Above the mine, Aerodactyl's furious roar crashed down as though it had physical substance.
The entire mountain seemed to tremble faintly at the roar. Loose stones tumbled from the cliffs, startling birds all over the mountain into flight.
The wild Pokémon in the nearby forest scattered in every direction, not daring even to raise their heads, as though they had sensed the arrival of a natural predator.
Deep within the mine, the Pokémon that had been resting comfortably underground all froze at the roar, crouching against the ground and trembling, not daring to move.
But amid that deathly silence, a pair of enormous eyes slowly opened in the deepest part of the mine.
As the undisputed overlord of this mining area, it had not encountered such an arrogant challenger in years.
Those eyes hesitated for only an instant before abruptly blazing with fighting spirit.
Without the slightest hesitation, it threw back its head, and an even mightier roar exploded from deep underground, shaking the entire mine as though it had come alive!
The roar pierced the rock layers and shot into the sky.
Up in the air, Lu Chen and Aerodactyl were delighted rather than alarmed.
"Oh? There's a Totem Pokémon?"
The corners of Lu Chen's mouth lifted slightly as he patted Aerodactyl's shoulder. "That makes things even simpler. I'll leave the rest to you. No problem, right?"
"Roar!"
Aerodactyl roared excitedly, beat its wings hard, and hurled itself toward the mine like a cannonball fired from its barrel!
Before Aerodactyl charged, Lu Chen had already leaped off its back.
A drop of a dozen or so meters might have been rough for an ordinary person, but to Lu Chen, it was nothing much.
After all, with such cheat-like creatures as Pokémon in existence, humans' physical abilities naturally could not be all that poor either.
Aerodactyl hurtled toward the mine like a gray meteor.
Just as it was about to strike the mountaintop, something bizarre happened.
The incredibly hard rocks seemed to suddenly come alive, parting to either side on their own and opening a passage for Aerodactyl!
For Aerodactyl, whose strength had long since reached the peak of Champion level, controlling rock and earth was already an almost instinctive ability.
Boom!
Meeting almost no resistance, Aerodactyl plunged headfirst into the mine, descending over a hundred meters in an instant to reach its very heart.
There, it also saw the mine's overlord, which had dared to roar at it.
It was actually a Steelix.
Its body was several times larger than an ordinary Steelix's, coiled in the center of the cavern like a colossal steel beast.
Several equally astonishingly large Onix accompanied it, along with a great number of ordinary Onix and Steelix, densely filling more than half the cavern.
At the sight of Aerodactyl descending from above, both the Steelix leader and the other Steelix briefly froze.
For a moment, they could not comprehend what had happened.
"Roar!"
Only when Aerodactyl roared did they realize that the monster before them was the challenger that had just been making a commotion outside!
The Totem Steelix roared back, its massive body hurtling toward Aerodactyl like a derailed train!
At the mountaintop, Lu Chen stood on a protruding rock and watched the battle below, raising his eyebrows in mild surprise.
"This Steelix is pretty strong."
"Unlike those lucky ones that evolved after swallowing a Metal Coat, it only evolved after tempering a steel body under the high temperatures and pressure underground."
"With the added strength and stamina from its size, it's probably already at Elite Four level."
"It's outstanding even among wild Pokémon."
Inside the cavern.
As the undisputed underground king of this region, the Totem Steelix naturally had no shortage of battle experience.
It did not recognize the strange Pokémon before it.
But judging by its appearance, it had to be a Flying-type.
Though it did not know how its opponent had fought its way underground, and its strength seemed unfathomable, Steelix knew its own advantage very well.
As long as it could drag its opponent out of the air, victory would surely belong to it!
The Totem Steelix lunged with a roar!
The next second.
Its vision blurred.
Aerodactyl vanished.
Immediately afterward, a searing pain unlike anything it had felt in decades exploded in its side!
Aerodactyl's wing slashed into Steelix's massive body like a gigantic gray blade, sending the entire Pokémon flying and crashing heavily into the cavern wall.
Crash!
The entire cavern shook violently, countless rocks breaking loose from the ceiling as dust filled the air.
The Totem Steelix lay amid the rubble, its head ringing.
It finally understood.
Aerodactyl had not vanished just now.
It had simply moved too fast-so fast that even Steelix could not see it clearly!
By now, the Totem Steelix clearly understood that it was absolutely no match for this terrifying monster.
But it was still the king of this mining area.
