"Garde~"
Gardevoir maintained a calm expression, staying close beside Aven. Its task was simple: protect him. If danger arose, it would open a black hole capable of blocking any attack or use teleport to escape instantly.
Carefully making their way through the snowfield, they finally arrived before an enormous castle.
The entire structure looked as though it had been sealed in ice. Thick layers of frost covered the walls, making it resemble a gigantic castle of ice and snow.
"Lilligant, can you sense any life within?" Aven asked, turning toward it.
After carefully sensing for a moment, Lilligant nodded slightly. It could indeed detect life inside, but there was no trace of human presence.
"Only Pokémon, no humans?" Aven narrowed his eyes.
It seemed this was an abandoned castle. Combined with the legends of the Almia king and the three princes, this castle might very well have once belonged to that very king.
For some unknown reason, all the inhabitants had fled. When this was considered alongside the Almia natives who had escaped to the Sinnoh Region, it became clear that something significant must have happened to the Almia Kingdom.
"No humans living here is for the best," Aven exhaled softly.
Compared to humans, communicating with Pokémon was often much simpler—sometimes, even fists could explain many things clearly.
"Lass~"
Froslass floated up to the castle gate, then slowly phased its body through the iron doors and slipped inside.
A short while later, the sound of heavy doors opening echoed out. The gates of this castle, frozen shut for countless years, creaked open once more.
But just as Aven was about to step inside, Lilligant suddenly cried out in warning. Green vines shot forward and yanked him back.
"Lilligant, what is it?" Aven frowned as he looked into the open castle.
Within the castle garden, numerous pine trees could be seen. As the branches shook violently, figures of Abomasnow abruptly emerged one after another.
Like guards that had watched over the castle for ages, they awakened from their slumber upon sensing intruders, opening their mouths and letting out thunderous roars.
In an instant, the already snowy sky grew even heavier with falling snow, blanketing Aven's vision in a blinding storm.
This was clearly Abomasnow's Snow Warning ability, which could draw upon natural forces to turn the battlefield into a snowstorm—and in already snowy conditions, it only made the blizzard even more intense.
Yet Lilligant was not focused on the Abomasnow at all. It stared intently toward the depths of the castle. Through its perception of life energy, it sensed several powerful auras rapidly approaching.
There were four in total—life energy fluctuations it had never felt before. Vaguely, it even sensed that while it had locked onto them, they had locked onto it as well.
"Intruders, leave this place!"
Suddenly, a voice echoed directly within the minds of Aven and his Pokémon.
"So, it appears… the guardian of the castle?"
Aven's expression turned solemn, but he did not retreat even a step. He had come here for one reason only—to seize the blue crystal from this guardian.
When the intruders failed to withdraw, the presence within the castle issued another warning.
Finally, as the castle gates swung fully open, four figures slowly emerged before Aven.
They were bipedal, canine-like Pokémon, their fur primarily blue and black, with short spikes on the backs of their forepaws and on their chests.
"These are… Lucario?" Aven exclaimed in surprise.
Lucario were Steel- and Fighting-type Pokémon. Although not Legendary Pokémon, they were extremely rare, and they were among the few Pokémon capable of mastering the power of aura.
The leading Lucario in particular radiated a powerful pale-blue energy around its entire body. This energy was clearly different from ordinary power—it was unmistakably the formidable force of aura itself.
Thus, even though Lucario were not Legendary Pokémon, this one clearly wielded power on a Legendary level.
"Intruders, leave this place!" Lucario warned again.
The four Lucario stood in a line, exuding immense pressure. Aven quickly judged that all four were at least King level, with the leader possibly exceeding that level entirely.
"Lucario, I have come here to obtain the blue crystal," Aven said steadily.
"The blue crystal, together with the red and yellow crystals, can suppress the power of the black crystal and restore Darkrai's sanity."
"If you are willing to give me the blue crystal, I will leave immediately and never set foot in this place again."
As he spoke, Aven took out the three crystals from his pack and explained his purpose, hoping that he could obtain the blue crystal without resorting to battle.
