Chapter 1

The Iron Valiant shakily readied its stance as it tracked a crescent shadow that flew past the cavern’s walls. Red, feathery wings allowed the shape to curve around an outcropping of crystals, and the Iron Valiant could barely bring up its arms in time for a defense.

A diving blow from the shadowed dragon sent the Iron Valiant sliding across the ground. Metal legs dragged deep grooves into the stone, and pebbles clattered into the abyss that yawned past the ledge behind it.

Pushing back, it tried to fight against the claws latching onto its body. It used the full protection of its steel exterior, resisting energy that pulsed through those rending nails. Pink blades on the Iron Valiant’s arms hummed with glowing energy, and a sudden shove gave it just enough room to slice at the beast’s stomach.

Though the blow landed, the dragon’s scales did not give way; just like the strike of the dragon’s claws, the energy of this move failed to pierce into its target. All the attack did was push both creatures back. The Iron Valiant slid even closer to the edge, and the dragon was given plenty of space to break away and return to the cavern’s air.

At this point, there was no more ignoring it; the Iron Valiant was exhausted. The whirring of the energies in its chest was now nothing more than a whispered whine, and the usually lightweight metal that defined its body felt as though it weighed a thousand pounds. The bright light that ran throughout the Iron Valiant and fueled its every move was now only the most basic of glows. Yet, that did not stop how it split its focus between its target and its weapons. A blue tint surrounded the blades attached to its arms, and a psychic edge gave them the ferocity that had let it last this long.

Unfortunately, the dragon was nowhere near as tired. Its wings allowed it to casually glide overhead on an unpresent wind. Its yellow eyes were those of a predator’s—the Iron Valiant was an easy target. The dragon could choose when and where to strike.

Then, in as much a declaration as it was a threat, the dragon let out a roar.

The cry was not just a taunt; it was a promise that the current state of the battle would not last. The only reason the Iron Valiant had not lost just yet was because the dragon was taking its time. No matter how much the Iron Valiant struggled, its foe was confident. They both knew this battle was treading toward a single outcome: the Iron Valiant would lose.

Unless it changed plans.

Specifically, it needed a way to fight back, or at least a way to escape. It racked its mind, memories returning to it, and countless spars passed through its head. It recalled every battle it had ever faced against so many others of its kind, but none helped here. The only thing the Iron Valiant’s memories told it was that running would just lead to a different kind of defeat.

It did its best to keep the edge of its blades psychically sharpened, but no matter how well that telekinetic move had worked in the past, it was failing to do anything to this monster of a dragon here.

And, to make matters worse—

“Pst. Psst!”

The Iron Valiant had an audience.

“You’re never going to win like this. Let me help you!”

Simply put, the Iron Valiant could not comprehend what could have possibly been going through this creature’s head to have so willingly crept close to an active battle between two of the strongest Pokémon here. That mindset was not the most baffling part about it, either; out of all the beings the Iron Valiant had seen in the past, this creature had to be one of the strangest. Its form might have mimicked the Iron Valiant’s—bipedal with two arms—but the creature’s body was pink flesh covered with some kind of fabric that protected its chest, arms, and legs.

As it watched the Iron Valiant, it bared its teeth, but the glimmer in its eyes spoke of an absence of threat. There was an amusement, a joy to what it was witnessing here. It had no clue about the danger it was in.

“Be careful! That’s a Roaring Moon!” the creature hissed, unsuccessfully attempting to whisper. “You’re immune to its Dragon-type attacks, but you have to stop using Psychic-type moves. It’s Dark-type! You’re never going to deal damage to it with an attack like that.”

The Iron Valiant felt the display of its eyes change alongside its frustration—this creature didn’t even realize just how distracting it was being. The Iron Valiant fought to keep its sensors firmly on its foe while maintaining the edges of its blades, but it couldn’t stop those poorly whispered words from echoing through its head.

A Dark-type.

It didn’t know what that meant or how that aspect rendered this “Roaring Moon” immune, but when it thought back to how each and every psychic slice failed to deal any significant damage, the Iron Valiant couldn’t help but feel as though that thought might have partially rung true.

