Crown Tundra, near the Frigid Sea, Three-Point Pass, Split-Decision Ruins.
Genesect carried Avery, who had been blasted unconscious by a single cannon shot, to the agreed-upon location. Hop still felt lingering fear as he recalled what had just happened.
Psychic users really were dangerous. He had almost been killed outright by a full telekinetic combo.
Fortunately, the cannon had been one step stronger.
"If he's unconscious, he can't use Teleport, right?"
"Ah, Mr. Hikaru! And Beldum! I'm here!"
Hop had been muttering to himself when he saw Hikaru appear on Three-Point Pass, riding that electronic dragon that looked like a motorcycle.
The remote controls had already been destroyed, but even so, there had not been many remote devices in a place as far away as Three-Point Pass. It seemed even those so-called royals had given up on this area.
"When I was destroying the remotes, Mr. Avery attacked me. Though calling it an attack doesn't feel quite right. He just made me and my Rotom Phone float."
Hop explained what had happened a moment earlier.
The feeling of floating was not exactly pleasant.
Hop said, "He said something about how if the remote controls were destroyed, he'd lose his superpowers and go back to being the clown everyone looked down on. Then he said the royal family looked down on him too, and that he wanted revenge but didn't dare take it, things like that."
"After that, he tried to steal the crystals I collected from the remotes. He said he wanted to get revenge on his family or something."
Hikaru said, "That makes sense. Mr. Avery is actually a pretty interesting person. He only became like this because he was constantly mocked by his own family."
Hop looked rather speechless.
"His family... You said before that his family is made up of Psychic users, right? An entire family that can use psychic powers? That's terrifying. But even in a family like that, if none of them managed to become major league Gym Leaders, doesn't that mean those family members aren't all that strong either?"
"So Mr. Avery has no reason to feel inferior at all. At the very least, he has the talent to become a Gym Leader. Gym Leaders aren't chosen based on whose psychic powers are strongest. Battle skill matters more, right?"
"A Trainer personally stepping into the field and using psychic powers to fight Pokémon—that isn't a normal Pokémon battle anymore, is it?"
"The fact that he could enter the Champion Cup means Mr. Avery is still very strong. I don't think he's inferior to those people I've never met. Those people only know how to laugh at other people's dreams, so they're probably not much different from Sordward and Shielbert!"
Hikaru had not expected Hop's words to make this much sense.
"But what if his Pokémon battles are also lower-tier?"
"Hmm... Then he should do what he can, I guess. Honestly, if you ask me that right now, I don't really know either." Hop thought about it, then shook his head. "It's like me. I watched my big brother's videos and recordings every day and studied them over and over, but once I actually started battling, I didn't even know Wooloo's moves."
"I kept studying the battle methods of other Pokémon and couldn't recognize what my own Pokémon were good at. That's probably why I didn't know how to battle before."
"But after receiving your teaching, I feel like I still have a little hope of battling my big brother. My dream is to surpass him and become the strongest Champion! Although someone else already achieved that dream, my big brother might fight his way back next year!"
Hikaru said, "That's true. Galar's Champion shoulders a lot of work, and it's also a fiercely contested position. With Leon's strength, he really might return to the throne next year."
"Has anyone told you that your greatest trait is how broad-minded you are?"
Hop did have fairly good talent in battles, but Leon's evaluation of him was that his personality was reckless, which made it hard for him to perform normally in matches. Of course, the average person really could not pull off the maneuver of using a little sheep against Eternatus.
After losing to Shielbert in the postgame, Hop became even more determined to pursue his dream of becoming a professor. But even if he became a professor, he would not follow Sonia's style. In Pokémon Masters EX, Hop said Kukui's style was cool, so he planned to train his body and wrestle Pokémon barehanded.
How a super Galarian was forged—part of that was also reflected in the incident of calming the kings of the sword and shield. Even Sonia had commented that wanting to suppress Legendary Pokémon with one's bare body was simply incomprehensible.
"Ah... well said, unknown child."
A weak voice belonging to Avery sounded, drawing everyone's eyes to the miserable senior-brother figure lying on the ground with a bloody nose.
Avery's glasses were cracked as well, though he did not seem to care at all.
"I was taken out by one shot. I was only planning to take the crystals. This Pokémon is far too terrifying."
