Roy unleashed his Aura, spreading it toward the depths of the canyon.
Delia followed behind him with light steps.
She never doubted Roy's judgment.
If Roy said there was something good, then there definitely was.
Misty, on the other hand, was walking a bit absent-mindedly.
While following Roy, she tilted her head and looked into the distance.
This path was at a higher elevation, offering an expansive view.
Looking down from their angle, they could see the entire situation in the central canyon.
It was lively over there.
A full hundred people were scattered across the valley floor, their pickaxes rising and falling, and the clanging sounds echoed from far away.
Someone shouted, "It's out, it's out!"
Someone was jogging while pushing a small cart.
Others had set up screens on the spot, pouring the excavated rubble in to sift through it.
The whole scene was like a gold rush.
Misty stared, her eyes wide.
"With so many people, surely a few will be able to dig up something good, right?"
She muttered to herself, her pace slowing down subconsciously.
Then she saw Gary.
There was no helping it; Gary's entourage was just too eye-catching.
Other Trainers were all covered in dust, burying their heads in hard work.
But he was different.
His spiky hair was slicked to a shine, and his purple shirt stood out prominently among the dusty crowd.
The six cheerleaders in short skirts stood to the side, some holding banners, others shouting slogans.
This wasn't digging for fossils; it was clearly a red carpet walk.
Just as Misty was complaining to herself, she saw a sudden commotion over on Gary's side.
Gary bent down and picked something up from the pit he had dug.
It was round and the size of a fist.
The surface was dusty, but some patterns could be vaguely seen.
Gary held the object, turning it over and over to look at it twice.
Then his expression changed.
From confusion to surprise, and from surprise to ecstasy.
He turned around abruptly and held the object in his hand high up.
"Found it!"
Even from far away, Misty could hear his piercing voice.
"I have dug up a treasure!"
The cheerleading squad exploded instantly.
"Gary, Gary! Treasure hunting number one!"
"Gary, Gary! Fossil obtained!"
"Mr. Gary is amazing!"
"Mr. Gary is invincible!"
The six girls jumped and danced around Gary, swinging their pom-poms with gusto.
The banners were even rippling.
Gary stood in the middle of the cheerleaders, holding the "treasure" in one hand and putting the other on his hip.
That posture was incredibly arrogant.
His expression was full of smugness, as if to say, "I told you this young master is the chosen one."
Many nearby Trainers were attracted by the commotion and craned their necks to look.
Gary became even more smug.
He held the object even higher so everyone could see.
However, smugness aside.
Gary himself wasn't actually sure what this thing in his hand really was.
He looked at it repeatedly, and the more he looked, the more he felt it looked like... hmm, some kind of fossil egg?
Anyway, it was definitely something good.
The surrounding Trainers whispered.
"This guy has such a big entourage!"
"He dug something up so quickly; his luck is too good."
Listening to these comments, Gary's mouth was almost grinning to his ears.
Just at this moment, a middle-aged man in a work vest passed by Gary.
The man was carrying a pickaxe and covered in rock dust; he looked like a veteran who had been in the canyon for days.
Attracted by the commotion on Gary's side, he stopped and took a glance at the object in Gary's hand.
Just one glance.
The man's expression became subtle.
He hesitated for a moment, then walked over.
"Ahem, little brother."
The man patted Gary's shoulder with a polite tone.
Gary was in high spirits, turned his head to look at him, his face full of pride.
The man pointed at the object in his hand.
"For this thing of yours... I suggest you take a closer look."
Gary was stunned.
"What do you mean?"
The man's expression was a bit subtle, as if he was choosing his words carefully.
"This thing of yours... it looks like dried feces."
The air suddenly went quiet.
Gary's smile was still on his face, but it had started to stiffen.
The cheerleaders' chanting came to an abrupt halt.
The six girls held their pom-poms, looking at each other, their expressions more colorful than the last.
The man completely failed to notice the change in the atmosphere and was still analyzing it seriously.
"Look at this texture, this hardness, this shape."
"I dug up a similar one last week, and at the time, I also thought it was something good."
"But don't be too discouraged. Although this thing isn't worth any money, it at least proves that large Pokémon have indeed been active in this area. From an academic perspective, it still has reference value. If you don't mind, you can keep it as a souvenir..."
"Enough!"
Gary's face had turned the color of a pig's liver.
He threw the object in his hand to the ground, as if throwing a hot potato.
Then he wiped his hands vigorously on his pants.
Wiped again.
And wiped again.
He was completely grossed out.
On the cheerleader side, the six girls looked at each other.
