As Su Feng stepped through the factory's massive doors, a wave of bone-chilling cold slammed into him. He barely had time to cover his exposed skin before frost crystallized across his winter gear.
"This isn't just cold…" Su Feng muttered, knocking ice shards off his sleeves. Moonlight streamed through cracks in the ceiling, revealing a cavernous space crisscrossed with rusted mining tracks and defunct machinery.
Behind him, Combusken and Haunter shivered violently—Haunter, a Ghost-type unaffected by blizzards, was trembling.
This cold isn't natural.
"Hello? Anyone here?" Su Feng called out.
His voice triggered something. A gale of arctic wind erupted from deeper within the factory, frosting every surface in thick ice.
Then, a voice—deep, male, and unmistakably human speech—replied:
"Human."
Su Feng's blood ran colder than the air.
Few Pokémon could speak like this: Team Rocket's Meowth, some mythicals… and legendaries.
[Did that Pokémon just talk?!]
[Since when do Pokémon speak human language??]
[This feels… different. Wrong.]
[Bro, is this a ghost? A yuki-onna?!]
Su Feng wished it were that simple.
"You carry the scent of the Alpha," the voice continued.
Su Feng's breath hitched. It knows about Arceus.
Before panic could set in, the system chimed in his mind:
[Rest assured. The Creator's name is beyond mortal comprehension. No livestream may reveal it.]
A glance at his phone confirmed viewers saw only frozen frames:
[Stream glitched?]
[My Wi-Fi's fine—must be Feng's end.]
The voice sighed. "Silent? No matter."
THUD. THUD. THUD.
Each footstep shook the ground. The factory's central doors groaned open, and a monolith of gray-white scales emerged.
Kyurem.
The towering Dragon/Ice-type loomed over Su Feng, its breath frosting the air. At its full 30-foot height, even Combusken's flames flickered weakly.
[What is that?! A kaiju?!]
[Run, Feng! This isn't a fight—it's suicide!]
[That's a Pokémon? Looks like it eats Legendaries for breakfast.]
Kyurem's slit-pupiled eyes narrowed—until Su Feng's 150,000-lumen headlamp blasted it square in the face.
"…Turn that off."
"S-sorry!" Su Feng fumbled with the light.
Kyurem studied the intruder: a blue-coated human, two shivering Pokémon, and…
An Egg.
Its gaze lingered on the Egg before returning to Su Feng. "Why invade my domain? To challenge me?"
With a rumble, jagged ice pillars erupted, forming a gladiatorial gate.
"Cross that threshold, and we begin."
Su Feng and Combusken exchanged glances.
"Cha…?" (You got this, right?)
Su Feng coughed. "What if I said I took a wrong turn?"
Kyurem's tail cracked the ground like a whip. "Liar."
"Worth a shot." Su Feng raised his hands. "My apologies, Lord Kyurem. We'll leave immediately—"
An ice wall sealed the exit.
"You presume I'd allow it?" Kyurem's wings flexed, frost spreading like living veins. "That Egg you clutch… Why does it reek of genes not its own?"
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