Chapter Ninety-Three: The Fire God Insect and the Treasure
Ceng Cheng continued deeper into the forest, sensing the auras of the surrounding Pokemon. He wanted to find one with especially strong psychic power, which would make communication far easier.
At last, he locked onto a Pokemon flying straight toward him. He waited where he stood, and soon a red, insect-like flying Pokemon appeared before him.
Volcarona.
Only moments ago, the Pokemon hunter had still been searching for it, and yet here he was, meeting it so quickly. No matter how one looked at it, Volcarona possessed formidable psychic energy and should be capable of communication.
Its level was about the same as Chimecho’s, not especially high, but it was still an extremely rare Pokemon, already of epic rank.
Just as Ceng Cheng was about to speak with it, the Pokemon hunter from before suddenly appeared.
“Hmph. I knew you brat must know something, or you wouldn’t have come here alone. Fine, I take over from here. Get lost.”
Ceng Cheng stood motionless, while the hunter sprang into action and attacked Volcarona.
“Jellicent, use Hydro Pump.”
The blue Pokemon beside him was Jellicent, the evolved form of Frillish, a Pokemon native to Unova.
The Hydro Pump shot toward Volcarona, but it dodged.
“Another Hydro Pump.”
Volcarona answered with Flamethrower, blocking the attack.
“Use Confuse Ray.”
This Jellicent was strong as well, chaining its moves with remarkable speed. Volcarona had just blocked the Hydro Pump and was struck by Confuse Ray at the perfect moment. It fell into a confused state.
“Good. Now.”
The hunter drew the gun from his back and fired a capture net. The net hurtled toward Volcarona, and now it had no way to evade.
“Gardevoir, Shadow Ball.”
Ceng Cheng ordered Gardevoir to use Shadow Ball, and the blast shattered the net flying toward Volcarona.
“Damn it, brat, what do you think you’re doing? You want to stop me?”
“I wouldn’t bother if you were only catching Pokemon, but I have something I need to ask Volcarona, so I have no choice but to interfere.”
“Hmph. If that’s how it is, I’ll deal with you first.”
“Jellicent, keep an eye on Volcarona. Come out, Jellicent.”
This time, the hunter sent out another pink Jellicent. Its level was a little high. But aside from Water, Jellicent also had Ghost typing, and Ceng Cheng’s Psychic-types had a strong advantage against it.
“Jellicent, use Hydro Pump.”
“Gardevoir, dodge.”
Gardevoir slipped away from the force of the attack.
“Gardevoir, use Psychic.”
Psychic struck Jellicent head-on, leaving it badly injured.
“Use Telekinesis.”
“Sonia~”
Gardevoir bound Jellicent in place.
“Damn it, you brat, take this.”
At that moment, the hunter threw a net at Ceng Cheng, but Ceng Cheng naturally would not let him succeed.
He unleashed his psychic power directly, rebounding the capture net intact. The hunter was caught in its mesh.
“Come out, Lunatone, use Telekinesis.”
Ceng Cheng had Lunatone use Telekinesis to control the other Jellicent.
“Chimecho, Hypnosis.”
Chimecho cast Hypnosis upon both Jellicent and the hunter at once, and all three collapsed into sleep on the ground.
Ceng Cheng immediately contacted the police and informed them of his exact location and everything that had happened. Soon, Officer Jenny would be coming from Snowpoint City.
After dealing with the Pokemon hunter, Ceng Cheng went to Volcarona. By now, it was still trapped in confusion.
“Chimecho, Heal Bell.”
“Chime~”
Though Heal Bell could not directly cure confusion, it could calm Volcarona’s mind. After some time, Volcarona recovered.
[Are you all right?]
Ceng Cheng spoke to Volcarona directly through his psychic power.
[Thank you.]
[No need to thank me. This is a Pokemon Reserve, so of course I wouldn’t let him catch Pokemon here.]
After thanking him again, Volcarona was about to leave, but Ceng Cheng stopped it.
