Pokémon: Who let him leave Pallet Town?

Chapter 140 The Seventh Badge

"boom--"

The crater occasionally erupts with bursts of fire, attracting the attention of many tourists.

Two fiery red figures could be vaguely seen clashing, fighting back and forth.

"It seems that Ash and Charizard's relationship has improved quite a bit."

Natsume looked up at the sky. Charizard's fighting style was completely chaotic, clearly under Ash's command.

It seems that Xiao Zhi's struggles these past few days have not been in vain.

Natsume nodded with satisfaction.

"Beep—" In the blink of an eye, a little ground squirrel popped its head out from underground.

found it?
Natsume was taken aback, and following the little groundhog's steps, they soon arrived at a ruin.

Looking at the ruins of the Crimson Lotus Gym in front of him, Natsume felt a pang of emotion.

I never imagined that after blowing things up so many times three years ago, he would still be the one to deliver the final blow.

The area was quite desolate, and the surrounding crowd was drawn to the center of the island, curiously watching the two Pokémon fighting in the crater.

"boom!"

An explosion rang out, and a column of magma shot into the sky.

Startled by the sudden sound, Blaine instinctively looked in the direction of the explosion, even giving the Magmar a chance to escape.

"Charizard, throw it to the earth!"

On Crimson Island, beneath the volcano, the ruins of his own gym were engulfed in flames.

The fire was so intense that he could glimpse the towering flames even from the mountaintop.

However, Natsume somehow managed to create a natural crater around his dojo, which blocked the fire.

Natsume was standing on the wall made of earth.

"Oh no, the volcano demon is coming!"

A person dressed in casual clothes walked by and pointed at Natsume, shouting.

Exactly the same; this person is exactly the same as the volcano ghost statue.

As more and more people gathered around, a dark blue light appeared in Natsume's eyes.

Not far away, the prepared seawater rose into the air and continuously poured towards the ruins of the dojo.

The blasted opening was very small, and the underground magma volume was also small.

Simply filling half of the surrounding earthen walls stopped the lava flow due to gravity.

Natsume controlled the slowly solidifying magma, carrying away the charred beams and debris, and loaded it all into a Rotom truck parked nearby.

He had a hard time borrowing this delivery truck from the island.

"What Pokémon is this?" A pure, innocent announcer's voice rang out, and Natsume thought it was Narutosuke.

Turning around, I saw a stranger dressed in casual clothes, standing curiously next to the Rotom truck.

"You can come a little closer," Natsume's voice rang out.

The man paused, then took a step forward.

"Why are you getting closer?" the man asked, puzzled.

"That will cause the volcanic mud to fall."

"Thud—" A small lump of volcanic mud mixed with wood chips fell from the Rotom truck, grazing the man's buttocks as it landed on the ground.

The high temperature caused his pants to catch fire.

"Ah—water, I need water!" the man shouted as he ran away.

Seeing this, Natsume nodded, feeling that he had saved a life.

"Rotom, take him to the junkyard." Natsume waved his hand at Rotom.

Although it wasn't modified or transformed, Rotom-2 could still get inside and perform simple transport.

By the time everyone arrived, Natsume had already dealt with the situation quite well.

"Natsume-nii, I got the Crimson Badge!" Ash held the badge high in his hand.

"Didn't we already have one? Why did we have to have to fight it out?" Xiaoxia said, holding Togepi, without forgetting to complain.

"Then the nature is definitely different." Ash chuckled foolishly. Behind him, a Charizard crossed its arms and puffed out hot air from its nostrils.

Are you sure these things can be sold for money?

Blaine glanced at the dark volcanic mud, then looked at Natsume with suspicion.

"Well, it doesn't look like it's of very high quality." After a pause, Natsume's voice continued:

"But I found this with machine testing."

"Actually, the quality is very high?" Xia Bo asked hopefully.

“Actually, there are a lot of impurities too.” Natsume took out a picture, which was covered with tiny, pebble-sized objects.

Xia Bo: "." Very well, now Natsume has destroyed his only two properties as well.

"That doesn't seem to be an impurity, does it?" The group climbed up the mound.

Xiao Gang pointed to a shiny spot in the lava and said:

Is that a gemstone?

When Bob looked up, he saw that the newly gushing lava was dotted with colorful stones.

“Duckbill Fire Dragon!” Blaine exclaimed.

A fiery red figure leaped out from behind and jumped into the lava.

After a while, the duck-billed fire dragon came out carrying a large pile of colorful stones.

"These look like gemstones. But I've never seen anything like them before." Jiaozi looked at them, her little face showing a conflicted expression.

"Wow, even Sister Jiaozi has never seen such a gem before, isn't it incredibly rare?" Xiaoxia leaned closer.

rare?
Natsume glanced at it, then looked up at the sky.

Hmm. During the experiment, many Onix molted out a layer of stone skin, probably because those stones underwent some kind of reaction.

Not only in the high-temperature, high-pressure magma environment, but Natsume also applied various different potions to each of the Onix participating in the experiment.

He himself couldn't replicate these gems.

Blaine examined the gem in his hand, a conflicted look on his face.

“I know a friend who owns a jewelry store. He’ll definitely be very interested in this kind of gemstone that I’ve never even seen before.”

Jiaozi's voice rang out next, and he handed a business card to Xia Bo.

“Finally.” Xia Bo took the business card, tears streaming down his face.

He no longer needs the alliance's poverty alleviation program!

Everyone had a good night's rest at the Red Lotus Inn.

the next day.

"Xiaogang, where are we going next?"

At the dinner table, Xiao Zhi yawned.

He only has one badge left.

"Well, that depends on the schedule. We still have three months before the start of the League Tournament."

Xiao Gang swallowed the toast and then said:
"If we want to go back to Pallet Town, we can go to the Viridian Gym."

"Viridian Gym?" Ash thought for a moment.

When he and Natsume passed through Tokiwa City, the Tokiwa Dojo was under renovation, so they skipped it.

"Okay, let's go to Viridian City and then back to Pallet Town. Ash, I haven't been to your house yet."

Xiaoxia peeked out to show her support.

"The Viridian Dojo? I wouldn't recommend you go there."

Uncle Xia brought over several glasses of milk, his tone somewhat heavy.

Yesterday he sent several gemstones to an appraisal agency; they're quite valuable. He now treats Natsume like his grandson.

"Why?" Ash asked curiously.

"The Viridian Dojo has barely registered any badges in the past three months," Blaine continued.
"This means that the leader of the Tokiwa Dojo is not someone to be trifled with."

As he spoke, he glared at Natsume.

What are you looking at me for?

Natsume was puzzled.

It's as if he's the kind of person who's good at causing trouble.

"Could it be that the Viridian Gym is very difficult...? Then it would be perfect as my eighth badge!"

Instead of backing down, Xiao Zhi's eyes blazed with fighting spirit.

“Sigh—” Uncle Shakespeare shook his head.

He knows some things, but he can't explain them well.

"That's strange, Grandpa Xia, why are you so interested in other dojos?"

"I think it's because there haven't been many challengers in the Red Lotus Path in the past three months, so Grandpa Xia can only stare at his peers' performance in front of the computer screen."

"boom!"

As soon as Xiao Zhi finished speaking, he received a punch on the head.

"Hmph, whatever, I'm not going to bother with you guys anymore. Go if you want, and you'll have to bear the consequences of wasting your time."

Xia Bo snorted coldly and turned to leave.

(End of this chapter)