Pokémon: Trainers Start as Bounty Hunters.

Tetsuya and Aso's battle had just started a little after noon, and now it was the hottest part of the day.

Not to mention that with the blessing of the Eagle's Great Sunny Day skill, the temperature on the field increased significantly in a short period of time.

"call"

Asu subconsciously wiped the sweat from his forehead: "Skaven, prepare for Dark Pulse."

He had already prepared his defenses.

“Compare the eagle, pluck the sand.”

However, Tetsuya's behavior completely surprised Asu. He ignored the effect of the sunny weather and instead used the disruptive sand-pulling skill.

Caught off guard, the Skarmory's eyes were filled with sand blown in by Pidgeot.

"Cheers~"

The armored bird let out a rather uncomfortable cry.

"Calm down, Armored Bird."

Asu shouted.

As a trainer, he keenly noticed that Skarmory was acting strangely. Even if it had sand in its eyes, Skarmory's personality shouldn't be so aggressive.

"I have a decent understanding of my own Pokémon, but I lack experience."

Su Tian looked at his immature son and nodded silently. At least he had some redeeming qualities.

He looked up at the blazing sun again, wondering when he would realize that Tetsuya had been planning this all along.

"Now! Use the Air Blade!" Tetsuya's commands came one after another.

Before Skarmory could even try to clear the sand from its eyes, Pidgeot's white air blades, unleashed with a flap of its wings, were already upon it.

"Air Blade?"

A flash of inspiration crossed Asu's mind because of the skill Pidgeot used; he seemed to have grasped something key, but unfortunately, it was too late.

The Skarmory, whose condition was gradually deteriorating, was soon defeated by Pidgeot's relentless attacks.

"Skewered is unable to battle, Pidgeot wins, and all three Pokémon of Ash at the Violet City Gym are unable to battle. The winner of this gym challenge is Tetsuya!"

Seeing the armored bird with its eyes wide open, Su Tian decisively announced the result.

"It's temperature!"

After racking his brains, Asu finally understood as if he had just had a sudden realization.

The reason why the armored bird's condition deteriorated so quickly was entirely due to the rapid rise in its body temperature caused by the high external temperature. Every action it took required four or five times more energy than usual.

This is why it became very agitated after being hit by the sand.

Just like how people tend to become irritable in the summer.

This is mainly due to the armored bird's all-steel body structure, which makes its body temperature change faster in abnormal environments than that of a normal-bodied Pidgeot.

"Well, if Tetsuya's Pidgeot can also perform Rain Dance, the combination of heat and cold could cause even more serious damage to your Skarmory, not to mention hail."

Su Tian looked at his son and offered some pointers.

These things won't be written in books, because they've already transcended the function of the skill itself.

It makes more use of the trainer's understanding of Pokémon.

Asu glanced at his father but said nothing.

Su Tian wasn't angry; instead, he turned to look at Tetsuya.

"Congratulations on defeating the Kikyo Gym. This is the Wing Badge."

As he spoke, Su Tian took out a U-shaped badge with stripes that looked like wings from his pocket and handed it to Tetsuya.

"Thank you, Senior Sutian."

Tetsuya took it with both hands and casually put it into his badge box.

This is the second layer of the badge box, which means that the city is the second region he has traveled to.

"Asu, take Tetsuya to the treatment room to heal his Pokémon;

"Then, Tetsuya, come to the reception room later. I need to talk to you about something."

After giving out the badges, Su Tian had completed the first task of calling Tetsuya over, and he then brought up the second matter.

"Ok."

Tetsuya nodded readily.

On the way to the treatment room, Asu couldn't contain his doubts and started asking Tetsuya questions.

He didn't think there was anything seriously wrong with his command.

However, he also did not believe that the difference between his Pokémon's strength and Tetsuya's Pokémon's strength was as great as it appeared.

But the result of the battle is there for all to see.

"It's probably still a matter of experience," Tetsuya thought for a moment and gave a seemingly plausible but ultimately unconvincing answer.

Asu was clearly dissatisfied with this answer.

"I suggest you ask Senior Sutian. In terms of battle strategy, especially the strategy of Sky Pokémon, Senior Sutian is definitely one of the best experts."

Aso seemed noncommittal about Tetsuya's suggestion.

After finishing his treatment, Tetsuya quickly arrived at the meeting room that Suten had asked him to go to.

As soon as he entered the door, Su Tian's question left him somewhat bewildered.

Do you know about the Dark Cave?

"That abandoned, dark tunnel?"

Tetsuya, who was well-versed in the map of the Johto region, subconsciously asked a question in return.

"Yes, that's right, that's the one." Su Tian nodded.

Chapter 325 Trainers Lost in the Maze

The Dark Cave that Su Tian mentioned is a special tunnel located in the eastern suburbs of Kikyo City.

The Dark Cave, as its name suggests, is exceptionally dark inside, so dark that you can't see your hand in front of your face.

"As you know, due to the unique terrain of our Johto region, the Dark Cave, which was originally intended to be a connecting passage between Kikyo City and Ink City, had to be abandoned during development."

Speaking of this location, Su Tian felt a sense of helplessness.

The initial creation and construction of Dark Cavern was actually facilitated by the efforts of the Kikyo Gym.

Of course, Yanmo Dojo also put in a lot of effort.

After all, this concerns the exchange of goods between the two major cities of Chengdu and the capital, which is beneficial to everyone involved.