It wanted to brush off the creature’s words, but it was running out of options. Even as it shifted its stance once more, it could feel pebbles break away from under its feet and fall into the chasm below. The Roaring Moon dove again, but it didn’t get close; it only dove to let wind rush the Iron Valiant by. That pressure threatened to make it fall, but it resisted. Through its exhaustion, it locked its stance down, and it listened to those handful of falling stones clatter off a lower platform and then keep going, never reaching the bottom or making another noise again.

The dragon had been enjoying playing with its prey, but it seemed intent on ending this fight now. The great beast released another roar, and as the world shook, it pulled its wings in to bring itself into a targeted fall.

“Now’s your chance!” the voice yelled. “You have to change up your attack!”

The Iron Valiant didn’t need someone else to tell it that.

With its energy reserves essentially nothing at this point, it had to take drastic action if it didn’t want to lose. No matter what it chose to do, any action would be a gamble, but it was out of options. So, the Iron Valiant dropped its defense.

The thing about Iron Valiant as a species was that each and every individual possessed a pair of pink blades that glowed and hummed with the same energy that animated their bodies. Though many Iron Valiant preferred to fight with those blades locked onto their forearms, that was not the only way those blades could be used.

To prepare itself against its diving target, this Iron Valiant slammed its hands together, and then it pulled them apart. A pole stretched out between its grip. The blades on its arms disconnected to merge with that staff, and together, they formed a dual-sided polearm that the Iron Valiant wielded in one hand.

“So cool...” the voice whispered from the side.

Ahead, the Roaring Moon pulled up right before it hit the floor to throw itself straight at the Iron Valiant.

Moving like lightning, the Iron Valiant rushed to bring the full brunt of what it had left to bear. With the dragon only feet away from crashing into it, it stepped to the side at the very last moment, allowing the very edge of this attack to clip its body. Though the brushing slice hurt, the Iron Valiant had given itself a chance for one final move—as fast as it could, it raised its arms just to swing its polearm down.

The head of its weapon slammed into the Roaring Moon’s wings and crashed into its back. The hurtling dive was disrupted when the impact sent the dragon bouncing off the ground, its momentum carrying it off the ledge past the Iron Valiant.

A cry came out—not a roar, but a shout of unexpected pain. Though the aggressor, the Roaring Moon looked almost betrayed to have experienced the Iron Valiant successfully fighting back.

But this slash had struck with increased effectiveness; dropping the psychic energy and focusing solely on raw power had let the Iron Valiant actually deal damage. And, with the unexpectedness of this attack, the dragon could not recover in time to bring itself back into the air.

Its wings were injured, and it plummeted. The exchange had only lasted an instant, but it was just enough to mean that the Iron Valiant had won.

However, it had taken everything the Iron Valiant had left. It couldn’t even keep standing. It tried to stab its polearm into the ground for support to keep itself upright, but it just fell to one knee instead.

The Roaring Moon might not have been coming back, but the Iron Valiant could not even stand. And, though the impact had won the Iron Valiant the fight, the Roaring Moon had slammed against the ledge. The ground began to crack, and stone started to crumble into the abyss.

The Iron Valiant would not be running from this.

But that was fine.

It had no reason to run.

Except, the Iron Valiant had forgotten something: it had an audience. Before it could realize what was going on, something suddenly latched onto its arm and pulled it back before the ledge gave way.

“Got you!”

As the lip of this stone platform broke away and fell into the abyss, the Iron Valiant found itself yanked away from that void. Stones dropped into the nothingness on their own, and the Iron Valiant dropped onto the floor. Without any energy, it could not fight against its body’s automatic shutdown that came in an attempt to save power, but it could at least look up before everything faded to black.

It saw a face staring down at it with an expression full of worry.

“You can’t pass out just yet!” that same creature from before shouted. “I still need your help!”

Unfortunately, the Iron Valiant had no choice in this matter. It simply had nothing left. As if a switch clicked to shut it off, the world disappeared into darkness, and the last thing it saw before falling into unconsciousness was that strange, pink creature pulling it toward where a set of massive crystals grew out of the floor.

