Charcadet was groggy.
Just now, it felt like it had been hit head-on by some kind of dump-truck airplane.
What even was that dragon flying in the sky? It had never seen such a thing before.
Still, since it wasn't a Steel type, it had automatically ignored it.
This defeat was too painful and would have to be etched into its memory.
If it could survive, that is…
[It Will Surely Be Viable Next Time!]
In the twilight between life and death, it thought it saw someone important to it speaking:
Hang in there. What you love is what your life is.
Smack.
Very quickly, Charcadet snapped fully awake.
Oh, I'm not dead?
"Waa-oo—"
The first thing that came into view was a handsome blue dog's face.
The voice was unfamiliar, but the little dog in front of it was speaking.
You're awake?
The treatment was a great success.
Bang!
Charcadet's eyes narrowed. It immediately raised a hand and fired off an Ember, but the Riolu using Heal Pulse sidestepped it effortlessly with Foresight-like perception.
…
Riolu glanced sideways at Charcadet.
Wow, trying to ambush the doctor?
Looks like you've recovered well. You're full of energy.
In that case… you should be able to bounce right back even if I hit you one more time.
Thunder Punch!
With a boom, the lightning-wreathed fist smashed up from below into its jaw. Charcadet, who had just woken up, almost went back to the revolving-life-memories stage, sent flying and slamming back down to the ground.
"Vii?"
Victini looked at the blue-furred pup in puzzlement.
Weren't you sent out to heal? Why are you beating up the patient?
"Awuu~"
Riolu wagged a finger with a "don't worry" look on its face.
Aura is always with me. To keep patients from going berserk and disrupting treatment, tasting the "Emergency Punch" is a necessary step in the process.
Next time, I should try weaving Heal Pulse into my fist.
Victini rubbed its chin and tilted its head.
Vii doesn't get it. You sound like you're lying.
"Gaa-oo~"
Aerodactyl didn't understand either.
They were clearly just a bunch of crime syndicate punks. Knock them out and leave. Why bother healing them?
Genesect's optics flickered as it pointed to a ruin not far away.
The Trainer had gone into that ruin. He seemed to be looking for some material, probably something related to these guys.
Even though Genesect hadn't been with Hikaru for long, it knew very well that its Trainer liked to collect all kinds of rare and bizarre materials.
Those little ones, all holding hammers, obviously might be sitting on some kind of good loot.
Still, plundering the enemy's lair and taking away what mattered most to them was simply the law of the hunt.
Back three hundred million years ago, if you wanted me not to eat you, you'd better pay something in exchange, right?
"Ge-no."
Hearing Genesect's reasoning, Aerodactyl's rock-brain nodded along in agreement.
Oh! Exactly!
We took part in the hunt. If we're not going to eat the prey, then we at least have to take something from their nest.
You can't just walk away empty-handed, especially when the prey was the one who attacked us first.
After administering the "Emergency Punch" therapy to Charcadet, Doctor Riolu turned its gaze on the Tinkatink crowd.
They had all been knocked out cold by Aerodactyl's single Sky Attack, lying sprawled on the ground in a heap. Even the leading Tinkatuff were down, their hammers scattered everywhere.
"Fuu~"
Riolu took a deep breath to focus.
Healing this many patients in one go… this would also be good training for Heal Pulse.
Then let's combine Heal Pulse with the secret art of Swirling Whirlwind Fist and train that.
Meanwhile, Charcadet, who had been punched into the air, ran through another quick reel of its life flashing before its eyes before its fuzzy brain suddenly remembered something important.
No.
There are only a few Pokémon here. Where is the human?
Crap. The home base is getting robbed!
It scrambled up, stumbled to its feet, grabbed a hammer at random, and sprinted toward the ruins that were their lair.
——
Nameless Ruins.
These nameless ruins were everywhere in Paldea. You could bump into three or five of them just strolling along the roadside. In ancient times, before Paldea was unified, the land had been full of city-states locked in constant war, and most of these ruins dated back to that era.
