Yi Ruoyun seemed to want to say something else, but at that moment, a fierce commotion came from a cave in the distance, directly cutting off her words.
"Awoooow!!"
It did not sound like an explosion, nor did it sound like collapsing rocks. Instead... it sounded like the howl of some ferocious beast.
"...!"
Yi Ruoyun's expression instantly turned solemn.
"What... happened now?"
024 Cave
"Come with me."
Although the situation was urgent, Yi Ruoyun still brought Qiao Ran along for his safety. The Alliance reinforcements would not arrive for a while yet. If she left Qiao Ran outside alone and something happened to him, that would be terrible.
"Okay."
Qiao Ran nodded, recalled his Pokémon, and followed her into the cave.
Come to think of it, he was quite interested in whatever was inside this cave as well.
According to the information he had looked up, this world had not had Pokémon several centuries ago. So what was inside this ruin? Could it be something unrelated to Pokémon?
"Do you know what this cave is? A prehistoric human ruin?"
Walking behind Yi Ruoyun, Qiao Ran voiced his doubts. Although he did not know how much information this Heavenly King could tell him, he still hoped to learn something.
"This cave?"
Yi Ruoyun blinked. As she pulled a flashlight from who knew where, she answered softly.
"To be honest, we don't really understand it either. We only know that these special ruins suddenly appear in certain special places. Hmm... according to the scientists, the formation of these caves has something to do with quantum mechanics and such. Things from another world were transported here... Think about it. Pokémon have only existed for a few centuries. How could our world possibly have ruins related to Pokémon?"
"Pokémon... ruins?"
Qiao Ran froze. This world really had Pokémon ruins? And they had come from another world?
"If you don't believe me, look over there." Yi Ruoyun shifted her flashlight, illuminating the patterns on the wall.
Qiao Ran looked closely and saw that they were highly abstract murals. Unlike ordinary murals, however, they included nonhuman figures standing very intimately beside the crowds.
"You mean... these depict Pokémon and humans living together?"
"What else could they be? Didn't some Pokémon professor explain and analyze them on a television program before?" Yi Ruoyun gave Qiao Ran an odd look.
"I don't watch much television."
Qiao Ran shrugged. He had never been in the habit of watching television, especially after getting a phone and computer.
The two continued forward, while Qiao Ran kept observing the images on the walls. At some point, the subject matter of the paintings began to change. A jellyfish-like monster suddenly appeared in them, chasing humans and Pokémon.
Finally, Qiao Ran and Yi Ruoyun arrived in a stone chamber. The chamber itself looked utterly ordinary, but... staring at its rectangular layout, Qiao Ran vaguely felt as though he had seen it somewhere before.
"So you're saying those poachers blasted this place open just to steal some murals and antiques?"
"More or less, but what they were really after should have been prehistoric Pokémon fossils. Not many of those have been discovered in the entire world. Every single one must be worth a fortune... Shh."
Suddenly, Yi Ruoyun pressed a finger to her lips and lowered her voice.
"Don't move. Stand beside me."
Not only that, she grabbed Qiao Ran's hand, pulled him to her side, and pressed close against him.
Although the posture was a little awkward, and he could even feel himself brushing against something soft and springy, Qiao Ran understood that the circumstances did not allow him to care about such things. Besides... this Heavenly King, who usually seemed somewhat lazy, appeared quite dependable when it mattered.
"Golbat."
Yi Ruoyun opened another Poké Ball. A bat-like Pokémon with four wings appeared before them, rapidly flapping its wings as it sent sound waves spreading through the surroundings.
Golbat, the Bat Pokémon, and an exceptionally fast one at that.
Yi Ruoyun wanted Golbat to keep watch over the surrounding area, but what happened next still caught both her and Qiao Ran off guard.
"Rumble!!!"
The instant Yi Ruoyun released Golbat, the stone chamber they were in suffered a massive blow.
As though some enormous weight had suddenly crashed into it, the entire wall beside them shattered apart!