However, the next moment, when the Lucario saw the three crystals in his hands, an intense surge of energy erupted from its body. A pale-blue sphere of aura formed in its palm and shot straight toward Aven!
Seeing this, Lilligant immediately stepped in front of him, forming an energy sphere of its own and firing it forward. The two attacks collided in midair, detonating with a deafening roar!
"It seems the negotiations have broken down." Aven frowned slightly.
Lucario's reaction was something Aven had not anticipated. Clearly, the blue crystal held extremely significant meaning to them as well. Considering that this castle was very likely the Castle of the King of Almia, the four Lucario standing before him were probably the guardians of the castle itself.
And since the blue crystal was something left behind by the King of Almia and the Third Prince, Lucario was obviously unwilling to hand it over to Aven. In fact, it even intended to reclaim the other three crystals as well!
"Then we'll fight!" As his voice fell, the four Pokémon beside him had already entered their battle stances.
"Lilli~!"
Lilligant's figure floated gracefully into the air.
At the same time, natural energy surged continuously around its body, and faint signs of flames igniting began to appear on it.
It had endured this environment for a very long time. Now that battle had officially begun, it immediately used Sunny Day.
Although the surroundings were still covered in snow and snowflakes continued to fall from the sky, the moment the blazing sun rose, the snowy weather above was forcibly dispersed.
Warm sunlight poured down from the sky, illuminating the ground and bathing all the Pokémon on the battlefield in its glow, causing those Pokémon that had lived in snowy conditions year-round to fall briefly into a daze.
"SNOOOW!"
In the next instant, the Abomasnow let out furious roars, instinctively activating their Snow Warning abilities.
However, how could these untrained Snow Warning abilities compare to Lilligant, which was actively drawing upon natural energy? The vast gap in strength was simply insurmountable.
Thus, the snow ultimately stopped. Of course, this was only within the area influenced by Lilligant—snow was still falling continuously elsewhere, and once Lilligant's power withdrew from this place, it would inevitably return to snowy weather very quickly.
But this was already more than enough. As the battlefield entered sunny weather, the surrounding temperature began to rise. The golden flower atop Lilligant's head bloomed slightly, and a faint fragrance drifted through the air.
"SNOOOOW!"
The distant Abomasnow were enraged.
They roared continuously and directly unleashed Blizzard, attacking Lilligant in the distance.
"Lass~!"
Seeing this, Froslass swiftly flew upward, placing itself directly in front of the incoming Blizzard.
"Whooo—!"
The blizzard howled relentlessly, yet upon reaching Froslass, it instantly dissipated, unable to threaten it in the slightest.
"Froslass, use Blizzard!" At that moment, Aven's voice suddenly rang out.
Behind the blizzard, a Lucario had already charged forward, condensing an Aura Sphere in its hands and firing it straight at Froslass!
However, before it could fully close the distance, it was forced to halt midway, launching the Aura Sphere head-on into the oncoming Blizzard as the two energies collided violently.
In the end, the Aura Sphere successfully dispersed the Blizzard, but the remaining storm winds surged outward in all directions, still carrying tremendous power and forcing the surrounding Abomasnow to retreat.
From this exchange alone, it was clear that in a head-on confrontation, Froslass held a significant advantage. Even this king-level Lucario was no match for it.
This also highlighted just how powerful Froslass had become. After this period of training, it had long mastered control over the gray mist. With the combined power of the gray mist and the yellow crystal, it could fully contend with a Champion-level opponent!
"Lass!"
Froslass's gaze sharpened. With a lift of its hand, the gray mist surged violently, ultimately condensing into a Shadow Ball that shot forward!
The powerful Shadow Ball collided once again with an Aura Sphere, triggering a violent explosion. At the same time, Froslass's figure moved, transforming into a mass of shadows and vanishing.
When it reappeared, Froslass was already beside Lucario, raising its hand to unleash a point-blank Blizzard, intending to completely engulf Lucario within it.
Crack—crack—crack—
The blizzard spread rapidly, freezing everything before it.
(End of Chapter)