Steelix was massive in size, yet remarkably agile in movement.
With a flick of its tail, it emerged into the open space once more.
Resuming its earlier action, it descended toward the pitch-black abyss below.
Now more experienced, Steelix paid closer attention to the movements beneath it as it descended.
At any moment, another spherical rock could come hurtling upward.
Meanwhile, Akira examined the information about the spherical rocks.
[Field Rock]: Due to the unique surrounding environment, these peculiar spherical rocks have formed.
They rise and fall like tides, following a fixed temporal pattern at incredible speeds.
If struck by one, even a skyscraper would be effortlessly shattered into pieces.
...
[Unique rocks, huh...]
Akira began to wonder—what would happen if Steelix consumed these rocks?
What kind of ability would it gain?
The power to rise and descend freely, as if flying?
But that ability seemed rather redundant, since Steelix could already achieve something similar with [Magnet Rise].
Still, he had no idea what else might lie below.
As Steelix descended further, Akira noticed the light around him gradually dimming.
It was a strange sensation—watching as the surrounding light faded away.
Darkness overcame the light, dominating most of the space.
The air took on a mist-like texture, obscuring anything beyond a five-meter radius.
However, using [Focus], he could extend his visibility slightly, just enough to get by.
Using [En] yielded similar results to [Focus].
The air here was unusual, seemingly capable of hindering detection.
In essence, [En] worked by expanding one's Aura outward, relying on its feedback to sense nearby objects.
But if the surroundings were densely packed or the air was saturated with energy, it could interfere with [En]'s effectiveness.
Strangely, Akira encountered no further dangers as he continued descending.
It was like sinking into the deep sea—the environment grew darker, and the air pressure became heavier.
Finally, Steelix's body touched solid ground. The area around them was shrouded in gloom.
Despite being at the bottom of the chasm, the space was vast, given the sheer size of the rift itself.
Standing atop Steelix's back, Akira didn't rush into action. Instead, he frowned, contemplating his next move.
The terrain was blanketed in mist-like obscurity, making it impossible to discern what lay where.
Should he just wander aimlessly?
After a moment's thought, he decided to follow the rocky wall, choosing a direction and moving steadily forward.This approach is more prudent.
The soil at the bottom was pitch black, as if stepping on scorched earth from the abyss, while the adjacent rock walls were an orange-red hue similar to [Field Rock].
Steelix flew forward for a while when suddenly, a larger rock by the roadside trembled.
Then, it abruptly split open vertically, revealing its "maw" and lunging to bite Steelix's tail.
The interior of the rock was densely packed with jagged, steel-like teeth, leaving no doubt about its crushing power.
Steelix halted abruptly, its eyes filled with ferocity as its thick tail suddenly gleamed with a silvery light.
The iron-hard tail whipped through the air, disturbing the surrounding mist, and slammed directly into the rock creature.
Steel-type move—Iron Tail.
Boom!
The sizable rock creature exploded as if struck by a devastating blow, shattering into countless fragments scattered across the ground.
Steelix didn't even have the desire to eat it—or rather, such a thing wasn't even worthy of being its prey.
With a casual follow-up strike, it reduced the rubble to fine powder, ensuring it wouldn't revive.
In an instant, the nearby rock wall rippled with concentric circles like water.
Whoosh, whoosh…
A series of figures shot out like arrows from a bow, streaking through the air with sharp whistles.
Their target was none other than Akira, who was riding on Steelix's back!
Akira remained expressionless. Thanks to the feedback from his [Circle], he perceived these threats with perfect clarity.
He sidestepped swiftly, letting the figures brush past him and vanish into the darkness on the other side.
Only one was caught precisely in Akira's grip, writhing futilely in his hand.
"This is… a fish?"
Akira raised an eyebrow, realizing that what had just tried to ambush him was a group of fish.
In his hand was a normally sized fish with an orange-yellow body, its coloration strikingly similar to the surrounding rock walls.
It had distinct features—eyes, head, tail—but the texture felt odd to the touch.
It was like gripping a piece of stone, except this stone wriggled like a fish.
Driven by curiosity, Akira exerted a slight force with his right hand, and the struggling fish was instantly crushed.
As expected, no flesh or blood burst forth—only stone-like powder scattered into the air.
Just like the Cursed Stones encountered before.
So, this was a stone fish?
[Rockfish]: Many special rocks give birth to these creatures.
Rockfish share the same composition as the rocks they originate from and typically move in groups, actively attacking other organisms.
They usually dwell within rocky mountains, swimming freely through stone as if it were water.
When emerging, ripples briefly appear on the surface before they shoot out like arrows.
If an attack fails, they retreat into the rock and launch another assault.
...
These creatures are quite fascinating—fish born from rocks.
But they're also quite dangerous. For anyone else, that earlier barrage would have left them riddled with holes.
According to the Pokédex info, the fish that got away must have flown to the opposite rock wall.
Can they even cover that distance?
As Akira pondered this, several more whistling sounds reached his ears.
A few small figures came flying back from the other side—clearly, the same [Rockfish] that had just fled.
Akira had to admire these fish.
Despite the distance and the obstructing mist, they still managed it.
Yet they could still pinpoint their own location with precision, as if possessing some special ability.
Akira's take on this was simple: take whatever comes.
Capture them all for research.
The next moment, seven or eight rockfish slammed into a translucent green barrier that had appeared out of nowhere.
The emerald barrier wasn't thick—it seemed like it would shatter with a single strong hit—yet the rockfish couldn't advance any further.