"Before this, I was delusional enough to think I could gain powerful psychic abilities and reach the top in one step. But after I came to this tundra, I finally started to feel that something was wrong."
"I thought those two were planning to reenact the hero legend. After they restored royal authority, since I was helping them, perhaps I could also occupy a high position. Then I could properly humiliate those ignorant fools in my family. That was what I was thinking."
"But after arriving here, I realized those two weren't trying to restore power at all. They were clearly trying to control Eternatus, then have those Dynamax Pokémon flatten Galar! Hey, hey, I only wanted to make myself stronger, maybe take down the old fogeys at home and become head of the family. I never wanted to destroy Galar! What the hell is this?"
"When I entered the factory, I thought of it."
Hop asked, "Factory?"
Avery said, "You don't know? The Energy Plant."
"At the time, I thought those two ancient royals looked rather strong. They seemed ridiculous on the outside, but they actually had some skill. The moment I realized people like that could possess such a level of strength, I felt uneasy."
"In the end, I somehow got mixed up in something this huge, and those two treated me terribly as well. This is bad, I thought. So I ran. But those two had already gone insane. I thought I might as well take the crystals from the remote controls and escape."
"But where would I run? That crystal told me before to take the Wishing Stars and go to Almia. I looked into it. It seems to be one of the regions with a completely natural ecology, a place where one could live peacefully. So I thought that place might not be bad."
Hikaru shook his head. "Running to Almia would not be a wise decision. Even the black crystal itself is about to be purified. In fact, everything it's doing now is a desperate effort to stop itself from being purified."
"If you ran there, you might end up doing unpaid labor for the dark crystal. The final result would be running off somewhere else to repent and atone, ending up the same way as Blackhole. Let's avoid that ending. You still have a bright future. A minor league Gym Leader is still a Gym Leader."
"At the end of the day, Galar's competition is too brutal." Avery closed his eyes and sighed. "The current major league Gym Leaders and the newly appointed major league Gym Leaders are all too strong. I can't think of a single one I could beat. Milo? But that man's strength... he isn't human at all!"
Hop laughed helplessly. "Didn't I say this already? Pokémon battles aren't live-action duels. But Mr. Milo probably really can't be replaced. The first Gym has to be both weak and strong. I heard Mr. Milo even defeated Ms. Nessa before."
Hikaru said, "Grass, Water, and Fire are the foundational Gyms. They represent agriculture and animal husbandry, fishing, and industry. They certainly won't be replaced. Psychic is also an upper-tier type. In short, there simply isn't a Gym that matches your position. Though ten major league Gyms really is already plenty."
"If you want to further study psychic power, why not consider traveling to other regions? There are still many powerful Psychic users out there. If you want to improve your battling ability, going to the Battle Frontier would also be a good option."
Avery said, "The Battle Frontier? Ah, you mean the ones in Johto, Sinnoh, and Hoenn... I've heard of them, and I know there are powerful Psychic users there. But with my current strength, if I went there, I would definitely get beaten up in turns."
"Sigh. I originally planned to become stronger, then go there and bully weaker opponents. Perhaps, like Mr. Kabu coming here from Hoenn, I should also travel to another region."
Forget becoming a Gym Leader. There was nothing good about being a minor league Gym Leader anyway.
"In that case, I know a Psychic master in the Hoenn region. He runs a very special battle facility. It might help improve your strength."
"The Psychic user is Inver. He specializes in Inverse Battles. Conveniently, he previously mentioned wanting to promote Inverse Battles in other regions, but if he does that, no one will be left to run the facility. Do you want to try?"
In the Generation VI XY timeline, Inver would leave Hoenn and go to Kalos to open a shop. However, its business conditions did not seem as good as in Hoenn. He could only open a small house on Route 18 to intercept the protagonists of XY, and beyond that, there did not seem to be much business.
After all, Kalos already had the Battle Chateau. Four beautiful female chateau ladies had already taken the customers away. And the mental state of Kalosians was very hard to evaluate.
If one said those people liked battle, they were indifferent to matters unrelated to themselves. If one said they did not like battle, bloodthirsty lunatics would pop out one after another from who knew where.
It should be said that Kalosians liked things related to themselves. When it came to things unrelated to them, they were not very willing to understand.
Their performance in the Special manga was also like this. That was why Team Flare could infiltrate all of society, planting eyes everywhere and almost hunting down Lady Korrina to her death.
