Chapter 332: The Coin-Carrying Little Person and How the Times Have Changed

After the Terastallization dissolved and the Tera Crystal shattered into a sky-full of glittering fragments, the Sandaconda Lord, in a fit of rage that amounted to nothing more than a brief outburst, immediately chickened out upon seeing the iridescent blue water gathering once again in Dragonite's mouth; it slunk away into the yellow sand and vanished in the blink of an eye.

This left Luo Mu, who had just been about to pull out a Poké Ball to temporarily capture the Sandaconda Lord and release it again after he and Lei He finished exploring the tomb, wearing a stunned expression.

So it really had no backbone at all, fleeing that fast?

Lei He suddenly spoke up: "How about this: in a moment, I'll have my Grumpig and Seviper guard the outside; that way, they can also keep an eye on my off-road vehicle."

Clearly, Lei He also knew what Luo Mu was worried about.

After all, the two of them were about to enter an underground tomb somewhere near this leaning watchtower; if the vengeful Sandaconda Lord returned while they were off guard, both of them could very well end up trapped inside the tomb.

To prevent such a situation, there had to be Pokémon standing guard outside.

Lei He was very clear about her own role.

All she needed to do was serve as a tool person to disarm traps and mechanisms and lead the way for Luo Mu; as for fighting, she could leave it all to Luo Mu without any doubt.

As if startled by Luo Mu and Dragonite's actions, the Greavard, forgetting even to admire the fact that they had defeated the Sandaconda Lord, let out a crisp shriek; it even abandoned the gold coin on its body and, in a panic, scurried to a gap in the wind- and sun-battered rim at the tower's peak, squeezing itself in with practiced ease.

The little figure at the edge of the tower's summit platform—in other words, the Greavard—wore an astonished expression.

In the game, aside from some items and TMs, the summit platform of the watchtower would almost always spawn a Pokémon called Greavard.

As the noble Pokédex number 0999, Greavard has two forms: the Chest Form, born within a treasure chest, and the Walking Form, born from the passion seeping into coins.

The Walking Form of Greavard always wanders about carrying an ancient gold coin adorned with archaic patterns, coupled with its tiny body, no more than ten centimeters tall, small enough to fit in the palm of a hand.

Yet, because the Walking Form of Greavard is so agile, few people ever notice its existence; even when someone does spot a Greavard, its keen senses trigger immediately, prompting it to bolt, which is why no one in the Paldea region has ever managed to catch a Walking Form Greavard.

Meanwhile, Luo Mu intended to continue with what he had planned earlier: mounting Dragonite's back to see if there was anything on the summit platform of the leaning watchtower.

The Greavard on the tower's summit platform are all the catchable Chest Form, while the uncatchable Walking Form lurks in various corners across Paldea.

The very next second after Greavard hid itself, Dragonite arrived at the summit platform.

The Chest Form of Greavard is almost unable to move due to the constraints of its chest.

With the incident concluded, Lei He proceeded to make her preparations before descending into the tomb.

Luo Mu did not have Dragonite land on the platform; instead, he flipped off by himself, stepped onto the archaic stone bricks, and looked around to take in the surroundings.

Players jokingly refer to this form of Greavard as the "Coin-Carrying Little Person."

It seemed that his plan to collect ancient gold coins and evolve the noble Pokédex number 0999, Greavard, into the equally noble Pokédex number 1000, Gholdengo, had encountered an obstacle right at the first step.

After scanning every accessible area and not even finding a single feather dropped by a passing bird, Luo Mu sighed; as expected, the noble Pokédex number 0999 would not remain on the watchtower indefinitely.

"Ding!"

Unfortunately, due to the tilt, Luo Mu did not dare to inspect the sloping side; just looking at those precarious, teetering edges was frightening enough.

With such an inconspicuous gap, combined with Greavard's diminutive frame and the innate concealing aura possessed by Ghost-type Pokémon, unless one thoroughly searched this place, it was unlikely anyone could discover Greavard's presence.

Since it was a watchtower, the space on the summit platform was naturally quite vast.

The Leaning Watchtower was already leaning; having just one person like himself here was one thing, but if Dragonite, a hefty figure weighing over four hundred jin, moved around carelessly in this vicinity, it might inadvertently become the final straw that breaks the camel's back, wearing away what little lifespan this tower had left.

At the instant Luo Mu mounted Dragonite and flew toward the tower's peak.

Just then, Lei He below seemed to have finished her preparations as well; she was calling for Luo Mu to come down so they could begin their operation.

"Boo-wuu~"

Just as Luo Mu was about to descend, Dragonite, whose night vision was countless times superior to his own, pointed toward the edge of the downward-sloping half of the platform and let out a puzzled cry.

Over there, was that a coin?

Blinking, Dragonite flapped its draconic wings, flew over to that spot, and carefully picked up the gold coin—which could not hide its true color even in the dark night—with its slightly chubby claws, presenting it to Luo Mu as if offering a treasure.

