“You... actually caught a Metang?”

  Dianne’s apartment had a small yard behind it. It wasn’t large enough for more than a handful of creatures to stand within it, but two of her Pokémon used it as their home. One corner was taken up by a mound of dirt that served as an entrance to her Vibrava’s underground nest, and the other corner contained what was an exceptionally large dog house, a small wooden home for Farigiraf to rest in given that the Pokémon couldn’t exactly fit inside Dianne’s building.

  Though the limited space out here meant there was only a few feet of grass, there was just enough room to move around in—at least, a little bit. The back door of her apartment was wide open for us to stand within and look out, and just down a short flight of stairs, we could see Metang doing his best to “battle” Farigiraf.

  His body was polished. Only the barest of dents and grooves remained. He practically shone in the late-afternoon sun now that the local Pokémon Center had done its best to treat him up.

  I could tell he was feeling better as he actually looked more powerful. When he attacked, his claws gleamed with a Steel-type energy that seemed to slice the very air itself.

  Unfortunately for him, Farigiraf was no slouch. She had been trained by two different trainers, and she had practiced with Valiant plenty of times in the past. To her, the Metang’s movements might as well have been those of a Slugma. Whenever the Steel type swung, she just casually stepped to the side, and Metang’s expression grew more and more frustrated.

  Farigiraf just laughed.

  “Yeah, I did catch a Metang,” I said, grinning as I watched the pair dance below. “But his species isn’t as important as his drive. Look! I mean, he’s trying to fight even now.”

  “Trying to fight is a pretty apt way to put it,” Dianne said, amusement clear in her voice.

  “Yeah, he’s a bit... motivated,” I said, chuckling as I scratched the back of my head. “He might need a bit of work, but I know with the right practice, he’ll be a pain to put down.”

  All of the injuries he had been fighting through meant one thing: this Metang had trained himself to keep battling no matter how injured he became. He tended to use his arms quite a bit when releasing attacks, meaning he had the range needed to practice against Valiant, as well. While he wasn’t a dedicated wall, he was a powerful attacker that could take a hit, and when compared to the agility of the rest of my team, that meant he fought just differently enough to be a surprise to anyone we faced.

  “So Metang is one of those battle-hungry Pokémon, huh?” Dianne mused. “A Pokémon that’s hardheaded, stubborn, and doesn’t back away from a fight.”

  She laughed again as Farigiraf side-stepped another swipe, but she wasn’t laughing at what she saw.

  “Yeah. That makes a lot of sense,” Dianne continued, her grin mischievous. “Metang is a good fit for your team. He sure sounds a lot like someone else I know.”

  “Who?” I asked.

  For some reason, that just made Dianne laugh again.

  “Anyway,” she started, turning away from the fight to properly look right at me. “Now that you got the capture you were looking for, do you plan on returning to the crater? Or, are you satisfied enough with your current team to not return to the Giant Chasm?”

  I hummed as if in thought, but I had already long since made up my mind.

  “As much as I like having a small team, having five Pokémon wouldn’t hurt, but four is probably enough for now. We still need to train, so we’ll be heading back, but I’ll be keeping an eye open for a fifth, even if that means I won’t be trying as hard to search one out,” I said. “...Also, Metang needs time to catch up.”

  Nodding along, Dianne’s eyes flicked back toward the fight happening below. As skilled as Farigiraf was, she moved a little too far to the right, and one of her hooves dug into that mound of dirt in the corner.

  Almost immediately, a bug-like head stuck itself out to chitter and complain. Immediately flushed with regret, Farigiraf bowed and did her best to furiously apologize to Dianne’s Vibrava. Doing so, however, gave Metang a free moment to strike. With a glowing arm, he slashed out, but his attack failed as a quick flash of Psychic-type energy pushed him to the ground.

  That was the second time I’d seen a telekinetic grip pin him to the earth. But he didn’t get angry; if anything, it only further encouraged Metang’s pursuit of strength. After all, once he evolved into a Metagross, he’d have the legs needed to resist being slammed into the earth.

  “It has been getting kind of expensive to hand over so many berries each day, so the sooner we stop entering the crater, the better,” I said, watching as Farigiraf released Metang to allow him to continue his attempts at strikes. “But we just need to push a bit further in to get the kind of tough practice I want, so I’m thinking I'll spend the sum I’ve saved up to grab an insulated tent and stay—”

  “Stay the night?” Dianne interrupted, finishing the statement for me while narrowing her eyes in a glare. “Nuh-uh. Hard veto. And I’ll actually use my authority as a Pokémon Ranger to arrest you right now if you even think to try.”

