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The fierce north wind howled relentlessly across the mountainside, and heavy snow continued to fall with increasing intensity.
The accumulated snow was exceptionally deep throughout the area. Everywhere one looked revealed nothing but a vast expanse of pristine white, transforming the entire sky into what appeared to be a thick white curtain that blocked out most of the natural light.
Huxley, who had just finished shooting Roger in cold blood, stood with his chest heaving heavily from the adrenaline. Smoke was still rising ominously from the gun barrel, and his emotional state was extremely unstable. His face had become ferocious and terrifying to behold. He remained standing there in stunned silence for several long breaths before gradually managing to calm his racing heart and regain some composure.
Huxley frowned deeply as he stared down at Roger's motionless corpse, silently reloading his magazine while carefully considering how to properly deal with the aftermath of this murder.
First, Roger's body would need to be completely disposed of without leaving any trace. Then the entire cave entrance would have to be thoroughly blocked with rocks and debris. Finally, the entire cave opening would need to be permanently sealed off from the outside world. This way, absolutely no one would be able to find Roger's body, and no one would ever know that he was the person responsible for killing the respected patrol captain.
"Thump."
"Who's there?" Huxley demanded sharply.
Just as he was deep in these murderous thoughts, a sudden, unexpected noise came from somewhere behind him in the shadows. The highly sensitive and increasingly tense Huxley instantly spun around and fired his weapon without hesitation.
"BANG!"
The gunshot rang out loudly within the confines of the cave, but the bullet was easily blocked and deflected by a massive Tyranitar that had positioned itself protectively in front of its trainer.
Only then did Huxley manage to clearly see the identity of this mysterious newcomer who had appeared so silently.
Dante? Why was he here of all places?
Upon recognizing that the newcomer was indeed Dante, Huxley's tense heart relaxed slightly with relief.
Dante was merely a trainer who had just recently stepped into Elite Four-level strength, possessing only one Elite Four-level Tyranitar in his arsenal. His overall battle strength was absolutely no match for Huxley's superior resources and multiple powerful Pokémon.
"Huxley," Dante said calmly. When Dante's experienced eyes fell upon Roger's lifeless corpse, his pupils contracted slightly with genuine shock, and his heart was deeply shaken by what he witnessed. However, his voice remained completely calm and hoarse as he spoke. "It's been a long time since we last met."
Even while wearing his distinctive mask, Huxley felt slightly surprised internally, and his brows furrowed with confusion. He hadn't expected that even with his face completely concealed, Dante would still be able to recognize his identity so easily.
Since his cover had already been blown completely, Huxley simply decided to stop concealing his identity entirely. He removed his silver mask deliberately, looked directly at Dante with obvious hostility, and spoke with a clear hint of accusation in his aggressive tone. "What exactly are you doing here? Have you been following and tracking me?"
"Following you?" Dante's weathered face remained completely expressionless as his steady gaze remained fixed intently on Huxley. "Believe whatever you want to believe. I didn't expect that you would actually murder Roger in cold blood. You truly are as foolish as a pig, constantly relying on your father's protection and influence, always doing completely brainless and stupid things."
Listening to Dante's harsh scolding and direct insults, Huxley's face immediately flushed bright red with rage. His expression became ferocious with anger, and his eyes gleamed dangerously with a fierce, predatory light. "What gives you the right to speak to me like that? Salamence, teach this fool a lesson! Use Brick Break!"
Salamence's powerful fists began glowing with concentrated Fighting-type energy. With a mighty flap of its Wing Attack technique, it charged ferociously toward the waiting Tyranitar with deadly intent.
"Tyranitar, counter with Ice Punch!" Dante commanded immediately.
Both trainers were clearly attacking with the genuine intent to kill their opponent without mercy.
Tyranitar possessed a critical 4x weakness to Fighting-type moves, which was exactly why Salamence had chosen to use the devastating Brick Break technique.
Salamence possessed a dangerous 4x weakness to Ice-type attacks, which was precisely why Tyranitar had been ordered to use the Ice Punch move in retaliation.
Tyranitar's massive fists became completely covered in crackling Ice-type energy. The Dark-Rock type Pokémon spun its powerful body with tremendous force and punched forward with devastating power, colliding directly with the incoming Salamence.
"BANG!"
Tyranitar and Salamence clashed violently in the center of the cave, and the collision of their opposing energies erupted with a tremendous, thunderous sound that echoed throughout the narrow cavern.
Huxley watched in absolute shock as his prized Salamence proved to be no match whatsoever for Dante's Tyranitar. The Dragon-Flying type was sent flying backward by a single devastating punch, crashing hard against the rocky cave wall and leaving a deep indentation in the stone.
"How is that even possible?" Huxley's face displayed a genuinely shocked expression of disbelief. He hadn't expected that in just one brief exchange of attacks, his powerful Salamence would be so severely injured. Only then did the terrible realization dawn on him. "Your Tyranitar has reached Champion-level strength?!"
Indeed, in just six short months, Dante's Tyranitar's incredible strength had surged dramatically once again, advancing from Elite Four-level to full Champion-level capabilities.
