"Metagross, prepare Psychic!"
Jasmine issued the command with a tense expression.
The Pokémon that had appeared in the passage was none other than Metagross, the pseudo-Legendary Pokémon from the Hoenn region.
Of course, this was a normal-colored Metagross, not a Platinum-colored one like Steven's.
For a Gym Leader of one of the eight major Gyms in a region, pseudo-Legendaries were not some unattainable existence.
It was just that, in most cases, there was no need for them to spend the effort and money required to raise another pseudo-Legendary as one of their main Pokémon.
For one thing, even among pseudo-Legendaries, individuals with potential above the quasi-Champion level were extremely rare.
If its potential only reached the Elite Four level, it would not be of much significance to the few Gym Leaders standing at the top of their respective regions.
And if they wanted a high-potential individual, the price would certainly be painful.
Not to mention the time and effort required afterward.
On the other hand, this was also an inevitable result of the way Gyms developed.
What Gyms needed were methods for strengthening more commonly available Pokémon, rather than methods for raising rare Pokémon such as pseudo-Legendaries.
The most direct example was the Shizhu Gym in the Kanto region.
As a Gym specializing in raising Beedrill, the Shizhu Gym might not have been as powerful as Kanto's eight major Gyms, but its annual income was still considerable, and its reputation was quite significant.
There was no helping it. In Kanto, Weedle and Caterpie were simply everywhere, practically covering the land.
Young people who dreamed of becoming powerful Trainers were more than willing to purchase a specialized training program for their Weedle.
At the very least, compared with other powerful Pokémon, the cost had already been reduced again and again.
Among the main teams used by most Gym Leaders, only a very small number of Pokémon were relatively rare species.
The rest, including even their aces, were Pokémon that were relatively common.
Through years of accumulated experience and family-based research, the aces they raised were absolutely no weaker than pseudo-Legendaries of the same level. Some could even be stronger.
Jasmine was exactly this kind of case.
Although Metagross was also one of her main Pokémon, when it came to actual strength, the Steelix known as Naier was unquestionably her number-one Pokémon.
To put it somewhat exaggeratedly, the pseudo-Legendary Metagross was only somewhere in the upper-middle range among the main Pokémon on her team.
Pseudo-Legendaries were strong, but that did not mean every pseudo-Legendary was ridiculously powerful.
Under Jasmine's command, purple light illuminated Metagross's red eyes.
An invisible force enveloped Silas and Gallade, ready to act at any moment.
"Metagross, can you figure out why this is happening?"
Jasmine looked at her Pokémon.
Metagross's greatest strength was not its combat ability, but the incredibly powerful computational and analytical abilities it had developed from its physical characteristics.
If Alakazam, with its intelligence of 5,000, was an outright monster, then Metagross, with four brains operating simultaneously and computational abilities that supposedly surpassed even a supercomputer, was a monster among monsters.
Many researchers believed that for Pokémon like Metagross and Alakazam, the Trainer's commands were actually more of a hindrance.
Unless, of course, their Trainer happened to be Sabrina or Steven.
Upon hearing Jasmine's question, Metagross continued maintaining Psychic without making any obvious movement.
Countless streams of data, however, were racing through its body and mind.
"Bzzzt, bzzzt."
A sound resembling electronic interference rang out.
It took only two seconds for Metagross to produce its analysis.
Jasmine froze.
"You mean Silas is awakening Psychic powers? That's what the red light is doing?"
Even if she had broken her head trying to figure it out, she never would have expected Metagross's analysis to produce such a result.
Metagross's body shifted slightly.
Yes, and no.
If it had been its own Trainer who was in this situation, then based on its observations and analysis, the Trainer's head would probably have exploded by now.
Wasn't Gallade in the exact same state?
No matter how strong a normal human's mind was, how could it possibly surpass that of a Psychic-type Pokémon?
But it was obvious that this young man was not a normal human.
"Grr."
Metagross discovered that, based on everything in its database, it simply could not determine why Silas's mind was abnormally powerful.
"An abnormally powerful mind?"
Jasmine frowned as she thought about the rumors spreading rapidly among the various Gym Leaders.
"Could this be why Sabrina took an interest in him?"
She felt there was actually some logic to it.
For Psychic-type users, they either had no partner, or their partner was usually another Psychic-type user.
Otherwise, the differences in their outlook on life could become quite troublesome.
However.
"Aren't Psychic powers awakened after birth usually relatively weak? Why is his so powerful?"
