At the edge of the basin, a flash of blue light erupted—Natsu and Gardevoir appeared abruptly from thin air.
“…What’s this?”
Natsu, now used to being teleported without warning, took a second or two to steady himself.
Looking closely, he saw a figure engulfed in scorching flas at the center of the basin, clutching their head in apparent agony.
Beside the figure stood an anxious-looking Armarouge and an unfazed Chi-Yu.
The mont Chi-Yu noticed Natsu’s arrival, its composed expression imdiately crumbled. It rushed over in a panic, clearly trying to explain sothing—so frantic, in fact, that it nearly slamd straight into Natsu.
“Calm down, Chi-Yu.”
Natsu casually sidestepped the incoming freight train and placed a hand on Chi-Yu’s head.
Feeling the soft pressure of that hand, Chi-Yu seed to settle down a bit.
Whether it was truly reassured or just terrified that Natsu might crack its skull open, no one could say.
After all, that first night it arrived, Chi-Yu had seen it with its own eyes:
A Steel-type Corviknight, going completely wild with excitent, had been pinned to the ground by Natsu with a single takedown maneuver. The bird’s arrogance had vanished in an instant.
Chi-Yu might think that dumb bird wasn’t very bright…
But it had to admit—Corviknight was built like a tank.
And Natsu still slamd it straight into the dirt.
Is this guy even human? Chi-Yu had its doubts.
Now calr, Chi-Yu began explaining what had happened.
Let’s rewind the clock ten minutes.
Armarouge and Ceruledge had wandered into this sweltering terrain—only to find themselves staring blankly as Chi-Yu descended dramatically from the flas.
Unlike the usual friendly deanor of many Legendaries, Chi-Yu didn’t hold anything back. It unleashed its full presence without restraint.
In that mont, Armarouge and Ceruledge felt like tiny rowboats tossed about in a raging sea—re monts away from being swallowed by a furious ocean.
Seeing their dazed, stunned expressions, a flicker of boredom crossed Chi-Yu’s eyes.
Just regular Pokémon, huh.
Well, makes sense.
If this farm were entirely made up of weird, broken monsters, Chi-Yu figured it might have to compete with Corviknight for the lowest rung on the food chain.
And it was at least supposed to be a mascot.
Losing interest, Chi-Yu withdrew its overwhelming aura, spun lazily in the air, and was ready to head back to sleep.
Sure, these two were fellow Fire-types…
But Chi-Yu wasn’t the needy type who went chasing every spark of attention.
Just because soone showed up didn’t an it had to wag its taphorical tail and start making friends.
That would be pathetic.
Surely no Legendary was that desperate for affection, right?
Chi-Yu simply couldn’t relate.
But then… a flash of violet followed.
Ceruledge, eyes still haunted from the earlier experience, instinctively gave chase, as if trying to say sothing.
It didn’t quite understand why it moved—only that sothing important felt within reach.
Noticing this, Chi-Yu’s interest was piqued.
It recalled sothing from the Pokédex:
Ceruledge’s flas were fueled by the grudges of a fallen swordsman who once tasted glory before dying in exile.
That kind of power… now that was intriguing.
And then…
“So, you tried to guide it a bit?”
After listening to Chi-Yu’s half-hearted, muddled explanation, Natsu more or less pieced it together.
It was…
Well, not quite the classic tale of a battle junkie seeking strength and a chaotic gremlin offering it.
Ceruledge wanted to grow stronger, yes, but not obsessively so.
More than anything, it had stumbled upon a new path—a way to harness deeper power.
Chi-Yu’s flas, besides scorching, could stir intense emotions in its opponents.
A sort of fla of envy, perhaps?
Ceruledge thought, If I can channel all my lingering regrets and attachnts into a single sword strike… couldn’t I learn that trick too?
Not to the sa degree as Chi-Yu, but enough to sway a crucial mont.
Chi-Yu, having nothing better to do, decided to entertain the idea.
In theory, provoking jealousy or emotional turmoil was an innate gift—part of its identity as a Treasures of Ruin Pokémon.
And what is a gift?
Sothing you’re born with. A natural talent, a built-in instinct.
Everything learned after birth is simply called a skill.
For Chi-Yu, wielding that corruptive fire was as effortless as breathing.
But as a Ghost-type Pokémon…
It could naturally stir up fear in human hearts and feed off it to so extent.