The banners were put down, and the pom-poms were no longer waved.
The scene was extremely awkward for a moment.
"Um... Gary, do you want to wash your hands first?"
A cheerleader cautiously handed over a bottle of water.
Gary snatched it and poured it frantically over his hands.
The nearby Trainers were all holding back laughter.
Those few who had just been envious of Gary's good luck were now all shaking their shoulders.
The man, completely unaware of what he had done, shrugged his shoulders and continued walking forward, carrying his pickaxe.
He muttered as he walked.
"Young people these days are too impatient; they treat everything they dig up as a treasure."
Gary's face was as red as it could possibly be.
He just wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
...
On the distant hill path.
The scene Misty saw was completely different from the actual situation.
She only saw Gary digging something up.
The cheerleaders were cheering and jumping, surrounding Gary.
Gary stood in the center of the crowd, receiving the attention of the surrounding Trainers, but she couldn't hear the sound and didn't know the specific situation.
That scene, no matter how you looked at it, seemed like he had dug up an incredible treasure.
Misty was anxious.
In her eyes, Gary was already far ahead of Roy.
This guy was already insufferably arrogant; if he really let him dig up something good, wouldn't he be insufferable in the future?
Misty caught up to Roy in a few steps and grabbed his arm.
"Roy, Roy, Roy!"
She called out while shaking Roy's arm.
"Look over there!"
Misty pointed in Gary's direction, her tone anxious and annoyed.
"That arrogant Guy seems to have already dug up something good!"
"His cheerleading squad has all swarmed over!"
"Look at his smug look; his tail is almost sticking up to the sky!"
"We've been walking here for half a day, and we haven't even seen a shadow of a fossil."
"Are you really confident you can find something better?"
The more Misty spoke, the more anxious she became, holding Roy's arm even tighter.
Delia also looked in the direction Misty pointed.
She wasn't as anxious as Misty, but she did see that it was very lively over on Gary's side.
"Roy, it really looks like Gary dug up something over there."
Roy looked in the direction of their gaze, then raised his hand and patted Misty's head.
"Don't worry."
"What I have here is the real super treasure."
Misty looked up at him.
"Super treasure? What super treasure?"
Roy didn't explain much, just smiled.
"It's a secret for now; you'll know when we get there."
The more he said that, the more Misty's heart itched.
Roy withdrew his hand and refocused his attention on his Aura.
His Aura spread out from under his feet again.
This time, he increased the range.
The Aura was like countless invisible tentacles, seeping deep along the terrain of the canyon.
Roy closed his eyes, and a clear feedback map of the surrounding terrain appeared in his mind through his Aura.
He knew that the place where Aerodactyl slept was an underground cavern.
Digging straight down from the surface, let alone a month, it would be useless even if you dug for a year.
You must find the natural entrance to that cavern.
So, he took Delia and Misty and specifically chose paths that were low-lying and close to the valley floor.
The lower they went, the more likely they were to find cracks or caves leading underground.
Misty hung on Roy's arm, looking to the left and then to the right.
She was so anxious inside.
Just when Misty was about to be unable to help herself from making a fuss again.
Roy suddenly stopped.
His Aura caught a special piece of feedback.
Less than twenty meters to their right, there was a cliff face that looked very ordinary.
The surface of the cliff was gray-brown rock, no different from the surrounding rock walls.
But the information fed back by his Aura was different.
Behind that cliff face, there was a deep crack.
The crack extended downward, connecting to that huge cavity underground.
This was it.
Misty felt Roy stop and immediately perked up.
"Are we here? Are we here?"
She let go of Roy's arm, ran forward two steps, and looked around.
Then she saw that cliff face.
Misty's expression froze on the spot.
"Uh... Roy."
She pointed at the seemingly solid cliff face, her face full of "Are you kidding me?"
"Here? Are you sure?"
Delia also walked up and carefully examined the cliff face in front of them.
It was smooth and intact, not even a crack.
She reached out and touched it; it was solid.
"Roy, there's nothing here?"
Misty wouldn't give up and walked around the cliff face.
Still, she found nothing.
She put her hands on her hips and tilted her head to look at Roy.
"Forget about treasure, there isn't even an ant hole here."
Roy looked at their expressions, one confused and one disappointed, and chuckled softly.
"Don't rush."
As he spoke, he took out a Poké Ball from his waist.
He threw it casually.
A red light flashed.
Primeape appeared in front of the three of them.
As soon as this guy came out, it started to stretch its muscles, clashing its fists together, making a muffled thumping sound.
"Primeape, smash this wall open for me."
