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Picking up and waving around his new chunk of crystal, it didn't take long to realized that....this was a real boring tunnel that was just a normal tunnel. Except for maybe the continued presence of the strange crystals that continued to exist in the cavern walls to provide some extra lighting alongside his own personal torch. Looking over to Harleen on his shoulder, Reno would give a shrug to his partner at the continuing lack of anything here. "Stupid omniscience. Can't come back to be useful for finding a way out..." He muttered, completely missing the first small metallic clang. Absent-mindedly waving around the crystal, he was beginning to get even more curious about where Barbara had gone. There was one tunnel that they had been able to locate and it didn't appear to have any major signs of another person traversing it.

The second noise that made Aile respond, that one Reno did hear. And he was immediately giving a more concentrated effort to see if he could pick up any nearby minds. And, much like every other time he had half heartedly tried it to see if he could locate their opponent, he found the minds of the people and Pokemon he could see and that's it. And as each louder clang sounded off, another attempt to locate a mind would be tried.

Even as he could tell that this noise was coming towards them and wasn't just a noise from something falling or a tool on a wall, the utter lack of any mind to readily detect. "Not sure what it is, but I'm picking up nothing." Reno admitted, slowly drifting his hand towards his pockets as he looked between his two Pokemon he had out. He would stop before he could draw out another Pokeball. Continuing to crowd up the small tunnel wouldn't exactly be a help before they saw exactly what it was that was coming.

And then a beep from hell erupted and Reno only managed to dive to his right enough to leave his left arm as a cutting target. Yelping as he watched the limb get cut, it would take another second for Reno to remember that he didn't care to react that quickly when the slime arm immediately reconstructed itself. Pivoting to look towards their opponent, Reno would find himself once again staring at a thing from that 'goofy' magazine he had been reading for fun. Except this one was traceable to the Violet Book instead of the Scarlet one. Maybe he needed to make GRAY put anything out of those two books into their database as a 'possibly real' entry.

"Magazine calls it Iron Valiant! Supposed to be very cruel, cuts without hesitation!" Reno shouted, Harleen springing towards the Moonblast off of Reno's shoulder with a Mirror Coat at the ready. And while the attack was deflected, the rebound was aimed at the cavern walls beyond the strange robot due to how quick the response had to be. With the others already attacking, Reno would take a second to remember what else the article said. Looked like Gallade and Gardevoir, duh. Made by mad scientist, not helpful. Effort to create most powerful Psychic Pokemon. That meant the Gallade and Gardevoir thing was probably intentional for that. But before Reno jumped on that, the continued lack of a mind or other mental sensation from the thing dragged him back to a specific word of the article. Effort. Not success.

It was potentially Steel, but it probably had another type from Gardevoir or Gallade. And with his current Pokemon, he could only test for one of the two. "Aleister, hit it with Psychic!" Reno commanded, watching as a blast of pink psionic energy shot across the tunnels towards the strange automaton from his Reuniclus. He would already be digging into his pocket, prepared to get out another Pokemon if this particular test didn't pan out.

As the robot vanished into the shadows of the cavern floor, Reno would already be pressing the button on one of his Pokeballs. Pivoting to try and keep an eye on where the thing would end up, the odd and yet familiar sensation of the world staring to render itself in probabilities and calculations would settle in as the Metagross appeared. No chance to stop what was coming for Sol's arm, barely had time to see the thing grab onto Sol's limb. However, he would see Iron Valiant's next motion as it drew back for the attempted execution strike. "Bullet Punch. Sol's right shoulder." Reno commanded Phemes, already firing off his left arm towards the cavern floor to Sol's left side.

The slime would splat onto the ground temporarily before firing itself towards the Ho-Oh hybrid and latching onto his body. Giving a harsh yank to force him out of the way, Sol would just clear before a massive metal fist came flying through the space at incredible speeds to slam into the Pokemon and force the attempted stabbing to stop before anything worse could happen. Aleister and Harleen would be just recovering as this went down, turning towards where their opponent had managed to disappear to and preparing to respond to what might happen next.

