Who would have thought Magby's evolution would end up costing almost as much as that dumb fish's? Back then, at least, the key material had been an Elite Four-tier Dragon Scale from a real Dragon Pokémon.
The Fire-type resources Magby had used could still be bought with money. A Dragon Scale like that was on a different level. In the end, the Dragon Scale was still far more valuable.
Reiji stood beside Rhydon and Poliwhirl, watching Magby sink slowly into the lava after absorbing so many Fire-type materials. The heat inside the volcano was getting worse by the second. He couldn't stay here any longer.
"Poliwhirl, is that enough?" Reiji saw Magby about to disappear beneath the surface and quickly had Poliwhirl ask.
"Poli! Poli!" Poliwhirl hurried to the edge of the lava pool and called down.
"Magby…"
"Poli!" The answer made Poliwhirl grab Reiji and start pulling him back. Magby wanted them out of the volcano.
Reiji understood at once. The lava was already starting to boil. He put Rhydon behind them and ran for the tunnel with Poliwhirl, the heat chasing them from behind and growing sharper with every step.
Volcanic lava could reach more than a thousand degrees. If Magby's evolution was making the lava boil, then its body temperature had already gone beyond the lava itself.
The moment they made it out of the volcano, Reiji felt the whole mountain shaking. He recalled Poliwhirl and Rhydon, released Pelipper, and took off into the sky.
From above, the dead volcano looked even more lifeless than before—until he saw red points glowing inside the crater, black smoke rising around them.
No, they weren't red points.
That was lava, churning up from underground.
Black smoke was also pouring out of the tunnel Rhydon had dug. Lava looked ready to burst out of it at any moment.
As the red glow spread and the smoke thickened, Reiji realized he might have seriously overdone it. Smoke like this would definitely draw attention from Mikan Island's town. People would be coming soon.
The volcano had been dead for years. If it was suddenly smoking again, the only cause he could think of was Magby. But could one Magby really cause this much trouble after eating a hundred million Pokédollars' worth of Fire-type resources?
His palm was already slick with sweat. He could only hope Magby finished evolving soon. If this kept going, the dead volcano might actually wake up again. Once that happened, the whole island would have to evacuate. If the damage got bad enough, he might not just be paying compensation—he might be going straight to jail.
Thud-thud-thud-thud—
A helicopter flew in from the town. Officer Jenny was inside, clearly here to investigate the smoke.
She had not even reached the crater before she spotted Reiji in the air. She grabbed a megaphone and shouted, "That area is dangerous! Why are you still there? Evacuate immediately!"
Great. Just great.
Reiji sighed. If he had known this would happen, he would never have brought Magby to a volcano to evolve. He was definitely getting chewed out now. If the situation got any worse, compensation was probably unavoidable too.
He had Pelipper land at the camp near the edge of the volcano. The helicopter landed soon after.
Officer Jenny had already called in geologists to check the volcano. Whether this dead volcano might erupt again would decide how soon they needed to start evacuating the island.
The moment she stepped out of the helicopter, she turned on Reiji. "Who are you? Why were you in such a dangerous area?"
Reiji had no choice but to tell her the truth. His Magby was about to evolve. He wanted to find it a suitable environment, so he had brought it to the crater.
"And where is your Magby now?"
"Still in the crater."
He told her everything. With the volcano showing signs of coming back to life, there was no covering this up anymore. The best he could do was let the Gym handle it from here.
"As Magby's Trainer, how could you do something like that?" Officer Jenny scolded him. "This is dangerous. Don't you understand how irresponsible that is to your Pokémon?"
Reiji lowered his head and took the lecture without arguing. While he stood there in silence, he suddenly heard a familiar voice. He looked up and saw Cissy rushing over with the middle-aged man from the other day.
"Rai, are you okay?" Cissy ran straight to him, worry written all over her face.
Mikan Gym was the only Gym on the island. The moment they heard the dead volcano might be waking up, they came over immediately—and found Reiji right in the middle of it.
"Good, Mikan Gym is here," Officer Jenny said at once. "One of your Gym Trainers brought a Magby to this dangerous place just to make it evolve. Don't you people keep an eye on your own?"
