Since Annie's Pokémon were more than capable, the group of people who had charged noisily up the mountain soon came back down. When they saw that their attacker was actually just a doddering old man, they were shocked, but quickly began questioning and investigating him.
But the result...
They soon discovered that the old man hadn't really meant to hurt them. He wasn't simply a bad person, either. It seemed there was something wrong with his head.
He kept muttering strange, nonsensical things, and claimed to be a good-hearted old man from the neighboring island. He said he'd done it all for their own good, and that was why he'd repeatedly caused rockslides and put them in danger: he just wanted them to know when to quit and drive the archaeological team completely off this "Kabuto" island.
The danger and possible casualties caused by the falling rocks hadn't even crossed his mind.
For example, he kept insisting that the island was dangerous and wasn't a place outsiders could visit freely. But when asked what the danger was or where it was, he didn't know and couldn't give a clear answer. He just stubbornly maintained that pushing those boulders down had truly been for the archaeological team's safety.
In any case, he'd done something as despicable as pushing rocks that had nearly crushed someone to death and making a complete mess of the excavation site, yet he still expected everyone to be grateful. Of course, no one could understand or forgive that.
So!
With two Machoke from the archaeological team following the old man closely to make sure he didn't cause any more trouble, the group led by Nurse Joy—including Kenji and Ash—got back to work at the excavation site on the island's cliff.
They worked until nightfall. Then, deep inside