In the games, one could also see members of the group in red suits all over the streets of Kalos. They seemed to hold a selfish mindset: as long as they were happy, it did not matter what happened to other Trainers or Pokémon. The lion-head's technology had already penetrated Kalosian society as a whole.
Even the five-million entry fee was never questioned by anyone, and the theory of the chosen people spread more and more wildly. Creating a beautiful new world—if one did not know better, one might think the lion-head was playing Civilization V.
Avery froze slightly, then his eyes lit up.
"T-This is an offer?!"
Hikaru shook his head. "Not exactly. It's only a recommendation. If you're interested, go give it a try. Of course, once the black crystal's power disappears, your psychic ability will probably fall back to its original level. But psychic abilities come in many forms. You don't necessarily have to stubbornly cling to telekinesis."
"Just treat it as training."
"However, before you leave here, you'll probably have to do volunteer work to atone. Granted, you haven't done much, but helping Sordward trigger an incident like this is already bad enough."
"A person's spirit must also be strong, like flowing water that dissolves evil thoughts. If you want targeted, on-the-spot special training, you can also go to the Isle of Armor. There are astonishing old people there."
"Thank you... Thank you!" Avery shakily sat up. He had never imagined he could still encounter this kind of fortune. He had thought the world was dark, that he had to leave his homeland, maybe even join some dark organization, and that he would never amount to anything in Galar. But now...
The dawn had arrived!
Hop looked a little envious.
"That's great, Mr. Avery!"
"After you finish training, you can come back to Galar and try again to take a major league Gym Leader position! Though by then, maybe you'll become a battle facility leader?"
"When I take the Gym Challenge, I'll definitely challenge you!"
"Y-Yes! My life has been revived like this! I had completely given up on myself. Thank you! My heart is filled only with gratitude! No matter how many times I say it, it won't be enough."
Avery pushed up his cracked glasses.
"In the lowest valley and abyss of life... Mm. This feeling is the emotion called happiness and joy!"
"Once again, it is an emotion stronger than when I gained powerful psychic powers. At the end of the day, my greatest ideal was only to inherit the famous Psychic Gym. I never even thought about becoming Champion... How embarrassing. Even my dream is so humble."
"An elegant revival! Secret training for the sake of pride!"
Hikaru said, "Good... Although the timing is wrong, it seems the future is more or less the same."
Avery was startled.
"The future... You're also a Psychic user? Did you foresee the future? Come to think of it, everyone in my family claims they're strong, but of course I know they can't even see the future. Can they really be called powerful Psychic users?"
Hikaru shook his head. "A foreseen future is not necessarily accurate."
"I know Caitlin, Sabrina, and Will."
Avery was stunned. "Those three... Aren't those the master of the Battle Castle, one of Unova's Elite Four, the genius Psychic user of Saffron City in Kanto, and an Elite Four member of the Indigo Plateau?"
"Wait. Add to that the Psychic master Inver you evaluated earlier..."
Hikaru said, "That isn't important. What I want to say is that the futures Caitlin and Sabrina saw also changed."
"Three years ago, Sabrina once foresaw that she would battle a certain young person and defeat him."
"The result was that she was defeated instead."
"So she felt prophecies could not be fully trusted. She remembered another strong Trainer from three years earlier, and that person was the battle legend Red. The one who defeated her three years later was Johto's fifth Champion, Ethan."
"Because of that, she resigned from her position as Gym Leader and went to Unova. Not for training, but to choose another path in life."
"In Pokéstar Studios, her first movie exploded in popularity the moment she debuted. Now, she has become a rising movie star."
Avery opened his mouth and understood what Hikaru was trying to say.
Even if one could see the future, that future was not accurate.
Hikaru said, "These Psychic masters often use Future Sight for trivial matters instead. When it comes to major matters, they don't seem to trust those results very much."
Something similar had also happened to Will.
In order to become one of the Elite Four, he had trained day and night. After great difficulty, he finally reached the top. Although he was the first Elite Four member guarding the gate, he believed that as long as his opponent was not the Champion, he would never lose. In the end, Ethan beat him to pieces.
That was normal. Who could defeat a medicine-type Champion?
And so Will also attained enlightenment in exile, realizing he was not as mature as he thought.
Of course, something like that could not be casually spoken aloud.
Looking at Avery's thoughtful expression, Hikaru took out the Keystone and extended his hand toward Avery.
