Steven took Victini around town to find something good to eat.
Whenever Victini, still invisible, gave his sleeve a small tug, he would buy whatever snack happened to be in front of them. He made sure Diancie wasn't left out either, picking up whatever the two of them wanted, one stop at a time. Once they had everything, he found a quiet corner away from the crowds and settled in to watch them eat.
Victini seemed to slowly relax the longer it spent at Steven's side.
It wasn't hard to guess why. It had probably sensed something of Aya in him — her warmth, her presence, some trace carried in the way he moved or the sound of his voice. Steven himself had no memories of his mother. But he had still been the child she had carried for nine months. That kind of connection didn't disappear so easily. Victini, of all Pokémon, would have felt it most keenly.
Otherwise, it never would have shown itself to him at all.
Watching the two of them eat with such obvious delight, Steven found himself smiling in spite of himself. He thought briefly of Larvitar — his own little foodie — who had recently evolved into Pupitar. Seeing it bury itself in a meal the way it once had wasn't really possible anymore. He missed that, a little.
He took out his Pokédex and logged Victini's entry while he had the chance. Happy expressions when eating. Definitely a foodie. Though it was a different kind from Larvitar. Victini and Diancie had refined tastes — they liked good food. Larvitar had simply liked a lot of it. The evolution had come from a combination of solid training and an enormous appetite. Honedge was probably getting close to evolving too, at this rate.
"Ti…"
Steven came back to himself at the soft sound. Victini had finished eating and was now breathing slowly and steadily in the curve of his arm, fast asleep.
He chuckled under his breath and shifted to hold it more carefully, making sure it wouldn't slip.
The warmth from his arms must have reached Victini in its sleep — the corners of its small mouth curved upward, just slightly. Like it was having a peaceful dream.
Maybe it was dreaming of Aya.
Rumble…
The moment didn't last.
A low tremor rolled through the ground without warning, and the world around them seemed to shudder. The vibration jolted Victini awake instantly.
"Ti?!"
"What's happening?" Steven was on his feet at once, eyes sweeping the area around them.
"What's going on?! What's going on?!"
Diancie had swallowed her last bite of takoyaki in a hurry, looking around in a panic.
"It's alright, Diancie. Stay close." Steven kept his voice calm, though his guard was fully up.
Then he saw them.
Tall, black rhombus-shaped stone pillars were rising from the ground on all sides, radiating an eerie purple glow. One by one they lifted into the air and hung there, humming with strange energy.
"Ti!"
Victini's entire body went rigid. Its eyes locked onto the floating pillars, and the fear on its face was immediate and unmistakable. It pushed against Steven's hold, trying to pull free.
"Victini — what's wrong?"
Steven looked between the Mythical Pokémon's terrified expression and the purple-glowing pillars slowly closing in overhead. Something about those pillars was specifically frightening to Victini. That much was obvious.
He still didn't fully understand what was happening. Everything had moved too fast. He had only been with Victini for a few hours — not nearly enough time to look into the deeper legends surrounding Eindoak and the Sword of the Vale. Whatever the locals knew, it was more than what he had found online.
Whoosh!
The pillars shifted — and angled sharply toward Steven.
Victini let out a sharp cry and wrenched free, bolting backward through the air.
"Victini!"
Steven was already moving. He turned and called back over his shoulder —
"Diancie, stay with me!"
"Right!"
Diancie dropped the wooden skewer she was still holding and bounded after him.
Victini flew as fast as it could, looking back over and over at the pillars that pressed in from all sides. Then —
"Ti!"
A translucent purple barrier flared into existence directly in Victini's path. It hit the wall and was thrown back hard, tumbling to the ground with a cry of pain.
Steven's chest tightened. He wanted to run to it. But Victini was already scrambling back into the air, its expression frantic, pushing forward again.
"Metagross!"
Steven threw out his Poké Ball. Metagross materialized in a flash of light, letting out a low, resonant cry.
"Meta!"
Steven scooped Diancie up in one arm and leaped onto Metagross's head in a single motion.
"Follow Victini — now!"
"Metagross!"
The pillars were fast, and Victini was flying at its limit to stay ahead of them.
"Hold on, Victini…"
Steven watched the small figure weaving through the air, brow furrowed. Whatever this was, it had been set in motion before he had any chance to intervene.
As Metagross began to close the distance, Steven made a call.
"Metagross — Meteor Mash! Hit those pillars!"
"Meta!"
Metagross's eyes flared. Its front arms drew back, sheathed in brilliant steel-grey light.
Bang!
The impact landed solidly — and did almost nothing. The purple energy flared around the pillar on contact and pushed Metagross back, the blow absorbed as if the pillar hadn't even felt it.
"That tough?!"
Steven steadied himself. Either the pillars themselves were extraordinarily durable, or that purple energy was actively deflecting attacks. Possibly both.
He looked ahead and tracked the direction Victini was being herded.
The Sword of the Vale.
The towering structure on the far side of the mountain — that was where everything was converging.
"Is that where this is coming from?"
"Steven — will Victini be okay?" Diancie gripped the front of his jacket, eyes wide.
"I'm not sure yet," Steven said quietly, jaw set. "But finding out is why I came here."
It was fortunate, at least, that he had arrived when he did. If he hadn't been in Eindoak today, Victini would be facing all of this alone.
"Metagross, don't let up — keep going!"
"Metagross!"
Metagross surged forward, pushing hard toward the Sword of the Vale.
Steven's mind was already working.
Zekrom. Victini. Someone's ideal had been answered.
Whoever it was, they needed Victini's power to pursue it — and those pillars were being used to drive Victini toward the Sword of the Vale, most likely to contain it there.
But something didn't add up.
If these pillars formed a barrier meant to restrict Victini's movement, then how had his mother ever managed to take Victini out of Eindoak? Latias had told him that after Aya disappeared, Victini had come back here on its own. Had there been some reason it could no longer leave? Had it chosen to return? He didn't want to believe Victini had been willing to be kept here.
According to the legends, the Sword of the Vale had stood in this location for over a thousand years.
If Victini had been bound to this place that entire time…
That wasn't something that could be brushed aside with a word like "selfish." That was something far worse.
Steven's eyes stayed fixed on the small figure ahead, disappearing toward the peak of the Sword of the Vale.
"Victini."
His voice came out low and firm.
"Wait for me."
…