"Are we really using Occulture as a Pokedex now!?" Sol asked at Reno's new set of remarks, finding the idea of calling something noted for cruelty "valiant" incredibly ironic at best. But 'no hesitastion' certainly tracked with how they attacked, and at the fact they seemingly vanished when the attacks should've hit. But instead, nothing was there, and the hybrid didn't pick up on the Shadow Sneak to reposition until he got the briefest glimpse from behind the corner of his eye as they reformed. "Qué-"

His quick mutter was all he'd get before the robotic assailant grabbed his right arm to forcibly disarm him, immediately upgrading that to literally disarming him when they yanked it behind him and twisted it to snap his elbow into pieces. A scream echoed once the snap came, forced to the ground again when another display of just how 'valiant' this foe was came and he was thrown down for the execution to come. Reeling like he was, there was no way he'd be able to move and an easy save with Ally Switch probably wasn't in the cards this time. He wouldn't have faulted Reno if the call for Bullet Punch was an attempt at taking the upper arm too in the name of using the force to send him away from the impact, but what he'd feel was less hard and more... slimy? Whatever the case, he'd feel a harsh tug trying to pull him away from the punch and Iron Valiant's attempts to run their blade through, followed by Aile bringing out Sandy Shocks in a bid that they'd be happy and able to magnetize another metal thing.

Calida would have a very cool, calm and collected response by giving out a shocked cry and freaking the hell out, the Quilava very clearly panicking as she fired off a Swift attack to pelt the thing trying to kill her trainer and draw attention away from him. "Quilquilquilquilquilquil!"

Though Sol had the good luck to be saved twice now, his broken arm wasn't doing him any favors especially as it dragged along with being pulled away like he was. He'd surely have to address it later, when there was enough time and safety to afford the far faster way to 'mend' a broken limb. For now, he'd have to deal with it, pain and all. Yet again he'd watch (and feel) the Pokeballs he'd managed to get back onto his belt find their way off again, alongside his sword going back to Sandy Shocks' magnets. But that'd be fine, he could work with that. That wasn't the problem right now.

What was a problem was that the seemingly robotic Pokemon, the thing that looked and sounded to be made of metal and motors and loads of mechanical things, didn't budge. Whoever at Occulture decided on the name 'Iron Valiant' for this thing, assuming they didn't just see some weird art someone did and decided to make a sensationalist piece over it, was surely out of a job or would be soon. There wasn't anything iron or valiant about this thing at all! Just speed, efficiency, and metal that refused to be magnetized. And apparently, distracted as electricity danced along the grounds and everything else lost what magnetism it had.

"Thanks again," Sol remarked, the pain in his tone all too apparent as he tried to get himself to something other than prone on the ground with his non-snapped arm. He certainly wasn't in a position to capitalize on the opening, but thankfully, he wasn't alone. "Clearly someone's a fan of irony. Calida, I need you to calm yourself and make another distraction, something to let Aile and Reno get in somehow. Can you do that?"

His Quilava wouldn't give much of a response, too much in a panic still as she stared at what was seconds away from driving a blade through her trainer. And though he was fine, the weird Magneton clearly wasn't and she couldn't help fearing if she was next. The electricity on the ground caught her off-guard with a startled squeak instead, smoke billowing outward to give herself some way to hide. There was a weird sort of fortune that it happened to be what Sol had in mind, but the calming herself part fell on deaf ears.

"...close enough," he remarked to himself, grunting as he tried to shift his weight and get to his feet again. Broken arm or not, he still intended to fight and try to treat the injury as a flesh wound for now. A very painful flesh wound.

