"Arggghhhh...! Gimme a second!" Howard barked as he danced around the Charge Beams. "Can't you do it? You're the Gym Leader! Do some crazy battle trick and knock 'em all out!"

It looked like Josh had his own issues to deal with. That sucked. Howard felt the urge to reach for his belt and produce Regice. If he used it here, it'd take care of this ruin in a heartbeat. Every Pokémon they faced would've frosted over and froze before any harm could be done. It would've struck down every single Magnezone without sweating.

Yet he couldn't. Josh couldn't know. It was more than that, though. If Howard and Josh skipped through the ruin on Regice's laurels, then the fun would be gone.

Fun?

He had been so preoccupied with Rocket that he forgot what it was like to explore a ruin, even if it was an abandoned urban maze like New Mauville. He was having fun. When had he last had that?

"Fine! I've got an idea, but you better help me!" Howard spat as he reached for his belt and plucked out Atlas's Pokeball. He threw it, and a Golurk towered over every foe. It blinked in alien patterns as it powered up. After gauging the situation, it used its fist to strike the ground.

An Earthquake rumbled as the walls groaned. It was a ferocious strike, and there was No Guard from it. Yet a few Magnezones hung on.

"It's not enough! Josh!" Howard said, his voice jittering as the earth rumbled. "Finish 'em!"

---

Josh Devlin

There would also be NO GUARD from Josh's follow-up attack. He slid off his Kommo-o's back in preparation for the biggest boom he knew how to make. "Cover your ears, Howard!" the Gym Leader warned. "Extratone, sound your CLANGOROUS SOUL and short circuit them all!" After giving the command, the Gym Leader retreated to the far end of the hall, expecting his companion to do so, as well. Glowing a deep purple, the Kommo-o's tail shook violently, faster than that of any snake. It was already loud, the dragon-type squinting as the frequency and volume grew. One THUNDERBOLT struck the dragon before he could shake his CLANGING SCALES at full speed.

Even from the opposite corner of the hallway and with their ears covered, the shaking scales were painfully loud, a shrill him drowning out cymbal-like claps fast as a bug's wings. Amplified by the solid, flat walls, the shockwave would echo back and forth, even the two explorers would be able to physically feel the incredible vibration. Though he had expended most of his energy doing so, Extratone had finished the Golurk's job.

The shockwave was so strong that it even flipped a lever attached to the generator, the light at the top of it turning from orange to blue. When it did, the CHARGE BEAMS vanished, only for them to be blocked again in the next room by another electrical obstacle, this one orange. "...Come on!" he whined, looking for a way around the beams while he stepped around a swarm of unconscious Patrat. No doubt they had been thrown unconscious from Extratone's voluminous flourish.

A crack in the north wall caught his attention, the Gym Leader quick to order Extratone to take care of it. While explosives were traditionally used to destroy weak walls, a Kommo-o's vibrating scales were equally powerful, his fist grinding the crack to dust. Beyond was another lever similar to the one attached to the main generator. When Josh flipped it, the CHARGE BEAMS in their way switched on and off, the active ones now behind them. "We're free to head up - come on. let's go!" Taking a seat on Extratone's back again, Josh's hair stood on end - those scales were still vibrating, though much less harshly than they once were.

Jogging up a derelict skyway whose light fixtures showered sparks on top of them, they might give Howard an electric shock if he wasn't careful where he was going. At the top of the skyway, a muffled, extremely deep Pokémon cry caught his attention. When he went to investigate, it seemed to be beyond a large double door sealed with a golden lock. The BOSS KEY seemed to fit it perfectly. "Whatever is beyond there... it's more dangerous than even an Alpha Pokémon from the distortions. If you have any preparations to make, do it now. I get the feeling this is going to be one nasty fight. Mastema's gonna patch up my team with his Life Dew if you want any Pokémon included in it." He released his entire team in preparation. "Once Toralf and Voja wake up, we're going in."

He knew this feeling, this cry. He knew it in his bones from the Island Cave, from his experiences in Galar. Not from that dream that everyone had experienced, but from the genuine region.

Dynamax. Evil. Navy had hammered into his mind the dangers of Eternatus. The Island Cave's ruins had confirmed his fears and suspicions. It was something that belonged to Hoenn's most colossal foe. Dynamax was something unnatural. Each time they used it, the Skeleton Gigantic decided to squirm.

