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Roy turned to look at Misty, pointing to the Kabuto that was still unconscious on the ground.
"What about this one?"
"Kabuto is also a Water-type and Rock-type, aren't you going to catch one?"
Misty looked down at the grey, hard-shelled Kabuto.
She tilted her head, looked at it for a long while, and then shook her head.
"Kabuto, huh..."
Her expression was somewhat subtle.
It was as if she recalled a scene she didn't want to remember.
Roy raised an eyebrow.
"What's wrong?"
"You don't like it?"
Misty pouted and looked up at Roy.
"It's not a question of whether I like it."
"It's that I always feel... catching a Kabuto is like catching Bill."
As soon as these words were spoken, the air went quiet for a second.
Roy's expression froze for a moment, and then he couldn't help but let out a laugh.
"Bill... Bill?"
He suddenly recalled that scene as well.
Bills Lighthouse.
The man who got himself stuck in a Kabuto suit.
"So in your heart, Kabuto is equivalent to Bill, right?"
Misty nodded vigorously.
"Yes!"
"Every time I see a Kabuto, the image of Bill stuck in the suit automatically pops into my head."
"I just can't get rid of it."
She squatted down, looking at a Kabuto that was still unconscious at her feet.
The Kabuto was curled up in its shell, with circular rocky patterns on its carapace.
Misty stared at it for three seconds.
Then she stood up abruptly.
"No, no!"
"The more I look, the more it looks like him!"
"I really can't bring myself to train it as a Water-type Pokémon!"
Roy smiled and shook his head.
"Your reason..."
He paused, as if trying to find the right words.
"...is actually quite a valid reason."
"Fine then."
He waved his hand.
"Catching Pokémon is about following your own will, after all."
"You can't force it."
"If you don't want to catch it, then forget it."
Just as the three were talking and laughing, movement suddenly came from ahead.
The sound of falling gravel, dense footsteps.
And that kind of sharp, yet low-volume Growl.
Roy's eyes narrowed.
Delia instinctively leaned a step closer to Roy.
Misty also put away her playful expression, her palm already touching the Poké Ball on her waist.
In the cave passage ahead, it was pitch black.
The Kabuto and Omanyte that had fled earlier were running back.
They were rushing toward this side as if they had gone crazy.
The whole cave suddenly became noisy.
Misty's eyes widened.
"Oh my!"
"Why are these guys running back?"
She looked at the Pokémon desperately running back, her expression shifting from surprise to eagerness.
"Didn't they get enough of a beating from Venusaur just now?"
Misty took a step forward, flipped her palm, and already had the Poké Ball in her hand.
"Alright!"
"This time, let me fight them!"
"Starmie, get ready to fight..."
Her wrist was about to exert force.
A warm hand pressed down on the back of her hand.
Misty's movement paused.
She turned her head and saw Roy's gaze fixed straight ahead into the deep darkness.
His expression was serious, and his brows were slightly furrowed.
Misty's heart skipped a beat.
She had been traveling with Roy for so long that she was too familiar with his changes in expression.
This expression meant there was a situation.
"Don't be hasty."
Roy's voice was very calm, but it carried a certainty that made people instinctively obey.
Misty stopped her movement and followed Roy's gaze into the deep darkness.
She couldn't see anything; it was pitch black.
Only the panicked Kabuto and Omanyte were still desperately running back, scurrying past the three of them.
A few of them were running too fast and crashed directly into the pile of gravel, flipping over with their shells facing the sky, their tentacles waving wildly in the air.
Misty furrowed her brows.
"What's wrong, Roy?"
"Is something not right?"
Roy nodded.
His Aura had expanded to its limit.
The perceived fluctuations were like an invisible net, extending deep along the cave passage.
Within his perception range.
The Aura reactions of that group of panicked Kabuto and Omanyte were dense, like a mess of static noise.
Every reaction carried a clear emotion of fear.
Aura perception could not only detect the strength of the target but also vaguely sense the other party's emotional state.
Roy's perception continued to extend deeper.
He also sensed that at the end of that darkness, there was a particularly powerful Aura reaction.
"A big guy is coming."
Misty and Delia were both stunned.
The next second, a terrifying roar exploded from the depths of the darkness.
The sound bounced back and forth in the cave passage, repeatedly amplified by the rock walls, turning into an overwhelming wave of sound.
The entire cave was shaking, and gravel from the ceiling was falling down.
