After viewing the murals of the super-ancient Pokémon at the entrance, Hakuya and his group proceeded deeper along the rocky corridor, finally getting their first detailed look at the interior of the ruin.
—Rather than calling it a cave ruin, it was more accurate to describe it as a colossal maze.
The pathways crisscrossed and intertwined like a labyrinth. The main tunnel branched off into countless smaller paths of varying widths; some led into the dark depths, while others circled back to where they started. Water seeped through the rock walls, converging along the crevices to form underground streams that gurgled continuously.
Naturally, many Ground and Water-type Pokémon inhabited this cave.
Ferocious Carvanha would occasionally leap out of the waterways, baring their fangs and snapping at passing explorers and their Pokémon. Perhaps because their habitat had shifted from a jungle river to these narrow subterranean channels, the dark environment made their already irritable temperaments even worse.
Furthermore, many Pokémon like Sandshrew, Geodude, and Onix lurked underground. The fact that the entire cave had turned into such a complex, massive maze was largely due to their tunneling. If explorers weren't careful, it would be incredibly easy to lose their way.
The cautious Roxanne swept her gaze over the porous stone walls surrounding them and earnestly suggested, "There are too many intersecting paths here. For safety's sake, I suggest we leave special markers along the way at all times. It'll prevent us from getting lost and help us confirm our location... What do you think, Mr. Hakuya, Mr. Steven?"
"I have no objections."
Steven, possessing extensive experience in cave exploration, nodded, agreeing that this proposal was highly necessary.
Hakuya similarly expressed his strong agreement.
This wasn't like exploring ruins in a game; in reality, the danger level of archaeology was absolutely not low.
For instance, if the network of cave tunnels was too vast, explorers could spend a long time unable to find the correct exit, leading to starvation, exhaustion, or even life-threatening situations. Furthermore, because these were ancient ruins, the structural integrity of the stone walls was often unstable. Excessive human activity could easily trigger cave-ins.
Besides that, they would also encounter many wild Pokémon inside.
Due to the narrow pathways and the numerous rocks of varying sizes obstructing the way, once attacked by wild Pokémon, whether choosing to counterattack on the spot or retreat, it served as a massive test of a Trainer's competence.
And this proved true. As they delved deeper into the ruin, Hakuya and the group were quickly attacked by a horde of wild Pokémon with glowing red eyes and incredibly ferocious, violent auras.
"Kabutops, use Aqua Jet."
Watching a wild Graveler curl up its body and roll toward them, Roxanne threw a Poké Ball.
Accompanied by the flash of white light, the Fossil Pokémon brandishing sharp scythes was engulfed in a surging torrent of water. In an instant, it used [Aqua Jet], tracing an arc through the air, and smashed the opponent unconscious in a head-on collision.
Although during the temporary teacher assessment battle Kabutops had only served as cannon fodder for the little jet plane to stack her Special Attack, as a Gym Leader's main Pokémon, opponents of this caliber couldn't even withstand a single blow from it.
Besides the wild Geodude line, as they ventured deeper, an Exploud suddenly jumped out from a dark tunnel opening.
To prevent this guy from using [Hyper Voice] and causing the surrounding rocks to collapse, Hakuya promptly intervened.
"Floragato, slice it with your claws."
"Meowha~"
Before Exploud could emit powerful soundwaves from its throat to shake the cave, the large cat skimmed across the ground like a shuttle. Baring her claws, a chilling, bright white claw blade flashed in a cross-shape, instantly knocking it out.
Immediately after, without needing Hakuya's command, Floragato set her sights on a horde of Aron and Lairon swarming out from behind a rock crevice.
The most prominent feature of the Steel/Rock-type Aron line was their steel armor. Relying on the terrifying hardness of their shells, these wild Lairon had always been top-tier brawlers in this area.
However, to Floragato—who had violently elbowed countless overpowered monsters in the randomized world—the armor they took so much pride in offered absolutely zero protection. In fact, after effortlessly slicing through them like chopping vegetables, Floragato felt like she hadn't even properly warmed up yet.
Just as she was preparing to retract her claw blades back into her soft paw pads, she looked up and immediately locked onto a steel silhouette still hiding in the shadows.
Watching Floragato weave through the horde of wild Pokémon like a swimming dragon, wielding her black, shadowy claw blades with terrifying ferocity—instantly knocking out the vanguard Lairon and now stepping toward it—the leader Aggron's eyes suddenly became very clear.
"Ag-gron—"
Can we settle this peacefully?
The leader Aggron looked at the [Shadow Claw] blades dragging on the ground, stretching several meters long, and revealed a fawning, pleading smile.
Then, it was brutally elbowed unconscious by Floragato's merciless slash.
"Something feels off. The wild Pokémon in this ruin seem a bit too aggressive."
At this moment, after commanding Metagross to use [Psychic] to repel a swarm of Golbat that had rushed at them, Steven kept his eyes locked on the path ahead, furrowing his brow.
"Indeed."
Hakuya nodded in agreement.
Because he worried the ruin's interior couldn't withstand overly powerful attacks, he specifically hadn't commanded Floragato to use wide-area, high-damage moves like [Leafage] or [Petal Blizzard]. Instead, he had her use precise, single-target moves like [Shadow Claw] to eliminate them one by one.
"Perhaps this cave ruin has been isolated from the outside world for too long. So upon seeing us, the wild Pokémon living here naturally assumed we were invading their territory?"
