Pokémon: Trainers Start as Bounty Hunters.

The Ice Six-Tails, which had been poking at the water's surface with its forelimbs, immediately turned around and climbed up Tetsuya's clothes onto his shoulder.

The set of movements was fluid and skillful.

A barely perceptible chill condensed on its forelimbs.

As it ascended, the Ice Six-tailed Fox froze the water on its feet into ice blocks and then crashed to the ground.

Thanks to this, Tetsuya didn't get wet again early in the morning.

It was just a bit chilly where the Ice Vulpix passed by.

The Pidgey, hovering in the air, let out a cry to indicate that it understood, then landed on the ground and began preening its feathers with its beak.

It was unusually in good spirits.

That makes sense, since Pidgeot hasn't really moved much these past few days except for its daily training.

Tetsuya goes to either snow-capped mountains or underground caves, leaving him no space to come out.

With Pidgeot watching over him, he confidently led Vulpix on a "sweep."

The scenery near the top of the waterfall is no different from that of a typical forest, except that it is at a higher altitude.

"What exactly caused Magikarp to evolve into Gyarados after leaping over the waterfall?"

Tetsuya murmured to himself, stroking a broken tree.

In his view, everything in the world should have a traceable origin, and the phenomenon of leaping over the dragon gate must have its roots.

Many researchers think this way, including Dr. Yamanashi, a leading expert in Pokémon evolution research.

He has visited the uninhabited island of Sweet Orange in the Orange Islands more than once to investigate and study the cause of the "carp leaping over the dragon gate" phenomenon.

But there was still no clue and no progress.

They did publish quite a few reports on the habits of Magikarp, such as its spawning migration.

Tetsuya came up here for this very reason, wanting to see what was unusual about the surrounding environment.

Perhaps he himself didn't realize that, under the influence of Professor Yamanashi and Professor Oak, his habits were starting to resemble those of a Pokémon researcher.

For the average trainer, they wouldn't bother to explore the deeper reasons behind a phenomenon.

Capturing Pokémon or recording phenomena are what they usually do.

"Mu"

A tender yet somewhat low cry rang out.

A chubby yellow elf was watching the two uninvited guests from a distance.

Its hands looked like they were wearing gray boxing gloves, and it had a gray "napkin" tied around its neck. Its squinty eyes were very similar to Xiao Gang's, and it seemed to be smiling happily all the time.

"The Makushita Rikishi of Hoenn, the ecology of Mt. Raibo is really good."

Tetsuya sighed as he looked at the honest-looking elf.

In just one day, he met many elves from other regions at Leibo Mountain.

This is a rare occurrence in other wilderness environments.

Because these "outsider" elves, who do not have a group to stick together for warmth, would find it very difficult to survive in the wild in another region.

Perhaps only a super-large mountain range like Leibo Mountain, with its underground caves, could allow them to live a free and prosperous life.

Makushita Rikishi stared at Tetsuya and the Ice Six-Tails for a while, but did not launch an attack.

It wobbled over to a big tree and started ramming it with its body.

This is a unique characteristic of this type of elf.

Makushita Rikishi loved physical training more than anything else, and would constantly ram into large trees to build a strong body and an indomitable spirit.

Even when their territory is invaded, these creatures, with their gentle and honest nature, rarely take the initiative to attack.

However, don't take advantage of this to bully them, as the enraged Makuhime are also quite powerful.

As a Pokémon known for its strong will, Makushiro will never give up no matter how many times it is knocked down, and will always get back up tenaciously.

Each time it stands up, it continuously accumulates energy within its body for evolution.

It's possible that in the course of the battle, the invaders will not be facing a Makuhito, but its evolved form, the Iron Fist Warrior.

That's a strongman who can easily slap a ten-ton object away.

Tetsuya, of course, had no interest in disturbing the training of the Makuhime.

Looking around, he knew that the broken trees were most likely the work of this Makuhito.

It seems this little guy is not far from evolving into Iron Fist Warrior.

Due to the unique terrain of Mount Leibo, the Pokémon in the mountains are actually much weaker. Makushita Riki, who is at the critical point of evolution, can probably be considered a local tyrant.

"Why don't we ask it?" A thought popped into Tetsuya's mind.

He quickly put this idea into action.

"Mu?"

As Tetsuya and the Ice Vulpix approached, even though Makushita Rikishi didn't mind, it stopped its training and looked at the strangers in front of it with a wary expression.

Tetsuya wore a gentle smile and held a Fighting-type Pokémon food in his hand: "I mean no harm, I just want to talk to you."

"Mu"

Makushita Rikishi shook his head.

No, you don't want to.

"Uh." Makushita Rikishi's overly decisive refusal left Tetsuya somewhat bewildered.

Since meeting Suicune in Johto, these gentle Pokémon have treated him quite well, but this time things have turned out differently.

However, he quickly adjusted his mindset.

