Socarrat Trail was a stretch of woodland in northwest Paldea.
The meadows here were a deep, late-autumn yellow. To the east lay the slightly lower snowfields along the edge of Glaseado Mountain, while to the south stretched the vast Casseroya Lake, sprawling like an inland sea.
Across the lake was Medali, home to the gate leading into Area Zero. Head south instead and you'd reach the Asado Desert and Cascarrafa, and if you kept going, you'd loop back around to Cortondo Town.
With the snow mountain and the great lake sealing this region off from the outside world, the interior was packed with rolling hills and small ridges, plus dense clusters of ponds, rivers, lakes, and islands.
As the shriek of something speeding through the sky gradually slowed, Raifort—waiting beside a pond—noticed the visitors above.
"Oh, you're fast. Finished your training plan already?"
"And Marshadow? I can't feel that strange aura anymore."
Hikaru hopped down from Genesect and glanced at the shadow beneath his feet.
"Probably left. It really doesn't seem to be in my shadow anymore. When did it slip away?"
Because Socarrat Trail was so far from Glaseado Mountain, Hikaru had returned most of his partners to their Poké Balls and flown here in one push.
Only Riolu, Kubfu, Charcadet, and Victini—who didn't even have a ball—were still out.
Mostly because they were small and didn't take up space.
"Enough small talk." With a sharp snap, Raifort closed an ancient-looking book. "I picked this old thing up from a carpenter. The location notes were surprisingly accurate. Took me just one day to find it."
"Look. That pond right there. You can see the lid already, yeah?"
"This was way easier than the Firescourge Shrine."
Of the four shrines, in terms of difficulty, it went: Firescourge, Icerend, Groundblight, then Grasswither.
The Firescourge Shrine was hidden among waterfalls, and you had to go behind the falls to find it.
The Icerend Shrine was tucked into a sheer cliff facing the sea, and the Open Sky Titan interfered nearby—most people couldn't locate it at all.
The Grasswither Shrine was basically under a roadside cliff. Even passing students had seen it, they just didn't know what it was.
And the last one in front of them now—the Groundblight Shrine—was surrounded by flowing water, sealed on an islet at the center of the pond, with cliffs around it to hide and block it from view.
"Fight?"
Kubfu's nose twitched.
I smell it.
A strong stench of evil!
Stronger than that "little goldfish bubble" evil aura—this one's got an abnormal kind of energy too!
"Fight!"
That's exactly why it's sealed with a pond (water energy), plus grassland and forest (grass energy)!
Hikaru said, "Right. This last Treasure of Ruin is extremely powerful, but it doesn't have an easy answer to Water and Grass… because it's Ground-type."
"Then, ready?"
"Chakad!" Charcadet nodded. The armor it had reforged yesterday looked… honestly kind of ridiculous.
There was no artistry to it at all. It was basically just hammered metal plates reshaped into something wearable. And since the armor had already shattered once, that meant even reforging it—without changing the material—its overall toughness still wasn't going to be enough.
"Awu…" Riolu had sensed it too.
The energy in the aura felt weakened—its potency and activity both dulled.
Ting-Lu's Vessel of Ruin… the power of a vessel that calls calamity, lowering the Special Attack of all Pokémon other than itself!
The blue-furred pup gave a small nod, then pointed at Charcadet.
Instruction, instruction!
With proper guidance, boost the whole team's Attack and Defense!
Then it handed over the Focus Sash it carried to Charcadet.
Good. You've been buffed. Now get out there.
And this is a Focus Sash! With this, even if the opponent can use a one-hit KO move, you won't go down immediately!
"This little guy's got spirit. Interesting." Raifort chuckled softly. "All right, then. Let's get started. I can't wait to see that calamity vessel."
"From the far eastern lands came a massive bronze cauldron—seen as a symbol of authority and dominion. The ancient Paldean Empire's king bought it to prove he held the highest, most legitimate claim among neighboring nations."
"About two thousand years ago, Paldea's autocratic emperor launched a great age of exploration that lasted a full millennium. He was obsessed with the rumor that Area Zero held treasure."
"Back then, people weren't like us. Civilization hadn't developed as far. They were more willing to believe things beyond human understanding—mysterious legends, incantations… In order to gain power to confront rival states, the emperor sent countless people into Area Zero to search for treasure."
