Entei's leonine roar was overwhelmingly intimidating. Most of the Team Magma members and their Pokémon were stunned by that single roar, fear filling their eyes as they lost the courage to step forward and stop Entei.
"Damn it! Don't let him interfere! Magcargo, block its attack! Use Rock Slide!"
The instant Blaise saw Entei appear, he realized things had taken a turn for the worse. As Entei launched its attack, he flew into a rage and immediately ordered the Magcargo disguised as an ordinary boulder beside him.
Blaise was one of the few Elite-Four level Trainers within Team Magma, possessing exceptional mental fortitude. He instantly shook off the fear induced by Entei's roar.
The Magcargo beside him—his longtime partner—was his only Elite-Four level Pokémon. It had reached Level 75 and was two to three times larger than an ordinary Magcargo.
The moment Blaise finished speaking, Magcargo emerged from its camouflage and immediately unleashed Rock Slide.
In the next instant, countless boulders fell from above, forming a massive stone barrier directly in the path of the towering golden pillar of fire, temporarily blocking Entei's Flamethrower.
As one of the three Legendary Beasts resurrected by Ho-Oh, the flames wielded by Entei shared the same nature as Ho-Oh's. Not only were they far hotter than ordinary fire, but they also possessed the power to purge all impurity. They were true sacred flames.
Although the rock wall created by Magcargo's Rock Slide managed to resist Entei's flames for the moment thanks to its type advantage, within just two or three seconds the entire wall had turned red-hot and begun to melt.
"You idiots! How long are you going to stand there in a daze? Get over here and help me! And you bald-headed eggheads, finish assembling the machine and activate it already! I can't hold this thing off much longer!"
Seeing the situation deteriorate, Blaise's expression darkened. After ordering Magcargo to reinforce the rock wall with another Rock Slide, he turned and shouted furiously at the Team Magma members who were still recovering from Entei's intimidating roar.
"Who cares if it's a Legendary Pokémon? We absolutely cannot let it stop our plan! Camerupt, use Earth Power!"
"Die, Entei! Golem, use Rollout!"
"Lord Blaise, we'll protect the machine! Please concentrate on the battle! Magcargo, build another stone wall around the machine with Rock Slide!"
After Blaise's furious rebuke, most of Team Magma's members finally snapped out of their fear and immediately joined the battle to stop Entei from destroying the machine.
Entei was Level 95. Its strength was far beyond something mere numbers could overcome.
Had it not still retained a compassionate heart and wished to avoid unnecessary slaughter, it could have reduced every Team Magma member and Pokémon frozen by its roar to ashes long ago.
Even while facing the combined assault of Team Magma's Pokémon, Entei remained remarkably calm.
Most attacks never even reached it before being incinerated by the golden flames cloaking its body. Only Magcargo's Stone Edge managed to inflict the slightest bit of damage—and even that was negligible.
Nevertheless, the dozen or so Team Magma elites working together with Blaise, one of Team Magma's commanders, did manage to create enough trouble to temporarily prevent Entei from destroying the enormous machine.
Under Entei's pressure, the Team Magma scientists worked at unprecedented speed. In less than a minute, the gigantic machine—previously only moments away from completion—was fully assembled.
The lead scientist hurried to the control console, his fingers flying across the keyboard as he rapidly completed the startup sequence.
When he finally pressed the large red button on the console, the machine came to life.
At once, the machine's energy reservoir blazed with brilliant light. A dazzling crimson glow shone through its transparent outer shell.
Had Sato been present, he would have immediately recognized the machine's power source.
It was fueled by those unstable Fire-type Energy Stones.
Now, however, the enormous energy released by those unstable stones was rapidly transformed by the machine.
A jet-black energy beam burst from the device mounted at the machine's top and shot straight into the magma at the bottom of the volcano's crater.
The moment the black beam entered the lava, the previously calm magma became violently active.
Huge quantities of molten lava surged upward from the depths, raising the magma level within the crater by several meters almost instantly.
"Hahaha! Success! Prepare to retreat!"
Seeing the machine activate successfully, Blaise burst into triumphant laughter before ordering all Team Magma members to withdraw.
Entei made no attempt to pursue the fleeing Team Magma members boarding their helicopters.
Instead, it immediately turned its attention toward destroying the machine that continued firing the black energy beam.
However, even after successfully destroying it, the eruption of Mt. Chimney could no longer be stopped.
The black energy released by the machine had completely awakened Mt. Chimney, causing the volcano's underground fire veins to boil over.
At the very same moment, deep within the magma beneath the volcano...
A gigantic beast slowly opened its eyes.
Immediately, countless wild Pokémon and other creatures living around Mt. Chimney instinctively sensed the approaching catastrophe.
As violent tremors spread through the earth, they all desperately fled in the direction opposite the volcano.
At the eastern foot of Mt. Chimney, a massive force from Team Magma stood confronting an equally large League force.
Leading Team Magma was its current leader, Maxie.
Leading the League was one of Hoenn's current Elite Four members, the Ghost-type specialist Phoebe.
"Maxie! What have you bastards done? Why has the volcano suddenly erupted?"
Feeling the violent tremors beneath her feet and seeing nearby Pokémon fleeing in panic, Phoebe immediately realized something terrible had happened atop Mt. Chimney.
She fixed her eyes on the smug-looking Maxie and demanded an explanation.
"Hahaha! Nothing much. We merely wanted to awaken that one once again."
"And for that, I should thank you."
"If you hadn't been willing to stay here chatting with me, our plan wouldn't have gone nearly so smoothly."
Now that everything had succeeded, there was no longer any point in hiding the truth.
Maxie openly admitted everything, leaving Phoebe's face deathly pale.
The instant she heard his words, Phoebe realized she had fallen for Maxie's strategy of luring the tiger away from the mountain.
She also knew that the League forces she had left behind on Mt. Chimney were likely doomed.
"You bastard! Gengar, finish him with Shadow Claw!"
Ever since becoming one of the Elite Four at a young age, Phoebe had never suffered such a humiliating defeat.
Furious, she instantly shattered the tense standoff.
A Gengar that had been hiding inside the shadow of a nearby Team Magma member suddenly sprang out and slashed toward Maxie with Shadow Claw.
Unfortunately, Maxie was also a veteran Elite-Four level Trainer.
He would never be defeated by such a simple trick.
Before Gengar's Shadow Claw could reach him, a Houndoom hidden among Team Magma's ranks suddenly intercepted it, knocking Gengar away with Sucker Punch.
Meanwhile, as Team Magma under Maxie clashed with Phoebe's League forces...
Sato was carrying out his own escape plan.
Vibrava wasn't particularly fast to begin with, and carrying Sato slowed it down even further.
By the time the volcano erupted, they had only managed to fly about a kilometer away from Mt. Chimney's main crater.
But the eruption's area of effect extended far beyond a mere kilometer.
In reality, Mt. Chimney was far more than a single volcano.
It was an entire volcanic complex.
Besides the enormous central volcano, it also encompassed more than a dozen surrounding active volcanoes of various sizes.
Now that the largest central volcano had erupted...
The surrounding active volcanoes also began showing signs of erupting one after another.