Chapter 4

The Iron Valiant practiced. That was all it did as time passed. It fell into a rhythm of imagining an opponent before it, and it repeatedly swung its blades.

Its strikes came with a practiced ease. Its weapon sliced the air. It would picture its opponent fighting back, and then it would parry and block those foreshadowed moves.

The scratches at the door continued, and they were growing ever so slightly louder. The persistence of the outside Pokémon was almost implausible, but these were Sableye. They sustained themselves by digging for gems.

The Iron Valiant purposefully practiced next to the door so it could be ready to fight, just in case. Nick would watch it, but Nick never followed through with his observations for too long. At times, he would simply be looking at the Iron Valiant’s practice, and at other times, he would be searching through the room or walking around to tap the walls. He visibly tried to maintain his smile, but the expression soon fell away in favor of boredom. His role was to come up with a plan to escape, but they always had the option of just waiting. The Sableye would carve them a way out eventually.

At a certain point, Nick stopped searching.

Every so often, Nick would fall asleep for hours at a time, but he also seemed to find a different method of alleviating his boredom—he collected a book that had been shoved into a shelf corner under the counter. The old tome was mildewed and had yellowed pages, yet the human forced himself to read through it all the same.

Honestly, the Iron Valiant would not have thought a book titled “An Introduction to Microwave Repair” could ever be entertaining, but the human willingly read through it all the same. The Iron Valiant could not say it knew why humans needed an entire book dedicated to that topic, let alone a book with a title that implied other, more advanced versions, but it was confident that the reasoning and logic behind the book’s existence would make sense to any human who learned of it.

Except, it didn’t.

Nick complained.

“This doesn’t make any sense!” Sitting up on one of the beds, Nick tapped the pages in front of him while the Iron Valiant practiced and tried to fully understand the energies behind its moves. “Like, I went to school. I know about Watts and Ohms and Amperes and stuff, but this keeps describing how the electricity might unexpectedly change its path. Isn’t the current always supposed to take the path of least resistance?”

The Iron Valiant could tell that Nick wasn’t truly interested in the world of microwave repair; there were simply subtle pieces of information quietly hidden within. Instead, there seemed to be some aspect of the greater world itself that Nick didn’t quite understand.

While the Iron Valiant focused on its moves—and while Nick wasn’t otherwise occupied with sharing stories of how he assumed the human world would work—Nick kept his nose shoved in that strange text, trying to decipher whatever he found so strange.

His eye constantly moved back and forth. His lips wobbled as he whispered under his breath. Nick had spoken of wanting to experience the world, but he didn’t just want to passively witness it—he wanted to understand it as well.

And, in this room, he had found his first step to do so by reading through this book.

And, in this room, he had found a problem that had shaken him to the core.

It took him a while before he said anything close to understanding. He passed out for almost eight whole hours twice over before the realization came to him.

“It’s almost like there’s something else there,” Nick mumbled to himself as the Iron Valiant tried to jab its weapon in new ways to coax out the supposed Fairy-type energy. “It’s like there’s some kind of extra, invisible force that’s acting on the electricity.”

Then, as the Iron Valiant failed yet again to achieve anything new, Nick looked up and stared at its weapon’s glow.

“Oh yeah,” Nick said. “The Pokémon world. You throw physics out of the window when there are Pokémon types involved. That makes sense.”

For some reason, that realization led him to disassemble the broken microwave, and the Iron Valiant continued on. Most of what Nick said to try to help only served to confuse the Iron Valiant, so the Iron Valiant just focused on its practice and asked itself a question:

What did it mean to utilize the Fairy type?

Or, what did it mean to be a Fairy type?

Since its life had been defined by fighting, there had to be some aspect of how it fought that it had missed. There had to be something that was slipping it by if half of its existence was apparently aligned with the Fairy-type itself. Yet, no matter how much it tried to force a success, no such victory ever came.

A while in, during a period in which Nick was inspecting pieces of the room’s microwave placed atop one of the beds, the human fell into idle chatter. At times, it felt as though he abhorred the silence—or, he just needed a way to distract himself from the constant sound of scratching at the door.

“There are trainers out there who would love to be in our position, I bet,” he said, holding up one metal chunk and comparing it to a moldy image in the book. “A room with food. No pressure from the outside world. Just time and space to figure out new moves, and a broken microwave to take apart because the insides don’t make sense.”