In this kind of ruin, you would usually find Bronzor or Bronzong living there, and occasionally run into Professor Drowzee.
It was anyone's guess how Bronzong, known as the "God of Plenty" in other regions, had ended up as a random roadside wild encounter in Paldea.
Then again, when you thought about how a Pokémon as rare as Larvesta was as common as stray dogs here, it suddenly didn't seem that strange.
Right now, however, there were no Bronzor family members in this ruin. Instead…
[Rare Material: Bronzor Shards.]
[Description: Shards from Bronzor that once inhabited these ruins. After the Tinkatink, Tinkatuff, and Charcadet took over the place, the Bronzor fled, leaving behind only broken fragments of their bodies.]
[It is said that Bronzor's body can reflect the truth of things. The patterns on its back hold mysterious power and are revered as sacred.]
[Craftable Items: Ancient Bronze Mirror; Fragmented Armor of Merit (can be further forged into "Auspicious Armor" — requires spiritual smithing techniques).]
"Not bad. Bronzor Shards."
"This is exactly the high-grade Steel material I had been planning to collect."
"But… the Bronzor who lived here were really unlucky."
Hikaru even found a different set of large chunks of ancient bronze.
[Rare Material: Bronzong Fragments.]
[Description: No one knows exactly what happened here. These are fragments broken off from a Bronzong's body, brimming with powerful Psychic and spiritual energy. It is said that objects forged from this bronze are not only heat-resistant, but can even call down rain from another world.]
[Craftable Items: Ancient Rain-Calling Bronze Bell; Sacred Stake.]
"Huh?"
Sacred Stake?
That sounded like the ancient tool used to seal the Four Treasures of Ruin.
So they were made from Bronzong's body.
That actually made sense. After all, Bronzong were everywhere in Paldea. In the environment of that thousand-year-old war between people and Pokémon, smashing up a few Bronzong would have been completely normal.
Even so, as a Steel-type specialist, Hikaru couldn't help but shake his head and sigh.
He was very fond of Bronzong. Back when he cleared the games, he would always slot one into his team.
In battle, Bronzong was a very solid support Pokémon as well.
So seeing them suffer like this was hard to bear.
Seriously, life in Paldea was just calamity after calamity. Wouldn't it be better to abandon this cursed land, have everyone cross the sea to Sinnoh, and go back to their happy homeland?
Here, they were treated as raw materials. Back home, they wouldn't have to take this humiliation.
"Ge-euh~"
Aegislash suddenly drifted out of its Poké Ball. It scanned the surrounding ruins, a bit puzzled.
Moments earlier, it had sensed a familiar presence nearby. Even though the trace was very faint, as a Ghost-type Pokémon, its specialty was detecting exactly this kind of hidden, murky clue.
"Didn't know you had a talent for detective work."
"So, this familiar presence… what is it?"
Aegislash thought back for a moment.
It felt like some kind of antique that had once been "sold" alongside it.
"The West Paldean Sea…" Hikaru murmured. "Most of the terrain here is cliffs with nameless ruins, lots of mountains, and windmills."
"'Ancient antiques,' huh…"
"Could it be?"
"The Sword of Ruin sealed at Icerend Shrine?"
If he remembered correctly, one of the Four Treasures of Ruin, the cheese snow leopard… the ancient-sword leopard, Chien-Pao, was sealed here.
It should be somewhere in a corner of the mountains, and there was supposedly some low-class Flying-type pseudo-Boss lingering around. That didn't matter though. Aerodactyl would teach it the meaning of "Rock Head."
Anything doubly weak to Rock that dared to fly in the sky, it would just smack down.
"Ge~"
Aegislash slapped its shield.
So it was that animated antique comrade.
That guy is sealed nearby?
Wow, it's been a thousand years. Can't say I really missed it.
