Rhydon's Lair

There was so much seafood floating on the sea that it took an hour for the Rhydon to finish it all.

After eating to its heart's content, it finally returned to the beach with a slight spring in its step.

The Rhydon burped in satisfaction and lay sideways on the beach to take a short nap.

Zzz!

In just a few seconds, the giant Pokemon was out like a light. The only thing that could be heard on the island was the thunderous snoring of the Drill Pokemon. It was so loud that he could feel the Earth trembling slightly.

Come to think of it, Hisoka and Weavile had never seen any Pokemon except for the Krabby from earlier and this Rhydon. With such a giant Pokemon living on this island, he thought the other Pokemon must have either escaped from the island or were already eaten by the Rhydon.

If it weren't for its survival instinct kicking in, how could the giant Rhydon, who had always been extremely afraid of water, venture out into the sea to fish?

Hisoka patiently waited for a few more minutes behind the tree. After making sure that the Pokemon was fast asleep, he slowly went out of its hiding place.

Taking off his shoes, he sneakily tiptoed toward the sleeping giant, slowly approaching it with caution.

Kirlia was in Hisoka's arms, hugging his neck tightly. She was holding her breath for fear that any slight movement she caused would wake up the terrifying Pokemon. She was concentrating her attention on the Pokemon. Once the Rhydon showed any signs of waking up, she would immediately Teleport them away.

A few minutes later, Hisoka was only an arm-length away from the sleeping Rhydon. He took back what he said before. Standing in front of this beast was a whole different experience. He had never felt so small in his life, literally.

Hisoka took a deep breath, calming down his nerves. Then, he slowly placed his hand on its tough hide. It was not as rough as it looked. Instead, it had a rather nice smooth feel to it, like a polished stone.

Next, he quickly took a tracking chip that he had prepared earlier from his pocket. He removed the seal and carefully stuck it on Rhydon's back.

With this device, Hisoka could track the Rhydon's real-time location from his laptop. He also quickly took a few pictures of the still sleeping Rhydon and scanned its body data using his camera.

After finishing his work, Hisoka tapped Kirlia's shoulder and softly whispered, "I'm done. Let's leave."

Kirlia's eyes flashed as she and Hisoka became outlined in light blue. Then they suddenly disappeared in place. Seconds later, the two reappeared several meters away near the place where they hid before.

"Yeah!"

Hisoka and Kirlia looked at each other with a smile and gave each other a high five. When they were standing beside the giant Pokemon, there were really scared. Luckily, everything went smoothly just now.

No one wanted to know the terrifying power this Rhydon could unleash when it was angry. Once both sides started to fight, even Hisoka wasn't sure that the combined power of Kirlia and Weavile could defeat it.

Having a large body will massively improve the Pokemon's strength and defense. The Rhydon can withstand multiple attacks from Weavile, but just one lucky hit from the Rhydon could knock his Weavile out in an instant.

If possible, he didn't want to get into any sort of conflict with Rhydon. He decided this after seeing the Rhydon's body measurement.

Rhydon

Height: 4.25m

Weight: 1235.8kg

Tail length: 2.58m

This was its exact detailed measurement after scanning its body using a scanner. He had copied this data into his laptop, storing it under a special folder. Later, when he has time, he will sort this data into a more thorough chart.

Right now, Hisoka wasn't really interested in this giant Pokemon. He was more curious about why it could grow into such a large Pokemon. After discussing with Kirlia, he had decided to sneak into its lair while the Rhydon was still sleeping on the beach.

It was actually quite simple to find its lair. He had just to backtrack its patch and followed the broken trees in their surroundings. The Rhydon's huge size made it easy for Hisoka to find its track.

After walking for a few minutes, they were already far away from the beach, heading toward the center of the island.

Seeing that they still had a lot of ground to cover, Hisoka recalled Kirlia back to her Pokeball and quickly climbed up the tallest he could see.

He then used the vine to swing from one tree to another so that he could reach the Rhydon's lair much faster. Because he didn't know when the giant Pokemon would wake up.

Hisoka could only run forward with all his strength to reach its lair in case the Rhydon woke up much earlier.

Running in the jungle while being surrounded by trees was quite exhausting and dangerous. If you aren't careful, you might trip over the old trees, vines, and even thick undergrowth in the forest. Hisoka was highly focused as he continued to swing from one tree to another tree.

There was a cartoon that he used to watch when he was a kid. The way Tarzan moved in the movie was quite useful in this situation. He had tried to do it several times back on Earth, only to end up with his wrists breaking every time he did.

Fortunately, in this life, Hisoka had never relaxed his physical training, even when the physical quality of ordinary people in this world was obviously much better than the people back on Earth in his previous life.

Coupled with his constant training since childhood, he had finally been able to do the same stuff as Tarzan, which he wasn't able to before.

Aah-eeh-ah-eeh-aaaaaah-eeh-ah-eeh-aaaaah!

It had been half an hour since Hisoka had followed the trail back to Rhydon's lair. This deserted island looked quite small from the outside. But the island's interior terrain was quite treacherous. And since he couldn't ignore the terrain like the Rhydon did, he had wasted a lot of time on the road just now.

When he rushed out of the thick undergrowth, a cave appeared in his view. Around the large opening, they were many footprints left outside the cave, which belonged to Rhydon. But, when he peeked into it, he only saw darkness. There was no light coming from the cave at all. He also saw a small section near the cave entrance with pieces of bones scattered around it.

