"I'm Silas, an Elite Trainer dispatched by the League to find you. This here is Elite Trainer Diantha."
He showed his credentials first to avoid any misunderstanding. The three people hurriedly ushered them inside and shut the door of the secondary control room from within.
"What happened to you all?" Silas asked.
"Shh!"
One of them seemed to hear something and immediately made a silencing gesture. The other two remained tight-lipped, deep fear clearly visible in their eyes.
Silas and Diantha exchanged a glance. Silas rested one hand on Cyclizar, while Litten stood on his shoulder, and everyone fell silent.
Once the surrounding noise faded, the sound of thunder became clearly audible, rumbling as it gradually moved farther away.
"Hah… that thing finally ran out," said the Fire-type Trainer, Cole, letting out a long breath of relief. As his expression relaxed, he collapsed limply onto the floor.
The other two wore expressions of surviving a catastrophe, as if that thunder itself had been a manifestation of terror.
"Have some water first and calm yourselves down," Silas said, pulling water and bread from his backpack and handing them over.
"Thank you!"
After the three had steadied themselves, Silas finally asked, "What exactly did you encounter that scared you this much?"
Cole gulped down more than half a bottle of water. His Adam's apple bobbed several times before he spoke hoarsely. "It… it was an unfamiliar Pokémon that can control lightning."
"Hm?" Silas raised an eyebrow and stepped closer. "Tell us in detail."
"It was like it had gone mad, its whole body wrapped in golden lightning, its eyes glowing red… My Typhlosion couldn't even get close before being severely injured."
"When we tried to escape, it summoned thunderclouds and controlled terrifying lightning to attack us. In the end, we had no choice but to hide back inside the power plant and wait for the League to rescue us."
"Golden lightning it can manipulate, and it can summon thunderclouds?" Silas muttered.
A brand-new Pokémon?
He wasn't sure.
Diantha took over the questioning, probing for more details. "When you fought it, did you get a good look at what that Electric-type Pokémon looked like?"
The power engineer, who had been silent all this time, spoke up with lingering fear. "It was a quadrupedal Pokémon. Its speed was even faster than falling lightning—like a bolt of lightning itself."
"And—and it was able to drain all the electrical energy from every Pokémon inside the power plant in one go. I've never seen anything like it."
Diantha fell into thought, unconsciously rubbing the hilt of her sword. "Quadrupedal, extremely fast, capable of storing massive amounts of electricity…"
As these conditions were cross-checked, many Electric-type Pokémon were eliminated from consideration.
Among them are the highly suspicious Electivire, Rotom with its Ghost typing, and Eelektross (a Pokémon with no weaknesses) were all ruled out.
"Could it be Luxray?" Silas suggested.
"Luxray can't absorb electricity from the environment like that," Diantha replied. "And with Luxray's detection abilities, it would've been discovered long ago if it were hiding here."
"That's true."
They could only rely on the simplest method of elimination, striking out one possibility after another.
In the end, their attention settled on two Pokémon.
The first was Manectric, the Discharge Pokémon evolved from Electrike, it was highly suspicious.
The second was a Legendary Pokémon: a saber-toothed tiger-like form with golden mane-like hair, powerful limbs, and sharp fangs.
Raikou—the ferocious Pokémon that descends alongside thunderstorms. Its speed was more than sufficient, and it constantly released and absorbed lightning.
Its level of suspicion was extremely high.
"That Pokémon patrols its territory at regular intervals," Cole said. "If we want to leave, we'll have to defeat it first."
"Cyclizar," Silas called.
"Cyc!" Cyclizar responded eagerly.
"I'll hold it off. You take them to a safe place first, then come back and help me deal with it!"
"Then let me do it instead—" Diantha began, clearly uncomfortable with the idea of being protected, but her words were cut off.
Silas's confident voice echoed through the room. "It's just a Legendary Pokémon. I can hold out for a while. Diantha, you're not going to ditch me and run again, are you?"
"That time was… an accident," Diantha said with a smile, surprised that Silas still remembered.
She remembered it too—their first meeting, when they were chased by a massive swarm of Beedrill.
They had agreed to fight together, but her Kirlia suddenly used Teleport and fled.
Leaving Silas alone to face the swarm, he ultimately escaped only by diving into the water with Kangaskhan.
To this day, Silas still remembered it.
Especially the swelling on his backside.
Just thinking about it now still made it hurt!
"Alright then. Let's begin the operation."
Neither of them was the type to hesitate. After confirming their respective roles, they waited for the Electric-type Pokémon occupying the power plant to head out on patrol.
Silas scooped Litten into his arms, flipped onto Cyclizar's back, and chased after it.
Only after they had been gone for a while did Diantha lead the three people out of the secondary control room.
Exiting through the ventilation duct, they emerged outside the power plant. Dark clouds blanketed the sky, lightning serpents writhing within the cloud layers.
Not far away, terrifying arcs of lightning exploded, thunder roaring so loudly it made their eardrums ache.
For the two ordinary civilians among the four, who had never witnessed a powerful Pokémon unleashing its strength up close—their legs trembled uncontrollably.
Diantha and Cole each supported one person as they moved to an open area.
Diantha released Tyrantrum and had the three climb onto its back.
"Hold on tight!" she shouted, leaping onto Tyrantrum herself. "We'll leave the thundercloud coverage area first. After that, I'll deploy a distress beacon. The League will send someone to bring you back."
Tyrantrum's heavy steps pounded the ground, kicking up clouds of dust. The three clung tightly to its back armor, afraid of being thrown off by the high-speed movement.
A pipeline stretched outward ahead, and Tyrantrum sprinted along it at full speed.
This entire scene was caught by Noivern's eyes, and in that instant, the pain from being struck by lightning seemed to vanish.
Just minor injuries—nothing serious.
Hiss! Okay, maybe it still hurt a lot.
Only after Tyrantrum's figure completely disappeared did Noivern finally cry out.
If not for its tempered state and its long health bar, it would have collapsed from that suicidal barrage of attacks earlier.
"Noivern, can you keep going?" Silas asked with concern, grabbing Litten as it tried to hiss at the enemy.
"Noi~"
(I'm fine, Silas. I can still fight.)
Noivern shook its head and locked its gaze onto the Pokémon wrapped in lightning at the highest point of the power plant.
"Litten, this kind of battle isn't something you can participate in," Silas said gently, soothing the Pokémon in his arms as he dismounted.
"This time, break through that layer of lightning shielding it. Force it to reveal its true form."
"NOOOI!"
Noivern let out an impassioned dragon cry. Its wings snapped open, the resulting air currents sweeping loose stones from the ground.
Blue-violet energy rippled across its body as it gathered Dragon-type power, forming an energy mantle that wrapped around it entirely.
Roaaaar—
A dragon cry that resembled a sonic wave echoed between heaven and earth. Noivern transformed into a high-speed falling star and slammed straight toward the mysterious Electric-type Pokémon.
"Meow~!"
(That's amazing!)
Cradled in Silas's arms, Litten stared blankly at Noivern fighting with all its might.
Its tiny paws traced motions on Silas's arm, as if mimicking Noivern's attack.
It recalled how, when dealing with Bug-type Pokémon in the orchard, it usually just used Ember to burn leaves—compared to Noivern's battle, that felt like playing house.
Flames danced within Litten's eyes.
It longed to become stronger.
To have its name sung across the entire universe.
It wanted to be number one in the world.
At the same time, Noivern, now a dazzling meteor—smashed through the mysterious Electric-type Pokémon's outer lightning barrier, exposing its true appearance before them.
"That is…"
(End of Chapter)