Chapter 309: I Secretly Dig Soil in Silver Mountain

Luo Mu first picked up the blue Shuckle, which was peeking around boldly and had a rather daring personality, and examined it carefully.

Hmm, there were no traces of it being painted to disguise it as a shiny Pokémon.

"Squish~"

Seeming to think Luo Mu was playing a game with it, the Shuckle let out a giggling sound, its soft tentacles protruding from its shell swaying slightly, looking very happy.

"Tini!"

Hearing the laughter coming from inside the bathroom, Victini, who was locked outside, immediately became dissatisfied; it was as if Luo Mu had become the faithless man and it the original spouse catching them in the act, so Victini, with a face full of displeasure, pounded on the bathroom door, wanting to get in and play games together.

And Victini's voice misled the red Shuckle by Luo Mu's slippers; unlike its older sister, this male Shuckle had a slightly timid personality and was rather cowardly.

The red Shuckle poked its head out, watching its older sister being lifted high by Luo Mu, a trace of envy flowing in its small black eyes.

Fortunately, Luo Mu had finally mastered the art of balancing attention and clearly understood the principle of not neglecting one for the other; although he had no such intention, he simply wanted to see if he had really gotten lucky enough to capture a shiny Shuckle.

So after putting down the blue older sister Shuckle, Luo Mu picked up the red younger brother Shuckle, and under its expression of surprise, played "lift high" with it.

That was the main peak of the Silver Mountain range, its summit shrouded year-round in blizzards, extremely cold, and a forbidden zone for ordinary Trainers.

The moment he saw the Ursaring, the doubt in Luo Mu's heart was instantly resolved—

Today was the 29th, with only one day left until the time appointed by the Dragon Clan.

As Dragonite swept over a dense forest, a powerful beam brimming with destructive power suddenly shot up from below toward the clouds, passing almost grazing Dragonite's side.

Luo Mu and Dragonite frowned slightly; this area wasn't yet deep within the Silver Mountain range, so the Pokémon's strength shouldn't be that great—who was the reckless fool daring to provoke them with a Hyper Beam?

The Fearow first froze, then a surge of anger rushed straight to its brain; letting out a hoarse cry, the Fearow immediately planned to increase its flight speed to find trouble with the guy who had challenged its authority.

After grooming the two Shuckle and satisfying their emotions, Luo Mu, to also cater to Victini's feelings, played a few rounds with it, and finally busied himself for quite a while preparing the meal ordered by Vulpix, only lying down on the hotel's large bed close to dawn.

"Gaa—!"

Hmm, a Champion-level Trainer from the Paldea League planning to secretly dig up soil from the Silver Mountain range; Luo Mu felt that entering the Silver Mountain range with this reason might draw strange looks during registration, and plus the time required for the procedures was too long, so he directly chose to change routes and break into the Silver Mountain range.

However, Luo Mu's calculations today were, in a certain sense, somewhat similar to those of poachers, except poachers steal Pokémon, while Luo Mu planned to steal soil from the Silver Mountain range.

Dragonite also wore an expression of displeasure; after all, even Hearing Nimo's Ursaring could easily crush it, so it didn't know what this Ursaring was being so arrogant about.

This was a nightmare for novice Trainers and a paradise for powerful Trainers to temper themselves; powerful and rare Pokémon were countless here, and it was also a treasure trove in the eyes of poachers, with countless Pokémon from within the Silver Mountain range captured by poachers every year and then transported all over the world to be sold.

How did Luo Mu know the Shuckle's gender?

That was naturally intelligence provided by Suicune, which made Luo Mu inexplicably feel a trace of nagging air (in a complimentary sense).

Hit it—

On the other side, behind the "big shot" Dragonite, Luo Mu, protected by a ring of flying energy, curiously looked back at the retreating distance; had Dragonite almost collided with a wild Pokémon just now?

But since they hadn't collided, there was no need to worry; after reminding Dragonite, Luo Mu lifted his head to gaze into the distance.

At noon, the sky was as clear as washed blue, with a few scattered white clouds drifting lazily across this blue expanse.

However, there were also areas where regulatory difficulty was too high that allowed entry into the Silver Mountain range; these were typically the necessary routes for poachers to smuggle themselves in, and at this moment, Luo Mu was taking the aerial route among these paths, recklessly sweeping across the sky, completely unconcerned that Pokémon below might attack him.