Normal-type move—Protect!
Their protruding mouths, sharp as arrowheads, looked particularly menacing.
A ripple in space,
and Porygon-Z materialized silently behind them, its lifeless eyes fixed on the rockfish.
In an instant, the rockfish vanished from the field along with Porygon-Z.
Their fate was sealed: they would be handed over to Meowth for research.
Although these rockfish bore some resemblance to the Cursed Stones, they were fundamentally different.
Cursed Stones were originally living creatures transformed into stone bodies after being cursed by the Cursed Snake Demon.
The rockfish, however, were born as stones, merely exhibiting fish-like behavior.
After the rockfish disappeared, Akira turned his gaze to the massive rock wall beside him, a glint of interest flashing in his eyes.
Just how many rockfish could be hiding inside that wall?
Or perhaps other creatures lurked within?
But causing large-scale destruction seemed inappropriate, so Akira decided to shelve the plan for now.
There would be time to test it later, once they'd explored further below.
"Rumble..."
They had only traveled a short distance on Steelix when strange noises erupted from behind again.
It sounded like something heavy and enormous was rolling across the ground.
The noise grew louder with each passing second, indicating that the unknown object was closing in.
Even the mist in the air began to churn violently, as if stirred by an invisible hand.
Steelix turned around with Akira on its back, both pairs of eyes fixed on the source of the sound.
A few breaths later, as the noise reached its peak, the true form of the object was revealed.
A gigantic spherical boulder was hurtling toward them at an unstoppable speed, crushing the earth beneath it and leaving behind a wide, unmistakable trail.
The mist was momentarily dispersed by the massive rock's passage.
Though the reason for its rolling was unclear, one thing was certain: if they didn't act now, it would crash into them.
In truth, it was obvious that the boulder wasn't targeting them.
But its sheer size meant they were caught in its path regardless.
"Roar!"
Steelix let out a furious bellow, its body glowing brilliantly as its tail swung with incomparable force.
If Steelix had been holding back earlier, now it was going all out.
The golden sheen of its tail was now tinged with silver, the radiance far surpassing its previous intensity.
Iron Tail!
The tip of its tail struck the massive spherical boulder with pinpoint accuracy, concentrating all its power into a single point.
In an instant, the boulder crumbled, spiderweb-like cracks spreading rapidly across its surface.
Like an earthquake-induced collapse, large chunks of rock fell away, forming an ever-deepening crater.
"~Roar!"
This roar didn't come from Steelix—it came from the enormous boulder itself.
The next moment, the spherical rock began shifting like a robot, its form gradually transforming
.First, something resembling human limbs extended out, with the central sphere more like a torso.
Until finally, the massive spherical rock transformed into a bizarre creature with thick limbs but no head.
[Formless Rock]: A bizarre rock creature with vitality, possessing an enormous size.
It is characterized by two forms: a spherical rolling form and a humanoid upright form.
However, it lacks a head. It is said that it will keep rolling until it finds a suitable rock to serve as its head.
If it finds one and "wears" it, its power will skyrocket, becoming an even more terrifying existence.
...
As he watched the reckless and terrifying aura emanating from the [Formless Rock] before him, Akira found himself pondering something else.
If it's called [Formless Rock] for lacking a head, would it become [Formed Rock] if it had one?
The strength of this [Formless Rock] was indeed impressive, on par with Steelix—both at SS- rank.
With a head, it might even reach SS rank.
At that point, it would be a notable presence even in the middle regions, and few creatures would dare provoke it.
But unfortunately, today it had encountered him—there was only one outcome.
He had no intention of using other Pokémon to deal with the [Formless Rock]. Instead, he would let Steelix handle it.
With Steelix's abilities, it was more than enough to take on the enemy. This was Steelix's battle.
With a thought from Akira, Steelix suddenly erupted with a dazzling light, shining brilliantly in the underground space.
Mega Evolution—Steelix.
A Shiny Steelix's body is golden, with primarily red eyes and a tail resembling a spike.
A Mega Steelix grows even larger, with an additional ring of floating metal fragments around its neck.
These fragments are divided into six groups, rotating clockwise.
Its eye color changes from red to blue, and six fang-like protrusions appear on either side of its mouth.
The three pairs of rod-like protrusions on its body transform into diamond-like golden crystals.
The tip of its tail also becomes golden crystal.
On the four body segments without rod-like protrusions, blue hexagonal ring patterns appear on both sides.
After Mega Evolution, Steelix's strength rose from its original SS- rank to SS rank!
A terrifying aura erupted as Mega Steelix glared fiercely at the strange creature before it.
Originally, their sizes and auras had been evenly matched.
But with Steelix's Mega Evolution, the [Formless Rock] was immediately overwhelmed, its presence growing much weaker.
[Formless Rock]: How can it break through mid-battle like this?
The next moment, the fragments around Steelix began to shimmer as boundless earth-yellow Aura surged forth.
Gathering around it, the Aura formed uniformly sized, increasingly sharp and terrifying shapes.
Rock-type move—Stone Edge!
Steelix decided to start with an appetizer attack!
Immediately afterward, stone blades the size of cars sliced through the air, hurtling straight toward the [Formless Rock].
The [Formless Rock]'s massive body granted it terrifying strength, but it also inevitably slowed its speed.
Its enormous frame became nothing more than a target, helpless against the barrage of [Stone Edge].
Boom... boom...
Deafening explosions echoed throughout the area as countless rocks rained down on the [Formless Rock].
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