There was a slight tremor in Misty's voice.
"Roy..."
"I, I think we didn't find the treasure, but found the monster guarding the treasure."
She swallowed, her voice getting quieter.
"Shall we run?"
Delia on the left also nodded vigorously, her hair brushing against Roy's shoulder.
"Yes, yes..."
"Roy, it's too dangerous in this pitch-black place, let's leave quickly!"
Her voice was soft, but her speaking speed was much faster than usual.
"It's too dangerous!"
The two girls flanked Roy, one on the left and one on the right, hugging his arms tightly.
"Don't be afraid, this big monster guarding the treasure is exactly what I've been waiting for."
Misty and Delia looked up at Roy simultaneously.
There was a hint of a smile on the corners of Roy's mouth.
Misty opened her mouth in surprise.
"You... you were waiting for it?"
Before Roy could answer, a black shadow rushed out from the depths of the darkness.
The speed was ridiculously fast.
Almost before anyone could react, the black shadow had already swept past the ceiling of the cave.
Like a black bolt of lightning, it whistled over their heads, carrying a strong wind.
Then the shadow drew a sharp arc in the air and landed fiercely on a towering rock pillar behind the three.
With a bang, the rock pillar was shaken by the impact, sending gravel flying.
The figure stood steadily on top of it.
Looking down from above.
Then it opened its giant mouth full of sharp teeth at the three.
"Roar!!!"
This roar was closer than before.
The volume was louder, the pressure was stronger, and it carried a kind of pure, wild deterrent force.
Delia and Misty instinctively buried their faces in Roy's shoulders.
Only when the sound wave passed did they dare to look up.
Then, they saw the figure clearly.
It was a giant, grey, dragon-like Pokémon.
Its wingspan was broad.
The two wings were like two giant serrated blades, with purple wing membranes on the edges, revealing an eerie texture in the dim light.
Its head looked like a dragon's, its jaw was strong and powerful, and its mouth was full of sharp teeth.
Two thick hind legs gripped the rock, with claws deeply embedded in the stone crevices.
Its tail, like a thick stone whip, swung slowly behind it.
That pair of eyes was staring fixedly at the three below.
It carried an absolute self-confidence belonging to an ancient top predator.
Misty's mouth formed an 'O' shape, and her eyes were wide.
"Aerodactyl!"
"It's really an Aerodactyl!"
"And it's alive! It's not a fossil!"
Delia reacted a step faster than Misty, turning to look at Roy.
Looking at Roy's calm expression.
Delia understood everything at once.
"Roy..."
"You went to such lengths to come to this pitch-black cave."
"You wouldn't be doing it just to capture this Aerodactyl, would you?"
Roy turned to look at Delia.
He reached out and gently touched the back of Delia's hand.
The corners of his mouth turned up, revealing a smile with a bit of smugness and appreciation.
"As expected of the one in my heart."
"You guessed my thoughts right away."
Roy withdrew his hand and took a step forward.
He took out a Poké Ball from his waist.
With a flick of his wrist, a white light burst out.
An orange-red figure appeared in the cave—Charizard.
As soon as Charizard landed, it immediately locked onto the guy at the top.
Its pupils contracted slightly.
Then it raised its head and let out a deafening roar at the Aerodactyl on the rock pillar.
This sound did not lose to the roar Aerodactyl had just made.
There was no fear in the sound, only high fighting spirit.
The flame on its tail flared up significantly.
Aerodactyl looked down at Charizard.
A strange light flashed in its vertical pupils.
It felt it.
The orange-red guy below.
Not to be trifled with.
But Aerodactyl was the overlord of the ancient sky.
In its era, it was the existence at the top of the food chain.
Nothing could make it bow its head.
So Aerodactyl also opened its mouth full of sharp teeth.
It let out a sharp, ear-piercing screech at Charizard.
This screech was different from the roar just now.
The sound carried a special power.
Sound waves spread outward with Aerodactyl as the center.
The surrounding giant rock blocks began to vibrate violently.
Countless cracks appeared on the rock wall overhead.
The whole cave began to collapse, with large chunks of rock falling from the ceiling.
Roy stood in the middle of the three.
One hand was raised, five fingers spread.
Psychic fluctuations poured out continuously from his palm.
He kept the shield firmly over the heads of Delia and Misty.
Pikachu jumped off Roy's shoulder, its cheek pouches crackling.
Eevee also arched its back, looking at the top alertly.
