Charcadet's journey had begun.
Hikaru watched it interact with the Tinkatuff.
It looked just like a hero stepping out of the village for the very first ti, about to set off on a quest to defeat the Demon King.
The villagers had gathered every last resource they could scrape together and produced the finest hamr the village possessed.
The Tinkatuff chieftain solemnly placed that hamr into Charcadet's hands. It was a small hamr forged from Bronzong fragnts, not only heat-resistant but also imnsely powerful and incredibly durable.
The other "villagers" had nothing of comparable worth to give.
So they handed over the scraps of cloth they had gathered for warmth, as well as a bunch of ancient trinkets that looked like old talismans, pressing them all into Charcadet's arms.
However, with the village losing its only "fire controller," the Tinkatuff's efficiency in raiding Steel-type Pokémon would definitely drop.
Hikaru thought for a mont, then decided to gift these pink little devils a batch of fine materials.
"Roar!"
Walking Wake threw back its head and roared. The appearance of the water-dragon made the Tinkatink jump in fright, but Charcadet was trembling all over for a different reason.
Knights were ant to charge at dragons. Only then would they beco the heroes of legend.
"Use Draco teor on that open field."
Walking Wake scratched at its neck, looked out at the patch of empty ground in the distance, then let out a deafening bellow toward the sky.
What the Tinkatink, Tinkatuff, and Charcadet saw next left them utterly stunned.
A rift tore open in the sky. From the distant firmant, glittering with endless starlight, countless teorites were dragged down, streaking in as blazing fireballs. They fell in a dense barrage, crashing into that open ground with a rolling thunder of impacts.
"Ka-ka-dunk?!"
"Shocking, isn't it?" Hikaru said, glancing at them. "There are plenty of Dragon-type Pokémon in Paldea, but Draco teor is a secret dragon art. Wild dragons don't usually know that move."
He pointed at the distant blue sky.
"teorites drifting in space carry massive Dragon-type energy when they crash down, and many of them contain what we call teoric iron."
"teoric iron refers specifically to teorites with over 80% iron content. They're mainly composed of iron and nickel, with trace amounts of cobalt and phosphorus."
"They co from fragnts of asteroids or planetary cores in the solar system. After a long journey and collisions in space, they plunge into this world and, after burning in the upper atmosphere, what's left is an iron–nickel alloy."
"The earliest iron used by humans probably ca from teoric iron. That's on our side, at least. You Pokémon likely have all sorts of ways to obtain high-quality iron ore directly from nature."
In this world, teorites were packed with minerals and energy. They could be seen as gifts granted from the heavenly realm. Of course, sotis you got utterly ridiculous things, such as colossal teorites carrying Deoxys inside. From the perspective of a "warrior of light," that was basically a rogue Ultra who defected from the Land of Light.
Think of it that way and… wasn't that guy basically Belial?
"These should be more than enough teoric iron for you to use as hamr-forging stock. It's only fair paynt for taking your good bronze."
"Ka-ka-ka-ka!"
Hikaru hadn't even finished before the Tinkatink and Tinkatuff broke into wild cheers.
They jostled and babbled around him, jumping up and down, casting looks of pure worship at Walking Wake.
Again, again! Do it again!
"Raar?"
You want more?
Walking Wake looked in surprise at the little gremlins, then turned to Hikaru for confirmation.
Even for Hashibo, this was the first ti seeing Fairy Pokémon so in love with Draco teor.
Hikaru couldn't help laughing.
"Ahem. They seem to have mistaken you for so kind of material god… or sothing close. Draco teor really is convenient. The universe's teorites are effectively infinite."
"Good thing you learned the 'first type' of Draco teor back then."
Then Hikaru glanced off to one side.
One Tinkatink was busy scratching sothing into the wall.
Looking closer, it resembled a piece of graffiti-style rock art.
A human god wielding cyan flas and a dragon god who could call down teoric iron, together bringing new materials and techniques to their settlent…
"Gods, huh?"
"Co to think of it, Tinkatink and its line are based on mythic dwarves, masters of the forge. This wall carving really does feel like sothing ancient humans would leave behind."
"Rooar!"
This was the first ti Walking Wake had ever been this welcod. Hashibo's tails were practically pointing at the sky, both tails stood rigid and flicked wildly, clear signs of its glee.
All right then. Ti for an encore of that last move.
Draco teor!
With the second volley of teors crashing down, the Tinkatink's cheers and praise grew even louder.
Aweso, aweso. teor Dragon God, you're aweso!
Our tribe is saved! With the Smithing God and the Dragon God here, our settlent is set for life!
With so much teoric iron, soone was bound to evolve into Tinkaton this ti.
The village's rise had co at last.
The fallen teorites still burned with searing flas, yet the Tinkatink did not fear them at all, rushing forward to literally "strike while the iron was hot."
The Tinkatuff were more composed. They were not only overjoyed; they even bowed and thanked Hikaru.
Sorry we attacked you earlier! You should've said you were gods of forging!
Praise the Supre Smithing God, praise the teor Dragon God!
Praise the Supre teor Heavenly Venerable.
Ironn!
One Tinkatuff randomly scrawled a symbol on her own chest. She had seen devout humans do that gesture and was simply imitating them.
"Ka-ka-dunk?"
Charcadet watched its companions cheering and hamring away in wild excitent. The heavy atmosphere of parting from just monts ago had completely vanished, replaced by burning enthusiasm for forging.
It let out a small sigh, then quietly relaxed.
This was fine.