An Iron Valiant ran on energy—both the energy it produced and the energy it passively gathered from the environment around it. When it fought, that energy was converted to a new form to fuel its moves and attacks, but, generally speaking, that energy did not run out. However, a constant, stagnant fight that lasts and lasts and lasts would see its reserves wither into almost nothing. To prevent a permanent shutdown, its body possessed certain precautions. When its energy level dropped below a certain point, an Iron Valiant would collapse—not due to injury, but simply due to its non-essential processes turning off to ensure it could re-gather and re-generate what it needed to recover.

The shutdown function was quick, but recovering energy tended to take some time. However, all it took to wake back up was reaching a sustainable level of energy, and then all prior processes would resume with a simple “click.”

As if no time had passed, the Iron Valiant’s vision returned alongside conscious thought, and it immediately took to scanning its surroundings. It found itself somewhere new, but only partially. A towering cluster of crystals growing from the wall and the floor formed a little nook that served as cover between it and any would-be passersby. It would take walking around the side of these crystals to find where the Iron Valiant was at rest, but the Iron Valiant could tell it had not been dragged far. These crystals were right next to where it had fought.

These crystals were right next to where it had all but lost.

Its scanners refreshed—anyone looking at the Iron Valiant would have seen the screen displaying its eyes flicker as if to blink—and the now-conscious Pokémon locked onto the singular figure resting at the edge of this crystalline nook. Sitting on a small outcrop of stone that came out of the floor, that same pink creature from before slowly scooped some kind of muck out of a metal tube and brought it to its mouth.

The creature wasn’t paying attention to the Iron Valiant; it was merely sitting there and staring out into the distance. Its eyes were firmly locked onto whatever it was watching, and it wasn’t on guard. It was simply too enthralled by the view.

Cautiously, the Iron Valiant stood and approached the creature from behind. It would be easy for it to strike and escape, but...

This creature had saved its life.

The Iron Valiant’s internals whirred, and its blades glowed pink. Glass embedded in its chest revealed that same color, and it lowered its head.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” The creature’s words were sudden. The Iron Valiant hadn’t realized it had done enough to reveal its presence, and it was caught by surprise. “I’ve never seen a cavern this big. I’ve never seen crystals this big. Heck, I’ve never even seen a place with living beings this big.”

Smiling to itself, the creature brought another scoop of that gunk to its mouth, and the Iron Valiant detected a strange scent in the air—the gunk was some sort of organic fuel. The creature paused to chew, but the Iron Valiant chose not to pay attention. It knew it also carried the potential to eat, but it was fine enough with merely gathering passive energy instead of engaging in anything... digestive.

Instead, it chose to cast its gaze out to where this creature was staring, trying to take in whatever it found so amazing. This cavern stretched far out into the distance, but also further up and down. Crystals ten times either of their size grew out of the walls to provide bright blue illumination. Stone bridges criss-crossed the gaps with ledges and paths between them. Almost every space here had been claimed by some set of Pokémon. Life filled this cavern, and movement was everywhere.

“I’m pretty sure those are Flutter Mane floating between the crystals,” the creature said. “And there are groups of Dugtrio reshaping the ground. I think I saw a Dunsparce—or, probably a Dudunsparce—digging into a wall. And there are so many other species just walking around that I can’t even count.”

The creature breathed out.

“They’re not even just standing there!” it then continued, its voice increasing in both volume and awe. “Each and every Pokémon here is living. They’re living their own lives. It’s nothing I’ve ever seen before, and it’s beautiful. But...”

Slowly, the creature placed its metal tube on the ground, and despite the smile on its face, the sigh it released was morose.

“I can’t stay here,” it said. “I only have so much food on me. I need to get out and probably get back to life under the sun. I need to meet up with other humans and live a life out there, just like how all of these Pokémon are living together down here.”

The Iron Valiant turned away, eyeing a pathway that connected to this ledge, one that would bring it away from the creature before it. The path had been carved and formed by Pokémon long ago, twisting higher up into the cavern and connecting to other bridges, tunnels, and platforms. It served as the easiest and most obvious way to escape.

Logically, the Iron Valiant knew it could leave, but it stayed. It wasn’t sure why it was still here. To that, it didn’t understand why this “human” was stuck on the idea of meeting others of its kind, either. Most creatures were better off when traveling on their own.

