Chapter 7: Escaping the Mine

The two of them worked together to carry the unconscious colleagues out one by one.

Only after putting some distance between themselves and the jade mine did Baimu, through Cheng Hong's mouth, learn everything that had happened while he was away.

"So that's how it was."

"Those bastards totally had it coming — if only they could've died in there!"

Cheng Hong said viciously while binding bandages and sprinkling medicinal powder on himself. He looked at the three companions Coco had rescued with great difficulty, his eye sockets red as if about to bleed.

"Forget about them for now. What matters is that we pass the assessment — the suffering can't be for nothing."

Baimu shook his head. Revenge must be taken, but the assessment result was equally important.

Including himself, there had been eight companions who took part on the first day. Aside from the five present, three others were unaccounted for. If all of them could pass, forget Shibata — even counting that squad-leader uncle of his, he wouldn't be afraid.

After all, the Quicksand Squad didn't have that many official members among its younger generation to begin with.

"Goo."

Coco's cry rang out.

Baimu turned his head and immediately saw it open its mouth and spit out several finger-sized pieces of jade.

"Thank you, you've worked hard."

He thanked it softly, crouched down, and pushed the iron ingots over. "It might be a bit little, I hope you don't mind. If there's a chance, I'd be happy to make it up to you with a few more."

Coco glanced at him, lowered its head, and with two crisp crunches easily swallowed them down — the hard iron chunks were as crisp as biscuits in its mouth.

Curiosity surfaced on Cheng Hong's face. "Baimu, it seems to especially listen to you, huh?"

"What do you mean 'listen'? This is called mutual help."

Baimu waved his hand, thought it over again and again, and still took out a Poké Ball. "Excuse me, do you have a Trainer—"

Before he finished speaking, Coco had already warily retreated several steps.

It stared at the Poké Ball rather tensely, as if seeing something not very pleasant, and even let out a brief, 急促 sound.

"Goo-dor!"

This left Baimu a bit embarrassed.

"S-sorry."

He quickly put it away, and just as he was about to say something to salvage the situation, Coco actually turned and ran off.

In no time it was gone without a trace.

"Ah, sigh…"

Baimu sighed, completely not expecting the other's reaction to be so strong. Thinking about it this way, it was probably really an individual that had been abandoned.

This kind of Pokémon often had different sore spots regarding Trainers — the kind that absolutely must not be touched.

Too rash.

He rubbed his face. The three severely wounded colleagues needed to be taken away in time, which had made him so hasty that he forgot to proceed slowly and steadily.

"Looks like you've been disliked, Baimu." Cheng Hong chuckled gleefully at his misfortune, and was immediately smacked on the head by Baimu.

"Shut up."

He picked up the jade stones on the ground, stuffed one into each of the three unconscious men's arms, and said: "Let's carry them out first."

Waiting for rescue on the spot was tantamount to giving up the assessment — otherwise he would never have moved the wounded so casually.

"Fair enough." Cheng Hong nodded. Although he was also injured and bleeding, his condition had improved quite a bit after bandaging, and carrying one person was barely manageable.

Baimu took responsibility for two — using the rope he'd prepared in advance, he tied one to his back and held one in both arms. Given his physical fitness, this combination wasn't an excessive burden.

"Let's go."

He exhaled a breath of stale air and headed toward the exit following the route in his memory. "It'd be best if we ran into those other three guys on the way."

"…Yeah."

Cheng Hong responded with difficulty and hurried to keep up.

Not long after the two left, Coco, who should have slipped away, quietly poked its head out and once again followed.

After Coco had gone far, a Galarian Yamask appeared.

As the overseer, it meticulously broadcast the footage out and planned to continue tailing.

Suddenly.

A sharp, hissing shriek came from the jade mine passage behind them, the sound brimming with fury, causing the Galarian Yamask to stop in its tracks.

It hesitated for a moment, just about to turn and fly toward the jade mine passage, when a violent explosion suddenly erupted from that direction!

Boom—!

The screams were swallowed by the blast, but could still be faintly heard.

The mine rumbled and shook, with碎 stones constantly flying down from the ceiling as if about to collapse.

Numerous panicked Pokémon burst out from inside, as if they had encountered something terrifying. Two that ran slower were directly grabbed by a thick black arm and violently yanked back in.

Roars and explosions rang out once again!

The Galarian Yamask was slightly startled and immediately found a place to hide, its lens sweeping over the many fleeing Pokémon.

Among them was a Rhydon carrying a youth whose face was full of panic on its back — the youth was covered in bloodstains, one arm bent at an unnatural angle.

——

In the gloomy mine.

Baimu turned his head, looked at Cheng Hong who was panting and drenched in sweat, and asked: "Can you still hold on?"

"I'm fine! You just go!"

Cheng Hong growled lowly. It wasn't that he had any grudge against Baimu — he really just had no strength left. Without growling, he felt he couldn't even get the words out.

If he hadn't been injured, how would he have ended up in such a state! A mere little two hundred jin would be a piece of cake!

Baimu watched Cheng Hong, who was swaying as he walked, and could only speed up.

Fortunately his memory was decent; otherwise, having to find the way again and carefully observe the surroundings to avoid traps would have wasted who knows how much time.

Boom!

The mine tunnel suddenly began to shake violently.

All Baimu kept walking without slowing, thinking the fight must have started over at the jade mine.

The gathered Pokémon were just like animals from his past life — using sounds or movements to intimidate each other while waiting for an opening, capable of stalemating for ages.

At last, they'd actually started fighting.

"Ah! Pain!"

Cheng Hong behind him suddenly cried out in pain. All Baimu tilted his head back slightly and saw at once a shower of broken stones and dust crashing down from the ceiling, with continuous cracking sounds of collapse.

Damn it!

It's going to collapse!

"Run! Don't look back, just run!"

All Baimu, eyes trembling, roared and, carrying the two of them, accelerated further.

Cheng Hong's face was pale; the rumbling sound right behind him terrified him to his core, and he ran forward with all his might.

A great plume of dust, like a long dragon, swallowed the two of them whole. The faint headlamp vanished completely into the cavern, leaving only the continuous trembling and the frantic crash of falling rocks.

But in the blink of an eye, the two burst back out through the smoke, not daring to pause for even a moment as they fought for their lives.

Only when the tremors gradually faded did they slowly ease their pace.

Looking back now, the path they'd come from had completely collapsed — stones and dirt had blocked it so thoroughly that not even a mosquito could squeeze through.

"I…"

Cheng Hong's legs trembled uncontrollably. Having run at the back, he was closer to the collapse; the breath of death had lingered at his side the whole time, and the feeling of cheating death several times over was simply too terrifying.

Several times he'd wanted to drop the heavy burden on his back, but the constant shouts of encouragement from up ahead made him abandon the thought.

A short while later.

"Relax, we're safe… a stroke of luck in our misfortune."

All Baimu took a deep breath.

At first he'd considered carrying people out one trip at a time, rather than the current situation where his hands were completely occupied — but then he thought about how the Pokémon fighting could cause the mine to collapse.

And he didn't dare do that.

So he had to take all three of them together.

Now he only hoped that the Pokémon that had attacked the miners at the entrance at the very start wasn't there, and that the entrance hadn't been buried.

"We're almost there, hold on a little longer."

All Baimu quietly encouraged Cheng Hong. "Once we're out, we'll be official team members! Pokémon! Money — it's all waiting for us! Think of your dad, your mom — they're still waiting for you!"

"—Mm!"

Cheng Hong gritted his teeth and nodded.