Jasmine looked at Silas, whose feet were now floating above the ground.
Psychic power of this level was already among the highest levels attainable by human Psychic users, apart from a select few individuals.
Most Psychic users could not even lift themselves into the air. Even bending a spoon would leave them covered in sweat.
Blaziken, listening from the side, had a completely bewildered expression.
It could understand every individual sentence in the conversation between the human and Pokémon, but what did everything together actually mean?
Could it be that its boss was going to become a Pokémon?
Like Gallade?
Would that be dangerous?
"Blaze?"
It asked Metagross.
Metagross looked at Blaziken and analyzed the difference in strength between the two sides before slowly giving a negative response.
The most dangerous moment had been the instant Silas was struck by the red light.
Since nothing particularly serious had happened then, there would not be anything excessively dangerous afterward.
The sudden wind, levitation, trembling ground, shattered stones, and similar phenomena were simply energy overflowing during the awakening of Psychic powers.
Metagross admitted that it was not very familiar with this phenomenon.
From the time it had evolved from Beldum to Metang and then into its current final form, it had never experienced any problems controlling its own strength.
Bronzong, however, seemed to have something to say about that.
Jasmine explained on its behalf.
"When Bronzong first awakened from underground, its mind became confused because of the excessive accumulation of Psychic power. Its combat strength was quite astonishing at the time."
"Blaze."
Blaziken nodded as though it understood.
In any case, did this basically mean everything was good news and there were no bad consequences?
"That's more or less the situation. At least for your Trainer, this is a good thing."
Jasmine also relaxed.
Fortunately, it was Silas who had been struck, rather than her or Falkner.
Otherwise, they really would have been in deep trouble.
Falkner looked at Silas with a mixture of envy and lingering fear.
Compared with Psychic powers, he still thought his own life was more important.
Still, it was inevitably a little regrettable.
Psychic powers, after all.
How cool was that?
Time passed little by little.
The Psychic energy surrounding Silas had already become so dense that it was visible to the naked eye.
"Metagross, are you really sure this situation is normal?"
Tiny beads of sweat appeared across Jasmine's forehead.
Even as an Elite-level Trainer, she had never witnessed a sight like this.
"Could this guy's ability actually be stronger than that Psychic Queen?"
Although she knew it was unrealistic, a strange thought still flashed through her mind.
At this moment, Silas was completely different from how he had been at the beginning.
Not in appearance, but in temperament.
With his eyes tightly closed, he gave Jasmine the impression of a king looking down upon the earth.
Fortunately, his hair, floating backward as though defying gravity, greatly reduced the intensity of that impression.
Metagross indicated that it could not answer its Trainer's question. There was insufficient data, so it could not reach a conclusion.
It only knew that, judging from the rate at which this man's Psychic power was increasing, in another ten minutes, its own Psychic would no longer be able to withstand the pressure of his released power.
That did not mean it would be unable to defeat him.
Rather, passively protecting the surrounding area placed too great a burden on Metagross.
If it could ignore the destruction to the surrounding environment and the safety of the people present, Metagross had plenty of ways to deal with the human opposite it.
Unfortunately, that was impossible.
Blaziken looked somewhat anxious.
Having recovered some of its stamina, it attempted to use Aura to connect with Silas's mind.
"Bang!"
The next moment, a fiery red figure was sent flying backward, crashing heavily into the wall.
Metagross shook its head silently. Wasn't this just asking to get itself killed?
For an unconscious Psychic awakener, interference from an external force would only cause their Psychic power to automatically activate in order to protect their body.
It was precisely because the two were Trainer and partner that things had not turned out even worse.
"Speaking of which, what about that Gallade?"
Knowing that there was nothing he could do to help either, Falkner turned his gaze toward the rather inconspicuous Gallade beside Silas.
Compared with its Trainer, whose surroundings were filled with strange phenomena, it looked as though it had simply fallen asleep.
Even Metagross's indifferent eyes could not help but flash with a trace of envy before it answered Falkner's question in its mechanical voice.
The reason Gallade had shown no reaction was because it was already a Psychic-type Pokémon itself.
Since the target of the red light was a human, the exact effects of which were still unknown, it had instead produced a positive effect on Gallade.
To put it simply:
Gallade's current state was roughly equivalent to enlarging the pool that originally stored its mental and Psychic power.
Once it woke up, both its strength and potential would increase dramatically.
At the same time, its rate of growth for quite some time would far exceed what it had been before.
