The term 'lifelike' is usually used to describe inanimate objects that look alive, but the Onix before them was clearly a living crystal carving.
No wonder Isao said that just seeing the Onix with his own eyes would give him inspiration for his carvings. How could it not? Any artist who saw this Onix would surely be inspired!
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Furthermore, this Onix emerged from the lake water, which meant it wasn't afraid of water at all!
Aside from having a similar appearance, wasn't it completely different in every other way?
"Roar!!" Onix let out a loud roar at the uninvited guest, Ash. Having lived here for many years, the Onix loved peace and quiet; now that it had been disturbed after so long, its mood was naturally not very pleasant.
If it weren't for the aura on Ash that subconsciously made Pokémon feel safe and peaceful, the Crystal Onix would probably have attacked Ash the moment it emerged.
Even so, the Crystal Onix's first impression of Ash and the others wasn't great; at most, it could be said that it wouldn't actively attack them.
"Is this the Crystal Onix? It really does look like a different species compared to a normal Onix! As expected, textbook knowledge is just textbooks; in reality, the forms and existence of Pokémon are ever-changing!" Serena murmured with a look of wonder.
Textbooks never mentioned a Pokémon like the Crystal Onix that wasn't afraid of water and had a body the color of ice crystals.
If she hadn't come out into the world, she would probably never have seen a crystal-like Onix in her life.
"Alright, next I just need to catch it and take it back for Isao to see!" Ash looked at the Onix, rubbing his hands together. Pikachu had already jumped down from his shoulder, cheeks sparking with electricity, ready to act at any moment.
The data for the Onix also appeared in Ash's mind.
[Species: Crystal Onyx]
[Gender: Male]
[Type: Ice, Steel]
[Level: Advanced Novice]
[Ability: Ice Body]
[Moves: Ice Beam, Blizzard, Ice Shard, Snowscape, Water Pulse, Iron Tail, Heavy Slam, Gyro Ball ————]
[six-dimensional stats: attack B (A), special attack B (A), defense A (A), special defense A (A), hp A (A), speed C (B)]
It didn't have S-rank potential, but it did have a high average level of five A-ranks. Although it didn't have one particularly outstanding aspect, all its stats except speed were A-rank. This level shouldn't be called mediocre; rather, every aspect was outstanding, making it an all-rounder type.
Besides that, its ability and typing were things a normal Onix completely lacked, and its move pool was worlds apart from a regular Onix. Aside from its appearance, it was essentially a different species.
Changing from four-times weak to Water to four-times weak to Fire was one thing, but it was also four-times weak to Fighting. This kind of defensive typing coverage was quite trashy. Having one four-times weakness already makes you easy to target, but with two, almost any opponent you face will have at least one move that can deal four-times damage.
Even if it's not a Same-Type attack Bonus move, it doesn't matter; with four-times effectiveness, even a non-STAB move can make your body explode!
However, the current Crystal Onix was not at the end of its forms; it could still evolve into Steelix. It's just that the evolution conditions would definitely be different from a normal Steelix, and its typing after evolution would certainly not be that of a normal Steelix.
Of course, Ash couldn't know what it would evolve into right now, but anyway ———— it was definitely different from a normal Steelix.
"Come on, capture battle!"
"Pika Pika!!"
The Crystal Onix was stunned for only a moment before its expression turned stern and its gaze darkened. It took a deep breath, and ice-blue energy rapidly condensed in its mouth. The next second, a chilling ice-blue beam suddenly erupted!
Move — Ice Beam!
"Are you kidding me? An Onix can use Ice Beam?" an uninformed Misty cried out in surprise. This kind of situation was one where the more familiar a person was with Pokémon information, the more shocked they would be.
If Brock were here, he would probably have been so shaken by this scene that he'd collapse directly onto the ground.
After all, this could be said to be an existence that broke the common sense of Onix. Not being afraid of water and being able to use Ice-type moves was simply heaven-defying!
