CIATB Chapter 157 Rayquaza's Past; Groudon Sneezes
Chapter 157 Rayquaza's Past; Groudon Sneezes
Chapter 157 Rayquaza's Past; Groudon Sneezes
From Daigo's sight, an angry Higanbana decisively pulled Sawaki away.
Well, it should be said that Ze Shu cooperated and was dragged away by her;
"Daigo, wait here for me. Don't let any Alliance personnel enter this base before we come out again. After all, there are quite a few 'traps' here, it's very dangerous."
"Growlithe, let's go."
"Woof..."
Growlithe, who was splashing around in the "Hot Sand Land" and swimming in the scorching sand like a pool, was stunned for a moment. It then rushed out of the sand pile and followed Higanbana, who was pulling Zeki's steps, into the occupied Team Magma base.
Daigo twitched the corner of his mouth and murmured in agreement, "Okay."
Land of the Cave.
Groudon remained soundly asleep in the center, like a contented groundhog, unaffected by the sweltering heat outside; only after arriving here did Sigana stop.
"Why did you 'drag' me so far off?" Ze Shu exhaled a breath of hot air.
"Hmph!" Higana turned her head away, panting, "If I don't drag you away, you'll fall into the evil alliance's trap. We can't hand this base over to the alliance!"
Ze Shu said innocently, "I never said I was going to hand it over to the Alliance."
Higanbana retorted angrily, "Aren't you one of the Alliance members?"
Ze Shu chuckled: "It can be, or it can not be..."
Higana made a "hmm" sound.
She didn't understand the meaning of those words and fell silent, hesitant.
Ze Shu asked, "Didn't you just say you had something to tell me? Is this it?"
Higana exclaimed:
"Of course not!"
"Me, me one"
He met Ze Shu's expression of "I'd like to hear more details".
Higana suddenly lowered her head, as if she didn't know what to say.
The heat inside the Cave of Land caused large beads of sweat to appear on her cheeks, wetting her hair and making it stick to her face. This was clearly very uncomfortable, but she didn't care.
a long time.
She pursed her lips and said softly:
"Do you remember my older sister, the one I mentioned before?"
Ze Shu said, "This shore. The name you gave to Gu Niu Niu."
Higana gave a soft "hmm" before saying:
"Guniu is so cute. When I first met Guniu, it would always meow and act cute towards me. It has always stayed by my side, whether I was happy or sad."
"So I gave it the name of my closest person, my sister: This Shore."
"Or rather, one"
"tide Jiana".
"That's my sister's name, but she's dead."
Higana said in a flat tone, "But she's dead."
Ze Shu said, "Please accept my condolences."
Higana laughed and said, "I've already accepted this fact. But you should be the first person I confide in."
Ze Shu nodded and said, "It's an honor."
Higana lowered her eyes and said, "Let's get back to the point. I... I'm not actually the current inheritor of the Meteor's Name, or rather, I'm not the first inheritor in this generation."
"My sister is."
"Our generation's mission is extremely important, because the prophetic meteorite crisis that could destroy the world is coming soon."
"Our mission as successors requires the approval of the Dragon God and to fight alongside him. This is a difficult task. Therefore, it doesn't matter if previous successors were not recognized."
"But in this generation, due to the impending meteorite crisis, the successor must gain the approval of the Dragon God and work with the Dragon God to resolve the meteorite crisis."
"My older sister is very capable, unlike me."
"When the crisis came, she had already gained the approval of the Dragon God and was able to fight alongside him."
"The tribe has high hopes for her; I also admire her very much."
"If things continue like this, thanks to my sister's existence, resolving the prophetic crisis is just around the corner."
Ze Shu said, "But an accident happened."
Higana hummed in agreement, remained silent for a while, and then said, "Yes, an accident happened. Now that I've become this incompetent successor, an accident has naturally occurred."
Eight years ago.
"The Pokémon Association, along with Devon Corporation, the Berries family, and a few other companies including Daishin, launched an operation called 'Project Rayquaza.' They're saying they plan to capture the Dragon King for research!"
"I remember the details here perfectly..."
"The Pokémon Association is leading the effort."
"The Devon Corporation provided the energy and created a device called 'Flower,' which successfully weakened Lord Dragon God."
"The Beryl family also imitated the legendary 'Crimson Orb' and 'Indigo Orb' that could control Groudon and Kyogre."
They've developed an "Emerald Green Pearl," attempting to gain the ability to control the Dragon God!
Ze Shu said, "The preparations are quite thorough."
Higana said, "Yes, we are very well prepared."
"So my sister died, and the Dragon God was captured."
She maintained a calm tone throughout the conversation.
She was very different from Ze Shu's impression of her, who had great mood swings and whose anger came and went quickly.
