Chapter 168: Caves

Melmetal kept admiring its new, bulked-up body, striking a few bodybuilding poses as it squinted its eyes with satisfaction. 

Melmetal: "With this grown-up body, I'll be able to eat a lot more!"

Nearby, a group of curious Vigoroth watched Melmetal. They scratched their heads, eager to get closer, but held back, wary of the new presence.

As a mythical Pokémon, Melmetal didn't need to reach the Elite level to be considered powerful—its life force was naturally at Elite, even higher than an Articuno's.

It was almost six o'clock, and Julian decided to set up camp for the night.

He released all his Pokémon.

As Steelix, Lucario, and Slowking appeared, Melmetal eagerly ran up to them, proudly showing off its evolved form.

The three Pokémon quickly realized that their new teammate was none other than the evolved Meltan.

Upon evolution, Melmetal had shot up to pseudo-Elite directly, now surpassing even Lucario in levels.

Lucario watched Melmetal, who was playfully comparing heights with it, and thought it might just be able to shove an Aura Sphere into the hex nut on Melmetal's belly.

"Alright, that's enough. Lucario, help me set up the tent. Melmetal, you go gather some firewood" Julian called out.

Collecting firewood had always been a task for the others, but now that Meltan had evolved, it was its turn.

Melmetal patted its chest and walked over to a nearby berry tree, giving it a strong punch and knocking it down.

The nearby Vigoroth were instantly enraged, screeching at the sight of their food source being destroyed.

The commotion even roused a few Slaking from their naps, who lazily looked at Melmetal with half-open eyes.

"Melmetal, get back here! Dragonite, go and gather some firewood" Julian called, recalling Melmetal before it caused more trouble.

Melmetal came back, still carrying the fallen berry tree.

"I'll plant new berry trees for you all, including ones that bear bananas," Julian promised the agitated Vigoroth.

Since they were camping on Vigoroth territory for the night, a little goodwill gesture was only fair, especially after Melmetal had taken down one of their berry trees.

Hearing Julian's words, the Vigoroth calmed down, remembering the delicious bananas they'd just tasted.

The Slaking, reassured, also resumed their lazy slumber.

As night fell, the campfire crackled to life.

Slowking was busy preparing dinner for Julian. Although Julian had plenty of pre-made meals stored in his system space, he was more than happy to enjoy a freshly cooked meal from Slowking.

With Slowking's remarkable intelligence, its culinary skills even surpassed those of a five-star hotel chef.

Fortunately, Julian's Mega Pallet Town's physique prevented him from gaining weight easily. Otherwise, with Slowking's meals, he would have likely gained ten extra pounds by now.

Julian also prepared food for his Pokémon.

Lairon, who had used up a lot of energy today and just evolved, was especially hungry. It devoured a massive chunk of rough diamonds, almost as tall as itself, which quickly disappeared with each bite.

Since their adventure in the intermediate secret realm, where Julian had excavated several hundred tons of rough diamonds, Lairon had already eaten through about a third of it.

After evolving, Lairon's appetite had nearly increased eightfold compared to its previous form.

Julian did some quick math and realized that the remaining rough diamonds might not be enough to last until Lairon evolved into an Aggron.

Raising a Totem Pokémon was no easy task—the appetite alone was staggering.

If an ordinary Trainer tried to raise an Aggron, they'd probably have no resources left to train another Pokémon. One Aggron alone could easily eat them into bankruptcy.

The Pokémon all slept outside the tent. Even Growlithe was kicked out by Julian—its warm body was like a mini furnace, and with the current warm weather, Julian didn't want it sleeping right next to him.

The Vigoroths didn't try to disturb Julian either. After all, none of the Pokémon around the tent looked like they were too easy to mess with.

The only Pokémon that looked remotely harmless was the big bellied, yellow one with a goofy expression.

Dragonite: So... the 'harmless one' turned out to be me?

With so many Pokémon on watch, Julian drifted into a peaceful sleep.

The next morning, after completing his daily tasks and a wrestling match with Melmetal, Julian kept his promise from the previous night. He planted new berry trees for the Vigoroth, including a few nanab berry trees, before leaving their territory.

This Vigoroth tribe wasn't unfamiliar with humans. They were one of the largest groups in this advanced-level secret realm.

Many Normal-type Trainers would visit this area, hoping to find a worthwhile Slakoth, Vigoroth, or even Slaking to catch.

"Finally, something good!"

Julian's eyes lit up as he noticed a large red dot on his Dowsing Machine, standing out among the other dots around it.

"Dragonite, hold this and fly straight toward the biggest red dot"

Dragonite took the scanner, confirmed the direction, and then flapped its wings, picking up speed.

Ten minutes later, they arrived at the location of the red dot.

In front of them was a mountain nearly a thousand meters high. The treasure must be somewhere inside.

"Metagross, check around the mountain to see if there are any caves" Julian said.

This mountain was home to many wild Pokémon. Destroying it would have been easy, but Julian didn't want to ruin their habitat.

It didn't take long for Metagross to return, confirming that, as expected, the mountain had many caves.

Pokémon with Ground or Rock types tended to enjoy burrowing into mountains, while others, who preferred shaded environments, also lived there.

The most common group in the caves were Zubat.

Julian chose the cave nearest to the large red dot. It was spacious, standing over three meters tall and nearly two meters wide.

As soon as they entered, a swarm of over a hundred Zubat flew out from the depths of the cave.

Dragonite swiftly unleashed a Thunderbolt, knocking down every single Zubat.

Julian scanned them with his Probing Eyes but found none with Cyan qualification, so he decided not to focus on them further.

The cave ran deep, and many more Pokémon inhabited it, including;

Geodude, Dugtrio, Sandshrew, Marowak, etc.. most at advanced level, though not in large numbers.

After all, these Pokemon didn't usually form massive groups like Zubat.

With Metagross and Dragonite leading the way, they dealt with each Pokémon effortlessly.

"Nidoking and Nidoqueen"

The deeper they ventured, the higher the levels of the Pokémon became.

The two Nidoking and Nidoqueen standing before them were already at the peak of advanced level.

*****

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