Pokémon: Trainers Start as Bounty Hunters.

"This is not a place you can find out just by relying on your senses. Without excellent memory and observation skills, you might lose your way after taking a few wrong turns."

Tetsuya felt a real headache coming on.

Even with his exceptional abilities, he still had to repeat the same steps four or five times under these circumstances.

This will significantly reduce the efficiency of the rescue efforts.

He took out the Siluf detector he had gotten from his friend and examined it.

According to the instrument, he is currently 200 meters underground. The surrounding humidity is high, and the air is relatively thin but maintained at an acceptable level.

Forget about signal strength.

At this depth, coupled with the energy levels, it would be impossible for any signal to connect to the outside.

Fortunately, his detection instrument was advanced enough and had its own database; otherwise, it would have been impossible to analyze the environment.

"So, Senior Sutian doesn't actually know if any of those guys survived."

Tetsuya sighed.

Fortunately, ordinary people wouldn't dare to venture into the abandoned Dark Cave to reach Blackrock City; the people involved in the incident were all trainers.

Being a trainer means that they have at least good survival skills in the wild, and it also means that their backpacks should contain enough food to sustain them for quite some time.

This is a must-have for every trainer, and Tetsuya is no exception.

Whenever he goes into the wilderness, he always keeps enough compressed food and water in his backpack to last for half a month.

In the most extreme circumstances, this support period can even be extended to a month.

Besides, he has elves, so if pushed too far, becoming a Robinson Crusoe in the elf world wouldn't be a big problem.

"It seems there really are gophers around."

Tetsuya casually put away the detector and then discovered some clues at the bottom of the cave passage.

The mound of earth rose up.

This is the best evidence of where the gophers have been.

These little creatures, which move about a meter underground, will definitely leave such paths to indicate that they have been there.

These are traces that even a flood cannot cover up.

"Down"

While he was thinking, Blaziken suddenly appeared in front of Tetsuya and assumed a defensive stance.

A white flame with a hint of blue-green flashed past the cave entrance not far away.

This is...

Tetsuya's expression changed, having experienced nine years of compulsory education in his previous life.

"I did not sense the presence of a waveguide."

The sound of Blaziken echoed in his mind.

"I know, I'll go take a look."

Tetsuya nodded solemnly, put on the gas mask that came with his adventure suit, and then walked over with his companions.

As he entered the fork in the road, a pile of skeletons appeared before him.

"really."

He was certain in his heart.

The eerie flames we just saw were phosphorescent.

"The time of death is too far in the past to confirm, but it should be a human male, who seems to be an unknown unlucky guy."

After carefully examining the skeleton, Tetsuya made a simple judgment.

Given the daily floods, it's quite remarkable that this unfortunate creature has managed to have a complete skeleton gathered in one place.

He looked around the skeleton and saw nothing else; he guessed it had all been scattered by the water.

Then Zhe left the place.

After all, phosphine, which causes phosphorus fire, is highly toxic.

As for why phosphorescent flames suddenly appeared, it's probably due to Blaziken.

Phosphorus fire shouldn't be generated in such a humid environment, but the Blaziken's body constantly radiates intense heat, which directly ignites the phosphine.

"So, where was this guy originally supposed to be?"

Standing at a central point where all roads lead in all directions, Tetsuya looked around.

"Blazing Chicken".

He suddenly spoke up.

"Oh my!"

Although Tetsu didn't say anything, Blaziken, who had a great understanding with him, immediately understood what he was thinking.

Then, a red, scorching aura began to emanate from the Blaziken's body.

The phosphorescent light flashed by again.

"There."

Tetsuya immediately caught the fleeting color.

Go deeper, keep going deeper.

The surrounding soil gradually lightened from its initial dark color.

Upon examining the detection equipment, it became clear that the humidity level here was already quite low.

"So, this is a high point, which can provide some shelter from floods?"

Under the light of the electric dragon, Tetsuya made his judgment and wrote down this special location in his notebook.

This wasn't the first place he found where he could escape the flood.

Presumably, those trainers who perished should be able to find similar locations; hopefully so.

"Buwoo"

The electric dragon, with its gleaming tail, picked up a fragment from the ground and handed it to Tetsuya.

