"Gaaarr!"
High above the cloudless sky, Garchomp carried Liam swiftly through the air with a low growl.
At this moment, Liam was crouching on Garchomp's back, holding onto its dorsal fin with one hand as he looked down at the ground below. Weavile, meanwhile, stood atop Garchomp's head, vigilantly watching their surroundings.
"The Giant Chasm is just ahead. Garchomp, lower your altitude!"
"Gaaarr!"
At Liam's warning, Garchomp let out a low growl and rapidly descended, heading straight toward the Giant Chasm!
"Wah! Wah!"
As Garchomp descended to a certain altitude, Weavile's exceptionally sharp eyes spotted the entrance to the Giant Chasm! And what's more, Weavile also spotted two Team Plasma members standing guard at the entrance!
"We found them! So it really is here. They even have people guarding the entrance… Hmph! Don't worry about them, Garchomp! Charge straight in!"
"Gaaarr!"
Now that he had located Team Plasma's whereabouts, Liam had no intention of sneaking around. Without concealing himself at all, he had Garchomp roar as it charged forward!
"Hm? They're here! Proceed according to the plan!"
"Yes!"
The two Team Plasma members guarding the entrance naturally noticed Garchomp charging toward them. The two exchanged a glance, then simultaneously turned around and rushed into the cavern.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
"Someone's invading! Someone's invading!"
Shouting as they ran, the two quickly disappeared from sight.
"Gaaarr"
At the same time, Garchomp had already swooped down to the entrance of the cavern. Spreading both wings, it reduced its momentum and landed safely on the ground.
"Go after them, Weavile! Don't let a single one of these guys escape!"
"Weavile!"
Seeing the two Team Plasma members run into the cavern, Liam frowned slightly and ordered Weavile to pursue them. Weavile nodded at the command, then leapt from Garchomp's head in a streak of black light and shot into the cavern in an instant.
"We'll follow too, Garchomp."
"Gaaarr"
Liam and Garchomp immediately followed at full speed!
For some unknown reason, Liam's navigation map displayed the Giant Chasm only as a single layer showing its outer contours. As for the routes inside the cavern, the map could only display scattered, tiny sections. For example, it could still display the straight path near the entrance, but once they went deeper inside, the map could no longer show the route.
Liam and Garchomp pursued their targets through the cavern. Weavile had already disappeared far ahead of them. In terms of speed, Weavile was indeed even faster than Garchomp, and in a cavern that wasn't particularly spacious, Weavile's movements only became even more agile.
Boom!!
Just as Liam was giving chase, an explosion suddenly rang out from ahead!
"What happened? Go take a look!"
"Gaaarr"
Not knowing what had happened, Liam and Garchomp hurriedly followed the sound.
"Weavile! Weavile!"
"This is…?"
Before long, Liam and Garchomp arrived at the site of the explosion. Liam saw Weavile standing ahead with a ferocious expression, repeatedly roaring angrily toward the depths of the cavern.
Puzzled by Weavile's behavior, Liam quickly walked over and gently stroked its head, calming it down.
Then Liam looked ahead—
An enormous cavernous space!
And it was clearly a cavernous space that showed obvious signs of having been artificially constructed!
The entire area before him was filled with steel framework. Black steel had been used to construct enormous bridges, with these bridges connecting the various openings throughout the cavern. Although they were extremely old and dilapidated, they still stood firm.
The explosion just now had come from the steel bridge that originally connected to the cavern entrance where Liam was standing.
Now, that bridge had been reduced to fragments, lying in the enormous pit below.
Weavile had almost caught the two Team Plasma members moments earlier, but at the final moment, the two had detonated bombs that had been planted beneath the bridge long ago. The resulting explosion destroyed the bridge and prevented Weavile from proceeding any farther.
"Alright, Weavile. We're not going to lose them. Did you see which entrance they went through?"
Although the bridge had been destroyed, reaching the other side was hardly difficult for Liam. He therefore reassured Weavile.
"Weavile!"
Weavile quickly nodded.
"Good! Garchomp, fly us over!"
"Gaaarr"
As he spoke, Liam had already climbed back onto Garchomp's back. Weavile jumped onto Liam's shoulder, and with a low growl, Garchomp launched itself out of the cavern entrance!
"Ah, it's so cold…"
The instant Garchomp flew out through the opening, Liam felt a freezing wind sweep over his body and couldn't help shivering.
Bang!
Garchomp then landed on another steel bridge. It too couldn't help trembling a few times, apparently freezing from the cold.
"How did it suddenly get this cold? Huh? What are those?!"
Confused, Liam turned to inspect his surroundings. Then he discovered that the ceiling of this cavernous space wasn't made of rock at all.
Instead, it was covered in vast expanses of deep-blue ice crystals!
The ice crystals were frozen across the ceiling like an enormous dome. The bone-chilling cold was emanating from them.
"This kind of chill… Kyurem? Hmph, so what if it's Kyurem? Weavile, keep pursuing them. Something strange is clearly going on, but for now, our only option is to catch those two and question them."
Liam wasn't stupid. Although learning that N had been taken away had caused him to lose his composure at first, once he had calmed down, he had noticed quite a few suspicious points.
He understood that he had probably been set up by Nurse Joy and had now fallen straight into Team Plasma's trap.
But there was nothing else he could do at the moment. He could only catch the two Team Plasma members first and make further plans afterward.
And so—
After receiving Liam's command, Weavile ran toward the cavern entrance through which the Team Plasma members had fled, with Garchomp carrying Liam close behind.
Once they entered the passage, Liam discovered that it too had been constructed from steel. Compared with the narrow rocky passage from before, this steel passage was much more spacious. There were even undamaged lighting fixtures still glowing, clearly indicating that electricity was still flowing through the passage.
As Liam gradually went deeper, the blue ice crystals in the passage became increasingly numerous.
"Weavile!"
Finally, with Weavile leading the way, Liam and Garchomp arrived in a cavernous space several times larger than the previous one.
Beneath their feet was a somewhat damaged staircase with railings. Below it was an enormous steel plaza!
"Weavile!!"
The moment Weavile emerged from the passage, it leapt onto the stair railing and let out an angry roar at the two Team Plasma members standing on the plaza below.
"Hm? They're waiting for us."
Liam and Garchomp also emerged from the passage. Seeing that the Team Plasma members had stopped running, Liam narrowed his eyes and spoke somewhat suspiciously.
"Hey! Are you the only Team Plasma members here? Where have you taken N?!"
Liam jumped down from Garchomp and walked over to the railing, shouting at the Team Plasma members below.
Hearing Liam's question, one of the Team Plasma members suddenly raised what appeared to be a remote control and laughed loudly at him.
"Hehe… hahahahaha! The King? Our King should already be inside the King's castle by now! And you! From this moment onward, you'll never be able to take another step toward our King! You'll be buried here with us forever!!"
"Beep!"
With the Team Plasma member's laughter still ringing out, he forcefully pressed the remote control in his hand.
Then—
"Beep beep beep…"
The electronic activation sound came from above the passage behind Liam!
And immediately afterward—
BOOM!!
A violent explosion erupted directly from above the passage, right behind Liam!