  “...I can’t convince you?” I squeaked out.

  “Please,” she said with a scoff, glaring at me and crossing her arms. “At least when we talked the first time, it was clear you had a specific plan. But staying the night in the Giant Chasm isn’t just insane for your team; it’s also likely fatal.”

  I wanted to reach the furthest edge of the crater for one last goal, but the amount of distance we could cover was limited by how much energy we had to expend in a day—especially since we’d need to stay healthy enough to head back. Camping out meant we could recover within the crater and make further travel trivial, but with the look on Dianne’s face, I could tell she’d accept no arguments on my part.

  “Can I at least ask why?” I said.

  She smiled as if that was the first smart thing I’d said all day.

  “You can, and you may, but I’m just going to tell you outright to make sure you understand,” Dianne said. “Look, Nick, you know that I’m not happy with you entering the Giant Chasm, but in this case, staying the night is dangerous. And it isn’t just due to the Pokémon. It’s also due to the environment itself.”

  At night, the Chasm’s temperatures would drop to be even further below freezing, and nighttime was also when the truly dangerous Pokémon came out to hunt. We would need a reliable source of heat just to survive, but that source of heat would also lure in any aggressive Pokémon lurking nearby.

  “While the temperatures are survivable with the right preparation, the problem is that camping wouldn’t actually help you,” Dianne said. “Resting is meant to give you a chance to recover, but you’d face constant battles that’d keep you up, and then that would lead to exhaustion, and then exhaustion would lead to mistakes.”

  “...And out there, mistakes can be deadly,” I said for her.

  Grimly, Dianne nodded her head.

  Weirdly, the one type of Pokémon that could make my plan somewhat viable was an Ice-type Pokémon. Rather than sleeping in a tent or using something that’d make us obvious but warm, the best way to camp out in an icy environment was to build an igloo or some kind of icy pit. The freezing exterior would help to hide the campsite’s presence, and igloos excelled at keeping in heat. I didn’t have an Ice-type with me, but I could potentially purchase a battle-ready refrigerator for Rotom to possess. However, that wouldn’t give him the fine control over snow that we needed, and even with the refrigerator’s ability to fold up to fit in a backpack, they remained large enough to be cumbersome. They were also effectively useless at storing food, as folding them up prevented anything from being kept within.

  At least with Rotom’s microwave oven and washing machine, those were helpful when traveling. A refrigerator would do nothing for us.

  Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  Plus, I couldn’t exactly afford it with my current level of cash.

  “So no matter what, we’ll only be able to train in the crater during the day,” I mused. “That’s one day to push as deep as possible, and one day to... fight the Pokémon we want to fight.”

  Dianne was frowning, but she was looking away from my face to watch the battle taking place below. If she got a hint of what I was planning, she didn’t allow that thought to show.

  “I can tell taking on the Giant Chasm has made your team stronger, but you need to be careful,” Dianne said. “It’s been working out for you so far, but you shouldn’t push your luck.”

  “We’ll be careful,” I promised. “We’re all working together, of course. We also have Metang now, and Metang is pretty—”

  Avoiding another attack, Farigiraf accidentally stepped on Vibrava’s nest once more, and the insect-like Dragon type had finally had enough. Launching itself out of its hole, it threw itself at the pair of Pokémon. With its dragonfly-like wings, it was quick to move and land right on Metang’s face. He tried to attack it, but the Vibrava was able to leap away just in time to make it so Metang hit himself between his eyes.

  “Metang can be strong,” I mumbled, staring at the current chaos. “He just needs a bit more training.”

  “I guess you do need to spend more time in the crater,” Dianne said with a slight laugh.

  We ran down the stairs to pull our Pokémon apart, and Dianne’s Vibrava hissed at Metang in annoyance from where Dianne held it in her arms. Metang didn’t exactly look pleased to be challenged like that, but to my surprise, he actually let me hold him back.

  Pushing through the Giant Chasm in only one day was going to be limiting, but if anything, my team was motivated. Everyone wanted to get stronger.

  And it was certainly going to be interesting.

  In a way, this kind of challenge was almost like a game. We just needed to keep trying until we gained the strength and skill needed to find and defeat the Giant Chasm’s final “boss.”

  The next time we entered the Giant Chasm was a day later. Metang needed time to rest and adjust to being a part of a trainer’s team. I really had to get it into his metal head that he needed to wait to attack unless instructed. What finally convinced him that listening to me was worth it was having him fight Valiant twice—once on his own, and then once following my commands.

