20: Chapter 20 Evolutionary Criterion, Black Steel Cocoon

Lt. Surge's counterattack was more ruthless than Lynn had anticipated.

He did not wait for Larvitar to finish evolving.

Nor did he let the Alliance soldiers retreat out of fear.

Once he confirmed the words "evolutionary threshold," he immediately brought all the remaining firepower in the Scorched Earth Zone to bear.

Electrode self-destructed to clear the way.

Raichu used Volt Tackle to cut off Gengar's retreat.

The Electabuzz array compressed their intersecting currents into a blue-white net.

Electivire walked out from behind the wreckage of an armored vehicle, its fists wrapped in lightning; with every step, it crushed the scorched earth into spiderweb cracks.

Lt. Surge stood behind it, the conductive ports on his body lighting up one by one.

He was no longer just a commander.

He was preparing to enter the fray himself.

Lynn's mechanical leg completely lost its backup power.

He could only rely on his cane to support his body.

Gengar had just recovered half of its shadow mobility when it was entangled by the Raichu squad again.

Porygon-Z had just seized a gap in the sonic tower, but Lt. Surge immediately switched to a backup frequency, pressing it back into the noise.

Larvitar lay in the scorched earth pit.

Its body was glowing.

Dark red.

Blue-white.

A dark color like obsidian.

The three lights constantly tore at each other within the gaps of its scales.

The lightning it had swallowed was not completely digested.

Part of it turned into energy.

Part of it turned into wounds.

And another part, like a pack of beasts unable to find an exit, was crashing wildly inside its body.

The scales on Larvitar's back were curling up, one by one.

Blood seeped from between the scales, and before it could hit the ground, it was scorched into black scabs by the electric current.

It raised its head and looked at Lynn.

For the first time, there was no wildness in its eyes.

Only a question, hovering on the verge of its limit.

"Should we continue?"

Lynn did not answer immediately.

He saw Larvitar's pain.

He also saw that layer of black rock-steel about to grow out from its flesh.

If they stopped now, it could survive.

But it would only live as a severely injured Larvitar.

If they continued, it might evolve.

It might also be blown into a pile of charred bones from the inside by the thunder and fire.

Lt. Surge understood this pause.

"You can hesitate too?"

His voice came over the loudspeaker, carrying a hoarse amusement.

"I thought a brat like you only knew how to push monsters forward."

Lynn looked up.

Lt. Surge raised his hand.

"Electivire, kill that Larvitar."

Electivire charged out.

It did not strike at Lynn.

It charged directly toward the scorched earth pit.

This was the most ruthless part of Lt. Surge.

He had seen that momentary pause between Lynn and Larvitar, and thus landed his attack in the spot most capable of tearing that moment apart.

Gengar tried to block it.

Raichu pounced from both sides, using Volt Tackle to forcefully knock it out of its shadow.

Porygon-Z tried to cut off Electivire's path, but the backup frequency had been sealed off by Lt. Surge in advance.

Lynn raised his gun.

The first shot hit Electivire's shoulder armor.

It was useless.

The second shot hit the knee joint.

Electivire's speed slowed for only an instant.

It still rushed to in front of Larvitar and raised its right fist high.

Blue-white lightning condensed into substance on its fist, like an iron hammer about to smash into the evolutionary core.

Lynn moved.

His mechanical leg couldn't exert force, so he used his cane as a fulcrum and threw his body forward.

Electivire brought its fist down.

Lynn did not block it completely.

The force of the punch grazed his shoulder, the lightning exploded, and his entire body was sent flying, crashing into a charred tree trunk.

A sound of bone cracking came from his shoulder.

Larvitar saw it.

A low growl, hoarse to the point of breaking, emitted from its throat.

At that moment, the question in its eyes vanished.

"Should we continue?"

There was no need to ask.

It had chosen for itself.

It opened its mouth and bit into the lightning that hadn't yet dissipated from Electivire's fist.

Electivire paused for an instant.

Lt. Surge's expression changed abruptly.

"Retreat!"

It was already too late.

Larvitar forcefully swallowed the last mouthful of lightning into its body.

This mouthful came from Electivire.

It was not an electromagnetic stake.

It was not a residual battery from an armored vehicle.

It was the lethal lightning truly compressed by Electivire.

Pure, violent, and enough to burn through the inside of an unevolved larva.

All of Larvitar's scales exploded simultaneously.

Blood, lightning, and dark red sparks mixed together, like a small volcano cracking open from within.

It did not scream.

Only a heavier heartbeat was squeezed from its throat.

Thump.

The scorched earth trembled.

Thump.

Nearby electromagnetic stakes malfunctioned simultaneously.

Thump.

Larvitar's body began to contract.

It was not growing larger.

It was being compressed inward by some invisible force.

Lightning, fire, rock, blood, and black tide contamination were all forcibly pressed into the same core.

Upon seeing this, Lt. Surge finally lost his composure for the first time.

"All units, concentrate fire!"

Gun barrels turned.

Raichu fired in unison.

Electabuzz discharged electricity.

Electrode rolled into the scorched earth pit.

But Lynn stood up, leaning against the tree trunk, his mouth full of blood.

"Gengar."

Gengar crawled out from the shadow that had been scattered by the lightning, half of its body still smoking.

"Understood."

It opened its mouth, swallowed all the remaining shadows around the scorched earth pit into its stomach, and then violently spat out a circle of black mist.

The black mist did not block lightning.

But it blocked vision.

Porygon-Z also burned away a layer of its camouflage shell at this moment.