[Wait, Volcarona. I want to ask you something.]
[What is it?]
[Have you ever seen a tree that looks like this?]
Ceng Cheng showed Volcarona the tree on the map, the one with five branches.
Volcarona was silent for a moment, then replied.
[I remember it. I have seen that tree before.]
[Really? Where?]
The moment Ceng Cheng heard that Volcarona had seen it, excitement surged through him.
[This way. Will you come with me?]
[Of course. I’ll be counting on you to lead the way.]
Volcarona flew off in one direction. Ceng Cheng kept only Gardevoir with him, recalled the rest of his Pokemon, and then hurried after Volcarona.
After nearly half an hour, Ceng Cheng saw the strangely shaped tree at last.
[Thank you so much, Volcarona.]
[Do you need anything else from me?]
[No. You’ve done enough. I can handle the rest myself.]
[Then I’ll be going.]
[Yes, all right. Thank you, Volcarona. Be careful, and don’t let the Pokemon hunters catch you again.]
Just then, Ceng Cheng’s communicator received a message saying that Officer Jenny had arrived and the Pokemon hunters had been taken away under arrest.
At the same time, Officer Jenny said she had not seen Ceng Cheng when she arrived and asked whether he could come to the police station to give a statement.
Ceng Cheng did not reveal his identity, and he also did not want to go in for questioning. So after reading the message, he simply turned off the communicator.
He took out the map and found the curved branch among the five. The direction that branch pointed in was the direction he needed to go.
Ceng Cheng advanced in that direction. After a while, he saw a small mountain. From bottom to top, there were two places where the slope narrowed sharply, forming flat ground, and the whole mountain was divided into three tiers.
The place Ceng Cheng needed to reach was the flat ground between the upper two tiers.
He had Gardevoir use Teleport to carry him swiftly up the mountain to the plateau. Once there, he found that the area was mostly rock, with some small grasses and vines.
The plateau was about ten meters wide and ring-shaped, encircling the mountain perfectly. There was no path up the mountain, only climbing, though that hardly mattered when he could teleport.
Ceng Cheng circled the mountain once and found the place he had been searching for. It was a peculiar spot: a tree grew from the cliff face, and directly beneath that tree lay the treasure’s hiding place.
He stepped forward and found nothing unusual on the stone wall. He placed his hand against it, and within, he sensed a faint current of power. The item must be inside this rock face.
“Gardevoir, use Shadow Ball here.”
“Sonia~”
A Shadow Ball struck the wall, causing some of the stone to crumble, though not very noticeably.
“Gardevoir, do it several more times.”
Gardevoir launched several Shadow Balls, but the effect remained slight. It seemed the mountain was solid stone all the way through. Then what could be hidden inside? Ceng Cheng wondered if it might be some special evolution stone.
“In that case, come out, Slowbro. Slowbro, use Mega Punch.”
“Come out, Lunatone, use Wake-Up Slap.”
Ceng Cheng had no Pokemon capable of digging through rock, so he had to have Gardevoir, Lunatone, and Slowbro take turns, steadily carving out a hole.
As the stone wall broke apart, he used telekinesis to move the debris aside. Before long, he sensed a psychic aura.
As he kept digging deeper, that energy fluctuation grew stronger and stronger, and Ceng Cheng knew he would find it soon.
“Everyone, be careful. We should be close.”
He had his Pokemon reduce the force of their attacks. He did not want to damage whatever was inside; that would be a ruinous loss. Still, whatever lay within the rock should not be so easy to break, should it?
The Pokemon continued to unleash their moves, hauling out the shattered stone from inside.
Suddenly, within one large rock, Ceng Cheng sensed psychic energy.
“Wait, Gardevoir. It should be in this one.”
Yes, that stone contained the energy fluctuation, while the mountain itself no longer did. It seemed the thing he sought was inside it.
“Slowbro, use Mega Punch gently.”
Slowbro struck the stone with a single punch, and the entire rock burst apart. A multicolored stone fell out.
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