Pokémon: Chronicles of Freedom

Inside the ruins, after the doors closed, the place didn't fall completely into darkness. The entrance seemed to trigger a mechanism, and the torches and lamps placed on the pillars began to light up.

Though, due to the passage of time, only a few still shone brightly enough to illuminate the place. Still, it was enough to faintly perceive the surroundings.

The space resembled an ancient palace. Behind the door, a hall opened up, and at the back, some stairs led to a platform where a chair was placed.

From a distance, it was impossible to make out the details of this chair, but the atmosphere suggested that this hall had once been a meeting room or a place of worship.

Perhaps it was a site where a leader once sat on the chair, or where others came to pay homage to whoever—or whatever—was there.

On the pillars around the hall, ancient carvings could be seen, with drawings and inscriptions.

Wasting no time, Cain ordered his system to scan all the inscriptions, to later analyze and compare them with the data in its database, with the aim of translating them. Meanwhile, Cain sat on one of the steps of the hall.

At that moment, his priority was to prepare the quality-enhancing potion for Larvitar. If Larvitar were to evolve without this preparation, it would be a waste of its potential—something he could not allow.

Although the Earth Membrane obtained from the Golurk did not seem to be the best possible material, its quality was sufficient. After all, Cain had noticed that the other Golurk that appeared afterward were clearly of lower level than the first one they fought.

The preparation of the quality-enhancing potion was much more complex than making Pokéblocks. Fortunately, Cain didn't have to carry it out manually.

Even though he was working to reduce his reliance on the system, this type of process—one that directly influenced his Pokémon's future development—was not something he wanted to leave to chance.

However, in his training with Pokéblocks, Cain had begun practicing manual preparation instead of depending entirely on the system.

Although his initial manual attempts often resulted in failures, over time he started to get acceptable results. After witnessing the process thousands of times, even someone inexperienced wouldn't be entirely clumsy in their first tries.

Precision, of course, remained a challenge, but thanks to his psychic abilities, Cain could achieve a level of control that made the process easier.

He could now make basic Pokéblocks with no problem, and had a decent success rate with intermediate ones. With advanced ones, his results were still rare, but it was steady progress.

After three hours, Larvitar's quality-enhancing potion was finally ready. Before him stood two vials: one with a yellowish earth-colored liquid, and the other a deep red.

These potions were the result of Cain's effort and would ensure that both Larvitar and Combusken evolved without losing their innate talents.

Cain stood up, feeling that a great concern had been resolved. With that matter taken care of, he could now fully focus on exploring the ruins.

While he worked, the system had also deciphered part of the inscriptions on the walls and pillars, uncovering information about what they contained.

The texts were filled with praises for the "God of the Earth," the "Beast of the Earth," or simply the "Crimson Beast." These names clearly referred to Groudon—or more specifically, Primal Groudon.

The devotion of these people toward Groudon was evident in their writings.

According to the records, in ancient times, Groudon existed solely in its primal form, unlike the Groudon that, in recent times, had been artificially awakened by Team Magma.

Cain slowly climbed the stairs, observing his surroundings while the system scanned the carvings and arranged them into three-dimensional images that Cain could examine.

These projections had an impressive visual impact and allowed him to better understand the story the ancients were trying to convey.

In their legends, Groudon created the land, battling against Kyogre, who created the oceans. This battle was eventually stopped by the intervention of a mysterious dragon from the sky. However, their fight had shattered the continents and split the seas.

Groudon, Kyogre, and... Rayquaza? These three Pokémon were known even to Cain. While the Pokémon world has many legendary beings, few have such a history marked by conflict.

Dialga and Palkia often fought each other, and Mewtwo fought both Mew and Team Rocket. Ho-Oh and Lugia rarely appeared, and the dragons Reshiram, Zekrom, and Kyurem had yet to show any signs of existence.

However, these three Pokémon were unique in that their conflicts had left a deep mark on history.

Cain continued climbing until he reached the upper platform, where he found a strange chair, ancient-looking. It appeared to be made of wood or stone, but its pristine condition suggested it was made of a unique material that didn't degrade over time.

Next to the chair stood a stele, similar to a pillar, but with a flat surface full of inscriptions.

The stele was damaged in some parts, with broken fragments that had likely been deliberately destroyed. Throughout the hall, it was evident that several parts—including walls and pillars—showed signs of deliberate strikes.

It wasn't the type of damage caused by time, but rather the result of direct attacks.

The system began translating the text on the stele, and when Cain read the first line, he couldn't help but hold his breath. His eyes widened, and for a moment he was speechless.

"These ancients... are insane. Calling them passionate would be an understatement. This is..." Cain didn't know how to describe what he had just read.

The first translated line read: "If souls, combined with earth essence and glyphs, can create earth guardians, then is it possible to combine the consciousness of the God of the Earth with its energy and the glyphs on its body to create a new God of the Earth controlled by humans?"

The "earth essence" seemed to refer to the "Earth Membrane" Cain had found inside the Golurk, and the "earth guardians" were the Golurk themselves.

But the most shocking part was that the ancients had attempted to use Groudon's consciousness and energy, along with its glyphs, to create an artificial version of the legendary Pokémon.

Could this have been the origin of Team Magma's inspiration to create the modified Groudon?

The idea these ancients had was so advanced—and terrifying—that Cain couldn't help but compare them to an archaic version of Team Rocket. Their methods and ambition were on a completely different level, and Cain began to realize that this place held secrets far darker than he had imagined.

(End of chapter)