Chapter 139

Boom

From the crater, bursts of fire shot into the sky from time to time, drawing the attention of many tourists.

Faintly, two fiery red figures could be seen clashing, evenly matched.

“Looks like Ash and Charizard’s relationship has improved quite a bit.”

Natsume looked toward the sky. Charizard’s fighting style was wild and unrestrained, clearly following Ash’s commands.

It seemed Ash’s effort over the past few days hadn’t been wasted.

Natsume nodded in satisfaction.

Diglett In the blink of an eye, a small Diglett poked its head out from underground.

Found it?

Natsume paused, then followed Diglett’s lead, soon arriving at some ruins.

Looking at the ruins of the Cinnabar Gym before him, Natsume felt a wave of emotion.

He hadn’t expected that after blowing it up so many times three years ago, the final strike would still fall to him.

Fortunately, this area was rather desolate, and the crowds had all been drawn toward the island’s center, watching the Pokémon battle at the volcano’s crater with curiosity.

Boom!

The explosion thundered as a pillar of magma shot skyward.

Blaine was startled by the sudden noise, instinctively looking toward the blast. Even Magmar was caught off guard.

“Charizard, Seismic Toss!”

At the bottom of Cinnabar Island’s volcano, the ruins of the Gym had already been engulfed in flames.

The fire burned so fiercely that even from the mountaintop, Blaine could see the blaze.

Yet somehow, Natsume had caused the earth around the Gym to rise, forming a natural pit to block the fire.

At this moment, Natsume stood atop the earthen wall.

“Oh no, the Volcano Spirit has come!”

A man in casual clothes passed by, pointing at Natsume and shouting.

He looked exactly like the statue of the Volcano Spirit—uncannily so.

As more and more people gathered around, Natsume’s eyes glowed with a faint blue light.

Not far away, seawater he had prepared in advance rose into the air, pouring down over the Gym ruins.

The opening from the blast was small, and the underground magma reserves were limited.

After filling half the earthen walls, gravity forced the magma to stop overflowing.

Natsume manipulated the slowly solidifying magma, carrying along charred beams and debris, and dumped it all into a waiting Rotom Truck nearby.

He had gone through a lot of trouble to borrow that transport vehicle on the island.

“What kind of Pokémon is that?” came a naïve, broadcast-like voice. Natsume thought it was Nash, but when he turned, it was a stranger in casual clothes, curiously staring at the Rotom Truck.

“You can step a little closer,” Natsume said calmly.

The man blinked, then took a step forward.

“Why should I get closer?” he asked, puzzled.

“So the volcanic mud will hit you.”

Splat— A lump of volcanic mud mixed with wood chips dropped from the Rotom Truck, brushing past the man’s backside before hitting the ground.

The intense heat set his pants on fire.

“Ahh—Water, I need water!” the man screamed, running off.

Seeing this, Natsume nodded, convinced he had just saved a life.

“Rotom, haul it to the scrapyard.” Natsume gestured to Rotom.

Though it wasn’t a remodeled combat unit, Rotom No. 2 could still manage basic transport.

By the time the crowd arrived, Natsume had nearly finished cleaning up.

“Natsume, I got the Cinnabar Badge!” Ash proudly held the badge high.

“Didn’t you already have it? Did you really need to battle again?” Misty said, holding Togepi while complaining.

“Well, it’s different this way,” Ash laughed sheepishly. Behind him, Charizard crossed its arms, snorting hot air from its nostrils.

“Are you sure this stuff can be sold?”

Blaine glanced at the black volcanic mud, then looked at Natsume with doubt.

“Uh… though the quality doesn’t seem that great,” Natsume paused, then continued:

“But when I tested it with the machine”

“The quality’s actually very high?” Blaine asked hopefully.

“There are actually a lot of impurities too.” Natsume pulled out a picture, showing it covered with pebble-sized dots.

Blaine: “…”

Great, now Natsume had ruined his only remaining property too.

“Those don’t look like impurities, though?” Everyone climbed up the mound.

Brock pointed to a sparkling spot in the magma.

“Are those gems?”

Blaine looked up and saw newly emerged magma sprinkled with colorful stones.

“Magmar!” Blaine called.

A fiery red figure leapt out from behind him and dove into the magma.

After a while, Magmar came out carrying a large pile of colorful stones.

“These seem like gems, but I’ve never seen this kind before.” Giselle studied them, looking conflicted.

“Wow, even Giselle hasn’t seen them before? Then they must be really rare!” Misty leaned in.

Rare?

Natsume glanced at them, then looked up at the sky.

Hmm… during that experiment, quite a few Onix shed their stone skins. Those stones must have gone through some kind of reaction to form these.

Not only the high-temperature, high-pressure magma environment—Natsume had applied all kinds of different solutions on every Onix that took part in the experiment.

Even he couldn’t recreate these gems himself.

Blaine weighed the gems in his hand, looking conflicted.

“I know a friend who runs a jewelry shop. If even I haven’t seen gems like these, he’ll definitely be interested.”

Giselle spoke up, handing Blaine a business card.

“Finally…” Blaine accepted the card, tears streaming down his face.

He finally didn’t need the League’s poverty support anymore!

Everyone stayed the night at the Cinnabar Inn.

The next morning.

“Brock, which city are we heading to next?”

At the breakfast table, Ash yawned.

He only had one badge left now.

“Well, that depends on our schedule. We still have three months before the League starts.”

Brock swallowed his toast and continued:

“If we want to head back to Pallet Town, we can go to Viridian Gym.”

“Viridian Gym?” Ash thought back.

When he and Natsume passed through Viridian City before, the Gym was under renovation, so they skipped it.

“Alright, then let’s go to Viridian City and return to Pallet Town after. Ash, I’ve never even been to your house.”

Misty poked her head forward, showing her support.

“Viridian Gym? I wouldn’t recommend it.”

Blaine came over with a few glasses of milk, his tone heavy.

Yesterday he had sent a few gems to an appraisal agency—they were worth quite a lot. Now he looked at Natsume the way he would at a grandson.

“Why?” Ash asked curiously.

“In the past three months, Viridian Gym has barely issued any badges.” Blaine explained.

“That means the Gym Leader there isn’t someone to mess with.”

As he spoke, he shot a glare at Natsume.

Why are you looking at me?

Natsume was baffled.

Like he was the type to always stir up trouble.

“Does that mean… Viridian Gym is really difficult? Then as my last badge—”

Instead of shrinking back, Ash’s eyes burned with determination.

“Sigh…” Blaine shook his head.

He knew some things, but it wasn’t his place to explain.

“Strange, Grandpa Blaine, why are you so focused on other Gyms?”

“I think it’s because Cinnabar Gym hasn’t had many challengers these past three months, so Grandpa Blaine can only stare at his peers’ results on the computer screen.”

Bang!

As soon as Ash finished speaking, a fist landed on his head.

“Hmph, forget it. Do whatever you want. If you waste time, you’ll bear the consequences yourselves.”

Blaine snorted coldly and turned to leave.