Chapter 17: Seeker of Myth, Volo

The Sinjoh Ruins are quite a long distance from the village, and deep in the high mountains.

Dujianqiao was waving its blade at the air along the way. It had obtained strange sword technique knowledge yesterday, and out of curiosity, and believing itself to be a sword technique genius, it was studying hard.

Before leaving, they went to the village to greet the old man at the apothecary. When Elder Jiu Lu heard that Xiang Guangtai was going to the Sinjoh Ruins, he was slightly stunned, and then smiled:

"Don't worry. Although that ruin is far from the village, there is a delivery Doduo in the village... Just ride the Doduo there."

"So... since you are going to the Sinjoh Ruins, can you deliver some goods on the way?"

Doduo? Right, there was indeed a delivery Doduo in the village.

And Doduo is also a common riding-type Pokémon. It looks like a kiwi bird with two heads. Its feathers are short, so it is not good at flying. Instead, it has developed legs, and it is said that it can run at a speed of 100 kilometers per hour.

"Deliver goods?" Xiang Guangtai was a bit confused. Elder Jiu Lu nodded: "I should have mentioned it, right? There is a small cabin on the mountain of the Sinjoh Ruins, and there is an elderly man inside. Everyone calls him the Mountain Elder."

"He has an Abra, and sometimes visiting investigators and explorers will also live in his cabin. The place where that cabin is located is the Snow-Capped Valley, where snow never melts all year round, forming thick snow walls. It only doesn't snow for two and a half months a year, and it is very cold."

"He is the guardian of the ruins. Every summer, we send him some supplies. This year it is time too. Taking advantage of the summer, you can directly enter the valley. If it is autumn or winter, you can only leave the goods outside the valley, and the Abra will take them away with its psychic power."

Xiang Guangtai understood. The situation described by Elder Jiu Lu was not much different from what he saw in the game.

There was indeed an elderly man in the mountain cabin, as well as an Abra that could teleport people over long distances, and a computer connected to the internet. Speaking of which, even in a remote area like the Sinjoh Ruins, it could actually connect to the internet—not just the village, but even the mountain cabin, yet no signal towers or the like were seen nearby.

The power of science is truly great!

At the same time, Xiang Guangtai remembered that there should also be a guide in the mountain cabin who spoke quite strangely and liked to say "Oh-ya, oh-ya," but because the default image was a Dengshan, he didn't know who he really was.

Elder Jiu Lu seemed to have mentioned this guide before—a merchant with yellow hair and a large backpack... uh, it was not much different from the image of a Dengshan.

Could the yellow-haired one be the kind of Dengshan from the Alola region wearing a green hat?

"Thank you so much. With Doduo, the time for the round trip can be shortened!"

Xiang Guangtai agreed to Elder Jiu Lu's delivery request, so the old man and Xiang Guangtai walked out of the apothecary together and called a villager who was preparing to deliver goods.

This Doduo's body size was quite large, and it looked a bit fat, not quite the same as a normal Doduo.

"Haha, this child has a strong body, right? It got lost in the village because it couldn't find food before. Because it has a big appetite and the village has sufficient food sources, it has lived here ever since."

"Because its body is very strong and it is larger than other Pokémon, it can transport a lot of goods."

The old man patted Doduo's body, and the two heads of the big Doduo also made happy cries.

"Duo-duo!"

Having food and shelter and not having to worry about wild attacks, and only needing to deliver some goods to live stably—of course, such days were good!

Dujianqiao flew in front of Doduo to say hello:

"Yo!"

Although it was a bit worse than the royal mounts it had seen before, the size was still up to standard. As a helper, it must be very capable!

Dujianqiao evaluated it on its own, while Doduo tilted both heads, showing a confused expression, its round black eyes full of blankness.

Afterward, out of curiosity, it "pecked" at Dujianqiao!

"Yo-yo-yo-yo~!!"

Dujianqiao was pecked, and immediately made a loud, meaningless cry, even its ancient dialect came out in a hurry, a bit angry!

How rude, do you have to peck everything to see what it is? Haven't you seen a sword that can fly!

Doduo: "Duo?"

How are these words combined together?

Xiang Guangtai heard those sounds from Dujianqiao. Although the surrounding villagers didn't know what it was saying, Xiang Guangtai sighed helplessly again.

"Alright, alright, let's go." After saying that, he grabbed Dujianqiao's hilt, then rode on Doduo. The goods on Doduo were hung on both sides of its fluffy body and its butt, fixed firmly with a "bird saddle," and at the same time, reins were tied to the two bird beaks by the villagers.

Xiang Guangtai felt this configuration was familiar, and soon remembered.

Isn't this the style of Yellow's Doduo!

And from the individual perspective, Yellow's Doduo was also larger in size. In contrast, the Doduo of Blue in the animation was very small, looking a bit stunted.