The breaking stones produced a deafening roar. Qiao Ran could not help covering his ears, but even then, he still felt a sharp headache.
"Awoooow!!"
A roar rang through the stone chamber.
"What... is that?"
Qiao Ran focused his eyes and saw a Rhyperior enveloped in black mist. Endless black matter coiled around its sturdy gray-black body. It crawled from the rubble, its eyes glowing with dangerous red light as it destroyed everything around it with overwhelming force.
"What is going on? Was it the one making those sounds earlier?!"
Qiao Ran was not the only one confused. Even Yi Ruoyun, a Heavenly King, had not figured out the situation. What exactly was wrong with that Pokémon? Why... did it look as though it had gone berserk?
"Golbat! Leech Life!"
Yi Ruoyun intended to subdue it first and ask questions later. No matter where this Pokémon had come from, and no matter why it had gone mad, knocking it unconscious was surely the right choice.
Yi Ruoyun had considerable confidence in her Pokémon. Though she had not been a Heavenly King for long and was still a relatively inexperienced newcomer within the Alliance, she was a Heavenly King nonetheless.
However, everything the crazed Rhyperior did surpassed Yi Ruoyun's expectations. Faced with Golbat's fierce assault, it violently stamped its feet inside the stone chamber. Broken rocks kept falling, making the entire cave shake violently.
Qiao Ran felt the ground beneath his feet tremble, almost as if it were groaning in pain.
"One isn't enough? Then I'll send out another!"
Yi Ruoyun knew she could not delay any longer. She threw another Poké Ball, and a huge black crow that looked as if it wore a gentleman's hat appeared in the cave, joining the battle to subdue the crazed Pokémon.
"Honchkrow, Dark Pulse!"
"Golbat, keep using Leech Life!"
A Heavenly King's Pokémon truly deserved to be called a Heavenly King's Pokémon. The battle began quickly and ended just as quickly. Under the joint assault of the two Flying-type Pokémon, Rhyperior soon ran out of strength and crashed down with a rumble.
Its enormous body struck the ground, sending countless fragments of stone flying.
"Phew—finally over... Wait."
Yi Ruoyun had just been about to breathe a sigh of relief and inspect the crazed Pokémon when she discovered in shock that the Rhyperior lying on the ground was rapidly disappearing.
Its body began turning transparent, and gradually, its entire body vanished from the ground!
"It... it's gone?"
Yi Ruoyun stared in utter disbelief. Where had such a huge Pokémon gone? The Pokémon that had just been here???
It just... disappeared???
"It really disappeared?"
She turned to Qiao Ran as though seeking confirmation, and he nodded seriously.
"It really disappeared. It really did."
"My God... what exactly is going on..."
Yi Ruoyun took a deep breath. She could swear that in all her life, she had never seen anything so bizarre.
What was this? Could it be... h-haun—
Yi Ruoyun shuddered all over and hurriedly stopped her imagination. To be honest, she was rather afraid of things like urban legends.
However, she did not notice that a strange gleam seemed to flash in Qiao Ran's eyes beside her.
Qiao Ran understood that the Rhyperior had not vanished into thin air. At the spot where it disappeared, a glittering key had actually fallen. Yet... for some reason, Yi Ruoyun did not seem to notice it.
Yes, it seemed that only he could see this key.
"Let's head outside first. We'll investigate these things in detail after the other Alliance personnel arrive."
Yi Ruoyun rubbed her forehead. She felt that she might be tired, tired enough to start hallucinating.
"Are you looking at something?"
"Hm? No. I'm just looking around."
Qiao Ran answered casually, but quietly walked over to where Rhyperior had disappeared and, without drawing attention, picked up the glittering key lying on the ground.
The moment his hand touched the key, nothing unusual happened. However, a line of text quietly appeared on the Rotom Phone.
Pokémon Anomaly, No. 037—Key Acquired!
