The cave was vast, seemingly carved out by the Giant Dragonite itself.
It was clearly ancient, moss covering the walls and the air damp.
Stalactites hung overhead.
*Uuuh~*
From deeper inside, faint, weak breathing could be heard.
*Uuuhh—* the Giant Dragonite cried out anxiously.
The heavy roar echoed like thunder throughout the cave.
Natsu grimaced and quickly put in his owth-shaped earplugs.
"You jerk! Don't you have hands yourself, ow?!"
The echo rattled owth so badly it almost fell off Natsu's shoulder.
Before long, Natsu reached the deepest part of the cave—and finally understood why the Giant Dragonite had brought him here.
At the very back, a slab of stone like a bed had been chiseled out.
Upon it lay an enormous Dragonite.
But sothing was very wrong.
The sight of it made Natsu's pupils shrink. Beside him, owth was so terrified it dared not even open his eyes.
ITS right antenna was grotesquely deford, dangling like a mutated vine. At the tip, a swollen, translucent cyst pulsed with black-red liquid sloshing inside.
ITS left wing bone pierced through its wing mbrane, the malford, oversized bone scraping cracks into the cave ceiling. Every attempt to fold its wings caused stalactite shards to rain down.
It pressed its rotting belly against the cold stone, while the tumor-like tip of its tail twitched uncontrollably, smashing the moss below into cratered patterns.
The cave walls were scarred with claw marks, the newest still wet with glistening sli—the remains of its agony from the night before.
When Natsu's gaze fell on it, the Dragonite's bloodshot pupils contracted sharply. ITS throat quivered but no sound ca, only a wheezing like rusted gears grinding to a halt.
A chill crept over Natsu.
*Uuuhh!*
Above, the Giant Dragonite called out to him.
owth's trembling voice translated:
"She says… she says that's her child. She wants us to cure it, ow."
The mont owth laid eyes on the deford Dragonite, he had already guessed. Clinging to Natsu's ear, he whispered cautiously:
"I'm telling you, maybe we should sneak off while she's not looking!"
"Why would we run?"
"Can you actually treat it, ow?!" owth's eyes lit up.
"I can't. I'm not a Pokémon doctor." Natsu waved his hand.
...
On his system panel, the young Dragonite's stats were terrible—as if every talent had been reduced to zero.
Was it related to the mutation in its body?
Thanks to the Giant Dragonite's comforting presence, the little Dragonite gradually cald down.
As Natsu stepped closer, a foul stench of rot reached him.
After observing for a while, he gained a basic understanding of its condition.
ITS right antenna was over 300% larger than normal. ITS left wing was nearly two to three tis the size of the right. ITS leg bones showed signs of stress crystallization.
Don't ask how he saw it—but the left leg was the worst. Half the thigh was rotting flesh, the bone faintly visible beneath.
"Why do you think I can heal it?" Natsu looked up at the Giant Dragonite.
From the mont they battled, she had shown unusual interest in him—Natsu knew it.
She had chosen him for a reason.
*Rooaar! Rooaar!*
"ow, she says… that move you used to absorb her power—maybe it could save her child." owth translated.
Hearing this, Natsu nodded slightly.
A Dragonite capable of sustaining Eternamax form. Divine Authority. And this deford young Dragonite, whose body parts had randomly gigantamaxed but failed.
This had to be connected to Eternatus.
*But Eternatus… wasn't it in Galar?*
*Then why was that power inside this Giant Dragonite?*
"Co out, Great Ball Rotom!"
"Rotom, use Rob the Rich, Aid the Poor Ball on that Dragonite!"
Natsu wasn't sure, but he decided to treat the deford Dragonite first before asking questions.
A blue beam enveloped the malford Dragonite.
The Giant Dragonite watched nervously. Under her hopeful gaze, the frail Dragonite was released.
ITS condition had indeed improved—the swollen, vine-like antenna had shrunk noticeably.
Another few dozen tis, and it might return to normal.
"In that case—Battle Arena, unfold!"
Rousing music echoed around them.
"Rotom, do it again!"
Natsu tossed Rotom a PP supplent and gave the order.
