A small mound of earth bulged up along the ground.
Following that trail, Shiko and Himeko were able to track Dugtrio's exact path.
This Dugtrio was at the peak of Gym-level strength. When it came to locating underground minerals and rare items, it had a uniquely gifted talent.
Dugtrio's digging speed underground was extremely fast.
Shiko and Himeko followed the traces it left behind, heading deeper into Mt. Silver.
Along the way, they ran into quite a few wild Pokémon.
But…
After seeing GeoGreymon's towering physique, ferocious appearance, and terrifying aura, even the most ill-tempered wild Pokémon behaved themselves.
They silently hid in the distance and watched.
Only after Shiko and Himeko left the area did they finally breathe out in relief, turn around, and slip away.
They advanced nearly a thousand meters into Mt. Silver's depths.
Dugtrio dug faster and faster.
Shiko and Himeko, following behind, couldn't help but speed up as well.
It looked like Dugtrio had discovered some Steel-type material.
Otherwise, there was no way it would be charging in a straight line in one direction like this.
After trekking into a concealed woodland…
Passing through tall, interwoven trees…
A silver-white low mountain dozens of meters high suddenly appeared in front of them.
"Chi-chi!!"
Dugtrio suddenly sprang out of the ground.
It squeaked at Shiko a few times, looking excited.
Its three earth-brown heads thrust toward that earthen mountain.
The meaning was obvious.
The thing they were looking for was inside that mountain.
Shiko's eyes lit up at once.
This efficiency really was no joke!
He hurried forward, studying the low mountain—only a bit over ten meters tall—carefully.
That silver-white surface coloration indicated that the material forming the mountain contained a good amount of natural metal.
Places like this did, indeed, have a high probability of nurturing rare ores and items.
While Shiko was thinking it over, he moved around to the back of the low mountain.
Hm!?
He made an unexpected discovery.
On the shaded side of the mountain, there was a cave entrance concealed by shrubs and drooping branches.
Shiko used his foreclaws to push the foliage aside.
What was revealed was an entrance nearly five meters tall.
When he looked inside…
It was pitch-black, and a steady stream of cold wind blew out.
This cave entrance seemed to hollow out the entire mountain.
"Are we going in?" Himeko walked up, took a look, and asked.
Shiko nodded.
Since Dugtrio had led them here, then inside this cave…
There was a very high chance there was a rare item.
"Could there be some especially strong Pokémon inside?" Himeko asked again, cautious.
Mt. Silver had many species, and it was complicated.
Some people had even claimed they'd seen extremely rare, wild Champion-level Pokémon here.
If this cave was the lair of an exceptionally powerful Pokémon…
Charging in and provoking a conflict would be troublesome.
"It's fine."
"I don't sense any especially powerful Pokémon aura."
"And even if there is a Champion-level Pokémon, I can handle it."
Shiko sent the words to Himeko via Telepathy, utterly confident.
With his current strength…
He truly exceeded ordinary Elite Four-level by a wide margin.
Complete mastery of the Dragon-type law.
Plus twenty-five percent mastery of the Steel-type law.
And GeoGreymon's naturally strong base stats and talent potential…
All of it gave Shiko the confidence that he could wrestle and fight head-on with an ordinary Champion-level Pokémon.
"True." Himeko thought about it and nodded.
Shiko's combat power right now…
Basically let him do whatever he wanted.
One trainer and one partner Pokémon entered the cave.
The moment they stepped inside, Shiko and Himeko noticed the cave walls.
There were marks on the rock, which suggested this place might have been excavated by humans…
Or that a Pokémon had once rubbed against the rock face.
In a deep wilderness like this, the possibility of human construction was small.
Unless it was some hidden, undiscovered ruin.
Shiko leaned more toward the second explanation.
These marks were left by a Pokémon.
The traces stretched inward along the entire way.
From the entrance to dozens of meters inside, they could clearly follow them.
Based on that, they judged—
This should be a fairly large wild Pokémon.
After realizing that, Shiko's mind flashed through the images of many different Pokémon.
But for now, he still couldn't determine which Pokémon's nest this actually was.
They continued deeper.
The passage slanted downward.
After going some distance, when they looked back, they could no longer see the light from the cave entrance.
Shiko estimated they had already entered underground.
The passage was too dark.
So Himeko released Gardevoir and had her use Flash to light the way.
"Ralts~"
The moment Gardevoir appeared, she saw Shiko.
She set Himeko's instruction aside first, hugged Shiko's leg, and rubbed against it affectionately.
Only then did she bring her hands together, channel energy, and ignite a brilliant ball of light in her palms.
In an instant, the darkness inside the cave was driven back.
A radius of five to six meters was illuminated.
With a light source, Shiko, Gardevoir, and Himeko continued inward.
After a few steps…
Shiko abruptly stopped.
He lowered his head and looked at the ground beneath his feet.
Noticing his movement, Himeko and Gardevoir stopped too, staring at him in confusion.
"What is it?" Himeko asked as she and Gardevoir moved closer, not understanding what was wrong.
Shiko didn't answer.
He used the sharp claws on his feet to pry at the ground where he'd just stepped, where the rock had already crumbled.
He was heavy.
After entering this passage, every step he took cracked and crushed a bit of the rocky surface.
Just now, when the ground split beneath his foot, Shiko felt something strange.
The sensation was oddly smooth and rounded.
That was why he grew suspicious and stopped to check what was underneath.
He brushed aside the broken stones.
A layer of silver-white gleam appeared beneath.
"This is… a Metal Coat!?" Himeko lowered her head, looked at it, and blurted out.
"And it's huge!"
Himeko cleared away the small debris at the edges and realized this Metal Coat was unexpectedly large.
A normal Metal Coat was only about the size of a hand.
But the one Shiko had found…
Was at least six hands' worth in size!
Wait—
As Himeko examined the Metal Coat, she realized something else was off.
The cracked pit Shiko had stomped open didn't seem to be the full area of the metal sheet at all!
Himeko pried up the loose stones along the edge.
What she discovered next—
Made both her and Shiko gasp in shock.
(End of Chapter)
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