After leaving Steven's house, Ace was very careful to erase any traces of their presence.
Now, he had two paths laid out before him.
The first was to find Steven, recover the remaining three Key Stones, and then return them to the Meteor Falls.
The second was to go to the Devon Corporation, search for Rayquaza's life energy, seize it, and then deliver it to Rayquaza.
After a moment of hesitation, Ace decided to head to Rustboro City to find the life energy at the Devon Corporation.
This was the safest approach.
Getting the Key Stones from Steven would be difficult. Whether he succeeded or not, Steven and Courtney would become wary, and it would be much harder to seize the life energy afterward.
The Key Stone mission was already mostly complete, and Ace could easily finish it at a later date.
So, after careful consideration, Ace decided to handle the life energy first.
Aerodactyl took Ace soaring into the sky, flying quickly toward Rustboro City.
"I can't go easy on Courtney this time."
Flying in mid-air, Ace glanced at the time, took out a Poké Ball, and said to Gengar inside, "Find the location of the life energy. We'll storm the Devon Corporation and, as a member of the Meteor Tribe, snatch the life energy!"
This was the best method Ace could think of. He would charge in, completely ignore all the plans of the cunning Courtney, and leave as soon as he had the item, giving her no time to react.
Night was slowly falling, and Ace arrived in Rustboro City around seven in the evening.
"Last time I was here, it was also at night. I feel like this city and I have some bad luck between us."
Ace found a small alley, took off his trench coat, and put on a black, full-body suit and a black head covering, leaving only his eyes visible.
"Gengar, it's all up to you."
He had already briefed Gengar on the general situation, and the next steps were very simple.
First, Gengar would enter its Mega Evolved form, then infiltrate the Devon Corporation, find the Revival Machine, and locate the life energy within it.
Once Gengar confirmed the location of the life energy, it would contact Ace. Ace would then create a diversion outside to attract everyone's attention.
Taking advantage of this, Gengar would snatch the life energy, swallow it, and then leave. Ace would also escape as quickly as possible. They would meet at a prearranged location and leave Rustboro City together.
This was the plan. If anything changed, they would adapt. The priority was to ensure Gengar could successfully seize the life energy.
Soon, Gengar entered its Mega Evolved state and traveled through the Dimensional Hole, heading toward the Devon Corporation.
In less than three seconds, Gengar successfully entered the Devon Corporation, slowly emerging from a patch of shadow.
Gengar looked around, knowing from its last visit that this was an employee office.
However, since it was nighttime, the employees had already gone home. The area was empty, with no one in sight.
"The Revival Machine should be on the left side of the first floor," Gengar thought to itself. It then moved, using the Dimensional Hole once more to reach a large hall on the first floor.
Gengar appeared from the shadows under a cabinet. Through the gap in the cabinet, Gengar thought, "This isn't good."
Within its line of sight were three pairs of feet, which meant there were three people outside. It would be impossible to approach the Revival Machine without being noticed.
"I'll have to try it."
Gengar grit its teeth and instantly moved from under the cabinet to the shadow of one of the people.
"Whoa... why did it suddenly get so cold?"
A researcher, who was recording data in a notebook, suddenly shivered, rubbed his arms, and looked around in confusion.
"Stop being so paranoid. How's the data recording coming along?" a different man said. From the look of things, he seemed to be the highest-ranking of the three.
The man whose shadow Gengar had possessed mumbled something and then said, "The current situation is stable. The success rate for fossil revival is basically over 90%."
"Good. The client this time is the current Gym Leader Roxanne, so don't mess up."
After the man finished speaking, he placed a fossil on the Revival Machine.
Seeing this, Gengar didn't hesitate to leave the shadow it was possessing and melded into the shadow of the Revival Machine.
The Revival Machine was activated. The fossil embedded in it shattered, and the remaining genes were extracted and began to be cultured. A small embryo started to take shape.
"It's started."
Gengar observed the Revival Machine's operation through the shadows. Soon, it found a storage tank on the machine.
However, Gengar couldn't be sure if what was inside was culture fluid or Rayquaza's life energy.
Thinking this, Gengar took a walkie-talkie from its stomach and, using the sound of the machine's operation, tapped it twice. Two seconds later, it tapped it once more.
In the alley, Ace's walkie-talkie transmitted two soft clicks, followed by a third.
The two clicks meant Gengar had reached its location. The single click that followed indicated there was an unexpected situation and it couldn't act yet.
"An unexpected situation, huh..."
Ace thought for a moment and tapped the walkie-talkie once.
Gengar quickly received the message and went into hiding.
One tap meant to delay; two taps meant to act.
So Gengar lay in wait, ready to search for the life energy after everyone had left.
The Revival Machine worked quickly. In just three minutes, a Lileep was successfully revived.
Soon, Roxanne, the Rustboro City Gym Leader, walked in, caught the revived Lileep, and took it away.
The three staff members double-checked the Revival Machine, confirmed that everything was in order, and then slowly exited the hall.
Gengar emerged from the shadows, looked at the now-empty hall and Revival Machine, and smiled slightly. It then opened the walkie-talkie and tapped it twice.
Outside, Ace heard two clicks on his walkie-talkie. He took a deep breath, put the device back in his waistband, and released Gible.
"Gible, it's all on you this time. Don't let me down."
Gible nodded at Ace, then followed him as they charged toward the Devon Corporation.
"Dragon Breath!"
As Ace's words fell, Gible's mouth opened wide, and a burst of Dragon-type energy shot out, hitting the Devon Corporation's front doors.
"Boom!"
With a loud crash, the doors of the Devon Corporation shattered instantly. A piercing alarm blared, echoing throughout the entire building!