In the old legends, Heatran was never portrayed kindly. Its destructive power was simply too great, which was why it had been sealed away with the Magma Stone.
But Gary knew perfectly well that Heatran wasn't bad by nature. For all its rough appearance, it was actually quite honest—even a little timid.
The real reason Heatran had gone out of control lay elsewhere. Heatran's body naturally produced tremendous heat, and the energy generated by that heat happened to trigger a reaction in the Flame Plate.
The Flame Plate itself held no energy of its own. Its one defining trait was that it could connect to Arceus's energy source, convert that energy into fire energy, and pour it into Heatran's body. Flooded with power it couldn't regulate, Heatran would lose control and become little more than a turret that knew only how to vent energy.
And with the Flame Plate continuously channeling energy, the fire it produced could have blown apart the entire Sinnoh Region.
As for how such a crisis could be resolved, there were only two answers: Arceus's avatar intervening directly, or humans who commanded extraordinary psychic power stepping in.
Gary's guess was that Heatran had gone berserk about a thousand years ago and had been subdued by psychic-wielding humans, who then sealed it with the Magma Stone and left it to sleep until the present day.
Why was he so sure it hadn't been Arceus?
Simple. Heatran wasn't malicious. If Arceus had acted, it would only have needed to take back the Flame Plate, and Heatran would have returned to normal on its own.
Humans, on the other hand, didn't understand Heatran. Even psychics who could sense a Pokémon's emotions would have found it mid-rampage—and to them, a raging Heatran would have looked like a naturally violent, tyrannical Pokémon. Something like that had to be sealed away.
Of course, all of this was just Gary's own speculation. But if the Magma Stone was really here, then he was probably close to the truth.
"Heatran is a Legendary Pokémon. Can you really convince it?" Buck asked, looking nervous.
Even having seen Gary command a Moltres, Buck didn't quite believe he could actually take on Heatran.
"Let's go take a look first. If it's too strong, I won't push it," Gary said.
Buck blinked. That felt oddly abrupt. Gary had sounded completely confident just a moment ago—why the sudden caution?
"Alright. I'll show you where the caves are," Buck said.
"Lead the way."
Buck headed toward the volcano's crater. The moment the two of them reached the rim, they both stopped short.
Clinging to the inner wall of the crater was a four-legged Pokémon.
[LV65 Heatran — Quasi-Legendary]
Heatran!
Gary was stunned. He'd spent an entire week searching for this Pokémon, and now it turned up the moment he walked to the crater's edge.
What had he even been doing all week?
"Whoa! It really is Heatran!" Buck was just as shocked. He'd been to Stark Mountain plenty of times, and this was the first time he'd ever laid eyes on it.
Gary wondered whether this was the same Heatran that Cyrus would eventually capture. Judging by its level, it probably was. If it had been any stronger, someone of Cyrus's ability would never have managed to subdue it.
"Hraaa!"
Heatran noticed Gary and Buck too, but it showed no sign of alarm.
It was level 65. In the wild, a level 50 Pokémon could hold its own territory; at level 65, a Pokémon was practically the lord of a whole area—especially a Legendary Pokémon like Heatran. Nothing on Stark Mountain dared to provoke it.
Besides, plenty of climbing enthusiasts visited Stark Mountain, so Heatran had seen humans before. It paid Gary and Buck little mind and simply kept moving along the wall on its own.
"Woof!"
Arcanine barked.
Heatran turned toward Arcanine at the crater's rim, its red eyes taking on an unfriendly gleam. Its enormous mouth opened, a ball of flame gathering inside—then a stream of fire erupted out and struck Arcanine head-on.
Gary felt as if he'd been slapped. He'd been worried that Arcanine's presence might scare Heatran off. He hadn't expected it to be this bold—attacking without hesitation.
Buck was stunned too, frozen before he could even react. He was still a rookie, after all.
"Uh… is your Arcanine okay?" he asked quietly, pointing at the flames engulfing it.
Gary didn't answer.
The fire wrapped around Arcanine's body lingered without dispersing, held in place by some invisible energy—and then, bit by bit, it seeped into Arcanine's body.
"That's… Flash Fire!" Buck exclaimed.
As Flint's younger brother, he was more familiar with Fire-type Pokémon than most.
"Arcanine, use Flamethrower," Gary ordered.
"Woof!"
Arcanine's body temperature surged, and it spat out a torrent of flame that swept across half the crater.
"Hraaa!"
Heatran was startled, but not particularly worried. Its Ability activated, and it drew all the surrounding flames into its own body.
"That… Heatran has Flash Fire too!" Buck called out.
Gary already knew. That was exactly why he'd had Arcanine use Flamethrower—to confirm Heatran's Ability.
The Heatran that Cyrus subdued had Flash Fire, which meant the one that Team Galactic would capture in the future was the one standing in front of him. Given a few years of hard work, this Heatran could come close to Champion level.
"Heatran, let's have a battle," Gary said. "If you win, I'll leave. If you lose, you become my Pokémon, and I'll take you out to see a wider world. I'll be dead in a few decades anyway, and after that you'll be free again."
"You…?" Buck was dumbfounded. It was the first time he'd ever seen someone try to subdue a Legendary Pokémon—let alone say something like that to one.
But thinking it over, it actually made sense. Legendary Pokémon lived extremely long lives, while humans rarely made it past eighty or ninety. To a Legendary Pokémon, a human lifetime was only a brief chapter.
"Hraaa!"
Heatran didn't waste time on pleasantries. Blades of rock materialized all around its body and shot forward.
"Arcanine, Solar Beam," Gary ordered.
A beam of incandescent light blasted from Arcanine, grinding the rock blades to powder before slamming into Heatran.
Boom!!
The explosion tore chunks of rock loose from the wall Heatran was clinging to, and Heatran dropped straight down into the magma below.
"Oh no—Heatran fell in!" Buck said anxiously.
"What are you worried about? Heatran is a Fire-type Pokémon. Its internal temperature runs hotter than magma," Gary said. "For it, that's no different from taking a bath."