Only then did the Greavard hiding in the gap realize it had left its gold coin behind; wanting to retrieve its precious coin but intimidated by Dragonite's strength, which had easily defeated the Sandaconda Lord, it could only stay hidden in the gap, frantic with anxiety, unable to muster the courage to leave and demand its coin back.

"This is..."

Luo Mu took the archaically patterned gold coin from Dragonite, wearing a contemplative expression.

A moment later, as if he had figured something out, Luo Mu handed the coin back to Dragonite, instructing it to carefully return the coin to its original spot.

Although there was no Mimikyu, atop the watchtower... there was a Coin-Carrying Little Person!

Recalling the personality of the Coin-Carrying Little Person, Luo Mu did not rashly use the coin to force the timid creature to reveal itself; instead, he had Dragonite return the coin, flashed a friendly smile toward a certain spot at the tower's edge, and then returned to the base of the tower to prepare for the tomb descent with Lei He.

Only after Luo Mu and Dragonite had left the tower's summit for quite some time did Greavard cautiously poke its head out; confirming that no one was outside, it hugged its lost-and-found gold coin and broke into a happy smile.

After its joy subsided, Greavard recalled the behavior of the human who had commanded Dragonite just now.

Falling silent for an instant, the timid Greavard peered downward again, as if searching for Luo Mu's figure.

Yet down below, apart from an off-road vehicle parked nearby, there were only two Pokémon standing guard that, in Greavard's eyes, looked fiercely menacing.

Frightened, Greavard shrank its body, but then it remembered the friendly smile Luo Mu had worn earlier, as if he had known Greavard was in the gap all along.

Gritting its teeth, Greavard frantically went "ding-ding-ding" to bolster its courage; relying on its innate talent, it quietly carried its gold coin down from the tower's peak, slipped past the guard of Seviper and Grumpig, and dashed into the off-road vehicle.

If I'm not mistaken, that human should return inside this big thing.

Inside the pitch-black passage, the only light came from the flashlights held by the two of them; following behind Lei He, Luo Mu looked around with great curiosity, since everything here was entirely new to him.

"I never expected the tomb entrance to be over there."

Recalling the tomb entrance Lei He had led him to, Luo Mu couldn't help but exclaim that his eyes had been truly opened.

Originally, he had imagined that entering the tomb would require going inside the Leaning Watchtower, passing through the lower tower body deeply buried by yellow sand, to gain entry.

But Lei He had helplessly countered Luo Mu's assumption, asking: if the tomb entrance really connected so blatantly to the tower body, would a tomb like that still be available for the two of them to explore?

It would likely have been visited countless times by other grave robbers long ago; the tomb owner's underwear would have been stolen, let alone Lei He's objective for this trip—the Official's Notebook.

The true entrance to the tomb, just like that Tera Crystal, lay deeply buried within the yellow sands that make up this magnificent roaring desert.

To enter that place, one not only had to find the correct location but also bring along a Pokémon capable of manipulating yellow sand to part the sands in that area and uncover a very hidden sand cave.

In order to enter this tomb, Lei He had even specially traveled to the desert in the Hoenn region to catch a Vibrava for stirring the yellow sand; she had located the sand cave and used a gentle Sand Tomb to swallow the two of them inside.

To be honest, if given the choice, Luo Mu did not want to experience again being swallowed by swirling quicksand.

Even with a mask and protective suit blocking it, the sensation of having one's entire body and vision engulfed by yellow sand, as if being buried alive, was truly awful.

Fortunately, the novelty of entering the tomb diluted Luo Mu's discomfort; following the professional Lei He to tour the tomb actually felt quite nice.

It was a pity that this world had no saying like "Seek the dragon, divide the gold, watch the winding mountains; one layer of winding is one layer of gate," and the gadgets Seeing Lei He was fiddling with were no tomb-raiding equipment, but rather detectors, protective suits, flashlights, and the like, full of modern industrial technological style.

This caused the somewhat excited Luo Mu to feel a slight disillusionment.

Seeing Lei He led Luo Mu in an orderly fashion through the intricate maze of tomb passages, filled with countless dead ends.

"Although many tomb raiders of the past would use torches or Pokémon to illuminate the tomb chambers, such behavior easily becomes a catalyst for total annihilation when encountering certain special environments."

"Just like that so-called stuffy and ancient atmosphere in tomb chambers sealed for many years is actually methane, or mechanisms studied by ancients that are sensitive to energy released by Pokémon."

"What era is this now? Times have long changed! With technology so advanced, flashlights produce no energy fluctuations, and the protective suits on our bodies guarantee we are always breathing fresh air, avoiding the inhalation of any germs or poisonous gases that could lead to illness or poisoning."

Through the communication device built into the protective suit, Seeing Lei He, whose hands were deftly cracking the mechanisms, spoke in Little Little Dandan's voice to educate Luo Mu, who wore an expression of having learned something new.

When a clear click echoed through this narrow passage, Seeing Lei He breathed a sigh of relief, turned to look at Luo Mu, and smiled slightly: "Behind this door should be the guarding Pokémon; Champion Mr., I'll leave the fighting to you, okay?"

(End of Chapter)