Bottom-tier trainers in the Pokémon world

Standing at the cave entrance, watching the rocks constantly falling outside, his expression kept changing.

Chapter Thirty-Eight: A Mischievous Heart

"Beedrill, eat some Energy Cubes to replenish your energy."

Xia Yan returned to Beedrill's side, took out several high-level energy cubes, and also took out a pre-prepared healing potion, and began to treat the wounds on Beedrill's body caused by the falling rocks.

"Hiss!"

The Beedrill Ninja endured the pain as Xia Yan did as he pleased, while he focused his attention on the energy cube.

While treating the Beedrill's wounds, Xia Yan was also thinking about some things.

"I wonder how Daigo and Cynthia are doing."

At the time, the three were not close to each other during the battle, and the surrounding environment was too dark and there were too many falling rocks when they fell, so they did not see the two figures.

“I gave them a heads-up: Steven has Shiny Metallica and Skarmory, so he should be able to handle this situation better than I am. Cynthia also has her Garchomp, so she should be able to handle this situation better than Beedrill.”

Garchomp, though a pseudo-legendary Ground/Dragon type, commonly known as the "Ground Dragon," can also fly.

Even if you can't, gliding is definitely no problem.

Compared to a certain mythical beast that has been famous for a long time but can't fly, this is quite an advantage.

Xia Yan shook his head repeatedly. "With their strength, I don't need to worry about them. I should think about how to leave here."

Casey has fallen into a deep sleep due to excessive use of her psychic powers, and given the nature of this elf, it's unknown how long it will take for her to wake up.

If we fly up there...

Glancing up at the endless sky, the number of falling rocks had decreased significantly, but there was still no light to be seen from this spot.

"We don't know what the situation is up there. Rocks of varying sizes could fall at any time. Unless absolutely necessary, we can temporarily abandon this option."

Although he has Pidgey to carry him for a while, it's still not very safe. It's better to wait for Casey to wake up and see if the superpower "anchor" he left behind is still there.

"So......"

Xia Yan glanced back at the dark, seemingly endless cave behind him.

"Was this cave discovered when the Alliance was excavating the ruins, or was it only exposed because of this landslide?"

If it's a cave that the Alliance has already identified, then it should be relatively safe inside.

But if it was exposed because of a landslide, then it's hard to say what might be inside.

But it is precisely because of this that it is quite tempting to Xia Yan.

Could there be something yet to be discovered in a place that even the Alliance hasn't found?

"Let's wait until Beedrill recovers first. We can go deeper and take a look, and then retreat if we encounter any danger," Xia Yan said, sitting on the ground in thought.

After Beedrill ate a few high-level energy cubes and treated its injuries with healing potions, it quickly recovered.

Seeing that the giant bee had recovered, Xia Yan dusted himself off, stood up, and took out a flashlight from his backpack.

A beam of yellow light pierced into the depths of darkness, yet the bottom remained unseen.

"Let's go take a look."

...

...

the other side.

Steven, standing on the back of the shiny metal monster, and Cynthia, who was carefully stepping on the ground while holding onto Garchomp, both looked somewhat disheveled.

They were probably rarely seen looking so disheveled.

The two men looked extremely grim.

They looked at each other and saw a hint of worry in each other's eyes.

“Xia Yan…” Shirona’s lips parted slightly, her words tinged with hesitation.

"It seems that during the battle with Sandslash, the Sandslash made a hole near his feet, making the ground on his side more vulnerable than ours. In the instant the ground collapsed, his side became the center of the collapse," Daigo said with a grim face.

"He also reminded us, otherwise I might not have been able to react."

Cynthia bit her lip, a hint of determination flashing deep in her eyes.

If it weren't for Xia Yan's reminder, she might not have been able to summon Garchomp in time.

“I was the one who proposed this expedition. Xia Yan initially refused, but he only came after my repeated invitations. I have to take responsibility for this.” Daigo seemed somewhat guilty.

"With his strength, he might not necessarily be in trouble; he might just be stuck somewhere."

"I feel so too."

The two fell into a brief silence.

Suddenly, they said firmly in unison, "I'm going to find him."

Upon hearing the other's words, the two were slightly taken aback, then nodded knowingly.