I'm not an antique. By the time I was being sold, I was already a Pokémon.
Hikaru said, "But in the end, 'Honedge' was just an ancient sword that gained a soul, right?"
"The way the Four Treasures of Ruin came into being isn't all that different from you. Strong emotions attached themselves to precious antiques, and they gained sentience. Many Pokémon are born in bizarre ways like that."
"And when those emotions are overwhelmingly negative, they stand in for a soul. That's probably why the Treasures are Dark types instead of Ghost types. They aren't products of souls. Souls can give birth to powerful emotions, and Gimmighoul is exactly that, but souls and emotions aren't completely identical."
"Anyway, speaking of ancient artifacts, I'm very interested in the Treasures' 'true bodies' as well. The cauldron, scroll, sword, and beads that form their cores."
"Even though the key to unsealing them lies in the Ominous Stakes…"
Hikaru took out the Interdimensional Ring.
Hoopa's ring was just utterly overtuned.
Forget ancient seals. What could be more effective than this?
"With this," Hikaru said, "there's absolutely no need for us to pull stakes at all."
"Ge-euh? (But… didn't you say before that you wanted to pull two stakes just to see how they're made?)" Aegislash asked.
Hikaru shrugged. "I did say that. But we haven't seen a single stake so far."
"If I do see one, I'll pull it out in passing. Even if it's useless as a sellable antique, the important thing is its sealing power."
"If we run into some really annoying enemy in the future, we each carry a stake, nail them straight into the ground, and that's that."
Aegislash's single eye lit up.
In that case, we absolutely need to name this as a move, then calculate its base power.
Unova's got that laborer family that swings concrete pillars. We'll swing Sacred Stakes instead. Same concept, except ours come with built-in sealing power.
"Hmm, and there's still more here…"
Hikaru's gaze sharpened slightly.
Amid the piles of Bronzor and Bronzong fragments were some scrap iron, iron ore of wildly varying quality, and pots, pans, and random junk metal pilfered from who-knew-where.
Not far from that pile, near a makeshift forge that looked like a charcoal furnace, sat a rather comical half-finished suit of armor.
[Item: Shards of Meritless Armor.]
[Description: An unfinished, half-completed suit of armor. No spiritual power, no blessing, and no battle merits are attached to it. The smithing is crude and clumsy, the materials used are of inconsistent quality, and its defensive power is extremely poor.]
[Note: It seems that someone has pinned their dream on this armor. To win battles, they resorted to ambush, sneak attacks, and other underhanded means to gather materials. A life like this can never become a true knight.]
"So you're not a righteous knight, but a non-knight."
"Hmph!"
A burst of flame shot in from the entrance, but Hikaru didn't turn. Aegislash's massive shield had already swung up to counter.
The fire crashed against the golden shield without causing the slightest ripple.
Charcadet stared at Aegislash with even more shock than it had shown for Genesect.
If Genesect's steel was superb alloy,
Then the material that made up this giant sword had already surpassed any metal forged by human hands.
That overwhelming power made Charcadet tremble uncontrollably.
Hikaru glanced sideways. "Intimidate? When did you get that Ability?"
Aegislash patted its shield.
"Ge-euh. (A big enough level gap causes pressure too.)"
"So, this armor… you and the Tinkatink made it?" Hikaru shifted his gaze to Charcadet. From its eyes, he could read a clear emotion.
Give it back to me.
That's my precious armor.
Charcadet's whole body was shaking, yet it didn't step back.
This kind of Pokémon was designed after a squire or apprentice knight.
In medieval Europe, a page would spend some time serving a knight and learning under them. Then they became a squire, and eventually were granted knighthood.
That matched Charcadet's evolution condition: it only evolved after receiving armor (being "knighted").
Charcadet's conceptual origin was also burning charcoal.
This particular setting and knightly imagery borrowed from apotropaic folk rituals in Mediterranean cultures, where burning coals warded off the evil eye.