It let out a furious roar, its voice carrying a king's authority and a desperate ferocity.
At once, the surrounding ordinary Steelix, Onix, and many other Pokémon living in the mine surged toward Aerodactyl like a tide!
At the sight, Aerodactyl was delighted rather than alarmed.
Finally, something interesting.
The next second, facing attacks from the crowd of wild Pokémon around it, Aerodactyl moved.
Claws, wings, sharp teeth, tail-every part of its body became a weapon.
Every strike sent several Rock-type Pokémon flying, smashing them into walls or embedding them in the ground, leaving them unable to battle.
But there were simply too many Pokémon charging in.
And Aerodactyl had been holding back the entire time.
It knew very well that this was no battlefield.
These Pokémon were merely following orders, not enemies, and their help would be needed shortly. Under Lu Chen's orders, Aerodactyl had been showing mercy all along.
After all, if it used its full strength, a casual strike would leave nothing of them.
Yet that very feeling of being constrained made Aerodactyl increasingly irritable.
Wisps of dark red, bloody aura seeped from its body, and its eyes gradually turned blood-red.
Just as Aerodactyl was about to go berserk and start slaughtering in earnest, Lu Chen's voice came down from above the cavern.
"Don't get tangled up with them. Just drag the Totem Steelix out!"
Aerodactyl's gaze cleared.
It reined in its aura, and its figure vanished once again, shaking off those ordinary Pokémon.
The next second, Aerodactyl's sharp claws had firmly clamped onto the Totem Steelix's steel body.
Under Steelix's shocked, disbelieving gaze, Aerodactyl tensed its entire body, every muscle swelling to its limit as veins bulged beneath its skin like earthworms.
Aerodactyl used its full strength.
It actually hauled the Totem Steelix, weighing several tons, off the ground and dragged it all the way out of the cavern!
Crash!
The rock layers overhead exploded apart. Amid flying dust, two figures, one gray and one silver, burst out of the mountain and shot straight into the sky.
But it was not over yet.
Standing at the mountaintop, Lu Chen looked up at the sky, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.
Why was Aerodactyl still flying higher and higher?
Aerodactyl clearly had no intention of stopping there.
It beat its wings hard, continuing to climb with Steelix.
Dozens of meters, a hundred, three hundred, eight hundred... Only when the entire Viridian Forest had shrunk into a dark green carpet beneath its feet did it slow slightly.
"Roar! Roar-!"
Suspended in midair, the Totem Steelix began struggling with unprecedented frenzy.
This was the first time in its life that it had left the ground.
For a Ground-type Pokémon to fly over a thousand meters into the sky, that terror was practically etched deep into its genes.
An overlord's dignity, a king's pride-at that moment, endless terror drowned them all.
Its tail thrashed desperately, its body twisted wildly, and distorted roars kept tearing from its throat.
Aerodactyl looked down at the Steelix beneath its claws, struggling frantically to make it let go, and slowly spread its mouth.
It revealed a wicked grin.
Then.
Aerodactyl released its claws.
The Totem Steelix plummeted from the sky like a silver-gray meteorite and slammed into the ground!
Boom-!
Sand and stones flew everywhere as the earth shook.
An enormous crater appeared before Lu Chen, cracks spreading outward like a spiderweb.
The Totem Steelix lay limp at the bottom, its proud steel body covered in countless cracks, its breath feeble.
It fully understood the gulf between itself and its opponent.
Seeing Aerodactyl slowly land before it, a trace of struggle flashed through Steelix's eyes, but it finally lowered its head.
It chose to submit.
Though Pokémon were not as intelligent as humans, they still possessed basic reasoning abilities.
In its view, Aerodactyl clearly had the ability to kill it quickly, yet had not done so.
That surely meant it wanted to subdue it and take over this territory.
To its surprise, however, Aerodactyl showed no reaction whatsoever to its submission.
At that moment, a human walked out from behind Aerodactyl.
Steelix froze.
As it watched Aerodactyl respectfully retreat to the human's side, it understood at once.
This seemingly ordinary human was the master of that terrifying Pokémon!
Lu Chen waved a hand at the dust hanging before his face, walked up to Steelix, and said casually:
"All right, stop bowing your head. We're not here to take your territory."
"As long as you help us with one thing, this place is still yours."
Hearing Lu Chen's words, the Totem Steelix abruptly raised its head, looking pleasantly surprised.
Who would want to be an underling if they could keep being the boss?
