"Great Tusk, Iron Treads..."
The oppressive aura of the behemoths left Raifort slightly pale.
She glanced sideways at Lucas in doubt, not understanding how he knew those two.
Hadn't he said he was searching for them based on rumors?
Even in danger, Raifort's meticulous mind didn't stall. She immediately caught the contradiction.
Lucas didn't intend to explain. He kept his eyes locked on the two huge shapes in the yellow sand and warned gravely, "They seem to be racing... Judging by their roll path, there's a high chance they'll pass right along this road!"
Raifort: !!!
Indeed, the route she and Lucas had chosen was the flattest stretch in the Asado Desert.
Even those two Donphan-like giants Lucas called Great Tusk and Iron Treads would choose flatter terrain to roll on to keep balance and avoid wiping out.
Which meant this off-roader in their way was likely to be—!!!
"Hold on!"
Raifort gripped the wheel one-handed, eyes fixed on the sand-choked rear view. She took a deep breath, slammed it into reverse, and floored the gas. The engine roared like a beast—she chose to back away at full speed from the two oncoming colossi!
At the same time, a Poké Ball at Raifort's waist popped open. In the already cramped cabin, a Pokémon with two pearls on its head appeared—Grumpig!
Ignoring the violent shaking, Grumpig levitated in the tight space.
The two black pearls on its head and the one on its belly glowed with a blue halo. Mysterious ripples spread out, steadying the swaying off-roader and preventing a rollover.
Meanwhile, Grumpig's psychic power twisted part of the sandstorm, letting Raifort see behind and make use of her decent driving skills.
Lucas glanced at the Grumpig, whose breathing had grown heavy as it channeled psychic power.
Grumpig is a Psychic-type Pokémon, and those black pearls are curious tools it uses to store power and amplify its psychic waves.
From its practiced movements, it clearly cooperated with Raifort often.
With Grumpig and Raifort working in tandem, the off-roader swung up a fairly steep dune and successfully avoided the rolling path of Iron Treads and Great Tusk.
As the two rumbling titans thundered past the off-roader, the danger was averted by Raifort's quick thinking.
"Good work. Go rest."
Raifort patted the pale-faced, clearly overtaxed Grumpig and recalled it.
Keeping the vehicle from tipping while also countering a sandstorm classified as a natural disaster and providing Raifort with a view—lasting two and a half minutes was already excellent.
After recalling Grumpig, Raifort slumped back in relief with a long exhale, her mind replaying flashes of what she'd just glimpsed.
Like that "Donphan" with truly magnificent tusks and a terrifying, primeval aura—Great Tusk.
And the one whose body shone with eerie red light, as if made entirely of unknown metal, giving off a cold, mechanical feel—Iron Treads.
All were "monsters" she'd never known, as if the legends of Area Zero from the ancient Paldean era had been made flesh...
Just then, the off-roader's door opened. Raifort looked out at Lucas without surprise.
Having just scouted, Lucas nodded slightly to Raifort. "The sandstorm is moving away from us... Hm, probably kicked up by those two."
"Do we give chase?" Raifort asked directly.
"We do." Lucas got back in, buckled up deftly. "You know my goal is to find them—and what's in their lairs."
"Even if I intercepted them just now, I'd still have to let them go in order to find their lairs in this vast desert."
"So let's save the effort—tail Great Tusk and Iron Treads to their lairs."
That cleared up Raifort's last doubt.
Of course.
As the champion-tier trainer who had subdued the legendary birds, those two might look terrifying, but nowhere near enough to make Lucas hesitant.
As for how Lucas knew the names of the two "Donphan," Raifort couldn't be bothered to dig. He was a champion-tier trainer; knowing inside information was only natural.
With that, she said nothing more, hit the gas, and sent the off-roader speeding over the Asado sands.
This time Raifort didn't need Lucas to guide her, because—
All they had to do was follow the moving sandstorm!
