This sudden opportunity was so unexpected that Sato still couldn't fully believe it.
Even with Tyranitar standing right in front of him, lowering its head to let him touch it. Cold and firm, Sato felt the unique diamond-like texture on Tyranitar's armor, and his initial shock quickly turned into joy and excitement.
"It's too cramped in here. Once we're out, I'll definitely find you a strong opponent," Sato promised.
"Tyran~"
Tyranitar responded in a low voice. Though much steadier now, the eagerness was still clearly audible.
Afterward, Sato returned Tyranitar to its Poké Ball. The cave was simply too narrow, Tyranitar couldn't even move.
"Are… are we still going?" Mark suddenly asked. Tyranitar had just evolved, and normally, a checkup at the Pokémon Center would be the next step.
"Let's stick to the plan…" Sato said aloud, though he felt a little awkward inside… well, not "awkward awkward".
He had promised not to "steal" Mark's chances to lvlup, but with the opportunity presenting itself, Tyranitar had completed its breakthrough first… and it jumped all the way to High Ace.
Now, Sato could practically assemble a full Ace level team, while Mark hadn't had a single Ace Pokémon yet.
To be fair, it wasn't that Mark hadn't worked hard. He simply hadn't gotten a good chance.
With that, the group set off again. But before they left, Joseph collected all the remaining Rock-type energy from the pool, saying he wanted to run an experiment later.
Lucario resumed leading the way, guiding the three of them away from the "pool" and onward to explore other areas.
---
What they didn't know was that after they left, the pool vanished completely…
Even if they retraced their steps, all that remained would be a wall.
---
Ralts glanced at Lucario walking ahead, and at the end -whatever it was thinking- it climbed back into the backpack on its own and went back to sleep.
Soon, they encountered a native Pokémon of the seventh level: Bronzong, a Steel/Psychic-type that was notoriously tricky to deal with.
Without hesitation, Mark sent out Reuniclus to fight. It was a tough endurance battle against the highly defensive Bronzong.
Togekiss couldn't perform well inside the cave, and Arbok was heavily countered, so Reuniclus had to take the stage again.
Since both sides' Psychic-type moves weren't very effective, Reuniclus's Hidden Power [Fire-type] became its most threatening move.
From start to finish, those orbs of Hidden Power never stopped flying, constantly forcing Bronzong to act cautiously.
The two sides wore each other down for a full half hour. Maybe Bronzong finally couldn't take it anymore; its stiff, expressionless eyes now looked utterly defeated. At last, it surrendered on its own, collapsing upside-down on the ground without moving.
"Heh…h-hehe…heh, Orb-Orb, we won again. Awesome!" Mark said in his muffled voice. Shouting for over thirty minutes through a mask… being a Trainer wasn't easy.
Reuniclus instinctively waved its jelly arms a couple of times in response. After receiving two Heal Pulses from Bayleef, it slipped right back into its Poké Ball.
Orb-Orb made it clear to Mark… 'I'm totally wiped out (:τ」∠)'
As a bell, Bronzong obviously didn't have much in the way of feelings. It was too lazy to even run away, and clearly wasn't the type to hoard treasure.
With no chance to follow or loot it, Mark had no choice but to set his sights on the next Pokémon.
With that, they descended to the eighth level of Iron Island…
This time, Lucario's exploration pace slowed even more. Sometimes it even sped ahead, paying no mind to the others' pace and dragging them along at full speed.
Mark wanted to say something, but seeing Lucario's expression that clearly read "Do not disturb me, or you'll regret it," he wisely chose to stay silent.
"Th-th-th-this…"
Mark stared at the identical-looking pool in front of them, too stunned to even speak coherently.
The only difference was that this time, the pool was a deep brown color. With a little thought, it was clear that this was a pool of Ground-type energy.
"Lucario, are you a spy sent by the Boss? Poison, Flying, Steel… I could even accept Water-types."
Mark muttered to himself, struggling to accept Lucario's absurd choices.
They had found two "pools" in a row, but neither had anything to do with him. Instead, both became opportunities for others.
Even if that person was "the boss", Mark still couldn't shake the feeling that his own Lucario was siding with someone else.
Sato and Joseph exchanged glances, their eyes filled with nothing but shock. Then they looked again at Lucario, who was resting with its eyes closed.
'How are you so calm?'
"Hey… Boss, you better let Krookodile take a dip. It's the only one who can use this…"
Mark felt like his life was full of ups and downs. Yet even faced with this, it only took him three seconds to recover.
'Hmm, my mental strength really is incredible!' Mark comforted himself like that as he slowly backed up to the entrance, not even bothering with Lucario.
Even if he had recovered, he still had every right to feel frustrated and annoyed.
'Lucario… do as you will o(^｀)o!'
"I have a thought… not sure if it's right."
Seeing Mark retreat to "self-heal," Joseph suddenly spoke up.
"What thought?" Sato held back the restless Krookodile beside him. He was a bit embarrassed -no way- to just order it to "go take a bath."
"The data say Iron Island is known to have nine levels. We found a Rock-type energy pool on the seventh level, and a Ground-type pool on the eighth. So what if… there's another on the ninth? And if so, what type is most likely to appear?"
"STEEEEEEL!"
Mark jumped up and ran over to Lucario, not caring whether it was resting. He grabbed Lucario and shook it frantically.
"Lucario! Is what Joseph said true? Is the ninth level your turn? Huh? Is it? Is it…?"
Lucario: (**;)
In the end, Lucario reluctantly nodded, though the corners of its mouth already revealed that it was secretly excited too…
"Hahaha…haha…HAHAHAHAHA… No way my luck is bad! Turns out Iron Island only has these three energy pools. Boss, hurry up and get going, I can't wait anymore, hehehe…"
Seeing Mark return to his usual self -and gradually go off the rails- Sato twitched his mouth. He finally stopped "holding" Krookodile back and let it happily jump into the Ground-type energy pool.
Energy absorption, begin!
Even though they'd already seen this once before, all three of them still found it incredible. That nature could contain such a wondrous phenomenon.
Having watched the process before, Sato now began to wonder as well.
Iron Island wasn't exactly undeveloped, yet how had no one ever discovered a place like this?
If it were him… he might just spend the money to buy the whole island!
'Hmm… buy an island?'