025 No. 037
After leaving the cave, Qiao Ran and Yi Ruoyun both sat on some rocks to rest for a while after everything they had experienced.
They did not have to wait long before Alliance agents began arriving one after another, loading all the poachers Yi Ruoyun had knocked unconscious onto helicopters.
"Well, well, you did a great job. You discovered something like this right after setting out on your journey. Everyone has a responsibility to fight crime, and the Alliance will award you a certificate later."
The team leader patted Qiao Ran on the shoulder with a hearty smile. They had disliked these poachers for a long time, but due to the lack of intelligence, they had no idea where these ruins would appear. That was why the poachers had repeatedly gotten there first.
Excavating these Pokémon ruins was of extraordinary significance. If they uncovered something astonishing, it could even strengthen the entire Huaxia Alliance and give it more influence on the world stage.
In fact, over the past few decades, the Huaxia Alliance had been declining.
"A certificate... Hmm, I'll accept it."
Though Qiao Ran sounded pleased, he secretly thought, It'd be better if you just gave me some money.
Ever since buying Vulpix several little dresses, he had been broke. No exaggeration, no bias, just speaking objectively—little dresses were really expensive.
"It's about time for me to leave. Do you really not want my autograph?"
After all the poachers had been loaded onto the helicopters, it was time for Yi Ruoyun to go as well. She glanced at Qiao Ran and brought up the autograph again.
"Just how much do you like giving autographs? Fine... give me one, then."
Qiao Ran rolled his eyes, but this time, he did not refuse outright. Before, he had not known Yi Ruoyun or what kind of person she was, so he had directly refused. But this time was different. After spending some time together, he felt that this big sister had taken rather good care of him.
Especially that key... He definitely needed to study it carefully later.
"Good boy, good boy. That's more like it."
Yi Ruoyun smilingly took out pen and paper and quickly wrote one out.
Judging from her practiced movements, who knew how long she had been practicing?
"There. Keep it safe. This is the first autograph I've ever given out."
"The first?" Qiao Ran was a little surprised.
Looking at the words "Flying Heavenly King Yi Ruoyun" written on the paper, Qiao Ran never would have expected that this was her first autograph.
"The first one since becoming a Heavenly King. Is that so surprising? Did you think such a young Heavenly King simply fell from the sky?"
Yi Ruoyun blinked, then jumped onto her Skarmory. Skarmory flapped its wings and gradually flew away from the cliff.
Her voice slowly faded into the distance.
"So keep it safe. If we get the chance to meet again, I'll be checking your homework, little Qiao Ran—"
"You're the little one."
Holding the autograph, Qiao Ran could not help retorting. His functions were perfectly normal, and his performance far exceeded that of most people, okay!
You're the little one!
That night, Qiao Ran set up camp beside a nearby river, ending the day's journey.
Sitting inside his tent, he took out the strange key and examined it carefully again and again.
The key looked ordinary. Other than the number "37" engraved at its top, there was nothing else conspicuous about it. Yet its entire body shimmered with strange light, as if declaring its presence. It was precisely because of that unusual glow that Qiao Ran had not overlooked it in the dark cave.
"Master, this appears to be a key that opens a gate to another world. Just like traveling to Pokémon Pioneer Land, this key can also open a 'door' to a certain world... However, the system indicates that the world on the other side carries a certain degree of danger. Master must consider carefully before confirming whether to open it."
"Danger..." Qiao Ran nodded as he listened to Rotom's answer.
"So that's why it's called an 'Anomaly'? And it's numbered 037, which means there must be more than one of these keys."
"Master, would you like to open it now? An unknown world may contain unknown rewards. Danger and adventure go hand in hand."
"No. I'll try it after challenging the next Gym. Since it's dangerous, I should train a little first."
Qiao Ran lay down inside the tent, but he could not help thinking of the Rhyperior that had rampaged through the cave. If Yi Ruoyun had not been there, would he have had a way to deal with that crazed Pokémon using only his own strength?
Before you continue