Ten Carat Hill.
It lay in the southeast of Melemele Island.
Baimu stood on a high slope at its edge, Hydreigon and Totem Raticate beside him, silently looking down over the modest basin.
Countless Alolan Raticate and Rattata were scattered across it, digging holes and kicking up dust as they searched diligently for something.
A Steelix was among them, burrowing around like a giant drill.
The wild Pokémon that lived there huddled off to one side, watching these uninvited guests in confusion.
What Sparkling Stone?
There wasn't one here!
If the Raticate and Rattata hadn't filled in every hole they dug, the locals would have protested.
"Don't dig all the way through! It's hollow inside!"
Baimu shouted from afar.
Beside him, Totem Raticate looked deeply displeased.
The more it thought about it, the more it regretted sending its underling to follow him.
It had only been curious why this guy, like the girl who had come before, could use a little ball to bombard them.
Was there something going on between those two?
Or maybe Baimu wasn't an Island Challenge participant at all.
Instead, its underling had been caught, and this despicable human had used it as a bargaining chip.
Raticate had always roamed Melemele Island unchecked. Only Gumshoos could slow them down a little.
Now a human was ordering them around.
Totem Raticate ground its huge incisors in fury.
"Hm?"
Hearing an odd grinding noise beside him, Baimu turned and laughed. "Why so angry? I'm not making your underlings work for nothing."
He was paying them.
Ever since he'd gotten into the habit of taking one or two Pokémon from Platinum Silver Mountain to the Arena for training, he'd offered wild Pokémon food whenever he asked them for help.
"Rata!"
Totem Raticate glanced at Hydreigon.
*If I could beat