“I can’t fight,” the human continued, its voice having returned to a normal volume. “I explored a little bit, but I couldn’t take any risks. I don’t have the strength to deal with wild Pokémon, and every path I found has something that would probably attack me if I got too close. ...So!”

The human brought its head back to look up at the Iron Valiant with its face upside-down. Blonde fur hung off the back of it, and green-brown eyes glimmered as it smiled despite its ridiculous pose.

“I went to your fight because I heard it—Sorry, I was curious! When I saw just how serious your expression was, I knew I had to root for you to win. And then you did win! It was so cool! But then, you almost fell. So I grabbed you. And then I waited. And now...”

Though it remained smiling, the human’s expression became more serious, and it brought its head back down just to swing its legs over its seat and turn. It properly faced the Iron Valiant, meeting it in the eyes as it spoke what it needed to say.

“I want to offer you a trade,” the human said.

There was nothing it had that the Iron Valiant wanted, nothing material that would interest it here. But, this creature offered no material goods. Instead, it presented the Iron Valiant with something else entirely.

“How much do you value fighting?”

The Iron Valiant lowered its head.

It didn’t have an answer.

The human continued to speak.

“I can’t help you with techniques or how you fight, but I can help you with information. Moves you can learn. Utilizing your ability. Figuring out why certain types of attacks don’t work on certain types of Pokémon. All of that can make fights like the one you had against the Roaring Moon way easier, but, in exchange, I need help getting out. I can’t leave this area on my own, and I don’t just mean this underground section. I mean this crater. I need to leave this entire area that this chasm is located in.”

Acting as if what it had said didn’t just redefine what the Iron Valiant understood about the world, the creature held out a hand, easily meeting the Iron Valiant’s gaze. It had never once dropped its smile, and it seemed hopeful. Even though nothing had been agreed upon, it was already acting as if eager to proceed.

“So?” the creature, the human, asked, still maintaining its smile. “What do you think? Is that good enough? Do we have a deal?”

It kept its hand out, and the Iron Valiant watched. It wanted to say no, but—

But it couldn’t ignore what had happened in that last fight. It couldn’t ignore how the creature’s comments had helped it win. If it had continued to use the same move the whole time, or if it hadn’t taken that risk at the end, the Iron Valiant would not have been able to pull off that final strike. Likely, it would have found itself plummeting off the edge.

This human had saved it. In more ways than one. It wasn’t just that the information was helpful, but the human had personally pulled it away from the falling edge.

The Iron Valiant had no true need to learn more, but it couldn’t ignore the debt it owed this creature.

Not fully understanding why, it found itself bringing up a hand in an attempt to mimic the motion of the human and accept the strange deal it was presenting. What the Iron Valiant didn’t expect was for the human to lurch forward, and that raised hand was grabbed to be violently jerked up and down.

“Yes! Thank you, thank you, thank you!” the human said, and the Iron Valiant was too busy being bewildered by the motion to bother locking its arm. “Iron Valiant are so cool! And you’re a really strong one if you were able to win that fight!”

Finally recovering from the surprise, the Iron Valiant pulled its arm away, uncomfortable with the fleshy feeling that had been pressed into its hand. The human just laughed and stood up, not bothered by that reaction at all. Instead, moving quickly, it proceeded to grab its tube off the ground, and it scooped whatever was left inside straight into its mouth. Then, putting that away, it swung around some kind of cloth sack it had placed in front of its seat to hang that off its back.

“Alright! You can call me Nick—it’s short for Nicholas, but ‘Nick’ is easier to say,” the human said. “Anyway, since we need to escape, my best guess to do that is to keep climbing up, but we’ll need to make a quick stop first if we want to succeed. I don’t really have the supplies to make it that far, and I don’t really know how to scavenge for food. So...”

Another smile crossed his face.

“We’ll be taking a pit-stop in a lab—or, a pit-stop in an observation post. Turns out, there’s more than just the four labs I knew of down here. I already know where it is—I found it earlier—but I really need your help for this. I have to gather whatever I can from inside, but from what I saw when I peeked past its door, there’s something big living within.”