The cave was deep and long, with no telling where it led, but Tetsuya and Ezaki had no way back.
Tetsuya had Gengar protecting him, so there was no need for him to worry too much, while Ezaki also had great faith in his Arcanine. Even if it was not particularly strong in battle, it had the ability to sense danger in advance.
The two of them hurried through the cave without stopping. In an environment like this, there was no room for even the slightest rest.
After an unknown amount of time, the cave seemed to reach its end, with no exit ahead.
"How could this happen…? There was clearly only one path! How could it possibly be a dead end?" Ezaki suddenly found it difficult to accept this fact.
"She couldn't have disappeared into thin air. We can only open up this cave," Tetsuya said.
"Sigh… that'll be a little difficult. Do you have any Pokémon that can use Dig?" Ezaki asked.
"I don't." Tetsuya shook his head. Having spent so much time in the forest, Ezaki was also very familiar with situations like this. Their current predicament was indeed quite troublesome…
It was not that opening up the passage was particularly difficult. Perhaps an explosive move could easily blast it open, but doing so could very well cause the cave to collapse, with extremely serious consequences. The best method was to use Dig and slowly open up the passage through physical means.
"What are we supposed to do, Tetsuya? If this keeps up, the criminal will get farther and farther away!" Ezaki said anxiously.
"Mmm, maybe it can do it… Mamoswine, come out." Tetsuya threw out a Poké Ball, and Mamoswine nearly filled the entire cave.
"Tetsuya!?" Ezaki asked in surprise.
"We'll have to use brute force. Mamoswine, use Curse, then Take Down." As soon as Tetsuya finished speaking, Mamoswine let out a roar. Its muscles swelled as power filled its entire body, and it charged fiercely toward the end of the cave!
With the first impact, the cave trembled slightly.
With another impact, they could already tell that a massive stone was blocking the cave, and it had begun to shift slightly.
Ezaki could not help swallowing. "M-Mamoswine actually has this much power? It's pushing a massive stone using nothing but the strength of its body…?"
On the third attempt, Mamoswine put all its strength into the charge. The ground trembled as it slammed violently into the massive stone. With that single impact, the stone was sent flying away, and light immediately shone through the opening.
Ezaki was so shocked that his jaw practically dropped. "Th-This is terrifying! That's way more efficient than using Dig…"
"Come back, Mamoswine."
Tetsuya recalled Mamoswine and rushed out of the cave. He was now outside, halfway up the mountainside and within a valley, with sheer cliffs rising above.
Maiko must have used a Pokémon move to blast loose a massive stone from the cliff and seal off the cave. Mamoswine had now knocked it away and sent it falling into the valley.
Ezaki came out as well. Looking into the distance, he said, "So the passage actually leads here!"
"You know this place?" Tetsuya asked.
"I'm extremely familiar with the terrain around here. Look, that vast grassland in the distance is Laramie Ranch," Ezaki said.
"Laramie Ranch…? This is bad! She must be planning to use the Pokémon raised by the Laramie's to escape." Tetsuya said.
"You're right! Let's hurry over there!"
With that, Ezaki sent out Pidgeot, while Tetsuya sent out Golurk, and they headed straight for Laramie Ranch.
---◓---
After flying across the valley, they arrived above the ranch, only to see complete chaos below!
Tauros, Rhydon, Rapidash, Dodrio, and all kinds of Pokémon were mixed together, turning the scene into utter chaos.
Many people had gathered around, calling out to their own Pokémon, but it was no use.
Tetsuya and Ezaki landed at the ranch, but they were quickly surrounded by the crowd.
"Who are you!?" The crowd immediately grew noisy.
"Are they with that woman!?"
"Quick, capture them!"
Tetsuya and Ezaki felt as though they were about to drown in spit, without even a chance to get a word in. However, the woman they were talking about was definitely Aoi Maiko. But the people here clearly did not trust them, so getting any information out of them for the time being was impossible.
They could only act according to the situation.
"Everyone, calm down, calm down!" At that moment, an old man with a white beard and white hair walked out. The crowd moved aside, showing the old man great respect.
"Hello. I am Ibuki Laramie, the head of the Laramie Family. Please show me your identification."
After the old family head finished speaking, Tetsuya took out his Pokédex, while Ezaki simply took out his Ranger badge.
After looking them over, the old family head was quite surprised. "So one of you is a Ranger, while the other is a Gym's pupil… You're both truly promising young men! Please forgive my family for offending you just now."
"Hai, hai, it's all right. May I ask what happened here!?" Ezaki asked.
The old family head let out a long sigh and said, "I'll explain everything in detail once the Pokémon have calmed down."
"We just need to put them to sleep. Use a Pokémon that knows Sleep Powder," Tetsuya said.
"Luckily, I have one." Ezaki chuckled and threw out a Poké Ball. A Butterfree fluttered its wings. "Butterfree, use Sleep Powder on the group of rampaging Pokémon."
Butterfree received Ezaki's command and flew above the fighting Pokémon as purple Sleep Powder drifted down.
Gradually, the Pokémon lost their previous vigor. Finally, one after another, they collapsed and fell asleep.
"Thank you so much." The old family head finally felt the weight lift from his chest. Afterward, he had the family members take their respective Pokémon back, then led Tetsuya and Ezaki to his home.
"May I ask what exactly happened?" Ezaki asked.
"Sigh… Last night, a woman entered the ranch. We kindly took her in, but we never expected her to steal two Rapidash that our ranch had carefully raised!
Those were this year's champion and runner-up. Then she destroyed all the fences around the ranch, used an explosive move to create chaos, and fled." The old family head sighed repeatedly.
"This is open grassland. Why didn't you chase her?" Ezaki asked.
"Idiot! The man already said those Rapidash were this year's champion and runner-up. Even if they tried to chase her, they wouldn't be able to catch up," Tetsuya said.
"Exactly. By the time we reacted, she was already far away. Even if we wanted to call the Rapidash back, it was already impossible," The family head said.
"Which direction she went? We'll go after her." Tetsuya stood up as he spoke.
"She headed toward the forest to the south," The old family head said.
"Let's go!"
With that, Tetsuya walked straight out of house.
"Damn it…! We have to catch her. She killed two of my companions. I have to make sure she faces the full force of the law!" Ezaki gritted his teeth, filled with righteous indignation!