After wiping Eevee and Zigzagoon clean, Xinhai smiled and waved to Blaziken.
Seeing this, Blaziken jumped down from the rock and walked over.
Standing before Eevee and Zigzagoon, he raised his feather-covered arms and carefully controlled delicate Flying type energy mixed with a thread of gentle Fire type energy, turning it into two soft, warm currents of Qi that brushed over Eevee and Zigzagoon.
Their damp fur quickly became fluffy and dry beneath the steaming Heat Wave, regaining its usual softness.
"Cha mo." (This should feel more comfortable.) Blaziken withdrew his energy, a faint, barely noticeable concern in his blue eyes.
"Vee~" (Thank you, Big Brother Blaziken!) Eevee comfortably shook her fluffy tail and affectionately rubbed against Blaziken's leg.
Zigzagoon also gave a low growl of thanks.
Watching his companions get along so happily, Xinhai wore a warm smile.
He walked to the edge of the pool, thanked the lazy Slowpoke leader once more, and left behind some extra Pokémon food as a farewell gift.
The largest Slowpoke leader slowly turned his head and gave Xinhai a vague "Yadon~" as a farewell before sinking back into his own absent-minded world.
"Alright, everyone. It's time to keep moving." Xinhai slung his pack over his back and looked toward the unexplored dark passages deeper within the cave.
The team gathered around Xinhai, maintaining the cautious formation they had used on the way in, and left the Slowpoke pool filled with water vapor and languid Qi.
After retracing their path for a while, they returned to the maze-like network of passages. Following the increasingly sparse markers on the Pokédex map, they continued toward the deeper, more mysterious Core Area of Meteor Falls.
As Xinhai and the others ventured farther in, the paths became increasingly tangled, like a vast underground labyrinth.
Even with the