"Then, let me collect your dark soul. Awaken from the nightmare."
Avery said, "E-Eh?!"
The mental world before his eyes—or rather, the world seen by his eyes—suddenly shattered like glass.
Crack!
Part of the dark crystal's energy, the portion drawn out from the human heart, turned into will-o'-wisps and was sealed inside the Keystone—no, gravestone.
"Mr. Avery passed out?"
Hop looked at Avery, who had just stood up only to collapse again, and seemed somewhat at a loss. Hikaru assigned him a task.
"You stay here and look after him. In a little while, there may still be a task for you. I'll need to ask for your help."
"We have exactly enough people."
Hop asked, "Are you going to find the Shield King? But I lost track of him."
Hikaru said, "That's fine. Beldum has already found the trail. It's here now, not far away... at the Split-Decision Ruins!"
The blue steel comet pointed the way.
Under the influence of magnetism, Beldum could search for special things just like Nosepass. There was no need to use something like an Itemfinder. Then again, only James or Dawn would use that thing anyway.
Speaking of which, among the five great titans, Registeel was the Pokémon that represented steel and the Iron Age. However, the Rusted Sword and Shield were almost certainly made from Melmetal's iron, and the regional origin of that Pokémon was still listed as "unknown."
Alola had it. Galar also had it. Then, the "tool" that had once been briefly mentioned in the stories of the ruins and the titans, and was marked as "special," was—
The blue Tesla coil that restrained Regieleki.
Regieleki's body was fitted with some kind of special tool that prevented electric current from passing through. In order to restrict the disastrous power it could bring, ancient people fitted it with those strange objects. Once removed, it seemed it would release its true power.
Since it was a tool, and a tool used to seal a titan, it had to have "materials."
Besides, Chairman Rose did not know Regieleki's true capabilities.
Its entire body was an organ that generated electrical energy. It could produce enough electricity for the whole of Galar.
That was written in Regieleki's description.
It was believed to be a Pokémon sealed by ancient people inside ancient ruins, existing as a controllable power generation device. It was thought to reference things like the Baghdad Battery.
"Agaas!"
Miraidon turned in the air, then landed on the ground with a bang. It came down perfectly steady and flicked its tail.
Looking at the red-and-yellow ruins before it, Miraidon sensed powerful electricity inside.
The electronic dragon was rather sensitive to such things. But then again, the Electric-type Pokémon in Hikaru's team each had their own specialties. His own specialty was setting up terrain at the start and then protecting everyone in front of him.
"To open Split-Decision Ruins, you need to have three titans traveling with you in your party."
"However, there is no rule specifying which three titans they have to be. That is the loophole!"
Hikaru took out three cards. The traces of his old friends from Shendu had instead been obtained from Hoenn's Sealed Chamber. After all, they were all three titans. If one thought about it that way, there were also three pillars underground in Unova and in the mountains and underground of Sinnoh.
The three titans existed in every major and minor region, and even in strange places like the Tree of Beginning. As "golem-type" Pokémon, the titans were probably treated as core battle power and high-end forces in the ancient eras of every region.
Beneath them, Garganacl, Golurk, and Claydol all looked like weakened versions of the three titans. But then again, if one took Registeel as an example, the three titans had been born ten thousand years ago, while Claydol was something from twenty thousand years ago. So it was hard to say who had copied whom.
After all, the Toilet King making figurines could not possibly mean he remembered every now and then and made one at a time. Who made figurines one by one? Obviously, they would be produced in batches.
"Zamaoo!"
A roar rang out near the Split-Decision Ruins, perhaps one Hikaru had heard in the dream, or perhaps one he never had. In the place where trees and rocks intertwined, Zamazenta, covered in wounds, unrecovered, and barely alive, walked out.
But even with insufficient stamina, the Hero of the Shield still gazed calmly at Hikaru. Galar particles drifted from its body, and golden and red motes of energy still remained in its eyes.
With its own power and battle-hardened will, it suppressed the particles' effects.
In the original plot, if one chose the Sword version, then the one forcibly injected with particles and controlled by Sordward was Zamazenta. If one chose the Shield version, then it was Zacian.
However, most people chose Sword, while relatively few chose Shield. Therefore, Shield was basically always taken by Hop. After all, in Generation VIII, before Calyrex suddenly descended onto the scene, Zacian's strength could be described as peerless, with a usage rate of over 66%, surpassing Kyogre and losing only to Incineroar.
