Scare everyone?
Himeko's remark instantly made the nearby rubberneckers pull confused faces.
They glanced at each other, and a bit of suppressed laughter surfaced.
What a joke!
A dignified Pokémon Trainer… getting scared by another trainer's Pokémon?
That was ridiculous, wasn't it!?
It wasn't like this was their first time seeing Pokémon.
All that essential Pokédex knowledge had been drilled into them back in the Pokémon Academy until they could recite it in their sleep.
No matter what kind of Pokémon you saw, you wouldn't be scared.
Unless…
Unless the last Poké Ball in Himeko's hand held a Legendary Pokémon.
But was that possible?
Obviously not.
Even though they thought that, everyone still obediently did what Himeko told them to.
After all, they were just here to watch the show—there was no point starting an argument over something like this.
The crowd immediately retreated a big step backward.
The space in the middle suddenly opened up.
"What's her last Pokémon?" Teacher Boo-sensei asked Aisa, leaning close with a face full of curiosity.
That question really stumped Aisa.
To be honest, even now she didn't know what that bipedal, tyrannosaur-like Pokémon was called.
Tyrannosaurusmon?
Dinosaurmon?
"Um… probably Charmeleon's evolution," Aisa hesitated, then gave that answer.
"Then that's just Charizard!" Teacher Boo-sensei frowned and snapped. "Why are you taking such a detour, kid?"
A trace of disappointment showed in his eyes.
A Charizard… could overturn his worldview?
How could that be?
Aisa got scolded and was about to explain, but after thinking it over, she dropped it.
This was the kind of thing you couldn't explain clearly anyway.
Better to let Teacher Boo-sensei feel it for himself.
In the empty space the crowd had cleared, only Himeko stood in the center.
At that moment, everyone's attention was locked on the Poké Ball in her hand.
What Pokémon was inside that ball?
Why did she need everyone to clear such a huge area?
Tyranitar?
Tyrantrum?
Or maybe… the "King Cocoon"?
While the spectators were guessing, Himeko tossed the Poké Ball.
A red beam shot out, slowly gathering into shape.
Teacher Boo-sensei stared at the outline in that light.
His expression gradually shifted into shock, disbelief, and incredulity.
Charizard?
Don't make me laugh!
How did this look even remotely like Charizard?
That height alone—over four meters!
More than twice the size of an ordinary Charizard!
The red light vanished.
Shiko's figure appeared before everyone.
"ROOOAAR!!"
With a single roar, it was as if the earth itself trembled violently, and even the clouds were frozen in place.
A vast draconic pressure poured out in an instant.
An overwhelming force pressed down on every person present.
Everyone felt bound by a crushing, enormous weight.
A soul-deep dread surged up from their limbs and bones, making their hearts seize.
What…!?
What the hell is this Pokémon!?
Everyone present was dumbstruck.
Staring at Shiko—fierce and imposing, soaked in savage menace—they fell into deep shock.
A few people with weaker nerves and smaller courage simply went slack-eyed…
and blacked out on the spot, fainting under that terrifying draconic pressure.
Shiko lowered his head.
His dragon eyes met Teacher Boo-sensei's in a direct stare.
The instant Teacher Boo-sensei touched that gaze, shattered images flashed through his mind:
A severed mountaintop.
A world-splitting crack in the earth.
A dried-up riverbed.
A forest razed into flat ruin.
And in that desolate, broken scene…
stood a horrifying dragon-beast, head raised as it roared.
It was the very same creature in front of him.
Teacher Boo-sensei broke out in a cold sweat.
Aisa called to him several times before he finally snapped back to himself.
"Y-you… you're sure… this is what Charmeleon evolved into…?"
He stared at Shiko with a face full of suspicion.
The shock and fear in his eyes slowly…
were replaced by astonished joy and excitement.
"Yes," Himeko nodded.
"Good! Good! Good!"
After three "goods" in a row, Teacher Boo-sensei was so excited he could barely organize his words.
"This Pokémon is perfect!"
"A never-before-seen new form! A body that radiates power, pressure, and threat!"
"And that terrifying aura and oppressive force—this is the most perfect Pokémon I've ever seen in my life!"
