There seems to be something wrong with these Pokémon

It’s a pity that the entrance to the top of the volcano seems to have been blocked by the staff of the institute.

After the negotiations failed, Shuo Gu Ye and the others had to return empty-handed.

When leaving the mountain, I could still hear the voices of the staff behind me.

"Not to mention the tourists, even if the police came, they wouldn't have the authority to enter without a search warrant!"

"That's right. We have submitted an application! I don't know why so many people are rushing to the crater. It's so dangerous."

So the two were forced to return and had to wander around the area for a whole day until the sun went down before returning to the hotel to rest.

Inside the hotel

Fujino Sakura and a group of Pokémon sat on the ground in a very ungraceful manner, eating their meals with relish.

On the other side, Shuoya Ye was putting food into his mouth slowly and leisurely, holding a mobile phone in one hand.

The words in the chat box remained at the brief conversation that morning.

No more news after this.

Shuo Gu Ye stared at the small screen in a daze, as if he could see the person on the other side of the screen in this way.

wrong.

Shuo Gu Ye raised his eyebrows and murmured in a low voice.

"He's not a child, he can't be lost. Why are you so anxious?"

After saying that, he placed his phone upside down on the table, then very familiarly pressed down Ditto's evil claws that were secretly stretched out, and shouted, "No! You can only eat this much for dinner! If you eat any more, you will get a stomachache!"

Hearing such cruel words, Ditto raised his head with tears in his eyes, and his watery little eyes just blinked at his trainer.

Just... just take another small bite!

"No, Ditto." However, Sakuya Ye, who had long been immune to such pitiful looks, rejected him mercilessly, "Remember what we agreed on before? You will not miss out on the meals you are supposed to eat, and don't even think about eating what you are not supposed to eat."

Oh... okay.

The salivating Ditto could only leave with regret.

However, when he retracted his arm, he accidentally rubbed the mobile phone on the table.

The next moment, the phone landed on the soft tatami in a perfect free-fall posture.

Sakuya breathed a sigh of relief, and Ditto patted his chest, then quickly slipped away before the trainer came to investigate.

After the impact, the phone, which had been black, began to light up again.

Holding the mobile phone, Shuoya Ye looked at the chat box that appeared in front of him again. He wanted to put his hand directly back on the table, but he hesitated for some reason.

After about three minutes, the phone, having completed its mission, returned to the table.

At the same time, Fujino Sakura's voice came from another room.

"Uncle, are you back?"

"What? Looking for Xiaoye? He should be in the next room, right? What do you want?"

"Ah?! Another guessing game! Let me go! You should go find Xiao Ye. Bye, bye!"

Along with his laughter of relief at escaping a disaster, Shuo Guye's door was also knocked.

"Please come in."

Shuo Gu Ye stood up and was about to go to the door to greet the uncle of the hotel.

"Two puzzles!" The uncle did not intend to come in, but shouted directly at the door, "The first one: Overlord of the sea, weak at first and strong later. What is this?"

"The second one: There is a great flood above and a great fire below. Where is this?"

By the time Shuo Gu Ye opened the door, the uncle had disappeared.

Only echoes resounded in the corridor.

"I'll be waiting for you at the answer to the puzzle, Sakuya-san."

----

in the forest

The vigorous Nidoking roared, and with his strong and powerful arms he easily cut a tree that was five men thick in half, and then lifted it up with one hand.

The ferocious roar echoed throughout the forest.

Of course, as the man facing this roar, he had already sat down, his legs shaking uncontrollably, begging, "I say, I say, I say! Please make it stop!!!"

But the boy wearing a funny mask ignored the man.

The pale rabbit face looked even more creepy under the light from the mobile phone, and the sides of the red lips painted with red dye were curled upwards, forming a smile that was both weird and grotesque.

His green fingers were replying to text messages on the glowing screen of his mobile phone, one click at a time.

-How's it going? Is it going well? Will you be back tonight?

The masked boy paused his finger in the air and pressed send.

-Soon, wait for me a moment.

-good.

His thumb rubbed the edge of the phone, and a hint of smile flashed across his eyes hidden under the mask.

It seemed that even the cold temperament was restrained in an instant and became gentle.

At least that's what the man lying on the ground thought.

Before he could relax a bit, the masked boy raised his eyes again the next moment, as if the King of Hell was demanding his life.

The voice was hoarse and low, containing a murderous aura that was difficult to conceal.

"Are you still not going to speak? You are so stubborn..."

man:? ? ?

Didn’t I shout several times that I wanted to speak? !

It's you who didn't pay attention!!!

Suddenly realizing that there was no such thing as human rights in the eyes of the person in front of him, the man couldn't help but shed a tear and repeated.

"I said...I said it!!"

Just as he took a deep breath and was about to reveal the central control position of the Rockets' operation.

Hey, listen to me! Why are you looking down at your phone again?

The man took a deep breath and almost suffocated himself. Looking at the ferocious Nidoking beside him, he didn't dare to act rashly and could only cover his mouth with tears in his eyes. He told Nidoking who was holding the tree trunk high that he would be a good boy.

-The king of the sea, weak at first and strong later, and a great flood above and a great fire below. What are the answers to these two puzzles?

The masked boy raised his eyebrows slightly, and many possible answers flashed through his mind. Finally, he screened them and chose the final answer.

The moment his fingers tapped the screen, the boy's frustrated expression when facing the previous puzzles flashed before his eyes, and he couldn't help laughing.

After a moment, he raised his eyes again.

"It looks like you want something hard."

The masked boy's cold voice sounded in his ears. The man, who was no longer able to refute, just whimpered twice. When he was about to speak, the masked boy interrupted him again.

