Haunter gave a slight shake, and its eyes suddenly glowed red. All the Ice Shard fragments around it began to float and rotate in the air.
"You… you're controlling all this?"
Tetsuya stared at the spectacular sight before him in disbelief.
Once Haunter's eyes returned to normal, the shards fell back to the ground. It nodded toward Tetsuya.
Brilliant!
He hadn't expected Ninetales's vitality to contain such potent psychic energy. That meant Haunter could now use Psychic directly with it full potential.
What should have taken twenty years of training had been achieved in a single day…
How could that not be exciting!?
Had he known it would work so well, he wouldn't have let Ninetales take such heavy damage. If he'd frozen it from the start and let Haunter absorb its vitality slowly, the effect might have been even more astounding.
Still, this outcome was more than enough of a surprise.
Amid the excitement, he realized neither he, Ditto, nor Swinub had eaten dinner.
All of them looked absolutely famished.
At this hour, whether it counted as dinner or midnight snack was meaningless. In any case, it was time to eat.
"Let's all rest tonight. We'll need to move quickly tomorrow."
He picked a room at random, laid out a makeshift bed on the floor, and made do for the night.
---◓---
The next morning, Tetsuya dragged Ninetales's corpse back into the mansion.
'One torch…
Let it turn to ash with the mansion it had protected.'
Watching the towering flames rise, Tetsuya mounted up and left.
That chapter of guardianship had come to an end.
Leaving the old mountain path, Tetsuya naturally wanted to take a shortcut. Fortunately, he was familiar with the terrain here. Not far ahead was a man-made tunnel that cut directly through the mountain; no need to climb over it. It wasn't just safer, it would also save at least three days of travel.
Without hesitation, Tetsuya headed toward the Mt. Mortar tunnel.
Riding RaDittash -Ditto in Rapidash form-, he had just neared the tunnel entrance when six men rushed out. Leading them was a man in a red hard hat, dressed relatively neatly. The other five wore yellow work uniforms and yellow hard hats, looking quite disheveled.
Tetsuya recalled Ditto and walked over.
Their outfits clearly marked them as construction workers. 'Tch. Could it be that the tunnel wasn't finished yet?'
Would that mean he'd still have to climb the mountain? That would be a terrible waste of time.
Frustrated, Tetsuya approached and asked, "Hey! Why are you all in such a panic?"
One of the workers hurried to reply, "We're the team digging this tunnel. We were about to break through, but… but a Golem moved in a few days ago and blocked our progress!"
"So… you're a 'professional tunneling'… team?" Tetsuya asked with a hint of doubt.
That comment rubbed the red-hatted foreman the wrong way. "Of course we're professionals, gaki!"
Tetsuya gave a dry chuckle.
"Heh. As far as I know, a proper tunnel team should have at least three kinds of Pokémon. Water-type Pokémon can soften tough rock with water. Rhydon's Horn Drill is excellent for breaking through stone. And Onix handles dirt transportation for cleanup. If you have those, and you still can't deal with one Golem… that's just laughable!"
Tetsuya's sarcasm clearly irritated the foreman, but everything he said was true.
The foreman sighed. "…We have all the Pokémon you mentioned, but you're only seeing one side of it. These Pokémon are trained specifically for engineering or construction tasks, not for battle. That Golem inside is just too high level. Our six Pokémon don't stand a chance."
"Hmm. That's fair."
Tetsuya responded. In this world, many "engineering" jobs were carried out by Pokémon. For example, tunneling relied on specific kinds of Pokémon, and on construction sites, strength-based Pokémon like Machop, Machoke, Timburr, and Gurdurr were the most commonly seen.
Just like the foreman had said, these Pokémon were trained only for specialized skills. For instance, Water-type Pokémon used in tunneling only learned to control Water Gun's flow rate, not its impact force. Rhydon's Horn Drill was trained for precision, and strength-based Pokémon were trained to transport materials.
These Pokémon might never battle in their lives. Combat wasn't even in their vocabulary. They were essentially "Work-type" Pokémon.
"Boss! Tomorrow's the final day of our contract. What are we going to do!? Every extra day we delay costs us 10K in Pokédollars!"
One of the workers blurted out.
The foreman immediately shot him a glare. "…Shut it."
Tetsuya could tell there was definitely money to be made here. He let them keep discussing among themselves.
Besides, he was quite curious about the strength of that Golem. He'd be returning Swinub to Pryce soon, and Haunter's current power had its limits.
He had intended to capture that Ninetales, but it would rather die than obey. As for Kangaskhan, it had been caught by ambush. Pokémon like that rarely listened to commands, and since it had a child with it, it had no desire to battle. Plus, it needed double the food. Raising it simply wasn't worth it.
But Golem… Golem was a different story. It wouldn't starve in the wild, it ate rock, dirt, moss, anything. And if it really was as strong as the workers claimed, it would perfectly fill the gap in his team's current strength. A win-win.
"Boss, he's right. You've got to think of something fast. There's no time to head back to town and find a Trainer. And even if we did, the cost of hiring one wouldn't be cheap!"
The foreman's face tightened. He regretted being too stingy earlier, unwilling to pay for a proper Trainer. Now the deadline was looming.
Tetsuya knew it was time.
"Ahem… maybe I can help you deal with that Golem."
""""""...""""""
The six men all turned to him with skeptical eyes. After all, at his age, he didn't even look like a full-fledged Trainer.
"Hah~ Don't get cocky. Just because you've been a Trainer for a few days doesn't mean you can act tough. Let me tell you, Mt. Mortar has claimed the lives of at least a hundred Trainers! That's why the League is pouring so many resources into building this tunnel. That Golem is not something you can handle." The foreman sneered.
"Hn. Enough talk. Just name your price."
At that moment, Tetsuya pulled out his official pupil certificate from Ecruteak Gym.
The six men's attitudes changed instantly. "Oh, oh~ So you're a student of Leader Matsuba! Fuaaah~ We didn't recognize greatness when we saw it!"
"Mhm mhm! That's right, Boss. A certified Gym pupil should be more than capable of handling that Golem. Looks like fortune hasn't abandoned us yet!"
Tetsuya had two reasons for showing his Ecruteak Gym certification. First, to assure them of his strength. But more importantly, to make sure this foreman wouldn't try to skip out on paying him afterward.