Rugged rocky terrain.
Natsuhiko and his team arrived here.
After Natsuhiko's guidance, Latios's condition improved significantly.
Although there were still some hurdles when battling wild Pokémon, it was much better than the first time.
Moreover, battling following Natsuhiko's commands became smoother and more fluid.
The Latios, after all, possessed the regenerative techniques of "Self-Regeneration" and "Healing Fluctuation." Once it adapted to the battle, many injuries could be promptly alleviated and treated.
Chimchar felt comparatively much easier.
With its gradually maturing combat style, Natsuhiko even considered that Chimchar was ready to evolve.
Watching the flames soar behind the rugged rocks, Natsuhiko showed no intention of stopping.
The path became tougher upon stepping onto the rocky ground.
Fortunately, he had superpowers, allowing him to ignore these challenges.
"Crack!"
Chimchar's "Enhanced Fist" defeated a territorially strong Boldore; Fighting Type techniques had a good restraining effect on Rock Type Pokémon.
Even though Chimchar wasn't yet a Fighting Type, "Enhanced Fist" had gradually become one of its signature techniques.
Enhanced Fist: Using it boosts the user's Attack Power.
Though it doesn't increase as much as "Sword Dance," its advantage lies in its combination with attacks, allowing frequent use and gradual self-strengthening.
Having defeated Boldore, Chimchar excitedly clenched its fists, satisfied with its progress.
What Natsuhiko promised it initially was being realized step by step.
Chimchar's decisiveness and efficiency made Latios beside it full of envy.
Natsuhiko encouraged with a smile: "Chimchar also grew through diligent training step by step. You've fought well for your first day!"
"Oss!"
Latios nodded.
It wanted to do just as well!
Crunch—
With Boldore's fall, its massive body crashed onto the rugged rocks, creating a sizable dent in the rock pile.
But seemingly, beneath this rocky terrain, other Pokémon were living.
Boom!
The rock pile exploded, and a radiant beam of light refracted across Natsuhiko and his team's eyes.
Soon after, a Pokémon entirely covered in metal, clearly structured, emerged from Boldore's fallen dent, stepping on shattered rocks.
The light refraction that dazzled Natsuhiko's team's eyes came from this Pokémon.
"Roar—!!"
Accompanied by furious roars and metallic grinding sounds, this Pokémon fully appeared in Natsuhiko's vision.
Natsuhiko raised an eyebrow.
"Duraludon?"
Defeating a Boldore to reveal a Duraludon was unexpected for Natsuhiko.
The key was, this was a genuine Dragon-type Pokémon!
Duraludon is registered in the Galar Region, its Steel and Dragon Type attributes making quite an excellent combination, with only Fighting and Ground Type weaknesses, unlike most Dragon-type Pokémon.
Most Dragon-type Pokémon weaknesses are Ice Type, Fairy Type, and Dragon Type itself.
But Duraludon says sorry, we're unorthodox.
It's one of the rare Dragon-type Pokémon not afraid of Ice or Fairy Types.
Duraludon's diet consists of mineral-rich rocks, so they generally reside in places wealthy in rocky minerals.
Despite Duraludon being made of dense and hard metal, their weight is surprisingly light, allowing many intricate movements, contradicting their seemingly heavy and slow appearance.
On the other hand, due to weak anti-corrosive properties of their metal body, they rust easily and dislike rain, preferring to live in caves and rock crevices.
The fall of Boldore inadvertently smashed into its nest.
Thus, Duraludon was infuriated.
Then, its body lowered and propped by its arms, the mechanical mouth opened as a large amount of silvery-white light was gathered into its mouth, concentrating into a point and shot towards Natsuhiko's position.
Steel-type technique, Cannon Light Cannon!
Though Duraludon appeared resilient, it was essentially a mobile cannon; its Special Attack ability was superior to its Physical Attack Ability.
"Alakazam!"
"Doublade!"
Alakazam and Doublade flashed in front of Natsuhiko.
The crossed spoons spread superpower energy to block Duraludon's Cannon Light Cannon completely, Doublade's form turned into a shadow and quickly retreated to Duraludon's shadow behind.
Gym Leader Level!
