"These Stufful..." Shiro walked up to the six of them and threw Poké Balls one by one, each hitting them right on the forehead.
They had been feasting on the body of a male trainer. The leather belt that once held his Poké Balls had been gnawed nearly in half. Most of his organs and limbs were missing, reduced to shredded remnants.
Both of his lower legs looked like they had been run over by a steamroller. They were flat, like squashed loaves of bread.
'Must've been ambushed by the Stufful,' Shiro thought. 'When he finally reacted and tried to escape, they crushed his legs.'
He crouched beside the corpse, eyes narrowing. "Wait... what about his Poké Balls?" he muttered. Frowning, he nudged the body with his foot, but there was no trace of them.
He scanned the surroundings but couldn't find anything either. Normally, even if the Stufful had smashed them, there should've been fragments left behind. Poké Balls didn't just vanish.
"Haunter!" He called out, summoning the ghost Pokémon that had been drifting aimlessly through the trees. "Look around. See if there's any sign of Poké Balls nearby."
"Hauun-ter!" The Ghost-type chirped with excitement and flew off, moving between the trees in wide circles.
Shiro turned to Corvisquire, gently stroking its sleek feathers. "Let's go," he whispered.
With a soft cry, the bird soared into the sky again, circling overhead as it scouted the terrain ahead.
The earlier warning signs weren't lying. The Stufful and Bewear in this forest were really violent. Worse, they seemed to have developed a clear system for hunting down trainers.
But where was their leader? Where was the Gym-level Bewear?
With those questions lingering in his mind, Shiro followed Corvisquire, moving forward with growing caution. Haunter had zipped off somewhere and was nowhere to be seen.
He walked for another ten minutes or so without running into more Stufful.
By now, he was close to the forest's edge. Through the gaps between the trees, he could see thick, vibrant bushes beyond.
"Coor!"
Corvisquire swooped down in a spiral and began guiding him step by step. Up ahead, the cries of Stufful and Bewear rang out, overlapping and growing louder.
Just then, Haunter slipped out from the shadows and floated beside Shiro. With a sly grin, it leaned in and pointed a purple-black claw in one direction.
That was exactly where the sounds were coming from.
"Haunter..." Shiro lowered his voice.
The Ghost-type understood instantly. It dove to the ground and attached itself to his feet, turning into a dark shadow that completely muffled his footsteps
Corvisquire glided down and landed quietly on his shoulder.
At the end of the woods, Shiro finally saw the source of the noise—a group of Stufful. Near the edge of some twisted green bushes, more than a dozen of them were gathered around a huge Bewear. Their cries were harsh and frantic.
But Bewear didn't move. It stood there silently, only letting out the occasional growl in response.
Shiro rubbed his temples. He had no idea what they were yelling about or what was going on.
'Are they arguing?' He guessed.
Suddenly, the massive Bewear raised one arm and let out a loud roar, as if waving the others off. The Stufful jumped in surprise, then shouted a few sharp cries of their own before retreating back into the forest.
Shiro noticed that the ground around Bewear was littered with damaged Poké Balls and shattered pieces.
Those things worked like a cage. If they were broken, whatever was inside would escape automatically. That meant every Pokémon stored in these had already been released.
'Was it that Bewear that did this?' Shiro wondered as he watched the creature quietly push aside the thorns on the ground, then stride out onto the grassy field that bordered the Stony Wilderness.
It stood atop a tall slope, where the terrain dipped downward to a small pond. The grass was still damp from the morning dew.
"Bewaaaaar!"
The towering Pokémon raised its arms high and let out a deep roar toward the sky. Then it stood motionless, as if lost in thought, staring into the distance.
'Is this some kind of philosophical bear with wisdom?'
Confused, Shiro slowly stepped out from the woods and pushed through a waist-high patch of stiff, tangled shrubs.
The soft rustling caught the Pokémon's attention, but before it could even turn its head, the ground shook violently, causing Shiro to stumble and nearly fall.
Bewear instinctively dropped low to the ground to maintain its balance.
From the direction of the Stony Wilderness, a blinding red glow erupted, stretching upward and outward in a massive arc. The light rapidly expanded, forming a colossal dome, the unmistakable sign of a Dynamax den activating.
Raw Dynamax energy surged through the air like wildfire, tapping into the depths beneath Galar to fuel its spread. The red veil thickened, covering the landscape with its ominous glow.
Shiro didn't even have time to move. In a blink, the dome expanded over him, swallowing the forest behind and engulfing everything in sight.
He stared in disbelief. "This big of a Dynamax den…?"
From the high ground, he looked around, only to realize he couldn't even see where the barrier ended.
In all of Galar's history, there had never been a Dynamax phenomenon of this scale. Even when several Pokémon underwent Dynamax at once, the domes would typically repel one another, dividing into separate zones.
But this time… it looked completely different. It felt more like someone had forcefully injected the energy of several dens into a single Pokémon.
'Those hunters… they weren't bombing the mountains just to catch Pokémon. They were targeting the Dynamax energy buried deep underground.'
Numerous thoughts flashed through Shiro's mind in that moment of realization, but a sharp cry of Corvisquire snapped him out of it.
The bird and Haunter had stepped in front of him, shielding him on either side. And the towering, Gym-level Bewear had risen to its full height, arms stretched wide.
"Coorv!"
Startled by the size and pressure of the opponent, Corvisquire's instincts kicked in. It flared its wings, prepared to unleash Air Cutter at the first sign of aggression.
Haunter, too, was ready. In the dim crimson hue of the Dynamax den, a vague shadow loomed behind it, ready to attack at a moment's notice.
"Wait!" Shiro raised a hand to stop them.
Bewear wasn't showing any hostility. It hadn't charged or growled. It was simply standing there, arms open, its expression calm. If Shiro remembered correctly, Bewear had a known habit of hugging others—a show of affection rather than aggression.
Corvisquire and Haunter slowly backed down, returning to Shiro's side. At the same time, Bewear let out a soft call.
"Beeeweaar…"
The two Pokémon glanced at each other, uncertainty flickering in their eyes.
"Is it... asking for a hug?" Shiro asked quietly.
Both nodded.
Then Haunter scratched its misty, fog-like rear with one claw, floated forward, and spread its purple-black arms wide. A mischievous grin stretched across its face.
It was going to hug Bewear.
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