So it was this guy, no wonder it could do something so, so stupid.

At this moment, within the scope of his vision, a mountain range stretched undulating, both magnificent and steep, standing solemnly upon the vast earth.

On the opponent's abdomen was a huge yellow circle; it was precisely the Pokémon famous for its ferocity and territorial awareness—Ursaring.

The fatigue accumulated from running around all day surged like a tide; Luo Mu fell asleep almost as soon as he touched the bed, and it was even Serperior, looking helplessly resigned, that used its Vine Whip to cover him with the quilt.

A flock of Spearow, led by a single Fearow, was lining up, planning to go to another batch of forests to fight with their arch-enemies, the Pidgey flocks.

"Roar—!!"

In the dense forest, a brown bear about two meters tall, considered strong among its kind, stared at the landing Luo Mu and Dragonite, emitting a threatening low growl.

What the heck?

Its peak towered majestically, shrouded in a patch of pure white, resembling a giant sharp sword piercing through the clouds and straight into the sky.

With the roar of the reckless Pokémon echoing in their ears, Luo Mu and Dragonite exchanged a glance, both seeing the same meaning in each other's eyes.

But this world never lacks reckless fools, and Pokémon with a reckless spirit are no exception.

Just like the two Latias and Latios in the water capital Alto Mare, usually the younger sister is red and the older brother is blue; the gender, color, and personality of these two Shuckle were all reversed, which was quite interesting.

Originally, with Dragonite's Dragon Aura as a deterrent, no Pokémon should have dared to attack Luo Mu and Dragonite.

But the figure that swept past in an instant almost immediately disappeared from the Fearow's field of vision; all it could recall were the wings that could stir up storms with a single flap, looking like toys compared to its own wide wingspan, and the cone-shaped cloud cluster surrounding the opponent.

The next day.

This also resulted in the Kanto League maintaining extremely strict control over this area; ordinary Trainers wishing to enter the Silver Mountain range had to register at the Shi Ying Plateau headquarters first, and then enter the Silver Mountain range via the roads opened by the Shi Ying League.

Not to mention the weather that was like a natural disaster, hidden within the undulating mountains of Silver Mountain were countless powerful wild Pokémon; a solemn aura shrouded the sky around the Silver Mountain range, rejecting the entry of the weak.

In the memories passed down through generations of their kind, Pokémon that could fly at such speeds were big shots not to be messed with, and suddenly remembering that it had just planned to court death by provoking a big shot, the Fearow was instantly startled until cold sweat broke out on its back.

Dragonite spread its dragon wings, smashed a tree trunk with one claw, and dove downward surrounded by wild winds, landing with extreme precision at the location where the tree had been thrown.

As details continuously emerged, the Fearow's hot-blooded brain immediately cooled down quite a bit.

Originally they hadn't planned to pay attention to that unknown reckless Pokémon, but the opponent seemed to think that Luo Mu and Dragonite, hovering motionless in the sky, were afraid because of its attack just now, so it pushed its luck by throwing a broken tree trunk up at the sky and let out a cry filled with provocation and disdain—

Feeling pressed for time, Luo Mu checked out of his ocean-view suite at the hotel, then mounted Dragonite in the suburbs of Azure City and headed toward the Silver Mountain, located in the east of the Johto region, almost at the opposite pole from the area where Azure City was situated.

But suddenly, the Fearow noticed a somewhat deafening explosion coming from behind; before it could react, an orange figure wrapped in wild winds swept directly over their heads, and the swirling gales caused the Spearow flying behind the Fearow to immediately become crooked and wobbly in their flight posture.

Just as Dragonite was about to knock out the Ursaring in one hit, Luo Mu keenly noticed that not far from where the Ursaring was standing, there were some traces of wheel ruts.

Wheel ruts appearing here?

Luo Mu sensed something was amiss; looking around, he found that due to this young Ursaring's excessive territorial awareness, there wasn't a single Pokémon nearby, so if he wanted to ask anything, he could only ask this Ursaring.

Thinking of this, Luo Mu said to Dragonite, "Don't knock it unconscious, just suppress it."

The motion of Dragonite gathering energy in its mouth paused, and it seamlessly switched the Hyper Beam it intended to use for tit-for-tat retaliation to a Hydro Pump of lower intensity—

This was the convenience of Normal-type energy; basically every Pokémon could learn this nearly all-encompassing attribute move, and after training, seamlessly switching Normal-type energy to other types of energy was also achievable.

