her head and fired it, colliding with a dark Shadow Ball!
"Boom!"
Looking at the smoke and dust of the explosion in mid-air, Kirlia couldn't hide the smile on her lips, her confidence doubling: After receiving the Fairy's blessing, both the charging speed and power of Moonblast have greatly improved!
A female voice descending from the sky reached the ears of Lorze, Diancie, and Kirlia—
"What are you thinking about, little brother?"
The one attacking Lorze was someone else, exactly one of the three factions of thieves: Millis riding on an Aegislash.
Although the words were directed at Lorze, her gaze never left Diancie behind the young man for a moment.
Under her reflective glasses were eyes flashing with shrewdness. The bursts of explosions not far away reached her ears. Those two idiots actually pinned down Steven.
The discussed combat plan was: because the main forces of those two happened to be super effective against Metagross, they would go interfere with Steven, while she would take the opportunity to snatch Diancie from this guy.
Of course, thieves have no credibility. This plan was actually very convenient for her and her old man to monopolize Diancie.
And she didn't expect those two to really beat Steven, so she had to end the battle quickly on her side too!
"Chesnaught, Pin Missile!"
Chesnaught roared and crouched on the ground, the spikes on its back shooting out like firing missiles—
"Dazzling Gleam!"
Brilliant pink light erupted from Kirlia's body. Upon entering the range of Dazzling Gleam, the Pin Missiles wilted and fell to the ground due to being not very effective. Kirlia used the Fairy energy fluctuation to intercept all the Pin Missiles!
But after the light dissipated, Kirlia realized that the female thief riding the Aegislash was gone!?
"It seems you don't know how to fight in the wild, little brother. Let me teach you a lesson or two—"
Using the strong light just now, Millis rode Aegislash to the front of the young man.
What she was wielding in her hand was a Honedge being used as a sword!
"What!?"
Lorze stumbled backward and slumped onto the ground on his butt.
Swinging the Honedge handsomely like a swordswoman, Millis looked down and immediately showed a very disgusted expression.
Actually pitching a tent during a battle? Truly disgusting...
Glancing behind her to ensure Kirlia couldn't deal with Chesnaught anytime soon, Millis pressed closer to Lorze step by step.
"Hand over Diancie behind you, and I'll spare your life."
"Mr. Lorze..."
"A-Absolutely impossible! I will not hand Diancie over to you no matter what!"
Pretending to be troubled for a moment, Millis came in front of Lorze and raised the Honedge high—
But the corners of Lorze's mouth curled up. Using his palms to support himself on the ground, he abruptly thrust his hips, using telekinesis to flick a Poké Ball out of his crotch!
"What!?"
Flying out of the ball was Braixen, using her branch to smack a Fire Blast solidly onto Millis's face!
Take this! This is the hot-blooded combination move of Master Zako and me!
Lorze casually bounced up and patted the dust off his butt: "I think you might still be mistaken about something. It seems I taught you a lesson in wild combat."
"Damn it, to actually... hide a Poké Ball in the crotch..."
Lorze smiled slightly. This was just a tribute to the legendary wild combat master who hid Poké Balls in her chest—Blue, the Evolver!
The utterly dumbfounded Millis fell stiffly and fainted after spitting out this sentence. Losing their commander, Aegislash and Chesnaught were quickly defeated.
"Master Zako~ How was that?"
"Braixen did very well!"
Patted on the head by the young man, Braixen let out a comfortable purr. Kirlia on the other side also leaned in closely.
Her eager eyes were adorable. Without needing to be asked, Lorze placed his other hand on her head.
"Kirlia too!"
On the other side, Steven also smoothly dealt with the two insignificant little thieves and regrouped with Lorze.
The three Carbinks slid to a stop in front of Diancie with guilty looks. They had also thrown themselves into fighting alongside Metagross just now and neglected the protection of Her Highness.
"Her Highness Diancie! Are you okay?"
"Mhm! Mr. Lorze protected me well!"
Is it already the post-match summary segment? But an ominous premonition welled up in his heart. He felt like something was missing?
Lorze counted the little thieves unconscious on the ground: Riot, Marilyn, Millis...
Wait, where is Millis's father, Argus?
A strong roar came from the distance. A giant airplane hidden using optical technology revealed itself. It was the aircraft of the Argus father and daughter.
Steven confidently raised his hand and abruptly clenched his fist—
"Flash Cannon, shoot it down directly!"
"Me-tag!"
Dazzling spots of light gathered on Metagross's head. Only at this moment did Lorze realize what that ominous premonition was.
Isn't the Argus father and daughter's aircraft right above the Cocoon of Destruction!?
"Mr. Steven! Stop quickly, that direction is—"
But it was too late. The Flash Cannon had already shot towards the aircraft in the sky, accurately hitting the wing!
Losing its balance, the airplane plummeted with black smoke trailing. Although Argus parachuted from the cockpit to escape, he still stepped solidly into the pool in front of the Cocoon of Destruction.
The aura of life nourished the Cocoon of Destruction. Centered around Argus and his Pokémon, something like red dye spread across the water surface beneath their feet...
Not good!