But Incineroar was a god above gods, so that usage rate was not strange, right?
Meanwhile, Zamazenta's usage rate had once been close to zero.
"First time meeting you, Shield King."
[The confusion that has long circled in the heart of the one who held the shield in the dream shall be resolved here.]
[If I am not mistaken, you are the smith who shaped the Noble Phantasms that Zacian and I have long sought.]
[For us to seek aid under such circumstances is truly shameful.]
[Under normal circumstances, using the Rusted Sword and Shield would awaken us somewhere outside the Slumbering Weald and allow us to join the battle. But the sudden appearance of the dark crystal changed everything.]
[That dark soul from three thousand years ago can control human hearts. Even the great dragon comet was enlightened by it and gained wisdom.]
Hikaru said, "This incident rather resembles an ancient history that occurred in another region."
"Once, there was another giant dragon that traveled with a meteor. It fell in the Unova region. At first, it knew nothing and could not even really be called a Pokémon, until a human king came before it and told it, 'You shall live as a Pokémon.'"
"And so that meteor changed and became the dragon god of Tao."
"Giving a name may be one of this world's hidden laws. The true form of the dark crystal was also an ancient king, so it makes sense that it could grant Eternatus wisdom."
Zamazenta said, [The humans who were used by it stole the sword and shield before we had fully recovered. They used psychic powers to make sword and shield battle each other. The cooperation of stars and machines caused cracks to appear in the blade, and the shield shattered.]
"As expected. After all, Zacian is more aggressive, and its type combination is also stronger than yours. Defense of 145 is still far behind Attack of 170. And in your current form, you don't resist Steel and are even weak to Fairy. Even if you become the Shield King, although you resist Steel, you gain a Fighting weakness, and Fairy becomes neutral damage."
[...This.]
Zamazenta wanted to refute him, but then discovered this was indeed the truth.
The Fairy/Steel combination was much stronger than Fighting/Steel, not to mention the gap in base stat distribution. It was merely a larger version of Lucario.
Putting it that way was a little too harsh on the dog.
[My former shield had extremely high strength and could reflect all attacks. Because of that, it was called the Shield of the Fighting King. But when I think carefully, Fighting as a type truly does not resist many other types. It only resists Bug, Rock, and Dark. Mm... My Behemoth Bash can pierce through towering mountains. Was that because I could break rock? Did I train in the wrong direction?]
[What exactly am I lacking?]
[I want to rescue Zacian and... stop the Darkest Day. But as expected, the more people get involved in a terrible situation, the more uncontrollable everything becomes!]
[The land called Galar always has many outsiders active within it, and that includes us as well. Perhaps we should never have come here three thousand years ago. The descendants of the "king of the people," who once fought alongside us, have now done such things. My heart is filled with sorrow.]
Zamazenta sighed again and again, pained by the changing of the times and the decay of heroes.
"What you lack is Body Press."
[Body Press?]
"Once you can convert your own Defense into offense, you'll leap upward in strength, and all ability boosts will apply. If you only defend blindly and have no other functional power, you naturally won't be able to defeat powerful enemies. Also..."
"Isn't Dauntless Shield an Ability that raises physical Defense? But both normal Eternatus and Eternamax Eternatus should have stronger special moves, right? Maybe ancient times didn't have that concept, so let me put it another way—it really likes firing light cannons and attacking from range, doesn't it?"
"In that case, shouldn't Dauntless Shield raise Special Defense on entry instead?"
[I... have never considered that question. However, I can set up Light Screen.]
"That works too, I guess." Hikaru smiled and thought of how, in the games, the sword and shield dogs would first remove Eternatus's suppression of ordinary Pokémon on the first turn, preventing moves from being sealed. After that, one would use Howl, and the other would always set up a screen.
That worked. If there was no Amnesia... setting up a screen was not bad either.
Beldum floated above the Split-Decision Ruins and used Take Down against the ruins' gate.
[An ordinary collision cannot destroy these ruins, though I do not know what exactly is inside them.]
The heroes of sword and shield had fallen asleep three thousand years ago, so naturally, they could not have seen the two electric and dragon titans that later lived alongside the humans of the tundra. Although those two would appear in phantom form to wander around, their range was limited to the Slumbering Weald. After all, that place actually symbolized Avalon.