"I can take a guess what's behind that door." Howard grunted, then scratched his chin. If a cry was that deep, that meant that something massive was lying in wait. Admittedly, opening the door would be terrifying. Facing down a Dynamaxed Pokémon without a ring would be difficult.

Ah, but he wasn't alone. He had Josh with him.

"It's there. It has to be. Proof of what I'm looking for..." Lulu Flint had said that a giant Xurkitree had waged war in this region. It had to be Dynamaxed, and it had to have come from Ultra Plant. If that was the case, then the Regieleki that had chased Howard on his first visit... "Answers. There's no time. We need answers."

Answers he would find. He took a deep breath to restore his composure, before turning back to Josh with a smile.

"Sure. Let's heal up." Howard tossed out his herd of fossil Pokémon, before turning to Josh. "I hope you've got a strategy for big guys. I suspect that the bigger they are..."

The key grinded in place as Howard shoved it in. Once Josh's team recovered, the key would grind as the lock was disengaged.

"Let's go, Master of Faster."

He pushed the doors open.

---

Josh Devlin

Josh wanted to ask Howard what he meant, but the Admin's sense of urgency kept his inquiry in the bowels of his throat. With his companion having released his own team of fossil Pokémon, the Togekiss got to work. "Alright, need your LIFE DEW now, Mastema," he asked, the fairy-type floating above the rest of their squads. While it would only offer a modicum of healing, it was the best Josh could do. Some electrical burns remained. As the refreshing drizzle came down, Josh slid down from Extratone and climbed back onto the now-awake Toralf. He would need all the mobility he could get once things started to get out of control.

After the lock holding the doors fast had been released, they seemed to slide open on their own. With trepidation, the Gym Leader withdrew his team other than his mount and Extratone, took point, the Raichu slowly inching his way forward. The room beyond was enormous; it was easily as tall as a stadium, and had all kinds of room to maneuver. It was also dark, much like the lowest level of the ruins. The only sound within, other than the low-pitched Pokémon cries the two had heard from outside, was the sound of wind. Where was it coming from? The two were in an enclosed space.

They wouldn't have much time to ponder; not long after both were clear of the entrance, the sliding doors slammed shut again. Sparks flew from the back of the chamber outward, several landing on Josh and causing his hair to stand on end. Peering upward, a red cloud covered the top of the giant room, the sparks barely illuminating two truly colossal silhouettes. "No..." was the only word out of the Leader's mouth.

There were a slew of Power Spots in Hoenn, now. The Power Spot found at the Island Cave had apparently been transferred to Dewford, then to Ever Grande. They were replicas of the genuine articles found in Galar, where the phenomenon was common. It was impossible for a wild Pokémon to Dynamax without help.

The two Gigantamaxed Toxicity that stood in the massive room hadn't gotten that message. They glowed violently, as if Dynergy had become infused with them at some point. Although he didn't know it yet, this was a Dynamax from an authentic Power Spot.

"I didn't want to believe it... this shouldn't be possible." Howard took a step back in shock, half hiding behind the Gym Leader. Memories flashed through his mind and soul as he looked up at the phenomenon. Hoenn hadn't unlocked Dynamax yet, and yet Howard and Josh were staring down two Pokemon.

He remembered flashes of the giant Regieleki in Ultra Plant, where he almost died.

The Island Cave, Regice. He remembered Shred marching to his death.

Fear.

Overcome it. Learn from it. When it's put behind you, anything is possible. Howard's teeth chattered as he stepped forward with Atlas. The shiny Golurk reflected the gleam of the Dynergy Barrier. Regice hadn't had that. Curious.

"Josh. We might be making history today. This is where we bring down something never seen before." Howard shouted as he forced his teeth to stop chattering. "Atlas!"

The Golurk flew forward, its large body creating a protective barrier for Toralf as the automaton flew overhead. The machine clenched its fist and struck the barrier with an inspiring Dynamic Punch. Dynergy crackled as the barrier bent under the weight of the attack, with one Toxicity letting out a massive Max Lightning that scorched the skies.

---

Josh Devlin

The two quadrupedal Toxtricity, one Amped Up and one Low Key, towered over even Josh's biggest Pokémon. Toralf would need to make a running leap just to reach the poison-types' ankles. The Master of Faster had remembered seeing Dynamax in action during his twenty years in the Galar Memory, but he had never been able to appreciate the true scale until now. He shivered; if one of these monsters was to pop up in the middle of Mauville, the death toll would easily be in the thousands, if not the tens of thousands. If there was a city more vulnerable than any to a Dynamax attack, it was Mauville. The destruction such a Pokémon could ensue was immense. He would need to schedule a meeting with Captain annalise henderson to discuss this incident as soon as he could.