"At the time, I didn't know about my sister's death. I thought she had been captured, just like Lord Dragon God. So I took my Salamence, which had been forcibly evolved to increase its strength, and went to the research building of the Pokémon Association where Lord Dragon God was being held captive."
"It's in Manjin City."
"Although there was a slight unexpected event during this process."
"But thanks to the wyvern's interference, the Dragon God unexpectedly escaped his predicament and fled from there."
"But my sister... can't come back either."
"So, so—"
Suddenly, Higanbana exclaimed, "Ze Shu!"
"The leader of that 'Rayquaza Capture Project' team is Steven's father! The one with the surname Zuvoki! He's the one who killed my sister!"
"That's why I hate the Pokémon Association, I hate people with the surname Zuvuki, and I hate the Bellritz family!"
She looked intently at Ze Shu:
"We cannot hand over Team Magma's base, which connects to Groudon, to the Pokémon Association for control."
"I'm scared, I'm scared of this..."
"Groudan is not the same as Lord Dragon God."
"After the Dragon God escaped from the Pokémon Association, he did not seek revenge on humans; he simply disappeared from public view after that."
"But Groudon is different. It's not as agile as the Dragon God, which makes it impossible for the Pokémon Association, those 'flies,' to find it."
If the harassment continues, it is very likely, extremely likely...
"It will fight back; it will riot."
"If the Dragon God doesn't intervene, I'm afraid..."
At this point, Higanbana fell silent, but her meaning was clear—before the prophesied meteor crisis arrived, this world would probably be completely destroyed by Groudon.
Ze Shu nodded: "That makes sense."
Groudon can't fly like Rayquaza.
Having just escaped the Pokémon Association's "encirclement" a while ago, Groudon will likely only need to return to its original location to find him again soon—after all, Groudon can't move very fast.
Then it might really go berserk.
It won't destroy the world.
But the land of Hoenn must at least be thoroughly plowed.
"I understand," Ze Shu smiled and said, "I'll handle it."
Higana's eyes lit up with surprise as she said:
"You...you agreed?!"
"No, we won't hand over Team Magma's base to the Pokémon Association?"
Ze Shu gave a soft "hmm".
Higana immediately exclaimed "Yay!", but then she had another question:
"You mean 'handle'? How...how do you want to handle it?"
Ze Shu didn't speak.
He simply lifted the charred meteorite, slowly walked to Groudon's side, and said, "You heard what I just said, right? If you don't want to be bothered by 'flies,' you at least have to make your choice."
Higanbana: "What??"
She was stunned for a moment before she realized what was happening.
Is Ze Shu talking to Groudon?!
How can this be...?
Just as Higana was feeling incredulous.
Suddenly.
She suddenly noticed that as Ze Shu swung his Groudon Club, burning the meteorites one by one, the sleeping Groudon groaned and stirred.
Groudon slowly raised its serrated head, unconsciously spewing out a cloud of hot steam; the entire Cavern of the Land was already trembling faintly, no, it was probably the entire Chimney Mountain that was trembling.
Groudon's body slowly began to move, and it slowly turned to face a certain direction.
Ze Shu: "No, you've got it backwards. Turn around!"
Hija only vaguely heard Groudon make a "groove" sound as if it were aggrieved, and then its body obediently followed Zeki's "instructions" and slowly began to turn.
Her eyes widened suddenly.
Is this really a "cat toy"? Can it really control Groudon?
But before she could be too shocked, Groudon had already "turned" to the correct position. That was the position they had just entered from, and also the position of Team Magma's base. Immediately, the tremors that could be felt inside the Cavern of the Land became even more intense, almost like an earthquake.
All that could be heard was a "gurgling" and a "plop" sound!
Groudon sneezed?
However, compared to previous sneezes, this sneeze... seemed a little bigger.
The rocks around Higanbana appeared to come alive, leaping in and out of thin air like Magikarp leaping over the Dragon Gate, or like a fan-shaped shuttle rushing straight towards Groudon, surging and engulfing the direction Groudon was facing!
A continuous rumbling sound rang out, accompanied by the sounds of grass and trees collapsing and steel breaking.
One can imagine that something major must have happened outside, but inside the Land Cave, everything seems unchanged.
"What...is this?"
"I can't help but ask," Higana asked.
Ze Shu said, "This is the Sword of the Cliff."
Higanbana: "...What happened?"
Ze Shu laughed and said, "Nothing happened. It's just that... the entire Lava Team base, along with the entrance to this Land Cave,..."
They were all submerged and destroyed by the sword of the precipice.
"With the base gone, the so-called Pokémon Association naturally can't take over. And it will take them quite some time to rebuild and reach this land-based chapter deep underground—"
"Will Groudon sneeze a few more times then? Nobody knows."
