Considering that the Egg had been taking so long to hatch and that it was Professor Oak that sent him this red Pokémon Egg, Ash knew he would like the Pokémon that will hatch from this.
So he was looking forward to the hatching day of this Pokémon Egg.
They then went back to their makeshift camp in the inner bay from Dewford Town again, and this time Ash and his party did not go through the cave. Instead, they walked around the hillside where the cave was located and along the coastline. The scenery here was much more beautiful at this time than any cave.
"Big Bro, there seems to be someone over there!" Max pointed to the hillside not far away, and saw that there was indeed a person hanging on the steep rock wall, and he didn't seem to know what he was doing.
But the posture and height were both very dangerous, so Ash and the group hurriedly ran over to check up on him.
After getting closer, Ash almost immediately recognized the man's aura on the mountain wall.
It was clearly Professor Birch.
He was most likely here to study the nest that Wingull had built on the mountain walls nearby.
Professor Birch was very famous in the research community because the amount of risk he puts his own life on for observation and research purposes.
His spirit was really something that should be admired but not copied.
However, when the Wingull returned to his nest, he found an uninvited guest and drove him away by flapping his long wings a couple times.
At the same moment, Professor Birch's feet loosened up on the wall and he was falling down at high speeds.
"That doesn't look good at all!" May exclaimed. Professor Birch would at least be seriously injured after falling from such a height, and that's the least of the issues he could face.
"Damn, he's too far!" Ash gritted his teeth and moved as fast as his feet could go.
With their current distance, Ash's Psychic couldn't reach it. Fortunately, Professor Birch was cushioned when he fell.
The cushion he just hit was the Loudred from yesterday.
This Loudred's body was almost half as elastic as Snorlax, which definitely says something.
Thankfully the Loudred just happened to be at the right place at the right time to save Professor Birch from serious harm.
Loudred was again rightfully angry when he was woken up from his sleep.
He couldn't sleep well in the cave because it had collapsed in the past where he had lived, so now he was enjoying the nice weather outside but it looked like he also couldn't have any peace outside, what a sad life he has.
Now all of his veins were bulging and he was getting geared to roar loudly.
Ash finally arrived at that time. When he saw it was the same Loudred from yesterday, he hurried over and said, "What a luck we have. Thank you for saving Professor Birch. These are all yours!"
This time Ash took out a whole can of Pokémon food for Normal-type Pokémon's, which was most likely the tastiest food for Loudred, so he just took the food and left from here to find another new spot. This time he was hoping to find a place where he won't have to wake up because someone interrupted his mating dreams.
"Well if it isn't Ash, thank you so much again. I didn't expect you to be so good at dealing with wild Pokémon's like that Loudred!" Professor Birch was very impressed by Ash's abilities, even though he knew of Ash and almost all of his capabilities from Professor Oak.
May and the others behind Ash also soon caught up at the same place.
As the group of Ash and the new Professor Birch sat around the tents, Ash poured a glass of water for Professor Birch, "Why did you decide to come to Dewford Island?"
"I have always had a wish to observe the Pokémon shells on this island, and I thought this to be the best opportunity. For example, the nearby Wingulls here build their nests on the steep cliffs like that!" Professor Birch looked at the Wingulls on the cliff. This time he was observing the Pokémon's nest structure with more details.
"By the way, Ash, why are you guys here? I thought you guys were going to be at Slateport City by now." After talking about some of his own research affairs, Professor Birch looked at ten group and asked in some mild confusion.
Hearing this, Ash smiled and said, "We are just like you Professor, we want to take a good look at Pokémon here and train up some more. This is the perfect place to bond and train some new Pokémon's."
"Professor Birch, Big Bro has already caught three Pokémon on Dewford Island!" As soon as Max finished speaking, he was struck by Ash's Fist of a Big Brother again.
"You sure know how to talk big, don't ya?"
Professor Birch looked at Max and smiled at them, "Really? Ash, can you show me them?"