  While Pokémon always knew how to use their moves better than their trainer, they were more effective in battle when they had a trainer overseeing the entire match. By staying off to the side, trainers could see the entire battle at once, and they assisted by using what they knew to issue the best possible strategic commands.

  As we returned, berries were handed over to the Tangela in exchange for safe passage, and I was quick to learn the qualitative difference that having a fourth Pokémon could make. I had more flexibility to choose just who would participate in a fight, and Metang’s presence was essentially an entire extra pool of stamina. Just being able to have him battle meant I could rotate my team members even more, which gave everyone extra time to rest. Even in battles in which everyone had to participate, having one more body with us divided our opponents even further and made those kinds of encounters less tough.

  We pushed in even further than before, and I used that chance to watch Metang fight.

  His strategy in battle was honestly strange. The rest of my team fought by avoiding damage, either through skilled dodges or deflection. Metang, however, purposefully took strikes to open up opportunities for himself. When fighting something like, say, a Sneasel, Metang would purposefully crash through its slashes to better slam his arms into its sides.

  Even with the existence of wild Audino, most wild Pokémon didn’t want to take so much damage at once. Metang’s style of no-holds-barred battling saw Pokémon back off sooner rather than later, and it helped me understand how he managed to get as strong as he was.

  Of course, Metang’s strategy wasn’t the best strategy to have out here—every fight saw him take damage, and every fight tested his defense. But, where the rest of my team had focused on power and speed, Metang focused on his power and health.

  So, together, we pushed. The initial edges of the Giant Chasm were easy. With our days of practice behind us, it was almost trivial to locate the common species and change directions to avoid needless fights. Deeper in, however, Pokémon almost became more territorial, and I didn’t treat the groups we encountered like the Tangela from before. There was no sense in bribing them out here—they were too angered by our presence.

  The only method we had available was to fight.

  On our first day of pushing in, we had to fall back due to a Probopass. That floating, stone-faced Pokémon possessed an incredible innate magnetic field, and its presence meant two of my team members could not escape. Metang almost became stuck to its side, and Valiant had trouble moving around when facing it. Ultimately, we only managed to flee thanks to a blast of lightning from Rotom that disrupted the Probopass’s usual functions. That gave us just enough space to pull back to return and rest.

  But we weren’t going to give up there.

  We headed back the very next day.

  An Aggron tore out trees just to throw them at us like car-sized projectiles. A Poliwrath shattered the surface of a frozen pond to unleash its practiced punches as a punishment for getting too close. Swarms of Emolga would dive from the branches above us, intending to paralyze us and steal our stuff. And then, there was the true threat, a nightmare that had dragged itself out of the deepest, most terrifying, frozen pit:

  Delibird.

  Bouncing along, that wild Ice type would merrily approach just to give us a present. The Delibird we encountered were never aggressive, making fighting them not an option, but half the time they appeared, the gifts they provided would explode.

  Unfortunately, there was little we could do to avoid that. A Delibird’s smile was an unavoidable trap due to social pressure and its friendly demeanor.

  Though we would occasionally receive a rare berry, the blasts we suffered from its presents made it not worth the risk.

  However, even with the increased difficulty of these deeper-in encounters, every day got a little easier as we learned from our mistakes. Aggron were obvious and could be avoided by taking a wider route. We could figure out where the Probopass were by using a compass and changing directions when the needle suddenly locked onto a certain path. Emolga would flee at the slightest amount of damage, and the Delibird’s given Presents?

  Present was a Normal-type move. If we sent Rotom forward to accept it, we didn’t need to worry. Even if the gift exploded, not possessing anything made him a Ghost type, and Rotom would be rendered immune to that damage.

  Every day, we were able to reach further and further into the crater. We learned more and more about how to avoid unnecessary encounters and win the necessary fights. Through the trees, I started to be able to see the mountains that framed the back half of the chasm. And, within them, I was able to make out our ultimate goal:

  The den of that monster that lived within this crater.

  “There,” I would whisper to my team whenever I saw it. “I can’t explain why I’m so sure of it, but I know we have to get there. To that mountain.”

  At the very furthest reaches of the Giant Chasm was a twisted spire of ice and stone. If there was any place that whispered-of monster lurked, it had to be within that strange and unnatural pillar that scraped at the sky.

  On the day of our final push, there must have been a certain look in my eye. So far, that Tangrowth had been there to accept “payment” every time we passed through the Tangela’s territory, but on this day, it declined those berries.

