No!
It probably wasn't Dialga either!
That noble First-tier Legendary, the ruler of time—
How could it possibly have only Champion-level strength?
Melmetal and Registeel immediately rejected that guess as well.
But after ruling out both possibilities,
they became even less able to figure out
just what kind of Pokémon was approaching them through the passage.
The more unknown something was,
the more terrifying it felt.
Even Third-tier Legendaries were no exception.
Especially in their current weakened state.
The two Pokémon unconsciously moved closer and closer together.
Just moments ago, they had been fighting like their lives depended on it.
Now, without even speaking,
they had already formed a united front.
Both stared warily toward the cave entrance.
The footsteps were getting closer.
Heavy and slow.
From the sound alone,
it was obvious that this was a very large Pokémon.
Melmetal and Registeel tensed to the limit.
A moment later,
they saw a bipedal, dinosaur-like Pokémon
emerge from that pitch-black passage.
This...
The instant they saw GeoGreymon,
Melmetal and Registeel—
both Third-tier Legendaries—
were stunned.
That enormous body.
That savage posture.
That powerful physique and oppressive presence.
None of it matched any Pokémon in their memories.
It was their first time
seeing a creature like this.
Melmetal and Registeel
were both Legendary Pokémon that had survived from ancient times to the present day.
Forget all existing Pokémon—
even certain special Mega-Evolved forms of Pokémon that had yet to be rediscovered in the modern era,
they had already seen those long ago.
Shiko's appearance
didn't match any known Pokémon image in their minds at all.
He was a completely new individual they had never seen before.
This...
Registeel hesitated slightly.
From Shiko,
he could vaguely sense a trace of Dragon-type aura that felt somewhat familiar.
It seemed like he had encountered it a very long time ago.
He had no idea that most of the Dragon-type energy and laws inside Shiko's body
had been absorbed from Regidrago.
As Third-tier Legendary Pokémon created by Regigigas,
it was only natural for him to find Regidrago's aura familiar.
With Registeel's simple and straightforward way of thinking,
he never even considered that possibility.
He merely felt that Shiko might very well be like him—
a new Legendary Pokémon created by the great First-tier Legendary, Regigigas,
during the ages of his slumber.
But after observing more carefully,
he noticed that Shiko's body lacked the recessed glowing dots
that Third-tier Legendaries like them possessed.
That immediately made him reject the possibility.
Meanwhile,
Melmetal's emotions were far more intense.
He, too, sensed something familiar from Shiko.
Only,
what he felt was the Steel-type law on Shiko's body—
it felt incredibly intimate.
So intimate that it was almost identical
to the energy flowing within the liquid alloy inside his own body!
This...
Melmetal understood in an instant.
The liquid alloy containing the two percent of attribute law he had lost before
had absolutely been devoured and absorbed by the thing in front of him.
Not only that—
the one that had been fighting him over those resources on Mt. Silver all this time
was probably this huge creature as well!
At that thought,
a blaze ignited in Melmetal's heart.
He was a mighty Third-tier Legendary,
yet he had been played like a fool
by some ordinary Pokémon he had never even seen before!
As Melmetal stared at Shiko,
another possibility suddenly occurred to him.
Could the conflict between himself and Registeel
also have been provoked by this guy?
It had to be!
There was an overwhelming chance this was his doing too!
Otherwise, why would he be here?
Melmetal was a little dumbfounded.
What exactly was this thing?
How could he have the nerve
to scheme against two Third-tier Legendaries!?
Damn it!
Feeling humiliated,
Melmetal's inner flames burned even fiercer.
His two liquid-alloy arms lengthened,
spiral patterns twisting over them as they compressed.
Then his pair of steel fists,
wrapped in enormous Steel-type energy and terrifying momentum,
smashed toward Shiko from both the left and right.
Melmetal understood it clearly.
For this unknown Pokémon to have planned things to this point,
his target had to be Melmetal and Registeel.
This Double Iron Bash came fast!
The fists at the ends of those extended liquid-alloy arms
shot forward like lightning,
arriving in front of Shiko in an instant.
Boom! Boom!!
Two heavy collision sounds rang out.
Shiko did not dodge.
He took both blows head-on.
The heavy punches landed on his chest.
They only managed to make the faintly silver muscles sink in slightly,
and in the blink of an eye, everything returned to normal.
Shiko took stock of it.
Aside from a slight sting of pain,
there was no extra damage at all.
The situation was even better than he had expected!
Looks like those two really had gone all out when they fought.
As a result, the energy stored in their bodies was now severely depleted.
At this point,
they could only rely on their own physical strength
to inflict any damage on him.
Ha!
Thinking of that,
Shiko was grinning inwardly.
As he looked at the two Pokémon before him,
he felt rather like a hunter
staring at his prey.
"Roar—!!"
Shiko let out a thunderous roar.
An immense aura surged out from his body in all directions,
rolling through this alloy chamber in waves
and setting off bursts of violent rumbling.
He blocked the cave entrance.
Looking at Registeel and Melmetal,
he raised his head,
opened his mouth,
and an extremely dense Fire-type aura began gathering in his throat!
This guy can use Fire-type moves too!?
Sensing the intense and dangerous fluctuation of Fire-type energy,
Melmetal and Registeel immediately grew tense.
As pure Steel-types already at their limit,
if they took another hit like that,
they would definitely lose the ability to fight on the spot!
Without any exchange of looks or words,
the two Pokémon attacked Shiko together at the same time!
(End of Chapter)
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