"The village?"
"Exactly. Meteor Village—the place where the Draconids moved to after leaving the falls."
Hun nodded sharply. "According to my observations, the vast majority of their powerful Dragon-types head to the Dragon's Den during the day. That leaves behind nothing but a bunch of hatchlings, a few guardians, and a group of elderly people with zero combat capability."
"Now is the perfect time to strike! If we can net all those Dragon-types in one go, this trip won't be a total waste!"
"But... what about the Mega Stone mine in the falls?" Attila asked, stunned.
"Do you really think such a thing exists? I've been scanning stealthily for three days, and there's not a single trace!"
Hun gritted his teeth. "Besides, if there is a mine, the Draconids must have already dug plenty up. We just take them from the source! Do you really plan on waiting here until the mission is declared a failure? If we bring back a haul of Dragon-types, at least we'll have something to show the Boss!"
"...Point taken!"
Attila didn't even stop to overthink it. He trusted his partner, and frankly, he was dying for some action. He nodded within seconds.
The other Team Rocket grunts exchanged glances and followed suit. Anything was better than rotting away in this floating tin can.
Attila waved a hand grandly. "Attila-Hun Strike Force! Target: Meteor Village to the southeast—MOVE OUT!"
"YES, SIR!"
The airship, a hidden behemoth in the clouds, suddenly roared to life. Its propellers tore through the white mist as it veered toward the village.
Nearby, a lone Swablu watched the clouds disperse with a look of pure terror.
What was that? A ghost? It flapped its wings and got out of there as fast as possible.
...
Meteor Village was a picture of serenity.
Young dragons played without a care in the world, and elderly Draconids went about their hobbies.
There was no conflict, no city noise—only the chirping of Altaria and the buzzing wings of Vibrava.
Kashiwagi sat in his courtyard strumming his guitar. Beside him, Blissey and Mawile were practicing a duet, as he figured singing together might finally fix their broken chemistry.
Halfway through the song—
TWANG!
A guitar string snapped.
"Well..." Kashiwagi looked at the broken string, then at his partners. "Let's take a break."
Even the most beautiful song gets tiring when repeated a thousand times. Besides, this high-difficulty track was clearly pushing Blissey past her comfort zone.
"Happy... 😔"
Blissey slumped into a state of self-reproach, and Mawile's mood plummeted with her.
Their previous Contest prep had been so smooth that they expected a week of practice to be enough for a Master Rank show.
But it got stuck on the duo performance.
Incredibly frustrated, yet unable to find a place to vent.
No.
There was one.
Mawile stood up and stomped over to Kashiwagi, punching his arm rhythmically like he was a plush toy.
"Ow, hey! That actually hurts."
Kashiwagi looked at her helplessly. Heaven knows where she learned this, but whenever she was depressed, he became her human punching bag.
Don't you have actual dolls for this?
Mawile's fists weren't heavy, but her accuracy and speed were terrifying. A hundred tiny punches added up to a lot of stinging.
"Enough!"
Kashiwagi caught her tiny fist, about to say something comforting, when he suddenly froze and looked at the sky.
In an instant, a massive, dark-gray airship decloaked above the clearing. The blood-red "R" on its hull screamed their identity to the world.
"Team Rocket!"
Kashiwagi's face went pale. He shouted for Aggron and the others scattered around the yard and sprinted toward the house.
The village's Dragon Pokémon looked up at the airship in total confusion. Before they could react, the bottom of the craft slid open, launching a volley of shimmering canisters.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The canisters exploded in mid-air, unleashing a thick, grayish-white fog that blanketed half the village in seconds. Dragon Pokémon collapsed in heaps. Elderly Draconids who didn't make it inside in time slumped over, unconscious.
Only a few quick-witted Villagers managed to escape the blast inside well-sealed houses.
Suddenly, a piercing alarm blared from the speakers on the village power poles. But as the airship emitted a high-frequency sonic pulse, the speakers and streetlights shattered into dust, followed by the windows of almost every house.
Kashiwagi's villa, being further away, barely survived—though the glass was now a spiderweb of cracks.
Inside, Kashiwagi moved with lightning speed. He threw on his Team Magma field gear, pulled on a gas mask, and shoved Lum Berry lozenges into his Pokémon's mouths to keep them from passing out.
Thanks to his quick reflexes and the slower spread of the fog to his sector, his entire team was safe—except for Hydreigon, who was still at "school" in the Dragon's Den.
"Their target shouldn't be the village... Why change to Meteor Village?"
Kashiwagi peered through the window at the hazy, nightmare landscape outside. After a moment's hesitation, he grabbed the assortment of custom bombs he had crafted based on the "Dream-vision" of that female student.
Mixing bombs was essentially the same chemistry as mixing incense. With his natural talent, he had easily whipped up several varieties using the materials he had on hand.
Might not need them, but better to have 'em, he thought.
Team Rocket's goal was still unclear, but there were only two logical options: the rare Dragon Pokémon, or the Mega Stones and Key Stones guarded by the Elder.
