"Celebi!"
A small Pokémon darted through the forest canopy, weaving between branches.
Its upper body was a pale, soft green, and its lower half a deeper grass-green. Its head was round, tapering gently toward the back into a smooth, elongated curve of the same dark green. Two small wings beat at its back. A pair of antennae rose from its forehead — green, tipped in blue. Its eyes were a clear, pale blue, ringed with thick black. Its hands and feet were round and compact, each hand ending in three small fingers.
The Mythical Pokémon. Celebi.
"Woof!"
A deep, resonant Roar shook the trees — and then a jet of Flamethrower came screaming upward.
"Cee-lebi~"
Celebi twisted in the air, its wings carrying it clear of the fire with a speed that made it look effortless.
Boom!
The flames caught the leaves above. Celebi paused mid-flight, extended its small hands, and let a warm green glow spread from its palms — washing over the burning branches, snuffing the fire, pulling the scorched leaves back into green life.
"Celebi..."
It looked down with clear displeasure at the Houndoom prowling the forest floor below, eyes burning with intent.
Celebi raised one hand. Several rocks materialized in a slow arc around its body, each one glowing with a faint blue light.
Ancient Power!
Houndoom reared back and fired another stream of flames from its jaws.
Bang!
The Ancient Power drove straight through the Flamethrower and struck Houndoom squarely. It cried out and skidded backward, shaking.
Rumble... rumble...
The ground began to shudder.
Celebi turned.
A Pokémon was moving through the trees — each step heavy enough to vibrate the earth. It was enormous, clad head to foot in armor-like plating of dark green. Spines of varying sizes jutted from the back of its skull, its neck, and its shoulders, and a ring of smaller spines circled the base of its tail. A pair of heavy fangs lined both its upper and lower jaws. Its hands and feet ended in three thick claws apiece.
"Roar!!!"
Tyranitar. Its eyes were locked on Celebi, burning with an aggression that felt wrong — too focused, too deliberate. A black, churning mass of energy gathered in its maw and launched forward.
Dark Pulse.
Celebi flinched and threw itself sideways, narrowly clearing the blast.
Boom!
A towering ancient tree cracked at the trunk and collapsed, crashing to the forest floor. Tyranitar didn't slow — it drove a shoulder through the splintered wood and kept coming, following the direction Celebi had fled.
"Ow~"
Houndoom shook its head clear and fell in behind it.
A short time later, something large and mechanical came grinding through the trees — a four-armed robot, wide and heavy-limbed, each step leaving deep impressions in the earth. At its controls sat a broad-shouldered man in a mask, his hair swept up into a sharp crest above it.
Iron-Masked Marauder.
He looked at the fallen tree and the scorched ground and gave a thin smile.
"Heh. Let's see how much you've got left." He stepped the robot forward, crushing the fallen trunk underfoot. "Though — don't get reckless. It's still a Mythical Pokémon."
This last came from the figure standing behind him. A man in a full-face mask, dark hair falling loose around it, dressed entirely in black. His eyes were cold and still.
"Z, still so cautious." Iron-Masked Marauder gave a dismissive snort. "Look at it — it's already running on empty. Mythical or not, it's finished."
"Caution costs nothing," the man said evenly, and said nothing else.
Iron-Masked Marauder turned away from him.
Earlier, he had deployed three Houndoom to set the forest ablaze across a wide stretch. Celebi had done what Celebi always did — poured its energy into reversing the damage, using the forest's own vitality to restore what the fire consumed. By now, it had spent itself restoring too much, too fast. Its reserves were nearly gone.
"Yo-ji?"
From behind a wide tree trunk, a small head poked out.
Larvitar blinked at the enormous machine lumbering past. It watched it for a moment, then scooped a pinch of sand from the ground, tipped it into its mouth, and quietly followed.
Night fell over the forest.
Boom! Boom!
Fire and Dark Pulse crossed and clashed in the dark. The flames threw long, lurching shadows across the trunks. Every pulse of black energy that tore through the trees left another scar on the ancient wood.
"Celebi..."
Celebi sank to the ground, wings faltering.
It had been fighting on two fronts — holding off the attacks while simultaneously pouring energy into healing the burns the Flamethrowers left behind. The first depletion, from restoring the initial fire, had already cost it more than it could easily spare. It had nothing left to give to counterattacks. It could only react. And it was slowing.
"Celebi!"
It raised one hand and drew a line through the air.
A shimmering vortex opened — pale and flickering, a tear in the fabric of time and space. Celebi's way out. Its escape.
Boom!
A Dark Pulse struck the vortex dead-on.
The spacetime tunnel buckled and collapsed, scattered apart by the force of the impact.
"Roar!!!"
Tyranitar smashed through another tree and bore down on Celebi with its full, terrible weight.
"Ow!"
Houndoom advanced more carefully, circling — it still remembered the impact of that Ancient Power from earlier. It opened its jaws, moving to close the distance —
Boom.
Something dropped out of the sky.
"Metagross!"
The impact threw up a wave of dirt and shattered stone. The ground cracked outward from the point of landing. Houndoom disappeared beneath Metagross's bulk and went limp.
"Roar!!!"
Tyranitar fixed the newly arrived Shiny Metagross with its burning gaze. A Dark Pulse launched from its maw.
Metagross raised both arms. A shaft of silver light gathered between them —
Flash Cannon.
The two moves met. The explosion rolled outward in a billow of dark smoke.
"Roar!"
Tyranitar raised its head, and golden energy built at the back of its throat — raw, blazing, enormous.
Hyper Beam.
Metagross's eyes narrowed. The dark grey sheen of Iron Head spread across its arms.
Comet Punch.
It swung. The golden beam split in two and tore into the earth on either side.
A pair of hands lifted Celebi from the ground.
Steven looked at it — still, barely breathing, eyes half-closed. Then he looked up at Tyranitar.
"Tyranitar..."
He said the name quietly to himself.
Something was off. Its movements were too single-minded, its aggression too uniform. It wasn't acting like a Pokémon fighting on instinct.
"It's being controlled," Latias said, appearing at Steven's side. Her gaze was fixed on Tyranitar. "An external influence. Almost certainly artificial."
"That's what I thought."
Steven looked at Metagross.
"Comet Punch — keep the pressure on."
Metagross launched upward. Its arms came down in a rapid, piston-like sequence, each strike driving Tyranitar further back. The Armour Pokémon roared — black energy fangs condensed in front of its jaws.
Crunch.
Comet Punch shattered them on contact and drove through, striking Tyranitar across the face. It staggered several metres, back colliding hard with a tree trunk before it steadied.
It turned the roar on Metagross. The sound shook leaves from every branch within range.
Bang... bang...
The mechanical robot came through the trees behind Tyranitar — wide-limbed and grinding, pushing aside brush and branch alike. Steven lifted his gaze.
The man at the controls was wearing a mask. The spotlight mounted on the robot swung and found Steven, flooding him with harsh white light.
Steven squinted against it.
"Where did this kid come from?" Iron-Masked Marauder's voice carried a flat contempt. "Hey — you. The one holding my prize. Hand it over."
Steven's expression didn't change.
He looked at the robot, at the man behind the controls, and gave a quiet, humourless smile.
The League's profile work clearly still needed attention.
Behind Iron-Masked Marauder, the man in the full mask went very still. His cold eyes settled on the figure lit up in the spotlight — silver hair, calm expression, Celebi held in his arms.
He swore, low and sharp, under his breath.
"Of all the people to run into here."