"Sorry, Officer Jenny." Cissy's father quickly pulled her aside to smooth things over. A Gym Trainer had caused trouble, and as the Gym Leader, he could not pretend the Gym had no responsibility.
While Cissy's father dealt with Officer Jenny, Reiji explained the situation to Cissy.
"I'm fine. Magby is still up there."
"You came here to evolve Magby?" Cissy looked up at the volcano too. This guy really had guts. Who ran into a volcano to evolve a Pokémon?
"I don't even know how Magby is doing now." Reiji stared at the smoke rolling out of the crater. All he had wanted was to evolve one Fire-type Pokémon. Somehow, he had managed to wake up a dead volcano.
Rumble—rumble—rumble—
While Reiji was worrying about Magby, while Cissy's father was apologizing, and while the geologists were explaining the readings to Officer Jenny, the volcano finally erupted.
Lava rolled over the crater and began pouring out through the tunnel Rhydon had dug. Fortunately, it was flowing toward the west side of Mikan Island, facing the Hoenn region. There were no human settlements in that direction.
The Orange Archipelago was made up of scattered islands. Most human activity on Mikan Island was concentrated to the north, near Mandarin Island North. The east also faced Mandarin Island North and Sunburst Island, while the south faced Tangelo Island and had its own ports. Only the west side was mostly empty, with no real settlements and almost no nearby islands.
"Peli! Peli!" Pelipper saw the lava spilling out and landed beside Reiji, calling urgently.
"I know." Reiji quickly excused himself from Cissy. Whatever came after could wait. This mess was his fault, and he needed to do what he could to fix it. He climbed onto Pelipper and flew straight toward the crater.
Cissy and Officer Jenny both shouted after him, but he ignored them. Magby's condition was still unknown, and at the very least, he had to stop the lava from reaching the town.
"Dad, why is he like this?" Cissy watched him fly back toward the volcano, her worry only getting worse. The volcano had already erupted. Why was he still going closer?
"Don't worry. That kid has seen worse than this," her father said with an easy laugh. He didn't look angry at all.
In his eyes, accidentally waking a dead volcano during a Pokémon's evolution was not the end of the world. A dead volcano would not have much force even if it did revive, and the power of Trainers and Pokémon was nothing to underestimate either.
"Officer Jenny, lava is flowing out. Please keep order here. That side is dangerous now, so I'll go take a look."
Reiji did not know that his departure had stirred up the camp. He had already reached the lava outlet. Rhydon's tunnel was spilling lava, but that was not entirely bad.
An eruption was basically the volcano releasing pressure. The tunnel was acting as a vent. The problem was that one vent was not enough.
He flew back over the crater and saw the lava inside still rising. That told him what he needed to do.
He released Rhydon and had it break open a gap at the lowest point on this side of the crater, giving the lava a controlled path out. Then he had Rhydon stack boulders along both sides of the flow, building a channel as wide as a two-lane road so the lava would not spill everywhere.
After that came the real work. Before the lava could spread, they needed to dig a trench just as wide and carry it all the way down to the sea. If they could guide the lava into the water, they could contain the eruption.
Pelipper cut down the nearby trees with Flying-type moves, and Poliwhirl hauled them away to create a firebreak. That would keep the lava from setting the forest alight.
Even with a plan, the work was far too big for Reiji and three Pokémon. Digging the channel, clearing the trees, and controlling the lava's path was too much.
He was about to ride Pelipper back and bring more Pokémon when Cissy's father descended from the sky.
"Rai, you're trying to send the lava into the sea?" Cissy's father understood his plan the moment he saw the trench and the trees being cleared.
"Yes, Gym Leader. The workload is too much, so I'm going back to bring more Pokémon." Seeing him arrive, Reiji finally felt some of the pressure ease. He left the site in the man's hands and immediately flew back on Pelipper.
Reiji had almost called him "sir" like an older brother, but after seeing Cissy's grandfather beat his son in that hidden room, he knew better. Now that the man was back, Cissy's position as Gym Leader would probably be handed over sooner or later. Reiji did not know him well, but he was definitely stronger than Cissy, so "Gym Leader" was the safer call.
He rushed back to the lakeside cabin, recalled as many of his main Pokémon as he could, and returned to the western forest of Mikan Island.
