Chapter 395: Carbink's Dismal Life
Back in its Bronzor days, Bronzong could already use secret techniques to enter a Pokémon's dreams. Now, it was even more adept at utilizing psychic power, capable of moderately searching through a Pokémon's memories. However, limited by its strength, Bronzong's memory-searching technique wasn't fully mature, often retrieving only fragmented memories. But for Basalt, this was enough; desperate times called for desperate measures!
"Broonz~"
Bronzong nodded, and its psychic power surged out again, invading Carbink's consciousness.
"Carb~ink~"
Facing the intrusion, Carbink frowned slightly, instinctively sensing something wrong, but unfortunately, it was powerless to resist.
Taking advantage of this moment, Basalt noticed something different about Carbink. The diamond on its head had a faint pink hue within the blue-white.
"A pink diamond?"
Basalt involuntarily thought of Diancie. Because Diancie's gem was pink! If so, perhaps this Carbink... was still in a mutation phase?
"Very likely!"
Basalt grinned, feeling a sense of having regained something lost. Observing carefully, Basalt also noticed that the purity of Carbink's diamond was significantly higher than the diamonds he had previously bought from the department store. These were all symbols of potential!
"When Carbink mutates into Diancie, it can mass-produce diamonds. I'll be rich then." Basalt thought secretly. "Given the chance, I'll make Abdullah call me Boss."
To be fair, the probability of that was infinitely close to zero, so Basalt was just daydreaming. But at least Tyranitar's food supply wouldn't be a worry. Since Pupitar couldn't eat, its growth consumed energy stored during its Larvitar stage. But once it evolved into Tyranitar, the big guy would undergo a phase of compensatory eating, which would be financially unbearable without some serious cash.
On the other side, Bronzong finally completed the memory search and began to preview the retrieved fragments.
In a spacious, bright cave where crystal diamonds could be seen everywhere, Carbink was born. Unfortunately, before Carbink and its companions could explore this new world, they were all captured alive by a group of fully armed Caucasian trainers, who then tagged each of them with a tracker.
After that, although the Carbinks regained their freedom, it was restricted; they were only allowed to move within the mine where they were born. The mine was large, yet small, like a giant cage. From older Carbinks, it learned they were all captive Pokémon, kept solely to have the diamonds on their bodies harvested periodically.
Carbink didn't understand. In its ignorance, it was fearless, playing happily every day.
Soon, the staff arrived to harvest diamonds. Each Carbink had to contribute a diamond of a certain size based on its age and size. Watching its companions scream in pain, Carbink curled up in a corner, shivering, hoping the staff would ignore its small self. Unfortunately, every Carbink had a tracker, acting like an ID tag; the staff wouldn't miss a single one.
When the cutter touched its body, Carbink felt excruciating pain, suffering terribly. The diamond was a part of its body. Forcibly cutting off a part of one's body—what a cruel method!
Even more terrifying, this wasn't a one-time experience but happened periodically. Whenever their diamonds had recovered enough, the dreadful staff would arrive on schedule.
Carbink could no longer be cheerful; it felt its entire life was dismal. It tried to resist, but those Caucasian trainers were too strong, especially with their steel-armored Pokémon. Carbink was helpless.
Just as Carbink resigned itself to fate, a handsome young man appeared.
"Broonz~"
Bronzong recognized the young man's identity: it was Baruhi, whom Basalt had killed in the desert.
In the memory fragment, Baruhi used his position to forcibly take away over a dozen well-developed Carbinks, leading them out of the cave. Throughout the process, the Carbinks cooperated fully without resisting. When they saw the blue sky and white clouds for the first time, Carbink and its companions felt like crying.
Were they free?
Unfortunately, the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. Although they experienced brief happiness, they simultaneously entered hell. Baruhi's intention in taking them was to conduct experiments. The first step was having Claydol hypnotize the Carbinks, sending them into a state of frenzy and confusion, making them bloodthirsty.
Soon, Carbink's memory cut off. When it regained consciousness, it saw the ground covered with the corpses of its companions. It was also scarred and dying. Then, Carbink's memory cut off again.
When it regained consciousness once more, it was the moment it broke out of its shell and saw Basalt. Although they were just memory fragments, they presented Carbink's dismal life.
"Broonz~"
Bronzong relayed the information from Carbink's memory fragments to Basalt, who was shocked upon hearing it.
"So, because in Carbink's perception, humans always bring misfortune and pain, it went into a rampage upon seeing me?"
Basalt's heart sank, and he felt pity for Carbink. This guy had truly experienced too much pain! Except for the time when it was newborn and knew nothing, the rest of its life had a gray tone, constantly shrouded in fear and pain.
Baruhi's experiment aside—using the most primitive and bloody Gu refinement method to select the strongest Carbink for fusion with the Horn of Life—the Cartier family's methods made Basalt's skin crawl. It reminded him of a news story he had seen in his previous life: creating a wound on a cow, waiting for tender meat to grow, then cutting it off to satisfy someone's appetite because the tender meat tasted much better than normal beef. Calling it devilish behavior wasn't an exaggeration!
"I didn't expect the renowned Cartier family, with a thousand-year legacy, to be doing such blood-sucking things in secret!" Basalt gritted his teeth.
At this moment, he felt unprecedented disgust for the Cartier family. If not for his limited strength, Basalt would have had the urge to rush to Europe immediately, flatten the Cartier family, and rescue all the Carbinks.
"It seems I can only slowly untie the knot in Carbink's heart and influence it with sincerity."
Recalling Carbink, Basalt sighed. The sins Cartier committed against Carbink now required Basalt to heal. It had to be said, this was a very screwed-up situation.
After a brief rest, Basalt took leave to go to East Pole Island and handed Cradily over to Mega Venusaur. Upon seeing Cradily again, Mega Venusaur also showed surprise because it could sense the change in Cradily.
That was the elemental energy of a deity! Compared to this energy, the Fountain of Life was nothing. Moreover, as a fellow Grass-type Pokémon, Mega Venusaur even felt slightly suppressed. In terms of control over Grass-type energy, have I already lost to Cradily? Mega Venusaur looked bitter.
Leaving the East Pole Secret Realm, Basalt boarded a plane to the Grassland Province.
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