"Alfred, it's a Champion-level Aerodactyl!"
As Ditto spoke, it transformed into an Archeops and flew into the sky with Alfred held tightly in its claws.
"Good thing you made the right decision earlier, Alfred. Those three Unown should defeat their opponents soon and come help us, right? Otherwise..."
"They're not coming," Alfred replied coldly. "Unown A can forcibly freeze them in place."
"T-Then what do we do..." Ditto started to panic.
Alfred raised his head. "Bella, give me the backpack and the other Poké Ball belt. Then go hold that old man back."
Ditto hesitated. "But..."
"Give me the stuff first!" he barked.
Ditto's claws gradually melted back into the gray sludge of its original form. From within, it spat out a dark backpack along with another belt that held two Poké Balls.
Alfred let out a breath of relief and shouted, "Put me down and stall him!"
Ditto muttered softly, "Alfred, but I..."
It had already used a huge amount of energy to maintain Grassy Terrain and create the Life Dew earlier. On top of that, it had endured many attacks head-on. Its stamina and energy were both completely drained now.
In this condition, without its trainer directing it, forcing it to fight a quasi-Champion level trainer was no different from suicide.
"If you can't win, use the Divine Medicine. Hurry!" Alfred said impatiently as he pulled out a bottle from the backpack.
Inside the bottle was a mass of pitch-black smoke. It twisted and squirmed like a living creature while radiating strange emotions of hatred, resentment, and jealousy.
"Medicine?" Ditto's voice was filled with disbelief. "But this is His..."
"Otherwise how are you supposed to stop that old bastard behind us?" Alfred snapped impatiently.
"But..."
Ditto suddenly fell silent. The Archeops it had transformed into began flapping its wings erratically, exposing the turmoil in its heart.
The Divine Medicine was also known as the God's Medicine.
It was a secret drug created by the ancient nobles. According to rumor, the ingredient used to create it came from the legendary god Pokémon, Arceus.
But there was nothing holy about its effects.
It could force a Pokémon into a berserk state with absolute certainty while pushing its potential to the limit, increasing its strength several times over, sometimes even dozens of times stronger.
Compared to that, even the most advanced potential-enhancing drugs developed by modern science could only raise a Pokémon's strength by fifty to seventy percent without relying on Legendary Pokémon.
The effects of the God's Medicine were simply too terrifying. It had already surpassed the imagination of the world's leading scientists.
After all, power increases on that scale usually meant the complete collapse of the Pokémon itself. Yet while boosting power, the Divine Medicine could also maintain the Pokémon's condition through a mysterious energy. Countless noble scholars who studied it found the phenomenon impossible to comprehend.
If Ditto had been in perfect condition, perhaps it would still have had a chance to recover after taking the medicine. But now, with both stamina and energy completely exhausted, using it meant certain death.
Alfred was sending it to die.
As Jan rapidly closed the distance behind them, Alfred finally sensed something was wrong. He hurriedly adjusted his expression and was about to comfort it when Ditto spoke first.
"Alfred... will you come save me afterward?"
Alfred fell silent for a moment before answering quickly, "Of course, Bella. We're the best partners."
"Aaaeeroo!"
The Aerodactyl behind them let out a sharp cry as Ditto swiftly descended toward the forest below.
"So we're only partners, Alfred?"
It gently set Alfred down before standing in front of him. The colorful feathers covering its body melted into vivid sludge. Its indistinct muddy head slowly transformed into the appearance of the middle-aged woman from before, her eyes hazy and unfocused.
Crack!
The bottle shattered and the black Divine Medicine was swallowed into Ditto's body.
Thump!
It sounded like a violently beating heart.
The Ditto before him suddenly expanded by an entire size. Thin black lines slowly spread across its once colorful body.
Ditto's voice became hoarse and distorted once more.
"Alfred... I love you… was I a good wife..."
The airflow trembled as the final words stretched endlessly through the air.
In the blink of an eye, Ditto leapt into the sky and vanished from sight.
It transformed into an Aerodactyl. Its body was far larger than the one commanded by Jan, and ominous black threads wrapped around its entire form.
Alfred opened his mouth but no words came out. He stood there frozen for a few seconds before finally snapping back to reality.
Suppressing the memories surfacing in his mind, he muttered softly, "What a disgusting pile of sludge..."
Using his only remaining right hand, Alfred quickly searched around his trainer belt and soon found the Poké Ball belonging to his Champion-level Garchomp.
It was the pseudo-legendary Pokémon he had raised for many years. His main force, his only true ace, and his only Champion-level Pokémon.
Alfred's eyes darkened once more as he pressed the Poké Ball button.
"Heh, Shiro. In the end, victory still—"
His words abruptly stopped. His expression froze as well.
No matter how hard he pressed the switch in the center, the Poké Ball showed absolutely no reaction.
Alfred immediately pulled out the other Poké Balls and tried them one by one.
"None of the Poké Balls can open? How is that possible..."
Suddenly, he remembered that Shiro had taken these Poké Balls away for a period of time earlier.
'Did he tamper with them back then?'
Alfred clenched the Poké Balls so tightly that veins bulged across his right hand and his knuckles turned white.
Ever since leaving his family and becoming a wilderness trainer, this was the first time he had hated a mission target this much.
Still, as a veteran hunter, Alfred quickly put away the useless Poké Balls and pulled out the second belt, the one Ditto had given him.
"Good thing I brought everything with me just in case..."
Suppressing his emotions again, he grabbed one of the only two Poké Balls hanging from the belt.
The pure black surface of the Poké Ball flickered with a strange light.
* * *
At the top of the mountainside forest, the two Aerodactyls instantly collided.
Boom!
The shockwave from their clashing energy alone stirred a hurricane through the mountains. Even Jan, riding atop Archeops in midair, had to raise his arm to shield himself.
ROAR!
A deafening roar erupted from the mouth of the Aerodactyl transformed by Ditto as the opposing Aerodactyl was blasted backward.
Jan barely managed to open his eyes. His pupils shrank sharply.
"How is this possible..."
His Aerodactyl was considered powerful even among Champion-level Pokémon. How could it be sent flying by a Ditto that was already exhausted?
"Die!"
The Aerodactyl wrapped in black lines raised its head and condensed a mass of dark energy.
"…"
After a brief moment of thought, Jan decisively shouted, "Run!"
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