With these teorites, no one in the village would have to worry about materials anymore.
"Um… these teorites do seem a bit big though."
Hikaru looked up at the shortly closing warp in the air and then down at the second wave of teorites. Compared to the first batch, this lot seed significantly larger.
At that mont, he heard Deoxys grumbling in his mind.
[I'm serious, I can feel it. The aura is just like the last batch. It really does feel like so of my kind are in there.]
"Your kind? Don't tell there's another one of you hanging around near this planet… Ah!"
Hikaru smacked his forehead.
Right. The colossal teor. He had literally been thinking of that just monts ago.
"But that thing hasn't been shattered yet? It's been months since Steven reported discovering the giant teor."
Even at the slowest possible speed, it should have hit by now. Hadn't Rayquaza scrambled already, gone ga in midair, and blown that rock to dust on the spot?
"Maybe what we're seeing now are fragnts leftover from when that thing got smashed."
He rembered that before the giant teor fell, there had been a lot of precursor teorites. As for whether more teorites had continued to fall after Rayquaza vaporized the main body… that part he didn't know.
[You're saying there really is another of my kind in the nearby cosmic space?]
"Yeah. Or there was. It should've been captured already, since it shoved an enormous teor toward the planet for a direct hit. Do you have any idea why it would do that?"
[…I have no clue. That's completely insane.]
Deoxys could not reconcile it no matter how it turned the idea over.
They starfarers usually rode teorites down, picked a nice unpopulated location, crashed, and started traveling. They generally didn't stay too long on any given world.
As long as they could be born, that was enough. Everything else was optional.
Of course, wandering a world for a long ti was fun too, as it was doing now.
But pushing a colossal teor to trigger an extinction-level disaster?
What the hell was that supposed to accomplish?
"Could it really be a traitor among the 'warriors of light'?"
[Uh… who knows. I've never t the others, so I can't speak for what they're thinking. But if it's been captured already… tsk. I'm not actually feeling that at all.]
"This planet's upper atmosphere has a Pokémon nad Rayquaza. It specializes in eating teorites. Whether that particular teor was destroyed by Rayquaza or not, I will reserve judgnt."
In the manga specials, Deoxys's attack on the world had very clear motivation: that Deoxys was Individual One, artificially forced to mature and then discarded by Team Rocket, now returned for vengeance.
In the gas, though, the reason was never explained. It kind of just seed bored and picked a fight.
So maybe that one really was the "Ultraman Belial" of the Deoxys collective.
The matter of teorites was just a short interlude.
Charcadet looked left and right. The village chief and everyone else were waving at it with big smiles, so it straightened its helt.
All right then. The hero would set out today.
It would challenge enemies it had never seen before, head for distant lands, and stack up countless feats of rit.
Everyone, I will definitely beco the strongest knight.
"Apprentice knight, are you ready?"
"Then our first stop is that mountain."
Hikaru pointed to a nearby peak. It was not as tall as Glaseado Mountain, the highest in Paldea, but it was nothing to scoff at either.
In the ga, this mountain had no snow, but reality gave it a snow-covered summit. That underwhelming Open Sky Titan was lurking sowhere nearby.
"Ka-dunk?"
Climb… that mountain?
Charcadet took a deep breath.
No problem. Whatever trial it might be, it would complete it, Master.
"'Master,' huh. That's not a bad title."
"But I'm flying up there. You're the one who has to climb."
Hikaru took to the air on Genesect's back while asking Aegislash: "You're sure it's around here?"
Aegislash flashed an OK sign with its sword and shield.
My antique radar is screaming. No mistake. It's around here sowhere.
"Funny, I've got the 'Ancient Treasure Hunter' job and I'm not sensing anything at all. Maybe we're still too far."
"The Icerend Shrine is up in the mountains. We keep going."
Aerodactyl beat its wings, carrying a delighted Victini further up into the sky.
Riolu glanced back at Charcadet. The latter looked more than a little nervous.
The blue-furred pup clapped a paw on the apprentice knight's shoulder and gave it a big thumbs-up.
Best of luck. I'm on the training road too.
Then electricity burst across Riolu's body, every strand of fur standing on end as it powered up into a Super Saiyan mode.
Magnet Rise!
Watching Riolu fly into the air, Charcadet's eyes bulged.
"Ka-ka-dunk?!"
It… it flew?
A Pokémon without wings, not a man-made Pokémon, just took flight.
Was this the result of training?
Amazing. No wonder its surprise attack hadn't worked back then.
Fine. I can't lose either.
I'm going to climb this mountain. I want to see what lies at its summit.
Wearing the patched armor it had forged for itself, draped in a ragged cloak, with ancient amulets hanging from its neck and the village's best hamr on its back, Charcadet began the long, grueling ascent.
Uh… wait. There was a minor problem.
I… I don't actually know where the summit is.
"lar~"
Charcadet heard a familiar call, turned, and saw Larvesta. The white bug spewed fire with a huff and, like the others, was flying in midair.
However, it seed to be deliberately matching pace with Charcadet, regularly turning back to check on it.
"lar!"
Hurry up, hurry up. I'll secretly lead the way for you. Don't fall behind, knight.
That was what Larvesta was saying.
"Ka-dunk!"
Wait for . I'm coming!
Charcadet rallied its spirits and scrambled after it.
(End of Chapter)
[Get 20 Extra Chapters On — P@tr3on "Zaelum"]
[Every 500 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter Drop]
[Thanks for Reading!]
User Comments
0 comments from readers