Hikaru picked up the thread. "But no one ever reached the deepest part of Area Zero. The empire bled manpower and wealth into those expeditions for so long that it gradually lost its national strength. Two hundred years after that—eight hundred years ago—the Paldean Empire merged with surrounding nations and became the Paldea we know today."
"Exactly." Raifort's eyes brightened behind her glasses. "And Paldea Academy was founded in that same period—eight hundred years ago. You really know our history."
"So the cauldron symbolizes lost kingship. Supposedly, Ting-Lu was formed when a Heart of Terror gathered massive earth and stone around a ritual vessel used in an ancient ceremony."
"Maybe a ritual performed with Pokémon blood… or even human blood."
Hikaru just laughed under his breath.
The story was absurd, and sure, it framed Ting-Lu as a symbol of kingship and curses… but Ting-Lu's movepool didn't even have anything like a 'curse technique.'
It couldn't even learn Iron Defense.
Which made perfect sense.
Before the four calamities were officially released, there'd been an "unimplemented version" where Ting-Lu had an absurd 165 HP and 130 Defense.
Ground/Dark had six weaknesses, but with that kind of bulk, there was no way they'd also give it defensive boosting moves.
Because in Paldea, typing disadvantages mattered the least. If Ground/Dark is bad, I'll just go Tera Steel or Tera Water. If it also had Iron Defense or Curse as setup… then it would be genuinely unmanageable.
Tera Water + Fissure Ting-Lu is a battle experience you simply must savor.
And it wasn't just that. It had smooth little chains like Spikes into Whirlwind, plus Fissure into Stomping Tantrum—no matter what kind of opponent you were, it had an answer.
"In the faraway lands, 'claiming the cauldron' and 'hunting the stag' were seen as necessities to seize rightful rule!"
"The ruler who gains the cauldron gains the realm!"
"Now, let's meet the strongest of the four calamities!"
Hikaru and Raifort waded across the pond and reached the heart of the island. Hikaru set the Interdimensional Ring onto the green sealing lid.
And just like the other Treasures of Ruin…
Two red beams of light shot out first.
BOOM!
The ground shook violently. The surrounding cliffs rumbled as if the mountains themselves were trembling. Ting-Lu emerged from the ring, a huge bronze cauldron perched atop its head, radiating a crushing sense of mass and strength.
Ting-Lu looked like a stag bearing an enormous cauldron. The cauldron was chipped, and its broad antlers speared right through it. Its shoulders bulged, its jaw hung heavy, and its limbs looked blocky and stone-cut.
[Ting-Lu]'s Vessel of Ruin weakened the Special Attack of the surrounding Pokémon!
And in that instant, Ting-Lu realized something.
"What did it notice?"
Hikaru read Ting-Lu's thoughts at once, and the great stag jolted in shock.
Sword of Ruin. Tablets of Ruin. Beads of Ruin!
Phantoms of its three companions surfaced in Ting-Lu's eyes. It could feel them—right there, on the human in front of it!
No good… it's the legendary Pokémon tamer!
Ting-Lu had only ever seen one legendary tamer in its life, but someone who'd subdued all three of the others… how could that be anyone ordinary?!
"Something's off," Raifort said sharply. "It doesn't want to fight—no, it's going to run!"
Her glasses flashed with reflected light as she caught the subtle movement.
And then the strongest of the four calamities did something unbelievable.
"rerorerorero—"
It stuck out its tongue at them repeatedly like it was mocking them, and then the cauldron swung hard—
A massive gale erupted, darkening the sky as a storm of wind tore outward!
"Tiiing! (Bye!)"
Whirlwind!
A violent evil aura—packed with a Heart of Terror—unleashed a hurricane like the will of something that ruled the heavens.
This move blows the opponent away with a massive storm, forcibly dragging a party Pokémon into battle.
If the opponent is a wild Pokémon, the battle ends immediately.
Charcadet was blasted backward by the wind, but Riolu reacted instantly, flashing in with Extreme Speed to snatch the little knight back to safety.
Kubfu dropped to all fours and clawed at the ground, eyes squeezed shut.
Ugh, ugh, ugh… this wind is at least Force 8! Isn't this thing supposed to be a Ground-type calamity?!
