During this time, he actually encountered some League Trainers as well. If he could assist, he would lend a hand, but he wouldn't push himself if he couldn't.
Overall, after the Magma Team entered the Alternate Space, the already difficult survival for the League Trainers became even harder.
Not only did they need to guard against Wild Pokémon, but they also had to be wary of attacks from Magma Team members.
But he's no saint, not thinking about taking care of everyone. That's the job of the Elite Four; Natsuhiko didn't have the habit of cleaning up after others.
Boom—
As the last Camerupt fell, Natsuhiko, on his search route, once again dispatched a small team of three Magma Team members.
As usual, he would leave one alive to ask about the situation and the Magma Team's movements to better prepare himself.
However, from this "interrogation," Natsuhiko gained a piece of unexpected information.
"Flame Valley, is this the name Magma Team has given these areas?"
Natsuhiko looked at the map obtained from the Magma Team members.
The Magma Team's actions were quite organized, and their leader "Campfire" at least had a plan.
After entering the Alternate Space, they didn't blindly search for Groudon's trace but divided the teams into dozens of squads, first exploring the whole Alternate Space and the distribution of Wild Pokémon, to determine the most likely places related to Groudon's Shell Fragments.
For this reason, based on the information provided by each squad, they drew a map of the Alternate Space.
This map not only named some distinct places but also divided the Alternate Space into numbered areas for more precise actions.
It even depicted the territorial distribution and power levels of Wild Pokémon.
This was advantageous for Natsuhiko, who captured the map.
If he had the conditions, he also wanted to make a map, but bringing two deadweights alone was somewhat beyond his capability.
Fortunately, the Magma Team had completed this for him.
And just a moment ago, he learned from that Magma Team member about a piece of news.
Quite a few Magma Team members had gathered at this "Flame Valley," preparing to conquer it and the area it was in completely.
Because, according to the estimation of some of the Magma Team's experienced "experts," something related to Groudon might very well exist in this Flame Valley.
However, on the map drawn by the Magma Team, this "Flame Valley" was marked as "extremely high" in danger level, with all powerful Wild Pokémon within, and to conquer "Flame Valley," many members were summoned.
This time, the person in charge of conquering Flame Valley was a Magma Team officer named "Nether Fire," subordinate to the highest-ranking "Campfire."
The three people Natsuhiko took down were summoned by Nether Fire and were preparing to head to Flame Valley.
They just happened to run into Natsuhiko on the way.
With fewer than three people, Natsuhiko naturally targeted them and promptly took them down.
Actually, lately, Natsuhiko has been quite enthusiastic about taking down these Magma Team members.
Because, after being active in this Alternate Space for some time, the Magma Team members had more or less scavenged quite a lot of resources in the Alternate Space, with varying values.
And by taking them down, the resources they scavenged naturally fell into his hands.
This saved him a lot of trouble in collecting resources himself.
After securing the items, Natsuhiko fell into deep thought.
"Flame Valley..."
Currently, Flame Valley should be gathering quite a few Magma Team members, and there might really be Groudon's Shell Fragments inside.
He's not planning to snatch food from the Magma Team's mouth because, even if he wanted to, he didn't have that ability.
Nor is he motivated by any "noble" thought of stopping the Magma Team.
He just feels that since it's named "Flame Valley" and marked as an "extremely dangerous" area by the Magma Team, there could be many powerful Fire-type Pokémon living there.
Regarding Fire-type Pokémon, Natsuhiko had long realized his severe lack and had the intention of capturing a Fire-type Pokémon.
In such a gathering place for Fire-type Pokémon, there's a high possibility of finding a Fire-type Pokémon with good potential and capability.
Moreover,
This "Flame Valley" is also an area he has not investigated. It's possible that someone might be active inside.
Most importantly,
He had already thought of a relatively safe and feasible way to approach "Flame Valley."
For example, like now...
Natsuhiko took off the clothes of the Magma Team member whose height and build were about the same as his. With a swipe on his waist, a mask almost identical to that person's appeared in his hand.
He gently covered his face with it, put on the Magma Team's iconic hood, and a mask with an "Ω" symbol on it.
From the outside, he now looked just like a "legitimate" Magma Team member.
The only troublesome part was the Pokémon.
Magma Team's Pokémon were mostly Fire-type, primarily Camerupt, followed by Dark-type Mightyena and Poison and Flying Type Golbat, yet he had none of these Pokémon.
But not all Magma Team members had only these three Pokémon; some did use other Fire-type Pokémon as well.