Roy's voice sounded calmly.
"Charizard."
"Take it down."
Hearing this command, the fighting spirit in Charizard's eyes burned to the peak instantly.
It flapped its wings violently against the ground, and its whole body took off.
Turning into an orange-red flame meteor, it rushed straight toward the Aerodactyl on the rock pillar.
Aerodactyl did not show weakness either; it kicked off the rock pillar, shattering the stone, and its body dived down like a grey cannonball.
The two dragons collided head-on in mid-air.
The muffled sound of physical collision exploded in the cave, air waves swept around, and gravel flew.
Aerodactyl's claws were locked tightly onto Charizard's shoulders.
Charizard's claws also gripped Aerodactyl's neck.
The two dragons were deadlocked in mid-air as if wrestling.
Wings flapping frantically.
Then they both lost their balance.
Rolling and crashing into the rock wall on one side.
"Boom!"
A large pit was smashed into the rock wall.
The two dragons did not separate, but instead fought more fiercely.
Aerodactyl's biting.
Charizard's flame.
Sparks and gravel were flying everywhere in the cave.
Delia and Misty watched in fear from within the shield.
Roy, meanwhile, kept maintaining the shield, his eyes always locked on the center of the battle.
Observing and analyzing, Charizard was gaining the upper hand.
Although Aerodactyl was full of wildness and its attacks were fierce, it was clearly inferior to Charizard in combat experience and skill usage.
Charizard had fought all the way with him, experienced countless hard battles, and had special training!
Its combat experience and combat intelligence had already been tempered to a very high level.
Aerodactyl was gradually being suppressed.
Its attacks were constantly neutralized by Charizard.
And every counterattack from Charizard could accurately hit its vital points.
Aerodactyl's breathing became more rapid.
Its movements were becoming more impatient.
A hint of unwillingness, anger, and humiliation flashed in its yellow vertical pupils.
It was the overlord of the ancient sky!
How could it be suppressed by such an orange-red little junior dragon!
This was impossible!
This was unreasonable!
Aerodactyl flapped its wings violently, forcibly pulling away from Charizard.
It hovered in mid-air, its chest heaving violently, its vertical pupils scanning the surroundings.
It saw this cave.
Narrow, dark, full of obstructive stone pillars and rock walls.
Aerodactyl's vertical pupils shrank sharply.
It realized that the space here was not spacious enough!
This narrow cave limited its most proud speed ability.
Fighting here, it couldn't unleash its true strength!
Aerodactyl let out an angry screech, then it stopped caring about Charizard, but instead pulled its wings in violently.
Its body dived downward like a cannonball.
But it wasn't rushing toward Charizard, but toward a thick stone pillar.
Charizard immediately chased after it, and Aerodactyl circled behind the stone pillar.
Charizard followed closely.
The two dragons circled and chased around that huge stone pillar for several laps.
Aerodactyl screeched while flying.
Its eyes were constantly scanning the surrounding rock walls.
Then, it found it, a rock wall.
A hint of determination flashed in Aerodactyl's vertical pupils.
It gathered all its strength.
Flapping its wings violently, it turned into a grey meteor.
Carrying a destructive, brutal force.
It rammed into that rock wall head-on.
"Boom!!!"
Countless gravel flew everywhere.
Roy's shield crackled with a series of sounds, blocking all the flying debris.
A beam of light poured in from the large hole that Aerodactyl had smashed open.
Lighting up a large part of the dim cave.
Aerodactyl rushed out, its wings spreading violently in the outside sky.
The wingspan covered a large part of the sky.
Then it looked up to the sky and let out a long howl; this howl was different from just now, no longer anger or unwillingness.
But a kind of catharsis after freedom, a kind of ecstasy after returning to its home field.
Charizard did not show weakness either, flapping its wings, turning into an orange-red stream of light, and chasing out closely.
Roy looked up at the two grey and red figures disappearing into the light and shadow of the sky.
He put away the shield, and then took out another Poké Ball from his waist.
He threw it into the air, and the giant Pidgeot appeared before the three.
Roy jumped, straddled Pidgeot's back, and then reached out to Delia and Misty.
"Let's go, we're going up too!"
After all three were seated, Pidgeot let out a clear, long cry, flapped its wings, and the ground quickly moved away.
Pidgeot carried the three, rushed out of the large hole that Aerodactyl had smashed open, and rushed into the vast sky outside.