"Rise and shine Larance! It's a beautiful day!"

Larance grumbled in annoyance before peeking one golden eye open to stare at the figure in his room. Through his eye he saw the blurred figure open one more set of curtains before turning around to leave.

"Yeah, whatever you say mom," Larance mumbled, closing his eye again.

"You must really be tired if you're confusing me for your mother."

At this, Larance's eyes popped open and he sat straight up. Maxie stood there with folded arms and a grin plastered on his face. Instead of wearing his leader uniform, he wore a white lab coat, a dark red sweater, brown jeans, and brown boots. He still wore his mega glasses, which seemed to have been recently polished.

"D-Dad!" Larance exclaimed, smiling wide and jumping out of bed. "You're back already?"

"Well, Wallace told me that I should be home for a few days, maybe even a few weeks before searching for Teams Magma and Aqua," Maxie chuckled. "He said that he's going to go after them with the help of a few trainers he's come across. Now, get changed and come down. Your mother and I have made you a victory breakfast for becoming the new Hoenn Champion."

Larance couldn't stop smiling and only nodded eagerly.

"Hey, dad," Larance began. "I'm really glad you're back."

"Me too," Maxie smiled before leaving the room.

Larance sighed with happiness before turning towards his still sleeping Pokemon. He grinned before shaking Blaziken awake. Said Pokemon looked at her owner, and began to wake up the other Pokemon as well. Blaziken then led them downstairs; Dustox right behind her, followed by Flareon, Shiftry, and Latios. As soon as they left, Larance quickly changed into his clothes, took Groudon's pokeball, and ventured downstairs.

"Ah, perfect timing!" Tessa exclaimed as Larance sat at the table. "The pancakes just finished cooking."

"Chocolate chip or regular?" Maxie asked, walking towards the table with two plates piled high with pancakes.

"Chocolate chip of course," Larance replied.

Maxie soon sat down, and they began to catch up on what happened the past ten years when Maxie left. They were suddenly interrupted by frantic knocking on the door. Confused, Larance answered the door to find a worried looking Arriete, her hair strangely down.

"Oh thank Arceus she didn't get you as well," Arriete breathed, crushing Larance in a hug. "Sh-she stole it."

"What are you talking about?" Larance asked as Arriete let him go.

"This strange lady broke through my window and attacked me," Arriete hastily explained. "I was so unprepared and I only had Krypta by my side. The lady's Salamence took Krypta out and then the lady stole my Key Stone and jumped out the window. I heard her say that 'Petalburg is next' and I hastily told Wally and Bina this. Bina already flew to Petalburg to help Wally, but we have to follow her."

"Of course," Larance agreed, narrowing his eyes. "Mom-"

"We heard," Tessa cut him off. "Go, but be safe."

"Everyone except Latios, return!" Larance commanded.

"Everheart!" Arriete released said Pokemon..

Climbing onto their Pokemon, the two of them flew off to Petalburg, worry written all over their faces.

***

"I already told you, I don't have it!" Wally yelled, folding his arms.

"Don't lie to me, boy," Matt growled, narrowing his eyes. "You used a Mega Gallade against Team Magma."

"Well, somebody stole my key stone!" Wally explained, trying to reason with the Team Aqua Admin. Looking over Matt's shoulder, he visibly sighed with relief when he saw Bina running towards them. "Bina! Thank Arceus! Tell this maniac that I don't have my key stone with me!"

"What?" Bina asked in surprise, making Matt turn around. "She got to you too?"

"What the-?!" Matt exclaimed in surprise. "You?! Again?! Just in time, aren't you? I'm gonna take your Key Stone first! Sharpedo!"

"I don't have time for this!" Bina growled. "Swellow! Hurricane!"

Just as Sharpedo appeared, Swellow attacked, resulting in Sharpedo immediately fainting.

"Fine!" Matt growled, returning his fainted Pokémon. "If you're going to be that way, then I'm heading to Meteor Falls!"

Matt grumbled to himself as he walked off, leaving Bina and Wally confused.

"Thanks for the help, Bina," Wally smiled. "What did you meant by 'she got to you too'?"

"A woman broke into Arriete's house and stole her Key Stone," Bina replied. "She heard her say that 'Petalburg's next' so I hurried over here as fast as I could."

"A woman did the same to me, but she muttered something that I couldn't point out," Wally explained. "Where are Larance and Arriete?"

"Right here," Larance said, as he and Arriete landed. "We heard what happened, are you two okay?"

"Well, one of the admins came by and tried to take Wally's Key Stone," Bina explained. "But apparently the same woman who stole Arriete's also stole Wally's."

"Who is even doing this?" Arriete asked, folding her arms. "Team Aqua has been mainly quiet, and Team Magma must be going nuts without their Leader. So, she can't possibly be one of them."

Larance's Pokenav suddenly went off, startling the friends.

"Hello?" Larance answered.

"...'Lo? Hello? ...Is that you, Larance? It's me. Steven. Have you been doing well and are the others with you?" Steven's voice was heard.

"I'm fine, and yeah they're with me," Larance replied. 

"Good. I'm sorry to ask this of you, especially after everything that has happened, but I need you four to come to the Devon Corporation in Rustboro. There's something I have to talk to you four about–in person... I'll be waiting for you four there."

Steven soon hung up, leaving the friends even more confused.

"Well, I guess we're off the Rustoboro," Arriete commented.

***

Steven paced back and forth in front of the Devon Corp. building, lost deep in thoughts. Cries from three different Pokemon made him look up, and he sighed in relief as he saw who approached him. Arriete rode on Latias, Larance rode on Latios, Wally rode on Bina's Swellow, while the same Pokemon held her in his claws. They soon landed, and returned their Pokemon.