Just… probably not as dramatically as Chi-Yu.
Still—should it give it a try?
That was what Chi-Yu had thought at the ti.
Then, it went all in and unleashed its power.
And then… things turned into what they are now.
To be honest, when the Ceruledge turned into a walking bonfire, the most panicked one wasn’t the elder sister Armarouge—
Nor was it Ceruledge herself, who was actually on fire.
It was Chi-Yu, the one who had lit the fla.
Bro, no!
I was just kidding!
Watching Ceruledge engulfed in flas, Chi-Yu broke into a cold sweat.
No, buddy!!! Take it easy!!
The thing was, Chi-Yu had only supplied a tiny spark, sothing barely flammable.
But whether Ceruledge got too worked up or there was so weird chemical reaction—
The fire quickly got out of Chi-Yu’s control.
If Natsu saw this scene?
No doubt Chi-Yu was getting a beating.
Because no matter how you looked at it, this scread “newcor troublemaker picking on a local resident!”
And the worst part? Chi-Yu didn’t have any way to imdiately stop the blaze it had sparked.
And the even worse part?
A Gardevoir was quietly watching everything unfold not far from the scene.
Then, she vanished with a Teleport.
Oh no.
In that mont, Chi-Yu felt like a death on star was flashing ominously above its head.
It finally understood what paranoia really ant.
It felt like a pink kitty could jump out from anywhere the next second and give it a savage beating, straight from the heart of society.
Or maybe the prince of the great seas.
Both of them harbored serious “hostile intent” toward it.
Not out of so life-or-death hatred.
They just… wanted to teach it a lesson.
And really, Chi-Yu could understand that.
A bunch of Pokémon on this farm had been forced to leave their hos because of the fallout from its power leaking out.
If they wanted to stand up for their friends, that was fair enough.
Chi-Yu got it.
Even if, when it ca to its own “friends”—like Ting-Lu and the others—getting beaten up, it would probably just clap enthusiastically on the sidelines and cheer: “That all you got? Hit harder!”
Ehhh...
Well, maybe that’s just the kind of bond the Treasures of Ruin share.
Those few short minutes felt like decades to Chi-Yu.
When it saw Gardevoir return with Natsu—
Chi-Yu’s vision went dark.
It rushed over in a panic, trying to explain everything to Natsu.
Thankfully, Natsu stayed calm, and there was no ssy misunderstanding.
Chi-Yu let out a long sigh of relief.
That was close—almost beca tonight’s dinner (scratch that).
Okay, maybe it wouldn’t have been that dramatic.
But if sothing had gone wrong, life would’ve been pretty miserable afterward.
Probably a beating every three days, and a big one every five.
Once Chi-Yu cald down a bit, Natsu turned his attention to the Ceruledge wrapped in flas.
Ceruledge was now lying prone on the ground, writhing in pain as fire poured out from inside her body.
Armarouge stood nearby, looking on with deep worry etched into her face.
From the start, she had strongly opposed her sister trying out sothing that sounded so utterly unreliable.
If you were really going to do it, at least call Natsu over!
It’s always better to have soone dependable watching over things than to rush in blindly.
To put it another way—
Ceruledge was like a student at a fancy private school—custom training regin, top-notch ntors, and probably a personal chef.
anwhile, the rest of the Pokémon world was out here grinding in the wild, eating berries off the ground and hoping not to get KO’d by a stray Hyper Beam.
To keep up with the elites, you needed grit, brains, luck, and probably a signed waiver because you were definitely risking your life.
But Ceruledge? Ceruledge just had to follow the lesson plan and not trip over its own sword.
And if things ever got dicey? No worries—so overpowered elder would swoop in like, “Don’t worry, kid. I got this.”
Ceruledge could’ve just called on w and Natsu.
Maybe they wouldn’t have directly helped—
But at the very least, nothing dangerous would’ve happened.
As she stared at her sister suffering in the flas, Armarouge’s anxiety surged.
She had always known her little sister had a strong will.
Though she usually listened to her elder sister, there were tis she would beco unbelievably stubborn.
And every ti that happened, it left Armarouge completely helpless.
This ti was no different.
“Don’t worry, she’s going to be okay.”
Natsu comforted Armarouge gently.
He stretched out his hand, and a green glow gathered in his palm.
After a brief charge, the light turned into sparkling rain and gently fell onto Ceruledge.
The green light lted into her body upon contact.