Was this kind of rapid growth reasonable? This was completely unreasonable by any normal standards.
Huxley now began carefully scrutinizing Dante with new eyes. He realized with growing concern that he had always seriously underestimated Dante's true potential and capabilities.
Dante's official resume contained no particular highlights or achievements. The only noteworthy event was that three years ago, he had completely wiped out an entire family to obtain a single Larvitar, and then in the span of just three years, he had somehow trained this Larvitar into an Elite Four-level Tyranitar.
To successfully train a Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon from complete infancy to Elite Four-level in such a remarkably short time was actually quite unreasonable and suspicious. However, it was theoretically possible if the Pokémon's natural potential was severely overdrawn and an enormous amount of expensive resources were continuously invested in its development.
Although Huxley had been somewhat surprised by this achievement at the time, he hadn't thought too deeply about the implications. But now, witnessing that in just six additional months, Dante had again advanced his Tyranitar from Elite Four-level to Champion-level strength - this was absolutely impossible by any known training methods! Even with virtually unlimited resources available, such rapid advancement was completely impossible to achieve.
To train a newborn Larvitar into a Champion-level Tyranitar in merely three and a half years total - this was absolutely impossible by conventional means. From this extraordinary evidence, it seemed clear that Dante must possess some kind of incredible treasure, and it had to be an extremely precious and powerful one. As soon as this realization formed in his mind, Huxley's natural greed began surging completely uncontrollably.
He absolutely had to get his hands on such an amazing treasure that could accelerate a Pokémon's growth so dramatically. Since Dante had delivered himself directly to Huxley's location, he couldn't blame anyone for what was about to happen.
Huxley reached for a special Poké Ball from his belt. This contained the emergency life-saving Pokémon that his father had specifically prepared for him before this dangerous mission, and it was also one of his father's personal ace Pokémon.
"Go, Kingambit!" he shouted.
This was also a Champion-level Pokémon, and ironically, it was also 4x weak to Fighting-type attacks.
As the evolved form of Bisharp, Kingambit was quite powerful in battle - a standard heavily-armored physical attacker with impressive capabilities.
Aside from its relatively slow speed and completely useless special attack stat, Kingambit could be said to have almost no significant flaws in its battle performance. It possessed high HP, devastating physical attack power, excellent dual defensive capabilities, plus its signature Supreme Overlord ability and its STAB Sucker Punch move. These attributes made Kingambit exceptionally strong in most battle situations.
Its only major vulnerability was a critical one: a dangerous 4x weakness to Fighting-type moves.
Kingambit settled itself on the ground with authority, its intense eyes fixed on Tyranitar with unmistakable murderous intent. The large, gleaming blade on top of its head was particularly eye-catching and intimidating. Even when facing a Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon, it showed absolutely no trace of fear or hesitation.
Seeing Huxley release his powerful Kingambit, Dante showed no surprise whatsoever in his experienced eyes, as if he had already anticipated that Huxley would have this particular trump card available.
"Dante, since you're actively seeking death, don't blame me for what happens next," Huxley declared with a ferocious expression. His gaze at Dante was like he was already looking at a dead man. "Go, Salamence, Rhyperior, Obstagoon, Pangoro!"
Huxley directly released all his available Pokémon in one overwhelming swarm. He had absolutely no intention of engaging in any kind of fair, honorable duel. However, the extremely cramped cave space completely limited his Pokémon's performance capabilities, and having so many large Pokémon appearing simultaneously in the confined area made it exceptionally crowded and chaotic.
Facing Huxley's intimidating array of multiple Pokémon, Dante remained completely expressionless and spoke calmly to the Tyranitar standing loyally beside him. "Don't hold back any power, Tyranitar. Use your full strength Dark Pulse attack!"
As Dante's commanding voice rang out clearly, violent Dark-type energy suddenly began surging dramatically from Tyranitar's muscular body.
Dense, concentrated Dark-type energy, as thick and viscous as liquid shadow, burst forth explosively from Tyranitar's form. At the exact same moment, an incredibly strong light erupted brilliantly from within Tyranitar's body, and a mysterious stone plate could be vaguely seen materializing in the air!
The Dread Plate! One of the legendary Arceus's mythical plates. No one knew the specific function or true power of Arceus's plates completely, but everyone in the Pokémon world knew that possessing even one of Arceus's plates could dramatically improve a Pokémon's natural aptitude and rapidly enhance its overall strength.
Huxley saw this legendary Dread Plate manifesting, and his pupils dilated dramatically in shock. His face filled with complete disbelief and awe. Dante's Tyranitar actually had one of Arceus's legendary Dread Plates fused within its very body!
No wonder Dante had been able to increase his strength to such an incredible extent in such an impossibly short time period!
Under the tremendous enhancement provided by the legendary Dread Plate, Tyranitar's strength instantly surged to even greater heights. The overwhelmingly powerful Dark Pulse attack permeated the entire cave interior with devastating force. In almost a single instant, except for the sturdy Kingambit, all of Huxley's other Pokémon completely lost their combat capability and collapsed.
"You can die now," Dante stated with a cold, emotionless expression as he commanded Tyranitar to launch its final, devastating attack.