Chapter 668: Daigo's Gift, Late But Never Absent

In the latter part of Daigo's home (scratch that) estate, a rather exaggerated mountain peak stood tall.

The vegetation coverage on the mountain itself was not extensive, which might be related to Daigo's personal preferences; this also made Daigo lean more toward this kind of rocky mountain when choosing his living environment.

At a glance, it seemed very suitable for Rock-type and Steel-type Pokémon to inhabit, and every corner inside had probably been personally swept clean by Daigo.

Driven by the butler, several off-road vehicles soon stopped at the foot of the mountain.

For the remaining journey, everyone had to get out of the cars and walk.

It wasn't that they couldn't drive up the mountain path along the slope; it was simply better for them to walk up on foot.

Not long after setting out.

Luo Mu suddenly noticed that Wallace's expression beside him seemed somewhat strange, so he asked him in confusion, "What's wrong?"

Could he still be hung up on the battle just now?

Wallace hadn't lost, after all; he had even won against Hearing Hearing Nimo despite a type disadvantage, perfectly illustrating the saying, "Ginger gets spicier with age."

The cunning thirty-year-old uncle had played the twelve-year-old Hearing Hearing Nimo like a puppet (scratch that).

But then again, when Wallace had personally revealed his age to him, Luo Mu had indeed been shocked.

Calculating it this way, there was nearly a ten-year age gap between Wallace and Daigo; given their relationship, while not quite friends across generations, they were still a rare pair of close friends with such a significant age difference.

In response to Luo Mu's question, Wallace merely shook his head with a blank look, "You'll understand when we get there."

After saying this, the feeling of Wallace entering something akin to "sage mode" became even stronger.

Seeing his vacant-eyed appearance, Luo Mu suddenly had a premonition that he was about to witness something extraordinary.

Glancing at the figures of Hearing Hearing Nimo, Ash, and the others walking ahead eagerly, Luo Mu also secretly stirred with interest.

Soon, everyone arrived at the mountain path leading to the heights of this rocky peak.

A massive figure was waiting there.

Sensing everyone's arrival, that big guy immediately stood up and, in a manner completely inconsistent with its appearance, affectionately rubbed against Daigo's raised right hand as he approached.

This big guy's species name was Aggron; its entire body was encased in hard iron armor, and its appearance made it a monster in every sense of the word.

However, at this moment, this "big monster" was a loyal giant before Daigo, interacting with him with great care, creating an atmosphere of "a tough guy with a tender heart."

Daigo introduced this Aggron to everyone.

It was not the Aggron that served as Daigo's main force and had confronted Groudon earlier that morning.

That Aggron was currently undergoing the most professional treatment because parts of its armor had turned liquid due to repeated assaults from extreme heat.

This Aggron was a Pokémon that Daigo had "inherited" from his father, Mr. Tsuwabuki Mokuren.

Calculating its age, it was likely nearing a hundred years old; passed down from Daigo's great-grandfather's generation, it had rendered meritorious service when Devon Corporation was still just a small mining company, and now it had been brought here by Daigo to enjoy its twilight years.

Incidentally, this also allowed the restless Aggron to manage this rocky mountain.

While listening to Daigo's introduction, Luo Mu's gaze also fell upon this "veteran contributor" of the Tsuwabuki family.

Indeed, although currently, due to the time of day, only a faint moonlight illuminated the field of view.

Just from the color and degree of wear on its armor, one could see that this Aggron was, just as Daigo had said, very old.

Compared to Daigo's Aggron, which was in its prime, the difference was evident at a glance.

No one knew what Daigo said to the Aggron, but its gaze shifted toward everyone.

After a moment, it nodded lightly.

After all, Daigo often brought promising juniors he favored up the mountain, so the Aggron was long accustomed to it.

Moreover, this group of people did not look like bad sorts.

Daigo respected this Aggron greatly; only after it nodded did he smile and say to everyone, "Let's go, we're entering the mountain."

He led the way at the front.

Ash and the others began chatting in hushed tones.

"Pokémon raised by Mr. Daigo? How exciting!"

"There must be many Rock-type and Steel-type Pokémon, right?"

"I wonder how many Pokémon Mr. Daigo raises..."

Among the younger ones, Hearing Hearing Nimo, Ash, Max, and May were chatting the most lively.

