Chapter 267: Little Dusclops

The single-headed dragon took the lead and pressed forward.

Baimu followed behind it with his flashlight on, sweeping the surrounding environment.

As a Pokémon with weakened vision but infinitely amplified smell, hearing, and touch, caves are the most suitable place for a single-headed dragon. Wild single-headed dragons, if they exist, generally only appear inside caves.

"Mo nao~"

"I'm here."

He responded to the single-headed dragon's call. The price of letting it clear the way was having to urgently answer this little fellow's cries — if he was even a moment late, it would definitely come running back and bite his hand.

The phone having no signal was within Baimu's expectations, but the environment of Shi Zhi's cave was far more complicated than he had imagined.

Various paths crisscrossed, and the geological structure was extremely complex. Even with a map for guidance, it was easy to get lost in a place like this. Trainers who came here to explore, taking this into account, chose to sketch markings on the rock walls that only they themselves could recognize—

The walls were already covered in them.

Baimu looked at the various strange patterns on the rock walls, not quite knowing what to say.

Drawing an X or a symbol would be one thing, but drawing little anime characters — what's the meaning of that? If you're that free, you could go get a job; don't waste your artistic talent.

"Amazing."

He shook his head and sighed, then shone his flashlight on the simple map Shinobu had drawn for him.

When he first glanced at it, it was a bit hard to understand, but once he arrived on the scene, he could immediately figure out what was drawn on it — like that slide-like steep slope.

It's not a steep slope! It's a pit that leads to the deepest level of Shi Zhi's cave!

Shinobu at the time must have accidentally fallen down it, and had an extremely deep impression of this thing.

However…

"This couldn't have been dug out by Team Rocket, could it?"

Baimu scratched his head, looking at the bottomless great hole before him.

He remembered that in the anime, Team Rocket dug a super large hole to trap Ash and the others, but unexpectedly the ground was so fragile that it collapsed on the spot, causing them to fall to the deepest level and attract Champion Dawu's attention.

He sent out Mawile, using its magnetic levitation to carry himself and the single-headed dragon downward.

Just as expected, a three-way fork appeared along the way, which confirmed Baimu's suspicion that this hole had been dug by Team Rocket — they had split into random groups at this very fork.

Pokémon screenwriters have always loved mixing the protagonist's team and the villain team into various combinations to play out different stories; almost every generation has similar plotlines.

He continued downward.

The single-headed dragon suddenly called out toward the depths below.

Baimu's flashlight wavered, and he saw a hunched, dark-colored little figure wedged in the tunnel, blocking the way. Its emaciated appearance made his heart skip a beat first, and his mind flashed to various movies about encountering primitive monsters in underground caves.

But when the light swept over something sparkly, he immediately realized.

"Dusclops?"

"Ahmii?"

Dusclops raised its head, its pair of shining jewel eyes full of confusion, wearing an expression that said "why are you calling me?"

"…"

Baimu let out a breath of relief and said softly, "Would you mind moving aside?"

"Ahmii?"

Dusclops looked completely unable to understand.

"…Then sorry about this, Gengar!" He turned and called to the single-headed dragon in his arms.

The latter immediately showed a ferocious expression at Dusclops, baring its teeth and growling low, "Mo nao!"

An eerie red light rose from its body. Dusclops below was stunned for a moment, then scrambled downward as if fleeing, quickly giving Baimu room to descend.

Baimu was able to continue downward.

Unexpectedly, in less than a few seconds he reached the bottom — the deepest part of Shi Zhi's cave. Clearly, Dusclops had been blocking exactly the exit; perhaps it had been planning to go to the upper level to dig for gems to eat?

He took two Pokéblocks out of his pocket and placed them on the ground. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I'll give you these as compensation."

Having said that.

Baimu turned and left with Mawile and the single-headed dragon.

After about half a minute, a thin, small figure emerged from the darkness, hesitated at the sight of the Pokéblocks on the ground, then stuffed them into its mouth.

"Ahmii! Ahmii!"

The deliciousness made Dusclops dance with excitement. It looked in the direction Baimu had left, thought briefly, and decided to chase after him.

—

The smell at the deepest part of Shi Zhi's cave was very complex.

Originally, Baimu had released the single-headed dragon hoping it would pick up the scent of Aron or Aggron.

But unfortunately, for a single-headed dragon that hadn't maxed out its scent talent, it seemed a bit too complex, so faced with the stone caves leading off to both sides, it was at a loss.

Which way should they go? Which side had the Aggron?

"Mo nao~"

The single-headed dragon slumped down dejectedly; not being able to help its trainer made it quite sad.

"It's fine, it's fine, no big deal."

Baimu comforted it softly, stroked its fur, and returned it to its Poké Ball. "Rest easy, you've already done great."

He then switched and released Aggron.

"Roaaar!"

The domineering great beast landed, exchanged a glance with its trainer, then let out a rumbling roar toward the two cave entrances, and immediately closed its mouth to listen for a response.

Since there were Aron at the bottom of Shi Zhi's cave, a shout like this would surely get a response.

Sure enough.

From the cave on the left came the familiar "knock-knock" sound — unmistakably the sound of Aron. But just as Baimu was about to head left, an extremely similar wild roar came from the right.

"My Healing Game"

"Grrr—!

Hmm?

Don't Roggenrola and Boldore live together? Or do both paths eventually lead to the same place?

Baimu looked at Mawile and his own Boldore; both indicated they preferred the right path.

Then we'll take the right.

He continued forward with his two Pokémon.

Not long after he left, a trembling Duskull also emerged from the darkness. It glanced in the direction Baimu had gone, not quite daring to follow.

But recalling the wonderful taste of the Pokéblock, it still chased after him.

The world is vast, but deliciousness comes first!

To taste that flavor once more, the normally timid Duskull threw caution to the wind—even knowing the end of the road was some unapproachable creature's territory, it still followed.

It wobbled forward, and halfway there a terrifying tremor suddenly came from ahead, followed by a continuous rumbling, accompanied by that human's shouts from earlier.

Duskull shuddered in fright, turning to flee, but curiosity made it press on—until it saw an open expanse.

At the far end, a clear waterfall plunged straight down, pouring entirely into a massive pool, producing a thunderous roar of water.

Not far from the waterfall, a much larger Boldore was pinning down another Boldore, continuously letting out low growls.

The smaller one struggled a couple of times at first, but its cries quickly shifted from furious to aggrieved.

"Roar~ roar~"

The human Duskull had been watching stood to one side, seemingly saying something.

Suddenly.

The other party turned its head and asked in confusion, "Hm? Duskull? Are you the one from earlier?"