By then, lava was already spilling from the crater. The faster streams had reached the trench, but the channel Rhydon had dug was still not long enough. They had to move quickly.
Reiji sent Scyther ahead to cut a path through the trees. Kingler dug the first pass of the trench, Rhydon widened it, and Gyarados used Crunch to tear through rocks that Kingler could not break.
Accelgor handled the wild Pokémon. Any wild Pokémon that could not escape in time—or refused to leave—were either carried away or chased out of danger.
Butterfree and Staryu used Confusion to move felled trees. Tentacruel hauled logs with its tentacles. Tauros helped drag timber away. Whiscash joined Kingler in digging.
Every Pokémon he could openly use was thrown into the work. Gengar stayed inside his shadow and did nothing; its job was to protect Reiji. The Pokémon he used under other identities stayed hidden too.
The lava crept downhill, red and boiling. Fortunately, the trench Rhydon and the others had opened was wide enough—about the width of a two-lane road, and more than a meter deep.
They were racing the lava.
Cissy and Officer Jenny soon arrived as well. Once they understood what Reiji was trying to do, they released their own Pokémon and joined in, cutting trees and widening the firebreak. Heat poured off the lava in waves, soaking all four of them in sweat, but no one dared stop to rest.
Before evening, the impossible lava-diversion project was finally complete.
The lava flowed through the gap, followed the trench across the beach, and poured into the sea. Steam hissed up in a huge white cloud.
Only then did the four people standing on the shore finally breathe. Reiji recalled his exhausted Pokémon one by one. They had all worked hard today. They had earned a real rest.
High above, unnoticed by Reiji, Mewtwo remained invisible and watched the four of them work.
It had wanted to help. With its psychic power, digging a trench like this would have been effortless.
But there was a Slowking below, and the powerful aura coming from it made Mewtwo unwilling to descend. The moment Mewtwo used its psychic power, Slowking would definitely notice.
"Finally…" Reiji sat down on the ground, breathing hard. He had not even eaten lunch, and the exhaustion hit him all at once.
But this was not the time to rest. He stood up again and thanked Officer Jenny properly. "Thank you for helping, Officer Jenny. This was my fault, and I'm sorry you all had to clean it up with me."
"Trainer Reiji, the eruption is under control, and no one was hurt. I also understand what happened now," Officer Jenny said, just as tired as he was. "Next time, please don't do anything this dangerous."
The volcano had been contained, so her anger had mostly faded. More than anything, she was simply too exhausted to keep scolding him. Once this was over, she was definitely taking two days off.
"Officer Jenny, Gym Leader, thank you both for your help." Reiji bowed his head again, sincerely this time. He had caused the trouble, so he would own it. He was not the kind of person who dodged responsibility just because the result was ugly.
"Brat. As long as you're fine." Cissy's father was exhausted too. He waved a hand and accepted the thanks. He had done plenty of work today, but Reiji's willingness to admit fault and thank them properly did make him look at the boy a little more favorably.
"Officer Jenny, Gym Leader, there's something I'm not sure I should say." Reiji looked between the two of them. He knew they did not need his thanks, but he could not just say nothing and walk away. To make up for the trouble he caused, he had come up with an idea, though it was still rough.
Besides, he kept glancing toward the volcano, where lava was still flowing out. He still had no idea how Magby was doing.
Worrying would not help. Magby had taken in nearly a hundred million Pokédollars' worth of Fire-type resources. All he could do was hope it came back safely.
He had already decided how to thank them. Now he just had to say it.
"Just say what you want to say," Cissy said when she saw him hesitating. This guy was usually full of nerve. Why was he acting so careful now?
Cissy was still young. The people here were her father and an Officer Jenny she knew fairly well, so she did not understand why Reiji was choosing his words so carefully. Reiji was not close to either adult, and he could not just run his mouth the way he usually did. He had to think before speaking.
"Officer Jenny, Gym Leader," Reiji began, "have you heard of Cinnabar Island?"
He was still organizing his thoughts. His idea was to bring more tax revenue to Mikan Island—a way to make up for at least part of the damage he had caused.
Mikan Island might only have one seaside town, but it was already close to a small city. It could not compare to a major place like Mandarin Island North, of course, but its potential was not low. After all, it had a Gym.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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