"So, a knight should be full of flame and righteousness. But a fight style that uses any means necessary is not the way to become a knight."
"Rather than a knight, this is more like a blade fiend."
Ceruledge, another immensely popular Pokémon, existed as Charcadet's alternate evolution.
Its evolution condition was much simpler than Armarouge's.
It needed no battle merits and no blessing.
All it took was to find an ancient suit of armor saturated with lingering spirits and grudges, don it, cast aside all morality, become a ruthless ghostflame knight, and evolution into Ceruledge would be complete.
Of course, in the games the difficulty of both evolution routes was the same. But you could tell from later official shorts.
Auspicious Armor was a suit of armor only possessed by the great families of Paldea or those whose ancestors had once distinguished themselves in battle.
Malicious Armor, on the other hand, could be found just lying around in ancient roadside ruins.
That already said enough about the real difficulty difference between the two evolutions.
Ancient cursed armor was easy to find, and Ghostly power was everywhere. Gastly were practically overflowing in this land.
Blessed armor, however, was extremely rare.
"Do you want to evolve?" Hikaru asked. "To become a true sun knight, or a no-holds-barred tryhard knight?"
"Knight, do you crave victory that much?"
Aegislash's single eye slid toward Hikaru.
Ahem. That's a little awkward to hear.
I, um… forgot the rest. The important thing is I must win.
Charcadet didn't fully grasp the banter between man and sword.
But it did understand the difference between a righteous knight and a knight willing to use any means.
Wild Charcadet had no idea what they would eventually evolve into. The only thing they knew was that they would become new knights one day.
In nameless roadside chapels and ruins, you could sometimes see similar stained-glass murals.
Armarouge was celebrated in legends as a heroic knight of old.
To the people, Ceruledge might be a "fallen" evolution.
To Charcadet, its dream was to become a blazing knight, its body wreathed in flames, clad in golden armor.
Yet at this moment, the human was judging it like this.
Underhanded ambushes and attacks, no matter how beautiful the dream behind them, would never lead to the form it dreamed of.
Hikaru looked straight at Charcadet.
"If you want to evolve into Ceruledge, I can help you."
"Even though you attacked us, I've also looted quite a few good things from this place."
"I'm not giving any of those materials back to you. But in exchange, I can forge you Malicious Armor. It won't take me long. Making Ghost-crafted artifacts like that is easy for me."
"Your craftsmanship is far too crude. The same goes for the Tinkatink and Tinkatuff. If you want a real suit of battle armor, you'd at least need help from Tinkaton."
Ceruledge…
Charcadet had once seen that form in a human ruin.
That swordsman wrapped in violet flames, willing to abandon everything for victory.
Perhaps that image did suit it better.
But… every Charcadet had an undying flame burning inside.
If they could choose…
Who wouldn't want to be a righteous knight?
Charcadet made up its mind.
Even as its body trembled, it let out a shout.
"Ka-bo!"
I don't want any Malicious Armor.
I only want my own armor.
I'll use the materials I gathered myself to forge a genuine Armor of Merit that can bring about evolution.
Give my armor back!
That resolve made Aegislash revise its judgment of this Charcadet a little.
Hmm. I've never seen this type of Pokémon before, but from appearance alone, it did look a bit like a knight.
Now… it was finally starting to show a touch of knightly spirit.
In that case, I'll accept your challenge.
Hikaru said, "If you want the armor, then take it back with your own hands."
"After one victory after another, tasting defeat and savoring its flavor… A so-called knight does not lose their faith no matter what kind of adversity they face. They patch together a cloak of rags into a suit of armor and ride an old, skin-and-bones horse to fight across the land."
"Speaking of which, aren't the mountains of West Province (Area One) full of windmills tied to knightly legends?"
"You'd better be prepared."
"My Aegislash is a legendary Sacred Swordsman."
(End of Chapter)
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