"Meooow!!!"
Persian let out a cry.
A sound that should have been thin and sharp had, in that moment, turned strangely deep and rough—like a lion or tiger, a top-tier predator that had just finished a fierce bout of roaring and fighting.
That overwhelming pressure of intimidation made everyone present feel their hearts seize.
Persian's body kept getting bigger.
In the end, it didn't stop until it had grown to nearly fifteen meters tall, its full length surpassing twenty meters. Even its slender, milky-white tail had thickened until it was as wide as a man's waist.
Around Persian's body, strands of purple, ribbon-like airflow coiled and drifted.
That was the energy being guided out of the band.
"Meooowr!"
Feeling the sheer physical power filling its body—and the surging energy churning inside—Persian couldn't help but roar again. It desperately wanted to test what it could do now.
It raised a paw high…
…and stomped down hard on the ground.
Boom!!
The moment that foot came down, the ground began to tremble and shake violently.
Forget the underground training room—at the surface, the entire arcade building above them felt the shock at the same instant.
The sudden massive disturbance even caused quite a few machines in the arcade to short out for a moment.
Customers were so frightened they huddled in corners, shaking, convinced an earthquake had struck.
"Calm down!"
A thick, heavy male voice rang out.
The boss of Team Dark wiped cold sweat from his forehead as he glared at Persian and scolded it loudly.
Using psychic power to draw out the energy inside the crystal was no small burden for him.
But…
Seeing that Persian's physique really had grown bigger, just like Professor Shen had said, made him feel that every bit of effort was worth it.
"Meow…"
Persian's enlarged eyes slowly settled down.
It padded closer to its master, then lowered itself, pressing its huge head down and nuzzling the boss of Team Dark affectionately.
The boss smiled, lifting a hand to stroke Persian.
What should have been sleek, smooth fur had become pricklier to the touch and noticeably tougher after Persian's growth.
Looks like its defensive attributes had increased a fair amount as well.
Catching that detail, the boss of Team Dark analyzed silently.
Then, almost unconsciously, his gaze shifted to the spot where Persian had just stomped.
A resilient forty-centimeter-thick alloy floor had been crushed into a massive depression.
This alloy might not compare to the bodies of steel-type Pokémon with absurd defensive power…
…but it was still tungsten-steel alloy cast with hardness comparable to diamond!
Persian had done this with a single stomp—no moves, no skills, no techniques—purely with brute physical strength.
It was outrageous.
Even the boss of Team Dark was momentarily stunned.
And that wasn't all.
Inside the dent, there were three deep claw marks—gouges that had sliced through the hard alloy, continuing down until they cut into the reinforced concrete beneath.
If Persian had actually extended its claws…
that stomp might have punched straight through this entire floor.
Pure power and attack had both risen dramatically!
And with a gigantic body's weight added on top, Persian no longer needed energy-based attacks to deal damage that could rival other Pokémon's moves.
The boss of Team Dark's eyes began to shine.
He was clearly satisfied with the result.
Now that the body had grown, and raw strength had indeed received a huge boost…
the next step was to check the changes in the energy inside its body.
"Don't hold back! Release all your power!"
The moment he gave the order, Persian's eyes sharpened.
Excitement burned in its gaze.
With a furious roar, its massive body burst forward at an absurd speed and launched a frenzied assault on the wall more than a hundred meters ahead.
At the same time…
Upstairs in the arcade, the customers—still shaken—finally recovered from the first tremor.
With staff calming them down, the chaotic scene gradually settled.
But just as the arcade returned to normal operations…
the ground began to shake violently again.
This time, the tremors were even more exaggerated than before!
And the area affected wasn't limited to the arcade above the underground base—
the entire region, for several kilometers around, felt the intense shaking.
An earthquake?!
That thought instinctively popped into the heads of ordinary people who had no idea what was really happening.
They could never imagine…
that all of this was being caused by a single Persian deep underground.
"That's enough! That's enough!"
Staring at the wreckage in front of him—the training room damaged to the point it looked ready to collapse—the boss of Team Dark hurriedly called a stop.
That alloy wall, a full one and a half meters thick, had been smashed beyond recognition.
Not a trace of metallic sheen or color remained.
All that could be seen was bare rock and soil behind it.
Shattered alloy chunks were scattered everywhere, and the air still held dense traces of dark-type and normal-type energy.
Powerful. Thick.
Persian's wave-like barrage had made its current condition perfectly clear to the boss of Team Dark.
Its internal energy…
…had expanded along with its body after fusing with that unknown purple energy.
As a result, when it released moves, both the power and the range increased to a ridiculous degree.
In this form, Persian's strength had already surpassed its original high-end Champion-level.
It had even exceeded Champion peak…
reaching a level that no one had ever stepped into before: Gym Leader-level.
"Very good! Your invention is very good!"
"This special phenomenon that makes a Pokémon's body grow larger—let's call it Dynamax!"
"And the invention of this Dynamax Band is no less significant than the Military's so-called 'Gamma Exile' super-new form!"
The boss of Team Dark shifted his gaze from Persian to Professor Shen.
He was extremely satisfied with this band.
This was a brand-new power that only Team Dark controlled!
If it could be popularized on a large scale, their strength and influence would absolutely make a massive leap forward.
There would be no need to keep hiding like this anymore!
"As long as you're satisfied—this is simply my duty!"
Hearing that, Professor Shen finally let out a breath, delight surging in his heart.
Especially when the other man said his results were in no way inferior to the Military's Mega Evolution research—those words made him feel both thrilled and fulfilled.
"I have an even bigger plan… a bigger idea!"
The boss of Team Dark's smile suddenly turned a little crazed.
He grabbed Professor Shen in a tight hold, leaned close to his ear…
…and whispered a single sentence that made Professor Shen freeze on the spot.
"This thing… can be expanded into bands that cover all two million Pokémon under our control."
"Then if we put it on a Legendary Pokémon—what kind of terrifying amplification would that be?"
(End of Chapter)
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