[sonic tower No. 2: Temporary overload.]

[Enemy salvo error margin increased.]

Electabuzz's first round of lightning missed.

Several Electrode were misled and exploded outside the pit.

The Raichu group charged into the black mist, and the next second, two of them were dragged out by Gengar.

They were barely holding on.

Lynn's shoulder was fractured.

Gengar's body was torn apart by electric light.

Porygon-Z's projection cracked into a mess of code.

Larvitar was still trembling in the pit.

But Lt. Surge was even more anxious.

Because that heartbeat was getting heavier and heavier.

Heavy enough to drown out the sound of fire.

Drown out the electric current.

Drown out the shouts of the Alliance soldiers.

In the center of the scorched earth pit, Larvitar's limbs began to be wrapped in black rock-steel.

The body outline gradually contracted.

The scales closed into a thick, heavy shell.

The shell was not standard gray-white.

It had changed to a color so deep it was almost black, its surface covered with fine blue-white lines left behind after swallowing the lightning.

Those patterns slowly wandered along the shell, like lightning sealed inside rock-steel.

Lt. Surge stared fixedly at the thing that was taking shape.

He finally understood that he hadn't been stopping the evolution.

That punch of his had become the final hammer.

Like a blacksmith hammering red-hot ore into a mold.

He had personally forged Larvitar into a new monster.

Lynn leaned against the tree trunk, his voice lowered.

"Stand up."

In the scorched earth pit, the last scale closed.

Larvitar had disappeared.

In its place was a black steel cocoon suspended in flames and electric arcs.

Pupitar.

It had no eyes.

No expression.

And no limbs.

Only the lightning patterns flowing on its shell, and the dark red exhaust port slowly lighting up at its tail.

Lt. Surge's reaction was still fast.

The shock only lasted for a second.

The next second, he ordered:

"All units, retreat ten meters, regroup firepower."

"Raichu, flank."

"Electivire, front."

"Electromagnetic net vehicles, increase distance."

"Don't let it pick up speed!"

He had fought out-of-control monsters.

He had also killed Pokémon that had just completed evolution and whose control was still unstable.

So he did not retreat.

He wanted to take advantage of Pupitar not yet being accustomed to its body and trap it back in the lightning net.

But the black steel cocoon vibrated slightly.

The exhaust port at its tail lit up.

Dark red fire erupted from the hole, carrying the embers of the lightning it had just swallowed.

The air was pressed into a ripple.

Porygon-Z's voice became a little clearer again.

[Evolution confirmed.]

[Target: Pupitar.]

[Abnormal lightning patterns stable.]

[Local battlefield suppression being lifted.]

Gengar looked up from the black mist, its smile cracking open again.

"Now, is it our turn?"

Lynn watched that suspended black steel cocoon.

Blood from his shoulder dripped down his arm.

He did not smile immediately.

Because he knew, Lt. Surge had not yet fallen.

This veteran was still standing outside the line of fire, gloves tightened, Electivire still panting in front of him.

The counter-kill had not yet begun.

But the stage belonging to Larvitar had already ended.

The war belonging to Pupitar began from this second.

Lt. Surge looked at that steel cocoon, and for the first time, truly listed Lynn and it together as the highest-risk targets.

A person who could force a monster to the edge of birth.

A monster forged by scorched earth, lightning nets, and killing intent.

This combination had to be broken here.

The black steel cocoon hovered in the center of the scorched earth.

Flames rolled beneath it, and lightning patterns wandered in circles along its shell.

It did not move, but the Alliance soldiers simultaneously took a half-step back.

That was by no means the quiet after an ordinary evolution.

It was more like a shell having just been loaded into the breech, and everyone could hear the fuse being lit.

A Raichu trainer raised an electric gun, but their hand was shaking violently.

Another soldier cursed in a low voice, trying to bolster their courage, but the voice was quickly swallowed by the sound of fire.

Electivire blocked the front, its chest heaving heavily.

It was also watching that black steel cocoon, the lightning on its arms flickering on and off.

Lt. Surge stared fixedly at it.

He knew better than anyone that a Pokémon that had just completed its transformation was the most dangerous, and also the most fragile.

As long as he took advantage of it not yet being familiar with its body and shattered it again, this encirclement still had a chance to turn the tide.

But before the next command could be given, the exhaust port at the tail of the steel cocoon lit up.

The Scorched Earth Zone briefly lost its rhythm.

The Alliance soldiers didn't know where to aim.

No head.

No chest.

No limbs.

Traditional weakness assessments all failed; the Electabuzz could only strike the shell with electricity, but those lightning bolts slid along the blue-white patterns, causing the surface of the steel cocoon to shine even more intensely.

Lt. Surge, however, quickly regained his judgment.

"Don't hit the shell."

He ordered through gritted teeth.

"Hit the exhaust port."

The dark red hole at Pupitar's tail was the source of its movement, and also the most unstable part after just completing evolution.

Upon hearing this command, Lynn felt a chill in his heart.

This was where Lt. Surge's terror lay.

Even having seen the monster born with his own eyes, he only paused for a second.

The second second, he had already started looking for the weaknesses of the new body.

The appearance of Pupitar forced all tactics in the Scorched Earth Zone to be recalculated.

It was no longer a larva that could be lured away by bait, nor a Ground-type beast that could be trapped to death by a lightning net.

It had become a black warhead whose trajectory needed to be predicted in advance.

Lt. Surge understood this the fastest.

Therefore, he was also the most dangerous.