Steven stayed in Jubilife Village for three more days, spending his time teaching Akari and Keito.
He was happy to teach Akari, since he liked both the boy and his Pikachu. Keito was a different matter. Steven taught her because he suspected she had been sent by Arceus itself, and that the future of the Hisui region somehow depended on her. As for Steven, he was only passing through, gathering the broken pieces of an artifact scattered across this region before moving on to his next stop in time. If he was going to teach one of them anyway, there was no harm in teaching both.
Once his lessons were finished, Steven packed his things, and set out for the Gunjo Coast.
He soon reached his destination: Firespit Island, a volcanic stretch of the Gunjo Coast in the Hisui region. The heat struck him the moment he landed, and he wiped the sweat from his brow.
"How are you holding up, Metagross?" he asked.
"Metagross," it grunted, giving a stiff nod. It was clearly struggling against the heat.
Beside him, Diancie patted her own cheek, trying to wipe away the sweat gathering there. "It's so hot," she murmured.
"Come on out, Empoleon!" Steven released the Penguin Pokémon. "Let's get some cool air going."
"Aqua!" Empoleon cried, raising its arm. A wave of icy air spread out and washed over the group, cutting through the heat like a blessing.
Steven pulled out a bottle of water and drank deeply, then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand before starting toward the volcano. Even the light uniform of the Survey Corps couldn't keep out the heat of Firespit Island.
At the base of the volcano, he found a cave entrance. He put on his safety helmet, switched on his headlamp, and stepped inside. With Empoleon's cool air trailing behind him, there was little risk of the heat becoming unbearable underground.
Before long, the narrow passage opened into a wide chamber. Rivers of molten magma churned somewhere below. Steven's eyes climbed a set of stone steps rising ahead of him, and there, resting on all fours with its eyes shut, was a Pokémon he recognized at once.
It looked something like a turtle, with a metallic plate covering its face and reddish-orange eyes. Its body was a reddish-brown mix of dark and orange markings, with metal-ringed legs and four claws on each foot, arranged in the shape of a cross.
A Legendary Pokémon — and the only one with the rare Fire and Steel typing.
Heatran.
Steven clicked his tongue, mildly surprised to find it here and asleep. Even resting, its presence pressed down on him with a weight equal to a Champion-level Pokémon. He could hardly imagine how powerful it would feel once fully awake.
A Fire and Steel type all its own — Steven had to admit, he was tempted. But a Legendary Pokémon this strong would not be easy to catch.
"Eeyah!"
Heatran's eyes snapped open, bloodshot and glaring down at the intruders below. Its low growl sounded less like a Pokémon and more like an old man clearing his throat. Sensing unfamiliar visitors, it had woken from its sleep, and a fierce red glow began spreading across its body.
Steven felt the temperature climbing rapidly, even from this distance.
This Heatran's strength, he judged, was close to that of a Mega Metagross. And here, deep inside an active volcano, the terrain itself would boost its Fire-type moves while weakening anything Water-type.
"Go, Aggron!" Steven threw the Poké Ball.
"Aggron!" it roared the moment it appeared, meeting Heatran's stare without backing down. Neither behemoth intended to give ground. This, Steven thought, would be a good test to see whether Aggron could push its way to Champion level.
"Steven, something feels wrong with this one," Diancie said, tugging at his pants in warning.
"I know. It's close to going berserk," Steven answered quietly. He'd noticed the same thing the instant Heatran opened its eyes — this was not the ordinary anger of a disturbed Pokémon. But the battle had already begun, and there was no time to worry about that now.
"Eeyah!" Heatran roared. The magma around it began boiling violently, and chunks of molten rock tore free, swirling together in front of Aggron.
Lava Plume.
"Stone Edge!" Steven called out, watching the wave of fire surge forward.
Getting caught inside Lava Plume would mean lasting burns from the heat. Aggron, being Steel and Rock type, wasn't weak to Fire, though it wasn't resistant to it either — it would take normal damage, but enough to hurt.
"Aggron!" it roared back, slamming its tail into the ground. Jagged stone pillars burst upward to meet the incoming flames.
The two moves collided head-on. Several of the stone pillars shattered under the force of the Lava Plume, but they held long enough to stop it from reaching Aggron.
"Eeyah!" Seeing its attack fail, Heatran's eyes turned darker with fury.
It leapt from the top of the stone steps and landed squarely in front of Aggron. The two stared each other down as the second exchange began.
Heatran slammed a foreleg into the ground. The floor of the cave trembled, and loose stone rained down from the ceiling.
Earth Power.
"Earthquake!" Steven shouted. Aggron stomped down in answer, shaking the cave even further as the two Ground-type forces collided beneath the surface.
The ground between them cracked open, sending gravel flying in every direction. Metagross stepped in front of Steven, shielding him from the debris.
Steven frowned. Despite how even the fight looked, he knew the odds were stacked against Aggron — the gap in raw strength was simply too wide. Only by Mega Evolving could Aggron hope to match Heatran's power. But Mega Aggron turned into a pure Steel type; its ability, Filter, would soften the super-effective damage from Fire-type moves, but it would also lose the boost its Rock typing gave to its own attacks.
"Eeyah!" Heatran's body blazed with a fiery red light, and a wave of raw power surged forward, ready to swallow Aggron whole.