Kleavor let out a furious roar. Scizor watched it with cold, steady eyes, its left pincer — which had just blocked an attack — still trembling faintly from the impact.
Kleavor's strength was immense, but its Fury Cutter had only landed once, and the damage from that single hit was small. Still, the shock of absorbing the blow had been considerable.
Scizor kept dodging Kleavor's attacks, waiting for the right moment to strike back. After a series of exchanges, it managed to land a few hits with its pincers. But moving with such speed and precision took a heavy toll on Scizor's stamina. Even though Scizor had mastered Quick Attack's speed almost as a passive trait, keeping that pace up for long still wore it down.
Steven studied Kleavor closely as it thrashed in its berserk state.
"Is the frenzy getting worse?" he muttered, frowning as he tried to work out how to bring it down.
Scizor's accuracy was starting to slip, and it could no longer dodge every one of Kleavor's swings the way it had at the start of the battle.
"Scizor, let's meet its strength head-on!" Steven called, pulling out a small brooch. The Key Stone set into it glowed brightly.
Scizor gave a short nod.
"Mega Evolve!"
A burst of white light wrapped around Scizor's body. When it faded, Mega Scizor's massive pincers shot forward and clamped down on both sides of Kleavor's axe-like blade — catching the weapon bare-handed.
Kleavor stared at the transformed Scizor, its eyes still burning with unrestrained rage, showing no sign of surprise. It didn't seem to matter to Kleavor who stood in front of it. All it wanted was to cut down whatever was in its path.
Kleavor swung its other axe at Scizor, but that too was caught, this time by Scizor's free pincer. In terms of raw strength, Mega Scizor now clearly had the edge over Kleavor.
"Push it back!" Steven shouted.
Scizor poured its full strength into both pincers, driving the pressure straight into Kleavor's body. Kleavor felt the crushing force bearing down on it.
"Heh—cha!"
Gritting its teeth, Kleavor fought back with everything it had. But after Mega Evolving, the energy inside Scizor's body had swelled far beyond its normal limits. In a straightforward test of strength like this, Scizor still held the better odds.
Why would a Pokémon fit to be a King end up like this? Steven wondered.
"Heh—cha!"
Kleavor's strength suddenly surged, and it wrenched free of Scizor's grip. After stumbling back a step, it pressed forward again, its hunger to attack burning hotter than ever.
Until now, Scizor had relied on fast, constant movement to avoid Kleavor's attacks. But after Mega Evolving, it began meeting Kleavor's blows with raw power instead. Had Kleavor not been trapped in its berserk state, it might have shown far more skill and control in this fight.
"Hm?" Steven's eyes widened.
A flicker of surprise crossed Scizor's face as well. Kleavor's strength seemed to have spiked out of nowhere — it was now a match for Mega Scizor.
Steven frowned. "It wasn't using full power before? Or is this because of that strange berserk state?"
"Steven, that Pokémon's power keeps rising," Diancie said from beside him.
"Master, I feel it too," Metagross added.
The shift was so obvious that even the onlookers could sense it.
"This is strange..." Steven murmured. He had never come across anything quite like it before. The worse Kleavor's condition became, the stronger it grew — and presumably, the better its condition, the weaker it would be. It made no sense by any principle he knew.
After a long stretch of fighting, both Kleavor and Scizor had burned through roughly half their strength, both breathing hard from exertion. But if Kleavor's strange condition kept building like this, Scizor might not be able to bring it down at all. And since Mega Evolution had increased Scizor's height and weight, its passive Quick Attack speed would only drain its stamina faster from here on.
"We can't afford to drag this out any further," Steven said, sighing. He was confident Scizor could still win, and if the worst came to worst, he could always recall it and send out Metagross instead. But this bizarre ability Kleavor had shown was far too unusual to ignore.
The Galaxy Team's survey corps was already investigating strange Pokémon activity across Hisui, and this fell squarely within their scope. Better to report it and let them look into it — they understood the region's Pokémon far better than he did.
Clang!
Scizor and Kleavor collided again in a shower of sparks, and both combatants sprang apart. Scizor's pincers gleamed like steel as it charged back toward Kleavor, clashing again and again against its twin axes. Bullet Punch let Scizor strike first each time, but Kleavor, driven by its frenzy, only grew more reckless. It would grit through the pain of Bullet Punch just to land its own axe on Scizor's body — trading hit for hit without any thought of defense.
Clang—
After another exchange between Scizor and Kleavor, Steven called out, "That's enough — come back, Scizor!"
Scizor paused, sidestepped to avoid Kleavor's falling axe, and quickly retreated to Steven's side. It didn't understand why Steven had called a stop to the fight — Scizor was certain it wouldn't have lost. But it trusted that Steven had his reasons.
Fwsh!
The Mega Evolution faded, and Steven recalled Scizor into its Poké Ball. He turned to Metagross, intending to head back to Jubilife Village.
Boom!
Just as Metagross lifted off the ground, Kleavor's axe slammed down on the very spot where Steven had been standing. Shattered stone scattered in every direction as Kleavor's furious red eyes tracked the direction they'd gone.
"Heh—cha!"
Still lost in its rage, Kleavor let out another roar and swung its axes wildly, hacking at the ground itself.
Diancie, cradled in Steven's arms, looked up at him, puzzled as to why he had ended the battle early — Kleavor's power might have been rising, but Scizor hadn't necessarily been losing.
Steven turned Scizor's Poké Ball over in his hand. After all their time together, he knew Scizor wasn't one for words — it was proud, and usually kept to itself. But Steven understood it well enough. Right now, Scizor probably had more than a few complaints. Still, none of that would change anything between them.
Looking down at the Poké Ball, he said gently, "I didn't lose faith in you out there. But if we'd kept fighting, you both would have ended up badly hurt. Out here, where proper medical care is hard to come by and recovery takes time, an injury like that would only set your training back."
Scizor always wanted to keep growing stronger, and its training followed a careful, steady plan. The last time it had been struck by Zekrom's lightning, it had needed two full days of rest, and its whole training schedule had to be rearranged because of it.
"Once I figure out what's causing this, I'll let you take it on again," Steven promised.
The Poké Ball shifted gently in his hand — Scizor's way of nodding in agreement. Steven chuckled and tucked it away.
He had been traveling for nearly a year, and Scizor had been at his side almost that whole time. It understood him well by now. Between a trainer and the Pokémon who Mega Evolved with him, there was a rare kind of harmony — Scizor could always sense what Steven was thinking. Still, some part of it wished Steven would just say these things aloud, instead of leaving them unspoken.
After all, even a kind lie was still, to Scizor, nothing more than a lie.