Chapter 563. Pokémetal 1

Alex flew over the devastated lands of Kanto on Mantine, Larvitar perched on his head, Espeon resting on his lap, and Gardevoir and Gothitelle sitting beside him. Ahead of them, little Ditto, taking the form of a young girl, gazed down at the land below with a mixture of wonder and determination.

The region was certainly inhospitable, but it wasn't completely barren. If anything, it seemed to be doing surprisingly well compared to the environmental disasters that had supposedly driven humanity away. Sparse vegetation had begun taking root despite the pollution, and much of the land only needed a bit of cleaning to become livable. All it needed was a small spark to get the fires of civilization burning again.

Ditto was determined to see its mission through and had decided to accompany Alex to the Rocky Ridges. It had apparently finished its work in the Withered Wasteland and was ready to start breaking ground in another location. Since Alex was already heading there, it decided to tag along for the ride. As it looked over the devastated landscape below, its determination to restore the world only seemed to grow stronger.

The group flew for three days before finally reaching their destination. The area had once been Pewter City, but little remained to indicate that a city had ever stood there. A vast mountain range rose to the north and west, its rocky slopes stretching toward the horizon, while the withered expanse of Viridian Forest covered the land to the south. Between them was a broad stretch of relatively flat terrain, though the ground was uneven in places and dotted with patches of stubborn vegetation pushing through the polluted soil.

It was far from an ideal place to build a settlement, but compared to the surrounding wasteland, the area was surprisingly suitable. There was plenty of open ground for construction, and the nearby mountains offered an abundance of stone and other mineral resources. More importantly, there was enough room for Ditto to begin its work without having to clear away an entire dead forest or level a mountain.

Mantine descended toward the open terrain, gliding just above the ground before settling down. Alex and the others climbed off its back and looked over the barren landscape, taking in the remains of the place where Pewter City had once stood.

“Not a bad place for a settlement,” Alex said as he looked around.

Ditto, meanwhile, didn’t waste time. It immediately marked out a construction zone, dividing the surrounding land into designated areas and leaving enough space for wide pathways between them. It began laying out the foundations for what would eventually become a town, methodically transforming the empty terrain into the beginnings of a proper settlement.

It didn't take long for the surrounding Pokémon to gather around Ditto, eager to lend a hand. Others approached with requests, suggestions, and information about the area. Among the information Ditto received was the existence of a mine nearby that supposedly contained a passage leading to an old museum.

Alex wasn't interested in any of that. The only thing he cared about was Pokémetal, so he immediately sent out the pair of Rhyperior to search for it. The two Pokémon didn't hesitate. They charged straight into a nearby mountain, tearing through the rock and digging deeper without paying any attention to whatever else they might uncover.

About an hour later, they returned carrying an assortment of multicolored fragments. The pieces were bright and strangely vibrant, resembling chunks of a child's colorful birthday cake.

“Is this it?” Alex asked.

Gardevoir examined the fragments closely, comparing them against the image and information stored in Ditto's memory before nodding.

“Great. Get me as much as you can mine. Have anyone else who can Dig help out, too. Especially Raticate. He might be able to sniff out the raw ore.”

Gardevoir quickly organized the Pokémon into specialized teams. Those capable of using Dig were given a close look at the Pokémetal ore and sent into the tunnels to search for new deposits. The faster Pokémon were tasked with hauling the freshly mined ore back outside and piling it up, while those capable of manipulating Ground or Rock type energy reinforced the tunnel walls and ceilings to prevent collapses.

Before long, a highly efficient mining operation was running at full capacity.

Gardevoir also enlisted Ditto's help in producing an array of smelting furnaces, allowing the Fire type Pokémon among Alex's team to begin processing the ore. The goal was to refine the Pokémetal as much as possible before storing it. The purer and denser the metal, the better. It would drastically reduce the amount of space needed in Alex's backpack and allow them to transport far more of it.

Alex couldn't contribute much to the mining operation itself, so he found a secluded spot away from the developing town center and released his house before getting to work preparing food. It was the only meaningful contribution he could make while everyone else worked tirelessly to mine Pokémetal for him.

As expected, the moment he started cooking, he attracted the attention of nearly every nearby Pokémon. Master ranked meat seasoned with high-quality spices was simply too tempting to ignore. The aroma alone was enough to draw curious Pokémon from all around the settlement.

Ditto, which had already gotten a taste of Alex's cooking during their journey, was the first to line up, beating even Alex's own Pokémon to the food. After tasting it again, it had to admit that its own cooking couldn't compare. Most of what it had prepared in the wasteland had been little more than mishmashes of whatever ingredients it could find, thrown together simply because they were available. Alex's cooking was on an entirely different level.

Fortunately for Alex, he had a year's worth of Master ranked meat stored away for his Pokémon. It was a considerable supply, especially since most of his Pokémon were at least Champion rank and could consume far more food than the comparatively weak Pokémon that gathered around him, putting on their best cute expressions in the hope of getting a bite.

Sharing some of their supplies was hardly a burden while they stayed and mined Pokémetal. If anything, Alex considered it a worthwhile trade that helped ease his conscience. These resources were ultimately meant to support the development of settlements where humans would eventually live, so feeding the Pokémon that were helping with that work seemed like a fair trade.

The hungry crowd wasn't content to simply receive his generosity, either. They eagerly tried to return the favor by helping with the mining, sharing information about the surrounding area, or bringing him whatever random resources they happened to find in the wasteland. Most of their offerings were practically useless, consisting of things they'd simply picked up while wandering around, but Alex appreciated the thought behind them all the same.

Like this, the months passed as more and more Pokémetal was unearthed, refined, and stored. Eventually, the metal filled nearly 80% of the available space in Alex's backpack, while the tunnels dug by his Pokémon stretched for miles through the mountain range. They had extracted everything they could reasonably find, and Alex finally decided it was time to move on.

There was little reason for him to stay any longer. Alex had spent most of those months with nothing to do but train and cook. Without any battles or real threats to occupy him, the peacefulness of this world had begun to wear on him. Kanto was practically devoid of danger, and even the Pokémon that lived here were remarkably docile. They behaved like ordinary civilians, concerned mostly with finding food, having somewhere to sleep, and helping maintain the growing settlement. They didn't even seem particularly interested in battling.

For Alex, it was almost unnervingly peaceful.

Ditto, however, was disappointed to see him leave. It had made full use of the excavation, putting the enormous quantities of rock and ore uncovered by Alex's Pokémon toward the settlement's construction. The little Pokémon had also grown fond of Alex's cooking, which had become one of the highlights of its days. More importantly, Alex was the only human it had ever met since awakening in this strange world without its trainer. Saying goodbye to him left Ditto feeling unexpectedly lonely.

Eventually, the two sides went their separate ways. With his mining in Kanto finished, Alex released Ultra Necrozma and headed into Ultra Space with his Pokémon to continue searching for Sparkling Stones. They scoured the worlds and found plenty of them, but never managed to encounter Necrozma.

Still, the expedition wasn't a complete loss. They managed to recover enough Sparkling Stones to restore another 5% of Ultra Necrozma's body, bringing its total completion to 85%.

With nothing else demanding his attention, Alex decided to end the expedition and return home. There was little reason to prolong his stay in a world this peaceful, especially when there were still plenty of things waiting for him elsewhere.

“Congratulations on your third successful dimensional expedition, Mr. Wattson. I see you’ve managed to find yourself in Pokopia. Given the circumstances, the Research Center would be more than happy to make you an offer for the Pokémetal you’ve managed to acquire. Judging by the amount you’ve brought back, I suspect we could make the trade quite worthwhile for you.”