When the storm finally faded, Ting-Lu didn't even look back. It bolted straight into the depths of Socarrat Trail.
"So it really is like Wo-Chien said," Hikaru muttered. "Not just humble—ridiculously cautious. Opens with Whirlwind."
"Yeah. You're… what, 'Super Moose'?"
After all, Ting-Lu's animal motif was based on a moose.
Opening with Whirlwind, Ting-Lu—right now, you're downright shameless!
Ting-Lu had zero intention of fighting. It kicked into a hard run, hooves pounding. It wasn't fast, but every stride sent out rippling shockwaves.
"That doesn't look like normal running," Raifort said. "That's Bulldoze!"
It stomps down on the ground to hit all surrounding Pokémon, lowering their Speed!
The heavy impacts made both humans and Pokémon stumble. And in that moment, Hikaru looked straight at Riolu.
"Use Extreme Speed. Cut it off!"
"Rrr!" Riolu dug in—
Ignoring speed differences entirely, it fired off Extreme Speed!
At the same time, electricity crackled across its body like rolling pressure waves, as if it had transformed.
Magnet Rise!
Hikaru hauled Raifort up onto Genesect, took Charcadet and Kubfu along, and had Genesect use Extreme Speed as well—closing in on Ting-Lu at high speed.
"Tiiing!!!"
Ting-Lu glanced back and saw Hikaru approaching from above. Instantly, it sensed danger.
The cauldron jerked hard—
That swirling calamity gale spun up again, blasting Riolu away!
Then Ting-Lu began swinging its heavy head, locking onto Hikaru and Raifort.
"Another Whirlwind," Raifort snapped. "It's repeating the same trick!"
Ting-Lu heard the human female's voice and thought grimly: Of course I am!
In a straight fight, there's no chance.
That's exactly why I'm running!
You humans should try thinking from my perspective for once!
I was sealed for a thousand years and the moment I'm out, you want me to play a championship match. Of course I'm going to use some tactics!
"Super Moose is using its super intelligence!"
Hikaru didn't panic at all.
"Kubfu—throw Charcadet!"
Kubfu understood at once. It grabbed Charcadet in both arms.
Ready… firepower launch!
Use Fling!
With all its strength, Kubfu hurled Charcadet forward. Charcadet jetted fire from its feet to accelerate, and before Ting-Lu could whip up Whirlwind again, it unleashed a forbidden secret art—
"Disable!"
Ting-Lu's body stiffened.
Disable—also famously known as "petrification technique"—blocks the target's actions, preventing the last move it used for a period of time!
CLANG!
Charcadet's hammer struck the cauldron, throwing sparks everywhere—only for the massive vessel to slam the little knight aside.
Ting-Lu stared at the pursuing Charcadet and, without hesitation, swung the cauldron down.
They said that when it slowly lowered that heavy head, the ground would split into a giant fissure fifty meters deep.
And there was no question about it.
In the games, Ting-Lu's capture level might be 60, but between that legend and what Wo-Chien had said before…
This thing had already mastered the Ground-type ultimate technique that normally required level 75—
Fissure!
"Chakad…!"
Charcadet saw the cracks tearing open in the earth, and fear finally showed on its face.
Ting-Lu's power was different from the other Treasures of Ruin. For something that couldn't fly, falling into Fissure meant that even with a Focus Sash, it would still get booted away immediately afterward.
A-ah… that's… insane…
This Fissure is way stronger than that green-haired onee-san's Fissure…
I can't fight. I can't throw punches, psychic impact doesn't work, I can't even breathe fire…!
Riolu—still windblown from earlier—finally made it back. Even a high-level Pokémon used to huge scenes like this couldn't help being shaken by Ting-Lu's force.
And Kubfu clenched its fists, trembling—half terror, half excitement.
All right, then. Let me give you a hand.
Cleanse the evil from this world, and bring it back onto the right path!
Kubfu leapt off Genesect. With a loud thud, it slammed into Ting-Lu's back.
Ting-Lu barely felt the hit at all, but the next instant—
Moisture?!
Ugh—wetness! The one thing Ground-types hate most!
Ting-Lu tried to shake Kubfu off, but it was too late.
A violent surge of water erupted upward from Kubfu's body, blasting Ting-Lu into the air in one continuous smash.
Kubfu used Waterfall!
