"Heads up! Pokemon horde ahead!"
Alder shouted. Because of Shenhe's attack, the Pokemon deeper inside the temple were startled and came to check to see what was going on.
Everyone was awakened from their shock and quickly completed the formation. Dante also stood beside Alder, glancing at Shenhe from time to time.
Honestly, when he saw the power of her Frosmoth, he was surprised. That level of attack had almost reached 200, a level comparable to his Pikachu holding a Light Ball.
And that was only Frosmoth's Special Attack. To know, Quiver Dance boosts the Pokemon Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed. And from Dante's estimate, Frosmoth's mastery of this move was so strong that she could boost all of them by 2 in just one use.
Combined with her Pokemon breaking through the racial limit at least 5 times, he could only imagine just how powerful Frosmoth is in battle.
It seems he made a hasty conclusion. As it stands now, being the strongest Pokemon Trainer in the world isn't that final yet. He'd still need to strengthen everyone in the team.
Dante mused as he watched the Pokemon before them look over cautiously. They glanced back and forth at the humans, then at the traces of Shenhe's attack. Then…they slowly retreated.
Unlike the Portal Pokemon outside, the Pokemon inside the ruins aren't as aggressive. The only reason they attacked Dante and the others earlier was because they trespassed their territory.
But now, seeing them not stepping past the gate, as well as the deterrence of Shenhe's power, they decided not to provoke this group. Even, their action was as if they acquiesced to Dante and the others having that part of the temple as their territory.
"Haha, it seems we don't have to fight another round of battle. Everyone, let's eat first before we proceed deeper."
With Alder's words, the team sighed in relaxation. They further relaxed when they saw Alder taking up the position near the gate to keep watch of any Pokemon that decided to sneak attack their group.
After finding a comfortable position in the room, they took out their meals from the Space Bag and began quickly munching down.
Dante himself found a relatively spacious corner. And as soon as he sat down, Mawile quickly sat beside him.
"Pika!" (Finally! It's time to eat!)
Pikachu jumped over from behind Dante. He stretched, and then looked at Dante with anticipation.
"You didn't even do anything. Eevee was the one who did all the work earlier."
"Pika pi!" (I cheered her on from the side! Besides, I was in charge of guarding you.)
"Uh huh. Guarding me while watching movies, huh? If you're a bodyguard, that would be enough grounds to fire you from the job."
Dante rebutted while taking out the meal from his Space Bag as well as a soft, large cushion for everyone to sit on. Of course, he didn't forget his Pokemon's food.
His lunch was just a meaty meal he bought from the hotel before they left. Meanwhile, Pikachu and the others had a combination of their Exclusive Pokemon food mixed with Apples from the PMD world.
Their team had a hearty time eating, bickering and laughing with each other. And right after, Eevee and Pikachu lay in contentment against Ursaring as the trio began to watch movies.
"Eevee, Ursaring, don't imitate your uncle Pikachu's bad habit."
"Pika!" (I'm not their uncle!)
"Eevee~" (Ehehe, just this once, Dad~)
"Ursa." (Uh, it's not my fault, Dad. They're sitting on me.)
Staring at Ursaring's shifty expression, Dante chuckled and shook his head. He stood up and stretched. This was a good time to finally start implementing one of his plans for this ruin exploration.
However, when he looked around, he saw his target approaching him.
"You and your Pokemon are very close, Dante."
"Ms. Cynthia, Ms. Shenhe, and Ms. Ganyu. What brings you here?"
Dante said with a smile. He glanced at the embarrassed look on Ganyu's face, the amused one on Cynthia's, and finally, Shenhe's slightly burning gaze.
"Do you need more energy?"
Shenhe asked while stretching out her hand. Her tone had an eagerness to it, as if a child asking their parents whether they can help in making fruit salad just so they can eat some of the fruits in the process.
Dante glanced around. Because two Champions and an Elite suddenly approached him, everyone cast their gazes over. There was no way they could hold hands without anyone finding out, not unless he used his Illusion Ability.
He turned to Ganyu with an inquiring gaze. He himself had no problems holding Shenhe's hand in public. However, this Elite had stopped them earlier. But right now, the blue haired girl just nodded to him with an embarrassed smile.
Even without his emotion sensing, he could feel her helplessness and reluctance. Just what had Shenhe done to make her finally accept the situation?
…oh well, that's not his problem.
"Sure."
As soon as he agreed, Shenhe quickly went to the side which was not occupied by Mawile. She stretched out her hand. And when Dante grabbed it, her lips slightly curved into a satisfied smile.
Dante heard the whispers of disbelief from the surroundings. He ignored them and raised an inquiring gaze at Cynthia, who was watching everything with amusement.
"Ms. Cynthia, did you come just to join in on the fun?"
"Hahaha, I'm just amazed at how expressive Shenhe has been."
Cynthia chuckled, before she showed Dante the screen of the tablet she held in her hand.
"As for me, I wanted to ask whether you can help translate this."
"Let me see."
Dante took the tablet with his free hand. There, pictures of a wall written with sentences in Braille were shown.
"I'll be glad to help. I'm curious though. Where were these photos taken?"
"In this temple, of course."
"Huh? I don't remember seeing- ah. Are these taken by the scouts?"
"That's right. They are written in the rooms we skipped. I figured there might be some clues in them about this temple."
Cynthia said while tucking her hair behind her ear. Well, that was partially the case.
Another, more important reason, was her curiosity on whether there were unknown records of the ancient period in them.
"Alright. Then I'll check for clues in them. Do you want to listen?"
"If you don't mind."