Josh, likewise, was unaware that there was a nstural Power Spot in New Mauville, and that it was the one fueling Dynamax capabilities at his Gym. Even if he did, he could not use it until after one of the Toxtricity had fallen. With how coordinated they were, even immobile, he had his doubts about being able to focus-fire one of them. He had to try, though; with their two forms in sync with one another, their power rose to stratospheric heights. He knew that much from doing battle with Melody Miro 's counterparts. His heart racing, he stood his ground despite his own fears. If he wanted to be a hero like Navy , he had to protect Howard. He had to do all he could to make sure Howard suffered no harm... even if he had to suffer every blow himself.

Like he had much of a choice; with the double doors shuttered behind them, there was no escape. It was fight or die.

Toralf, Josh, and Extratone charged the Dynergy shield surrounding the same Toxtricity that Atlas attacked. A QUICK ATTACK left a dent that the Kommo-o threw his vibrating fists into, engaging with it in CLOSE COMBAT. With how slow the colossal Pokémon were, evading their attacks should be easy, right?

Josh couldn't be any more wrong.

The yellow foe's MAX LIGHTNING covered the entire room, threatening to badly shock everything within. Atlas' immunity to electric attacks would likely protect the Golurk, but Josh and his Pokémon were not so lucky. The voltage was so great that it overloaded Toralf, arced beneath Extratone's scales, and left Josh wailing in pain. There were many cracks in the Dynergy shield, but they came at great cost: Toralf was stumbling about, and Extratone had been brought down completely.

Once Josh was a safe distance away, he withdrew his mount and his collapsed Pokémon, hurling out Clyde and Voja. Taking a seat on the Mightyena's back, Josh sought to use the dark-type for mobility alone. No sooner than did the Fiareon's tail rise, priming a fire attack, did a MAX STRIKE come hurtling toward him.

The Max Strike blotted out the sky as it rushed towards the Gym Leader. It was a colossal strike, capable of bringing down a skyscraper. A direct strike to the Gym Leader would leave him broken, if not dead. That was something he was willing to do, though, to defend his city.

Atlas's Dynamic Punch met the Max Strike for a second, before the Golurk was blasted back into the wall with a rumbling thud that threatened to bring New Mauville down on them. Howard stood several meters away from the Gym Leader, breathing heavily as he got to his feet.

Yet the Max Strike did not hit Josh's Flareon. It missed by an inch. Instead, it got hit with the biggest rumble of its life.

"That punch was one of my strongest moves..." Howard spit out a glob of phlegm as he shakily stood. "And all it could do... was deflect it by a few degrees."

These Gigantamaxed Pokémon were too strong. The League and Rocket wanted to use these? These colossi that could take out a city by sneezing? Impossible. It was foolish to try. Had humanity learned nothing from Galar's history with the phenomenon?

"Atlas!" Howard shouted as the golem lunged forward from the wall it was blasted into. It made a fist as all of its energy was directed into one arm. It slammed its fist into the ground with an absurd amount of pressure, causing a tremendous Earthquake.

Howard fell to his feet as pieces of concrete, rebar, and asphalt fell from the sky. The Dynergy Barriers groaned and cracked as they met the doubly supereffective strike. An area of effect attack was best, otherwise Josh and Howard would never be able to defeat them both. Both Toxicity let out a deep, bellowing cry as they were struck.

Even as Josh was struck too.

"Wait... Shit!" Howard shouted as he realized his horrible mistake. He turned to look for the Gym Leader. "Josh!"

---

Josh Devlin

"...Howard!!" Josh shouted as Atlas bravely stepped in front of the MAX STRIKE, presumably to deflect it with their ghostly body and great fist. The shockwave the Max attack left behind blew Clyde off his feet and tested the Mightyena's balance. These Gigantamax Pokémon were too dangerous to ever leave these ruins. Though they were totally immobile, being the size of a tall building gave them quite the reach. There was no escaping attacks from these two, whether physical or elemental.