It had only taken a second after Iron Valiant's vision adjusted for Reno to see Aile's newest acquisition had been unleashed. And if what happened before they ended up in the cave was any hint, it was time to be prepared. Recalling the slime from his grab for Sol, he would quickly coat his prosthetic and pockets with the substance to hold all of the metal bits in place. And all the while, his eyes were on Iron Valiant as he saw the Pokemon immediately size up and change focus from Sol to the Sandy Shocks. Apparently, it knew enough to dictate itself on fight focus by pure threat assessment and this was evidently a sign that Sol ranked below strange Magneton in the hierarchy of weird robot threats. Either way, it was time to take advantage of this as he slowly slid into position behind the Iron Valiant alongside Phemes. All they had to do was wait for it to draw in the robot using magnetism, ride the waves themselves, and take it out before it tried anything else.

However, while Reno and the Metagross would allow themselves to be snatched up by the magnetic pull and send themselves flying towards Iron Valiant, the robot was....stock still. Because, apparently, it wasn't ferrous. Either way, while it was getting its slash off on Snady Shocks, a massive metallic claw would come streaking towards the strange Pokemon with a Meteor Mash while Reno similarly had a fist pumped full of Psychic energy ready to slam straight into the thing as well. And as they drew close, Sandy Shocks' Electric Terrain would go off and draw the thing's attention to the ground as the two physical fighters came flying in to slam their attacks home.

But why would it care so much? As much as he was committing to the attack, there was enough forethought to have his Reuniclus hanging back still. But hopefully it was just a random bit of happenstance. Hopefully. But after earlier today, the small odds were not being ignored.

Retaliation had been expected from the Iron Valiant, especially after the dual heavy impacts from both Reno and Phemes. However, Reno didn't anticipate that he would rank above the giant psionic destroyer for threats to the robot's life. But that was easy enough to recalibrate his currently predictive brain to work with. The real problem was the thing suddenly moving like lightning in a way that Reno could only justify as some sort of Surge Surfer situation. A conclusion for adapting his strategy that came a little too late for reacting in any beneficial way to the robot pouncing on him and driving him to the floor like a Liepard on its prey. The skirt coming down like an iron wall and leaving it just as him and the now exceptionally close Iron Valiant. And the strange patterns flashing across his eyes, Computational Aide translating the strange pattern way more effectively than even his passive vision for the Hypnosis would've done. So it was very quickly Reno beginning to interpret the kill command and already beginning to think through exactly what he would need to do to kill everything within this small, confined tunnel when he was hurled across the room straight into the body of the Ursaluna.

Bouncing in the air slightly, the Vaccum Wave would hit next and send him crashing fully into the wall behind Aile and Dega. Not that it would put much of a stop into Reno's motions, the scrapes and bruises visibly healing back to regular skin as he rose up to stare towards Aile. While it was only a second, Reno was quickly running through the calculations of what the most efficient approach here would be. And it was an easy conclusion: utilize the energy that his unceremonious removal from Iron Valiant's area provided him to fire a concentrated beam through Aile's chest. Take care to aim for her right side, make the sand have farther to travel if its going to intercept the attack. And then focus on providing Phemes this programming alongside an extra boost, allow the Steel type to establish herself very clearly by eliminating the person nearest to her: Sol. Glancing to the Key Stone that sat hanging alongside his Channeling Artifact, he would line up his hand for his chosen target and begin to allow the well of energy build as his mind focused towards the Metagross.

For optimum execution, he had to wait for the Mega Evolution to finish. It would both serve as distraction for his attack and give enough vulnerability with the sudden change to make sure Phemes was operating on the same wavelength. A corona of rainbow energy would engulf the Metagross as the Mega Stone that sat tucked away on her body burst into life, the energy growing so dense it almost appeared like there were two Metagrosses there instead of one for a moment before they began to combine, arms bursting place that aimed in both directions for the assault it was about to commit. Keeping his left arm trained on Aile, Reno knew the moment had come as the glow began to die down and a distinctly golden X came into view. And that was his moment, mind pouncing to attempt to make sure Phemes came to his point of view as he felt the gathered energy reach its peak.

