Bab 21: Dark Exploration!
Several individuals were seen exploring around Terra Mountain, with numerous young people traversing the mountain slopes. Various individuals stumbled upon intriguing items like berries and other seemingly valuable objects during their explorations.
However, three men-in-black could also be seen here. Their faces were covered and they gave off a suspicious aura. Anyone could see that these guys had come to this place with ill intentions.
"Where are those brats? We've seen just about every youth here, but we haven't encountered or spotted those siblings." The fat man said with annoyance.
"The guard said they were heading toward Terra Mountain, would he really lie to us? We've been searching for over an hour and we still have no results."
This didn't make sense, they had even asked a few youngsters but they claimed they hadn't seen them around.
"Keep searching, they may be at the top of the mountain!" The skinny but tall man spoke and said.
"This downpour has been going on for a whole week, this has never happened before." This seemed like some strange phenomenon to him.
"You're right, this has never happened in the past years; this is really strange." They couldn't be too bothered to figure out why and continued toward the mountain stairway.
.....
Leon, Lars, and Leona huddled to discuss their next course of action.
"This place can indeed be dangerous, it is dark and chilly the deeper you go. However, we have light to prevent any mishaps as we go deeper." Leon gave his thoughts on the matter/
"That's good and all, but what about those Pokémon from before? Won't they attack us if we go too deeper, or somewhere in their territory?" Lars was still skeptical about this Pokémon and what other Pokémon may lurk beyond.
Leona remained silent. She would go if they went, and she wouldn't if they didn't.
"The only Pokémon we have to worry about are Zubat and Sableye." This was according to Leon's knowledge. He doubted that something such as Crobat would appear; that would be tragic.
"Sableye?" Lars thought for a moment and continued. "Oh, that Pokémon with the gem-like eyes, if I recall from the book."
"Yeah, that's the one." It was a good thing Leon had brought some good medical supplies.
The problem was his Pokémon's level, he felt they weren't leveling fast enough. He could only sigh when he thought about this, but that was Beldum for you.
It was indeed a [Pseudo Legendary].
"Alright. I agree that we should go. I've seen a few of the others selling Pokémon. They were selling Geodudes, Zigzagoon, Psyduck, and what other Pokémon they could nab. This is our chance to capture rarer Pokemon to sell to outdo the competition."
Lars couldn't take this lying down, these youngster had copied their marketing way of selling. So he naturally wanted to get even better Pokémon to sell to the public.
"Let's do it," Leon smiled and said.
They brandished their flashlights and proceeded to walk down the pathway. Leon told them to keep their Pokémon out during this exploration.
The cave was pitch black and without flashlights, they wouldn't be able to see their hands in front of them.
Beldum was directly in front of him and could sense everything within the surroundings. Unfortunately, Sableye was part Dark type, so it wasn't a Pokémon it could sense.
Leona had two flashlights pointing in front toward their pathway with Swablu standing on her shoulder.
Lars had his flashlight aimed at the cave ceiling to measure its size and watch for Pokémon attacks.
'This place is dim, with not a single ray of light. Beldum, remember the path clearly.' Leon relayed to Beldum. Even if it forgot, Leon still had the map function to guide him.
'Will do...' Beldum assured. It was levitating right in front of Leon near his knees.
Leon utilized his map function to reveal concealed spots and guide the way. While they strolled, the sole noises were the crunching of boots on rock, soil, and pebbles.
Leona decided at some point to flash her light onto the wall. As they walked, Leona spotted something on the wall she found interesting.
"This rock on the wall doesn't match in shape and coloration." Leona stopped and touched the smooth rock, which had assimilated with the wall.
Leon and Lars stopped to check, but Leon's eyes widened when he saw it.
"Hmm, this rock does look strange, as if it doesn't belong here in the first place," Lars said as he reached his hands out to touch it.
"No! Don't touch it anymore!" Leon hurriedly said.
"What?!" Both Leona and Lars jumped in fright before quickly backing away.
"What's wrong with it? Is it poisonous or something?" Leona's expression showed fear and she was ready to pull out some medical tools.
"Not at all. This here is a Fossil Pokémon, that has long passed away." Leon expressed with joy.
"A Fossil? What? We can sell it for so much money, haha!" Lars was seeing ₱ signs when staring at this fossil.
"This fossil will naturally belong to Leona, there's no need to sell it. Though we could get a lot If we did, we have other ways to make money." Fossils cost a lot, they weren't something so easily found.
"You're giving it to me?" Leona asked with a stunned expression.
