Before you question why charcadet is just now being brought up as an unknown pokemon when clearly he used them in many situations. purely because uhhhh firstly I forgot that I set this story up to Kalos currently and other regions have not been found yet. So let's ignore that plot hole and just pretend like other characters were too focused on his shelgon and Charizard or capturing him. worrying about two new faces.
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Viridian Ridge was a vertical labyrinth of cedar and moss, a "Grey-Zone" where the law of the League was muffled by the sheer density of the forest. Zeth sat on a fallen log, his hands steady as he fed the Charcadet twins small portions of the high-protein mash the veteran had given him.
"Nobody knows what you are," Zeth said, watching the amber and violet flames dancing on their heads.
He had checked the global Pokédex entries earlier. The database stopped at the Kalosian borders. There were no records of "Charcadet," no evolutionary trees for "Ceruledge" or "Armarouge." To the scientists in Saffron or the scouts on the Plateau, these two weren't just rare—they were impossible. They were biological outliers, perhaps even "Rift-born" mutations in their eyes.
The clearing in the ridge was a natural amphitheater of grey stone. Standing in the center was the veteran, his Machamp looking like a statue carved from living muscle. The Pokémon didn't breathe so much as it pulsed, a Senior-Tier powerhouse that radiated a physical pressure so thick the local Pidgey wouldn't even fly over the clearing.
"You're the kid with the 'ghost' dragon," the man said, gesturing to the ivory Charizard perched on a nearby cliff. "The League is calling you an Anomaly, but I just see a boy who's found something that doesn't exist in the books. These two... they're small. They look like embers. You sure they won't snuff out?"
"They aren't embers," Zeth said, his voice dropping into a cold, focused register. "They're the start of a forest fire. Obsidian, Golden, center stage."
The two twins (Lvl 26) stepped onto the sand. They were less than three feet tall, dwarfed by the four-armed titan.
"Machamp, don't break them. Just show them the wall. I want to see what these two can do. Bulk Up, then Vital Throw."
Machamp's skin turned a deep, bruised red as its muscles expanded. It moved with a speed that defied its bulk, closing the gap in a single, blurring stride. Its massive lower right arm reached out to seize the Golden knight.
"Don't dodge!" Zeth commanded. "Bridge the Aura! Now!"
The Golden knight planted its feet, its small hands glowing with a reinforced amber light. It didn't manifest a bubble; it focused its Protect into a dense, flat pane of energy directly in the path of the Machamp's palm.
CLANG.
The sound was like a hammer hitting a vault door. The Golden knight was driven backward, its feet carving two deep furrows into the dirt, but the shield held.
"Obsidian, anchor him!"
The Obsidian knight leapt forward, not to attack, but to press its palms against the Golden knight's back. It channeled its jagged, violet Aura into its brother, acting as a secondary brace. The combined weight of their spirits met the Machamp's push.
The veteran's eyes widened. "They're sharing the kinetic load? That's not a Fire-type trait."
"Machamp, use Bullet Punch! Break the sync!"
The giant unleashed a flurry of strikes—a rhythmic thrum-thrum-thrum of fists hitting the amber shield.
"Obsidian, use Will-O-Wisp—internalize it!" Zeth's emerald aura flared, linking the three of them.
Instead of spitting fire, the Obsidian knight let its black-violet flames coat the outside of the Golden knight's shield. Every time the Machamp's fists struck, they hit a layer of clinging, ghostly fire. It wasn't enough to knock the Machamp out, but the "Burn" began to sap the giant's raw physical output. The strikes grew heavier, slower.
"Enough," the veteran called out, raising a hand.
The Machamp stepped back, its knuckles smoking slightly from the ghostly heat. It looked at the two tiny knights with a new expression: curiosity.
The veteran signaled the Machamp to stand down. The four-armed titan relaxed its combat stance, the red heat fading from its skin as it gave the two small knights a slow, respectful nod. It had felt the weight of their spirit—a density that shouldn't exist in creatures that small.
"You've got something there, kid," the man said, walking over and tossing a heavy, wax-sealed pouch to Zeth. Inside were Advanced-Tier Protein Pellets, the kind used by League-rank heavyweights to stabilize bone density during rapid growth. "They've got the discipline, but their frames are too light. They're fighting with the intent of a Senior-Tier, but their bodies are still in the Basic-Advanced transition."
Zeth caught the pouch, his own chest heaving. His Aura felt like a frayed wire from holding the connection. "They'll get there. I'm not forcing the armor until they can carry the weight of it."
