The trek toward the center of Pinkan Island was a journey through a biological nightmare. The vegetation had turned a sickly, translucent magenta, and the air hummed with the high-pitched frequency of the Mutation-Gate.
Zeth reached the rim of the volcanic crater, his Aura-eye squinting against the neon-violet glare reflecting off the sulfur pools below.
"Help! Over here!"
At the base of a jagged obsidian pillar, a squad of three Team Rocket Grunts was pinned down. Their black uniforms were shredded, and their Pokémon—a pair of Raticate (Lvl 38)—lay unconscious and twitching, their fur turning a patchy, unstable pink.
Standing over them was the source of the island's terror.
It was a Nidoking, but it stood nearly nine feet tall. Its hide wasn't the royal purple of its species; it was a deep, bruised magenta, pulsing with veins of neon light. Every time it breathed, a cloud of toxic, mutated spores erupted from its flared nostrils.
Zeth's eyes widened as the status readout flickered into existence, the numbers glowing with a serrated, "Heavy" light that signified the Level 60 Barrier had been crossed.
Pokémon: Nidoking (Mutation-Alpha) Level: 62 [Barrier Breached] Potential: Deep Purple (Temporarily surged by Gate-Energy) Ability: Sheer Force Learned Moves: Earth Power, Sludge Wave, Megahorn, Thrash, Poison Jab. TM Moves: Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Earthquake.
"Level 62," Zeth whispered, his hand going to the Shelgon's (Gold) ball. "The pressure... it's different. It's not just more power; it's like the air around him is being crushed."
The Nidoking slammed a massive claw into the obsidian pillar, shattering it like glass. The Grunts screamed as the debris rained down. The Alpha wasn't eating them; it was cleansing its territory of anything that didn't vibrate with the Gate's frequency.
"I don't care about the Rockets," Zeth said, stepping onto the crater floor. "But I need that Mutation-Core behind him to stabilize my team's growth."
He released his primary heavy-hitters.
"Shelgon, Anchor! Rhydon, frontline!"
The Shelgon (Lvl 48, Gold) and Rhydon (Lvl 46, Deep Purple) materialized. The Shelgon landed with a heavy thud, its reinforced, metallic-sheen shell radiating a cold, immovable energy. The Nidoking merely turned its head, its Level 62 ego completely ignoring the psychic pressure of lower-level opponents.
"Nidoking, Earth Power!"
The Alpha didn't wait. It slammed its tail into the ground.
The crater floor erupted. Instead of a standard wave of earth, the Earth Power manifested as geysers of molten, mutated silt, surging upward with Sheer Force precision.
"Shelgon, Protect—Full Shell! Rhydon, Hammer Arm!"
The Shelgon tucked its legs, its Gold-tier potential forming a skin-tight golden barrier that absorbed the tectonic shock. The geyser hit the shell and split, unable to move the 48-level anchor.
Meanwhile, the Rhydon charged through the steam, its arm glowing with white energy. It slammed a Hammer Arm into the Nidoking's side. The impact was massive, but the Nidoking barely staggered. Its Deep Purple hide was too dense. It swiped a claw back, a Poison Jab that sent Rhydon skidding across the obsidian floor.
"We can't win a head-on brawl against a 62," Zeth realized, his Aura sensing the Nidoking's energy regenerating from the Gate. "Knights! Deploy!"
Ceruledge and Armarouge (Solid Gold) materialized flanking the Shelgon.
"Armarouge, Wide Guard! Ceruledge, Night Slash the joints!"
The Golden Knights moved with surgical precision. While the Nidoking was focused on the heavy weights, Ceruledge flickered into its shadow, its violet-flame blades cutting deep into the Alpha's Achilles tendon. The Nidoking roared in pain, its hide finally yielding to the Solid Gold technical sharpness.
"Now! Shelgon, Zen Headbutt! Rhydon, Megahorn! Combine the impact!"
The two titans charged from opposite sides. The Shelgon rolled like a metallic boulder, its Gold aura peaking. The Rhydon lowered its massive drill-horn.
BOOM.
The impact created a shockwave that blew the fog out of the crater. The Nidoking staggered, its massive knees hitting the obsidian floor. It wasn't defeated, but the Level 60 ego had been bruised by the combined weight of Zeth's highest-tier potential.
While the Alpha was dazed, Zeth sprinted past the cowering Rockets toward the pulsating, violet crystal at the base of the Gate—the Mutation-Core.
"If I take this, the Gate collapses," Zeth thought, his hand inches from the glowing shard.
From the shadows of the crater rim, a blue light flashed. The Officer Jenny variant was watching, her sniper-spec Arcanine poised to strike the moment Zeth touched the core.
"Take it, kid," her voice echoed through a long-range speaker. "And I'll kill you before the light fades. That core belongs to the Bureau."
Zeth didn't pause. He grabbed the core, feeling the raw, jagged energy surge through his arm.