Lucas glanced at Raifort's focused driving, then returned his attention to the shifting storm ahead.
In truth, there was another reason he hadn't stopped the two earthshaking Titans, Iron Treads and Great Tusk.
In the game, you had to fight a titan twice to get the Herba Mystica.
If you wanted to catch them, you even had a third battle.
The first battle was a wild encounter. As you were about to defeat the titan, it would flee back to its lair and eat "something," then fully recover, and you'd fight again.
Lucas guessed that the "something" the titans ate was likely mature Herba Mystica.
Perhaps because the titans consumed so much Herba Mystica to recover, the Herba he and Arven harvested afterward was only enough to make a single sandwich.
Lucas wanted to see if he could solve the problem at its root—for example, defeating them at the lair entrance to harvest more Herba Mystica, as well as that "evolution item."
Hopefully, the fact that both an Iron Treads and a Great Tusk existed in the Asado Desert at once hadn't already caused deeper, wider impacts.
As for whether to leave Great Tusk and Iron Treads in the desert after defeating them, or capture them and hand them over to Geeta to return them to Area Zero since their mere presence disrupts the ecosystem—
He would decide after meeting the Pokémon.
Raifort's tracking skills were excellent.
Even Iron Treads and Great Tusk had no idea a car was tailing them.
Along the way, comparing the map to their present position, Lucas noticed that Great Tusk and Iron Treads were moving according to the routes marked on the map.
There might be some deviations, but their destination was undoubtedly their lair.
After about two hours on the move—now afternoon—the sandstorm ahead began to collapse. Lucas and Raifort knew Iron Treads and Great Tusk had stopped rolling and switched to normal movement.
Their lair must be nearby.
Raifort eased off the gas and looked out the window.
Several rocky hills loomed here, and the diverse wild Pokémon of the Asado Desert had vanished.
Only a group of Donphan and Phanpy were gathered nearby...
What connection did they have to Great Tusk and Iron Treads?
By habit as a tomb ra—no, archaeologist, Raifort carefully analyzed all intel based on the scene.
Lucas unbuckled, opened the door, and jumped down. His desert boots pressed into the sand, kicking up a small puff.
The door caught the attention of many Donphan and Phanpy who'd already been boldly watching the off-roader, but uncertain of the big machine's threat, they chose only to stare.
Before closing the door, Lucas asked Raifort inside, "Can you ensure your safety around here? If not, I'll leave a Pokémon to protect you."
Raifort smiled slightly and waved him on. "While I can't handle a Golurk or those two big ones, I can look after myself among these Donphan. Don't underestimate me."
"Once, I even dove to the very bottom of an undersea ruin in one go!"
Lucas nodded, sent out Dragonite, and shot into the sky. Guided by the system, he flew toward Great Tusk and Iron Treads.
In just a few minutes, Lucas and Dragonite saw two hulking figures grappling on a wide sandy flat among several huge rock hills.
One Pokémon, with terrifying mammoth-like tusks and a savage, primordial aura—that was Great Tusk.
The other, with much shorter tusks, fought less ferociously than Great Tusk, calmer and more calculating—that was Iron Treads.
Their battle made the ground shudder with ease, sand billowing high. Every move put on full display the paradox Pokemon power that could wreck the outside ecosystem.
Not far from them yawned a huge cave mouth about five meters high. Lucas guessed that was where his targets lay—the mature Herba Mystica and the unknown evolution item!
"Come on, let's break up this fight before they mess up my beloved Herba Mystica!"
Lucas patted Dragonite beneath him, then pulled out another Poké Ball, excited.
Dragonite glanced helplessly at its slightly thick-skinned trainer, resignedly dropped altitude, and gathered a Dragon Pulse in its mouth.
The next instant—
A tri-colored dragon of blue, violet, and red reared and roared, spearing into the center of the two titans' battlefield and detonating in a burst of energy!
Through the dust, the two battling giants simultaneously turned their gaze skyward.
...
Bonus chapter at 100 PS