Dawn of Pokémon

It is said that deep in Mount Aso, there lives a nation that believes in fire.

They are the darlings of fire, with red hair like lava and red eyes like fire. They can manipulate flames with incredible means and dance in the blazing wind.The flaming bird that lives in the volcano is their patron saint - every year, red-haired people hold a festival when the lava of Mount Aso is at its hottest to pray for the flaming bird's protection in the coming year.

The grand ceremony offered to the gods is called the "Five Mountains Fire Ceremony", and the day of the ceremony is called the "Fire Worship Festival", which is the most important festival of the year for the Fire People.

Xiaoye read both sides of the poster carefully and roughly understood what kind of festival Fire Worship Festival is.

As the finale, the Wushan Fire-Sending Ceremony will be held after nightfall. People will set up wooden frames connected by ropes radially to the distance with the crater as the center to form a "big character" shape.When the time is up, the person at the end of the five radiating lines will light the wooden frame at the same time, and the flame will pass forward along the wood and rope until it converges in the center of the crater.At this time, looking down from the night sky, Mount Aso seems to have a huge explosion of large characters - this spectacular scenery attracts many nearby tourists to watch it every year.

The girl's eyes paused on the person in the poster photo.It is said that this ethnic group in the mountains usually has little contact with the outside world, and only receives a large number of foreign tourists during the Fire Worship Festival.People with red hair and red eyes wear exotic costumes, with complex and beautiful lines painted on their faces.They danced to the beat of drums, and their bright feather hangings fluttered in the wind.

"People of Fire..." Xiaoye read out the line of text next to the photo softly, vaguely capturing a sense of familiarity.

Had she seen this word somewhere...?

After thinking for a moment to no avail, Xiaoye put the problem aside for the time being, took out her phone and looked through the information in the GT forum.

Fire worship takes place "when the lava is at its hottest" - a time usually determined by the leader of the Fire People and said to vary from year to year.The poster she got was from last year, and the date can no longer be used as a reference; the date of this year's Fire Festival cannot be found online, and most of it has not been announced yet.But since Yong Zhen, a local, mentioned that "the Fire Worship Festival will be here soon," it must be held in the next few days.

However, in previous years, in order to attract tourists, the date of the Fire Festival was always announced on the forum nearly ten days in advance. Why is there no news at all this year?

Xiao Ye put her inner doubts aside for the time being and carefully browsed the information related to keywords such as Aso Mountain, Fire People, Wind Thieves, etc. - and sincerely lamented that smartphones can really improve the travel experience by fifty percent. Finally, You don’t have to go to the Pokémon Center to get information.

Supported by the amount of intelligence, Xiaoye quickly planned her next trip.After noon, it was the hottest time in the Orange Islands. Xiaoye didn't care much about it. She left the town under the scorching sun and stepped into the almost deserted Mount Aso [Japanese: あそさん, English: Mt. Aso].

She knew that it would not be easy to find the wind thieves who had lived in the mountains for generations on her own, and it would be even more difficult to snatch the stolen goods from those criminals.But the old woman in the town provided free food and accommodation for the contestants like them for several days. In order to repay this kindness, Xiaoye believed that no matter whether she could achieve her goal or not, she should at least try her best first.

When the purple-haired girl stepped into the forest, the scorching sunlight was filtered by the branches and leaves, and the body temperature became slightly more comfortable.Xiaoye kept walking, and the invisible rhythm began to unfold around herself, slowly spreading.

In the previous special training, Xinghai warned Guo Xiaoye that it is best not to practice this technique by permanently turning on detection - once I get used to a blind-spot perspective that is not restricted by the five senses, I will feel like I am in an environment where detection cannot be used. It is as difficult for ordinary people to adapt to being blindfolded suddenly, causing anxiety and panic.If you want to exercise more frequently, just switch from always-on detection to intermittent use.

Since the purpose of this trip is to find someone, waveguide detection is naturally indispensable.

Xiao Ye walked slowly and deeply into the forest.The dense trees brought a bit of coolness, which temporarily revived the little Pichu who was shuddering from the heat. He only hoped that the giant dragon responsible for fighting off wild Pokémon would stay away from it.

The terrain of Mount Aso is indeed as complex and changeable as described in online information. Steep cliffs can be seen everywhere, and one must use both hands and feet to move forward.Perhaps due to the frequent earthquakes in this area, the soil in the mountainous area is not solid. The seemingly flat ground often collapses as soon as you step on it. Even Xiao Ye, who is relatively agile, has stumbled several times.

Seeing that the ground beneath her feet was sinking again, Xiaoye quickly turned around and hung on a thick branch, avoiding the tragedy of falling into the pit again.

A crashing sound sounded from above.She looked up, probably wanting to rush over to save people, but the jagged branches and leaves were pierced through the treetops, and she couldn't move like a fat candied haws skewer. She could only look at the owner's fire-breathing dragon with a QAQ face asking for help. He calmly took out the elf ball, took it back, and replaced it with a forest lizard.

—— She made a mistake. She should have thought that Charizard's half-baked flying skills would have prevented her from turning herself into a skewer of fire dragons.

Perhaps because it is located near a volcano, fire Pokémon often appear in the forest.Fortunately, the forest lizard was agile and with Pichu's support, he was not injured much along the way.

The young trainer led the Pokémon to wander in the mountains and forests for half a day.When the sun set in the west and gradually began to dye one side of the sky red, Xiaoye finally discovered walking traces that did not belong to Pokémon.

Those were the footprints of half a human being hidden in the fallen leaves - the ability to identify them was due to Xinghai's one-week practical training. In the past, Xiao Ye could not notice such details even if the detection was turned on.Although it is unclear who left these footprints, whether they were wind thieves, people of fire or ordinary mountain people, anyone living in the mountains should be able to answer her questions.

