The cave was vast, seemingly carved out by the Giant Dragonite itself.
It was clearly ancient, moss covering the walls and the air damp.
Stalactites hung overhead.
*Uuuh~*
From deeper inside, faint, weak breathing could be heard.
*Uuuhh—* the Giant Dragonite cried out anxiously.
The heavy roar echoed like thunder throughout the cave.
Natsume grimaced and quickly put in his Meowth-shaped earplugs.
"You jerk! Don't you have hands yourself, meow?!"
The echo rattled Meowth so badly it almost fell off Natsume's shoulder.
Before long, Natsume reached the deepest part of the cave—and finally understood why the Giant Dragonite had brought him here.
At the very back, a slab of stone like a bed had been chiseled out.
Upon it lay an enormous Dragonite.
But something was very wrong.
The sight of it made Natsume's pupils shrink. Beside him, Meowth was so terrified it dared not even open his eyes.
ITS right antenna was grotesquely deformed, dangling like a mutated vine. At the tip, a swollen, translucent cyst pulsed with black-red liquid sloshing inside.
ITS left wing bone pierced through its wing membrane, the malformed, oversized bone scraping cracks into the cave ceiling. Every attempt to fold its wings caused stalactite shards to rain down.
It pressed its rotting belly against the cold stone, while the tumor-like tip of its tail twitched uncontrollably, smashing the moss below into cratered patterns.
The cave walls were scarred with claw marks, the newest still wet with glistening slime—the remains of its agony from the night before.
When Natsume's gaze fell on it, the Dragonite's bloodshot pupils contracted sharply. ITS throat quivered but no sound came, only a wheezing like rusted gears grinding to a halt.
A chill crept over Natsume.
*Uuuhh!*
Above, the Giant Dragonite called out to him.
Meowth's trembling voice translated:
"She says… she says that's her child. She wants us to cure it, meow."
The moment Meowth laid eyes on the deformed Dragonite, he had already guessed. Clinging to Natsume's ear, he whispered cautiously:
"I'm telling you, maybe we should sneak off while she's not looking!"
"Why would we run?"
"Can you actually treat it, meow?!" Meowth's eyes lit up.
"I can't. I'm not a Pokémon doctor." Natsume waved his hand.
...
On his system panel, the young Dragonite's stats were terrible—as if every talent had been reduced to zero.
Was it related to the mutation in its body?
Thanks to the Giant Dragonite's comforting presence, the little Dragonite gradually calmed down.
As Natsume stepped closer, a foul stench of rot reached him.
After observing for a while, he gained a basic understanding of its condition.
ITS right antenna was over 300% larger than normal. ITS left wing was nearly two to three times the size of the right. ITS leg bones showed signs of stress crystallization.
Don't ask how he saw it—but the left leg was the worst. Half the thigh was rotting flesh, the bone faintly visible beneath.
"Why do you think I can heal it?" Natsume looked up at the Giant Dragonite.
From the moment they battled, she had shown unusual interest in him—Natsume knew it.
She had chosen him for a reason.
*Rooaar! Rooaar!*
"Meow, she says… that move you used to absorb her power—maybe it could save her child." Meowth translated.
Hearing this, Natsume nodded slightly.
A Dragonite capable of sustaining Eternamax form. Divine Authority. And this deformed young Dragonite, whose body parts had randomly gigantamaxed but failed.
This had to be connected to Eternatus.
*But Eternatus… wasn't it in Galar?*
*Then why was that power inside this Giant Dragonite?*
"Come out, Great Ball Rotom!"
"Rotom, use Rob the Rich, Aid the Poor Ball on that Dragonite!"
Natsume wasn't sure, but he decided to treat the deformed Dragonite first before asking questions.
A blue beam enveloped the malformed Dragonite.
The Giant Dragonite watched nervously. Under her hopeful gaze, the frail Dragonite was released.
ITS condition had indeed improved—the swollen, vine-like antenna had shrunk noticeably.
Another few dozen times, and it might return to normal.
"In that case—Battle Arena, unfold!"
Rousing music echoed around them.
"Rotom, do it again!"
Natsume tossed Rotom a PP supplement and gave the order.
