"Wow! Big Bad Guy! Big Bad Guy! Come look! Come look! I found another treasure! Hurry and tell me what this thing is!"
Once their exploration of the castle began, little N enthusiastically led his Pidove around searching for treasure. In less than half an hour, he had already dug up a huge pile of items. Most of them were nothing more than broken rocks and rotten furniture, but he had still managed to uncover quite a few genuine valuables.
For example...
Little N came running over to Liam, carrying a strange rock larger than his own head with both hands.
"Uh, you found something else? Let me see... This stone is..."
[Ding!]
[Cover Fossil: A shell fossil from an ancient Pokémon that once lived in the sea long ago. It contains the genetic material of an ancient Pokémon. With specialized machinery, the ancient Pokémon can be revived.]
[Evaluation: Extremely valuable.]
"Wow! Little N, this rock is actually an Ancient Pokémon Fossil! It's an incredibly precious treasure!"
After finishing the scan, Liam immediately smiled and explained.
"Haha! I knew it had to be treasure! Hehe! Come on! I'm going to keep looking!"
Hearing Liam's confirmation, little N proudly grinned, wiped his dirty little hand across his nose, and happily ran off in search of more treasure.
Watching the energetic child, Liam shook his head helplessly before storing the treasures little N had already found into his backpack.
"A Cover Fossil... a Sun Stone... a Heart Scale... a Hard Stone... a Fire Stone... Wow, there are quite a few good finds."
Liam felt that this trip to the ancient castle had already been more than worthwhile.
But at that very moment—
"Ahhh!! Help!!"
"What?! Little N!!"
Little N's cry for help suddenly came from a nearby room!
Liam immediately dashed over.
The instant he rushed inside, he saw little N trapped in a pool of quicksand at the center of the room!
The yellow sand churned violently around him, and his body was steadily sinking.
"Pido! Pido!"
Pidove desperately clung to little N's clothes, flapping upward with all its strength. But the pull of the quicksand was too powerful. All it could do was slow little N's descent.
"Don't be afraid, little N! I'm coming! Grab the fishing rod!!"
The moment Liam understood the situation, he pulled out the fishing rod he hadn't used in ages from his backpack. Extending it rapidly, he reached one end toward little N while cautiously making his own way forward.
However...
Just as he had taken only a few steps—
Crack!
"Huh?"
Before the fishing rod could even reach little N, the floor beneath Liam suddenly shattered with a loud crack!
His eyes widened in shock.
Without hesitation, he threw away the fishing rod.
The Speed Shoes on his feet activated instantly, propelling him forward like a gust of wind.
Within moments, Liam reached little N and grabbed him by the arm.
But right then—
The entire floor of the castle room collapsed!
Starting beneath Liam's feet, the stone tiles caved in one after another.
At that critical moment, Liam's expression hardened.
"Up you go!"
With a powerful tug, he yanked little N free from the quicksand.
Then, twisting his body, he hurled the boy toward the doorway with all his strength.
Rumble—!
As the room collapsed completely… Liam fell through the crumbling floor into the chamber below.
"Big Bad Guy!!"
"Pido! Pido! Pido!!"
Thrown clear of the collapse, little N was caught in midair by Pidove.
Watching Liam disappear into the darkness below, little N's face froze in horror.
The tiny Pidove flapped its wings with everything it had.
Now that the quicksand was no longer dragging them down, although Pidove wasn't especially strong, little N was light enough for it to carry.
Then—
"B- Bad Guy! Pidove! Hurry! Take me down there!"
Panic immediately overtook little N as he urged Pidove to fly down into the lower level.
"Big Bad Guy! Where are you?! Waaaah! Please don't let anything happen to you!!"
...
"Waaaah! Big Bad Guy's been buried alive! Waaaah!!"
...
After Pidove carried him into the chamber below, little N found nothing but a huge mound of collapsed stone slabs and yellow sand.
The moment he landed, he ran straight to the pile, tears streaming down his face as he desperately tried moving the rubble.
But the broken stone slabs were enormous.
With little N's strength, they wouldn't budge at all. He strained with every ounce of strength he had.
Nothing moved.
Finally, completely overwhelmed by despair, he burst into loud sobs.
"Waaaah! Big Bad Guy! Please don't die!! Waaaah! If something happens to you... what am I supposed to do?! Waaaah!!"
"Pido... Pido..."
Seeing little N crying so miserably, Pidove landed on his shoulder and gently rubbed its head against him in comfort.
Unfortunately...
It didn't help much.
Just as little N's crying grew louder—
Rattle... Rattle...
The mound of rubble suddenly began to shake.
"Ah!"
"Pido!"
The sudden movement startled both little N and Pidove.
Pidove immediately grabbed little N's clothes again and pulled him away from the pile.
And the very instant they retreated—
"GRAAAAH!!"
A thunderous roar erupted from within the rubble!
The entire mound exploded apart!
Garchomp's massive figure burst out through the debris with a deafening roar.
Then, after Garchomp's roar subsided—
"Cough! Cough! Garchomp! That was way too violent! I nearly choked to death! Cough, cough!"
Liam's coughing voice came from beneath Garchomp.
"Big Bad Guy!! Waaaah!!"
Little N looked over in utter delight as Liam slowly crawled out from beneath Garchomp.
He shouted happily, then immediately jumped down and rushed over with tears pouring from his eyes.
"Alright, alright. Don't cry anymore. See? I'm perfectly fine. Little N is a boy, isn't he? Boys shouldn't cry like little girls."
Little N threw himself into Liam's arms and buried his face in his chest, refusing to let go.
His tears soaked Liam's clothes.
Liam could only pat his head and gently stroke the boy's soft green hair in comfort.
Unfortunately...
It didn't seem to work.
Little N kept crying.
"Waaaah!!"
Liam: "..."
Completely out of ideas, Liam finally turned to Garchomp for help.
Garchomp: "Graah..."
Garchomp clearly had no solution either.
Just then—
WHOOOOOSH!!
A scorching hot gale suddenly swept toward them!
However—
"GRAAAAH!!"
Garchomp detected the attack first!
It immediately spun around, shielding Liam and little N behind its enormous body.
With a powerful sweep of one fin-like arm, it summoned a towering wall of sandstorm that intercepted the blazing wind.
"Vol~"
As the hot wind was blocked by the sandstorm barrier, a Volcarona, its entire body shedding glowing fiery scales, slowly descended from above and landed upon a stone altar near the wall.
And that wasn't all.
"Lar~ Lar~"
A swarm of Larvesta came pouring in from every direction, aggressively surrounding Liam and the others.
"Raising kids is so hard... If Ash turns out like this in the future, maybe I should just let him fall..." Liam thought helplessly.