This was the first time Natsuhiko encountered a Gym Leader Level Pokémon since being sent here by the Unowns, and it's a Dragon-type Pokémon.
But that also suited his wish, encountering a Dragon-type Pokémon to expand the dojo's Pokémon reserve.
Alakazam, having blocked Duraludon's attack, looked solemn.
Doublade appeared behind Duraludon, swinging its Holy Sword phantom aimed at Duraludon's lower back.
Bang!!
The Duraludon swung its "Dragon Tail," blocking the attack from the Doublade.
As expected of the Duraludon, known as the "most agile metal," its reaction speed was very fast.
At the same time.
Buzz—
Another bright white metal beam shot out from the cave where the first Duraludon emerged, directly hitting the Doublade and knocking it back a distance.
Another one?
Yet another Duraludon emerged from the cave with a solemn expression.
"Roar!"
Upon seeing this Duraludon, the first one that appeared roared at it, seemingly telling it to go back.
The later appearing Duraludon had slightly less power, at the Elite Level.
So even though the "Cannon Light Cannon" hit the Doublade, it didn't cause too much damage.
After this second Duraludon appeared, a relatively smaller head popped out from the cavern, eyes filled with a touch of curiosity.
"Roar!"
Almost simultaneously, both Duraludon roared at it, and the head quickly retreated.
A family?
Natsuhiko was somewhat surprised.
He didn't expect to encounter not just one Duraludon, but a family of three Duraludon.
The first one out, and the most powerful, was the father; the second one that attacked Doublade was the mother, and the one that peeked its head out was the child.
This luck seems quite good.
Even if it's not even the Pokémon of the Galar Region, the Pokémon Alliance in the Alola Region hasn't revealed them yet, Natsuhiko didn't think that he couldn't use Pokémon from the Galar Region as his Dojo Pokémon.
Registering in the Pokedex, isn't it just whichever region registers first that it belongs to?
He might be able to help the Sinnoh Alliance with this registration information.
If he could capture all three Duraludon, Natsuhiko felt it would roughly complete the basic setup for the Dojo.
However.
Just as he made contact with the Duraludon, and hadn't had the chance for much friendly interaction.
The ground suddenly trembled violently.
A huge crevice rapidly spread from beneath.
It happened to be right at the location of the Duraludon's cavern.
The male and female Duraludon barely stabilized themselves, not falling into the crevice.
But the child that was just roared away was not so lucky.
Caught by surprise, the crevice, accompanied by continuously falling rocks, left the young Duraludon scrambling in panic at the crumbling rock face, ultimately unable to prevent itself from falling.
The two Duraludon panicked instantly, wanting to rescue, but found they lacked the capability.
Whoosh—
Suddenly, a gust of wind swept between them, rushing towards the crevice below.
It was Natsuhiko riding on Latios.
Before the young Duraludon completely fell, its descent was cushioned and supported by psychic power just in time.
The little Duraludon was very light, even Natsuhiko's psychic power could easily catch it.
But as Natsuhiko rode on Latios's back and entered the crevice, upon seeing the valley scene beyond the piles of rocks, his attention could no longer be on the little Duraludon.
Neither could Latios.
They blankly stared at the "culprit" that brought about the crevice.
That one menacing, fiery red giant figure.
And the dozens of Unown hovering around its body, each looking exhausted and somewhat listless.
"You guys… took this prank a bit too far," Natsuhiko swallowed, muttering.
A rare loss of composure.
Mainly because what he saw was way too terrifying.
Actually, the Unown were very regretful at this moment.
But who made it so that the thing most feared and worried about in Natsuhiko's mind, once captured and materialized, was this guy?
The Unown were quite good at exploiting what people feared or desired to create illusions.
They even conjured up an Entei in the original story.
But now, the Unown have lost control over it.
What Natsuhiko saw...
A Pokémon whose entire body was enveloped in red, scale-like, armor-like skin, with large spikes protruding from its head, torso, and tail, covered with black patterns that seemed to form special symbols in certain areas.
The only abnormality might be its lifeless eyes.
"No, you all…" Natsuhiko took a deep breath, "you actually brought a Groudon out?!"
A single, unconscious phantom that doesn't fly, damn it, a Groudon?!
————
Today's harvest: 12k words!