Primeape turned its head to look at the cliff face.
Then it nodded.
The next second.
It clenched its fists tightly.
A white light appeared on its fists.
Misty subconsciously took a step back.
Primeape took a deep breath.
Then it threw a punch.
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!
A flurry of punches hit the cliff face like a rainstorm.
Gravel splattered, and rock debris flew everywhere.
Primeape's punching speed was so fast that the fists were almost invisible.
All that could be heard was a rapid series of impacts.
Crack!
A crack appeared on the cliff face.
Crack, crack, crack!
The crack spread rapidly, diffusing like a spider web.
Primeape didn't stop, and its fists continued to strike the densest part of the cracks.
It threw a punch, the force terrifyingly heavy, causing the gravel at its feet to jump up.
A moment later, the entire cliff face collapsed, creating a hole.
After the dust slowly settled.
A pitch-black cave entrance appeared in front of the three of them.
The entrance wasn't large, only enough for two people to pass through side by side.
It was pitch black inside, and nothing could be seen.
A cool breeze carrying the scent of soil and rock blew out of the cave.
Misty's mouth widened.
She stared at the pitch-black cave, the light in her eyes instantly ignited.
"Th-th-this..."
She pointed at the cave entrance, so excited that she couldn't speak clearly.
"There really is a cave!"
"And it was hidden!"
"This kind of secret cave hidden behind a cliff face..."
She turned her head abruptly to look at Roy.
"This kind of secret entrance hidden in the dark, paired with a pitch-black cave."
"The vibe is just right. Big treasure!"
"Didn't I tell you!" Roy brushed the dust off his body.
"Then what are we waiting for!" Misty grabbed Roy's hand and rushed into the cave.
"Go, go, go, go, go! Let's go in and take a look quickly!"
"If there's treasure inside, we'll be the first to discover it!"
Roy was dragged forward two steps by her and couldn't help but chuckle.
"Didn't you just doubt that I found the wrong place?"
Misty blushed, but she didn't back down at all.
"That was a reasonable doubt! Now it's been proven, hasn't it!"
"Oh, stop talking nonsense and go in quickly!"
The three of them walked into the cave.
As soon as they stepped into the entrance, the outside light seemed to be cut off.
It was cool inside the cave, completely different from the canyon outside, which was scorched by the sun.
The ground under their feet was very hard, giving a solid feeling when stepped on.
The air had a faint damp smell and a kind of ancient Aura that was hard to describe.
It was as if this cave had been sealed for thousands of years and was opened by someone for the first time today.
Misty walked in the front.
Her longing for treasure had completely overwhelmed her fear of the dark.
Her two eyes were almost shining in the darkness.
"This cave is quite deep."
Misty walked while peering into the depths.
"The deeper, the better. The deeper it is, the more it shows there are good things inside."
"Maybe it's an underground secret chamber where ancient people hid treasure."
"Or a vein of some rare ore."
"Let's be bolder—maybe there's a legendary-level Pokémon egg!"
The more Misty talked, the more excited she became, and her pace got faster and faster.
Delia, who was afraid of ghosts, was in a completely different state.
Since entering this pitch-black cave, she had shrunk behind Roy.
Both her hands were tightly gripping the clothes on Roy's back.
It was very quiet in the cave.
So quiet that you could hear the faint sound of dripping water from far away.
Drip.
Drip.
Every time Delia heard a sound, her shoulders would shrink.
"Roy... it's so dark in here..."
Roy gently patted the back of Delia's hand and comforted her: "It's okay, I'm here~"
Eevee, next to them, was also clearly frightened by the pitch-black environment and also shrank behind Pikachu, hiding itself completely.
Pikachu stretched out its little paw and gently touched Eevee's head.
"sound, sound."
Pikachu's Growl was very gentle.
As if saying, "Don't be afraid, I'm here."
It puffed out its little chest, blocking in front of Eevee.
The electric sparks on its cheeks crackled twice.
Lighting up a small area around them.
As if telling Eevee, I can fight, don't worry.
Eevee looked up at Pikachu, its big eyes still full of fear, but it was clearly much better than before.
It let out a soft sound, and leaned its body closer to Pikachu.
...
The three of them groped slowly into the depths, Roy keeping his Aura in an active state, sensing every movement around them.
This cave was much deeper than he had expected.
The entrance section was fairly flat, but the further in they went, the steeper the slope.
It was clearly extending deep underground.
The rocks on the cave walls slowly changed from gray-brown to dark gray, and the surface became increasingly rough.
The three of them walked for a while longer.
Suddenly, there was a noise from ahead.