Blaine

The next day.

At the first ray of sunlight, Hisoka was already leaving the hotel. The cold breeze from the sea drifted gently, causing him to shiver. Tightening his jacket, he started his trek to the volcano.

Three hours later, he had crossed nearly half of the island, walking through thick forest before he finally arrived at his destination.

While standing at the foot of the volcano, he could see Izu's Peak fairly high up in the sky. Cinnabar Volcano was more than 3,700 meters above sea level. It was not easy for him to reach there. He really wished he had a flying mount at this time.

'I should get a Pokemon capable of manned flight after this,' he scrunched his brows together.

Having a flying mount would undoubtedly make his job much easier right now. He wouldn't need to climb all the way up to the peak.

Clearing his head off these thoughts, he looked to the side and saw a stream. He walked toward it, rolled his pants up, and scooped some water into his mouth.

Ah!

While he was taking a break, a noise suddenly caught his attention.

Huh?

He immediately sprang up while removing a Pokeball from his belt. Being a hunter for many years made him quite attentive to his surroundings, especially in the wild.

A pinkish purple Pokemon with one horn on its head, oversized front teeth, and large ears walked out of the forest.

'It's just a Nidoran♂,' he thought, relieved.

Compared with its final evolution, Nidoking, it was much more docile. Its ears moved around constantly as it approached the stream. It could hear sounds from far away, allowing it to escape from approaching enemies.

Following that, another Nidoran♂ walked out of the forest. Soon, twenty Nidoran gathered by the stream. They raised their heads toward Hisoka and looked at him vigilantly.

Seeing that Hisoka wasn't doing anything, they quickly ignored him and went to drink the water by the stream leisurely.

...

Now that he was out of the city, Hisoka released his Rhydon just in case there was a dangerous Pokemon on the road. He slowly climbed on Rhydon's back and secured himself on his shoulder. With Rhydon leading the way, he would be much safer from wild Pokemon's attack.

Then, he grabbed something on his shoulder and held it in front of him. Slowly, Misreavus appeared, looking at him curiously.

He looked into her eyes and said, "Can you scout the road ahead for me?"

"I'll give you a lot of tasty food later," he added.

"Hehe!"

She bobbed her head cheerily and went ahead of him. Under his eyes, her body gradually faded from view.

As they got closer to the volcano, the surrounding air became drier. The temperature was so high that he had to remove his jacket, wearing only a pair of pants and a thin shirt. The trees were gone, replaced by large rocks. There were also many natural hot springs scattered around the area.

Different from the hot springs in the city, these hot springs were located right at an active volcano. The water in the hot springs might come into contact with heated rocks, turning into superheated water, which was quite dangerous for many people.

Also, these hot springs were too close to the volcano. Sometimes, a geyser can shoot up due to the accumulated pressure underneath the hot springs.

Suddenly, a tall water column gushed out from the ground without warning, shocking them both.

Rhydon looked at the geyser in horror. This was more terrifying than a Hydro Pump.

"Let's go slowly," Hisoka said seriously.

This place was full of geysers. They had to be careful of the geyser that might come out at any moment. Even Rhydon would be knocked out instantly if he were hit by it.

After leaving the area, they finally arrived at Izu's Peak. Relying on the map he made last night, they quickly found the cave they were looking for. They were going to rest here for the night and continue their journey tomorrow.

...

The next morning.

When the sun rose in the sky, Hisoka stirred from his sleep. Then, he washed his face and packed his sleeping bag, ready to continue his journey.

Walking out of the cave, he was met with the figure of Weavile standing guard outside. She was dozing off a bit. He went to her and nudged her gently.

"Thank you, Weavile. For keeping watch last night," he smiled, rubbing her head.

"Weavile," she nodded tiredly.

He took her Pokeball and aimed at her, saying, "You can go ahead and rest first. I'll be fine."

After placing the Pokeball on his belt, he took a deep breath before walking up the mountain.

"Let's go!"

...

Several hours later, he had arrived at Izu's Peak after walking for several miles. At this height, he could even see the whole island.

When he looked into the crater, he could see hot lava flowing calmly in the large cavern. Naturally, it fell on Rhydon to find the Protector. His rocky hide allowed him to endure the hot magma for some time.

He quickly found a solid rock near the crater and took a long rope from his bag. Then, he tied it around the rock several times and began walking toward the edge of the crater.

He tugged the rope several times, making sure it was strong. Nodding in satisfaction, he fixed the rope around his waist and began to descend toward the bottom of the crater. Although doing this was a bit risky, he had Gardevoir with him. She could take him away at any sign of danger with just a thought.

Then, his feet suddenly hit something. He looked down and found he was standing on a large rock. He jumped on it a few times and found it was rock solid. It was only then he released a deep sigh of relief.

Phew!

Feeling the heat in the crater, he suddenly became thirsty. He sat down on the rock and drank a whole bottle of water to quench his thirst. While doing that, he picked up a piece of rock and threw it down toward the magma.

Splash!