Dragonite immediately changed strategies, using the method of Hydro Pump soaking plus Ten Thousand Volt electrotherapy to thoroughly deal with this young reckless Ursaring.

A moment later.

Soaked and matted fur, the once-timid and now cowering Ursaring knelt on the ground, constantly shaking or nodding its head under Luo Mu's questioning and the Dragonite's faintly scrutinizing gaze.

If anyone passed by, they might think the thugs were Luo Mu and Dragonite.

Since he hadn't brought a Pokémon translator, Luo Mu could only use the most primitive method of question-and-answer to "interrogate" the Ursaring: nod if yes, shake if no.

Though this method was very simple, it was extremely practical; in a short while, Luo Mu had almost reconstructed the original events.

First, the Ursaring had indeed seen a group of suspicious people driving a car deep into the depths of the Silver Mountain Range, but at that time, the Ursaring was very frightened by the black objects in those people's hands and immediately chose to shrink back and hide.

But after those people left, upon reflecting on it, the young Ursaring felt he was too cowardly and too shameful; how could he find a female bear like that in the future?

The more he thought about it, the angrier he got; finally, the Ursaring directly unleashed a burst of courage and, as if losing his mind, provoked Luo Mu and Dragonite who happened to be flying overhead.

The result was directly hitting a iron plate and triggering a defeat CG.

"Hmm, suspicious people driving a car and holding weapons."

Luo Mu stroked his chin, lost in thought.

This combination clearly pointed to a classic poacher group; this place, the Silver Mountain Range, was truly plagued by disasters.

However, Luo Mu didn't intend to meddle in this idle matter; after all, he still had to go to the core area of the Silver Mountain to dig up soil.

Taking out his battle-damaged phone, Luo Mu snapped a frenzy of photos of the tire tracks in the mud, then directly packaged and sent these photos, the coordinates of his current location, and simple explanatory information to Lorelei.

Kanto and Johto were integrated; aside from Professor Oak and Professor Elm, the only person he had exchanged contact information with was this Ice-type Elite Four member, Lorelei.

After receiving this information, Lorelei should contact the personnel stationed nearby to handle this matter.

Of course, Luo Mu was not the type of person who would coldly watch Pokémon being captured by poachers; this would undoubtedly violate his life creed.

So, if he encountered those short-sighted people on his way to the depths of the Silver Mountain Range to dig up soil, he wouldn't mind acting as an anonymous hero to punish evil and promote good, bundling these people up and handing them over to the Kanto and Johto Leagues.

Thinking of this, Luo Mu took a few stamina-restoring berries from his backpack and threw them to the truly waterlogged Ursaring, then mounted Dragonite and flew towards the depths of the Silver Mountain Range.

This time, he deliberately had Dragonite lower its flight altitude; although this would make it more dangerous, it would also make them more visible to the people on the ground.

In this area of the Silver Mountain Range, wild Pokémon of the Dratini, Dragonair, and Dragonite families rarely appeared.

And in the Kanto and Johto regions, there was a famous Dragon-type Master who rode a Dragonite, claimed to be invincible under heaven, was a High-ranking Inspector, and was the Kanto Elite Four member plus Johto Champion, Lance, who most loved to sweep through while punishing evil and promoting good.

In a sense, Luo Mu's current behavior was like cosplaying as the Dragon-type Master Lance, deterring the scoundrels secretly acting in the shadows and making them hesitate to act.

Perhaps, when those guys saw the Dragonite sweeping overhead, they would choose to tuck their tails and stop committing crimes?

Watching the scenery below rush past, Luo Mu raised his head to look at the main peak of the Silver Mountain, which pierced through the clouds like a sharp sword; his purpose, besides digging up soil, was also to go to that summit and see with his own eyes if that Trainer was there.

Although from the moment he failed to find the other party's information online, Luo Mu knew the result, but he still wanted to go up and take a look.

As for how to obtain the soil and which place's soil to choose, Luo Mu had already given it some thought.

He couldn't just find any place and dig up soil to take back, nor did he have the means to test whether these soils contained rich nutrients.

In summary, to determine whether the soil contained rich nutrients, the appearance of another Pokémon was needed.