"Ash, watch out!" Serena subconsciously called out a warning, but when her gaze focused, she found that the Pikachu in front of Ash had already vanished!
The Ice Beam, which caused the surrounding temperature to drop by several degrees, missed completely, hitting the empty ground in front of Ash and freezing it into ice.
The Crystal Onix's gaze froze, its large ice-blue head swinging around to look for Pikachu's traces. The next second, a dangerous aura came from above.
"Pikachu, Iron Tail!!"
"Chu Pika!!" Pikachu delivered a heavy blow from above, striking the Crystal Onix's head hard!
For the Crystal Onix, Steel-type moves only dealt normal neutral damage, but Pikachu's strength far surpassed the Onix's. Although Iron Tail wasn't Pikachu's own type, as one of his most commonly used moves of other types, the power this move exerted was almost no different from a STAB move.
With this strike, even though Pikachu held back eighty percent of his strength, he still managed to crack the Crystal Onix's head!
The pool where the Crystal Onix was located spread out layers of giant waves due to the heavy force, and water splashed several feet high.
The crack on its head quickly spread along the crystal, and its ice-blue luster dimmed by more than half in an instant.
It let out a muffled groan, its massive body no longer able to maintain balance, falling straight into the pool like a toppled ice pillar with a loud "Boom."
The water exploded outward, waves slapping the shore, taking a long time to slowly recede.
The pool water gradually returned to calm, and the Crystal Onix's body could be seen slowly floating up from the murky bottom. Its head was tilted to one side, its originally transparent crystal shell had become dim, and its ice-blue energy aura had become extremely weak; it had clearly lost the ability to fight.
A one-hit KO? Serena lightly covered her red lips, her beautiful eyes wide with shock at the scene.
Although she knew Ash's Pikachu was very powerful and had seen Ash's battle scenes, this Crystal Onix didn't look like some pushover either!
To think it was defeated in a single move? And Pikachu didn't even seem to have used much effort!
Just how strong are Ash and Pikachu!
"Go, Poké Ball!" Ash threw a Poké Ball, hitting the Crystal Onix precisely. A light drew the Crystal Onix into the Poké Ball, which then sank into the lake.
A few ripples appeared on the lake's surface. Serena clenched her small hands, her face showing a nervous expression, looking as if she were the one catching the Pokémon. This was also the second time she had seen a Pokémon being caught; the first time was catching Lapras, but at that time Lapras had already volunteered to become Ash's Pokémon, so there was no suspense.
But this time it was a battle capture, and she didn't know if the Poké Ball could successfully restrain the Crystal Onix. (Crystal Onix: You mean I've been beaten so hard my head is full of bumps, my body has dimmed, and I've lost consciousness, yet I can still break out of the Poké Ball?)
A few seconds later, the Poké Ball finally floated up from the lake. At this moment, the Poké Ball floated quietly on the lake surface without the slightest wobble.
"Pikachu, I'm counting on you."
"Pika Pi!" Pikachu kicked off the ground and shot out like a bolt of lightning. Before Serena and Misty could even see Pikachu's shadow, he had already returned to his original spot, with a Poké Ball now in his hand.
That Poké Ball was none other than the one that had caught the Crystal Onix. Just now, Pikachu had actually gone from the ground to the lake surface and back in less than a second? How did he do that!!
Serena found that since she joined Ash's team, Ash's actions had been constantly shattering her worldviews.
Setting aside the Pokémon's power, Ash's own physical constitution, which was as terrifying as a Pokémon's, was something Serena had never heard of. Since when could humans have the power of Pokémon?
Besides the aspect of power, what surprised Serena the most was Ash's level of cooking.
At the beginning, Serena had heard Misty say, "Anyway, I'm not the one in charge of the food, you can let whoever you want join~"
Serena had thought this was just Misty giving Ash a way out; a rough guy like Ash didn't look like someone who knew how to cook.
Having joined the team, Serena had thought that since she couldn't help much with Pokémon and would probably be taken care of by Ash all the time, she absolutely had to take good care of Ash and Misty's diet and feed them until they were plump and healthy!