'So this where it usually sleeps, huh?' Hisoka thought.

After all, maintaining such a large body every day required a lot of energy. So after seeing there was no threat around its lair, it usually slept inside the hole, only occasionally going out to look for food. Besides, why would it bother to move around the island when it could just rest in peace?

...

He still remembered the times when he was adventuring inside the Viridian Forest. He had never missed out on the opportunities to explore wild Pokemon's nest.

Pokemon had intelligence far exceeding those of ordinary animals. Some Pokemon, such as Murkrow, like to collect many treasures in its nest.

Whether it is a human or a Pokemon, all of them like to collect treasures. Even Hisoka is no exception.

Turning on his headlamp, Hisoka cautiously walked into the cave. He wasn't sure whether there were any Pokemon left inside the cave beside the giant Rhydon on the beach.

Theoretically, there should be only that Rhydon occupying this entire island. Rhydon's habit is similar to the rhinos back on Earth. They are a solitary species and like to avoid each other, only forming a group during their mating season. This is also true for the Rhydon in question.

Besides, such a small island definitely couldn't support the lives of many Pokemon. Otherwise, why would the Rhydon brave the sea just to find food?

The deep underground cave was shrouded in darkness.

After climbing down the steep slope, a cavern appeared in front of Hisoka. It was about five meters in height, while the road was quite flat without any stalagmites forming on the cave floor. There were also a lot of flowstones formed on the wall due to the seawater.

Are there any treasures hidden inside the giant Rhydon's lair? He was looking forward to it.

He had only had a small amount of money left in his bank account. After the S.S. Anne sunk, he obviously had failed his task and couldn't get his reward. As for the three conditions that Ryoichi had promised, it was still unknown whether he could get them or not.

After completing his Elite-ranking tests back in Vermilion City, he was only left with 2,000 dollars of living allowance from the League.

Although he could get the 2,000 dollars stipend from the League every month, such a small amount of money was hardly enough for Hisoka and his Pokemon.

It can barely support their daily expenses for a week. Hisoka usually spent around 10,000 dollars a month for his Pokemon daily meals and supplements, not to mention other things.

If you want to raise your Pokemon well and make them stronger, you really need to spend a lot of money.

Since the League's establishment more than a hundred years ago, why there had been no civilians among the regional Elite Four and Champion?

Some people might say, 'You're wrong! Isn't there Bruno from the Elite Four? He is a civilian.'

Well, it is true. Bruno is not only a civilian, but he is also an orphan. Being able to become the third member of the Kanto Elite Four is enough to prove his talent.

What everyone didn't know was that the oldest member of Kanto Elite Four, Agatha, had been supporting Bruno since he was a child. She had even trained him for a short time.

This matter wasn't a secret in the high-level circles of the League. Bruno said in an interview Agatha had supported him shortly after he became an Elite Four. He also said that he respected Agatha the most in his life.

The Fighting-type master, Bruno, is a cheerful and hard-working person. He is also quite amiable to many civilian trainers. His identity as a civilian-born Elite Four made him a beloved and respected figure among many civilians in the Kanto region.

Although Lance, hailing from the famous clan of Dragon Masters, was known as the strongest Elite Four, he was far from being able to compete with Bruno in terms of familiarity. Many people also worshipped Lance, but at the same time, they also feared him.

...

No matter how deep the cave goes, there will always be an end. After walking inside the cave for about an hour or so, Hisoka saw a bright light ahead of him.

Seeing the light a few meters away from him, Hisoka didn't rush to it. Instead, he took out his laptop and observed the position of the tracking chip he had left on the Rhydon. He finally breathed a sigh of relief after seeing that the Rhydon had not moved from its spot yet.

Putting his mind at ease, Hisoka quickly walked toward the place where the light was coming from. He was definitely sure that it was not a sunlight reflection but more like the reflection of some kind of minerals.

'Is it a gemstone?' thought Hisoka.

Many kinds of minerals appeared one by one in Hisoka's mind.

Jadeite, ruby, platinum, black opal, diamond, etc.

These precious gemstones almost made Hisoka drool in anticipation.

'Oh lord Arceus, bless me,' Hisoka prayed.

Hisoka had discovered a gemstone when he was exploring wild Pokemon's lair a few years ago. It was a blue corundum stone or better known as a sapphire.

The sapphire he obtained at that time was still in relatively good condition. In the end, it was auctioned by Hisoka at a high price in Viridian City. It might be worth more if it was a ruby of the same quality.

Hisoka quickly walked to the place where the light was reflecting from. When he turned around the corner and looked over, the view stupefied him.

"Damn!"

Hisoka couldn't help but curse.

It appeared that it wasn't some kind of valuable gemstone at all. The light reflected in front of him was indeed a mineral, but it was one of the most worthless gemstones.

Hisoka bitterly smiled as he picked a small piece of rock from the ground. Indeed, many Pokemon like this kind of shiny thing the most.

The gemstone was known as a lumenstone. It can be found everywhere when mined somewhere underground. It had no other use besides emitting a faint light when left in the dark.

A few minutes later, Hisoka gradually regained his composure and stood in front of the lumenstone pile, pushing it aside.

Although the cave Hisoka was in was full of lumenstone, he still didn't give up and continued his search.

Who knows? They might be a treasure hidden somewhere around the corner.

The Rhydon probably just brought back anything that shined back to its lair. And Hisoka's instinct as a hunter was telling him to continue his search. He didn't believe there wouldn't be any treasures in such a deep cave.

...