A life that had gone to Avalon no longer belonged to the mortal world. How could it randomly roam the human realm?
Hikaru said, "The electric giant, Regieleki."
"The dragon giant, Regidrago."
"It is said they were lives created by the giant king of Galar. Exactly when they were born remains unknown, but they are giants that exist only in Galar. During the time they lived with ancient humans, they were sealed away because humans feared them."
"The magic that seals them was probably passed down from the Hoenn region."
"At the Giant's Bed in the tundra, by using a Wishing Star and gathering the five giants, one can use their power to awaken the king of giants once more."
"Now, push open the gate. The metal you seek is inside. It is probably Melmetal's iron. Gigantamax Melmetal can use the special move G-Max Meltdown, which inflicts the Torment condition on all opponents for three turns, preventing them from using the same move two turns in a row."
"In the ancient legends of distant regions, there are creatures like Cyclopes. It is said that those were records made by people in other regions after seeing Gigantamax Melmetal."
"Cyclopes were skilled in smelting and forging, and their names were all connected to thunder and lightning. Melmetal also possesses many Electric-type moves."
"Not only that..."
In Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, when one brought Melmetal to Cerulean Cave, had Melmetal follow the player, and approached the surrounding crystals, Melmetal's body color would suddenly glow a dazzling gold.
It was still unknown what connection this legendary iron giant had with Kanto or with crystals.
[Our sword and shield... After three thousand years, most of our memories have worn away. But they were indeed made of metal produced by a special Pokémon. That kind of Pokémon can no longer be seen in Galar today.]
"Their species' bodies are made of steel melted into liquid form. They can dissolve iron and other metals from underground and absorb them into their bodies, allowing them to synthesize new metals with unknown elements. And you also have the power to absorb metal and fight. It is truly a perfect match."
There was evidence for this.
In Pokémon GO, after listening to Professor Willow's report about Ditto transforming into Meltan, Professor Oak found an ancient text that almost no one knew about.
It recorded that in the past, there had once been an isolated tribe deep within a sea of trees. That place was rich in magnetite, and Melmetal was worshiped as a sacred existence by the people of that tribe. They used those metals to develop special tools, and the text explained that without those metals, those tools could not be made.
Later, someone found a mysterious box at the site where the text had been unearthed.
But after opening the box, they discovered that inside was only a piece of rusted metal. That was none other than a fragment of Melmetal.
This was the origin of the side-game item known as the Mystery Box. After it was used, wild Meltan would be summoned. In the Sun & Moon anime, that box appeared in the Alola region.
Later, that Meltan and its kin became Ash's Pokémon.
"The electric current restraints binding Regieleki are also made of the same metal."
"Electricity can prevent metal from rusting, so the electric current restraints have always remained unchanged. Just like Duraludon, which feared rain and rust, evolved into Archaludon and instead became unafraid of corrosion because it can absorb electricity from the air to update its own condition!"
"Trace the crest of light and adorn the heavens!"
Under Zamazenta's gaze, Hikaru took out three cards. Along with shining light, three symbols were drawn in midair.
And so the trails of light summoned the giants of Shendu!
"Yo, long time no see, Regirock!"
After the rock titan landed, its dot eyes flickered constantly. Although they had met in the dream while it was guarding the tower, reuniting across distant space in another place still stirred deep emotion.
There were many things it wanted to say, many things it wanted to ask.
But now, it seemed there was extremely important work to do.
Registeel and Regice also stared at the strange ruins before them with searching eyes.
The same kind of giant?
Had Regigigas ever shaped something like this?
"Speaking of which, the giants of Shendu, like the giants of the Tree of Beginning, are all works of some unknown king of the titans. Brandon's three titans are the same. As for the titans of Hoenn and Sinnoh, those can be confirmed as the creations of the first giant king of the Snowpoint Temple."
"Then, everyone, please help open the gate of these ruins!"
When the three titans gathered, the gate of the Split-Decision Ruins opened. Hikaru brought the three pillars into the ruins. There were clearly no lights, yet the interior was very bright. On the left and right sides stood a giant statue each.
[Two giants are sealed here. So it means one must make a choice? The golden giant is...]
"Step on the footprints on the ground in the order of its dot eyes. What appears is the golden giant, Regieleki. How should I describe the shape of its eyes? Like two horizontal Y letters joined together?"