And Rome, left arm collapsing into nothing but viscous liquid and the energy built up in it dissipating harmlessly, would shout, "Phemes! Meteor Mash! Aleister! Flash Cannon to daze its vision!" The words would barely pass Rome's lips before a dazzling beam of silver energy lanced across the cavern to attempt to dazzle and possibly wound Iron Valiant from the Reuniclus.The now-freshly Mega Evolved Metagross would immediately oblige as well, a quartet of silver glowing limbs coming in from all directions as the Mega Pokemon aimed to smash the strange Pokemon to pieces.

The Smokescreen proved to be double-edged, Sol seeing very little and only hearing the cry from Iron Valiant and the booming sound that prefaced the Vacuum Wave sending him and Quilava back, both of them coughing from the smoke as it blew past and dissipated. With it, though, the Ho-oh hybrid would also notice something off about Reno. He wanted to ask if he was alright too, hearing Aile's question. "I'll be fine, but-" He wasn't sure what happened in the Smokescreen, but something felt very wrong all of a sudden. He didn't know Reno to be quite so rigid in his stance, and the way he raised his arm towards Aile made alarm bells ring in his mind. But as soon as he readied a Flamethrower into his left hand in case he needed to quickly separate the two, the light from the sudden Mega Evolution forced him to shield his eyes instead.

"Reno, the hell are you-" A fear loomed in his mind again, all too similar to earlier when Aden nearly (but actually) got stabbed (a lot). But it'd thankfully fade when instead he'd hear him have Phemes and Aleister go on the offensive towards Iron Valiant. But even then, something was still off about him. But he was still on their side... something to ask about when they aren't at risk of being killed. He was quiet for a second, briefly looking at Reno again before taking advantage of the electricity dancing along the ground to ready a Thunderbolt instead, sending the bolt of plasma at the robotic assassin. "...right, give it more to deal with at once! Calida, throw another Swift!"

Alongside the bolt would come several rays from a very anxious Quilava, confused at everything going on herself.

Aile brought her arm back up, bracing herself as the shock wave washed over them. For a split second, she was relieved, as she wasn’t sensing anything. For a split second. When she sensed something behind her, she knew, but by then it was too late. She felt the metal on her shoulder, then what felt like electricity coursing all throughout her body, her body locking up and letting out a high pitched scream in pain. The closest she’d gotten recently to feeling electricity like this was when they first arrived in Paldea, when Deo had gotten irritated at her, or something, and even that was barely a thing. This? This was way more than that.

While it felt like forever to her, it was probably maybe half a minute at lost before the attack subsided, with Aile falling backwards into its grasp soon after, when her body finally started to relax. She was petrified about still being in Iron Valiant’s grasp, though she also couldn’t get herself to move much. Maybe it was the exhaustion kicking in, finally, considering everything she had gone through, but she couldn’t muster much of any resistance against the robot. “Dammit…” All she could really get herself to do was stare at the ground, thinking about what she could possibly do, when her gaze landed on her prosthetic arm. Maybe…

Sandy Shocks would watch its new trainer get caught up by the Iron Valiant, angry beeps and zaps getting spewed out angrily. It thought it had dealt with the robot and was happy that it had appeared to be the victor, until it went for yet another sneak attack. While it was almost anticipating Aile to want to back down, it still wanted to take out its futuristic rival. It did owe her for freeing her as well… Well, one of her friends would have to get her out, probably by getting her close. It could see about trying to overload its audial implants, though… The metal shavings that functioned as hair began to shift faster and faster, creating a sound that would be quite close to a Screech.

Aile wouldn’t be able to do anything to protect her eardrums, but this wouldn’t be a bad shout to try this, between Sandy Shocks and anything else her friends might try. She closed her eyes, remembering the ill fated punching dagger and how she had made it the first time. This time, though, she would imagine the dagger digging into the Iron valiant’s torso, aiming to slice upwards into the torso. One way or the other, she wanted this nightmare to end.