Chapter 324: The Cinnabar Volcano Erupts!
Author: Samsung Charmander (Author Name)
"Because the Volcano Deity was angered, in fifty days, the volcano on Cinnabar Island will erupt."
This was the prophecy given on Cinnabar Island at the time. Counting the days, about a month and a half had indeed passed.
Earthquakes, smoke and ash...
"This Volcano Deity is certainly punctual."
Ash and his companions couldn't help but simultaneously look south of Pallet Town. Cinnabar Island was an isolated island in that direction; past the Back Mountain and that Miyazaki Hill was the sea.
This was the closest point in the Kanto Region to Cinnabar Island.
"Pokedex Beep. Someone is live broadcasting the Cinnabar Volcano eruption. Would you like to watch?"
Ash didn't quite get it, but it sounded impressive, so he tapped confirm anyway. The others couldn't help but gather around the screen curiously.
"BOOM!!"
On the screen was the familiar small island of Cinnabar. The Volcano at its center was erupting, spewing countless chunks of molten rock high into the clouds. The entire Sky turned crimson, aglow with the light of the flames—a scene straight out of the apocalypse.
The Situation was critical, and even the Photographer didn't dare get too close. The shot was taken from several thousand meters away, and since the Pokedex only supported standard-definition live streams, the screen was a mosaic of pixels.
However, while it looked like a Crisis, the residents of Cinnabar Island had long anticipated it. They had evacuated early and even cordoned off the Sea Area within a thousand-meter radius of the Island, forbidding any swimming experts, bikini-clad Sisters, or other Water Type Trainers from approaching.
Thus, it was merely a spectacular natural phenomenon, something just for entertainment.
"BOOM!!"
Onscreen, the volcanic crater trembled before suddenly blasting out a massive plume of fiery Magma. It shot straight up like a fountain, reaching a height of nearly several hundred meters in a spectacular display.
"Wait, I think I saw something."
"I think I saw something too."
Ash and the others frowned. It seemed like they had spotted some unidentified object at the very top of the magma fountain, which was soaring hundreds of meters into the sky.
They couldn't make out its specific form, but it appeared to be a deep red Pokemon, its color similar to the surrounding Magma. If they scaled it to the proportions on screen, its size would likely reach a monstrous tens of meters tall.
This deep red Pokemon was riding the magma fountain over a hundred meters high, flying and weaving through the air. It surfed the molten waves, performing all sorts of high-altitude acrobatics against the terrifying backdrop of the apocalyptic, red-lit clouds.
"It looks so happy?"
Although they couldn't see its exact appearance, the group could sense the unknown Pokemon's joy. The cheerful way it played in the magma fountain was like that of a child who just happened to be tens of meters tall.
*Sssssshhh...*
Soon, the endless fountain of Magma crashed onto the Sea Surface. The High Temperature made contact with the seawater, instantly creating billowing clouds of white steam that completely obscured their Line of Sight, making it impossible to see anything.
*THUMP!!*
They could only hear an off-screen sound, as if some behemoth had crashed into the ocean, creating a dull, heavy boom. The splash must have been massive.
Everyone: "..."
They shook their heads. Ash put down the Pokedex, thinking to himself that now was not the time to worry about the Cinnabar Volcano. It was time to set off for the Indigo Plateau.
"I got some Information from an internal Photographer chat group. Moltres will descend on the Indigo Plateau in ten days."
This was the Information Todd Snap had given Ash.
Leaving from Pallet Town now, they could reach Viridian City in a day. Instead of taking the northern route through Viridian Forest, they would head west to reach the Indigo Plateau.
Calculating the time, they had more than enough to spare.
And Moltres was an opponent Ash had set his sights on long ago.
Ash's hand closed around a certain Poké Ball on his belt as he thought to himself, "Charmeleon, you must be itching for a fight..."
*Bzzzt, bzzzt...*
The Poké Ball trembled a few times in confirmation.
"Then let's go!"
With a wave of his hand, Ash led his three companions toward Viridian City.
A day later, Viridian City, Pokémon Center.
The group didn't choose to wander around and sightsee. Instead, they made a beeline for their destination, taking the shortest path between two points and arriving in less than a day.
As dusk approached, they planned to rest at this Pokémon Center for the night and continue their journey the next morning.
"How nostalgic."
Looking at the familiar decor of the Pokémon Center lobby and the patched-up hole in the ceiling, Ash was filled with a sense of nostalgia. He couldn't help but pat the nearby Misty on the shoulder and exclaim:
"Haha, Misty, this is where we first met, right?"
Misty shot him a look that was both a rebuttal and a reminder.
"We first met on Route 1. I was fishing, and you were stealing something."
"Hey, don't make it sound so bad. It was borrowing, not stealing."
*Beep.*
At that moment, the public television screen in the lobby, which had been showing a program about scenic spots, suddenly switched to a news broadcast. It seemed to be an urgent one, which made the group gather around curiously.
Onscreen was the Live Broadcast of the Cinnabar Volcano eruption they had seen that morning, only now the picture was in 4K high definition, a much more pleasant viewing experience than the standard definition on the Pokedex.
"As everyone knows, the Cinnabar Volcano erupted this morning at 9:00 AM Kanto time. The entire Cinnabar Island was instantly destroyed and turned into a ruin of Magma. Fortunately, there were no casualties..."
Ash nodded. That was obvious.
But then the scene changed again, and the image that appeared next made everyone's pupils shrink in shock.
The feed had now switched to a Live Broadcast. The screen was filled with gray ash, but the Volcano had finished erupting, allowing the camera's distance to be reduced from the kilometer-level to within a hundred meters. The picture suddenly became much clearer.
It was a top-down view from several hundred meters up.
Surrounded by the endless Ocean, volcanic Magma could still be seen at the edges.
And in the very center of the frame was a massive red behemoth, easily tens of meters tall. Half of its body was submerged in the seawater, and it seemed to contain immense heat, constantly giving off steam where it met the water.
The behemoth was entirely clad in a fiery-red Magma Shell. Its lower body was not visible, with only its slightly hunched upper body exposed above the Sea Surface.
From the top-down perspective, its face was indistinct, but one could see sharp, white spikes growing horizontally from the gaps in the Magma Shell on both sides of its head.
At this moment, the magma behemoth was half-floating on the Sea Surface, dragging a long ripple of steam through the water as it moved slowly, seemingly heading in a specific direction.
Just then, the Pokedex also broadcast a news flash.
"Pokedex Beep. Breaking news! After a century, the Volcano Deity has finally reappeared in the public eye! Click here to view a full-body picture of the Volcano Deity."
(end of chapter)