Aron

Cold, gloomy, and oppressive.

Even after the Quicksand Team had cleared out the abandoned mine, its condition remained extremely worrying.

The ceiling overhead was so badly damaged that it looked ready to collapse at any moment.

Fortunately, the interior was fairly spacious. To allow ore carts to move nimbly, an astonishing amount of room had been left open.

Baimu couldn't help praising Orre's high level of technology, despite how barren the region was.

Ten minutes had passed since they entered the mine.

After entering the cave, someone had chosen to dig out a piece of jade near the outer edge. The clacking of his pick striking the rock wall made Baimu extremely uneasy, so he quickly moved away with his colleagues. Before long, they heard a terrifying crash and a scream.

That brave man's trap-triggering stunt had put an end to many people's similar ideas.

"Keep an eye on your surroundings. Don't get separated."

Their headlamps illuminated the area around them. The bolder colleagues walked at the front, occasionally reminding the others in low voices.

In the silent darkness, the breathing of the people around them could be heard clearly even through their masks. The confined environment was quietly adding to their psychological pressure.

Most of the children in Pyrite Town had experience going down mines, but the safety of a normal mine and an abandoned mine were worlds apart—not to mention the Pokémon that might be lying in wait.

The examination included a possibility of being attacked by Pokémon. To the people of Orre, it was as terrifying as being shot while playing an escape room in Huaxia.

Therefore, sticking together for warmth had become the norm. The Quicksand Team had never prohibited people from taking the examination in groups, so it was only natural for them to gather together and move forward.

However, according to seniors who had taken part before, moving in groups through the mine made them more likely to be attacked and singled out. Even if they were lucky enough to obtain one of the targets, they might turn against each other if they couldn't agree on how to divide the "spoils."

Baimu didn't want that to happen.

They already had little advantage against Shibata's group. If they started fighting among themselves, they would most likely be bullied for the rest of their lives.

"There's a fork up ahead. Be careful."

He reminded them, then glanced around at his colleagues. "The Pokémon lying in ambush could very well be there... Don't be so tense. Relax and take deep breaths."

Some of them were sweating profusely, while others were breathing heavily. Their expressions were somewhat flustered—they were clearly tense to the extreme.

Once they had finally calmed down, Baimu said, "Don't linger at the fork. Choose a direction and pass through quickly. I'll cover the rear."

"Huh?"

Everyone looked at him in surprise.

"Stop with the 'huh.' Hurry up. The tokens are limited. If someone else takes them, we won't have a chance."

Baimu moved to the back of the group. "Quickly."

When danger struck in a state of extreme tension, people lost their reason. Their desire to survive forced them to do foolish things. If the people at the front of the group panicked, getting held back by even one person could spell disaster.

Even if that person hadn't done it intentionally.

What was that saying? If you encountered a bear in the wild, you didn't need to run faster than the bear. You only needed to run faster than the others.

He had no intention of taking advantage of anyone's misfortune, but he had to avoid being sacrificed by others.

"Baimu..."

His colleagues had no idea what he was thinking. They looked at him with gratitude, then encouraged one another and slowly moved ahead.

Baimu took a deep breath and warily observed his surroundings.

In short, people were going to die.

The threat to his life constantly reminded him to stay calm, focus his attention, and watch for every suspicious detail.

Most of the Quicksand Team's Pokémon were Ground- and Rock-type. An underground mine was far too suitable for them. Getting into any kind of fight with them here would be foolish.

They stepped into the fork.

The space widened slightly again. Everyone's nerves suddenly tightened as they awkwardly looked around, checking whether it was safe and preparing to sound an alarm at any moment. The colleague at the front didn't dare hesitate and went straight into the mine tunnel on the left—

"Wait."

Baimu, who was walking at the rear, suddenly spoke.

Everyone's hearts jolted. Cold sweat instantly broke out across their foreheads and backs.

"W-what is it?" someone asked shakily.

"You said not to linger at the fork!" someone else said nervously.

Baimu raised a finger to his lips. "Listen carefully. Do you hear that rumbling? The ground is shaking too!"

The group looked at one another, then instinctively held their breaths and listened.

Baimu listened as well. With his keen senses, he soon noticed that not only was the ground trembling, but the faint rumbling was also growing louder and louder, as if some object were gradually approaching.

The source was—the middle tunnel!

He was startled and immediately ran toward the left tunnel while shouting, "Run! Something's coming! Hurry!"

As his voice fell, a huge boulder as tall as a person suddenly appeared inside the middle cavern, rolling toward them from the distance at an astonishing speed!

"Which way do we run?"

"Left!"

"Which way is left? Where's Baimu!?"

"Quickly, quickly, quickly! Don't just stand there!"

The other four instantly panicked. Their headlamps swung wildly, making their vision swim and preventing them from seeing the pitch-black paths around them.

To make matters worse, as the shaking intensified, rocks kept falling from the ceiling. It looked ready to collapse, and everything visible to the naked eye began trembling.

Danger, panic, and shouting.

The terrifying surprise attack of the enormous boulder.

Driven by all these hair-raising factors, Baimu instinctively ran a long way.

Not only that, but amid the chaos, he carefully observed his surroundings to avoid touching any traps or hidden Pokémon.

After stopping to confirm that he was safe, he turned around—but there wasn't a single person behind him.

The rock that had most likely been a disguised Graveler had vanished as well.

"There were three paths, and I definitely chose the left one?"

Baimu frowned and waited in place for a minute. Then he realized that he had truly become separated from his colleagues.

Go back?

Impossible. Graveler might be waiting there.

"..."

A look of regret appeared on his face. Working in a group during the examination had both advantages and disadvantages. Although those colleagues hadn't performed very well when they panicked, who knew whether they might have lent him a hand in a crisis?

But they were separated now, so be it. There was no need to force the issue.

Baimu composed himself.

It was easy to lose one's sense of direction while traveling through an underground mine. Fortunately, if he observed both rock walls carefully, he could find signs indicating the direction. They were simple enough for even a semi-literate person like him to understand.

After walking for about ten minutes, he suddenly stopped and crouched down. He switched off his bright headlamp and desperately squeezed into the hollow between two rocks, concealing his body.

After waiting quietly for half a minute, two Vibrava that looked like dragonflies buzzed overhead. The sound of their wings beating made Baimu's head throb with wave after wave of pain.

What made Baimu's heart tremble was that one of them was carrying a young man covered in blood.

Was he unconscious? Dead?

Neither possibility was good. Fighting alone was too dangerous.

After finally waiting for the two Vibrava to fly farther away, he breathed a sigh of relief and was about to stand when he suddenly froze again.

At the edge of his vision, a pair of blue eyes was watching him.

"Gruk?"

The unidentified creature let out a low cry.

Baimu's movements stiffened slightly. The Vibrava's wingbeats had been so loud that he hadn't even noticed the sound of this creature moving toward him.

He made out its appearance as best he could.

It was a strange creature with a dark-gray body. At first glance, it looked somewhat like an insect, and its head resembled a hockey mask.

It was about the size of an ordinary Border Collie, and the several pitch-black holes on its body were somewhat frightening.

[Iron Armor Pokémon, Aron]

It fed on iron ore. Driven by hunger, it would even gnaw on bridges and railway tracks, causing many people to regard it as a pest. It was a Steel- and Rock-type Pokémon.

Damn it.

His luck was unbelievably bad.

Baimu's heart grew heavier.

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