The ground quakes, and waves of searing heat distort the air as Maxie steps forward, his silhouette framed by the glow of rising magma. His eyes, cold and calculating behind his glasses, lock onto his opponent with unwavering intensity. A faint, knowing smirk curves his lips.

“You still don’t understand, do you?” he murmurs, his voice calm but charged with conviction.

But before the battle can ignite, a sharp hum cuts through the roar of the earth — high-pitched, unnatural, almost musical. Time itself shudders. Vines curl unnaturally in the air. Light wraps around them like liquid glass. And in a flash of emerald brilliance, Celebi appears — eyes glowing, wings fluttering in a blur.

Then everything disappears.

The heat vanishes. The volcano is gone. Silence follows — deafening and eerie. Maxie stumbles forward, catching himself as he lands in soft grass beneath a metallic sky. Towering spires stretch across the horizon, humming with energy. Strange Pokémon fly overhead, and unfamiliar tech pulses beneath his boots.

This isn’t Hoenn anymore.

No… this is the future.

Celebi hovers briefly before vanishing in a streak of green light, leaving Maxie and his opponent stranded in a version of the world shaped by choices they haven’t yet made.

Maxie narrows his eyes, scanning the skyline. “So… this is what becomes of it all.” A beat passes. “Then I’ll just have to change the future too.”