As Larvesta's Heat Wave swept through, the scattered petals were blown away, and the temperature throughout the passage rose sharply.
Jingle, jingle—
After the Heat Wave passed, a sound like wind chimes rang out within the passage.
"Maractus? It's rare to see them growing in such a dark underground environment."
The ringing bells further confirmed Xia Yan's guess about the identity of the Pokémon that had appeared to block their way.
Very soon,
under the pressure of the Heat Wave, several emerald-green Maractus came into view.
And they did not attack again.
They seemed especially afraid of Larvesta's flames.
Maractus liked dry, hot places. When they swayed their bodies, they made sounds like sand bells to drive away anything that threatened them.
The seeds they produced were extremely nutritious, making them a rare and precious source of food in the desert.
Still,
as Grass-type plant Pokémon, it was somewhat unreasonable for them to live underground without sunlight.
When they saw Larvesta following beside Xia Yan, the Maractus not only refrained from attacking again, but even nodded at them quite amicably.
Then,
after placing several plump-looking seeds on the ground, they disappeared into the depths of the tunnel.
"Wuu?"
Larvesta immediately looked surprised and raised its head to look at Xia Yan.
Xia Yan was rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
After considering it for a moment, he roughly guessed the reason.
It might have something to do with the Volcarona living at the bottom of Ancient Castle.
The one calling softly to Larvesta was very likely that Volcarona as well.
Xia Yan knew that an exceptionally powerful Volcarona lived within Ancient Castle, though few people knew of its existence even now.
In the end, it had been discovered by Yorges, one of Team Plasma's Seven Sages, and eventually became Ghetsis's Pokémon.
The