Chapter 140.
Boom—
From the volcano's crater, bursts of fire shot skyward from time to time, drawing the attention of many tourists.
Faintly visible, two fiery-red figures were clashing, trading blows back and forth.
"It looks like the relationship between Ash Ketchum and Charizard has eased up a lot."
Natsume looked up at the sky.
Charizard's style was all over the place, clearly moving under Ash's direction.
It seemed that Ash's efforts over the past few days hadn't been in vain.
Natsume nodded in satisfaction.
"Diglett—!"
In the blink of an eye, a Diglett popped its head up from underground.
Found it?
Natsume blinked, then followed the Diglett's lead and soon arrived beside a heap of ruins.
Staring at the ruins of the Cinnabar Gym, Natsume felt a little sentimental.
He hadn't expected that, after blowing it up so many times three years ago, the final strike would still end up being delivered by him.
Just right—this area was pretty desolate, and the crowds nearby had been drawn to the island's center, curious to watch the two battling Pokémon at the mouth of the volcano.
Boom!
An explosion rang out, and a pillar of magma shot into the sky.
Startled by the sudden sound, Blaine shuddered and instinctively looked toward the blast, even allowing Magmar to get caught off guard.
"Charizard, use Seismic Toss!"
On Cinnabar Island, down inside the volcano, his Gym's ruins had already gone up in roaring flames.
The blaze was so fierce that even from the mountaintop, he could glimpse those tongues of fire.
Only, Natsume had done something—earthen mounds had risen around the Gym, forming a natural pit that contained the fire.
Natsume was standing atop the wall of packed earth.
"Oh no, the Volcano Demon is here!"
A man in casual clothes passed by, pointed at Natsume, and shouted.
Exactly the same—the man and the Volcano Demon statue looked practically identical.
Seeing more and more people gathering, a ghostly blue light flickered in Natsume's eyes.
Not far away, seawater he'd prepared in advance surged into the air and poured down upon the Gym's ruins in sheets.
The opening he'd blasted out was small, and the magma chamber below held little volume.
After filling half of the surrounding earthwork, gravity took over and the magma stopped surging up.
Natsume then guided the slowly solidifying magma, bundling it together with charred beams and debris, and hauled all of it away at once, loading it into the Rotom truck parked to the side.
He'd had a hard time borrowing that cargo truck on the island.
"What kind of Pokémon is this?"
A pure announcer's cadence sounded, and Natsume thought it was Ringer.
He turned and saw a stranger in casual clothes, standing by the Rotom truck and peering at it curiously.
"You can get a little closer," Natsume said.
The man blinked and took a step forward.
"Why get closer?" he asked, puzzled.
"So the volcanic mud can come down on you."
Plop—
A small clump of volcanic mud mixed with wood chips fell from the Rotom truck, skimmed the man's backside, and splatted onto the ground.
The high heat set his pants on fire.
"Ah—water, I need water!" the man screamed, sprinting away.
Seeing this, Natsume nodded, convinced he had just saved a life.
"Rotom, haul it to the scrap processing station," Natsume waved to Rotom.
Though it hadn't been refit to transform, Rotom Two could still take over and do some basic hauling.
By the time everyone hurried over, Natsume had finished most of the work.
"Natsume, I got the Volcano Badge!" Ash raised the Badge high in his hand.
"Didn't you already have it? You just had to fight," Misty said, cradling Togepi and unable to resist a jab.
"That's totally different," Ash chuckled sheepishly.
Behind him, Charizard stood with arms crossed, snorting hot air through its nostrils.
"Are you sure this stuff can sell?"
Blaine glanced at the blackened volcanic mud, then looked suspiciously at Natsume.
"Uh… it doesn't look very high-quality."
After a beat, Natsume continued, "But I tested it with a machine and found—"
"It's actually high-quality?" Blaine asked hopefully.
"It's actually full of impurities," Natsume said, pulling out an image covered with pebble-sized specks.
Blaine: "…"
Excellent—now Natsume had ruined the last of his only two properties.
"Hey, that doesn't look like an impurity," everyone said as they climbed the earthwork.
Brock pointed at a glittering spot in the magma.
"Is that a gemstone?"
Blaine looked up and saw that, in the newly upwelled magma, specks of multicolored stones were scattered like stars.
"Magmar!" Blaine called.
A fiery shape leapt from behind him and jumped into the magma.
After a moment, Magmar came out holding a big pile of multicolored stones.
"These look like gemstones… but I've never seen this kind before," Honora said, studying them, her face conflicted.
"Wow, gemstones even Honora hasn't seen—doesn't that mean they're super rare?" Misty leaned in.
Rare?
Natsume glanced at them, then looked up at the sky.
Mm… during that experiment, quite a few Onix had shed a layer of stone "skin."
These were probably formed by reactions involving those stones.
And it wasn't just the high-temperature, high-pressure magma environment—Natsume had coated each Onix that took part in the experiment with different concoctions.
Even he couldn't reproduce these gemstones himself.
Blaine examined the gems in his hand, his expression tangled.
"I know a friend who runs a jewelry shop. If there are gemstones even I've never seen, they'll definitely be interested."
Honora spoke up and handed Blaine a business card.
"Finally…"
Taking the card, Blaine burst into tears.
At last he wouldn't need the Pokémon League's relief funds!
Everyone rested well that night at the Cinnabar lodge.
The next day.
"Brock, which city are we going to next?"
At the breakfast table, Ash yawned.
He only had the final Badge left.
"Mm… that depends on our schedule," Brock said after swallowing a piece of toast.
"We've still got three months until the League Conference begins."
"If we're heading back to Pallet Town, we can go to the Viridian Gym."
"Viridian Gym?" Ash searched his memory.
When he and Natsume passed through Viridian City, the Gym was under renovation, so they skipped it.
"Okay, let's go to Viridian City, then head back to Pallet Town," Misty said, poking her head forward in support.
"I've never been to your house, Ash."
"Viridian Gym? I don't recommend you go."
Blaine came over carrying a few glasses of milk, his tone heavy.
He'd mailed a few gemstones to an appraisal agency yesterday.
They were worth quite a bit, and he now looked at Natsume as if Natsume were his own grandson.
"Why?" Ash asked, curious.
"In the past three months, the Viridian Gym has barely recorded any Badges," Blaine said.
"That means the Viridian Gym's Gym Leader is not easy to handle."
As he spoke, he glared at Natsume.
Why look at me?
Natsume was baffled.
As if he were the sort to stir up trouble.
"Could it be that the Viridian Gym is very difficult… Then as my—"
Ash didn't back down at all.
Instead, the fighting spirit in his eyes ignited.
"Sigh—" Blaine shook his head.
There were things he knew, but they weren't easy to explain.
"That's strange, Mr. Blaine, why are you paying so much attention to other Gyms?"
"I think it's because Cinnabar Island hasn't had many challengers these past three months," someone chimed in.
"So Mr. Blaine could only keep staring at his peers' performance on a computer screen."
Thump!
No sooner had Ash finished than he took a punch to the top of the head.
"Hmph, forget it. I won't meddle with you."
"Go if you want."
"If you waste time, you'll bear the consequences yourselves."
Blaine snorted, turned on his heel, and left.
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