Altaria Returns

"Dragon Rush...?!"

The name of the move had barely escaped Terrance's lips when his mouth went dry... Had Swablu finally learned it?

At a time like this...

The tiny Swablu had transformed into a blue-violet blaze, radiating a terrifying killing intent. The little blades of grass caught in the swirling air rustled, yet even so, the scene seemed frozen in Terrance's eyes.

"Bang~~"

A thunderous crash sent a great cloud of dust billowing up, snapping Terrance back to his senses.

Swablu...

Terrance hurried forward and began searching for Swablu.

Only when Terrance clearly saw what lay before him did he suck in a cold breath, disbelief spreading across his face.

"Did... Swablu do this?"

Dragon Rush had slammed Seviper straight into a small crater. His body was covered in wounds, and his eyes were unfocused. This time, he truly could not get back up!

Such power...

As shocked as he was by Dragon Rush's destructive power, Terrance certainly hadn't forgotten how recently Swablu had been born!

Perhaps the move wasn't the most powerful, but for a little one less than a month old... it was an unimaginably heavyweight finishing move!

It looked as though Master Katsumune's hunch had been right!

Looking at the crater Seviper had fallen into, Terrance suddenly remembered that he still had something important to do. This was no time to stand around in a daze!

"Swablu-"

Swablu had attacked Seviper with such tremendous force. How was he?!

Anxious, Terrance called out to Swablu again.

Moving around the crater, Terrance leaped past Seviper and, ignoring the pain in his body and hands, kept digging barehanded into the little mound of earth.

"Swish~~ swish~"

Terrance pushed aside the dirt and, sure enough, found that Swablu's tremendous momentum had sent him plunging headfirst into the mound. Seeing that Swablu was unconscious too, Terrance hurried to fetch his backpack and search for every medicine he could use for first aid...

Dragon Rush was powerful, but for Swablu as he was now, it was like Take Down, causing incalculable harm to his own body.

Terrance slowly fed the juice and pulp of an Oran Berry into Swablu's mouth, then took out medicines such as a Super Potion and Revive.

Although Swablu had awakened the Dragon Rush Terrance had dreamed of, Terrance couldn't bring himself to be happy. For a trainer stranded in the wild, an injury that impaired movement was the most deadly.

Just like Swablu's current condition.

Despite being given numerous emergency medicines, he showed no signs of improvement.

Terrance's heart sank.

"Being a trainer was never as simple as I imagined."

In a Pokémon battle, failing to fully account for every uncontrollable factor could only be the trainer's responsibility.

"He overexerted himself too badly. Medicine alone won't help him recover quickly..."

Rustle~ rustle~ rustle~

Rustle~ rustle~ rustle~

Just then, a familiar sound came from the bushes, and Terrance's sunken heart tensed up again.

Terrance slowly turned his head and saw another Seviper slithering toward them with an aggressive, hostile gaze. Terrance immediately calmed down and focused intently.

"Was he drawn here by the noise...?"

In the grass, Seviper's sharp tail, gleaming blood-red, lashed back and forth. Terrance's pupils contracted, and he quickly scooped up Swablu.

Now Swablu was unconscious, and another Seviper was closing in. For Terrance, it was undoubtedly a summons from the god of death. In the month he had spent in the Mt. Chimney forest, not a single day had been as perilous as this one.

Swablu's condition was extremely unstable. If he suffered any more harm, things would surely get worse... At that thought, bitterness welled up in Terrance's heart.

Running was the only option Terrance could think of.

As for Seviper... he pursued them relentlessly, his eyes gleaming fiercely, as though Terrance's flight had further aroused his hunter's instincts.

Terrance felt in his pocket and opened a small bottle with one hand. The tiny amount of residue left inside made his expression darken, and he threw it straight onto the ground.

"It's all right... In that direction... there's a trap I dug beforehand."

It was a trap Terrance had made that had to be triggered by pulling it, with the trigger on a tree trunk some distance away. Judging by how fast Terrance and Seviper were moving, there was a slim chance he could use it. But when he arrived, Terrance saw that another Pokémon had already destroyed the trap, and his heart sank to its lowest point.

All his ample preparations had become utterly inadequate in the face of unpredictable accidents in the wild, where anything was possible.

He had come to challenge Seviper full of confidence, only to be left battered and disheveled by one unexpected turn after another.

Thud~~

A moment's inattention, and Terrance tripped over a vine. As he fell, he took the full impact to protect Swablu, and his foot... twisted.

Their training period was nearly over, and Swablu had learned the ultimate move, Dragon Rush. Their growth had gotten off to a perfect start, and the situation they were in now left Terrance speechless.

"I thought that after becoming a breeder, being a trainer would come easily to me..."

"Looks like I haven't trained enough. A qualified trainer wouldn't be at a loss in a situation like this."

Terrance regretfully tapped Swablu's forehead, trying to wake him and bring him at least a little way back to consciousness, giving him some chance of flying, even if... he could only fly away by himself.

At least Terrance was a human, and Seviper's attack wouldn't leave him with too tragic an outcome.

Unfortunately... Swablu still showed no signs of waking.

His large, crimson eyes fixed on Terrance, Seviper opened his mouth, exposing his sharp fangs, and assumed an attacking stance.

Terrance took a deep breath... His hand felt along the ground until he picked up a nearby stone...

He intended to make one last stand.

Clenching the stone... Terrance narrowed his eyes and smiled at Seviper. "Come on, let me try fighting a Pokémon too."

Perhaps there really were exceptionally gifted humans who could overpower some Pokémon through physique and special abilities alone, but Terrance, currently in a boy's body, was certainly not one of them.

But at this point, he had no other choice. A trainer personally taking the field to duel a Pokémon sounded a little ridiculous, but how many trainers had never been through it? It was an indispensable step in the gradual transformation of a newcomer.

Only by experiencing these things firsthand could a trainer appreciate the uncertainty of nature. When humans and Pokémon were out in the wild, anything unknown could happen. Even if several more Seviper appeared right now, Terrance couldn't complain. He wasn't a god, and things couldn't possibly always go as smoothly as he wished. That was an inherent rule of nature.

A trainer was still very small in the face of nature. Without understanding that and holding nature in awe at all times, one could never become a top trainer. Terrance waved the sharp stone in his hand, pushed himself up, and stared at the approaching Seviper.

Surely every trainer had had times when they were left battered and disheveled in the wild...

Terrance was ready to give it everything he had. Even at a great cost, he had to drive Seviper away. But then-a clear, melodious, beautiful sound drifted over, soothing and cleansing the heart, and nearly made Terrance think he had already entered heaven.

The familiar sound stirred countless fragments in Terrance's mind. At last, a light of hope suddenly appeared in his eyes, and a name rose in his heart.

Altaria... had come!