A towering, waterfall-like torrent surged skyward, and Kubfu lunged after it with astonishing momentum.
Waterfall has a 20% chance to make the target flinch if it hasn't acted yet.
Outside of battle, Waterfall can be used to climb up or down massive waterfalls.
Ting-Lu was launched—its Fissure missed Charcadet completely.
"Chakad!"
The little "hero" snapped back to focus, flames wrapping around its body.
To face a Ground-type "demon king," it had trained relentlessly under Marshadow, and little by little, it had started to grasp how to use light.
A flash of light could lower the enemy's accuracy.
A stronger light could become a sun, bright enough to illuminate a dark world.
So if it drew power from sunlight, compressed that light into a single point, and fired it as an attack in one decisive burst—
Sunny Day!
The sunlight turned harsh.
"[Charcadet] absorbed the light!"
The burning hero stood wreathed in flame. The light in its hands gathered into the shape of a long spear. It tightened its grip—
And then—
It hurled it in one breath.
The sun's rays became a blazing, light-made inferno—just like the one that "snail that records history" had used before!
[Charcadet used "Solar Beam"!]
Solar Blaze!
"That looks effective," Raifort said, eyes gleaming. "A Charcadet that can draw strength from sunlight and learn Solar Beam… that's extremely rare, isn't it? Ting-Lu is powerful, but it still doesn't have a good answer to type disadvantage."
"After all, the shrine lid sealing it is green—Grass-type. That means a thousand years ago, it was probably beaten by the same kind of power."
Hikaru nodded. "Water and Grass together. Ting-Lu's physical bulk is absurd—it can endure Waterfall from a physical attacker. But Solar Beam, a special Grass-type hit, is much harder for it to deal with."
"Outside that sky-high physical defense, its special defense is fairly ordinary… though Vessel of Ruin suppresses special attack power. Even if it's mediocre at special defense, it's still not easy to break through."
Also… Charcadet's Solar Beam. It's actually gathering in its hand first, then firing.
Since it hasn't evolved into Armarouge yet, and it doesn't have a 'cannon'… is it just shooting it out of its hand?
"So that's not Solar Beam—that's a Sunlight Spear!"
"Vow: Successor of the Sun!"
The miracle of throwing a sunlight spear carried an immeasurably great and special soul.
One of the oldest miracles, said to have existed alongside the world since the beginning—
Ahem. Wrong franchise.
Charcadet kept launching its "sunlight spear," battering Ting-Lu so hard its head rocked again and again, the momentum steadily swinging back in their favor.
But Super Moose was still tough. It sensed things turning bad, and as it shook its head—
It suddenly stomped down hard.
Stomping Tantrum!
If the previous move missed, this move's power doubles!
A massive shockwave ripped through Socarrat Trail's mountain path, blasting chunks of stone into the air.
"Raifort, stay here!"
"Huh?" Raifort froze—
And Hikaru jumped off Genesect.
"Hey!" Raifort gaped at him. "Are you insane? That's Ting-Lu—one swing of that cauldron can split the ground fifty meters deep!"
She watched, stunned, as Hikaru landed on Ting-Lu's back. Ting-Lu—soaked and battered—immediately panicked.
"Tiiing!"
It's him again! That tamer from before!
The tamer who holds the sacred stake and uses it like a spear—charging right in!
In a thousand years, have tamers seriously not changed their fighting style even once?!
Hikaru grabbed the two raised protrusions on Ting-Lu's cauldron. Super Moose thrashed violently, trying to shake him off—
But Hikaru's grip strength was even greater.
"Tiiing!"
This too… just like a thousand years ago!
I feel like I'm trapped in a nightmare—getting beaten over and over again!
Hikaru said, "Ting-Lu, let me see your cauldron!"
"Tiiing…! (No!)"
In that moment, Ting-Lu felt the Heart of Terror.
But it wasn't the human's—
It was its own, as a Pokémon.
Hikaru yanked hard with both hands, wrenching the cauldron sideways. Ting-Lu's huge body tilted, balance collapsing—
And Hikaru flowed straight into a grappling throw, using a judo-style hip toss to slam Ting-Lu away.
The gigantic Super Moose crashed to the ground with a thunderous boom.
"Tiiing!"
Ting-Lu couldn't believe it.
What the—he's got throws too?!
(End of Chapter)
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