Fire flared up slightly as a black figure appeared underneath the molten rock for a split second.

"What's that?" he wiped his eyes several times. He was pretty sure he saw something just now.

Roar!

Suddenly, the previously calm magma began to boil. Then, a bipedal Pokemon with a red and yellow body slowly emerged from the magma.

"Magmar?" Hisoka uttered in surprise.

Magmar, a Spitfire Pokemon. This Pokemon typically resides in and around active volcanoes. It has a puckered, yellow beak and two lumps on its forehead with a yellow flame on top of each one.

It is one of the most powerful Fire-type Pokemon in Kanto. It is also a widely feared Pokemon as it has been a cause of many fire accidents.

The Magmar looked up at Hisoka lazily. At the same time, he slowly lowered his hand to his Pokeball. Although it hadn't attacked him yet, he didn't dare to let his guard down.

"Mar!"

It tilted its head as if it was thinking of something. Then, he quickly climbed to the same height as him.

Seeing that, he quickly said, "I'm sorry to bother you. I was trying to find something from this place."

He finished, thinking that Magmar was angry.

The stronger the Pokemon, the smarter they are. Even if it is a wild Pokemon, as long as you don't show any sign of hostility, they usually won't take the initiative to attack you.

Instead of attacking him, it continued to climb toward one of the rocks above. After that, it pulled something that looked like a lever down and then jumped into the molten lava before disappearing from view.

???

'What is it doing?' Hisoka thought, baffled.

Suddenly, the entire cavern began to shake. Then, several chains were slowly pulled out of the hot magma.

"Is that an arena?" he shouted in shock.

After the shaking had stopped, an arena appeared in front of him. It was hung in the air, anchored by several large chains. Then, Magmar jumped out of the arena and soaked himself in the bubbling hot magma. Apparently, it was only the caretaker of this place.

"I don't know who build this kind of thing in this place. But he is a madman for sure," he said, looking at the arena.

Then, he released Gardevoir from her Pokeball and said, "Take me down there, Gardevoir."

He pointed to the arena below.

...

Meanwhile, in Cinnabar City, an old man was looking at Hisoka's figure on his computer screen.

"Ho? It's been a long time since someone found that old gym. Looks like I have to go see this young man."

An old man in a lab coat rubbed his chin gently.

...

"Let's get to work!"

Seeing Magmar ignoring him, he took the backpack off his shoulders and placed it on the ground. After searching through it for some time, he found what he was looking for and took it out.

It was a metal detector. Based on the information he obtained from the research lab in Sinnoh, the Protector was made from metal and some other mineral elements. This device should be able to help them find it inside this cavern.

After that, he released Rhydon and installed the device on his body. Then, he opened his laptop, making sure that it was working properly before sending him to search for the Protector.

"Rhydon, try to search around that area first," he pointed to the magma below them.

"Oh yeah. One more thing. Don't disturb the Magmar resting down there. We are just looking for the Protector. Try to avoid him if you can," he reminded.

Roar!

Rhydon nodded, indicating that there was no problem.

Then, he walked to the edge of the arena, and before Hisoka could stop him, he had already jumped down.

Boom!

The large impact causes the surrounding magma to surge more than several meters high.

σ(￣,￣〃)

"I told you not to disturb it!" Hisoka scolded from above.

Such a loud noise naturally attracted the attention of Magmar. It emerged from the molten lava, looking at Rhydon with displeasure.

"Sorry, Magmar! We didn't mean to disturb you," he apologized quickly.

Roar!

Rhydon also followed suit.

"You're disturbing my sleep," Magmar looked at Rhydon angrily.

"Sorry! I didn't do it on purpose. My master asked me to find something down here. We'll leave as soon as we find it," Rhydon said quickly.

"Then, hurry up and find it. I want to rest in peace," he replied.

"Okay!"

...

While they were searching for the Protector, someone suddenly asked him a question.

"What is it that lives if it is fed and dies if you give it a drink?"

Hisoka was about to answer subconsciously when he suddenly remembered where they were at right now.

He quickly turned around and saw a strange old man wearing a pair of sunglasses. He had a bald head and a white mustache. He wore a white lab coat over a blue collared shirt with a red tie that resembled a flame. He also wore dark green trousers and gray shoes.

Behind the man, a metal was slowly closing. After it was closed, the rocks on both sides moved closer, hiding the gate from view.

He clenched his hand tightly. He guessed that the old man in front of him was most likely the person who owned this place.

"Excuse me, who are you?"

"Don't ask who I am. Answer the question first." The mysterious old man said with a smile.

When he heard that, he sighed slightly and said, "Fire. It is fire, isn't it?"

"Haha!"

The old man laughed loudly. Then, he tapped the ground with his cane and said, "Okay, your answer is correct. The test is over. I accept your challenge."

"Test? Challenge?" Hisoka asked with a question mark on his face.

"What are you talking about?"

"Huh?"

The old man took off his sunglasses and said, "Didn't you come to challenge Cinnabar Gym? I am Blaine, the gym leader of Cinnabar Island."

...