After walking along a rather long mountain path for a while, Daigo stopped everyone in front of a cave.

To ensure the Pokémon could live in a natural environment with minimal human interference, there were no electric lights installed here at all, which made the cave at night look like a beast opening its bottomless, deep mouth.

It was somewhat frightening.

Before Luo Mu could actively send out his Luxray to do its usual job, the butler, who had not spoken any nonsense all along and acted with clean efficiency, made his move.

"Volbeat, leave it to you."

A Pokémon resembling a firefly, which gave Luo Mu a strange feeling of being separated by lifetimes, appeared before everyone.

Its tail emitted a faint firefly glow, capable of illuminating the surroundings without being too glaring.

Before his transmigration, this Pokémon's presence could be described as extremely thin.

Most of its aspects were unremarkable; its appearance couldn't be called particularly handsome, beautiful, or cute, its battle strength was unspeakable, and its popularity was quite low.

The only Pokémon with less presence than it was probably something like Generation Five's Carracosta?

If, in a future he didn't know of, new Mega Evolutions were added.

The probability of either of these two being selected was likely close to zero; instead, Pokémon like Flygon and Milotic might very well be added...

But at this moment, the light dispelling the darkness from the Volbeat appeared so gentle and warm.

It was the most authentic portrayal of the saying that Pokémon's existence had integrated into every aspect of human life.

Under the illumination of the butler's Volbeat, everyone walked into the cave.

But when they saw the group of Pokémon resting inside the cave, everyone, without exception, froze in place in stupor.

In the unexpectedly spacious cave, a group of Pokémon was gripping the rock walls with the claws at the ends of their bodies, hanging their heads down to rest quietly in a manner similar to bats.

Their entire bodies were gray-blue, resembling handleless mallets, with irregularly shaped round heads, and right in the center of each head lay their distinctive single red eye.

This Pokémon was the famous "Pseudo-Legendary" of the Hoenn region, officially known as the "Late-Blooming Pokémon," boasting a final evolution base stat total reaching as high as 600—Beldum!

Its types were Steel and Psychic, possessing the ability to release magnetic forces.

Relying on the continuous release of magnetic force, Beldum could repel against the planet's magnetism, achieving the special ability to hover and fly in the sky even without wings, despite its body being a relatively heavy lump of iron.

A rough estimate suggested that in just this one cave before them, there were likely over a hundred Beldum inhabiting it.

"."

The air fell completely silent.

For instance, May, Max, and Brock—these three currently had their mouths stretched so wide in shock that one could stuff an egg inside them.

Anyone with even a sliver of knowledge could see that the Beldum colony in just this single cave likely possessed value that was difficult to estimate.

If those notoriously infamous Pokémon Hunters and poachers were to learn of the massive number of Beldum here, fear that there would be no moment of peace ever again.

"This is truly something."

The corner of Lance's mouth twitched; if one swapped Beldum for Dratini, even the long-established Dragon Clan would likely find itself at an absolute disadvantage in terms of population numbers.

Especially when Steven mentioned that there were several other caves within this mountain also harboring quite a few Beldum, Lance felt nearly numb.

Were the tycoons of the Hoenn region really this outrageous?

Luo Mu's mouth corners twitched slightly; he hadn't expected to actually witness today the real-life scene described in fanfiction novels: "Steven's Beldum covering every hill and valley."

No wonder Steven could produce such a rare Shiny Metagross; it was truly built purely by throwing money at the problem.

Just preparing the staple food for so many Beldum, the minerals they needed to absorb must surely be an astronomical figure, right?

Immediately after, Steven led the group to other caves for a tour.

Basically, most Rock-type and Steel-type Pokémon that had colonies in the Hoenn region could be seen on this rocky mountain.

There were the Geodude line, relatively common in the wild, as well as the Nosepass line, the Aron line, and the Rhyhorn line.

However, traces of Fossil Pokémon were quite rare.

Since there were quite a few Fossil Pokémon within the team, when asked about this issue, Steven could only helplessly explain.

The technology for reviving fossils was far from mature; not only were fossils suitable for revival extremely difficult to find, but factors regarding their habitat also existed.

In fact, those Fossil Pokémon that Steven himself raised were generally kept within simulated environments created by Devon Corp at his estate.

