"Bstoise, Hydro Pump!"

  In a certain area of the Earth Ridge, Dawn anded her Bstoise to defeat a level 50 Onix. This was already the fifteenth level 50 Pokémon Bstoise had taken down along the way.

  "B—"

  BOOM!!!!

  Just as Bstoise was about to respond to its trainer, a deafening explosion suddeed from the distas sheer volume eg across the sky.

  Looking in the dire of the sound, Dawn saw a massive bck mushroom cloud rising into the air. Even though it was far away, its immense size was still clearly visible.

  A momehe ground began to tremble violently, followed by a powerful shockwave.

  The earth shook so violently that Dawn struggled to stay on her feet. Before she could react, the shockwave smmed into her, sending her flying with a startled cry.

  "Bs!"

  Seeing this, Bstoise leaped forward, catg Dawn midair before she could hit the ground. Holding her protectively, it twisted its body so that its sturdy shell absorbed the impact as it crashed onto its back.

  If not for Bstoise's quick rea, Dawn could have been fatally injured.

  The earthquake and shockwave sted for over two minutes before finally subsiding.

  Throughout the entire ordeal, Bstoise never looses hold on its trainer.

  Once everythiled, it slowly stood up, revealing Dawn, who had been safely shielded in its embrace.

  "Thank you, Bstoise," Dawn said gratefully.

  As she looked down at the grouh her, her eyes widened in shock.

  The once solid terrain was now covered in tless cracks, ranging from small fractures to deep fissures. Every dire she looked, the ground was full of cracks.

  Boulders had colpsed, rivers had shifted their courses—

  And all of this destru had been caused by the explosion from a location dozens of kilometers away.

  Just what kind of being could unleash such a devastating force with a siack?

  The entire Earth Ridge had been affected by the bst and the earthquake. Though the impact weakened he edges, the devastation at the ter was unimaginable.

  tless Pokémon were injured, and the closer they were to the explosion, the higher the death toll.

  "Bstoise, let's go check it out."

  Curiosity burned in Dawn's heart, pellio head toward the site of the explosion.

  If she remembered correctly, that dire led to the territory of two Elite-level Pokémon.

  Could it be that they had fought? Had that massive explosion been caused by their battle?

  If that were the case—

  A golden opportunity!

  The thought suddenly fshed through Dawn's mind.

  Every year, there were a few lucky trainers who stumbled upon battles between powerful wild Pokémon. After both sides were left badly injured, someone would swoop in and capture the weakened survivor.

  Many trainers ih Ridge shared the same idea as Dawn.

  Oer ahey rushed toward the epiter of the explosion, eager to see what y ahead.

  But some trainers weren't so lucky—they perished iermath.

  At the ter of Earth Ridge, within a five-kilometer radius, everything had been reduced to a sea of boiling magma. From high above, the ground resembled a massive crater, as if a meteor had struck, leaving behind a basin filled with molten va.

  "Phew…"

  Julia out a deep breath. "Metagross, it's a good thing you were here."

  He stood on the only intact spot iire area, an isnd of solid ground amidst the burning sea. Alongside him were Melmetal and Dragonite.

  When Cydol had used Self-Destruct, it was Metagross that had shielded them with Protect, saving them from the devastating bst.

  But this wasn't Julian's owagross—it beloo his grandpa's.

  In official tours, Elite-level Pokémon were forbidden from using Self-Destrubsp;or Explosion due to the sheer destructive power of these moves.

  Julian had never seen one firsthand—until today.

  A mere early-Elite-level Cydol had used Self-Destruct, and the resulting bst had affected the entire Earth Ridge—an area spanning over 10,000 square kilometers.

  Had a pseudo-champion-level Pokémon been caught in the explosion at cle, it likely wouldn't have survived. Fortunately, a champion-tier Metagross had beeo block it.

  Julian had inally borrowed his grandfather's Metagross to deal with the unknown enemy, but even though that person never showed up, he had decided not to seagross back.

  That decision had just saved his life.

  Cydol's Self-Destrubsp;had e so suddenly that Julian wouldn't have had time to reaot even to summowo using the fragments.

  Perhaps, with the unknown enemy gone, his sense of danger had dulled. Otherwise, he never would have let the Cydol detonate.

  The explosion had been so intehat it melted the entire field into va. Even now, the molten rock was still bubbling.

  And that was just Self-Destruct, if it had been Explosion, which was even stronger…

  Julian shuddered at the thought.

  Smack!

  He spped Melmetal on the head, his voice filled with anger. "If you pull something like that again, you're not battling anymore!"

  If Melmetal hadn't been fooling around instead of finishing the fight quickly, if it hadn't taunted Cydol into losing trol, the battle wouldn't have ended in a suicidal detonation.

  Melmetal nodded frantically, eyes filled with fear—not because of Julian's scolding, but because of the absolute devastation it had just witnessed.

  It had almost died just now.

  At this moment, the heavily injured, unscious Cydol drifted toward Julian, carried by the currents of molten rock.

  Acc to Probing Eyes, its level had dropped from 73 to 70, and its injuries were severe. If left ued, it would die.

  'Damn'

  One Self-Destrubsp;had not only k down from Elite to pseudo-Elite, but it had also crippled its potential—it had dropped to Green, meaning it would likely never reach Elite level again.

  Afterall, there was no way an explosion of that magnitude came without sequences.

  "Metagross, let's get out of here first, and take it with us."

  Juliaured toward the unscious Cydol.

  From the sky, he could see the full devastation of the bst. This wasn't just destru—it was like the entire Earth Ridge had been wiped off the map. Not a sich of ground remained intact.

  "Whether you live or die is up to you now."

  Julian administered a healing potion to the Cydol.

  Even though it had nearly killed him, the real fault y with Melmetal. Julian's inal pn had been to use this battle as training, nothing more.

  He hadn't expected Melmetal to get carried away after being idle for so long.

  He also hadn't expected Cydol to be so short-tempered—like a walking gunp, ready to go off at the slightest spark.

  Still, he had no iion of capturing it. It wasn't even ae Pokémon anymore, and Julian had never been particurly ied in Cydol in the first pce.

  After ing the healing potion, its dition finally stabilized. It wouldn't die, at least.

  "Let's go home."

  Julian mounted Dragonite, preparing to leave.

  He had lost all i in treasure hunting—especially after realizing that the explosion had wiped out the treasure. The red dot on his Dowsing Mae had vanished.

  At the ter of the Earth Ridge, deep within Gigalith's territory, the massive roon surveyed the aftermath.

  The entire ndscape had been reshaped by the shockwaves and molten fury.

  Its home… was gone.

  Gigalith: "I swear… I just saw a giant pile of sandstone disappear in front of me…"

  *****

  Upto 30 chapters ahead on patreon :-

  patreon./ReduxMagister