He clicked his tongue.
Team Rocket had guts—he'd give them that. Most Dragon Tamers were peaceful, focusing on the League, but the Battle of Orre had proven their raw combat potential.
Team Rocket was currently attacking the "grandparents and toddlers" of the world's most dangerous clan.
"This is about to get very, very ugly."
Kashiwagi took a deep breath and looked at his assembled Pokémon. "Before the rest of the Draconids can organize a counterattack, we have to handle this situation ourselves."
Aggron and the others didn't hesitate for a second, nodding in unison.
Since arriving in Meteor Village, they had been treated with nothing but kindness by the residents.
Whether as a Trainer or as Pokémon, standing idly by was simply not an option.
Kashiwagi gave a small, appreciative smile before his expression hardened.
"Their primary targets are likely the Dragon Shrine and the Pokémon scattered throughout the village. They'll have to deploy a lot of ground personnel for that... which gives us a chance to strike their airship while they're distracted."
He pointed toward the behemoth in the sky, but before he could finish his plan, a sudden, violent gale tore through the area.
The already cracked window glass shattered completely, raining shards onto the floor. The thick sleeping gas blanketing the village was swept away in an instant by the powerful winds.
Through the broken window, Kashiwagi saw a magnificent sight high in the air. A sky-blue bird, its head, neck, and tail enveloped in massive, pearl-white plumage like shimmering clouds, let out a piercing cry.
Mega Altaria. Dragon/Fairy type.
Without a doubt, this belonged to a Draconid elite!
Kashiwagi's face lit up. That Hurricane just now had cleared the air for everyone. However, from his vantage point, he couldn't quite see the trainer—just a small, sturdy silhouette.
Could it be Elder Aoyagi?
His heart sank, however, when Mega Altaria dodged a burst of high-voltage electricity from the airship and retaliated with a visible wave of pink sound energy. A deep purple barrier flickered into existence on the airship's hull, absorbing the Hyper Voice completely.
"A protective barrier!" Kashiwagi knit his brows.
Of course. Team Rocket's cutting-edge tech rivaled the League's; it made sense they'd have defensive shielding.
Fortunately, after tanking a hit boosted by Mega Altaria's Pixilate ability, the barrier flickered rapidly, proving it had a breaking point.
This was definitely good news.
But just as Mega Altaria prepared to follow up, a silver-skinned Steelix intercepted it. With a massive Iron Tail, it knocked back the blue bird, which had been cloaked in celestial blue flames from a Dragon Rush.
A cloud of dust erupted from the impact, and within the haze, the rainbow light of Mega Evolution flared again.
In an instant, a much larger Mega Steelix appeared before Kashiwagi's grim eyes. Its horizontal "ribs" were now replaced by crystalline pillars, and its joints glowed with mysterious blue-on-black hexagonal patterns.
Fragments of metal orbited its body like a lethal ring, and two shovel-like protrusions extended from its jaw, making it look both ancient and terrifying.
The two Mega-Evolved Pokémon immediately locked into a destructive duel, trading high-tier moves that shook the very air.
Kashiwagi raised his binoculars to look at the silver-haired Team Rocket agent standing near the Mega Steelix.
He froze in shock as he recognized the man. Talk about a small world.
This was the man who had used the "Crystal System" to torment Raikou!
His name was...
"Hun! That's right, Hun!"
He hadn't expected the man to show up in Hoenn, let alone master Mega Evolution. But if he's here, where's the other one? Where's the muscle-bound blonde, Attila?
Kashiwagi shifted his gaze and quickly found his mark. Attila, sporting his signature sunglasses, was standing on a hover-platform, barking orders at a squad of grunts as they began "harvesting" the sleeping Dragon Pokémon.
They used specialized cubes that, when thrown, expanded into high-tech nets. Once a Pokémon was snagged, it was automatically winched up into the airship.
It was terrifyingly efficient.
Even if a dragon woke up mid-capture, the red electricity surging through the net would paralyze them instantly—even the Ground-types like Vibrava and Flygon weren't immune.
A few Draconids who had avoided the gas rushed out of their homes to fight, but the airship's underside turrets fired bursts of sonic waves and electricity, leaving them writhing in pain.
Rocket tech was always tailor-made for cruelty.
At that moment, Attila veered his hover-platform toward the Dragon Shrine, flanked by two subordinates.
Their objective was clear: they were going after the hoard of Key Stones and Mega Stones.
Mega Altaria tried to break away from the duel to intercept them, but Mega Steelix relentlessly blocked its path, forcing the aerial battle to continue.
"...That's all the intel I can get from here."
Kashiwagi pulled back from the window. He didn't know how much fighting force the village had left, but he couldn't wait any longer. He couldn't let Attila waltz into the Dragon Shrine.
To a Draconid, having that place desecrated was no different than having your ancestral graves dug up.
Remembering the day when his name was inscribed upon the clan scrolls, Kashiwagi recalled his Pokémon—save for Galarian Corsola—and bolted out the back door.