"The path to the Cave of the Land has been blocked."
Higana paused, then exclaimed in realization, "Oh, I see!"
"But, but one..."
"Since the way into the Cave of the Land is blocked."
"But the way out of the Cave of Lands seems to be blocked too..."
She pointed to the passage they had come from, which was now completely blocked by densely packed rocks.
Ze Shu paused for a moment, then looked at Groudon again before saying:
"Of course there is a way to do that."
Before leaving, Ze Shu patted Groudon's sheet-like skin.
"Goodbye. Well, the reason I destroyed the entire Lava Team base this time was because you can't fly and are physically limited."
"Maybe next time we meet, I can make you fly?"
The uneven mountain road has changed dramatically; no, you could say the terrain has been completely rebuilt.
Half of the uneven mountain path, where the Lava Team's base is located, has completely collapsed, with some broken metal mixed in, resembling a ruin; and in these collapsed parts, several rock pillars have risen out of thin air, standing like blades and sword tips.
This seems to have created a new spectacle.
Daigo, a marvel of a combination of "Concave Mountain Path" and "Cliffside Sword," and the Alliance personnel who had arrived behind him stared in disbelief at the spectacle.
"W-wh..." Many league members were still relieved, "Luckily, Champion Daigo stopped us from entering this base, otherwise, otherwise we would have been buried!"
"Yeah yeah-"
Daigo remained expressionless, simply nodding.
Does he have to say that the "no entry to the base" order was given by Ze Shu?
Suddenly, he noticed a tremor in the distance from the "ruins," as if the rocks and soil were welcoming something, and the figures of two people and a dog emerged from it.
And as this "figure" gradually approached.
It was clearly Sawaki and Shisana who had just said goodbye to Steven. "Sorry, Steven. Groudon might have a bit of a temper." Sawaki chuckled, hinting, "It seems that if someone goes deep underground and gets too close to it, it will sneeze."
"As for the effects of sneezing..."
Ze Shu stood on the ruins formed by the "Sword of the Cliff" and shrugged.
The effect is self-evident.
Daigo smiled wryly and said, "Fine, I believe you. I will report what this 'unnamed investigator' said 'completely'."
Ze Shu said, "Thank you."
Daigo covered his head in distress: "I hope there won't be too many follow-up reports."
He still wanted to keep digging for stones...:
But when it comes to digging stones...
Daigo suddenly said to Sawaki, "Let's set a time. You seem quite interested in digging for rocks, right? I'll show you around my inventory."
Ze Shu was taken aback: "Huh?"
He glanced at the group of Alliance members behind Daigo, who looked bewildered and unsure of what to do.
Is this a discussion about stones?
Daigo also glanced at Sawaki's back, where Higana was glaring at him angrily.
Who is this?
Why do I harbor such immense hostility towards him for no apparent reason?
Until we left from the concave-convex mountain road.
"Seriously..." Higanbana said indignantly, "Why didn't Groudon take down that Champion Zvouchi too? It was too easy on him. Zeki, didn't Zvouchi say he wanted to go see the rocks? No need to go!"
"I'm really good at stealing stones!"
"I'll steal all of Zvoich's stones for you!"
Ze Shu twitched the corner of his mouth and said, "I believe that."
Higana snorted and then said, "Why are you looking down? It's all sand, what's there to see?"
Ze Shu said, "But Growlithe was having a lot of fun playing in the sand just now."
He remembered his purpose in "finding Groudon"—to find another dog for Growlithe that could heal its injuries without soaking in hot springs.
Methods to increase strength.
The water bath made the Growlithe uncomfortable.
Is sand bathing allowed?
"Growlithe, I think I've found a way for you to avoid soaking in hot springs..."
Zeshu rubbed the "Dog Groudon Stick" in his hand and said this.
Growlithe, still immersed in the despair of never being able to enter the cave sauna again and having to soak in ten tubs of hot spring water, was stunned for a moment, then it exclaimed in disbelief:
"Woof?!"
"Yes; you were having a lot of fun in the sand just now, and I was thinking that you can't replace hot spring water with a sand bath."
"Woof...?"
"Yes, I've found a way."
"Woof!!!"
"But don't get too excited yet." Amidst Growlithe's overjoyed display of excitement and its tail wagging wildly, Ze Shu said slowly, "Growlithe, it's not good that you're so afraid of water."
"Sand baths are just a fix for your leg injury."
"Now that we've bought these ten hot spring tubs, we'll definitely be using them. And you're not allowed to just stay on the shore; you have to soak with your friends—this is to solve your fear of water!"
Growlithe's expression had gone from "hell" to "heaven".
But as Ze Shu spoke, his expression suddenly plummeted, remaining in a state of "half heaven, half hell".
"Woof..."