Then, Atlas' EARTHQUAKE rocked everything within -- Josh's Pokémon, too. As much as it weakened one Toxtricity's barrier and shattered the other's, it also downed his weakened Flareon and left his mount in poor shape. Unable to maintain his balance, the Gym Leader, the mightiest Pokémon rider in Hoenn, tumbled from the saddle, the seismic wave hurling him into a broken piece of machinery. He struggled to get back to his feet, slowed by the MAX STRIKE's shockwave. With a groan, he was on foot once again, but his team was devastated.

As the two Pokémon fainted, the storm cloud above the Toxtricity grew in strength dramatically. As soon as Josh hurled his last two Pokémon from within their Poké Balls, Mastema started to float toward the storm, having to put in effort to remain in stable flight. The Gym Leader swung aboard his Alolan Ninetales, Rime, very uncomfortable bringing her out fighting the two Toxtricity.

In a burst of EXTREME SPEED, Mastema charged and rammed down the poison-type, the blow bringing down one of their enormous foes. The other, in a fit of rage, writhed about madly, covering the entire room in GMAX STUN SHOCK. There was no avoiding this poison-and-electric attack, and with both of Josh's Pokémon being fairy-types, death may have awaited one or both of them.

It was all up to howard slayte now...

Atlas fell, its energy exhausted as the light blinked from its eyes. It was not dead, but all power that remained within the colossus had been stripped in its final strike. Howard returned it to his Pokeball as he was blasted backwards by the colossal strikes being tossed around.

The titanic strikes were so easily produced by the Gigantamaxed duo. As one's barrier was completely exhausted, it began to web with hundreds of small red lines that reminded Howard of the Ultra Deep Sea. Suddenly, the first Toxitricity rapidly shrunk, glowing a bright red as it did so, before collapsing onto the ground.

It did not move.

Neither did a few of Josh's Pokemon. He hadn't thought about Josh when he used that Earthquake. Why? Josh put so much on the line, and all Howard could think about was bringing down these two colossi. It was a rookie mistake, why had he made it? His purpose was to prepare Hoenn for what was to come, but all he was doing was bringing the Gym Leader down.

"This can't be happening..." Howard clenched Shirley's Pokeball in a trembling hand as he looked up at the colossus. "This is my fault. We should've never come down here."

The self-pity evaporated as he remembered Navy's words. The world needed to know about what was down here. With a trembling fist, he threw the Pokeball. Shirley erupted from it with a primal roar. It was further elaborated on as she Mega Evolved. The Key Stone in Howard's eye socket burned with a familiar feeling.

"Let's go, Shirley!" Howard shouted as he tore off his eyepatch and tore it off, revealing the heavily scarred eye and the gleaming stone within. Immediately, his Aerodactyl lunged forward with a Stone Edge, ignoring the dangerous type matchup as colossal boulders crashed into the Toxtricity's final barrier.

It began to crack under the force.

"I hate weakness. For that reason, I hate myself. I never thought I'd ever be strong. Maybe I never will be, but..." Howard clenched a fist in anger as he stared at the giant Pokemon before him and Josh. "You changed that. You believed in me and helped me when I first got off that bus in Mauville, do you remember?"

It felt like a distant memory, now. He forgot how much he hated Josh Devlin for what he had done in the Island Cave, for beating him in that battle.

"You helped me, so stand up, Josh! Get up, and keep fighting!" Howard looked over at him, the Key Stone in his eye burning bright. "We will not lose to a power whose only virtue is strength! Get up! GET UP AND FIGHT!"

The barrier shattered.

Then...

---

Josh Devlin

The G-Max move has left Josh's team in poor shape. Mastema, being both flying-type and fairy-type, liked neither the poison element nor the electric element of the colossal attack. It left Josh with only one Pokémon capable of real battle. Shirley's STONE EDGE finished off the first Toxtricity and shattered the Dynergy Barrier of the second, the Pokémon motionless and in a heap next to its titanic partner.

"You, Howard..." Josh groaned, his body wrack with warts and electrical burns from the G-Max attack as well. "You're not weak anymore. You're... strong. Without you, these two would have killed me long ago. I will..." he shook his head as he sat back up in the saddle with proper posture. "We will overcome them. Together."

