Chapter 179: Treasures of the Deep Sea
By the time Ryan arrived at the Grand Festival, the first round had already concluded, and Ruby had undoubtedly advanced.
The second round was essentially Ruby's domain. After all, most Coordinators focused on performance, lacking in battle skills.
But Ruby, with her top-tier combat abilities and her mastery of the Grand Festival format, was unbeatable, save for Wallace. Furthermore, after all these Grand Festivals, many people had become aware of Ruby's existence, and rumors circulated that Ruby would be the next Wallace.
Ryan was certain of this. After all, Wallace was Ruby's mentor, and Ruby's style was increasingly similar to Wallace's. This claim was understandable. Furthermore, having witnessed countless high-level battles, Ruby's practical knowledge was likely even superior to Wallace's.
As the tournament progressed, Ruby undoubtedly won the championship, and Ruby's Feebas finally successfully evolved into Milotic. Just now, Ryan noticed a Castform among Ruby's Pokémon. After asking Sapphire, he learned that this Castform was one Ruby had captured at the Weather Institute.
After the competition, Ryan and his friends rented a yacht and prepared to sail to Mossdeep City.
After all, Ruby had collected all five Ribbon Badges, earning a ticket to the Grand Festival. Ryan and Sapphire were still two badges short of participating in the Ever Grande Conference. Ryan could have just used a League-certified badge, but that would have been too boring. After all, collecting badges is the fun, isn't it?
Ryan slowly drove the yacht towards Mossdeep City. Ruby and the others had already changed into swimsuits and were sunbathing on the deck. After driving for a distance, Ryan decisively handed the controls to the crew and applied sunscreen to Lillie.
After all, who needs to be a driver when they have money? Enjoying life is what matters.
After Ryan finished applying sunscreen to Lillie and was about to lie down to rest, with a thud, the yacht seemed to have struck something.
Ryan instantly tensed. "Don't tell me we hit a reef!" he thought. "We're already some distance from Sootopolis City. It would be awkward to ask a Water Pokémon to swim back."
He quickly ran to the front of the yacht to see if it had hit a reef. But just as Ryan looked up, a blue figure suddenly rushed over. A Pokémon was carrying a young boy with a noticeable bump on his head. The boy bared his teeth and said, "Where did that yacht come from? You nearly hit me!"
Ryan's face darkened. "I was just wondering, where did you come from? Aren't you afraid of getting killed?"
"Wow, you've got some nerve, buddy. Why don't you try my special move?" the boy said.
"Let me handle this," Ruby said. "Mightyena, Roar!"
Ruby's Mightyena roared, and the Pokémon beneath the boy instantly returned to the Poké Ball at his waist. The boy fell headfirst, the bump on his head slamming hard against the deck, and then another small bump appeared on top of it.
"Wow, that's truly bizarre! I thought I only saw this in anime, but I didn't expect to see it in real life." Ryan marveled at the two stacked bumps on the boy's head.
"Damn it, you can kill me, but you can't humiliate me! I'll fight you!" the boy shouted. "Latios, Luster Purge!"
The Pokémon carrying the boy reappeared, but before it could open its mouth, Charizard grabbed its snout with one claw, preventing it from using any moves.
Ryan carefully examined the Latios. Latios was a bird-like Dragon and Psychic-type Pokémon with a streamlined body. Its lower body was blue, with jet-like wings, fin-like feet, and a red triangular pattern on its chest. Latios's blue and white forelimbs could retract into its body. Its upper body was white, and its head was crowned with triangular ears. Its face was white, with a white pentagonal pattern in the center.
"You're lucky! You even managed to befriend a young Latios," Ryan said, rubbing his chin.
"Let go of Latios! Darkrai, defeat them!" the boy shouted.
He then sent out a Darkrai, which launched a Dark Void at Ryan and his group. Ryan also sent out his own Darkrai, which blocked the attack with the same Dark Void.
"Wow, two Legendary Pokémon! What incredible luck!" Ruby said enviously.
Ryan's Darkrai defeated the boy's Darkrai, and then Ryan said, "Are you going to keep going?"
"How could this be?" Seeing his two ace Pokémon being easily defeated, the boy knew he was no match for Ryan. He sat down on the deck helplessly and said, "Kill me or do whatever you want."
"Why would I kill you?" Ryan waved his hand, telling Charizard and the others to let go. Then he said, "Kid, why don't you join my organization as an officer? The benefits are very good."
"Your organization? Who are you?" the boy said disdainfully.
"My name is Ryan, and I'm currently the boss of the Mercenary Guild," Ryan said. "How about it? Want to join?"
The young man thought for a moment, then suddenly said, "You're the organization recently recognized by the League! That's great! I've always wanted to join, but I've been searching for deep-sea treasures, so I haven't had the time. My name is Kaito, and I'm from Mossdeep City. I heard that your Mercenary Guild is relatively free and the benefits are very good."
Ryan nodded and said, "You're welcome to join. You can go to Pallet Town to handle the paperwork. It'll be considered my special recruitment."
Looking at the excited Kaito, Sapphire was interested in the deep-sea treasure he mentioned and asked, "What is that deep-sea treasure?"
"I don't know, but it's said to be related to a Legendary Pokémon," Kaito said. "I also heard it from the older generation. They say that there's a treasure in this sea area that's closely related to a Legendary Pokémon. Using it can summon the Legendary Pokémon, but no one knows what it is."
"Summoning a Legendary Pokémon? That's interesting. Let's go look for it later." Ryan said, and asked the crew to stop the boat and prepare to dive to search.
Ruby was also curious and asked, "Did they specify which Legendary Pokémon to summon?"
Kaito shook his head and said, "No, but it's said that summoning a Legendary Pokémon requires the help of another Legendary Pokémon."
Lillie was speechless. "Why did you bring up another Legendary Pokémon?"
Ryan found his backpack, pulled out several scuba gear sets, tossed them to Ruby and the others, and said, "That's enough. I can probably guess what it is. Ruby, open the treasure detector and take a look. Are there any readings?"
Ruby nodded, took the treasure detector from her backpack, opened it, and examined it. "Uh, there are a lot of bright spots here, at least dozens. Are there so many treasures here?"
"Yes, there are a lot. In ancient times, there were many shipwrecks here," Kaito said affirmatively.
"Then let's search them one by one," Ryan said.
Then, he put on his diving gear and jumped into the sea. Ruby and the others had no choice but to put on their diving gear and follow him in.
(End of Chapter)
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