"Good," the veteran grunted, whittling again. "Because if you force the evolution before they've matured, those suits of armor will just be metal coffins. These things—whatever they are—they're high-output. They need more than just 'fire' to grow."
The man pointed a scarred finger deeper into the dark, tangled canopy of the Viridian Ridge.
"Go into the thickets. There's a territorial pack of Primeape and Ursaring up there. They don't have the finesse of my Machamp, but they have raw, unrefined spite. They'll swarm you. They won't wait for a command. If your boys can hold a line against a dozen Advanced-Tier hitters without you constantly bridging their spirits... then they'll be ready for the next stage."
Zeth looked at the twins. They were exhausted, their flames flickering low, but they didn't look defeated. They didn't look like "unknown specimens" to him; they looked like warriors waiting for the next order.
"We stay in the Ridge," Zeth said, looking toward the dark woods. "No more running for a week. We train until the shield doesn't move and the fire doesn't flicker."
Three days later, the air in the deep thicket was thick with the smell of crushed ferns and aggressive musk. Zeth sat high in a cedar tree, the Lunar Charizard perched silently above him, its ivory scales acting as a pale ghost in the shadows.
Below, in a small clearing, the two Charcadet stood back-to-back.
"They're coming," Zeth whispered.
The first Primeape burst from the brush, its fur standing on end, its eyes bloodshot with rage. It was a solid Advanced-Tier specimen, its muscles taut. Behind it, four more crashed through the foliage, screeching in a high-pitched, violent harmony.
"No Aura-bridge this time," Zeth muttered to himself, gripping the bark of the tree. "Do it on your own."
The lead Primeape lunged, its fist glowing with the white light of a Mega Punch.
The Golden knight didn't wait for Zeth's command. It stepped forward, its tiny feet digging into the soft loam. It manifested a Protect barrier—not a flat pane this time, but a curved buckler of amber light.
CRACK.
The Primeape's fist bounced off the shield. Before it could recoil, the Obsidian knight spun around its brother's flank. It didn't use a massive burst of flame; it used a precise, needle-like Will-O-Wisp, tagging the Primeape's shoulder. The ghostly violet fire clung to the fur, the "Burn" instantly sapping the creature's physical momentum.
Another Primeape lunged from the opposite side. The twins moved in a blur of synchronized motion—the Golden knight catching the strike between it's arm while the Obsidian knight countered with a low, sweeping kick to the Primeape's shins.
They weren't just "fighting"; they were dancing.
But the swarm was growing. Three more Primeape joined the fray, followed by a massive Ursaring that let out a roar that shook the leaves. The bear was a Senior-Tier powerhouse, its claws glinting like steel.
The physical pressure of eight aggressive Pokémon was starting to crush their small frames.
"Hold it," Zeth whispered, his hand hovering over a Pokéball. He wanted to help. He wanted to bridge the gap with his own energy, but he knew that would only stunt them.
The Obsidian knight looked at its brother. It saw the amber shield cracking under the Ursaring's Hammer Arm. The violet flame on the Obsidian knight's head suddenly turned a deep, obsidian black. It didn't lunge at the bear. Instead, it reached out and grabbed its brother's hand.
A pulse of raw, unrefined heat surged between them. It wasn't Zeth's Aura—it was theirs. The shield didn't just stabilize; it expanded, turning into a searing dome of golden and violet light that threw the entire swarm back ten feet.
The Primeape scrambled back, hissing in pain as the heat singed their fur. The Ursaring growled, its eyes narrowing at the two tiny creatures that suddenly felt much, much larger.
Zeth dropped from the tree, landing softly in the dirt. He didn't need a machine to tell him their strength. He could feel it in the air—the density of their spirits had shifted. They had moved past the "Trainee" phase. They were firmly in the Advanced-Tier now, pushing toward the threshold where the armor would finally become a part of them.
"That's enough," Zeth said, his voice calm.
The Lunar Charizard landed behind him, a single low growl sending the forest pack scurrying back into the shadows.
The twins collapsed, sitting hard on the dirt, their flames puffing out little clouds of grey smoke. They were spent, but they were grinning. They had held the line without the "Anomaly" holding their hands.
"Rest," Zeth said, kneeling beside them. "You've earned the pellets. Tomorrow, we move toward the Indigo Outskirts. We aren't hiding anymore. We're going to find a real challenge."