As he said this, he looked at the half-awake Ralts above Ash's head and said, "That Ralts of yours sure is looking very healthy. I can see from that smile of it that Ralts really loves. Ash, you found a good Pokémon."
Ash smiled and threw out three of his Poké Balls, "Corphish, Aron, Mudkip, say hello to the Professor!"
Professor Birch immediately lay down his pen and put his eyes to level with the small stature group, "Everyone here is developing very well. Hi there Corphish!"
Seeing the large pliers raised by Corphish, Max wanted to remind him, but it was already too late for that. Corphish's pliers had already tightened around Professor Birch's hands.
"Ow! Hey hey! Ow!"
Corphish looked very happy and hit Professor Birch's head with pliers one after another. He couldn't even dodge or do anything about the attack.
Ash quickly pulled his Corphish away from the defeated Professor and gently hit him on the head, "Can you save me some trouble. Why do you always do that?" Ash asked tiredly.
"Cop! Cor Corphish!"
He didn't seem to mind this at all as he still smiling happily.
"That Corphish of yours is truly such an energetic Pokémon!" Professor Birch was in pain, but he still didn't blame Ash's Corphish.
Then he looked at Ash's Aron, and saw that the armor on his body was shining with a pure metalic yellow shine. He said, "Ash, your Aron's armor... What do you feed it to make it look so shiny?"
"Specially obtained high-strength pure steel!" Ash said with a smile, which was the truth this time.
"No wonder that the armore looks so shiny and powerful!" Professor Birch understood and admired Ash's devotion to his Pokémon's.
Of course, he didn't know that Ash only spent exchange points and not actually his money. Fortunately, he had destroyed some "victims" in the Rustboro City Pokémon Trainer School before, and also some points from the Team Rocket Trio, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to afford all of Aron's and Dratini's food. Now with the good food for Aron, he had to buy ores and other metals to feed his future defense tank.
"That Mudkip..." Professor Birch then looked at Mudkip, and then which he was immediately hit by a Water Gun, "Haha, he looks very healthy too!"
This newly caught Mudkip usually has a very calm personality, he is brave and strong, and thus is very compatible with Ash and his team.
Since they met Professor Birch here, Ash and his team immediately decided to follow Professor Birch to do some Pokémon field investigation with him.
Who knows if they find something interesting here.
At this moment, on the other side of the hillside, a red helicopter landed on the beach, and the famous Team Magma that Ash and May had encountered way back at the Oldale Ruins came out.
Under the leadership of Professor Birch, Ash and his party came to a small valley along the coastline, and found a cave in the deepest part of the place. "There should be wild Zubats and Golbats living in it."
It's daytime now, Golbat must be hanging upside down to rest, after all, they would need this energy for their hunts at night.
However, what was revealed to everyone's eyes when they reached the deepest part of the valley was a large hole dug that was definitely dug out by some kind of machinery.
Ash looked at the big hole and showed a deep frown on his face, "Everyone, this place is very unusual. We must be careful when we go in, there must be some unneeded shenanigans going on there." Ash said that in a hush voice.
"Okay, Ash, you should be more experienced in this situation than any of us, so I'll let you lead the team."
Professor Birch also had a gloomy look on his face. All Pokémon Professors, well most, advocate the harmonious coexistence of humans and Pokémon's.
Obviously, Professor Birch here is very disgusted with the actions that some humans are doing here. They are causing damage to the natural ecology of Pokémon, which is anything but ideal.
He knew that Ash was not just any regular Pokémon Investigator and that showed when Ash was slowly releasing the pressure that he only felt from Steven once, so he immediately decided to follow Ash's experienced arrangements.
Just as the group were going to go deeper along the big hole, a dive boat also came to the shallow lake in front of the valley.
The other evil team, Team Aqua appeared here out of the blue, literally.
Wearing their dive equipment, they followed the passage on the cave and came to the depths of this valley lake.
The drilling machinery of the Team Magma drilled to the deepest part of the cave. There was actually a surprisingly large space hidden deep here, and a solemn ruin stood there.