The better the city where the dojo is located, the stronger the dojo's cultural heritage will be, which in turn can help the city to develop better. This is actually a complementary and indispensable relationship.

Furthermore, Kikyo City and Enmo City are actually quite connected in many ways, and the people of both cities feel that having an additional convenient passageway is a very good thing.

Before this, if you wanted to get from Kikyo City to Blacksmith City, the only official route of the League was a long detour, or you could only travel through the dangerous jungle in the wild.

For most of the Alliance citizens, they did not have the ability to choose the latter option, and the former almost completely cut off contact between the two cities, as it was simply too troublesome.

You might as well go to another city instead.

It's worth noting that the Trainer Academy in Violet City is the best in the entire city, bar none, and it also boasts two famous attractions: Bellsprout Tower and the Sea of ​​Trees.

The Dragon Clan of Momo City is renowned throughout the world, with almost everyone willing to pursue their powerful Dragon-type Pokémon. The nickname "Land of Dragons" for the Johto region is not without reason.

Once the Dark Cave is completed, residents of both cities will be able to enjoy some of the benefits of the other city.

Unfortunately, due to the natural environment of the Johto region, the Dark Cavern project, which was nearing completion, had to be halted by the Alliance.

The Dark Cave is a north-south tunnel, specifically moving from the southwest to the northeast of the Johto region.

According to the original plan and exploration, even if you go from low to high, the slope of the entire cave will not be too large due to the length of the distance.

The results were obvious; neither the assumptions nor the probes matched reality.

Tetsuya didn't know the specifics of the problem, since he was from Kanto, not Johto, but it must be significant. Otherwise, in a world where spirits exist, there wouldn't be any engineering problem that spirits couldn't solve.

If that doesn't work, then switch to a powerful spirit.

The underground tunnels connecting many cities in the Kanto region are strong supporters of this theory.

"Over the years, people still occasionally travel through the Dark Cave, but a few minor problems have arisen since last month."

Su Tian scratched his head, looking exasperated.

Tetsuya tilted his head in confusion.

"It's all those damned earth dragon brothers' fault."

Su Tian uttered a sentence that was completely inconsistent with his appearance and status.

"Is it a habit to stay motionless in the depths of caves where light cannot reach? Dark caves are quite suitable for the little earth dragon to inhabit."

Upon hearing Su Tian's complaint, Tetsuya didn't think about what kind of difficulties the Earth Dragon brother would bring. Instead, based on a bounty hunter's intuition, he judged the probability of the Earth Dragon brother appearing in the Dark Cave.

It's indeed highly probable, and quite reasonable.

"what?"

Then, he subconsciously uttered a sound of disbelief.

No wonder he was so surprised.

The Pokédex describes the Ground Dragon as follows: "Ground Dragon, a Ground Serpent Pokémon. When it is seen by people, it will dig into the ground with its tail and run away with its back to them."

This description reveals that the Earth Dragon is indeed a "little brother," with its only noteworthy characteristic being its timidity and fast running speed.

These Pokémon are extremely weak in the wild. Even though they often appear in large groups, they can still be easily defeated by most trainers.

Of course, this only applies to wild Pokémon; some trainers' Earth Dragon Pokémon are quite powerful.

Although the Earth Dragon Brother's name contains the character for "dragon," he only has the general attribute and not the dragon attribute. However, this "dragon" wasn't chosen randomly.

It is one of the few Pokémon besides Dragon-type Pokémon that can theoretically learn the powerful Dragon-type move, Dragon Dive.

It can only be said that Dragon-type Pokémon in the Pokémon world are sometimes just like the legendary dragons in Tetsuya's previous life, in certain aspects.

"Well, danger aside, since the earth dragon's destructive power is really limited, its natural habits are just too much of a headache."

Hearing Su Tian's explanation, Tetsuya's eyes flashed, and he tentatively asked, "Because of digging up the nest?"

"Yes."

Su Tian nodded fiercely.

Besides remaining motionless, the wild earth dragon brother only uses its drill-like tail to dig the ground and move backward, creating complex nests deep underground.

To put it simply, they are similar to the gophers and tricornus groups in the Kanto region.

The earth dragon brother does indeed occasionally share its nest passage with these two.

However, compared to the other two, the tunnels to the nest built by the younger brother of the earth dragon were smaller and more complicated.

Because it navigates by smelling the soil, its nests are vast mazes to outsiders.

The only advantage is that you don't have to worry about the cave suddenly collapsing. At least the earth dragon is quite serious about building its nest, and the diglett swarm, being a good neighbor and helper, will occasionally help reinforce it with ground-type energy.

After all, you can't be too polite if you take someone's money; sometimes you need to give something in return for using their services.

"Although the Dark Cave was halted just before it was completed, it can actually be considered as half-finished."

If you reach the highest point and climb over it, you can actually reach Yanmo City directly, saving a lot of time compared to traveling by land.

Even though the Dark Cave is considered abandoned, many people still use it as a shortcut to reach Inkstone City every year.

However, due to the complete darkness inside, coupled with the recent appearance of the Earth Dragon's younger brother, the paths within the Dark Cave have become incredibly complex.

In the past month, many relatives of missing trainers have reported that their family members have gotten lost in the Dark Cave.

Su Tian gave a general overview of the problems currently facing the Dark Cave.

Tetsuya quickly understood what he meant.

"Do you want me to go in and rescue them?" Tetsuya asked.