I, Gary, Want to Become a Pokemon Master

Chapter 731 - 731: Iron Thorns and Iron Treads

"Spend tonight getting used to your new body and mastering your new moves. Focus mainly on drilling your Steel-type moves," Gary said.Although Archaludon's body naturally built up static electricity, it wasn't an Electric-type Pokémon, so training Electric-type moves would be a waste of effort.

As for Dragon-type moves, they were really only effective against other Dragon-types. Their usefulness was limited, so putting the work into Steel-type moves would pay off far more.

"ARCHA."

Archaludon nodded and was ready to begin, but after glancing around, it immediately gestured that it wanted to move somewhere else.

"What's wrong?" Gary asked.

"ARCHA."

Archaludon explained that it wanted to find an environment like its old rocky pit to train in. That was how it had always practiced.

"There's no need for that. Your body is already tough enough — no point in hammering it further. What you need to work on now is your movement and your moves. We'll start with running. Just do laps around the observation station. One hundred laps, to start with," Gary said.

Archaludon: "ARCHA? (O_O)?!"

Running?

From the day it was born, Archaludon had never once thought of running as a form of training.

"That's right. Don't underestimate running. It builds up your stamina and strengthens your endurance. Now go on, get moving," Gary urged.

"VEE!"

Eevee trotted over with a righteous little expression, volunteering to run alongside Archaludon.

Archaludon looked down at the much smaller Eevee.

It had been defeated by this very Eevee not long ago. Both of them might belong to Gary now, but Archaludon hadn't forgotten that loss. In its mind, once it had surpassed its current rival, its next target would be Eevee.

Meanwhile, Eevee looked up at Archaludon with a bright, innocent face, hoping to make a good impression on its new teammate. It had no idea it had already been marked as Archaludon's next opponent.

Angus, who was standing guard at the entrance, noticed what was happening over on Gary's side. Watching Archaludon obediently begin training on Gary's orders, he couldn't help but be impressed.

"Gary really does have a knack for training Pokémon. He tamed one he only caught this afternoon by the same evening," Angus said with genuine admiration.

"Seriously. I have no idea how he pulled it off. Maybe this Archaludon just happens to have an easygoing personality," Nick said. He also found it strange, but he didn't dwell on it, chalking it all up to Archaludon's temperament.

...

The next day, after breakfast, Gary, Garke, and Nick set out for the Rock area once again.

This time, with a local guide leading the way, there were no wrong turns. Archaludon took them straight back to the territory where it used to live.

Archaludon's former home was a cave built partway up a cliff, with several openings in the ceiling that let sunlight pour inside. The interior was packed with ore.

The moment Archaludon laid eyes on the ore it had spent years painstakingly collecting, it let out a furious roar.

"ARCHA!!"

Every last one of those ores had been gathered by Archaludon itself — and now they had all been ruined by the intruding Pokémon.

Gary took a closer look at the state of the ore inside the cave.

"The cuts on these ores are far too clean."

He pointed toward part of the ore pile.

The surfaces of the pieces there were unnaturally smooth, as though they'd been sliced by a blade.

Wild Pokémon didn't leave marks like that when they fed on ore.

Gary began wondering what kind of Pokémon could produce such perfectly clean cuts while eating rock.

"SKREEE!"

A sharp cry rang out from deep within the cave.

Gary and the others immediately went on guard.

"What Pokémon is that?"

Gary couldn't identify it from the sound alone.

All three of them turned toward the direction of the cry.

The cave fell silent for a moment.

Then, as the seconds passed, they began to hear the sound of heavy footsteps striking the ground.

The sound drew steadily closer.

And it clearly wasn't coming from just one Pokémon.

[LV60 Iron Thorns / Elite]

[LV55 Iron Treads / Elite]

Gary spotted the names first, and his eyes widened.

He hadn't expected there to be two intruders in Archaludon's territory — and both of them were Paradox Pokémon at that.

As Iron Thorns and Iron Treads emerged from the shadows, Garke and Nick finally got a clear look at them, and were left equally stunned.

"That's Iron Thorns! I can't believe it actually exists!" Garke exclaimed.

"What's the other one? Some kind of mechanical Donphan?" Nick asked.

"No idea. It's the first time I've ever laid eyes on it," Garke said, shaking his head.

Gary quietly frowned.

Why didn't Garke know about the other Paradox Pokémon? It seemed Professor Sada had been holding back information even from her own students.

"ARCHA!!"

The moment Archaludon saw Iron Thorns and Iron Treads, it ignored Iron Treads entirely and let out a challenging roar squarely at Iron Thorns.

"RAAAH!"

Iron Thorns responded in kind, and the two Pokémon squared off against each other in an instant.

Iron Thorns bore a strong resemblance to Tyranitar, but its body was clad in metallic armor, and the spikes running down its back were forged from condensed energy — they looked razor-sharp.

Gary glanced from Iron Thorns to the smooth cuts in the ore.

Those marks had almost certainly been made by Iron Thorns.

The other Pokémon, Iron Treads, resembled Donphan in shape, but with mechanical limbs and a segmented, telescoping tail — the result was something that looked more like a metal-plated bulldozer than its ancient counterpart.

"Eevee, you handle the other one," Gary ordered.

"VEE!"

Eevee darted forward at once, taking its place at Archaludon's side as the two prepared to face their opponents together.

The two Paradox Pokémon didn't strike immediately.

Iron Thorns' small green eyes kept flicking between Gary and the others, gleaming with an intelligence far beyond that of any ordinary wild Pokémon.

From what Gary knew, Iron Thorns had an extremely calm, calculating personality. It disliked pointless battles and possessed unusually high intelligence for a Pokémon.

"Eevee, take care of the other one on your own. Fight however you see fit. I'll command Archaludon against Iron Thorns," Gary said.

"VEE!"

Without a moment's hesitation, Eevee flicked its tail.

Golden stars — each about the size of a shuriken — shot rapidly toward Iron Treads.

Iron Treads instantly curled itself into a ball and used Rollout, trying to plow straight through the Swift.

But it had badly overestimated its own strength.

Swift slammed into it first, halting Iron Treads in its tracks and cutting off its Rollout mid-charge.

"RAAAH!"

At that very moment, Iron Thorns made its move.

The spikes on its back flared with white light before firing off a volley of glowing energy spikes straight at Eevee.

"ARCHA!"

Your opponent is me!

Archaludon's body shone with a brilliant metallic sheen as it stepped directly into the line of fire, placing itself between Eevee and the incoming attack.

Clang! Clang! Clang...!

The energy spikes rained down on Archaludon one after another, but every single one was deflected.

Gary smiled coldly.

Iron Thorns was clearly intelligent — but this time, it had been just a little too clever for its own good.

That sneak attack had done nothing but play right into Archaludon's hands.