Known as the Desert Tyrant, possessing both power and handsomeness, and reigning supreme in this Silver Mountain Range, the pseudo-legendary Rock/Dark-type Tyranitar.

Excluding Moltres, which might live in some cave within this Silver Mountain, Tyranitar should be the top overlord in this Silver Mountain Range, but as a pseudo-legendary, their initial stage is always fragile and requires massive energy.

The initial stage of Tyranitar is Larvitar, a Rock/Ground-type Pokémon.

According to reports observed by scholars, after laying an egg containing Larvitar, Tyranitar will bury it deep underground in the mountain range, ensuring that when Larvitar wakes up, there are countless special nutrient-rich soils around it that allow the young pseudo-legendary to grow into a Desert Tyrant.

During this period, Larvitar will constantly devour soil until it eats a passage to the surface, then it will begin its life under the guidance of its mother and father until the time of evolution arrives, relying on the nutrients stored from eating soil underground to pass through the second "pupa" stage, accumulating strength before "breaking the cocoon into a butterfly" to become a new Desert Tyrant.

Therefore, Luo Mu's train of thought became clear.

He needed to find the residence or territory of the Desert Tyrant Tyranitar, preferably a Tyranitar preparing to incubate eggs, and then sneakily steal the "milk powder" Tyranitar prepared to raise its children.

Even Luo Mu himself felt that he was a little bit bad at this moment.

"I wonder if digging up soil from the Silver Mountain is illegal..."

In the area near the depths of the Silver Mountain Range, a modified giant jeep drove calmly on the steep mountain road; the entire jeep's color blended with the surrounding forest, and if one didn't get close, one would never know a car was driving here.

Aside from the driver and the front passenger, the other masked figures were all sitting on the open cargo bed at the rear.

The entire procession was incredibly quiet; it could be seen that they were by no means ordinary poachers driven to desperation and self-abandonment; this group of guys was extremely well-trained.

They were advancing with a clear goal towards a certain place; if they encountered wild Pokémon blocking the road, they didn't need to use the firearms in their hands to startle the snake; the Pokémon guarding them on both sides could knock those wild Pokémon that showed their heads to the ground.

But these guys didn't intend to bundle up and take those wild Pokémon away, even if some of them were considered rare Pokémon in the outside world.

After another period of silence, someone couldn't help but speak up; even though he was masked, a slight unease could be heard in his voice: "Boss, just now that was..."

Sitting in the front passenger seat, the middle-aged man called the Boss turned his head to look at the subordinate who had spoken, his voice indifferent: "You want to say, could the one who just flew past be the Dragon-type Master Lance and his ace Dragonite who know about our actions?"

The subordinate asked by the Boss shrank his neck and nodded lightly.

"After all, everyone saw the silhouette of the person riding on that Dragonite."

"Should we really not return the way we came or temporarily stop, wait for the Dragon-type Master Lance to leave, and then continue our actions?"

Even though they had become veteran poachers, for those poachers, the Dragon-type Master Lance was like a nightmare; most of the poachers present still maintained their fear of the other party.

Those powerful Dragon-type legions fluttering in the sky were the source of their fear.

"No, this is the only intelligence confirming a Tyranitar preparing to incubate offspring in the near future; if we wait until it buries its child underground, it will be too late; none of the tools brought into the Silver Mountain Range can dig deep enough to reach the underground where the Pokémon egg is located."

"If we don't complete the mission entrusted by that organization, what fate awaits you and me? I think I don't need to say much more."

The Boss's voice, though cold, also carried a hint of confusion and a willingness to go all in.

He knew very well that if he gambled wrong, at worst he would be thrown into prison by the Kanto-Johto League; if he gambled right, that would be even better, and he could take the reward and flee far away, retiring from the business.

But if he did nothing, that huge organization dominating the Kanto and Johto regions would not give him a good look.

He, from the beginning, had no choice.

On the other side, the Seven Islands, far from the Silver Mountain Range.

The red-haired, intellectual woman with glasses and a good figure looked at the message displayed on her phone and couldn't help but show a look of surprise.

"He is actually in the Silver Mountain Range?"

After a moment of surprise, Lorelei didn't drag her feet; after thinking for a while, she directly sent the intelligence to Lance, who should be preparing in Blackthorn City near the Silver Mountain Range.

(End of this chapter)