Emergency

After the New Year, YoYo Day Care, Verdanturf Gym, and Pokémon Paradise became busy once again. Luna and Rand went back to their studies, while Akihito and Arata Sena, who were supposed to go on a journey, also set off.

As for Yuga, the laid-back store manager, besides occasionally giving some advice to Mayor Ishida for the preparations of the Wallace Cup and handling occasional challenges from Trainers at the Gym, he had a relatively easy time most days.

One day, right after he had accepted a challenge from a Trainer, a voice from the system suddenly echoed in his mind.

[ Triggered temporary task: The Evolution of Life. ]

[ Explanation: Onix is facing difficulties during its evolution process, currently at a critical stage of evolution. There's a risk of evolution failure. Please assist Onix in a successful evolution. ]

[ Reward: Steel-type Pokémon Universal Pokéblock Formula. ]

"This is the symbol of your successful challenge, the Verdanturf Badge. Please take it. I hope you can obtain badges in your next Gym challenge as well."

After handing the badge to the challenger, Yuga hastily left the Gym.

"Th-thank you..."

The challenger stared at the badge in their hand, but before they could finish expressing their gratitude, Yuga had disappeared without a trace, leaving a bewildered Beidou to awkwardly explain to the challenger.

"S-sorry about that, our Gym Leader has something urgent to attend to. Hehe... hehe..."

Beidou didn't know why Yuga suddenly acted so strangely; he had been perfectly fine just a moment ago. All that talk about being busy and having important matters to attend to had just been a random excuse, and no one knew better than him how idle Yuga had been lately.

Amid the astonished gazes of the onlookers, Yuga hurried back to his old store and then entered the Ecopark.

As soon as he stepped through the light gate into the Mine Sub-Ecopark, Yuga heard the painful roars coming from the mountain. The ground was shaking and trembling continuously.

Seeing this, he rushed towards the source of the roars at the summit of the mountain. However, after running just a few steps, a sandstorm erupted from the mountain.

Waves of wind and sand, mixed with fragments of rocks, rolled down from the mountain, nearly smashing Yuga's head.

Helplessly, he released Chimecho, instructing it to use its psychic power to create a barrier, protecting him from the flying debris. This allowed him to safely reach the mountaintop.

At the summit, the sandstorm still raged. The Magnemite, Magneton, Magnezone, Aron, Lairon, and Aggron that usually lived here were nowhere to be seen. They had all disappeared, as if they had been frightened off by something.

"Roar!"

"Roar!!"

"Roar!!!"

...

At this moment, Yuga once again heard those roars.

"Is that the sound of Onix and Aggron?" Could they be fighting? That shouldn't be the case; normally, Aggron would act like a grandson in front of Onix, having no courage to challenge it.

Onix, although usually in a deep slumber, was the undisputed king of the entire Mine Sub-Ecopark, and nobody would be foolish enough to provoke it.

All of this abnormality must be related to the issue with Onix's evolution that the system had mentioned.

Thinking this, Yuga hurriedly ran toward the valley where Onix usually slumbered.

The summit of the mountain was a concave valley, there is no vegetation, not even a blade of grass. It was a barren landscape of bare rocks and shattered sand. Onix typically slumbered at the bottom of this valley, accumulating the energy needed for its evolution.

This place boasted the strongest magnetic field in the entire Mine Sub-Ecopark, and it was common for Magneton to return here to use the magnetic field's power in hopes of evolving into Magnezone.

The Aggron sometimes brought their offspring here as well for a feast. The rocks in this area held the richest mineral resources in the entire Mine Sub-Ecopark, making it an excellent source of nourishment for them and their young baby. As long as they didn't disturb Onix, it would leave them be.

As Yuga reached the center of the valley, a Aggron suddenly emerged from the hazy sandstorm, crashing down next to him. Yuga could barely make out the sight of a thick, sturdy tail striking this Aggron.

There was no need to guess; that tail definitely belonged to Onix.

In terms of size, the average Aggron was already considered a giant among Pokémon, but compared to this mutated Onix in Yuga's Ecopark, it was like a dwarf in front of a titan.

The tail swipe from the Onix left a deep groove on the usually heavily armored Aggron.

This Aggron was innocent; it had simply come here with its offspring to find food in the valley at the bottom of the mountain. It never expected the Onix to go berserk upon encountering them.

Could it be that Onix had woken up on the wrong side of the bed? They hadn't disturbed it or its young ones.

