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The Sword of the Vale — Interior Peak
The man standing at the interior peak of the Sword of the Vale stared out at the horizon, his expression grave and unreadable.
He cut an unusual figure. His medium-length hair was split cleanly down the middle — black on one side, white on the other. His robe was dark, trimmed with red. His name was Damon, a descendant of the People of the Vale, and whatever he was about to do, he had clearly already made his decision.
He drew a slow, steady breath, then let it out.
Then he reached for his Poké Ball.
Bang!
The ball burst open in a flash of white light. A Pokémon materialized above him — cyan-eyed, with trident-shaped structures fanning out from either side of its body like great curved wings. Its tail swept behind it in a shape nearly identical to those wings. The Psychic- and Flying-type Reuniclus.
Reuniclus began to circle through the ring-shaped structure at the peak's center, its entire body suffused with blue Psychic energy.
Damon turned back to the ancient instrument before him — a device with a many-sided surface, unlike anything from the modern era. He raised both hands and held them just above it.
"Today," he said quietly, "the People of the Vale will reclaim their bond with this land."
As Reuniclus's Psychic power poured into the mechanism, the four small rhombus-shaped stone pillars at the center of the chamber began to glow purple. They hummed and lifted, rising slowly off the floor. The ancient instrument responded in kind — purple light gathered along its edges and condensed into six glowing energy pillars.
Damon moved his hands across the instrument's surface, and deep below, across all of Eindoak, the larger stone pillars answered. One by one, they pushed free of the earth and climbed into the sky.
"Ti!"
Damon smiled at the sound.
He turned to see Victini arrive at the peak, and spoke its name.
"Victini."
Victini slowed. For a brief moment, its wide blue eyes seemed to see something else entirely — an old man with a long white beard, his voice serious but not unkind, asking gently for its strength. The memory was vivid enough that Victini nearly moved toward it.
But the image faded. The man standing before it now was not the old king.
Victini pulled back sharply — and found its way blocked.
The four purple energy pillars closed in around it, locking it inside a barrier of glowing light.
"Ti!" Victini turned on Damon, its eyes blazing. It flung itself against the barrier wall.
The impact threw it straight back.
The pillars responded — four beams of purple energy struck Victini in quick succession.
"Ti!"
The cry was sharp and pained. Victini curled inward, shaking.
At the same moment, strange purple light flooded the peak. All around the walls, countless Solosis awakened, each one radiating blue Psychic energy. The entire structure began to shudder.
The Sword of the Vale — buried in the mountain for over a thousand years — was being pulled free.
Damon was using Victini's power to amplify the Psychic energy of the Solosis. Together, they were strong enough to uproot the ancient building from the rock itself.
As the Sword of the Vale tore loose, a vast crack split the mountainside beneath it. Green light poured out of the fissure, spreading rapidly along the stone.
"Metagross — Meteor Mash!"
The shout rang out across the peak. Damon spun toward the sound.
A silver Metagross came hurtling toward the barrier that held Victini, its arms blazing with metallic energy.
Bang!
The pillars shook — and the vibration ran all the way up through the Sword of the Vale, rattling the structure from top to bottom.
Damon stared at the silver-haired young man who had appeared without warning, his eyes narrowing.
"The Hoenn Champion… Steven Stone?"
He hadn't expected this. Every report he had come across placed Steven in Hoenn. There had been no reason to think he would be here, in Eindoak, today of all days. And from the look on the young man's face and the direction his Pokémon was charging — he was here to stop this.
"Champion." Damon spread his hands, his tone measured. "I am using Victini's power for the sake of my people. Please, do not interfere."
"Ti!"
Victini's cry cut straight through the room.
Steven's gaze moved to the barrier — to the small Pokémon curled up inside it, trembling — and then back to Damon. His expression didn't change, but his eyes went cold.
"You call this using?" His voice was quiet and clipped.
He didn't wait for an answer.
Bang!
"Scizor — Bullet Punch!"
A red streak burst from the Poké Ball and shot toward Damon before he could react.
Hum.
A Pokémon in a black ruffled dress materialized in front of him — purple-skinned and eerily still. The Gothitelle surrounded itself with blue Psychic energy, trying to intercept.
Bang!
It wasn't enough. Scizor's Bullet Punch tore straight through the Psychic barrier and slammed into Gothitelle with full force, sending it skidding backward.
Steven's hand was already at the Key Stone on his brooch. The stone pulsed — Metagross responded. In a surge of light and energy, it Mega Evolved, its body expanding, its four arms now free and powerful.
"Metagross — Meteor Mash, again!"
"Metagross!"
Mega Metagross roared and drove forward, all four arms pulling together like the tip of a missile, aimed directly at the barrier imprisoning Victini.
"Rooooar!"
A dragon's roar split the air.
A bolt of blue-purple draconic energy came from outside the Sword of the Vale and struck Metagross dead-on, sending it crashing to the floor. The stone cracked outward in several directions from the impact.
"Metagross!"
Steven looked to the sky beyond the open peak.
A massive dragon hovered there — grey-black, enormous, coiled with power. Its eyes were white with vivid red sclera, and jagged grey horn-crests rose from its head like lightning bolts caught in stone. Four black shoulder plates sat across its frame, and a second pair of arms hung beneath the first, each ending in three curved claws. Fan-shaped wings spread from its upper arms. Its tail was a great spiked cone, layered in pale grey outer plates with deep black markings beneath.
The Legendary Pokémon of the Unova region.
The Deep Black Pokémon — Zekrom — had arrived.
It was not at full power, Steven could tell that much. Even so, the sheer presence it carried made the air feel heavier. He had faced Yveltal. He had faced Regigigas. Zekrom, in this state, was a different kind of challenge — but one he had a chance against.
He had to believe that.
"Tch." Steven exhaled sharply as Zekrom swept into the interior peak, its massive form filling the space. "This just got a lot more complicated."
Five Poké Balls opened at once.
Scizor. Sandslash. Armaldo. Claydol. Diancie. All of them took their positions on the cracked stone floor.
Pupitar and Honedge stayed back — this wasn't the moment for them.
"Diancie — I need you!"
"Understood!" Diancie's entire body lit up, pink energy radiating from her in waves.
The pink diamond at Steven's chest — Diancie's gift — resonated. Something shifted in Diancie in that instant. The playful, curious princess who had been tugging at his sleeve all afternoon was gone. In her place stood something steadier, sharper — a presence entirely her own.
Sandslash looked up at the grey-black giant looming over them and let out a long, slow breath through its teeth.
It had only been a month.
One month since the last time it had found itself standing in front of something that should not be possible to fight. And yet here it was again.
Steven raised his hand.
"Everyone — go!"
…