  It acted as though it thought we’d need them.

  We avoided all battles. We had learned the signs, and as much as Metang disliked it, we could avoid the less obvious encounters due to his skill at recognizing distant fights. Twice before, we had made it this far in, but we had been too tired to push and too damaged to continue.

  But now, we were in perfect health to complete our hunt.

  We only had one battle left before we could finish our time in the Giant Chasm.

  “Before we head in, I want to say thank you,” I said, looking at an open cave at the base of that enormous, twisted spire. “We needed to get stronger, and everyone has fought to bring us here. This is going to be the most difficult battle we’ve ever faced, and it’s also going to be one of the most dangerous. I know none of you needed to take this risk with me, but I appreciate it so, so much.”

  Out of all reactions, I didn’t expect to hear Liepard scoff. The big cat looked annoyed at my short speech, especially since I had implied that my Pokémon wouldn’t have been here if I didn’t bring them otherwise.

  My team wasn’t here because I told them to be here; they were here because they wanted this badly, just the same as me.

  There was a reason I had wanted to catch Metang. He perfectly fit in with a group of Pokémon that wanted to chase after these kinds of fights.

  “Thank you,” I said again, speaking genuinely. “Then, is everyone ready?”

  I got a round of acknowledgements, and even Valiant joined in, nodding their head as they retrieved their blade. Valiant was always on edge when it came to securing our safety, but when it came to this cave—

  Even they were staring into it. Valiant was ready to test just how strong they had become in what was going to be a nearly impossible fight.

  “I guess there’s no sense in waiting,” I said quietly. “Time to go in.”

  Sticking close together, we moved forward as a group, leaving the cover of the trees.

  The temperature dropped as soon as we entered the short tundra that surrounded this spire. Here, it was as if the very air itself had somehow frozen where it had blown. The world was perfectly still, and all noise was absent save for our footsteps.

  I had once thought the sound in the forest was muffled, but walking through this empty, open terrain, it was so quiet that I could hear the blood pumping in my chest.

  Every footstep echoed. Every footstep brought us closer to that towering monolith of a mountain. Natural light from the interior of the structure meant the cave ahead of us was not pitch black.

  And, as we carefully passed through that open entrance, I was able to see exactly why.

  This place was a mountain, but it wasn’t really. It was an entirely hollow structure, all the way up to its very top. Ice spiraled up the walls to create a twisted, pointed peak, and chunks of earth and stone had joined that frozen material, having built up over the years. Everything was spotted by patches of ice, and they served as enormous windows that let in the sun and gave this place a consistent, unearthly glow.

  This internal, empty space was mostly smooth and undisturbed stone, but at certain points, I had to fight to regain my balance and not slip on patches of dark ice. Whenever that happened, Rotom would zip over in the air to help me stay upright. For this fight, he was possessing his oven, and that device was large enough to give me an easy object to grab onto for support.

  Though the inside of this faux-mountain was devoid of any structures, the back wall opened up and continued down into what had to be another cave.

  Or, it continued down into what had to be a den.

  “Careful,” I whispered, and though I kept my voice low, even that soft of a noise echoed all around us. “This is where we’re going to make our challenge, but we need to show respect. Only attack when I say to attack, and whatever you do, do not offend the Pokémon we find in there.”

  To my surprise, even Metang nodded, a solemn expression in his eyes. I’d only known him for a few days at this point, but I had a feeling he had never been this focused in his entire life.

  As we passed beneath the very tip of the mountain so far above our heads, a chill crept into me. I had felt so confident about this for so very long, but now that we were here, the cold almost threatened to freeze the confidence I had in my chest.

  But we kept going, and compared to the rest of this hollow structure, the den in the back was dim but still lit up by that unnatural light. And, this room actually possessed signs of life, but they were far too large. There were grooves carved into the earth made by claws the size of my arms.

  Whenever I breathed out, my breath would become mist, and ice crystals would fall to the floor.

  This was a cold, but it was not a natural cold.

  We soon found its source deep asleep in the back of its den, and upon laying my eyes on it, I knew I could not call this creature a mere Pokémon.

  It was a dragon.

  A true dragon.

  A Legendary being.

  A creature intrinsically tied to the history of Unova, and one of the strongest Pokémon in the region.

  “There it is,” I whispered. “That’s our opponent.”

  Sleeping in this den ahead of us was the Legendary Pokémon, Kyurem.

  Pokémon mentioned in this chapter:

  Nick’s Team:

  Iron Valiant

  enormous thank you to everyone reading! Your support keeps this story going.