"Steven, what's wrong?" Wally asked worriedly. "Why did you call us here?"

"Ah, everyone," Steven sighed, a weary smile on his face. "I'm sorry about summoning you four so suddenly. It's well known how often my intuition turns out to be right. But I never imagined we would be meeting again this soon. I'm sorry to say it is not happy news that brings us together."

"What do you mean?" Bina asked, worry shining in her eyes.

Steven sighed. "This isn't something we should discuss in public. Let's continue this inside."

The friends looked at each other before entering the building, Steven following after them. They made their way to the top floor, where Mr. Stone was waiting for them.

"Dad, I brought them," Steven announced, sounding like a robot.

"Well, welcome, welcome. It's been quite a while... hasn't it?" Mr. Stone greeted them with a smile. "Ho ho ho... I suppose I'm just getting old. Recently I seem to forget details just as soon as I learn them... Ho ho ho ho..."

"Dad, please," Steven sighed, a little annoyed.

"Oh, I know," Mr. Stone waved dismissively. "I know what you want me to say. My, what a hasty, impatient one you are! What are we to do with such an impatient one for our Champion?"

"Well, actually..." Larance interrupted.  

"...Hm? Oh, is that so?" Mr. Stone realized. "So you're the new Champion, Larance? Then I guess we'll never break you of that impatience after all, Steven! Ho ho ho ho!"

"Dad! Get to the point!" Steven huffed irritability as he folded his arms. 

"Bah... I know... I know... Can't you take a joke..." Mr. Stone muttered. "Now then, I'm afraid that I'm planning to start in on a rather long and quite heavy topic. Are you sure that you're ready to take all of it in?"

The friends looked at each other before nodding simultaneously.

"Let me first take us back 3,000 years, to the days when this story began..." Mr. Stone began. "There was a great war at that time, in . That war was finally brought to an end by a weapon created by one man. And what energy source could power such a dreadful weapon? Do you know? You see... It ran on the life energy of Pokémon. The energy that could be gained by the sacrifice of so many Pokémon... There are surely many people who would call it reprehensible. But my grandfather, the president of Devon before me, said this... 'Couldn't we use the energy to improve the lives of people and Pokémon?' And so he developed our greatest creation here at the Devon Corporation: Infinity Energy. Thanks to Infinity Energy, Devon was able to become one of the top industries in Hoenn and developed into the giant you see today. You may be surprised to learn that the Devon Parts you once recovered for us were in fact parts of a motor that would make it possible to power a submarine using Infinity Energy. It was not long before we began to expand our attempts to further human development. Next, we moved into exploring space. The rockets launched from the Mossdeep Space Center using our Infinity Energy... They are the true results of our dreams, our passion, and our technology. But never did we imagine they could end up as the best hope for saving our world." He sighed before talking again. "My preamble has been quite long, but we arrive at last at the real issue. That is the overwhelming catastrophe which now approaches us. A huge asteroid, more than six miles in diameter, is currently on track to collide with our planet. We have been working together with the Mossdeep Space Center, which was first to recognize this danger. We are devising countermeasures that would use our rockets, but... In order for these plans to succeed, though, we need a meteorite shard."

"So that's it," Steven brought up, placing his hands in his pockets. "You want the four of them to get that shard for you."

"Hah! That's my boy, all right!" Mr. Stone laughed. "I knew you'd understand at once."

"It was hardly a deduction worthy of praise," Steven mumbled. 

"I want you four to make your way to the Granite Cave near Dewford," Mr. Stone continued, turning to the friends. "According to our surveys, you should be able to find the kind of Meteorite Shards that we need there. And you, Steven... I want you, son, to head for the Space Center at once to start the preparations, using that Link Cable that I gave you."

"The Link Cable?" Steven muttered more or less to himself. "So it is to be a warp system... Yes, I understand. But Granite Cave... Ah, I see. The floor where we first met–the floor with the ancient wall paintings. It is true there were many shards of meteorite scattered about there." He turned to leave. "It looks like it's decide then. I will head for the Space Center in Mossdeep. If I learn anything, I will contact you at once. Good luck."

"...Steven?" Steven turned to face his dad. "You be careful."

Steven chuckled, and, with a wave, walked off.

"Then...I will be counting on the five of you to take care of this for me," Mr. Stone nodded.

"Understood," Arriete replied before Bina, Wally, or Larance could say anything. "Let's go guys."

"R-right," Larance replied, and the four of them walked off.

***

"Maxie, sweetie, you're going to wear yourself out with all this pacing," Tessa tried to calm her husband down.

"You're right, Tessa," Maxie sighed, as he sat down next to her. "Just...someone's running around stealing Key Stones, Team Aqua seems to be acting out even though Archie's nowhere to be seen, Wallace hasn't been answering his Pokenav, and Larance just told me that there's an asteroid heading towards us and that he and his friends are going to try and stop it." He placed his head in his hands. "Ugh I thought everything stressful would be done and over with."

Tessa placed a hand on his shoulder, giving him a small smile.

"Everything's going to be-"

A ring from Maxie's Pokenav soon sounded, startling the both of them. 

"Hello?" Maxie asked, picking it up.

"Maxie! I need you to come to Lilycove, quick!" Wallace's voice sounded urgent. "Archie's here and in very bad shape! He says that you're targeted next!"

Maxie almost dropped his Pokenav in shock. What's happening...?

"I-I'm on my way," Maxie replied, before hanging up and releasing his Crobat.

"Maxie...?" Tessa asked. "First Larance, now you?"

"Tessa..." Maxie began, but Tessa shook her head.

"You two have always been so reckless," she chuckled. "Just...both of you come back safely."

Maxie smiled, quickly kissed Tessa's cheek, and took off towards Lilycove.