Although there were indeed cases of Fossil Pokémon surviving from ancient times to the present in some corner of the world, such examples were too few; even Steven could not raise them in large batches.

With a smile on his face, he said, "However, if you truly have a Fossil Pokémon you like, I can take you to my collection room to have a look; quite a few fossils are stored there as well."

"If there is one that catches your fancy, I can take you to Devon Corp to attempt its revival."

Even though Wallace had long grown accustomed to his friend's extravagance, hearing Steven speak so casually about the sky-high revival funds still gave him a sensation of his heart twitching in pain.

Compared to Steven, his own assets were indeed somewhat meager; he was currently still working hard to organize the Wallace Cup and Contests to save money, all for the sake of reviving a single fossil containing Relicanth genes.

After leading everyone on a tour around the rocky mountain, Steven finally could not suppress his impulse to scatter money, saying to everyone present, "Consider this a humble token of my personal gratitude."

"If anyone is interested in a certain Pokémon, you may try contacting them; if you can gain their approval, taking them with you upon capture is no problem."

"And regarding fossils, it is just as I mentioned earlier."

For Steven, money had become merely a string of digits, and the various Steel and Rock-type Pokémon colonies he raised regardless of cost were growing ever stronger on the rocky mountain.

Among these colonies, there was no shortage of special children who wished to venture out into Mian De Shi Jie, so he often sought trainers worthy of entrusting these children to.

If he could enable a two-way selection between trainer and Pokémon, for Steven, that would be a win-win situation.

Upon these words, an excited Ash had already raised his hand, "Me, me, me, Mr. Steven!!"

After Ash started things off, Hearing Hearing Nimo responded second; she even dragged along Paul and Serena.

After struggling for a while, May also weakly raised her hand.

Unexpectedly, his older sister had such luck, which made Max, who still hadn't been able to obtain a starter Pokémon, incredibly envious.

Steven knew May and Max, aware they were the children of Norman, known as the "Gym Leader closest to the Elite Four," and readily agreed as well.

But just as he had mentioned, to take a Pokémon away, one must first gain the other party's approval.

If one were to forcibly take a Pokémon away, putting aside Steven himself, even the Aggron guarding the foot of the mountain would not allow it.

Wallace did not need one on his end, while Lance politely declined Steven's "token of gratitude," citing his expertise in raising Dragon-type Pokémon.

Finally, Steven looked toward Luo Mu and Brock.

These two were the ones who had not yet made a decision.

After hesitating for a few seconds, Brock tried his best to thicken his skin and ask, "Mr. Steven, regarding fossils..."

Probably feeling somewhat ashamed to speak of it, a slightly unnatural flush of red appeared on Brock's dark face, likely from embarrassment.

Before Brock could force the words out, Steven smiled and said, "Of course you can."

"Brock, you are a Rock-type specialist trainer; it is only natural that you would wish to pursue Fossil Pokémon possessing an ancient charm."

"Mr. Steven... thank you!" Brock's narrowed eyes slowly opened; overwhelmed with excitement, he could only repeat this sentence to express his agitation.

Yes, indeed.

Which Rock-type specialist trainer did not long for mysterious and ancient Fossil Pokémon?

Back when digging for fossils in Pallet Town's Fossil Valley with Ash, although it wasn't apparent on the surface, he had actually deeply desired those Fossil Pokémon.

Kabuto, Omanyte, Aerodactyl...

With Brock's decision also settled, everyone's gaze converged upon Luo Mu.

Steven also looked at him, his gaze holding a degree of obvious firmness that was absent when looking at the others.

Luo Mu, who had originally intended to follow Lance's example and politely decline, read some meaning from Steven's eyes and immediately understood a certain fact.

—Anyone else could refuse this "token of gratitude," but he was the one person Steven was determined to gift thanks to no matter what.

Such a thought floating in his mind, Luo Mu could only choose to yield.

In this case, he still could not escape the inevitable path of a protagonist in Pokémon fanfiction—being showered with money by Steven.

After pondering for a few seconds, Luo Mu raised his hand helplessly and said, "Forget about taming a Pokémon. Instead, why don't you let me see what suitable items are in your collection? I'll just pick one at random."

(End of Chapter)