Regieleki's torso resembled a lightbulb, while its arms resembled Tesla coils and embodied electric arcs. The ring on its body resembled the base of a lightbulb, and the dots on its head may have been inspired by a lightbulb filament.
Regieleki!
Representing the era: the Electric Age!
"Ability: Transistor!"
The power of Electric-type moves used by a Pokémon with this Ability is increased by 30%.
Once, it could increase them by even more.
Because its power was too strong, GF's great hand exerted itself and weakened its electricity.
Shining lightning erupted, and the stone statue exploded.
Outside the Split-Decision Ruins, two ancient Technical Records had been left behind. On the right was Outrage; on the left was Thunder.
The golden electric titan appeared, bouncing up and down, its electric eyes overwhelming.
The electric titan finally breathed air again after so long—though it had no need to breathe at all.
But this was a spiritual expression.
Freedom felt wonderful. Its ancient memories were fragmented and intermittent. Regieleki saw the human before it and blasted out a fierce bolt of lightning.
No matter who it was, first release power!
Crack!
The violent electric current was blocked by silver-gray steel.
[Amnesia!]
Registeel's Special Defense rose sharply.
The lightning struck Registeel, whose Special Defense had become extremely high, and had no effect at all.
The ice titan raised its arm.
[Ice Beam!]
Regice spun its body and fired an Ice Beam with a backhanded motion, but the electric titan dodged it with Extreme Speed.
Then, when it saw the other three titans, Regieleki froze slightly.
Huh? Weren't those its companions?
They were all created by Regigigas. Why would they attack this place?
Hikaru said, "Stop Regieleki from moving so I can analyze the manufacturing principle of the restraints on its body. Regirock, Stone Edge!"
The rock titan abruptly swung its fist.
A mass of sharp rocks thundered fiercely toward the electric titan.
"Regi—"
Sorry.
They looked like companions, but in reality, they were strangers.
Even golems had different objects of loyalty, let alone them.
They were not from the same production batch, and the factories that made them were different too!
Regirock knocked Regieleki into the depths of the ruins. Sensing danger, the electric titan unleashed intense electricity.
[Thunder Cage!]
It trapped the opponent inside a cage of crackling electricity, attacking for four to five turns and inflicting the bound condition.
This high-powered electric cage likely originated from Tesla coils. It had a power of 80. Before its appearance, in Pokémon Adventures, Raikou and Anabel had once used the weakest Thunder Shock and controlled it to create an improvised move called the "electricity cage."
Perhaps that, too, was one of this move's origins.
The fierce battle caused cracks to appear in the other stone statue deep within the ruins. Faintly, another buried Pokémon was also about to awaken.
When that dragon head gradually emerged from the dust, the creature praised as one of the strongest Dragon Pokémon was not actually shaped like a dragon.
It only had a head.
It was surrounded by a massive black substance resembling the skull of a Western dragon. On its right side were the black upper jaw and skullcap, with dragon horns, eye sockets, and teeth clearly visible. It looked extremely imposing.
There was an unconfirmed academic theory that the shape of its arms was modeled after the heads of ancient Dragon Pokémon.
Its whole body was formed from crystals of dragon energy, and the energy concentration in its torso was especially high. It was said to possess the powers of all Dragon Pokémon.
Regidrago!
Representing the era: the Dinosaur Age!
Therefore, when Regidrago used Dragon-type moves, their power was stronger than those of any other Pokémon.
"You see? If they fight, the other Pokémon will be drawn out too."
"Regidrago, Ability: Dragon's Maw. The power of Dragon-type moves used by a Pokémon with this Ability is increased by 50%."
"I've obtained crystals of Dragon-type energy in other regions as well. That fully proves that type energy can be made into unique crystals, and can even become Pokémon. I think this is probably similar to type gems?"
Regidrago, awakened by the battle, saw Regieleki being suppressed by the three titans and likewise froze in confusion for a moment, unable to understand the current situation.
Giants of the same kind fighting one another—was this the giant king's command? But before they were sealed away, the giant king had already fallen into deep slumber. The history of the Giant's Bed was far older than that of the Split-Decision Ruins.
Although it did not understand, Regidrago decided to help Regieleki.
No matter what, the electric titan was a familiar "titan."
[Dragon Energy!]
(End of Chapter)
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