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Underground World.
The Metagrossite radiated a steady pulse of light in Jacob's hand — brilliant and sharp against the perpetual darkness of the Underground World, like a star that had fallen underground and refused to go out.
Deep within the cave system, something stirred.
A Metagross lay dormant in a hollow surrounded by raw metal ore. When the resonance from the Metagrossite reached it, its eyes opened immediately — four scarlet pupils cutting through the dark, cold and alert.
Psychic energy surged around its massive frame. Despite the sheer weight of its body, the Psychic energy lifted it smoothly from the ground, and its four thick legs angled like thrusters as it accelerated through the tunnels, homing in on the source of the signal with mechanical precision.
Jacob stood with the Metagrossite held out, patient.
He knew what was down here. On his last visit, he'd encountered two Metagross — one of them unmistakably different from any Metagross he'd seen before, its shell carrying the translucent quality of crystal rather than the standard blue-grey metal. A variant Pokémon.
Variant Pokémon were rarer than Shiny Pokémon. Where a Shiny was simply a different colour, a variant could differ in physical structure and sometimes even typing — not unlike a regional form. The anime had shown a few over the years: a Crystal Onix, a golden Sudowoodo, a Snorlax adapted to arctic conditions. Each one genuinely distinct.
Whether the Crystal Metagross's typing had changed, Jacob didn't know yet. But he intended to find out.
A sound reached him — a deep rushing of displaced air. He turned.
A steel shape came tearing out of a dark tunnel at speed, bearing straight toward him like a meteor. The body was crab-like, the cross-shaped marking on its face unmistakable.
Metagross.
But not one he recognised.
This Metagross was significantly larger than either of the ones he'd seen before — its body more than twice the size of a standard specimen, its four legs dense with muscle, the blue metal of its shell covered in fine, layered scars from what must have been decades of battles. The longest scar cut clean through the silver X on its face and extended to the corner of one eye, giving it an expression of permanent, weathered ferocity.
Its entire frame blazed with Steel-type energy as it came in — Meteor Mash, launched at full power before Jacob had time to prepare a counter.
"Darkrai!"
Darkrai was already moving. It raised a barrier between itself and the incoming strike.
Boom.
The impact hit like a cannon. The shockwave radiated outward across the cave floor, scattering loose rock and sending vibrations through the stone beneath Jacob's feet. Even behind Darkrai's barrier, the force was felt.
Jacob steadied himself and released Iron Valiant from its Poké Ball. Without it nearby, he always felt slightly exposed, and right now exposed was the last thing he wanted to be.
As the light from the collision faded, Jacob took his first clear look at the large Metagross. It wasn't one he'd encountered before — the sheer scale of it, the pattern of its scars, the overwhelming pressure it gave off. This was a Metagross that had been fighting for a very long time.
He'd barely finished assessing it when a second sound rolled in from a branching tunnel to the left.
Boom. Boom.
Two more Metagross emerged — these ones he recognised immediately. The first had the crystal-like shell he'd been thinking about all the way here, catching the light in the dark like polished glass. Peak King level, without question. The second was the other one from his previous visit, a solid King level fighter with none of the variant's unusual qualities.
The moment the two appeared, their attention snapped to the large Metagross. Something old and unresolved lived in that exchange — anger, wariness, and a history Jacob hadn't been party to.
The large Metagross regarded them with flat, indifferent scarlet eyes. It didn't appear threatened.
Jacob looked between all three of them.
Three.
He hadn't expected three. He hadn't even considered the possibility.
A slow excitement built in his chest.
Three Metagross at once was a serious tactical problem. But if he could catch all of them — if he could bring all three back and build from there — the long-term implications were extraordinary.
Metagross reproduced slowly and were almost impossible to obtain through normal channels. A trainer wasn't considered eligible to receive a Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon until they reached Heavenly King standing — a level most trainers never reached at all. Families that had built their legacy around a single Pseudo-Legendary line — a Dragonite family, a Tyranitar family — had advantages that compounded across generations. Children in those families started their journeys with a Charmander or a Larvitar already waiting for them. Their floor was already above the ceiling of most of their peers.
If Jacob could establish a Metagross line — capture these three, breed from them, build the population up deliberately — the Xia family would have something that lasted. His nephew's children would grow up with a Beldum. Their potential floor would be king-level, almost by default.
Just thinking about it made Jacob's pulse quicken.
Focus. Catch them first.
"Darkrai — take the large one. Dark Pulse."
Darkrai moved without hesitation. A Dark Pulse streaked across the cave and slammed into the giant Metagross, drawing its full attention.
"Iron Valiant — the other two are yours."
Iron Valiant's gaze settled on the Crystal Metagross and the one beside it. It gripped its double-edged blade in one hand, crouched slightly, and launched forward.
Dark-type energy poured along the blade as it raised it overhead — dense and pressurising, the aura of it pushing down on the space around Iron Valiant like a physical weight. Both Metagross registered it simultaneously.
The Elite Four-level Metagross took the full force of Iron Valiant's presence and flinched visibly. Against an aura of that magnitude, it had nothing to anchor itself to.
"Night Slash."
The blade came down in a clean arc of dark energy. The King Level level Metagross was sent skidding hard across the cave floor in a single strike.
Jacob exhaled slowly.
Iron Valiant really was something else.