In the end, Lance took the three members of Team Magma and left, accompanied by the investigators who arrived later.
That was a lot of respect for Lance, a senior investigator of the League.
As for the three items on the altar, Aoki originally planned to let Lance take them away, but he got an unexpected response.
"The League will not make its Trainers suffer losses. These things are your spoils of war—you can deal with them as you see fit."
After saying this, Lance walked away without turning his head.
Aoki and Steven's strength had gradually caught up, and their next goal also needed to be set in motion.
Lance left effortlessly, as if the whole ordeal was nothing to him.
Steven confidently patted the Metagross beside him.
Lance was stronger than him today, but now that his Metang had successfully evolved into Metagross, Steven was fully confident that he would never be weaker than Lance in the future.
This was the confidence of a genius Trainer.
It was also the confidence that Steven was born with!
Aoki couldn't deny feeling a little envious of this Metagross.
As a pseudo-legendary Pokémon, few Pokémon can complete their final evolution at Level 45, and once they do, their power is immense.
Both of Steven's Metang had their own independent thoughts before evolution. Each had trained its moves separately, gaining different levels of proficiency and combat experience.
But after evolving, the two thought processes merged into one. What would happen to all that accumulated experience?
According to Aoki's analysis, along with calculations from his System, it was highly likely that all the experience from both Metang had fused as well.
In other words, the newly evolved Metagross had double the mastery over its moves!
Moves that had already been mastered would now be at an even higher level, while moves that were only partially trained might reach mastery instantly thanks to the combined experience.
This was the terrifying advantage of fusion evolution!
It was almost like… (Huh??? A Shadow Clone?!)
And that wasn't all. One of the Metang had been stuck at Level 44 for an unknown amount of time. Given Steven's personality, he had undoubtedly been pouring resources into it without pause.
Did those resources go to waste?
Obviously not. They had simply been stored within the Metang's body, unable to be fully utilized.
But now, with evolution complete, that pent-up energy had finally found a way to be unleashed. The fact that Metagross's final potential had reached a deep blue rating was clear evidence of this phenomenon.
Going forward, this Metagross would advance at an incredible rate. If Aoki didn't push himself to the limit, he might really fall behind!
This was the second terrifying aspect of Steven's Metagross—its latent energy, combined with the massive resources of the Devon Corporation, could allow it to reach the Elite level at an astonishing pace.
Even the peak of the Elite level wasn't out of the question.
Wouldn't it make sense for the Devon Corporation to invest vast resources into a single Pokémon to push it to the top?
If it weren't for Steven splitting his resources between two Metang for so long, this Metagross might have already reached the Elite level by now.
For Steven, the current Elite threshold was just a formality. The shackles holding him back had finally disappeared.
And there was a third point—perhaps the most terrifying of all.
This was a Shiny Metagross.
If Aoki applied the same logic he had used when analyzing his own Shiny Slowking, then this Shiny Metagross might also possess some unique awakened abilities.
This was the talent expected of a future Hoenn Champion's ace Pokémon.
Right now, this Metagross seemed just slightly ahead of Aoki's team, but that didn't mean Aoki's Pokémon would always be weaker in the future!
Torchic. Aron. Larvitar.
Each of these three Pokémon had the potential to be a Champion's ace. With proper training, they would all become extraordinary.
There was no doubt about it.
Aoki had full confidence in his own potential—
And in his future strength.
Lance. Steven.
Both were his targets to surpass!
Aoki radiated a strong confidence, equal to the natural-born confidence of Steven.
After a moment of silence, once Lance and the others had completely left, only Aoki, Steven, and their Pokémon remained in the sweltering cavern.
Still elated over Metagross's evolution, Steven began searching the area for rare stones.
But Aoki quickly dragged him toward the altar where Butler had been standing.
The altar was built high, but it seemed somewhat crude in construction. However, the three objects placed on top of it made Aoki pause in thought.
With the help of Slowking, the three stones were laid out in front of Aoki and Steven.
The moment Steven saw them, he couldn't take his eyes off them.
Not to mention the two pale-colored stones on the sides—he immediately reached out to touch them.
Aoki didn't even have time to stop him.
Fortunately, nothing strange happened.
But when Aoki took a closer look at the three stones, he was surprised.
The two stones on either side weren't just ordinary rocks—they were fossils.
Fossils of ancient Pokémon!
Based on Aoki's knowledge, they were likely the fossils of Anorith and Lileep.
Suddenly, something clicked in his mind.
After Steven became Champion in the future, didn't he have an Armaldo and a Cradily on his team?
The timeline had corrected itself in an astonishing way.
Was it fate that Steven found these exact fossils?
The more Aoki thought about how this world operated, the more terrifying it seemed.
Watching Steven eagerly stroking the fossils, Aoki knew there was no need to resist anymore.
Steven was destined to take these fossils.
Sure enough, after a few moments, Steven turned to Aoki with an eager look—like a predator eyeing its prize.
"Aoki, can you let me have these two stones? I know this might be a bit abrupt, since we found them together, and I don't want to seem greedy by taking both at once. But don't worry—I'll definitely compensate you properly!"
Aoki sighed.
Even if he took these fossils for himself, he had no way to revive them. At best, he could use them as decorations.
So why not do Steven a favor?
Might as well send the Buddha all the way to the west.
"These two stones should be fossils of ancient Pokémon," Aoki explained. "The one on your left is an Anorith fossil, and the one on your right is a Lileep fossil. They were Pokémon from ancient times and may be extinct now. If you can find someone with fossil restoration technology, you might be able to bring them back to life."
Steven's eyes lit up even more.
But this also made him feel even more embarrassed about his bold request, given how valuable these fossils truly were.