To allow the little ones to escape, it and the other Aggron were forced to stay and fend off the Onix's relentless attacks. While they typically wouldn't dare to challenge Onix, their priority now was the safety of their offspring, and they had no choice but to confront the threat.

This particular Onix was on the verge of reaching Elite level, and these little minions were no match for it. It pummeled them effortlessly.

The Aggrones, after being thrown to the ground, immediately spotted Yuga not far away. Its eyes lit up – its owner was here!

It knew very well that its owner was a formidable Trainer. In fact, this giant Onix had been defeated by Yuga before it was brought here. So, if its owner was here, then there was nothing to worry about, right? Capturing this Onix should be a piece of cake for him!

You might wonder why a Aggron of such massive size and strength would act so timidly. Well, the answer lay in its motherly instincts; it was still a mom, and it had little ones to protect. It couldn't afford to take risks.

As expected, the moment it heard Yuga say, "You should head down the mountain," it immediately got up from the ground and dashed towards the valley below without looking back. It didn't even wait for its companions who had been fighting alongside it.

Hang on, friends, just a little longer. Our owner is on his way!

As Yuga reached the valley's bottom, the three Aggrons still remained, using a Double-Edg move to fend off the Onix. However, it was evident that the Onix had lost its sanity.

The Onix's condition was quite strange. A portion of its body, originally composed of rocks, had already started to harden into steel. Its body even emitted a faint glow of evolving light.

As described by the system, the Onix was currently at a critical moment in its evolution. However, this evolution energy was not spreading throughout Onix's entire body. Instead, it seemed to attach to certain parts of its torso like glowing scales, neither advancing nor receding.

If this state persisted, there was only one possible outcome for Onix's evolution: failure.

The three Aggron that had used Double-Edge were easily blocked by the frenzied Onix. The Onix had acquired some of Aggron's defensive attributes during this unusual evolution phase, and the attacks from Aggron were causing it minimal harm.

Thud, thud, thud!

The Onix sent the three Aggron flying with a flick of its body, and it appeared to be effortless, as if it had tossed aside three small rocks from the roadside.

The rampaging Onix seemed intent on crushing the three fallen Aggron, so Yuga quickly released three Poké Balls. Florges, Venusaur, and Serperior emerged and surrounded the Onix from three different directions, restraining it.

The three Pokémon simultaneously used Vine Whip to bind the Onix's neck, waist, and tail, effectively immobilizing it.

Seizing this opportunity, Yuga shouted to the three Aggron, "Quickly, head down the mountain. Also don't come back up until the situation here is resolved."

The three Aggron exchanged puzzled glances. Why did their owner say, "also"?

Then it dawned on them: Weren't they supposed to be four facing off against the Onix? Why did that cowardly one run away on its own?

With that realization, the three Aggron promptly dashed downhill, just like the first one that had fled earlier.

The restrained Onix began to struggle fiercely. Its natural strength was immense, and even with Florges, which was equivalent to an Elite level Pokémon, along with Serperior and Venusaur, both nearing the peak Elite level, they were almost unable to contain it.

"Chimecho, Heal Bell!"

Yuga called out to Chimecho at his side, attempting to use the soothing sound of Heal Bell to calm the berserk Onix.

However, no matter how Chimecho shook its bells, the Onix showed no signs of recovering its composure.

Yuga didn't give up and had Florges to use Aromatherapy. But still, no change.

"System, what's going on?" Yuga asked urgently. If this continued, the Onix's evolution would fail.

The system responded, [ During the Onix's evolution, the evolutionary factors within its body became overly active in an instant. It couldn't adapt to this state, causing it to lose control. ]

Yuga asked, "How can we resolve this?"

The system explained, [ It needs a substantial amount of Steel-type essence to promote complete steelization of its body, expediting the evolution process and calming the hyperactive evolutionary factors within. ]

Yuga said, "I understand! Venusaur, use Sleep Powder to put the Onix to sleep."

Venusaur nodded and released a cloud of yellow-brown powder from the giant flower on its back, enveloping the struggling Onix, which soon fell asleep.

Following the system's advice, Yuga immediately called Steven and asked him to have a significant amount of Metal Powder delivered from the Devon Corporation's Verdanturf Town branch.

This Metal Powder wasn't ordinary; it was a semi-finished product for creating Metal Coat, made from precious rare metals and priced per gram.

Steven acted swiftly, taking less than twenty minutes to have the necessary items brought to Yuga. The head of the Devon Corporation's Verdanturf Town branch, responsible for assisting with the preparations for the Wallace Cup in Verdanturf Town, had come personally.