Her pained expression eased slightly.
Bathed in the steady healing power of the Viridian aura, Ceruledge finally managed to catch her breath.
She forced open her eyes to look at Natsu and her worried sister.
A faint regret stirred in her heart.
But the next second, it was drowned out by a wave of raging jealousy.
That overwhelming envy clouded her thoughts, making it nearly impossible to think clearly.
Her body was on the verge of being overtaken by instinct.
All Ceruledge could do was barely suppress herself, resisting the urge to do sothing she’d regret.
Fortunately, she could feel the frenzy—the fla of envy and that wild force stoking her emotions—starting to fade.
At least that was good news.
Ceruledge thought she could probably hold on until it was over.
“Hmm… in that case…”
Natsu pulled his hand back, looking around thoughtfully before cupping his hands around his mouth and shouting:
“w! I need your help!”
“w~!”
Not long after Natsu’s voice echoed out, a pink cat leapt out of the forest.
It zipped to Natsu’s side, wrapped its long tail around his neck, and flopped lazily on his head, playing with his hair.
“Alright, alright. I called you for sothing important.”
“Co help out first. I’ll play with you later.”
Natsu reached up to pull w off his head so it could take a look at Ceruledge.
But as he grabbed it, w yanked a handful of Natsu’s hair.
Natsu winced in pain.
w, still hanging by the neck, bared its teeth.
'Could you be more gentle?!'
'You almost yanked all the fur off my neck!'
Man and cat nearly ca to blows on the spot.
anwhile, Chi-Yu, who had already been hanging its head low, buried it even lower.
'What did I say!'
'That cat was right there!'
'It never even left!'
'That thing’s definitely just waiting to beat up!'
Chi-Yu was absolutely certain—w wanted to smack it around.
No deep reason.
It just had a feeling.
“w~!”
Fuming, w jumped off Natsu, its big tail swiping across Natsu’s face in a mock-punishnt gesture.
Though it looked like vengeance, it was more like it was acting spoiled.
After taking a careful look at Ceruledge, w scratched its chin in frustration.
You guys... always trying to pull new stunts.
In w's long, long life, there had always been Pokémon who liked to try sothing new.
Like that Gyarados who wanted to beco a true dragon, or the Infernape who aid to master the power of thunder.
Every ti one of these oddballs popped up, the Legendary Pokémon would gather around to watch the show.
Under the watchful eye of a certain alpaca, Pokémon truly had limitless potential.
But successful cases? Those were rare.
And by “successful,” it ant they actually achieved their goal without any major side effects, and could wield their newfound power with ease—no life-draining costs, no power going berserk.
After a mont of thought, w slapped its paw into its palm.
“I’ve got it!”
It spun once in the air, and with a flash of white light, w transford again.
A small, gray-blue Pokémon appeared in its place.
It had two gray tails, each ending in a red gem. Part of its face was teal, with a red gem embedded in its forehead. Its head was cone-shaped, and on either side protruded structures like little elf ears.
Azelf, one of the Lake Trio.
The embodint of willpower.
It was said that Azelf’s soul could leave and re-enter its body at will, and it could influence or even possess the minds of humans and Pokémon alike.
Usually, it resided in a parallel dinsion within Lake Valor, able to create illusions and use a wide range of psychic abilities that matched common perceptions of “superpowers.”
Eyes tightly shut, Azelf’s expression was solemn and composed.
And then…
“w!”
Look! Big mushroom!
Transford into Azelf, w pointed excitedly at its own forehead gem and cheerfully called out to Natsu.
The air of solemn dignity vanished instantly.
Its face lit up with a goofy, childlike grin.
Nearby, Chi-Yu practically buried its face into the ground.
Crap!
It’s a lake guardian!
Maybe not the one from before—the one that completely shut it down by controlling emotions—but still a lake guardian, and still bad news.
Chi-Yu could vaguely recall the ti when both lake guardians led a mob of Pokémon in a beatdown against it. With a quiet sigh, it curled up and lay flat on the ground.
The world’s gone completely bonkers. Best to go to sleep early and hope for the best.
After a bit of playful banter with Natsu, w floated leisurely over to the struggling Ceruledge.
It studied the situation for a mont, then suddenly dove into Ceruledge’s body.
A radiant blue light burst forth, instantly enveloping Ceruledge’s entire fra.
Reviews
All reviews (0)