The Poké Ball didn't shake, not even the slightest quiver. Bewear didn't resist at all. It let itself be drawn into the small space inside the ball, as if it completely trusted Shiro.
Through the translucent top of the ball, he could clearly see the Pokémon sitting quietly inside, hugging its legs.
"Bewear..."
Shiro held the ball tightly and pressed it to his chest.
This was the first wild Pokémon he had truly caught by following the proper steps. There was no battle, but the risk of hugging Bewear was probably more dangerous than any fight.
Drakloak had been lured by food and hated going inside a Poké Ball. It always stayed hidden in the shadows. And Vibrava had been captured by force.
Catching Bewear made Shiro feel, for the first time, like Ash from the anime when he bonded with wild Pokémon.
"Hah..." he took a deep breath and tucked the Poké Ball away.
Then, he ran to Corviknight and leapt onto its back, flying quickly toward the corpse of the Noivern not far away.
Once there, he ordered the bird to use Steel Wing to cut up the body. After that, he shoved the pieces into his backpack.
Corviknight soared into the sky again.
Shiro didn't have time to hesitate. He had to act fast, and find a way out of the Dynamax Den.
Rumble!
Suddenly, the ground trembled once more. The red mist across the den rippled in a thin wave. The Stony Wilderness looked like it was about to split open, and the mountains on both sides seemed to shrink.
"No... something's wrong!"
From the air, Shiro spotted the real issue.
The mountains weren't shrinking. It was the entire Dynamax space that was closing in for some unknown reason, along with the barrier at the edge.
The den had never been natural. It was way bigger than any ordinary one.
Now that the devices keeping it active were destroyed, the space was shrinking back to its original size. And it was all because of that mysterious Pokémon awakening in the center of the Stony Wilderness.
As the Dynamax Den shrank, the place left for trainers to move in would get smaller too. Which meant a higher chance of death.
"I have to find Felix and Dalton first." Shiro made his decision.
Since the barrier was still up, Felix had to be inside too. As one of the Elite Fours of the Wild Area, even if he didn't know how to break it, the man was still powerful. They could work together for now.
In this situation, Shiro needed every bit of help he could get.
Of course, if that didn't work out, he was also thinking about killing everyone else and hiding, waiting for rescue from Macro Cosmos.
Even if Rose never showed up... once the Gym Challenge began, he would eventually have to deal with this lingering den. When that happened, he'd find Shiro's body.
"Cooorv!"
Corviknight twisted in the air, swiftly dodging stones rising from the cracked earth. Then it flew in another direction.
Its sharp eyes had already spotted two hunters of similar size nearby.
"I have to figure out my own way out..." Shiro muttered. He glanced back toward the center of the Stony Wilderness, at the small hill that was rising and shaking nonstop.
What had once looked like a sunken yellowish hill had now fully risen from the ground. Covered in dirt and rock, its shape was still hard to see. It had just woken up and was scanning its surroundings.
This Pokémon was as tall as the mountain peaks on both sides of the field.
The Gigantamax Machamp Shiro had faced previously was only half this thing's height and nowhere near as bulky.
The mountain-like Pokémon looked like an enormous, round sphere.
"Cooorvkniiiight"
Corviknight dove sharply, heading toward a mountain on the west side of the plains. The trees there were thick and lush, packed tightly together.
Two figures, one lean, one broad, stood near the edge of the forest, right at the shrinking border of the den.
Hearing Corviknight's cry, the tall and slim Felix turned, looking up through the branches toward the sky.
"He's coming after us..." Dalton said weakly from the ground. He was lying beneath a tree, most of his bones broken. He had just finished applying medicine.
Felix didn't panic. His bruised face turned to the armoured bird as he answered calmly.
"He's trying to find a way out."
"Coor..."
Corviknight's steel feathers tore through the trees as it descended. The strong gust from its wings scattered the leaves everywhere. Finally, it folded its wings and landed a few meters in front of both men.
Shiro jumped down from its back and asked directly, "Do you know how to break the barrier? Is there a way out?"
Felix glanced at Dalton, then replied in an even voice, "From what we've seen, the hunters probably linked the barrier's power source to the Dynamaxed Pokémon. You'll need to defeat that thing to bring it down. We only watched them set it up from the side. We know the general idea but not the exact mechanics."
"Is there any other way?" Shiro continued to press.
Felix shook his head slightly. "If there was, we would've escaped already. I didn't expect the hunters to have something like this either."
Shiro gave a nod. That kind of answer didn't surprise him. He climbed back onto Corviknight and said one last time.
"I'm going to defeat that Pokémon. Are you coming or not?"
As he spoke, Drakloak and Haunter revealed themselves, one on each side of Felix, surrounding him silently.
The man felt the cold presence of two ghostly figures circling him. He knew someone like Shiro wouldn't speak this politely to an enemy unless he was giving them a chance—before killing them.
"I need to leave one Pokémon here to look after Dalton." Felix said, steady as ever. He took a Poké Ball from his waist and tossed it to the man's side.
It was his Obstagoon. Once released, it quietly crouched beside Dalton and stayed still.
He then sent out Malamar. Its blue tentacles floated like hair, and its fin blades lifted. Using its psychic powers, the Pokémon slowly raised Felix into the air.
"You go first." Shiro said, watching him closely.
Felix understood his position. In this dangerous place, he had no chance of beating Shiro. The smartest move was to work together to defeat the Dynamaxed Pokémon and escape first. Everything else could wait.
Boom!
The Stony Wilderness began to tremble in steady, pulsing waves. If they weren't in the air, the ground would've shaken their bodies.
That meant the Pokémon had started to move. It was walking south from the crater.
Corviknight and Malamar quickly reached the heart of the plains. The Dynamaxed Pokémon had its back to them, and its full shape was finally becoming clear.
Its body looked like a giant boulder, round and covered in stone. Its head stuck out from the center, its hands had three fingers each, and its feet had five toes with sharp claws.
As the thick layer of dried yellow mud began to fall off, Shiro recognized it immediately.
"That's a Golem."
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