This branch manager had gradually become acquainted with Yuga since he was heavily involved in the deep collaboration between Devon and Yuga.

Yuga was essentially the primary decision-maker on their business matters, making him someone they absolutely couldn't afford to offend. Consequently, they treated Yuga with great caution.

After receiving the Metal Powder, Yuga harvested leaves from the Mental Herb plants in the Grassland Sub-Ecopark, squeezing out their juices and mixing them with the Metal Powder.

Once the Metal Powder and Mental Herb juice had blended into a sticky paste, Yuga used a brush to apply this concoction all over Onix's body.

Yuga's self-study in breeding knowledge over the years had not been in vain. Although he hadn't become a world-renowned breeder, he had acquired a good understanding of most breeding techniques.

Since Onix was in the middle of an evolution and lacked Steel-type essence, Yuga decided to provide what was missing. The Metal Powder used to create Metal Coat contained a rich supply of Steel-type essence.

Normally, when an Onix evolved naturally and required additional Steel-type essence, it could directly consume rocks that contained traces of metal for supplementation.

However, in cases of unexpected evolution, where the evolutionary factors became hyperactive, the small amount of Steel-type essence found in rocks would be insufficient to meet the rapid demands of a drastically changing body.

Such incidents of sudden evolutionary outbursts only occurred in wild Onix that relied on natural evolution. Onix that evolved through the trade-assisted method using Metal Coat would never experience such issues.

This was one of the crucial reasons why naturally evolving Onix were so scarce. While their strength was greater, the process was time-consuming and prone to accidents.

Once a wild Onix encountered an outbreak of evolutionary factors like this, it essentially signaled the failure of its evolution.

Fortunately, this Onix was following Yuga. When it encountered an unexpected situation, Yuga was there to provide timely assistance. In the wild, such an incident would have resulted in a failed evolution, leaving the Onix severely weakened.

Even in the hands of an ordinary trainer, applying this much metal coating powder would have been a significant financial burden.

The Metal Powder applied to the Onix's body would be absorbed completely into its skin every so often. Yuga would then immediately reapply another layer.

As he continued this process, more and more of the Onix's body became steelized. The hyperactive reaction in its body, caused by the surging evolutionary factors, gradually subsided.

After an unknown amount of time, the slumbering Onix finally woke up. Thanks to the substantial supply of Steel-type essence, its sanity had returned to normal, and it recognized Yuga's assistance, casting a grateful glance his way.

At that very moment, a powerful evolution light enveloped Onix, shrouding its entire body.

The evolution had begun.

Normally, when Onix evolved into Steelix, it would increase in size. However, Yuga was surprised to find that the Onix wrapped in the evolving light was actually shrinking.

When the evolution light dissipated, a Steelix smaller in size than the original Onix stood before Yuga. Yet, even though it had shrunk, this Aggron was still a massive creature. Just by estimating its length, it appeared to be over 50 meters.

...

Type: Steel/Ground

Ability: Rock Head

Gender: Male

Potential: Blue

Level: 71

Moves: Tackle, Harden, Bind, Rock Throw, Rock Tomb, Stealth Rock, Dragon Breath, Rock Polish, Rock Slide, Iron Tail, Dig, Double-Edge, Sandstorm, Earthquake, Helping Hand, Stone Edge, Heavy Slam, Wide Guard, Rototiller, Lighten Body, Thunder Fang, Ice Fang, Fire Fang, Flash Cannon, Iron Head.

...

The Onix, already at the peak pseudo-Elite level, just as Yuga had predicted, it smoothly advanced to the Elite level after evolving. At this moment, its aura was overwhelmingly powerful, far exceeding an ordinary junior Elite level.

"Roar!"

The newly evolved Steelix let out an exuberant roar, expressing its joy. It raised its tail and slammed it heavily into the ground, creating a massive crater.

Evidently, while its body had shrunk, its weight had increased.

The melodious sound of Steelix's voice echoed through the valley, reaching the Steel-type Pokémon taking refuge down below, leaving them shivering in fear.

"Congratulations, Steelix! But please be gentle with the other Pokémon next time. You've frightened them quite a bit," Yuga said with a smile.

"Roar!"

Steelix obediently nodded.

[ Congratulations, host... ]

At the moment of Steelix's successful evolution, a completion notification echoed in Yuga's mind, and he had acquired the formula for the Universal Pokéblock for Steel-type Pokémon.