Thanks.

Tetsuya patted its little head.

Looking at the Poké Ball fragment in his hand, he fell into thought.

There are traces of gopher teeth, it looks like it was gnawed by gophers.

However, there were also charred black marks, and the groundhog doesn't have any fire-type damage skills.

So it must have been other wild Pokémon that ambushed this guy, and then Diglett gnawed on the abandoned Poké Ball.

This guy's skills are a bit lacking.

Tetsuya quickly pieced together the general circumstances of the other party's murder.

Incidentally, he also made a very disrespectful remark to the deceased in his mind.

Although we don't know what kind of Pokémon it is, judging from the marks left on the fragments, this Pokémon can't be very strong.

If they're not too incompetent, then they're just not vigilant enough.

"No, or perhaps it's possible that they've become so weak that they're powerless to resist."

However, he quickly thought of another possibility.

This possibility left Tetsuya somewhat silent for a moment.

"Let's go, let's keep looking."

He casually tossed the fragments on the ground and continued walking with his three companions to other places.

One hour, two hours...

Something's not right.

Tetsuya narrowed his eyes as he discovered yet another human skeleton.

This is the sixth body he has found in this period of time.

Moreover, the marks left at the location of each body's murder were all burn marks.

Let the Blaziken check the nature of the residual energy on the burn marks again; it says there's a very eerie feeling about them.

"Is it a Ghost-type Pokémon?" Tetsuya muttered to himself.

In such an environment, it is indeed possible for Ghost-type Pokémon to survive.

So, what kind of spirit could it be? He stood there and began to think.

"Pang Yan Monster, use gravity."

Suddenly, he let out a loud shout.

An earthy yellow light burst forth instantly.

“gi——”

A piercing, sharp scream rang out, filled with panic.

A small, humanoid creature with a deep purple body emerged from a crevice in the cave under the pressure of the giant rock monster's skills.

Sableye, a dark Pokémon, is a Dark/Ghost-type Pokémon with jewel-like eyes that allow it to see its surroundings even in very low light.

They mainly live deep underground, using sharp claws to dig in the soil. Their main food consists of stones, ores, and even gemstones. Their sharp, razor-like teeth are not only their feeding tools but also powerful weapons.

Tetsuya's mind flashed through information about this Pokémon.

In ancient legends, these spirits, who live underground or in caves, are said to steal souls when their eyes emit an eerie light in the dark, which is why they are called "soul-stealing eyes."

However, the alluring eye in front of Tetsuya was trying its best to curl up its frail body, indicating that it posed no threat whatsoever.

Soul-Hooking Eyes was filled with fear at this moment.

It was just hiding in the shadows and peeking around as usual, never expecting to run into a tough opponent.

The imposing presence of the three elves clearly told SableEye a fact: in their eyes, it was just a little brother, just like how it bullied the Earth Dragon.

"Is this the little guy? Something doesn't seem right."

Tetsuya muttered.

Sableye's reputation is indeed so-so, but in reality, this kind of elf is not a particularly fierce type.

Even among Dark-type and Ghost-type Pokémon, this one is considered friendly.

Their notoriety stems primarily from their long-term habit of living in darkness, which makes them particularly fond of playing pranks.

To put it more directly, many people don't mind keeping this little guy as a pet.

This would be impossible for any other Ghost-type Pokémon.

Furthermore, the Sableye in front of me, with its ordinary-level strength, doesn't seem like it could possibly attack a trainer.

“gi~”

Sensing that Pang Yan Monster was merely restraining him without making any further moves, the Soul Reaper made a pleading sound towards Tetsuya.

It knew that this strange, seemingly incapable fighter was the leader, just like the ones it had encountered before.

"Blazing Chicken, ask it what other Pokémon live in the nearby caves."

Tetsuya said to the Blaziken that was on guard nearby.

"Down"

Blaziken nodded.

The blue waveguide spread out.

Tetsuya could even sense surprise and disbelief in the jewel-like eyes of the Soul-Hooking Eyes.

Elven languages ​​also come in many varieties, which can be simply understood as the differences between Mandarin, dialects, and ethnic languages ​​from their previous lives.