The leading operations captain waved one of his hands, and two rocket launches were fired from the machines sides, inserted into the rock wall above, and then turned on their light source, displaying the entire ruins in front of Ash and his group who were closely following behind the remains of the Team Magma.
Ash was surprised, those two rockets were actually the sources of light instead of the source of destruction.
The new found ruins in front of the group were definitely more than ten stories high, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, like a huge stone monument. It is hard to imagine just how humans in the past constructed such exquisite buildings in a cave nonetheless.
"So it's all because they managed to find a temple like this made by who knows who and how long. They must have something that was able to help them find exactly this location." Ash thought out as a whole.
The captain from Tram Magma who led his group was very excited when he saw the large ruins in front of him, and then ordered, "Each team once again confirm their preparations and then proceed to rush in find our item!"
"YES!"
Watching the Team Magma's grunts rush into the tall ruin, leaving only the leading operations captain and two other members behind on the outside, Ash chose not to stop him yet because he too wanted to know what kind of item it was that they came here.
This is an ancient ruin built hundreds of years ago, and it was not like of one the Team Rocket's secret base he destroyed where could have just run rampant and destroyed everything in his sight without a second hesitation.
He is very interested in the item that can be here, the one mentioned by the Team Magma Captain just now.
While he could have defeated them now and went to look on his own, why would he just danger his own safety when there are others who are gladly dinging it for him?
Piecing some of the few remaining memories that he still retained and the intelligence that came from the Team Rocket Trio, Team Magma's purpose was to control the Legendary Ancient Pokémon know as Groudon!
Groudon has long been described in ancient mythology as the Pokémon that created the land and expanded all the continents.
According to his guess, Groudon was known to live underground in hot molten lace, does this ruin called the "Cave of Origin" refer to the place where Groudon was currently resting at?
Is there really such a place?
"Ash, what should we do now?" Professor Birch had no experience in these kind of situation. Seeing that Ash was still standing and looked to be thinking something deep, he asked curiously.
No matter what the purpose of this evil organization is, it must be detrimental to the Pokémon world as a whole, right?
Then if that really is the reality of their situation, they must not be allowed to succeed on whatever they are doing.
Ash shook his head, "We can't act rashly yet, there is a high probability that this place is not the place they are looking for."
Ash recalled as he remembers that the Cave of Origin was located somewhere close to Sootopolis City and not near where they currently were, which was Dewford Island.
Sure enough, the members of the Lava Magma took their scanner looking device and walked around the ruins but did not seem to find what they were initially looking for. Instead, they found something else. "The reflected wave here found out that there are several moving objects in the external sea and they are quickly approaching us."
As soon as he finished speaking, several blue figures jumped out of the water around the ruins, it was the Team Aqua!
Team Aqua was the other more evil notorious evil organization in the Hoenn Region along with Team Magma.
The operations leader of Team Maa immediately issued an attack order, "Mightyena, use your Shadow Ball!"
This Mightyena is the evolved form of the Poochyena that had bitten Professor Birch away before into Ash's journey.
This Pokémon looks very similar to a wolf, and the power of its Shadow Ball was also not that bad.
However, the operations captain of Team Aqua on the other side did not panic and showed no sign of weakness and instead ordered an attack of her own, "Hydro Pump!"
They all saw a fish suddenly splashing with a sharp look on its face from the water. The Hydro Pump form it blocked the Shadow Ball.
This is Carvanha, Ash had previously caught its evolved form, a Sharpedo.
"Thank you for your hard work. You guys really helped us so much here!" The operations leader of Team Aqua was a beautiful looking young woman with long and curly red hair.
Ash more than anything was a little curious about how and why her hair was still so fluffy after she came out of the water.
"Team Aqua, it really was you bastards!" It turns out that in the slight confrontation between the two teams just now, Team Magma didn't even know who was coming here, so they launched a decisive attack before any thoughts added.
The operation captain of Team Aqua asked some of her team members to rush into the ruins. "Admin Tabitha, judging from the fact that you were personally dispatched here, your Team Magma must be very interested in this ruins and what's inside of here, correct?"