Lu Chen looked at Steelix and held up one finger.
"First, help me gather as many Dugtrio and Diglett as possible. The more, the better."
Hearing that the task was actually so simple, the Totem Steelix nodded repeatedly.
It cautiously glanced at Lu Chen, then, after receiving permission, abruptly turned and burrowed back into the mine.
An unbroken succession of roars immediately came from within.
Then the entire mine seemed to come alive.
Countless Pokémon, led by the Onix clan, poured out in full force and began searching the entire mining area for traces of the Dugtrio clan.
It was not even limited to this mine.
Countless Pokémon were also moving unseen beneath the surrounding forest.
Seeing this, Lu Chen nodded in satisfaction.
"Sure enough, no matter the era, letting your fists do the talking is always the most effective."
Beside him, Aerodactyl voiced its wholehearted agreement.
Still, it felt a little disappointed.
Its opponent had been far too weak to let it enjoy itself at all.
And when it came to finding a particular Pokémon or item, this really was the fastest method.
Back in the super-ancient era, Lu Chen had liked doing this.
Efficient, convenient, and saving both time and effort.
In less than an hour.
The Totem Steelix brought over a hundred trembling Dugtrio to the vicinity of Lu Chen's farm.
Looking at the dense mass of Diglett heads before him, Lu Chen nodded in satisfaction. "Pretty efficient."
Only after receiving that praise did the Totem Steelix quietly breathe a sigh of relief.
Meanwhile, the Dugtrio that had been forcibly brought into an unfamiliar environment huddled together, trembling violently.
Both the Aerodactyl beside them, which looked anything but easy to provoke, and this unfathomable human terrified them.
Lu Chen looked at the Dugtrio, thought for a moment, then took out a Poké Ball.
"Come out, Lapras."
White light flashed, and Lapras appeared before the gathered Pokémon.
Seeing this enormous creature covered in scars, the Dugtrio grew even more frightened. A few timid ones nearly burrowed underground to escape on the spot.
But as Lapras looked at the trembling Dugtrio, it did nothing unnecessary.
It merely raised its head high and closed its eyes.
Then it began to sing.
It was a song belonging to the Lapras clan, used specifically to soothe their own kind.
Lapras's Song.
An ethereal, ancient, faraway melody slowly flowed through the air, like moonlight spilling over the sea late at night, like the gentlest tide softly lapping against the rocks.
Hearing the song, the Dugtrio, who had been trembling in fear, actually began to calm down.
They no longer trembled or backed away, but simply stood quietly where they were, heads raised, listening in a trance.
Even Aerodactyl, who had just been through a fierce battle and still had agitation coursing through his blood, slowly closed his eyes amid the song.
The bloodthirsty thoughts churning in his mind were soothed and suppressed, little by little.
The song drifted on the wind toward Professor Oak's Laboratory in the distance.
It also drifted into Delia's home.
Delia was taking down the laundry in the yard.
The instant she heard the song, she stopped what she was doing.
She had never heard such a beautiful sound.
The melody seemed able to slip straight into a person's heart, soothing away, one by one, the fatigue she had accumulated over the past few days and the thoughts left somewhat muddled by everything that had happened today.
"It's so beautiful..." Delia murmured.
Inside Professor Oak's Laboratory.
Professor Oak had just thrown away his burnt instant noodles and was angrily scrubbing the pot.
The instant the song drifted in, the spatula in his hand fell into the sink with a clang.
"What... what is that sound?"
Professor Oak looked up and pricked up his ears, his face filled with astonishment.
The melody was so ancient, so mysterious.
Most importantly, its power to soothe the heart made even Professor Oak, who had been somewhat annoyed by his failed experiment, feel exceptionally calm inside.
Professor Oak gazed into the distance toward Lu Chen's farm and could not help saying,
"I wonder what Lu Chen is doing. I'd really like to go take a look."
Professor Oak was beside himself with curiosity in the research room, but felt a little too embarrassed to go over.
In the end, Professor Oak sighed and stayed in the laboratory to continue his research.
By then, Professor Oak had come to terms with it: Lu Chen had more and more secrets, so many that Professor Oak felt nothing Lu Chen did would surprise him anymore.
At that moment, Professor Oak felt somewhat fortunate-fortunate that he had been the one to meet Lu Chen first.
If Lu Chen had met Team Rocket or someone with ill intentions instead, there was no telling how much trouble might have come of it.