"Creating space to accommodate it and expanding that space. Looking at it this way, the latter is indeed much safer."
Falkner nodded in understanding.
As they spoke, Blaziken returned to its original position with an annoyed look on its face.
"Buzz…"
Perhaps Blaziken's earlier action had triggered something in the unconscious Silas, or perhaps the time had simply come.
An even more powerful energy spread out from his floating body.
Caught off guard, Metagross was forced back five or six steps before it managed to stabilize itself.
"We need to leave."
Jasmine's expression turned grim.
Once Metagross could no longer protect them, it was easy to imagine how dangerous it would be for them to remain underground with an unconscious Silas who had awakened Psychic powers.
"But…"
Falkner raised his hand and opened his mouth, but he did not know what to say.
"Indeed. It is too dangerous for you to stay here. You should leave first."
After a brief moment of stunned silence, Blaziken also returned to normal.
Its voice echoed directly in their minds through Aura.
"What about you?" Jasmine looked at it.
"I'll stay. I believe everything will be fine."
Blaziken's tone was firm, and its answer was simple.
"Be careful. Before he wakes up, he is your responsibility. After he wakes up, even if he temporarily loses his abilities, you'll still have to rely on him."
Jasmine gave a few brief instructions before decisively recalling the weakened Bronzong and Ampharos.
"Metagross, carry us out."
In this critical situation, she did not even bother calling Metagross by its name.
Metagross lowered its body slightly, and Jasmine immediately climbed onto its back.
"What about me?"
Falkner pointed at himself.
Noctowl, perched on his shoulder, rolled its eyes in annoyance.
Blue and purple light immediately enveloped Falkner.
It could not resist the Psychic power, but carrying a person through the air was child's play.
Watching the two humans and two Pokémon disappear into the passage, Blaziken quickly turned its attention back to its Trainer.
After looking around, it pushed off with its legs and vanished from the spot.
Its destination was none other than the Blue Stone Hall.
Hmm. The Trainer seemed to have told it to bring those two things along.
That was what it thought.
The Aura from earlier had not been completely useless.
At the very least, Blaziken had heard a fragment of Silas's thoughts.
That was why it had so confidently and decisively allowed the other two to leave.
"What the…"
What Blaziken did not notice was that after it left, a stone beside Silas slowly began to rise.
Immediately afterward, sand-like powder rustled down from the stone.
In just a few seconds, the stone disappeared into thin air.
Then a second stone, followed by a third.
The surrounding stones were extremely unfortunate. They were ground into powder for no apparent reason.
But that was not the end.
At a certain moment, some of the soil above and below Silas suddenly disappeared.
It was not ground into powder. It simply vanished without warning.
It was as though it had never existed in the first place.
Unlike the stones, this phenomenon did not last very long. Even if someone had witnessed it, they would probably have thought they had merely imagined it.
Meanwhile.
Jasmine and Falkner had already made it out of the entrance. Feeling the violent tremors coming from below, they could not help but swallow nervously.
With Metagross suppressing the power, they had not felt much.
But while fleeing just now, both of them had felt as though something behind them was about to swallow them whole.
That fear of overwhelming power was simply too direct.
Gigalith, which had transformed itself into a blue stone and guarded the entrance, had already returned to normal.
After giving the two of them a casual glance, its body slowly sank into the ground.
This was not Dig.
It was simply its ability to manipulate sand, soil, and rock.
"Are we waiting here?" Falkner hesitantly looked at Jasmine.
Jasmine thought for a moment.
"No. Let's go up. This place could collapse at any moment. Besides, I need to contact someone. The signal is too weak down here."
Something this serious naturally had to be reported.
Falkner did not object.
Riding on Steelix, they ascended at an astonishing speed.
"BOOM!"
No one knew how much time had passed before a thunderous explosion rang out.
An endless cloud of dust surged upward, blotting out the sky.
"This is way too much!"
Falkner stared at the scene in shock, his mouth hanging open, only to end up getting a mouthful of dirt.
"Tch. I wonder how that kid is doing. Who would've thought something like this would happen?"
Beside him, Walker, who looked exactly like him, was frowning as he spoke with Chuck.
Although Chuck was anxious, his expression remained calm.
"This is good. This is very good. Extremely good."
He repeated it three times in a row, making it difficult for anyone to miss how he was feeling.
"Indeed. This is a good thing."
A familiar male voice came from within the billowing dust.
A smile appeared on Chuck's tense face.
"Um, allow me to introduce myself. Silas Alaric, Psychic."
.....
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