His face flushed red as he poured out the evaluation in one breath.
"Little miss, you were right!"
"This Pokémon truly shocked me—it refreshed my understanding!"
His eyes gleamed.
Ding!
Congratulations, host. Task completed!
Obtained: Dragon Rule Power +0.9%, Steel Rule Power +0.9%.
Pure energy, dense to the extreme, flooded in.
A blue torrent and a silver torrent interwove and surged.
The power inside Shiko's body swelled again by a huge margin.
He could feel it clearly—he had gotten stronger.
The spectators, too, only managed to recover with effort from Shiko's horrifying pressure.
They listened to Teacher Boo-sensei's evaluation in a daze.
This violent-looking dragon-beast Pokémon was obviously strong…
but did it really deserve praise like that?
"The most perfect Pokémon"?
Wasn't that a bit exaggerated?
And then, the next second—
Shiko's aura suddenly surged upward again, rising crazily by another large step.
An even greater pressure and presence slammed into them and covered them.
That sensation made them feel tiny—like a lone boat adrift on a vast ocean, isolated and helpless.
Inside the camp, other Pokémon that were still working diligently…
the moment they were hit by that dreadful presence, they revealed expressions of extreme terror.
At this point, every single spectator accepted Teacher Boo-sensei's evaluation.
This violent-looking Pokémon really was absurdly strong!
"Can you let me do a full-spectrum data analysis on him?"
"Just half an hour in my lab, that's all!"
"As compensation, not only will I pay what we agreed on from our bet—those three type-boosting gems…"
"I'll also give you two Dragon Gems and two Steel Gems. I've been holding them for research."
"This Pokémon may carry the key to breaking through a bottleneck in one of my current studies."
"Please, Himeko-san!"
Teacher Boo-sensei abruptly dropped his arrogant attitude and pleaded sincerely.
His abnormal demeanor made everyone present stare blankly.
If you didn't know what was going on, you'd think he'd been possessed.
How else could there be such a huge change?
Just a moment ago, he'd been criticizing everyone's Pokémon nurturing as trash in this and that way, acting like an expert lecturing from on high.
And now he was here begging!?
The contrast was ridiculous.
"Shiko, what do you think?" Himeko couldn't decide.
She couldn't make this call for Shiko—he had to decide himself.
Two Dragon Gems, two Steel Gems…
That payment was something Shiko could accept.
Of course, only if the research time was strictly half an hour, and nothing would be done that could harm him in any way.
Shiko conveyed his conditions to Himeko.
Himeko immediately communicated them to Teacher Boo-sensei.
"Don't worry, don't worry, Himeko-san!" Teacher Boo-sensei hurried to reassure her.
"Half an hour is enough!"
"And we won't do anything that harms this… ah, this Pokémon."
"We'll just check the intensity of the attribute energy in his body, and things like his abilities—data like that."
Teacher Boo-sensei added that he needed a comprehensive data report on Shiko.
He hoped that, from this mutated evolution posture of Charmeleon, he could find a way to solve the bottleneck in his current research.
Only after hearing that did Himeko nod and agree.
After a brief farewell to Aisa, Himeko recalled Shiko into a Luxury Ball so he could rest, then followed Teacher Boo-sensei to a temporary institute inside the camp.
For large-scale operations like this, a base would typically be equipped with a Pokémon medical recovery center, so Pokémon injured while fighting outside could quickly recover.
This time, when Teacher Boo-sensei came along, he also had people expand the center a bit.
He converted part of it into his research room, making it convenient for him to continue scientific work here.
Half an hour later, Himeko walked out of the lab.
During those thirty minutes, Teacher Boo-sensei had run simple tests on Shiko's physical data.
Just what Shiko revealed was enough to completely overturn Teacher Boo-sensei's worldview.
Abilities alone—
Shiko had Tough Claws, Blaze, Magic Bounce, and Pressure—four abilities.
It was beyond Teacher Boo-sensei's understanding.
In the entire Pokémon research community, it was accepted that a Pokémon could only have one ability.
That was an established natural rule.
So why did Shiko have four!?
How was that even possible?
As Teacher Boo-sensei wrestled with confusion, he was also filled with intense excitement and exhilaration.