*Roto!* Rotom didn't act, but instead turned to speak to Natsu.
"He says he can only store it once. To use it again, he has to release the first one first, ow," owth translated instinctively.
"Then release Rob the Rich, Aid the Poor Ball on owth!"
"ow???"
owth froze—then a blue beam struck him the next instant.
> Gaint Ball Rotom used *Rob the Rich, Aid the Poor* on owth
> owth has Gigantamaxed!
"What a wonderful feeling, ow!" A massively elongated owth now stood in the cavern.
"I feel invincible, ow!" owth exclaid eagerly.
But when the Giant Dragonite cast it a glance, owth quickly quieted down.
"Continue, Rotom!"
And so, under the rules of the domain, the deford Dragonite was repeatedly cycled in and out more than a hundred tis.
By evening—
"Rotom, use Healing Ball!"
"Finally, I don't have to get huge again, ow…" owth collapsed to the ground, utterly drained.
Soon, a green light spread out, and the Dragonite reappeared, sleeping peacefully on the stone slab.
This ti, its condition was much better.
The swollen antenna, legs, and tail had all returned to normal.
"As for your child—the wing bones have grown in, but flying is out of the question." Natsu pointed at the mismatched wings on its back.
"But if you can pay, I could fit chanical prosthetics for the smaller wing. It might even fly faster that way."
Natsu rubbed his hands together, glancing at the Giant Dragonite.
*Owww—*
The Giant Dragonite whined softly.
"Translate." Natsu grabbed owth by the scruff and fed it so Energy Powder.
"She's asking why her child turned out like this…" owth muttered weakly. He never wanted to be Dynamaxed again.
"Then tell —why did you turn out like this? Your child's mutation is very likely connected to you." Natsu cut straight to the point.
The Giant Dragonite froze, a lonely look flashing across her face.
Maybe she had already suspected, but just needed soone to say it aloud.
*Owwww*
Her deep voice rumbled as she told her story.
She had once been just a normal Dragonite.
Many, many years ago, a massive black-and-red teor fell from the sky.
A shard broke off and landed before her—it looked delicious.
After eating it, she transford into her current form.
"You must have eaten a shard of Eternatus'." Natsu briefly explained Eternatus to the Dragonite and continued to reason:
"That teor was likely Eternatus's true body. Which direction did it fall?"
"Uuuuhh—" The Giant Dragonite pointed.
Natsu followed her gesture and pulled out his compass.
Northwest. It really did seem to be in the direction of Mt. Moon.
Another Eternatus had fallen in the Kanto region.
A sudden thought struck Natsu—*could it have co from a parallel world?*
But this Eternatus hadn't fared well; even its form had been shattered.
*Could that giant Tentacruel from the ani also have eaten a shard?*
Natsu speculated.
"Alright, I understand now." Natsu clapped his hands. The Giant Dragonite held its breath, staring at him.
"You carry a shard of Eternatus' inside you, but your child doesn't. Still, for so reason, Gigantamax energy is being born within your child."
He pointed at the slumbering young Dragonite.
"Without a shard, Gigantamax energy becos unstable. If it isn't drained regularly, it will relapse. I'll co by every so often to extract it."
The Giant Dragonite tilted her head, lost in thought.
*Ding!*
[S-Rank: The Mystery of the Giant Dragonite]
[Subject] Giant Dragonite
[Reward] Master Ball Scratch Card ×1
Natsu's eyes lit up and he signaled the system to scratch it imdiately.
**Master Ball ×1.**
Why was it the guaranteed prize again?
Natsu crouched on a rock, striking a thinker's pose.
"What are you brooding about, ow?" owth leaned closer.
"Nothing. Just wondering how that male Dragonite managed it."
"What male Dragonite? Both of them are female—" owth froze halfway through, then struck a thinker's pose as well.
*Yeah, ow… how did that happen?*
You can read more (around 80 free chapters) of Natsu's adventure ad-free here[sravenarchives/book/pokemon-who-let-him-leave-pallet-town]. Bulk uploads is a ss here, so updates here might be irregular.
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