All of a sudden, a brilliant, red light enveloped Rime, the Alolan Ninetales growing to a truly colossal size. It did not take long for the creature's saddle to snap, the leather and metal loops it was composed of whipping and whizzing past the Admin. Josh's legs snapped from the sides of the enormous fairy-type to above her back, the Pokémon easily growing sevenfold. He grabbed a tuft of her fur, itself the height of prairie grass, and held on for his life to the now-Dynamaxed fox. With a deep cry and vibration that rattled him, a MAX MINDSTORM draped the entire room in an astral projection designed to snap the poison-type's mind in two.

"NO!" Howard shouted as his scarf fluttered in the shockwaves from the battle as Josh slowly returned to proper form. "Be a gym leader! Protect this region! You can't let yourself be outshined by someone like me!"

He was not strong. He'd never be strong. Acknowledging that fact would mean accepting that he had a choice to leave Rocket, but he had refused to take it. Being strong would mean that he'd need to fight for this region. That was not his purpose.

Just let me be weak, please. That's all I want. I don't want the burden placed on the shoulders of the strong.

Suddenly, his thoughts were jolted as Rime Dynamaxed in front of the gym leader and admin. Howard's eye widened in shock as he bore witness to this phenomenon.

"Josh, you don't have a band! How did you...?" He asked the gym leader, awestruck, as the second Toxicity was thoroughly defeated by the joint attack from Rime and Shirley. Mega Evolution and Dynamax combined to bring down a colossus, and the second Toxtricity followed the first.

It shrunk in a starburst of red and purple lights.

Its unmoving corpse appeared in the middle of the room, next to the other deceased Toxtricity. Howard cautiously moved towards the two Pokemon and nudged them with his boot. He did it again, and leaned down to check for a pulse, reveling in the latent Dynergy in the room.

"They're dead." His voice rang out as he looked towards Josh. "We killed them."

---

Josh Devlin

There Josh went again, gorging himself on the humble pie his religious education fed to him on a daily basis. His childhood was the reason for his tendencies to self-deprecate. He had slowly improved upon them during the Champion Assessment, but ultimately it would be something he would have a hard time quashing completely.

"...I don't know!!" Josh screamed back at Howard, the man now around sixty feet in the air, effectively strapped to the behemoth of a Ninetales. After the two attacks had defeated -- no, murdered -- the two Toxtricity, the Ninetales reverted to her normal size. "Even so, we did it! We defeated the two Toxtricity. We, not me, not you. We. You need to take some credit, too."

As he reined the now-bareback Ninetales toward the entrance, Josh felt a strong popping sensation from around the ice-type's chest. The Pokémon's eyes rolled all the way into the back of their sockets, the man sliding off just in time to avoid getting his leg pinned by the collapsing Rime mid-fall. "...Rime?!" he asked before circling the motionless vulpine. When he saw the Ninetales' eyes were purely white, with no pupils visible anywhere, he put the grim news together.

"RIME!!!" his voice echoed as he had realized the loyal, slippery fox's cruel fate. The overflow of Dynergy from the natural power spot had spontaneously caused the Ninetales to Dynamax. With the Pokémon's heart already being strained by being so large for its species, the added size from Dynamaxing overloaded the vital muscle, causing its internal blood pressure to rise to the point where it could no longer hold itself together. And without a heart to pump blood, the Pokémon's lifespan would be measured in seconds.

Rime was no more.

Seconds passed. Tick tock. Life trickled from the Ninetales's body like water as its life faded.

Dynergy was potent. Dangerous in small doses, lethal in high amounts. Eternatus's power was lethal in the bodies of those not meant to house it. There was no ring to stem the flow of might, and now all that remained of Rime were memories, corpses, and tears. There was nothing to be done.

He let Josh have space. There was no room to comfort the gym leader, nor would he dare partake in the despair that he had help sow. He had led Josh down here on a chase. He had chosen to fight these colossal Pokémon. Rime's blood stained Howard's hands, and all he could do was stand aside and let the gym leader process it.

This was the weight of war.

He looked around the room, and saw remnants of the Three Days War everywhere. Remnants of Xurkitree coils, mementos of the fallen strewn about the battlefield, hints of Ultra Beast activity. This was where the Mauville Warfront had been waged, where the giant Xurkitree had laid siege to the glowing metropolis.

If there were Pokémon from Ultra Plant in this area, then...

No. A life had just been lost. Howard held Shirley tight as she flew back down to him. The admin took his hat off and held it across his chest. It was all he could offer Josh and Rime; a symbol of respect for the fallen.

He wiped a tear from his eye.

"I'm sorry, Josh."

---

Josh Devlin