"Yes, you were the one who discovered it so it is naturally yours. This fossil seems to be the Root Fossil Pokémon." Leon had already examined it with his Necrozma Eyes.
"Beldum. Dig your claws around this fossil, but please be careful not to damage the fossil." He wanted Beldum to loosen it up a bit before using his chisel and hammer.
Beldum did as it was ordered and excavated its claw around the fossil carefully. Afterward, Leon pulled out his chisel and hammer before getting to work.
Within ten minutes of careful work, the fossil was recovered. It was dirty, but once it was revived; none of this would matter.
The way Leon removed the fossil from the wall wasn't professional at all, but it did the job and the fossil wasn't damaged.
"I'll hold onto it for you until later. Leona, you can get this fossil revived at Devon Corp or at a local Pokézone."
The Pokézone possessed a machine capable of resurrecting fossils. People seldom utilized these machines as fossil Pokémon were not common. Nevertheless, using this machine would require a significant amount of money.
Leon placed the fossil into his bag, but it was actually going into his inventory. He couldn't risk any mishaps with this fossil.
Leon wouldn't steal it for himself; that would be too ridiculous despite how much he wanted it. He had a system on him, so he would eventually get this fossil through some means.
"Okay, but you said it was called the Root fossil, right? How does this Pokémon look, I can't remember its appearance." Leona tried thinking back but she couldn't seem to remember.
"We'll check it out once we get home, that's when we can count our gains." Leon's words suggested that there was a time and place for these things.
"Alright, let's keep going." Leona nodded and understood.
They continued down the path naturally for about five more minutes. Running over the map, Leon found that he was close to the Elemental Chest.
"Ouch!" Suddenly, Leona cried out in pain.
"What is it? What happened?" Lars hurriedly asked.
"I was hit by a rock!" Leona pointed her flashlight toward the rock that had hit her.
"It must have fallen from the ceiling of the cave. I'm sure stuff like that happened all of the time, you were just unfortunate." Lars shook his head and chuckled at her misfortune.
"How? That rock hit me on the side, how could it have fallen from the ceiling of the cave?" Leona was speechless; the physics weren't matching.
"Checheche..."
Suddenly, the group heard a low cackling sound; it sounded like it was trying to suppress its laughter!
"What?!" Leon's eyes widened.
The faint chuckles seemed rather ominous, suggesting the definite presence of a Ghost-type Pokémon. Leona and Lars shuddered as they felt a cold shiver run down their spines upon hearing those chuckles.
"Everyone, flash your light everywhere, this is the work of some Ghost-type Pokémon!" Leon already had an idea of who it was since it loved playing tricks.
The rock was likely aimed at Leona because she had the most light blaring. The target wasn't actually Leona, but the flashlights she was holding!
However, as their flashlight illuminated the cave, another rock flew over and smashed Leon's flashlight.
"Damn!" Leon was stunned, this little wretch was close for sure.
'Beldum, when you detect these rocks flying over, get rid of them before they make contact.' Leon knew Beldum wouldn't be able to sense this particular Pokémon because it was also a dark type.
'Sorry, I will do it!' Beldum may not be able to sense this Sableye, but it could sense the incoming rocks.
"This guy is actually throwing rocks at our flashlights? He trying to blind us and toy with us to death!" Lars's expression turned impeccably ugly upon realizing its end goal.
"I can't believe such a shameless Pokémon actually exists." Leona was shocked, her eyes were truly opened today. She had no idea Pokémon could be this shameless and intellectual; at least at the level of cunningness.
Another rock was hurled, but Beldum quickly intercepted it. Electrike sniffed around before dashing towards the perceived threat.
"Electrike!" Lars called out in surprise.
"Go, follow it!" Leon ran after Electrike but it didn't take long before it discovered the culprit.
Leona saw the little fellow because she bombarded it with her flashlight's light. It was in the midst of defending itself against Electrike, but the sudden flashlight blinded it temporarily.
Indeed, it was Sableye.
Sableye was a diminutive Pokémon that had a dark purple hue, long three-clawed arms, small legs, and a bulbous head.
Its only prominent features are a pair of blue crystalline formations over its eyes and smaller blue and red crystals on its chest and back. When its mouth is open, it displays a large cavity filled with triangular white teeth.
Currently, Electrike had attacked Sableye with an Ice Fang, dealing about 10% of its health. Leon could actually see -10% over its head, which was written in red.
'What?' He was stunned when he saw it, this had never happened before. Did his eyes upgrade or something?
Leon couldn't think about that now before ordering all of his Pokémon to attack. Sableye knew it was in trouble now that it had been ousted like this. Every time it threw a rock, it would switch positions and attack again.