He exhaled, rubbing his head. The act left a splotch of black grease in his hair.

“But, no. No one else is here. And trainers have other ways to get help, instead. Like information and actual places to train. Do you even know how cool it is that Pokémon Centers are a thing? You see a building with a red roof, head inside, and then bam!” Nick hit the piece of metal he was holding. “There you go. Free medical care.”

The Iron Valiant was still practicing, of course, but, quietly listening in, it knew any form of healing was to be valued. Its species and many others like it benefited from their metal bodies—any battle-earned flaws would slowly fix themselves over time.

“It’s been days, and we’re still here. I have no idea how I can help you figure out this attack,” Nick said with a sigh. “Maybe it’s worth trying something other than a Fairy-type move? All this stuff about electricity reminded me of your ability. Future paradox Pokémon all have the same thing.”

Quark Drive.

The humming in the Iron Valiant’s chest had a name.

According to Nick, hidden by the glass embedded in the Iron Valiant’s chest, it had the potential to supercharge its own energy and heavily increase its power in a fight.

“Except, Quark Drive needs you to use Electric Terrain, and I have no idea how you’d be able to learn that move,” Nick grumbled. “But we only have one room of Sableye to fight through, so a single Fairy-type attack is probably easier than a terrain move and an ability.”

Then, after a short pause, he quietly added, “Plus, a Fairy Type move is better for fighting off Dragons like the Roaring Moon, anyway.”

Time passed.

Though the Iron Valiant kept up its practice, its swings were growing rougher. Since it had been able to master ‘Psycho Cut,’ it should have had the ability to master another move. It might have had no clue on how it could use Fairy-type energy to attack or what it even needed to do to develop it, but there was at least a bright side to this. All of this energy-focused practice was letting it get a handle on how it fueled its moves.

Though it still lacked an awareness of Fairy-type energy, the Iron Valiant could feel a heat flow out of its chest, through its arm, and into the blade it held. As its weapon was a part of its being, its polearm could freely channel the same energy its body contained, and there was a conversion process that reshaped that energy alongside its move.

For the Iron Valiant’s fast-paced Fury Cutter, that move imitated the annoying biting of a bug because picturing that image allowed the Iron Valiant to unconsciously reshape its energy to be used for the desired move. It didn’t think of Feint as anything other than a basic trick, which was why that energy was only ever ‘Normal.’ As for Psycho Cut, that attack was literally a telekinetic effect, so of course it’d be a Psychic Type attack. And Close Combat worked as a Fighting-type move because the Iron Valiant only ever thought of fighting while using it.

All of that led to the easy question: how did it picture being a fairy?

Nick tried to help.

According to him, fairies were tricksters. They were small beings that followed the rules far too closely and mimicked some evil creature called a ‘lawyer.’ Or, they were mischievous sprites who liked to pull pranks, but none of that described the Iron Valiant. The thoughts only made it struggle to wield its blade.

However, in a way, it was improving. Its understanding of what fueled its moves let it strike with greater efficiency. All of its techniques were coming out quicker and more polished, but what was even the point? It was making no progress and had achieved no victories, and the Sableye were going to strike as soon as they got through the door. Nick had not shared any plan to escape, so the Iron Valiant could only rely on figuring out this move.

But it hadn’t yet.

It was failing.

This... helpless feeling was bringing up painful memories of why it had left its home.

Just like it, the other Iron Valiant there only ever fought. They only ever practiced. Every second of their waking lives was spent engaging in spars, acknowledging spars, or resting between spars. There was a shared need for ever-growing improvement, and there was a shared need to maximize one’s strength. As Pokémon, it made sense to hone their skills through battle, but there was nothing else. Only ever those practice fights.

The Iron Valiant felt the same now as it did back then. Stagnancy polluted the air. That desired growth never came.

It had left. It had wandered. It had gotten into fights with creatures it had never known existed. With that, it had improved, but at a certain point, it became too strong for most creatures to ever bother it, and it just walked, and walked, and walked, and walked, and then—

For what?

Why did it bother?

Even now, it wasn’t sure.

Thus, still focusing on its practice, the Iron Valiant swung its blade.

It knew that it wanted something more. It knew that it wanted to achieve something that was more than just a basic improvement. It wanted a success. It wanted a move. It wanted to figure out a Fairy-type attack.

So, the Iron Valiant swung its weapon.

Thoughts swirled.

And, the Iron Valiant swung its weapon.

Memories twisted.

It swung, and it swung, and it swung, and it recalled one moment—the moment when it had woken up and seen the awe on Nick’s face.

The caverns were nothing more than a background to it. It failed to see why they were special. The place was empty. Massive. Nothing. The only thing that might have been of interest was the variety in Pokémon, but even that grew old over time. Maybe the crystals, then, but the crystals never changed. They maintained a constant glow that was just as stagnant as all of the spars in the past, a constant glow that came out just like the one coming from the lights above the Iron Valiant’s head.

A tiny feeling sparked up within the Iron Valiant’s chest.

It swiped its weapon.

Just like how Nick wanted to understand that book, was it wrong that the Iron Valiant wanted to understand the meaning behind that kind of awe?

“There!” a shout suddenly came. “You almost had it! In that swipe—your blade turned pink!”

The Iron Valiant froze at the end of its swing. It hadn’t realized how tied up it’d been in its head.

Though, it didn’t quite understand Nick’s excitement. Its blade was always pink.

“Do that again,” Nick told it. “I’m sure of it. You’re almost there.”

He stepped away from the microwave’s guts to deposit himself atop one of the beds.

Once again, the Iron Valiant swung, but nothing happened. Whatever Nick saw wasn’t there. With perfect accuracy, it repeated the same movements it had just gone through, but no pink glow ever occurred.

Taking a moment to analyze the motions of its previous swing, it scanned over its memories to try to find what difference had triggered the supposed color. Only then did a pink light glow.

Its other moves had worked by combining imagery with technique. For this, the light grew not from the movement of its weapon or what it pictured, but solely from what the Iron Valiant was feeling.

Faced with the imminent chance to achieve success, the Iron Valiant took a risk. It let itself think. It let itself admit that it wanted something more, that it wanted to feel that same kind of awe—

It was horrible. It was like something was twisting around in its chest.

But a warmth carried out of the center of its body and flowed down into its arm. From there, it entered its weapon. That warmth built, and built, and built—

And then, it was all released.

All of that desire, all of that need, want, and desperation was carried into this attack. It was not connected to any one feeling but the strength behind those feelings. Coming out not as a melee strike but as an explosion, a burst of pure light spread out in all directions.

This move illuminated the room far past the point of mere illumination. Brilliant pink light stretched out in all directions, and it almost seemed to sear the air. But, in an instant, that light faded. It vanished—yet, it did not do so without a trace.

Small embers lingered in the air. Impossibly small beads of light that were simultaneously dazzling and ephemeral.

“Dazzling Gleam,” Nick stated, sharing the name of yet another move. “Huh. That’s a special attack, not physical. I thought you could learn Play Rough or something, but the Fairy Type doesn’t really have that many physical moves, does it?”

The Iron Valiant brought up a hand. One of the small embers floated down into its palm. Most of the embers dissipated ineffectually whenever they touched something, but for this one, tiny sparkle, it lingered atop the Iron Valiant’s metal.

“Okay,” Nick said, speaking slowly but speeding up over time. “Okay. Okay!”

He suddenly stood up, and from there, he scrambled to gather whatever he could.

As fast as possible, Nick shoved a decent amount of the remaining cans and the medical kit into his pack. He grabbed a blanket and a pillow, tied them to the top of his backpack, and then he looked at the remaining microwave parts, hummed, and picked one up just to smash it against the floor.

“Do you mind cutting me a piece of a bedframe?” he said quickly, kneeling to pick out the desired parts. “Just a small section of it. I need a short rod.”

Two quick slashes later, and Nick got what he wanted. The Iron Valiant proceeded to watch in fascination as Nick used a sticky tape from the medical kit to attach wires, and then he also secured a carefully selected piece of the microwave to the rod’s top.

The Iron Valiant wasn’t sure what Nick was doing. The human’s hands shook. Yet, despite whatever nerves filled him, he gave this task his entire focus, and when he was done, he had a wire-covered rod with a little piece of metal on its top.

“O-okay.” His voice wavered. “I’d test it myself, but... You can actually withstand this. Can you touch that piece right there? The switch. Please. It should be fine. It’ll just connect the wires.”

The part he pointed to was nothing more than a raised a bit of plastic. Nick carefully placed the rod on the bed. Cautiously, the Iron Valiant walked over, sent Nick one last look, and then pressed the plastic down.

Electricity crackled over the exposed metal. The entire rod buzzed.

Caught off guard, the Iron Valiant jumped back and held out its weapon reflexively, but the second the switch was released, the electric effect stopped.

“Hah! I got it! I am the master of this world!” Nick cackled. “Alright. Now that I can defend myself, we can leave. You ready? I figured out how to escape a bit ago. And since you have your move, we’re able to actually win our fight.”

The Iron Valiant refreshed its sensors—Nick had not stopped his searching because he had given up. He had stopped because he had figured out a plan. The scratching sound from the Sableye was louder, but not by much. Those Pokémon would not be the ones on offense here.

Nick’s smile was wide and genuine, but a slight bit of shaking spoke of nerves. For one last item, he wielded that assembled rod while adjusting his backpack full of supplies.

“Here’s the plan: You do the same thing you did before. The door and outside walls are too thick to cut through, but the interior wall is mostly hollow. It shouldn’t be hard to cut through.”

Nick’s eyes lingered on where the Iron Valiant had sliced through the cord to turn off the red lights. If its polearm had continued into the wall so easily right there, then it would not be difficult to continue a cut all the way through.

“It’s a bit of a risk, but I think we can do it. You up to that plan?”

The Iron Valiant still felt a certain warmth in its chest, but it didn’t need to use its new move for this—at least, not yet.

Turning to look at the wall, its blade glowed for its favored Psychic-type attack. The Iron Valiant readied its stance to prepare itself. It brought up its weapon, and Nick moved next to it.

“Okay. Let’s do this.”

The Iron Valiant swung.

The blade did not slice through the wall right away, but it did cleave a line in its path. The Iron Valiant swung, and swung, and swung, but this time, it was not practicing. Its strikes were quick and focused, and there was nothing it needed to figure out to properly use its moves.

Rather than carve right through the wall, it was more like its blade perforated a series of edges. The scratching at the door stopped, but the sound of hissing rang out as all of the Sableye on the other side communicated in a panic.

They were so close to escape. Nick was ready to leave. So was the Iron Valiant.

For the final push, it did not use its blade. A single kick saw the weakened part of the wall fall.

Immediately, darkness flooded toward them, hesitating only slightly when the fallen wall exposed this room’s light. Yet, that single ounce of hesitation was all that was needed, and the Iron Valiant let itself fill with light.

This move did not come from its blade. The glass in its chest glowed and gleamed. The flash seared away the incoming darkness, and the Sableye screamed. Just like that, the initial lunge was pushed back.

Leading the way, the Iron Valiant took a step out of the side room while Nick followed from behind. At least two dozen Sableye faced them, but they did not seem willing to approach after suffering from that dazzling light.

It was a stand-off, but this stand-off had a solution. Nick branded his makeshift weapon while the Iron Valiant wielded its spear. Slowly, ever so slowly, they held those threats aloft while creeping toward the building’s door.

Nothing stopped them. The Sableye did not risk an approach. After all, why go after a pair of dangerous opponents when that newly opened room was far more interesting?

In the end, their escape felt like hours, but it took only seconds. Just like that, they were out, and they had escaped without a serious fight.

“We did it. We’re out,” Nick breathed. “We’re actually out. We were in there for days!”

Sucking in a deep breath to taste the air, he laughed.

And then, he laughed again.

Then, Nick fell to the floor, dropping his weapon and letting his hands press against the stone.

Liquid dripped beneath him, causing Iron Valiant to think he was hurt. This time around, however, the liquid that came from his body lacked any color—not even the barest red hue. The human stayed there, kneeling against the floor and laughing to himself. The Iron Valiant stood on guard.

It eyed the ceiling and all but dared those lizard-like Pokémon to strike while Nick took this moment to recover.

Eventually, Nick leaned back to sit up and breathe out. He hurriedly wiped his face.

“Thank you,” he mumbled. “You were amazing. Now, come on. Let’s leave.”

From there, the human stood and began to walk back toward an upward ledge that connected to the central cavern.

The Iron Valiant followed him, but even as it let that gleam in its chest fade, a small part of the move’s igniting feeling still remained.