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"Pah. Pah."
Kael grimaced in disgust, spitting out the sand that had accidentally flown into his mouth.
The stench filling his mouth was like rotten fruit left under the sun. Even with his high tolerance, he could not stop himself from bending over and retching a few times.
The process had been unpleasant.
But at least he was alive.
Kael let out a quiet breath of relief.
His earlier judgment had been correct. From that terrifying height, if he had allowed his body to free-fall without intervention, he would not have died outright, but the resulting injuries would have left him in an extremely dangerous state.
The countermeasures he had taken were necessary and correct.
Only because Kael possessed fast reaction speed and strong mental composure had he survived.
If it had been any other Pokémon without flight capability, being suddenly dropped from that height would almost certainly have meant death.
Straightening his back, Kael shook his massive frame lightly. Sand clinging to his body cascaded down in sheets.
He raised his head and looked back toward the sky.
The white circular portal that had once allowed him to pass through freely had already shrunk to the point of being barely visible to the naked eye.
Before long, the space-warping passage that Spoink had forced open with its entire lifetime's psychic power would close completely.
"A one-way ticket, huh."
Kael muttered softly, then withdrew his gaze and began examining his surroundings.
Dark yellow.
Sand.
Relentless wind.
It felt like standing in the Sahara Desert from his previous life, an endless sea of lifeless dunes stretching to the horizon.
Yet the sand here was darker, coarser, heavier.
Large grains slammed into Kael's steel-hard dark-purple skin, shattering into finer particles with sharp rattling sounds.
Suddenly, Kael's expression tightened.
Now that his attention had fully settled, he noticed something strange within the frigid air surrounding him.
It was not scent.
Not dust.
It was…
Radiation.
Kael was not entirely certain, but his heightened perception detected faint, invisible particles laced with danger drifting through the atmosphere.
To his current evolved body, this radiation was meaningless. The air felt no different from normal.
But for humans, prolonged exposure would likely cause dizziness, vomiting, and organ failure within hours.
"No wonder no humans live here."
Kael thought calmly.
Without specialized protective gear, survival in this environment would be impossible.
What Kael did not know was that this radiation was the result of humanity's own actions.
Uncontrolled industrial discharge, left untreated for centuries, had poisoned the land beyond recovery.
"Which way do I go?"
Kael turned slowly, scanning the dunes, but found no landmarks.
The sandstorm was too violent. Visibility was abysmal.
And it did not look like the storm would calm anytime soon.
Rather than standing still and waiting like a fool, Kael decided it was better to choose a direction and keep moving.
At least that way, there was a chance of finding something.
After a brief consideration, he committed.
Kael stepped forward.
One step at a time, his dark-purple figure gradually disappeared into the yellow haze.
---
Two days later.
"Thud… thud…"
Heavy footsteps sank into the loose sand, producing dull, lifeless sounds.
The wind still howled.
Sand still flew.
And Kael was nearing a mental breakdown.
At first, when he had decided to venture into the desert, he was filled with confidence born from his newly evolved strength.
But as the days passed, surrounded by endless storms and unchanging scenery, his mindset began to erode.
No matter how strong one's willpower, walking alone through an unchanging wasteland for two full days would grind anyone down.
This was despite Kael's special physiology, which allowed him to draw energy directly from the environment without needing food.
Any other Pokémon would have already become bones buried beneath the sand.
For the first time, Kael began doubting the accuracy of his once-reliable intuition.
Back when he was still within Spoink's psychic torrent, his premonition had told him that this place would bring profound, positive change.
But now…
Kael stared numbly at the endless storm.
"Positive change?"
"Is this some kind of endurance training?"
A bitter, self-mocking smile tugged at his stiff face.
Oppressive monotony.
Crumbling mental state.
Cold isolation.
A road with no visible end.
Layered together, these conditions allowed emotion to overpower reason.
"AAAAAH!"
Kael suddenly stopped and roared toward the sky.
Muscles bulged violently as massive power surged through his arms.
"Superpower!"
He clenched his fists, raised both arms high, and slammed them into the sand beneath his feet.
BOOM!
The explosion roared like artillery fire.
Shockwaves rippled outward as sand was blasted skyward, pulverized into fine dust that filled the air.
A massive crater appeared beneath Kael's fists, carved purely through raw physical strength.
Crimson light flickered in his eyes as a flash of ferocity passed through his expression.
Pulling his hands from the ground, Kael exhaled, a strange satisfaction washing over him.
A grin spread across his face.
"Much better."
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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