Of course Dante did not. In the first place, his plan had been to approach Cynthia in the name of talking about the Pokemon world history. He would be a fool if he let go of this opportunity.
He sat back down on the cushion, Shenhe not letting go of his hand the whole time as she sat beside him.
Mawile herself did not give in and also sat back at her original position beside Dante. At the same time, she did not forget to give a challenging look at Cynthia, who now can't sit beside Dante.
"Sorry about that. She's a bit clingy. Sit wherever you like"
"It's fine. I can see your Pokemon likes you very much."
Cynthia chuckled. Her heart melted when she saw Mawile puffed up her chest in pride at her words. This little girl is very cute.
She sat beside Mawile and pinched her cheeks under the cream-colored Pokemon dissatisfied pout. It was only when Dante started to translate the pictures on the tablet that Cynthia stopped.
"This first picture is a bit abstract. It tells how the first chief decided to erect their village near the place where this temple was built with the permission of this Legendary Pokemon."
"Did it say the name of the village?"
"No. The only thing of note is that this place apparently snows all the time."
"I see."
Dante scrolled to the next image and continued to translate. He and Cynthia discussed each image, slowly gaining the full picture of the history of this place. During their discussion, they even included brief mentions of other Pokemon history knowledge.
Cynthia glanced at Dante's side profile in pleasant surprise.
Initially, her plan was to wait until after the exploration to learn what was written here. However, she didn't expect that there would be someone among their team who had learned the language of the Golems. And he was also someone that seemed to be as interested in Pokemon history like she was.
It was like she found her kindred spirit.
Shenhe beside Dante didn't interrupt. She didn't understand many of the things they said. She just closed her eyes in silent enjoyment, leaning her head on Dante's shoulder. Soon, she fell asleep amidst their discussion.
Ganyu, who was sitting nearby, shook her head helplessly. When she heard the hushed whispers around, she suppressed the urge to hold her forehead in distress. Hopefully, their master doesn't make too much fuss after hearing about her junior sister's actions.
The good times didn't last and the break time was soon over. Dante returned the tablet to Cynthia under her reluctant gaze, and shook Shenhe awake.
"That was fun, Cynthia. Let's continue next time. You as well, Miss Shenhe."
Shenhe frowned. Her drowsiness was quickly driven away. She looked at Dante's receding back, then at Cynthia who had stood up to stretch her body.
…why is she called Miss Shenhe and Cynthia just Cynthia? Did she miss something?
Not caring about the thoughts of the white haired Champion behind him, Dante walked to Alder's side in a good mood.
He didn't expect to advance his relationship with Cynthia so significantly in just one break. During their discussion, he occasionally mentioned some of the Pokemon lore he knew in his previous life, gaining the admiration of the blonde Champion for being a fellow history enthusiast.
"Hey Dante, you trying to flirt with the two of them?"
Suddenly, Alder's hushed whispers sounded in his ears. The older guy had a look of admiration on his face, and he stared at Dante as if this was the first time he saw him.
"No. We were just making friends."
"Making friends, huh? Hahaha, everyone, let's set off!"
Alder shouted. At the same time, he patted Dante's back and gave him a thumbs up.
Their team once again took the lead. And when the Pokemon beyond the gate saw them stepping in, they let out threatening growls before launching a barrage of attacks.
Their team made quick work of them and proceeded forward.
This time, the Pokemon they encountered were Cryogonal, Claydol, Bronzong, Glalie, Froslass, Probopass, Yamasks, and Cofagrigus.
They had to be cautious against Claydol and Bronzong who could explode, as well as Cofagrigus and Yamask who could invalidate the Damp Ability of their Pokemon.
At the same time, because they were deeper in the temple, the concentration of energy was higher, leading to the Pokemon here being more powerful.
Because of this, the 6 member group in front struggled to contain all the approaching Pokemon. Some passed through them, giving Dante the opportunity to finally take action.
Of course, said action was just each of his Pokemon occasionally releasing an attack to take down the rare ones that managed to breach their formation.
Alder nodded in approval when he saw Dante could take care of himself. He commanded the team to go forward through the gray winding passages of this temple.
Because this part of the temple hadn't been scouted yet, their progress was not as smooth as before. They had to constantly check each available path and then backtrack to not miss any possible clues.
They found rooms which contained Braille scriptures. However, most of them were just documentaries about this temple as well as the lives of the villagers that built it.
During this period, Cynthia resisted the urge to ask Dante for the proper translation of each text. She just ordered Kaeya to take pictures of them, planning to have another discussion with Dante later when they have the time.
Hours passed in this period of exploration. Soon, they once again found another stone door similar to the one Shenhe blew up. But this time, the door required Pure Rock energy to unlock.
"It's already late. We'll rest here today and continue our exploration tomorrow."
Alder was not in a hurry to open this door. After looking at his watch, he commanded everyone to set up camp.
Dante had just placed down his camping bed when he found Shenhe coming over with her own bed. Suddenly, he had a foreboding premonition that trouble was coming. And it was confirmed when he saw her placing her bed right next to his.
"This way, we can hold hands even while sleeping."
She said, a tinge of smugness in her flat voice.
Dante didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He stared at this sexy yet childish Champion, not knowing what to say.
"Miss Shenhe, aren't you afraid of what others might say when they see this?"
"...I don't mind. Do you?"
Staring at her beautiful, opaline eyes, Dante shook his head. Well, if she had no problems with it, then who was he to complain?
The two of them ate their dinner along with their Pokemon. Cynthia came over to join them midway, having collected the photos of the Braille scriptures from Kaeya.
Thus, under the envious gaze of the other Trainers, Dante ate and chatted with the two Champions.