"Admin Shelly, you should consider yourself lucky that there is water here in this place so that you can use yours Pokémon's, otherwise we would have cooked your team!"
As expected, the two Admins of their respective organizations knew each other well.
Seeing their tense atmosphere, Ash nodded to himself. It was indeed just as he had imagined. The two organizations were very hostile against each other and their end goals.
Team Aqua hopes to expand the ocean, and Team Magma largely hopes to expand the land, so there really was no doubt that they will have many things to fight against each other for.
But now they are each looking for items to realize their ambitions, and so they have not yet taken full action against each other. The purpose of their actions are very clear, the current battle is unnecessary for them.
"This is Team Magma Admin Tabitha. The inside of the ruins has been invaded by bastards from Team Aqua. It still doesn't matter to us that much, continue your scouting mission!"
Admin Tabitha didn't pay attention to the arrival of the Team Aqua and had just warned his team to be on their full alert.
They didn't interfere with each other just yet.
They he just looked at Shelly and said, "Why cause so much trouble when we both know that your Team Aqua has nothing that could control that Pokémon?"
"I also want to ask you the same question, if there is a power here that you or me are both pursuing, do you really have any way to control it?" Shelley was not to be outdone, although these sounded like just regular conversation.
But based on the known information, Ash understood that they were both looking for various ruins to find the sleeping Groudon and Kyogre.
But this ruins looked to have nothing belonging to the two Legendary Ancient Pokémon's.
Sure enough, both parties confirmed that there was nothing they needed here. This was not the Cave of Origin that they were looking for, but instead it was a tower built by ancient people for worship.
After reaching this conclusion, neither party looked that disappointed about it. They were obviously used to such an ending, but they still persevered through it like it was nothing.
The atmosphere became very tense again as both teams withdrew from the ruins, but Tabitha and Shelly put their Mightyena and Carvanha away together and ordered a full retreat.
Shelly led her people to dive back into the sea, and Tabitha and his people also drove the machine to leave the cave they originally dug up.
It wasn't until they were all far away that Ash led his group out of the darkness and headed towards the ruins step by step with a camera.
It would be a huge waste not to record the information and send them back to Lance to investigate more carefully.
"Big Bro, what do they mean by when they said the Cave of Origin?" Max started the mode of questioning him again.
Ash didn't have the patience to explain to him, like he ever had, so he just quietly hit him in his head.
Even if he could, it would be better to not tell Max about what he knows.
When the group arrived at the entrance of the ruins, they saw two circular grooves on the stone platform. It seemed that some spherical gems needed to be embedded in order to activate the main functions of the ruins.
Of course Ash and the others didn't have this item with them, or did they?
But Ash frowned a bit, as if he had seen such a configuration somewhere else before…
Entering the ruins, they can see that it is completely empty and there really was nothing there.
"Ash, this should be a relic where ancient people worshiped some kind of Pokémon!" Professor Birch made the most professional judgment out of the bunch.
In response, Ash also nodded as this is also the final conclusion he came up with.
He led the group directly to the top floor and found a stone platform again, a bare stone platform.
But there was nothing there.
"Professor Birch, do you see anything?" Max refused to give up and couldn't believe that this large ruin that was hidden so deeply was actually just an empty shell.
But Professor Birch smiled bitterly and shook his head a couple times, "Those bad guys have searched everything here with their sophisticated detection equipment. How can we find it just by our sight alone an-?"
However just the moment he was about to continue talking, Ash's body flashed with a mix of blue and pink light, and he was lost in thought while looking at the stone platform. He clearly detected that there was something hidden in the center of the stone platform, but it should not be what the Team Aqua and Team Magma were looking for.
He covered the stone platform with his hands, and everyone behind him was silently waiting for something to happen.
After a while, the stone platform actually began to vibrate, and then opened on both sides, revealing a small green object.
This was a Green Flute!
Although it was not like the Clear Bell, which can summon the Legendary Pokémon Ho-Oh, it was probably used by the ancient people living here to worship Rayquaza.
No wonder this ruins was so high.
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