Xiao Ye continued to move forward, following the traces of human passing.Not long after, the power of the waveguide sent feedback that was completely different from before.

Xiaoye paused thoughtfully and put the forest lizard back into the ball.

The Pichu on his shoulder blinked in confusion.Xiao Ye made a "keep quiet first" gesture and continued to wander around as if nothing had happened.

Under a new vision that did not belong to the five senses, she felt the auras of multiple humans and Pokémon getting closer and closer, and stopped moving in the bushes not far from her, as if beasts were observing in the dark and unaware of the crisis. Known prey is common.

The next moment, before the people in the darkness began to take action, the ground began to tremble violently.

The momentum created by earthquakes in nature and Pokémon's moves are completely different.The entire forest cried in the anger of the earth. For a moment, the soil cracked, dust flew, and countless fragile branches and leaves broke and fell to the ground, frightening the bird Pokémon staying on the treetops.

Xiao Ye, who was unprepared for this, almost fell down.Before she stood upright, the breath hidden in the bushes moved.

The trainer caught a glimpse of a group of purple figures rushing toward him from the corner of his eye - the sharp needle on the Scorpion's tail had already lit up with purple light, and the hoarse screams that could frighten the enemy overlapped together, mixed with the sound of the earth shaking, and became even louder. Horrible.

As if stunned by fright, it was not until the Scorpios opened their pincers silently that the person being attacked panicked and raised his arms, as if he wanted to instinctively protect his head.The Scorpio at the front clamped the girl's arm mercilessly, and stabbed the sharp tail needle hard, injecting painful venom into her flesh.

The dim wind blade sliced ​​past the attacker's side.The strap of the backpack was cut off silently, and was knocked away by another Scorpio before it hit the ground.

When the hand that reached out from the forest firmly caught the backpack, only a few seconds passed.The young trainer who was alone opened his eyes in "panic" and clearly saw the jumping figures - they were five people wearing short gray cloaks and covering their faces with hoods.They moved with astonishing agility, jumping on the branches like monkeys, disappearing into the branches and leaves in a flash and disappearing.

The girl, who was robbed in the mountains as she wished, stood still for a few seconds, and then turned around and chased after her as if she had just woken up from a dream.

The wound stabbed by Scorpio was not shallow, and uncoagulated blood dripped down his fingers.Xiaoye didn't care about this as always, and just shook her numb arm.

Scorpio's toxin is injected very "experienced", it will only cause pain for a short period of time, and the numbness is not strong - the numbness Xiaoye feels now is actually caused by the electric shock from the little guy on her shoulder.

"Master, why are you stopping me!" Pichu waved his little paw angrily.If Xiaoye hadn't suddenly slapped its head down at the critical moment, it would have electrocuted those people to the ground. "The bag contains our food for several days!"

"I'll get it back - but it will take a while." Xiaoye winked at Pichu with her right eye.

The shaking of the earth has slowly stopped.Before the sound of shaking branches and leaves stopped, Xiaoye quickly explained to Pichu the reason why she did this.

If you want to get back the old lady's stolen jade bracelet, finding out the location of the Wind Thief's lair is an essential first step - fortunately, Xiangju Island has inconvenient transportation and there are few ships going out to sea, so the Wind Thief probably hasn't had time yet. Dispose of the stolen goods just acquired a few days ago.

There is news on the forum that the wind thieves are often active at night, but now they have grabbed large travel backpacks that are not convenient to carry. Xiaoye thinks that the wind thieves will most likely choose to return to the base camp to put down their loot.

In fact, she originally planned to find a few local mountain people to inquire about the areas where the wind thieves often hang out. What she did just now was just an impromptu idea after recalling the bloody and tearful outpourings of "single travelers who entered the mountains and were robbed of all their belongings" on the forum.Therefore, except for personal items such as mobile phones and ID cards, all of Xiaoye's belongings are in her bag. If she loses them, she may really have nothing to eat.

Upon hearing this, Pichu immediately covered his mouth with his little paws, showing by his actions that he would do his best to stay quiet and not alert others, so as to protect his dinner.

The girl slowed down her steps and started running through the forest as quickly as the wind thief.However, before running a few steps, a new breath suddenly appeared within the range of the waveguide detection.

There happened to be an open space with few trees in front of her, and Xiaoye saw the person coming at a glance.

It was a boy with bright red hair.As he jumped on the branches, the light-colored scarf wrapped around his neck flew high in the wind, revealing the complicated pattern on the back of his coat.

There is a pendant with three feathers hanging on the young man's chest. The interlaced colors of gold and red are swaying in the air, as if they are burning out of thin air.The orange-red color of dusk fell from the sky, covering the young man's figure with an illusory, flame-like cloak.

The red-haired boy waved his hand gently, and the Pokémon hidden in the shadows behind him popped out like a sharp arrow.

The wind thief seemed to be aware of it and turned back, but even Scorpio, who had the fastest reaction, failed to take any action before that volley kick.The body of the strong chicken almost appeared as an afterimage, and the feet wrapped around the orange light kicked it away hard.It twisted and stood up, its sharp claws danced with sharp light, sweeping away the dust in the air.

The man in the cloak stumbled back a few steps, and the "trophy" in his hand fell to the ground.

Xiao Ye, who saw all this from afar, looked thoughtful, and her pace suddenly quickened, making a rustling sound from fallen leaves and broken branches.

"Hey, aren't you going to follow me quietly? Qiu——!?" Pichu exclaimed, lowering the strength of his telepathy.

The trainer smiled at the anxious electric mouse and secretly sighed that his luck had rarely improved for once.

"Now there's a better way."

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