Chapter 342: Mountain
After May took first place at the Akiba Contest, Ash's group continued to head toward Lavaridge Town.
Yantotsu Mountain stood between Fallarbor Town and Lavaridge Town, so Ash's group planned to take the cable car to cross it. On their way to Yantotsu Mountain, they passed through a cave filled with Slugma, accidentally stumbled into a Numel farm, and after once again blasting away the meddling Team Rocket Trio...
The group arrived at the cable car station at the foot of Yantotsu Mountain.
As a sharp, hurried bell rang out, Ash and his friends quickened their pace toward the station.
They finally managed to board the cable car just before it departed. The Team Rocket Trio, who had been tailing them, were less fortunate; the doors closed just as it was their turn.
"Phew, we made it! I'm exhausted!" May said, panting heavily.
Ash looked at the nearly collapsed May and sighed, "May, it seems your physical training isn't enough yet."
"No way! I've been working really hard on my training lately!" May retorted immediately.
Had she known being a Trainer was this tiring, she wouldn't have chosen this path. Wouldn't it have been better to just be a Coordinator?
Ever since Ash required her to train alongside her Pokemon on Dewford Island to build rapport and trust, May's schedule had been packed almost every day.
Of course, her efforts during this time had paid off. At the very least, she could now defeat that pseudo-Elite Tyranitar if all her Pokémon fought together.
Ash believed that it wouldn't be long before he would witness the scene of "father and daughter battling" at the Petalburg Gym.
As the cable car moved, the group saw the full view of Yantotsu Mountain.
Although Yantotsu Mountain was a dormant volcano, the magma inside was still quite active, and thick black smoke billowed from the crater at the summit.
Soon, a red helicopter caught the attention of Ash and his friends.
Brock looked uncertainly at Ash and May, "That just now was..."
May recalled the appearance of the helicopter and said uncertainly, "It looked like a helicopter, right? I feel like I've seen one like it somewhere before."
"We have indeed seen it. That's a Team Magma helicopter. They must be heading here for something on Yantotsu Mountain," Ash analyzed.
After the Team Magma helicopter landed, their old acquaintance, Captain Homura of Team Magma, stepped off with his subordinates.
"All personnel below Fire 3, take your positions!"
Following his order, the other Team Magma members immediately sprang into action.
Their target was a middle-aged man wearing glasses, who was holding a strange stone in his arms.
"Who... who are you people? What do you want with me?" the middle-aged man asked timidly.
"We aren't looking for you, but for the meteorite in your hands," said Homura.
"What?" the middle-aged man looked at them in surprise.
Just as Ash and his friends were about to move to intercept Team Magma, they saw another special helicopter land on Yantotsu Mountain before they could even act.
With two aircraft now on Yantotsu Mountain, intuition told May that something serious must be happening on the mountain. "What on earth is going on at Yantotsu Mountain?"
"I'm not sure, but that aircraft isn't from the good guys either. They must be members of Team Aqua."
Ash could tell from their Aura signature that they were the same guys they had encountered at the underground ruins on Dewford Island.
On Yantotsu Mountain, Homura said impatiently, "Hurry up and hand over the meteorite!"
The middle-aged man clutched the meteorite even tighter. "What are you talking about? This meteorite is crucial research material. How can I just hand it over to you people?"
"That meteorite can only realize its true value in our hands!"
"What do you mean by that?"
Suddenly, the sound of the Team Aqua aircraft landing drew the attention of both parties.
"River B, go secure the station. River A, follow me!" Captain Izumi of Team Aqua ordered her subordinates.
As the Team Aqua members seized the cable car station, the moving cable car ground to a halt in mid-air.
"Huh? Why did it stop?" May looked at the stalled cable car in confusion.
Brock spotted the phone inside the cable car and immediately picked it up to dial a number, but after waiting over ten seconds with no answer, he said, "The emergency phone isn't being answered either. Team Magma or Team Aqua must have cut the power to the cable car."
"There's no other way. We'll just have to hike up the mountain to see what's going on."
Ash had no choice but to show May his even more inhuman Psychic methods. He used Teleport to bring the two of them along, arriving on Yantotsu Mountain in the blink of an eye.
Brock had always known that Ash's Psychic powers were strong, but May only knew he possessed them without having any concept of how powerful they actually were. Regardless, it would be exposed sooner or later, so it didn't really matter if it was a bit earlier or later.
"Huh?! What just happened?" May looked around in confusion.
She had just closed her eyes for a second, and now she was off the cable car that had been dozens of meters in the air. This was just too outrageous, right?
On Yantotsu Mountain, Team Aqua's field captain, Izumi, greeted Team Magma's Homura as if they were old acquaintances: "Long time no see, Field Captain Homura!"
"It's you, Izumi. Your appearance in a place like this means..."
"You're as sharp-witted as ever. Of course, I'm here to take that meteorite as well."
Team Aqua Izumi's words caused the middle-aged man clutching the meteorite to completely lose hope.
"Hmph, big talk. I hope that jinx from your Team Aqua can help you break through this time!"
Homura's words made Izumi's face darken.
"You were just lucky last time, but that won't necessarily be the case this time!"
The jinx the two were referring to was undoubtedly 'Goh', known as the unlucky one.
In a recent clash between Team Magma and Team Aqua, Team Aqua was supposed to have ambushed Team Magma. However, that unlucky guy Goh, upon learning it was a big operation, had a lapse in judgment and brought the Rattata assigned to him by Team Aqua, exposing all of the Team Aqua members.
During the battle, Goh performed some extreme maneuvering, taking all the attacks that Team Aqua's Pokémon had aimed at Team Magma, and drawing all the aggro from Team Aqua's Pokémon onto himself, which led to the failure of Team Aqua's operation.
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