*Roto!* Rotom didn't act, but instead turned to speak to Natsume.
"He says he can only store it once. To use it again, he has to release the first one first, meow," Meowth translated instinctively.
"Then release Rob the Rich, Aid the Poor Ball on Meowth!"
"Meow???"
Meowth froze—then a blue beam struck him the next instant.
> Gaint Ball Rotom used *Rob the Rich, Aid the Poor* on Meowth> Meowth has Gigantamaxed!
"What a wonderful feeling, meow!" A massively elongated Meowth now stood in the cavern.
"I feel invincible, meow!" Meowth exclaimed eagerly.
But when the Giant Dragonite cast it a glance, Meowth quickly quieted down.
"Continue, Rotom!"
And so, under the rules of the domain, the deformed Dragonite was repeatedly cycled in and out more than a hundred times.
By evening—
"Rotom, use Healing Ball!"
"Finally, I don't have to get huge again, meow…" Meowth collapsed to the ground, utterly drained.
Soon, a green light spread out, and the Dragonite reappeared, sleeping peacefully on the stone slab.
This time, its condition was much better.
The swollen antenna, legs, and tail had all returned to normal.
"As for your child—the wing bones have grown in, but flying is out of the question." Natsume pointed at the mismatched wings on its back.
"But if you can pay, I could fit mechanical prosthetics for the smaller wing. It might even fly faster that way."
Natsume rubbed his hands together, glancing at the Giant Dragonite.
*Owww—*
The Giant Dragonite whined softly.
"Translate." Natsume grabbed Meowth by the scruff and fed it some Energy Powder.
"She's asking why her child turned out like this…" Meowth muttered weakly. He never wanted to be Dynamaxed again.
"Then tell me—why did you turn out like this? Your child's mutation is very likely connected to you." Natsume cut straight to the point.
The Giant Dragonite froze, a lonely look flashing across her face.
Maybe she had already suspected, but just needed someone to say it aloud.
*Owwww*
Her deep voice rumbled as she told her story.
She had once been just a normal Dragonite.
Many, many years ago, a massive black-and-red meteor fell from the sky.
A shard broke off and landed before her—it looked delicious.
After eating it, she transformed into her current form.
"You must have eaten a shard of Eternatus'." Natsume briefly explained Eternatus to the Dragonite and continued to reason:
"That meteor was likely Eternatus's true body. Which direction did it fall?"
"Uuuuhh—" The Giant Dragonite pointed.
Natsume followed her gesture and pulled out his compass.
Northwest. It really did seem to be in the direction of Mt. Moon.
Another Eternatus had fallen in the Kanto region.
A sudden thought struck Natsume—*could it have come from a parallel world?*
But this Eternatus hadn't fared well; even its form had been shattered.
*Could that giant Tentacruel from the anime also have eaten a shard?*
Natsume speculated.
"Alright, I understand now." Natsume clapped his hands. The Giant Dragonite held its breath, staring at him.
"You carry a shard of Eternatus' inside you, but your child doesn't. Still, for some reason, Gigantamax energy is being born within your child."
He pointed at the slumbering young Dragonite.
"Without a shard, Gigantamax energy becomes unstable. If it isn't drained regularly, it will relapse. I'll come by every so often to extract it."
The Giant Dragonite tilted her head, lost in thought.
*Ding!*
[S-Rank: The Mystery of the Giant Dragonite]
[Subject] Giant Dragonite [Reward] Master Ball Scratch Card ×1
Natsume's eyes lit up and he signaled the system to scratch it immediately.
**Master Ball ×1.**
Why was it the guaranteed prize again?
Natsume crouched on a rock, striking a thinker's pose.
"What are you brooding about, meow?" Meowth leaned closer.
"Nothing. Just wondering how that male Dragonite managed it."
"What male Dragonite? Both of them are female—" Meowth froze halfway through, then struck a thinker's pose as well.
*Yeah, meow… how did that happen?*
You can read more (around 80+ free chapters) of Natsume's adventure ad-free at [https ://ravenarchives .com/book/pokemon-who-let-him-leave-pallet-town]. Bulk uploads is a mess here, so updates here might be irregular.