"Cobalion!"
"Terrakion!"
"Virizion!"
Rex followed Keldeo into a spacious cavern. Thanks to the bioluminescent plants growing within, the cave wasn't dark. But when Rex saw the condition of the Pokémon inside, his expression changed dramatically.
The three legendary Pokémon were badly injured and clearly unconscious.
"Keldeo, I don't have enough life energy left to heal them completely. I'll need to wait until tomorrow when it replenishes before I can restore them fully,"
Rex said apologetically after calculating the life energy in his core.
"It's okay. Just having your help already means so much—do what you can,"
Keldeo said, clearly worried, but understanding.
Rex then channeled his remaining life energy, dividing it into three portions and infusing each into Cobalion, Terrakion, and Virizion.
Though it wasn't enough to heal them, it stabilized their conditions. Their faint, unstable auras began to strengthen gradually.
The reason the three swords of justice were in such dire shape was because they had expended nearly all of their core energy. Rex's life energy gave them just enough of that vital essence to escape danger and begin recovering.
"They're stable now. Once my life energy recovers tomorrow, I should be able to return them to full health. They should wake up by then too,"
Rex assured Keldeo.
"Yeah… I can sense that. Thank you, Rex,"
Keldeo said with heartfelt gratitude.
"No need to thank me. We're friends, remember? But tell me—what happened to them? Why are they so badly hurt?"
Rex had been wondering the whole time. These three were legendary Pokémon—on par with the legendary birds. Not many beings in the world could beat them this badly.
"It was a Deoxys… one that came from space. It was inside a massive meteorite that crashed into this region recently."
Keldeo answered with a gloomy tone.
Deoxys—an alien-like bipedal Pokémon with four different forms, each specializing in a different aspect.
No matter the form, they shared similar features: mainly orange-red bodies, bluish-green faces and markings, and glowing white eyes. A purple stripe ran down their face, and a crystalline structure in the chest seemed to act as its brain.
Created from a mutated space virus exposed to laser radiation, Deoxys was known to appear near auroras. It could shift between Attack, Defense, Speed, and Normal forms, adapting to confuse opponents, absorb hits, or move with incredible speed.
When Rex learned it was Deoxys that had taken down the trio, it finally made sense.
After all, Deoxys was said to rival even Rayquaza in strength. And with its Psychic typing, it had a natural advantage over Fighting-types like Cobalion, Terrakion, and Virizion.
Only Cobalion, with its Steel typing, could somewhat mitigate the disadvantage. Terrakion and Virizion had no such protection—they were utterly countered.
Against a powerful foe with both a type advantage and superior raw strength, their defeat was almost inevitable.
As for Keldeo, even in its Resolute Form with Sacred Sword, its power still lagged behind its mentors. It would've stood no chance against Deoxys.
Just thinking about how strong Deoxys was gave Rex a headache.
He glanced at Cynthia and Diantha nearby and felt a wave of relief—he was lucky they'd come along.
With two Champion-level Trainers by his side, they at least had a fighting chance.
"Whew, looks like we've stumbled into something big,"
Diantha said with a wry chuckle, trying to lighten the mood.
"It may be troublesome… but if we work together, I believe we can resolve this—maybe even clear up a misunderstanding,"
Cynthia added with confidence.
In her mind, even legendary Pokémon didn't fight without cause. If they could find the root of the conflict, perhaps peace was possible.
"Keldeo, do you know why the fight broke out in the first place?"
Rex asked. He shared Cynthia's belief that there had to be a reason.
"It started when Deoxys' meteor crashed. After it emerged, it stayed in that area and wouldn't allow any other Pokémon near."
"That region used to be home to many wild Pokémon, and they were all forced to flee. When my mentors found out, they approached Deoxys, hoping it would allow the others to return."
"But I don't know what went wrong. Suddenly, they started fighting. The clash hurt both sides, but ultimately… my mentors ended up like this."
Keldeo explained everything it knew.
In truth, when Keldeo saw the three of them injured, it had wanted to rush Deoxys in revenge. Fortunately, Cobalion had remained conscious just long enough to stop it.
Instead, Cobalion ordered Keldeo to bring them back to the valley.
Desperate, Keldeo remembered the feather it had left with Rex—infused with its own essence. Using that connection, it reached out and guided Rex here.
After hearing the story, Rex and the others finally grasped the situation.
Still, one question remained: why was Deoxys so adamant about staying in that area?
Normally, Deoxys didn't settle in one place. Most of them wandered across the world before returning to space someday. This one's behavior was unusual.
(End of Chapter)