As it turned out — what on earth was glowing cuisine! What was with that feeling of wanting to moan with comfort all over after eating it! And what was with every dish having different effects!
After eating the dishes made by Ash, eating food made by others was simply like chewing wax!
Serena didn't dare imagine how she would eat if she left Ash's team in the future; she wouldn't starve to death because she couldn't stomach outside food, would she?
So now, besides having Ash teach her about Pokémon, she was also diligently learning how to cook from him.
Traveling with Ash was a process of constantly having one's worldview refreshed. If one day Ash were in the sky fighting a Legendary Pokémon to a standstill, she wouldn't even find it strange — well, she would still find it strange. What kind of human can fight a Legendary Pokémon in the sky? It sounds very bizarre, okay!
Ash didn't know that Serena's little head had thought of so many things just because of one of Pikachu's movements. He took the Poké Ball from Pikachu's hand and shouted with a smile: "I caught the Crystal Onix!!"
"Pi Pikachu!"
With this, Ash's team was back to six, with one slot still remaining.
After catching the Crystal Onix, Ash led the two girls out of the cave and back to the town; the whole process took less than five minutes.
Additionally, Ash had collected some of the crystals in the cave into his Spatial Backpack. To him, this stuff couldn't be sold for much money; even if he emptied the entire crystal mine, it probably wouldn't equal half a month of his dividends.
The reason he collected these crystals was partly that he planned to give some to Serena so she wouldn't be short on money.
After spending the last few days together, Ash could clearly feel that there was still some distance between Serena and them. Although the two were old acquaintances who had known each other since childhood, they hadn't seen each other for several years, and since their reunion, he had always been the one taking care of her.
In terms of their relationship, to put it nicely, they were childhood friends; but in reality, they were just playmates who had met a few times as children. The pride in Serena's bones simply wouldn't allow her to keep accepting care and gifts from others.
So when it came to spending money, Serena insisted on using only her own, and she paid for most of the expenses for ingredients and such. Even though Ash wanted to pay the bill, Serena always managed to get to the checkout counter first.
Just the travel expenses from these few days had probably depleted a good portion of Serena's small savings. Even if Serena didn't say much, Misty could tell and told Ash about it.
——
After learning about this, Ash was also worrying about how to get some money for this independent travel companion to spend. Lo and behold, a pillow was sent just as he was getting sleepy; the crystals in the crystal cave could be sold for quite a bit of money. If he gave this money to Serena, she surely couldn't refuse, right?
Then Serena insisted on splitting it into three parts, and she would only take one part; this was already her biggest concession.
Most people want as much money as possible, but this three-person team of theirs was something else, with everyone pushing the money back and forth as if they were afraid the others wouldn't take it ————
In the end, Ash had to follow Serena's suggestion and split the crystals into three parts. Ash told Serena and Misty to take their shares to a crystal shop in town to be recycled.
Don't be fooled by how this place seemed to sell nothing but glass products; in fact, there were also shops that sold real crystal products. It's just that those things could be described as luxury goods. Sculptures made of pure crystal were at least ten times more expensive than glass ones, and ordinary people simply couldn't afford them, which is why they were called luxury goods.
However, don't underestimate the spending power of the tourists in the Orange Islands. These luxury goods were only luxury relative to normal consumption. For Trainers, real luxury goods were always things related to Pokémon. Even if an item was considered a prestigious luxury good, as long as it didn't involve Pokémon, its price would only be at that level.
Just look at the perfumes Ash sold at Erika's place; a small bottle of perfume could sell for tens of thousands, and it was a fast-moving consumer good. People who could buy that stuff like it was food were the ones who were truly wealthy.
The two girls went to find a place to sell the crystals in their hands, but Ash didn't give his crystals to them to sell, saying instead that he had another use for them.
That mysterious look left Misty and Serena very puzzled, but they still listened to Ash and went to sell the crystals at a shop in town that specialized in buying them.
As for Ash, he arrived in front of Isao's shop ————