After thinking for a moment, he took out two dumbbell-like objects from his spatial backpack.

This is one of the training equipment that Blaziken used during its Combustion era. It's a useless item that's been sitting at the bottom of the drawer, but it's perfect for Makushiro Sukiji.

Don't be fooled by the fact that they are just two small dumbbells; their weight is quite astonishing.

"This can help you exercise your body."

Tetsuya held up the dumbbells and spoke to Makushita Rikishi.

His calm face made him look exactly like a humanoid elf.

The Ice Vulpix sneakily used its tail to lift one of the dumbbells, then lost its balance and almost fell off Tetsuya's shoulder.

"Keio"

Feeling weak, it immediately gave up the idea of ​​using this thing to exercise.

Tetsuya casually patted the Ice Vulpix and looked at Makushita Rikishi, who was becoming increasingly hesitant: "How about we chat and make friends?"

It's unclear whether it was the idea of ​​"making friends" that moved Makushita Rikishi, or whether Makushita Rikishi, whose mind was only focused on eating, sleeping, and exercising, was genuinely attracted to what Tetsuya was holding.

It nodded sheepishly.

"Smack!"

The Makushita Riki, whose physique somewhat resembled that of a Snorlax, took the Pokémon food and plopped down on the ground.

Thick layers of fat were piled up on the ground, obscuring even its legs.

It placed the two dumbbells next to the tree trunk where it was exercising.

Do you know when or how this waterfall was formed?

Tetsuya simply sat cross-legged on the ground and began to communicate with it.

Makushita Rikishi stuck out his tongue and licked the food crumbs from the corner of his mouth, then tilted his head.

Tetsuya felt that his question might still be a bit too difficult for this elf who had grown up in the wild.

"The water flows down, splash, splash, do you know that?"

So he simply started communicating by gesturing wildly.

Ice Vulpix covered its eyes, unable to bear to look.

Why not have Blaziken come up and help? It doesn't understand.

Fortunately, with the ability to communicate fluently, Makushita Rikishi quickly understood Tetsuya's meaning.

"Mu, Mu Mu"

It stood up and began to respond with great enthusiasm.

"I see."

Tetsuya nodded repeatedly.

The Ice Six-Tails curled up and sighed.

It is worried about the intelligence of its trainers.

According to Rikishi Makushita, this waterfall has been there for a long time, since it was a child.

Or perhaps it existed when its parents were living nearby.

However, two blue spirits came from the water and drove away its parents and it.

It recently discovered that the two blue sprites had disappeared, so it returned here.

Makushita's parents did not come along; they were still in an underground cave, leading a group of Geodude and Sandshrew to protect their territory.

Tetsuya, of course, knew what the two blue sprites it was talking about were—the Golduck couple that Nobuhiko had previously driven away.

The struggle for and being fought for territory has always been a central theme in the wilderness, and Tetsuya was used to it.

However, the fact that this Makushita Warrior was able to escape from two Elite Four level Pokémon shows that its parents are no ordinary people.

Of course, it's also possible that Golduck wasn't a superstar back then.

But Tetsuya still doesn't know when the waterfall was formed.

"Mu"

While eating, Makushita Rikishi pointed to the blue scales scattered on the land by the river.

"You mean, your parents said this waterfall was caused by a creature that looked like the elf that appeared last night?"

After a period of communication, Tetsuya gained a better understanding of Makushita Rikishi's movements, and he interpreted them with a mixture of guesswork and deduction.

Makushita Rikishi gave a thumbs-up to indicate that he was right.

Those roaring bastards were so noisy, it didn't sleep well last night.

Tetsuya fell into thought.

It's worth noting that this waterfall has a drop of nearly two hundred meters and an absurdly wide width.

It's like a sinkhole was carved out of Leibo Mountain.

Ordinary spirits simply cannot cause such destructive power.

Even for a Pokémon like Gyarados, known for its destructive power, to create this situation would require at least Champion-level strength, and it's not impossible for it to even break through its limits.

If the so-called Dragon Gate originated from such a powerful elf, it seems to make perfect sense now.

The sukishima under the cover of the maku continued to eat voraciously.

It wasn't curious about the formation of the waterfall; it just thought the food tasted pretty good.

With its parents as backers, this wasn't the first time it had been human food, but this was the most delicious time it had ever tasted.

That's for sure. After all, Tetsuya buys the highest-grade Pokémon food on the market, and the only thing above that is the even more delicious Energy Cubes.

Most trainers wouldn't be that extravagant; medium-quality food is sufficient for maintaining a Pokémon's condition.

Only someone like Tetsuya, who is relatively wealthy and strives for perfection, would hoard so many top-grade canned goods in his spatial backpack.

"Beep"

Just as Tetsuya was still thinking, Pidgeot's cry rang out.

He immediately knew that it was Pogaman who had found something in the water.