He felt he had truly come to the right place this time.
Maybe he really could find the key information he needed from Shiko to break through his bottleneck.
Shiko, meanwhile, provided other crucial data.
Teacher Boo-sensei still needed a bit more time to analyze before he could produce conclusions.
So Himeko didn't linger in the research room.
She left to find Aisa and ask about the next arrangements.
Teacher Boo-sensei had already given Himeko the four gems.
Naturally, they had already ended up in Shiko's hands.
After absorbing the energy inside, the gems crumbled into powder and scattered away.
The Dragon and Steel rules inside Shiko's body rose by another 0.2%.
Inside the spacious interior of the Luxury Ball, Shiko began to think through the situation.
Gaining 1% of two attribute rules in a single day…
at a glance, the growth rate looked pretty good.
But in reality—
after subtracting the system reward portion, the rule power he gained by absorbing gems—those naturally rare tools that store energy—was only 0.2%.
Without knowing when these "trait tasks" would trigger next…
and without knowing whether these trait tasks would keep rewarding attribute rules…
relying on type-boosting gems alone was far too slow.
And in any case, Dragon Gems were sourced from Dragon Valley, and Dragon Valley had been getting more and more turbulent lately.
Trying to mine and obtain Dragon Gems there was extremely difficult and troublesome.
Shiko sorted through it all.
Thinking it over…
it seemed that, for his future and his next evolution,
it was necessary to go into Dragon Valley and see what was happening.
While he was thinking, Himeko had already reached the door to Aisa's office.
She knocked, then pushed the door open after receiving permission.
"You just got back from Teacher Boo-sensei's side?" Aisa smiled at her and casually gestured for her to sit.
"Yes," Himeko nodded, pulling out the chair opposite the desk.
"Elite Four Akimi—"
"Just call me Aisa-onee-san."
"Aisa-onee-san, do I have any tasks or arrangements this time?"
Himeko asked.
To face the coming crisis, Himeko didn't want to waste even a little time.
She wanted to improve every single minute and second.
"No rush. First stabilize the team, then we'll move."
"Go report to the First Squad tomorrow. They'll take you on missions."
Aisa replied without even lifting her head, continuing to flip through documents.
This trip to Wintergreen City had piled up a huge amount of work she hadn't handled.
Now that she was back and facing it…
her head was about to explode.
Himeko nodded.
Just as she was about to stand up and leave, the phone on Aisa's desk rang.
Himeko's steps unconsciously slowed a little.
"Hello?"
"What's going on—can't you hold out over there?"
"Got it. I'll send reinforcements right away!"
"A quasi-Elite Four-level Dragon-type Pokémon? Impossible! How could there be something that strong on the outskirts of Dragon Valley?"
"Damn it… I'm going crazy! Hold on—I'll personally come over right now!"
When Aisa hung up, her face was iron-dark, heavy with tension.
A quasi-Elite Four-level Dragon-type Pokémon had appeared on Dragon Valley's outskirts!?
That was truly unexpected.
Normally, the Pokémon on the outskirts were relatively weak.
Quasi-Elite Four-level Pokémon…
were supposed to be active deeper inside, or near the central zones.
Pokémon had strong territorial instincts.
To suddenly leave its own territory and show up at the edge…
that meant trouble.
Moreover, a quasi-Elite Four-level Dragon-type Pokémon was usually a clan leader.
So if mishandled, it could trigger a massive, chaotic war.
How dangerous that would be went without saying.
To deal with a situation like this,
you needed at least a dragon of the same level to intimidate the opponent.
In the entire camp right now,
only her Dragonite was an Elite Four-level powerful Dragon-type Pokémon.
So in this situation, it looked like only she could go personally.
"Should we wait for the First Squad to assemble first?"
Himeko had reached the doorway. Hearing Aisa's words, she turned her head and asked.
"Yeah. It's a bit troublesome. A quasi-Elite Four-level Pokémon showed up," Aisa answered, already rushing to head out.
"How about I go?"
Seeing how hurried Aisa was, Himeko tested the waters.
She volunteered not for any other reason—
but because Shiko had asked her to.
(End of Chapter)
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