Sableye easily shook off Electrike and tried to run by escaping into the shadows. Fortunately, the flashlights prevent it from utilizing such a method.
Leon took this time to analyze it.
_____
<Name: Sableye♂
<Type: Dark + Ghost
<Level: 15
<Nature: Quirky
<Aptitude: E++
<Ability: Keen Eye
<Moves: Scratch, Leer, Astonish, Shadow Sneak, Fake Out, Disable, Recover(Egg),
Sableye's talent was extraordinary for a wild Pokémon and it even had an egg move! It either had talented parents, or it was eating high-quality food to reach this level.
'To get the Recover egg move, Sableye would need to breed with Meditite or Medicham. Was such a Pokémon hidden on this island?'
Leon recalled that Meditite loved to meditate on high mountains like some martial artists. It spent most of its time doing this and even deprived itself of food, or consumed very little.
By this point, every Pokémon in sight had ganged up on Sableye. Furthermore, Leon didn't have to worry about it having reinforcements since Sableye was a solitary Pokémon.
"Sab!" Sableye gave one last cry before it was beaten into submission and fainting.
Leon didn't hesitate and tossed a Dusk ball at it. With three shakes from right to left, it was caught without any resistance.
"Catching this guy can also come as a plus, he can help us navigate through this cave." Sableye should have been living here for a while, so it knew its way around.
Seeing Sableye get defeated and captured, Leona and Lars sighed in relief. They were fortunate that they had an Electrike, whose highly efficient nose proved to be a great asset.
Sableye was very annoying to deal with otherwise.
"What do we do now? Do we keep going from here or..." Leona turned to her brothers and asked.
"We'll keep going, I believe we're close to a cave system." Leon checked the map and was certain.
Afterward, Leon quickly summoned Sableye and fed it a revive instead. He didn't do this for Carvanha since it wouldn't be useful out of water. However, Sableye was more than useful in this situation.
Sableye instantly shot up, as if it had been revived from the dead!
"Hehe, I'm your new trainer now, just so you understand." Leon rubbed his chin and said with a smile.
Sableye looked between Leon, Leona, and Lars before it gem-like landed on the other Pokémon.
"Sableye..." It nodded in return and smiled, revealing a row of razor-sharp triangular teeth.
"What the..." Leona's eyes widened in shock at the sight, she didn't even know this Pokémon had a mouth.
"Perfect! I need you to show us around, you should know where some good stuff is, right?" Leon liked Sableye's design, but he remembered it being really annoying as a Mega back in the day.
This was primarily due to its Mega Evolution's ability, Magic Bounce.
'Beldum, I may need you to translate it words for me.'
Leon began to ask Sableye a few things about the cave. Surprisingly, this Sableye was a blabbermouth and spoke about many things within the cave.
It spoke about Gold, Silver, and strange clear stuff. Leon felt great joy, was this a chance for them to hit it big?
Once Leon relayed what Beldum had translated to his siblings; they were overjoyed. This was especially so for Lars, they may have struck gold, literally!
However, there was some disappointing news as well. Sableye said that most of it had been taken away by those big mouths, and the Pokémon with big noses. It instinctively turned to Nosepass, confirming that its kind was one of the perpetrators.
Leon knew the big mouth it was referring to was the Mawile, while the big noses were Nosepass.
Sableye said that there was a Pokémon with a big nose, but it also had a big mustache.
"Oh, no." Leon frowned upon hearing this. The magnet field wasn't weak here, so it drew the attention of a few Steel types.
The Pokémon that Sableye described sounded like a Probopass. There were different ways to evolve Nosepass to Probopass. One was a prolonged exposure to a strong magnetic field, or the gathering of many ores to feed it on daily.
The most simple way was the use of a Thunderstone.
"We need to gather this gold and silver before selling it off the island." Lars really wanted to mine these ores for the money's sake.
The smartest way would be to sell it off-island, and Lars knew this best.
"Of course, we'll definitely gather these ores and sell them off-island." How could Leon ignore such previous ores and gems, they were valuable even in the Pokémon world.
Leon didn't go to where the ores were right away; instead, he continued onward to retrieve the Elemental Chest.
After some time, they reached a place with a substantial heap of rocks. It appeared that a cave wall had suffered significant damage, leading to its collapse. Evidence of a conflict was apparent at this site, specifically resembling a Pokémon battle.
Suddenly...
[Detecting unknown chest! Would you like to retrieve the unknown chest? y/n]
'Retrieve!'
[Congratulations, you've received a Rock Elemental Chest!]
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone