The outsider before him had awakened that being, and after sacrificing their own Pokémon, they barely managed to escape.
As for whether that person was still alive now—that was something Nathan had no way of knowing.
He was well aware of the old saying, "Curiosity killed the cat."
So, instead of poking his nose where it didn't belong, Nathan simply continued along his planned path.
He had absolutely no intention of seeking out the mysterious being the Mr. Rime had mentioned.
Wouldn't it be much better to quietly search for treasure as he had originally intended?
Why would he want to go mess with something clearly beyond his strength?
What if it turned out to be a Legendary Pokémon resting in this Frostline Regionern region?
Or worse, a being even stronger than that?
If he disturbed them, wouldn't he just be sending his Pokémon to their deaths?
Thanks to his snowboard, Nathan's travel speed wasn't slow at all.
Before long, he encountered other Pokémon.
But this time, the Pokémon didn't seem all that hostile toward him, an outsider.
"It seems the Mr. Rime attacked me because that being woke up and caused them harm," Nathan muttered under his breath.
As he spoke, Nathan casually glanced up at the sky.
And just at that moment, a meteor streaked across the heavens.
Against the ever-present auroras of the polar night, it was breathtaking.
"Whoa~ I must be pretty lucky, huh? Even caught sight of a shooting star."
Nathan couldn't help but smile at the sight.
Unfortunately, he was a man who only believed in things he could see and touch.
If a sentimental person had witnessed something so beautiful, they probably would've clasped their hands together and made a wish already.
BOOM——!
A thunderous explosion suddenly rang out, and Nathan was thrown off his board, scrambling back up from the snow.
"That sound… No way. Don't tell me that meteor actually landed nearby?"
He blinked in surprise.
This was one of those once-in-several-years occurrences—
He had just personally witnessed a meteor fall to the ground!
And judging by the sound, it hadn't fallen far from where he was.
Without a second of hesitation, Nathan immediately rushed in the direction of the impact.
Meteors, after all, were unpredictable.
Sometimes they were nothing but ordinary rocks,
but other times, they could contain something precious—
like a Moon Stone, a well-known evolutionary item for Pokémon.
And such stones often originated from outer space.
In a world this vast, anything could happen.
What if something incredibly valuable—something that could help him—really had landed nearby?
Even if he couldn't reach the center of the Frostline Region, finding such a treasure would make this whole trip worthwhile.
But Nathan wasn't the only one who heard the explosion.
The nearby Pokémon had heard it too.
One by one, the Pokémon in the surrounding area began heading toward the source of the noise.
Although Nathan's snowboard was fast, it still couldn't match the natural speed of the wild Pokémon.
By the time he reached the meteor's crash site, over two dozen Pokémon had already gathered there.
There were at least twenty to thirty Pokémon—ranging from Elite-tier to Champion-tier strength.
Among them was the very same Mr. Rime who had ambushed him earlier.
Pokémon generally weren't ones to gather aimlessly,
but curiosity—
it wasn't exclusive to humans.
Even so, despite their curiosity, none of the Pokémon dared approach the crater.
That same Mr. Rime, upon seeing Nathan arrive, eagerly ran over to him with a wide grin.
"You came to check out the meteor too?"
Nathan nodded and replied, "I heard the explosion, so I came over.
But why aren't any of you actually going down into the crater?"
With Pokémon that were at least Elite-level in strength, were they really afraid a Pokémon would jump out and attack them?
Mr. Rime shook its head, frowning.
It really didn't like the smell around the meteor.
Having lived in the Frostline Region for so long, the air here was cold but incredibly pure.
To Pokémon like them, the stench surrounding the meteor was unbearable—
comparable to poison.
"It just smells really bad. None of us like that smell."
Nathan paused, startled by the answer.
He hadn't expected such a simple reason to keep so many powerful Pokémon at bay.
Although the Pokémon hated the stench, Nathan—having lived in a bustling metropolis—barely noticed it.
City living had long since dulled his sensitivity to things like air quality.
And if these Pokémon weren't going to seize the opportunity—
then he absolutely would.
Nathan summoned his Volcarona and Frosmoth to protect him, then headed straight for the crater.
The other Pokémon all turned their gazes toward him.
What was this human planning to do?
The crater itself was fairly large, but meteors rarely ended up that big—
after all, the size of a meteor was directly related to its descent velocity.
If it were too big, it would burn up in the atmosphere or cause catastrophic damage.
Nathan carefully made his way down into the crater.
Because of the heat from the meteor's impact, a large amount of ice had melted,
and the meteorite was now encased in water—
which had already refrozen into a thin sheet of ice due to the region's extreme cold.
Breaking through the ice, Nathan reached out and pulled the meteorite free.
Although meteors could reach thousands of degrees during descent,
this one had long since cooled down in the snow and was now ice cold.
But when Nathan retrieved it—
he was shocked.
It was a Wishing Star Fragment—and not just any fragment—
a massive one, larger than his fist.
After scraping away the charred outer layer, the shard beneath revealed a dreamy, ethereal glow.
"I can't believe I actually found something this good… and such a large piece, too!"
Grinning from ear to ear, Nathan quickly stored the Wishing Star Fragment in his backpack.
When he climbed back out, the surrounding Pokémon were all watching him curiously.
"So? What did the meteor look like?"
Mr. Rime trotted over and asked.
Nathan didn't hide it—he directly pulled out the fragment and showed it to Mr. Rime.
However, judging by Mr. Rime's puzzled expression, it had no idea what the item was or what it did.
"That's it? You're gonna take that garbage with you?"
Mr. Rime's blunt remark left Nathan speechless.
Garbage?! This was a Wishing Star Fragment!
To call it garbage was downright offensive!
"If that's garbage, then give me a whole truckload of it!"
"You really have no idea what this thing does, do you…"
Nathan clicked his tongue and explained,
"If a Pokémon carries this for a long time, their body size will increase."
Mr. Rime froze on the spot.
It had thought the meteor was just some trash rock,
but now Nathan was telling it this "garbage" could actually enlarge a Pokémon's body?
If it had known that earlier, would it still be so small?
In fact, there were many such objects scattered across the Frostline Region—
and also many Dynamaxed Pokémon.
But hardly any Pokémon knew the real reason why.
"You're sure this thing really makes Pokémon bigger?"
Mr. Rime asked, skeptical.
Nathan nodded firmly.
Even if he somehow got it wrong—
there was no way the system's identification feature would.
And based on Mr. Rime's reaction,
it seemed like there might be more of these fragments out there.
"Say no more. I'm off to find more of these things!"
With that, Mr. Rime spun around and bolted off at incredible speed.
The other Pokémon, who had overheard Nathan's explanation, also scattered in all directions.
"...???"
Nathan was stunned.
He watched as more than twenty Pokémon vanished in a flash.
Wait… don't tell me there are a ton of Wishing Star Fragments around here?
"This… this really is a treasure trove."
He sighed in amazement, then turned and continued on his journey.
With one Wishing Star Fragment already in hand, Nathan felt like his snowboard had suddenly become much lighter.
As for the others?
He didn't bother looking for them.
After all, the purpose of his trip wasn't to collect Wishing Star Fragments.
This one had just been an unexpected bonus.
Little did he know—
his brief encounter had planted a seed of knowledge in the minds of those Pokémon.
Years later, the Frostline Region would be overrun with Dynamaxed Pokémon.
And not just any Dynamaxed Pokémon—
but ones that had grown to ridiculous, almost absurd sizes.
But that… was something Nathan would never get to see.
(End of Chapter)