"First, we need to clear away the pile of rocks here, otherwise we won't be able to get down at all." Daigo looked at the messy pile of rocks in front of him and continued, "But we can't make any big movements, otherwise the fragile structure that we've finally managed to stabilize might collapse again."

"Leave it to my Garchomp."

"Okay, I'll have the metal monster help you stabilize the structure."

After Daigo and Cynthia reached an agreement, they began to divide the work and dig out the pile of rocks in front of them, preparing to create an entrance that they could go down into.

With their combined abilities and working together, this is not difficult; it's just a matter of time.

...

...

Just as Daigo and Cynthia were thinking about how to save Natsuhiko, he also faced a choice.

Looking at the fork in the road, I didn't know which way to choose.

He touched the rock wall.

"It seems this tunnel wasn't dug by man, nor is it part of this dark ruin. Was it made by some kind of elf from ancient times?"

"Hiss—"

The giant bee hovered around Xia Yan, never leaving his side, its scarlet compound eyes alert to its surroundings, ready to prevent a sudden attack.

"Which side you choose is not actually important."

Xia Yan muttered something to himself, picked up a pebble, and silently left his mark on the rock face.

If the road ahead is a dead end, or a tunnel that's like a maze, at least you don't have to worry about getting lost.

I chose the left-hand passage and went inside.

What Xia Yan and Beedrill didn't notice was that, some time after they left the fork in the road, a petite, even somewhat rounded figure appeared in the darkness, walking with light steps as if strolling through a back garden, humming a little tune she had made up, right where they had just been standing.

Her little eyes were full of cunning, and she covered her mouth with her little hands and laughed "ee-ee-ee".

After much effort, she climbed to the spot where Xia Yan had left a mark. With a gentle swipe of her little hand, she wiped away all traces of the mark.

After doing all that, he jumped back to the ground and laughed like a pig.

Clapping her little hands, she looked at her "masterpiece" with satisfaction, feeling very proud of herself.

Suddenly I was stunned.

It seemed like she had remembered something.

He immediately ran towards the tunnel that Xia Yan and Beedrill had entered.

However, its short legs do make it somewhat lacking in this aspect, and its speed is not fast.

But it didn't panic; it was familiar enough with the place.

Swaying and humming a little tune as he ran, he followed closely behind Xia Yan and Beedrill, whom he had never seen before.

Its mischievous nature, hidden beneath its small frame, was fully revealed at this moment.

The clattering footsteps were both crisp and discreet.

Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Shadow Assassin

“A fatal needle prick ends it.”

boom!

Beedrill quickly approached Graveler, its Shadow Clone illusion dodging Graveler's falling rock attack. Its sharp spikes struck Graveler's back, ending the last bit of health it had saved thanks to its Sturdy ability.

The Deadly Needle effect has been fully stacked.

It must be admitted that the Deadly Needle Strike move is exceptionally useful in open-world combat.

Once Deadly Spikes are stacked, even a Rock/Ground type Pokémon with extremely high defense like Graveler will find it difficult to withstand Beedrill's multiple dash attacks if its weakness is found.

Xia Yan threw out a Poké Ball and caught the Gravestone, which had reached the Excellent level and was about to enter the Senior level.

If Steven and Cynthia were with him, he might have to be a little more restrained, but since he's the only one here now, he doesn't mind capturing a few decent wild Pokémon to exchange for resources.

This is the second wild rumblebee he has acquired.

In these tunnels where food is severely scarce, it seems that only Pokémon like Graveler and Geodude, which can feed on mineral-rich stones, can survive normally.

We've been walking for quite a while now; according to the time shown on my phone, it should be evening by now.

After taking the Poké Ball from Beedrill, Xia Yan pondered for a moment and said to Beedrill:

“Beedrill, could you try combining Shadow Clone and Deadly Sting? Or you could start with something simpler, like combining Shadow Clone and Wild Strike.”

"Hiss?"

Beedrill looked puzzled.

"That's right. Most of your attack methods require you to get close to execute them. If your opponent's reaction is not fast enough, or if they are not as strong as you, that's of course not a problem."

However, if your opponent is of similar skill and has a strong enough reaction time, they are very likely to seize upon any opening in your attack and launch a counterattack.

Xia Yan explained it to Beedrill little by little.