Chapter 77

"Vioarr, you're the fastest so go scout ahead."

"Psh. I'm also the biggest so I'll just stick out like a sore thumb."

"But you're also the strongest so you'll beat down anyone who messes with you."

"Heh. At least you know. Fine, fine. Wait for the good news."

A little while later, Vioarr came back and stated that the coast was clear. It's been almost a day since the family of five have been out here. Not wanting to take any chances, Jax had Vioarr scout ahead occasionally before proceeding. Even if this was only the outskirts, powerful wild pokemon were still crawling about.

"Coast is clear, boss man. I saw some Gibles earlier but no sign of Gabites or Garchomps."

"Perfect! I can add them to my collection. Since I already have Nemsus, I don't have a use for them but I can always sell or auction away their eggs."

After catching the ones with good IVs, Jax had his pokemons kill off any Gibles that were useless to him. It might seem cruel but if it wasn't the Gibles, it would be them who died.

'Mhm. What a good haul today. Riolus, Gibles, and some Timburrs. And to think it's only been one day! I should have come here way earlier.'

As night was fast approaching, the group of five decided to find a place where they could set up camp for the night.

After finding a raised area, Lancelot lit a fire and the group feasted on their catch for the day. With a little bit of salt and some other spices, grilled Gible tasted surprisingly like chicken.

"Ahhh. Nothing like camping in the great outdoors with friends and family and chowing down on some good grub. Anyways, we'll need to take turns staking out the night. Wouldn't want anything getting the jump on us, now would we?"

"You sound like an old man, Brother. Since you didn't do anything all day, you can have first watch. Then we'll take turns based on when we joined the party."

"Mhm. Go sleep. I'll wake you up when it's your turn."

As the night turned to day, the group woke up early to continue their exploration. 'I'll have to remember to put out the fire at night. Way too many pokemons were drawn to it last night.'

The group spent close to two weeks making their way around the whole perimeter of the Great Beyond. As stated before, the reason the Great Beyond was so dangerous wasn't because of the land. No, the land was just like any other dirt-covered place. The truly scary thing about the Great Beyond was the dangerous pokemon living within!

But with risks comes opportunity. Jax faced more life-threatening events, hoping that all that stress could boost his psychic abilities like it did back in Nidoking's cave.

The four pokemons experienced fights almost every hour for the past two weeks which drastically increased their levels; as well as, enrich their combat experience. Their mastery over their skills also improved by leaps and bounds.

And with so many strong pokemons knocking on their doorstep, Jax of course had to catch them all! Some of the best pokemons he caught included Bagons, Silggoos, more Deinos, and Larvitars. Although they were all pseudo-legendaries, Jax had no use for them so he simply added him to his sub-space for Operation 631.

Jax also had an unexpected find, a Helix fossil! He only found the one but this was a huge discovery! A Dome fossil could be placed inside a Revival machine and then badading, badabing! BOOM! An Omanyte would be resurrected!

Not only that, water! Omanytes were pokemons that used to live in the sea!

Jax was wondering why there wasn't any way around Arklight City. He had been wanting to catch a water-type pokemon for awhile now but no where close by had any water source. As it turned out, all the water had disappeared and in its place was the Great Beyond which can be assumed to be the seabed now.

"Hey, guys. What do you think dried up all this water? I can't believe a sea just naturally disappeared over time. Plus, the Great Beyond leads to the ocean so why did only part of it dry up?"

"Maybe a legendary pokemon just got really thirsty?"

"Haha! I hope we see a legendary pokemon one day! I heard they're really strong!"

"U-umm. M-maybe a fire-type p-pokemon lives u-under the G-Great Beyond…I think…"

"Haha, guys. Those are all so ridiculous. I, for one, hope we never run into one of those things. I can't even catch one since I'm a Guardian or whatever. Sigh. Why do I have to pass on a strong pokemon just to keep the balance of the world."

Since they've already explored the all of the outskirt, the team slowly made their way towards the center. Even with the minimap, stealthy pokemon could still bypass its detection so Vioarr was still sent out to scout occasionally.

Another week passed by and Jax found more fossils in the meantime. A Dome fossil and Old Amber! Kabuto! Aerodactyl! Now that his pokemons were at higher levels, it was getting harder for them to gain levels without fighting multiple pokemons at or above their levels.

Even with Densest Diamond potential, their growth rate was still incredibly slow after hitting level 60 or higher. On the other hand, Lancelot's level had caught up a lot, now reaching level 57! It seems like EX grade potential was no joke. What took Vioarr almost two years to reach, it only took about two months for Lancelot!