Somewhere on Mt. Silver, in a hidden abandoned mine pit.
The light was dim.
Every so often, a faint sound could be heard—water dripping from the stalactites on the cave ceiling.
There wasn't the slightest trace of life here.
No shadows of living creatures, no signs of movement at all.
Dilapidated and desolate.
Deep inside the pit, where it should have been pitch-black, there was unexpectedly a cluster of dazzling, ghastly pale light.
All of it came from the ground—vast patches of liquid memory alloy reflecting that pallid glow.
Shiko watched as the liquid memory alloy, packed with an enormous amount of Steel-type Attribute Law, spread in great swathes across the ground.
It kept converging toward the middle of the mine's depths.
As it flowed, it gathered into a silver-white stream, gurgling as it surged.
The focal point of that flow was an inconspicuous yellow hexagon, no bigger than a palm.
At a glance, it looked exactly like a hex nut.
Only…
In the center of that "nut," a black sphere was trapped inside, constantly rotating.
It looked like an eyeball.
The flowing liquid alloy slowly piled up along the side of the nut.
Then, little by little, it condensed into a small set of limbs.
Immediately after, more alloy continued to pour in—
and that tiny body began swelling at an accelerating pace.
From barely over ten centimeters tall, it shot up past a meter in the blink of an eye.
Those short little arms grew thick and long, brimming with power.
Finally—
when every last bit of alloy had finished pouring in—
the appearance of this nut-like Pokémon underwent a massive change.
Its body had grown to a full two and a half meters tall.
Two alloy arms clenched into fists—
and in each fist was a huge hex nut, like a weaponized knuckle.
Its entire body was silver-white, radiating an unyielding, razor-sharp metallic texture.
A terrifying aura surfaced from it.
Steel-type energy burst out uncontrollably from within its body.
A silver-white metal storm swept outward, howling through the pit.
Its aura skyrocketed wildly.
Elite! Gym! Pseudo-Elite Four! Elite Four! Champion! Sect Master!
And then—finally—
it broke through a shackle and limitation.
Forcibly stepping into the realm of a Third-tier Legendary.
In that instant, its aura changed again—dramatically.
It had been strong and frightening before.
But once it broke free from the limits of ordinary Pokémon and reached the domain of legendary beings…
it became something entirely different:
the oppressive terror that belonged only to a Legendary Pokémon.
Silver-white shockwaves surged and roiled.
Like razor blades, they carved deep scars into the dark-brown rock walls.
Those thick metal fists, each gripping a nut, collided—
clang! clang! clang!
Crisp metallic impacts rang out as sparks flew.
Inside the yellow hex-nut "head," that black eyeball rolled along the rim as it inspected its new body.
A trace of joy flowed through its gaze.
It had slept for so long… and struggled in secret for so long…
No one knew how many ages had passed.
And only now, at last, had it evolved to this point—finally possessing the power a Third-tier Legendary should have.
But the very next second—
the joy in its eyes abruptly froze.
Because it suddenly noticed something.
At its waist and abdomen, there was a small missing section—a gap that looked jarringly obvious.
Like a flawless sculpture that someone had chiseled a piece out of.
Its body… was missing part of the liquid memory alloy.
Crash!!
In the next moment, before that brand-new state of mind could last any longer, everything shattered.
Its body collapsed into a puddle of flowing liquid alloy that spread across the ground.
Only a tiny fragment of memory alloy remained connected beneath the nut—
condensing into a small, incomplete body.
It stared blankly at the puddle of liquid alloy on the ground, filled with confusion.
It should have been enough.
So why was there still a piece missing?
It seemed that a portion of alloy had, for no reason at all, severed its connection.
It couldn't summon it back.
It couldn't find it.
After a moment, a helpless, faint glimmer flickered in that single eye.
Its stubby metal arm swung.
Large swathes of liquid alloy surged outward once again.
No choice.
If it couldn't make up the remaining Steel-type energy and Attribute Law, it would never complete its evolution.
As unwilling as it was…
right now…
it could only send the liquid alloy out again—
to keep searching through Mt. Silver's caves for metal ores and Steel-type materials to devour, replenishing and absorbing the energy within them.
Yet for some reason…
in recent days…
the Steel-type energy and ore in this mountain valley had been consumed at an absurd rate.
As if something existed here—
something that was competing with it for resources.
How long would it take to make up those missing energies and laws?
It had no idea.
But—
after tasting that power that only a Third-tier Legendary could possess…
its heart only grew more eager.
More desperate.
…
…
…
"Taking that piece of liquid alloy should cause its evolution to fail."
"So over the next few days, its movements will definitely become even more frequent."
"The area it operates in might even expand to cover the entire Mt. Silver range."
"This region isn't supposed to have your kind living here—go talk to them and make them do everything they can to search the entire valley for Steel-type materials and ores."
"If they refuse to cooperate, I don't mind forcing them with violence."
"As for you, Corviknight—keep doing your job. Lead your flock and coordinate with Dugtrio's actions."
"Oh, right—do you know where the other Steel-type Pokémon habitats are around here? Report them to me."
On a mountain ridge, Shiko was deploying the next phase of the plan with Corviknight and Dugtrio.
Blocking the other side's evolution was only the first step.
What came next—
was a race of speed:
to see who could gather more Steel-type Attribute Law faster.
As long as the other side's remaining Steel-type Attribute Law—those last few percentage points—could never be fully accumulated…
then in the face of the enormous temptation called "evolution,"
the puddle of liquid memory alloy in Shiko's hands would become the other side's final hope.
When that time came, the other side would naturally be led around by the nose.
And Shiko's plan—diverting trouble elsewhere and stirring up conflict—would become easy.
As for why Shiko didn't simply have Dugtrio keep finding the other side's remaining memory alloy and absorb it all, raising his own Steel-type Attribute Law straight to the target…
the reason was simple.
It was extremely hard to track where that memory alloy moved.
Even Shiko's side—his agile specialist, someone with a natural talent for tracking down items—had needed a full half month, and only by sheer coincidence, to finally locate the trail of that liquid memory alloy.
Because that alloy moved and devoured materials deep underground.
Finding it was incredibly difficult.
So Shiko set that idea aside.
Besides—
if it went wrong…
it might end with him fighting a Third-tier Legendary head-on.
With his current strength…
he still wasn't quite up to that.
"Chii-chii!!"
Dugtrio shouted several times, indicating it understood.
Then it drilled straight into the soil and began carrying out its mission.
"Guu-yaa!!"
Corviknight let out a harsh, grating cry.
It raised a steel wing and pointed at two distant mountain tops.
On those two mountains—
there lived quite a few Steel-type Pokémon…
(End of Chapter)
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