"I knew it would be like this."
Julian looked helplessly at the volcano crater, several hundred ters wide. Below, the magma churned like boiling water, and the stinging sulfuric sll kept assaulting his nose.
The Dowsing Machine showed that the Ultimate treasure was located inside the magma.
When Julian first learned about the treasure near the volcano, he’d already suspected it might be hidden in the lava inside the crater.
After all, when he had found the Fire Crystal before, it had been retrieved from lava deep within a volcano too.
And the Ice Core had been located at the bottom of a freezing cold pool.
So now this treasure being inside volcanic magma? No surprise there.
The real problem was: how was Julian going to retrieve it?
Unlike last ti, he didn’t see any Magmar group around here.
Due to their body structures, even among Fire-type Pokémon, only a few could withstand the extre heat of magma.
Magmortar were one of them. Last ti, Julian had "persuaded" a wild Magmortar to retrieve the Fire Crystal for him.
But now, with no Magmortar in sight, all he could see around the crater were so Fire-type Pokémon.
Because of the extre heat at the crater, any rain that tried to fall here was instantly vaporized.
There were, however, four Fire-type Pokémon at the crater: Magcargo, Typhlosion, Centiskorch, and Incineroar. All of them were at the Elite-level.
These four had claid the crater as their territory—it was the most concentrated Fire-type energy zone on the entire volcano.
But none of them could enter magma—their bodies simply weren’t built for it.
Arcanine’s Pokéball began to shake.
It was saying: "I can do it."
Julian’s face darkened. "You’d go in as a dog and co out as roast at."
Sure, Arcanine was a Fire-type and could temporarily withstand the surface heat of magma. But the deeper you go, the hotter it gets—and it wouldn’t even be able to breathe down there.
It might go in alive, but it would co out well-done.
The four Fire-type Pokémon noticed an intruder near the crater. As if on cue, they launched an attack against Julian.
Normally, they were rivals, but when an outsider appeared, they would work together.
They had driven away plenty of humans like Julian before.
Four boosted Flathrowers, amplified by the volcano’s energy, roared toward him like a tidal wave of fire.
Dragonite imdiately pulled Julian back, while tagross flew in to intercept.
With a flash of Teleport, it appeared right in front of Centiskorch. The centipede Pokémon barely had ti to widen its eyes before a teor Mash smashed into its head.
Though all four Pokémon were at the early Elite stage, Centiskorch was the weakest—so naturally it was dealt with first.
Under the force of the teor Mash, Centiskorch was instantly knocked out.
"ROAR!"
Incineroar brought its Darkest Lariat down on tagross with overwhelming force.
Incineroar: "This one’s in the bag."
tagross: “What did you just say?”
Incineroar stared at the completely unhard tagross, thinking maybe the volcanic sulfur was making him hallucinate.
But the whistling sound of an incoming Bullet Punch and the instinctive sense of danger jolted Incineroar back to reality—it wasn’t a hallucination.
Unfortunately, it was already too late to dodge.
All it could do was cross its arms in front of itself to block tagross’s Bullet Punch.
At the sa ti, Magcargo and Typhlosion launched their attacks. The forr unleashed Fire Spin, and the latter fired Flathrower—one from the left, one from the right, both targeting tagross.
If tagross continued attacking Incineroar, it would take both fire attacks head-on.
Under normal circumstances, it would be wiser to give up on the attack, especially since this was a one-against-three situation—and the opponent had a clear type advantage.
Even trainers like Ember or Pierce would likely choose to disengage and dodge in this scenario.
But—
“ta!”
tagross let out a disdainful snort. It allowed the two fire attacks to hit it directly, while at the sa ti landing a Bullet Punch squarely on Incineroar’s face.
BOOM!
Incineroar’s body was slamd into the crater wall, though it wasn’t completely knocked out yet.
In the very next second, a Psycho Cut sliced across its body, sending it to join Centiskorch in defeat.
“ta~”
tagross turned to look at Magcargo and Typhlosion-the two that had ambushed it.
Both Fire-types instinctively took a step back. Even the usually aggressive Typhlosion now showed signs of hesitation.
Four-on-one, and yet two of their teammates had already been taken down—brutally.
Now it was just two-on-one, and tagross hadn’t even taken real damage yet. What were their chances?
Two minutes later, Magcargo and Typhlosion were also down.
Julian tossed out four Pokéballs and captured all of them. Once he left the secret realm, he could exchange them for resources—or give them to Ember if she needed them.
Four Elite-level Pokémon—especially Fire-types, which were in high demand—would be a waste not to catch and convert into value.
---
With the guards taken care of, it was ti to think about how to retrieve the treasure from beneath the magma.
After pondering for a while, Julian muttered, “Guess I’ll have to go with the dumb thod.”
Without a Pokémon like Magmortar that could swim in lava, how could he get the treasure out of the magma?
The dumb thod was simple—just 'drain' the magma entirely.
“Kartana, carve an opening here."
Julian sent out Kartana and pointed to the eastern side of the crater. That side faced the ocean, so if the magma was drained into the sea, the damage to the island would be minimized.
Kartana sliced open a gap over ten ters wide, and then tagross began using its psychic powers to lift magma—dozens of tons at a ti—and throw it out through the opening.
Lava flowed down the newly opened channel and poured into the sea.
Julian could only hope that the treasure wasn’t too deep—if it was hidden at the very bottom of the magma, even tagross wouldn’t be able to scoop it all out.
Volcanoes were structured like inverted cones-narrower at the top and wider at the bottom.
This crater alone was several hundred ters wide, aning the bottom was likely over ten thousand ters in size. The amount of magma inside was unimaginable.
That’s why this thod was the "dumb way"-not only inefficient, but the chances of success were also low.
After hours of labor, the magma level had only dropped about ten ters, and Julian’s face had gone from hopeful to downright gloomy.
In ancient tis, there was a man trying to move mountains. Now there’s Julian scooping magma.
So called the man persistent. Others called him a fool who didn’t know how to adapt. But Julian? His case was pure, unfiltered stupidity.
tagross: 'A lifeti of glory… ruined in a single day.'
"Alright, tagross, let’s—"
Just as Julian was about to call it quits, a pillar of magma suddenly erupted into the air—followed by a cry that echoed across the skies.
As the magma splashed down, it revealed a crimson figure rising in its place.
With every flap of its wings, flas burst into the air. It looked like the incarnation of fire itself.
Moltres: "WHO DARES DISTURB MY SLUMBER?!"
Moltres was livid. It had been sleeping peacefully when faint, annoying noises (the battle) crept into its dreams.
Just as things quieted down, it started to feel its "blanket" growing thinner and thinner-the magma being scooped away.
When it finally woke up, it found so absolute lunatic draining its magma bed—and even 'cutting a hole in its ho!'
*****
Upto 30 chapters ahead on patreon :-
/ReduxMagister
Reviews
All reviews (0)