Chapter 40: Mining Diamonds

"Wow!" they uttered, terribly shocked.

Hundreds of diamonds are scattered on the ceiling and the cavern walls.

The ray of light shone from a few small gaps inside the cavern refracted their light onto the surroundings. The diamonds sparkled brilliantly into a harmonic pattern as they stared at it in amazement.

"Are these real diamonds or just some other types of crystals?" asked Edward while chipping off a small diamond from the wall and examining it closely under his eye.

"Not sure," answered Rosa. "But there's a high possibility they are genuine diamonds if what the audience said in the live commentaries are true."

[I think it's a diamond, what do you guys think?]

[My pretties!]

[I wish I was there. There are so many diamonds.]

...

They walked around the cavern, enjoying the sight while pocketing a few diamonds on the wall, loose enough that they were able to chip at it with a small shovel into their pocket.

Who wouldn't? No one would miss this opportunity. It is free money scattered around, after all.

They keep moving from one wall to another, chipping at it while chatting among themselves.

Boom!

A few rocks fall on the ground broken. Numerous tiny diamonds can be seen lying among it.

"Timburr!" it roared, smashing the cavern's wall into smaller rocks with a swing of its shovel.

"Nice one, Timburr!" praised Rosa, patting its head as a sign of praise.

"Bidoof!" cried Bidoof, unwilling to sit around lazily in front of its new companions. It used the sharp teeth on its upper jaw to break bigger rocks into smaller ones revealing the beautiful minerals inside.

"You too, Bidoof!"

...

Before long, their pockets were full bulging with diamonds after walking around the cavern. In just a few minutes, they had become a multi-millionaire, hitting the jackpot.

"We strike it rich!" said Rosa happily.

"Yeah, It's unfortunate that we couldn't take them all away. The cavern wall is too hard to dig through," Edward replied, looking at the diamonds in the distance longingly.

Edward isn't as lucky as Rosa and Falkner. Both of them hailed from an upper-middle class family, while he was from a working-class family in both of his lives. The social pressure, coupled with the rising rate of unemployment, turned him into an introverted weeb, barely passing by with a dead-end job.

That's why he decided to enter this challenge to grab the rich rewards even though he knew of its dangers. Luckily, with the early help of his system, he managed to pull through in the early stage. Still, seeing there are so many diamonds left made his heart aches.

(AN: A bit late for writing the character's background, but hey, better late than never, right?)

"Although, we still don't know if they are real diamonds, not just some crystals," Rosa said.

"Either way, we are still going to be rich," Falkner answered while swinging his shovel on a particular rock, trying to uncover more diamonds before leaving.

"Hmm? Huh? Wait! Don't hit that rock!" Edward shouted suddenly.

"Roar!"

...

Before Edward's warning could reach Falkner's ears, he had finished his swing.

"Boom!"

"Roar!"

A series of connected rocks suddenly moved after being struck by Falkner. Its movement pattern is quite similar to how a snake would move, slithering around the cavern, albeit noisier before a head popped out, hidden behind its body.

Then, it surveyed the surroundings with its black eyes. Apparently, it is searching for the commotion it felt just now.

...

[Is that a moving rock?]

[That's a giant rock snake!]

Everyone else is shocked after seeing the whole appearance of the unidentified creature.

...

[Onix]

Level: 50

'Onix!' Edward thought.

Falkner had inevitably disturbed the Pokemon while Edward was not paying attention to his sense due to their excitement.

Finally, it noticed the intruders collecting its favorite snacks, the diamonds, inside its territory. Currently, its eyes are staring at them with a cold, murderous look.

"Uh, hello?" Falkner greeted, waving his hand in a friendly gesture.

"Roar!"

Edward was about to tell his partner to run when suddenly, the cave shook violently, and the little bits of rock were falling from the cavern's ceiling caused by it.

"Run!" Rosa exclaimed. "It is angry!"

They ran through the cave quickly, the cave shaking more violently as they kept at it. The Onix was chasing them from behind while roaring loudly, making the cave shake even more.

"Torchic! Use ember now!" Edward shouted.

"Chic!"

Torchic breathed a fireball at the pissed-off Onix. But, unfortunately, it only managed to stall it for a second before resuming its chase. In fact, the fireball only made it angrier after it hit dead on his head.

'Shit! It's too strong! Torchic's attack basically does nothing to it,' Edward screamed in his mind.

Many Pokemons roaming in the cave ran after hearing the loud noise caused by Onix's movement. However, it kept its attention solely on them, ignoring the nearby Pokemons.

After running for a few minutes, Falkner managed to spot a small opening ahead as shelter from the chasing Onix.

"I see a small opening up ahead, but the entrance is too small to fit all of us in. We don't have time time to wiggle through it!" Falkner shouted, informing them.

"That's fine!" Edward's eyes lit up.

A moment after, they arrived at the small opening while Onix was closing in on them.

"Timburr, break the rock on the opening!" Edward called.

"Timburr!"

After a few swings using its tree staff, it finally managed to smash the rocks, widening the entrance.

"Great! Get inside quickly!" Rosa shouted.

...

"Huhu!"

"Huhu!"

Inside a small tunnel, three figures were panting tiredly after running for their lives. A loud sound of something banging on a wall can be faintly heard in the distance, trying to break past it. After a few tries, the sound stopped suddenly. It seemed that the wild Pokemon had given up after failing to break the rock wall.

"We need to keep going. We don't know if it can tear the wall down piece by piece," Edward said while taking a sip of water to wear off his fatigue.

In fact, Edward knows that Onix can burrow through the wall, although it might take some time before it can tear it down. It's better to move ahead first to be on the safe side.

"Yeah, let's go," Rosa said tiredly, pulling herself up from the ground.

...