"It must have been Meltan who left it!"
Ethan Black's gaze turned toward the passage covered in rock fragments. Without hesitation, he entered cautiously.
"Cac!"
However, after only a few steps, he was stopped by Cacnea.
Following the direction Cacnea pointed to, Ethan Black quickly spotted the figures of several Geodude.
"There are so many Geodude!"
"Could this be their nest?"
Seeing the Geodude buried in the ground like mines, Ethan Black was surprised.
But before he could give the order to attack, Alex Baxter's Golem stepped out from the group and, without the slightest concern, calmly approached the Geodude.
"Roooar!"
With a roar from Golem, the Geodude suddenly woke up, opened their eyes, and looked around in confusion.
Just as they were about to punish the intruder for disturbing their sleep, they saw standing before them... their final form, Golem!
Immediately, all the Geodude were frightened. No one understood how this "big brother" had suddenly appeared.
Golem, ignoring their changing expressions, began to speak loudly to them, pointing several times toward Ethan Black.
After a while, Golem waved his hand and all the Geodude scattered, running off in different directions of the passage.
Some even rolled right past Ethan Black, who was startled and almost launched an attack.
When the Geodude left, Golem returned to Ethan Black and began gesturing energetically.
"You're saying you asked the Geodude to help us look for Alex and the others?"
After a round of guesses, Ethan Black finally understood what Golem meant and couldn't help but feel happy.
After sending the Geodude to search for Alex Baxter's group, Ethan Black and his Pokémon continued exploring the passage.
After all, in this vast cave system, finding the group was no easy task.
"I definitely need to capture more Pokémon... Hopefully, someday I'll have my own Pokémon army."
As he walked unobstructed through the tunnel, Ethan Black reflected silently.
As he advanced, he noticed the passages were becoming wider and, judging by the marks on the walls, had clearly been excavated.
"This is...?"
Turning a corner, a massive underground chamber appeared before him.
Inside, a gigantic snake made entirely of rock lay coiled, resting.
"It's an Onix!"
"And over there... that's Meltan!"
Ethan Black's eyes narrowed at the imposing body of Onix. Then, looking more carefully, he saw Meltan moving extremely cautiously in a corner, afraid of waking the sleeping beast.
Noticing Ethan Black's presence, Meltan was startled, its eye bulging beyond its head as if it were terrified.
Then, a piece of iron ore suddenly floated, aimed straight at the sleeping Onix.
BOOM!
With a loud crash, the metallic rock struck Onix's head brutally. Onix jolted awake, confused, then roared in fury.
"GRAAAAR!"
Taking advantage of Onix's awakening, Meltan floated more metallic rocks toward the passage where Ethan Black stood and hid in a corner, covering itself with more iron fragments.
Onix, enraged, fixed its gaze on the floating rocks and charged toward them.
"Damn sneaky Meltan!"
Seeing its ploy, Ethan Black turned pale.
Cursing under his breath, he glanced at both the tunnel behind him and the approaching Onix, and with a quick decision, he didn't retreat but instead entered directly into the cave with his Pokémon.
The cavern was large enough to allow his Pokémon to use their moves. If they were cornered in the tunnel, they wouldn't be able to fight freely.
"ROOAR!"
Once Ethan Black appeared, Onix identified him as the culprit who had woken it and roared furiously.
Without wasting time, Ethan Black ordered Shellder and Cacnea to launch attacks to slow Onix's advance.
The moves Water Gun and Magical Leaf proved effective against the rock type, causing Onix to roar in pain.
Then Golem used Heavy Slam, Magneton used Gyro Ball, and Donphan struck with Ice Fang, all hitting Onix at the same time.
The wounded Onix twisted furiously, its tail slamming into the ground and shaking the cave.
"As expected of an Onix, its endurance is incredible!"
Ethan Black silently admired it, and after another wave of attacks, Onix finally collapsed, defeated.
"Go, Pokéball!"
With the throw of a Pokéball, Onix was captured without difficulty.
"Great work, team!"
Ethan Black praised his Pokémon enthusiastically, but when he looked around, he realized Meltan had already disappeared.
"That thing escaped so fast!"
Fixing his gaze on another exit, Ethan Black quickly led his Pokémon in pursuit.
"Another Onix?"
"This feels like a level-based video game..."
Through the passage, Ethan Black reached another cavern where, unsurprisingly, another Onix guarded the only exit, like a level guardian.
"Looks like we can only move forward if we defeat this one too."
Without hesitation, the five Pokémon surrounded it. After a series of deafening attacks, the second Onix was also defeated.
Afterward, Ethan Black defeated several more Onix one after another, until he finally reached the last level of the path.
Before him opened an enormous underground cavern, covered everywhere with scattered iron ore.
And lying upon those metallic fragments... was a gigantic creature. Its body resembled that of a prehistoric beast, exuding an overwhelming presence.
(End of chapter)