"Nidoking." The masked boy turned around and waved his hand, "Teach him a lesson, just leave him with a breath."

The man's breath hitched.

Especially when seeing Nidoking raise his sandbag-like fist again.

Tonight, the howling of ghosts and wolves echoed throughout the volcano.

Everyone can feel the man’s resentment...or grievance?

"Give me a chance to speak!!!"

----

"Wait a minute." Shuoya Ye called out to Fujino Sakura who was moving in circles around the table endlessly, "Lingyou replied to the message."

"What did he say?" Upon hearing this, Fujino Sakura immediately fell on the table, half dead, and said, "The riddles this bad uncle asked are so weird that I have never been able to answer them all!"

Shuoya Ye, who had never answered correctly, silently nodded in his heart, and then shifted his attention back to the chat box.

Just one glance and he frowned, not saying anything for a long time.

Impatiently, Fujino Sakura jumped to Sakutani Ye's side in three or two steps and looked at the answer on the screen.

"Gyarados and...shower room?" Fujino Sakura's eyebrows knitted together, puzzled and asked, "Are these two things related?"

"It seems... I have some impression."

Shuo Gu Ye's brows furrowed as he tried hard to recall.

Shower and Gyarados...

What is the first scene that comes to your mind when you see these two words?

"Hiss!" Sakuya Ye took a breath, then turned his head to look at Fujino Sakura with excitement, "I know!"

"what?"

"There is a special-shaped shower head in the shower!" Shuoya Ye finally remembered the unusual thing in his memory and hurriedly stood up and ran towards it.

"Hey, wait for me!"

Fearing that she would be left behind, Fujino Sakura picked up her bag and hurried after him.

----

Arriving in front of the Gyarados shower head, Sakutani Ye and Fujino Sakura looked at each other, and circled around this special statue shower head again and again, but couldn't figure out what it was.

In desperation, they released almost all of their Pokémon to help them search.

After searching for half an hour in vain, Sakutani and Ye, who had already given up, were about to leave. Nidoqueen accidentally tripped over Bulbasaur and lost her balance, falling backwards.

It just happened to fall on Gyarados's nozzle!

The next moment, the nozzle was dented! ?

Shuo Gu Ye's eyes lit up and he quickly ran over to press it again.

As Gyarados' nozzle lowered lower and lower, the clicking sound became clearer and clearer, ringing in everyone's ears.

Fujino Sakura turned around, pointed at the secret passage that was slowly opening not far away, and shouted excitedly, "Xiaoye, this way! Just a little bit more!"

After the secret passage was completely opened, the two immediately took back all the Pokémon and walked into the pitch-black secret passage with flashlights.

----

heat.

If there were any words that could express the feelings of the two people walking in the secret passage at that moment.

It just gets hotter.

The heat seemed to spread from the skin to the bone marrow, making it unbearable and stuffy.

Even the rock used to build this secret passage seemed to glow red under the light, proving its high temperature.

None of the two people present wanted to touch it to test its temperature.

"I say... that uncle... doesn't he really want to sell us out?" Fujino Sakura swallowed her saliva, raised her hand to wipe the sweat from her forehead and said, "This... is too hot, right? How long have we been walking? We're not there yet!"

"Hold on a little longer."

Sakutani Ye, who swore in her heart that she would cut her hair short, shook her long hair that was wet with sweat, borrowed a rubber band from Fujino Sakura, tied her hair up, and put a high ponytail behind her head.

The continuous high temperature also made his face flushed, and his light blue T-shirt had long been soaked with sweat and stuck to his back.

The straight back supports the slender neck, and the delicate collarbone and neck form a neck dimple of appropriate depth.

If it weren't for the Poké Ball he was holding tightly in his hand, many people would probably mistake him for a talented dancer.

Obviously, the endless stairs and the gradually rising temperature also aroused his suspicion, but adhering to the uncle's daily care, he still said, "Walk for another five minutes. If you still can't see the bottom, you must turn back no matter what."

"Yeah." Fujino Sakura obviously didn't want to give up halfway, and nodded, "That uncle better not do anything wrong."

----

About three minutes later, the two finally stopped in front of a dark stone door, looked at each other, and threw out Pokémon at the same time.

"Mosquito Frog, use water gun."

"Duck up, water gun."

Two water guns shot at the stone gate from different directions.

The sizzling sound and the steam coming out of the stone gate show its high temperature.

Not until the water sprayed for five or six minutes did the uncontrollable heat finally dissipate, and Shuo Gu Ye placed his hand on the stone door and pushed hard.

bang-

As the stone door opened, the scene before them dyed their pupils red.

magma--!

The ground is full of magma!

At the other end of the lava pool, a figure slowly turned around. With his distinctive bald head and fighting eyes, any trainer who knew Pokémon would be able to recognize him at a glance.

"Challenger."

Xia Bo slowly raised his right hand, holding in his hand the wig that had always appeared in front of Shuo Gu Ye and others to conceal their identities.

As the two people's eyes focused on him, Xia Bo curled his lips and loosened his palm.

The wig was immediately submerged in the boiling magma. Many greedy magma bubbles on the surface of the pool made dissatisfied sounds, as if complaining that the food was so small that it could not even fill its stomach.

"Xia Bo, the leader of the Red Lotus Gym, accepts your challenge." Xia Bo raised his left hand behind his back, and three Poké Balls lay obediently in his palm.

"Rules of the Red Lotus Gym Tournament: Both sides can use three Pokémon, and can only send out one Pokémon at a time. The challenge ends when all Pokémon on one side lose their ability to fight."

Before the two could come to their senses, Xia Bo, who had been unable to contain his excitement, continued, "Of course, as the challenger, you have the first move, and you can change Pokémon in the middle of the battle."

"Then, the challenge begins!"