Xiang Guangtai rode on Doduo, while Dujianqiao was inserted into Xiang Guangtai's backpack. From a distance, it looked like a swordsman riding a two-headed fat bird... the style was very strange.

And Doduo's speed was quite amazing. The scenery in front of Xiang Guangtai began to retreat rapidly. Doduo's two feet opened their pace, and the high-speed running caused the airflow in front to sweep over, forcing Xiang Guangtai to lean down.

Soon, the scenery of the village disappeared, replaced by large areas of brown and snow-white, and the temperature gradually dropped.

After entering the mountain range, the rocks and trees here were all covered in white snow, and the snow on the ground gradually melted, converging into small streams and puddles. However, the further they moved toward the ancient spiritual peak, the more snow-covered scenes there were.

Although the sun in the sky was still high, the snow in the mountains showed no signs of melting. However, the climate in the snow-covered area was lower, but when the snow melted, it would absorb a large amount of heat from the air, which would further lower the temperature. This is the reason why it is colder when snow melts than when it snows.

So entering the area with deep snow was actually not as cold as the area where the snow had melted before.

However, Doduo didn't feel any discomfort at all. Although from the attribute perspective, the Normal+Flying Doduo is twice weak to Ice, perhaps it was because the fluff on its body had a warming function, or perhaps it was because this Doduo was simply... fatter, so it wasn't afraid of the cold?

Around noon, the mountain road surrounded by two thick snow walls finally appeared in Xiang Guangtai's field of vision!

Ice Wall, Snow-Capped Valley, Blizzard Zone.

It is said that the Sinjoh people who crossed the sea from ancient Sinnoh gathered with the Johto people who moved north in ancient times, and after exchanges, they built a special temple to worship the "Sinnoh Great One."

"That is the Sinjoh Ruins."

Xiang Guangtai saw the small wooden house. Unlike in the game, there were several wooden houses here, but they seemed to be vacant. At the same time, there were also some fields here, without snow on them, which looked like they had already been plowed.

Hmm, there are farmlands in the blizzard zone... This reminded Xiang Guangtai of a similar village, the Crown Tundra's Freezington in the Galar region, which is such a place that exists in the tundra zone but still has farmlands and can even grow crops. It seems it was because the land there had been transformed by the King of Bountiful Harvests.

However, later, with the disappearance of the King of Bountiful Harvests, the land gradually lost its vitality.

Xiang Guangtai stared at the temple in the distance. The several small houses were not as close to the temple as in the game, but required walking a bit further. On a high ground after turning around the snow wall, one could see the flat-roofed temple. The appearance looked almost the same as the ruin attraction in the Johto region, the Ruins of Alph.

But there were four huge pillars outside, broken like spears.

And a clean stone tablet used to mark the ruin location, just like the introduction stele often placed in ruin attractions.

"Ah! Hello, it's really cold~, freezing to death~"

"Oh-ya, oh-ya, are you an explorer who came to explore the ruins? Entering here in summer is the easiest. Hu... you picked a good season to come."

A frivolous tone, but a slightly thick voice came from behind Xiang Guangtai. In the surrounding wooden houses, a wooden house opened its door, and a person who looked like a Dengshan, or a backpacker, walked out...

No, although very similar, that clothing...

Xiang Guangtai's eyes gradually widened, but he quickly concealed his expression. Fortunately, the distance between the two sides was quite far, and the other party didn't seem to notice the change in his expression, but looked at the Sinjoh Ruins with a longing and regretful look.

"You are interested in the Sinjoh Ruins at such a young age; that's truly amazing!"

"The fusion of the civilization of the Sinnoh region and the Johto region can also be seen from the design of the stone pillars in the Sinjoh Ruins~"

"Oh-ya, oh-ya! How could I be so rude? It's not very convenient to talk while standing. Come with me to the mountain cabin ahead, and let's talk in detail slowly~"

This Dengshan wore thick blue clothing, with a front piece covering the chest and a back piece covering the back like an apron, carrying a large brown travel backpack, wearing a blue and yellow hat, and having bright yellow hair, which covered his left eye.

"Since entering summer, you are the first to come. Although the previous batch of ruin investigators had already left for a while... Hmm, those people seemed to have come from the Johto region."

Xiang Guangtai didn't speak, but exclaimed in his heart.

This Dengshan had been guessed by many people to be his true identity, because his tone was very strange, completely different from a normal Dengshan, like a philosopher, and he appeared in a remote and distant place like the Sinjoh Ruins, while also telling the protagonist about some myths of the Johto and Sinnoh regions.

And after the release of "Pokémon Legends: Arceus," the speculation about this Dengshan gradually led to a special character. And now, what Xiang Guangtai didn't expect was that this speculation was fulfilled.

This man, who looked very much like the Sinnoh Champion Cynthia, was named "Volo"!

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 18 =====