The moment Zeth's fingers closed around the Mutation-Core, the atmospheric pressure in the crater inverted. A high-pitched, metallic shriek tore through the air as the violet Gate began to fold in on itself, sucking the magenta mist back into the rift.
"Everyone! Recall! Now!" Zeth roared over the rising wind.
The three Rocket Grunts didn't need to be told twice. They scrambled for their broken Raticates and bolted for the eastern rim, leaving a trail of panic in their wake. But the Alpha Nidoking (Level 62) wasn't letting anyone leave.
Enraged by the theft of its power source, the Alpha's hide turned a deep, bruised black. It ignored the Ceruledge and Armarouge, its bloodshot eyes locking onto Zeth. It opened its jaws, a chaotic sphere of Sludge Wave and Thunderbolt energy coalescing into a jagged, unstable mass.
"Shelgon, Iron Defense—Full Anchor! Armarouge, Wide Guard—Double Layer!"
The Shelgon (Lvl 48, Gold) slammed its weight into the obsidian floor, its metallic shell glowing with a pressurized golden light. Armarouge (Lvl 35, Solid Gold) stood directly behind it, its hands pressed against the Shelgon's back, channeling every ounce of its psychic reserves into a shimmering, hexagonal barrier.
The Nidoking unleashed its fury. A beam of toxic, electrified sludge slammed into the dual defense.
The ground beneath Shelgon shattered, the obsidian liquefying into glass from the heat, but the dragon didn't budge. The Solid Gold technical purity of the Wide Guard acted as a prism, refracting the Level 62 energy around the perimeter rather than letting it pierce the center.
"Six feet back!" Zeth grunted, the backdraft of the explosion singeing his hair. "We're being pushed by the air pressure alone!"
The Gate behind the Nidoking began to pulse with black lightning—the sign of a Spatiotemporal Implosion.
"Ceruledge, Shadow Sneak—Blind his eyes! Rhydon, Stone Edge—Create a path!"
Ceruledge flickered into a streak of violet smoke, reappearing inches from the Nidoking's face. It didn't strike the hide; it slashed at the air in front of the Alpha's eyes, the spectral fire momentarily blinding its thermal vision.
Simultaneously, the Rhydon (Lvl 46, Deep Purple) slammed its massive feet into the ground. Jagged pillars of basalt erupted from the crater floor, forming a series of platforms leading up the steep western wall.
"Go! Move!" Zeth commanded.
He began the vertical scramble, his boots slipping on the magenta moss. Beside him, his Pokémon moved in a synchronized retreat. Shelgon acted as a mobile shield, rolling up the path Rhydon had carved, while Armarouge fired suppression Aura Spheres to keep the Nidoking from leaping.
As Zeth reached the halfway point of the crater wall, a sharp crack echoed from the rim. A bolt of concentrated fire—a Flare Blitz—tore through the air, narrowly missing Zeth's head and shattering the stone platform in front of him.
Officer Jenny was standing at the top, her Arcanine (Lvl 56) poised for a second strike.
"Drop the core, kid!" she shouted over the roar of the imploding Gate. "The Bureau doesn't negotiate with looters!"
Zeth didn't look up. He looked at his Houndoom (Lvl 45, Light Gold).
"Houndoom, Foul Play on the Arcanine! Ceruledge, use the shadows of the falling debris!"
The Houndoom lunged upward, its dark energy latching onto the Arcanine's superior physical level. As the Arcanine prepared another Flare Blitz, Houndoom forced the fire-dog to stumble, turning its own momentum into a staggering blow.
In that split second of distraction, Ceruledge emerged from the Officer's own shadow, the tip of its violet blade hovering inches from her throat.
"Tell your dog to sit," Zeth said, his voice cold as he hauled himself over the final ledge. "Or we find out if a 'Deep Purple' vest can stop a 'Solid Gold' Ghost-type."
The crater behind them finally gave way. With a sound like a mountain collapsing, the Mutation-Gate vanished into a pinpoint of black light, creating a vacuum that pulled the Alpha Nidoking into the center of the void. The beast let out one final, earth-shaking roar before it was silenced by the closing rift.
The magenta fog began to dissipate, revealing a scarred, gray landscape.
Zeth stood at the rim, the Mutation-Core heavy in his bag. He looked at the Officer, who was slowly recalling her Arcanine, her face a mask of frustration and grudging respect.
"The mutation is gone," Zeth said, turning toward the sea. "You got your 'cleansing'. I'm keeping the payment."
He didn't wait for her response. He disappeared into the thinning mist, heading for the sea-cave where the Mantis waited. He had the core, and his team had faced a Level 62 and lived. But as he looked at the cracks in Rhydon's hide and the exhaustion in Shelgon's eyes, he knew one thing for certain.
The Orange Archipelago was no longer a training ground. It was a battlefield.
[Objective: Mutation-Core Secured.] [Exp Gained: Shelgon 48 -> 49. Rhydon 46 -> 47. Houndoom 45 -> 46.]