Roxanne voiced her hypothesis.
Living in a dark cave for extended periods would inevitably make a Pokémon's temperament more irritable, and their territorial instincts would be significantly heightened. Therefore, it was common for them to actively attack humans and Pokémon that encroached on their domain.
In Pokémon ecology, this was considered a highly common phenomenon.
"I wouldn't rule out that possibility, but there might be another reason..."
Hakuya rubbed his chin, falling deep into thought.
Regarding the other possibility, he ultimately decided not to say it out loud.
According to the original plot, this Legendary Giant Rock wouldn't just be targeted by the rock fanatic Steven. Lysandre, all the way in the Kalos region, also coveted it, viewing it as the crucial artifact needed to destroy the old world and create his ideal new one.
Now, under the script of Team Rainbow Rocket, he didn't know if their actions would be accelerated.
Of course, all of this was just a bold guess without concrete evidence.
After all, having walked this far, they truly hadn't found any traces of other unknown explorers besides themselves.
Just as Hakuya and the group were preparing to continue deeper along the rocky corridor, another seemingly frenzied wild Pokémon launched an attack. And this time, the commotion it caused far exceeded the previous ones. The ground and stone walls began to tremble violently at the same time.
"ROAR!!!"
Accompanied by a deafening roar that seemed to shake the heavens, a massive Onix with a scar on its forehead burst through the stone wall.
Its overly massive, rocky body naturally made it difficult for the fragile ceiling structure of the cave to hold up.
—Cracks suddenly appeared in the rocks overhead, rapidly expanding before shattering. A massive amount of debris rained down, looking like it was about to crush Roxanne, who hadn't yet reacted.
"Look out!"
Sharply noticing the movement on the rock wall, Hakuya quickly pulled Roxanne to his side.
However, before her cheeks could even flush red from the sudden, close physical contact, Roxanne watched as Hakuya raised his head, lifted his arm, and punched the massive falling boulder to pieces with a single strike.
This sight caused a highly bizarre expression to surface on her face.
Is this really... something a normal human can do?!
At this moment, seemingly due to Onix's tunneling, this level of the cave had suffered unimaginable structural damage in a short time. Not only were boulders falling from the ceiling, but the ground beneath them suddenly split open, massive fissures rapidly spreading outwards.
Before Hakuya could formally issue a command, Latias—who had been silently observing while staying close by—suddenly materialized, her amber eyes instantly glowing with a pink-purple light.
"La-woo—!!!"
Accompanied by a crisp dragon roar echoing through the air, a powerful surge of psychic energy enveloped them.
Although [Teleport] wasn't in her current movepool, relying on the immense psychic power within her body, the little jet plane still managed to instantly blink Hakuya and Roxanne away from the collapsing area.
...
"La-woo~"
After Hakuya was gently set back down on solid ground by the psychic energy, Latias immediately turned invisible again.
The tsundere little jet plane was exactly like this. Even though she cared deeply about her Trainer's safety in her heart, after stepping in to help, she still had to put on a reserved facade outwardly. This stark contrast had never changed.
"You really saved us, Latias."
Long accustomed to this tsundere behavior, Hakuya thanked the little jet plane, then looked down at the beautiful figure resting against his chest.
"Ms. Roxanne, it's safe now."
"Ah..."
The young teacher, who had instinctively pressed herself against Hakuya's chest, woke up as if from a dream.
"T-Thank you so much, Mr. Hakuya!"
Seemingly realizing her actions just now were far too intimate, she quickly took several steps back, clasped her hands together, and bowed to express her gratitude.
Her face flushed bright red, and Roxanne's gaze instinctively drifted toward Hakuya's hand.
It wasn't her fault she blanked out just now. Compared to a massive boulder crashing down, watching him shatter that boulder with a single punch—and seeing that his hand wasn't even the slightest bit red afterward—was significantly more terrifying.
"Hmm... don't worry about it."
At this moment, unaware of what was going through Roxanne's mind, Hakuya waved his hand to indicate it was no big deal, then turned his attention back to their surroundings.
Exploring ruins inherently carried significant risks. Encountering a wild Onix attack, or even almost being buried by a falling boulder, fell well within the realm of reasonable expectations.
Because Steven had been a bit further away from them when the wall collapsed, when Latias used her psychic power to teleport, she only grabbed them in the spur of the moment, accidentally leaving behind the Hoenn Champion and his Metagross.
He figured that the Hoenn Champion, due to the collapsing walls and caving ground, had highly likely fallen all the way down to the bottom level of the cave.
"La-woo~"
"Don't worry, Steven and his Metagross are definitely fine." Hakuya patted the slightly guilty Latias, struggling to keep a straight face.
He could roughly guess that this little jet plane, likely because of her overwhelming victory at the Rustboro Gym a few days ago, had developed some rather unfortunate misconceptions about the Hoenn Champion's strength.
—Yes, Metagross couldn't beat you when you had maxed-out Special Attack and Mega Evolved, but that doesn't mean it's trash!
Regarding whether Steven would be in danger, both Hakuya and Roxanne unanimously agreed that such worries were completely unnecessary.
For one, Metagross could also use psychic power to [Teleport]. As a Champion's ace Pokémon, encountering such an emergency, it would instinctively take action without even needing its Trainer's command. Secondly, Steven himself frequently ventured into mine shafts and explored ruins. He had probably experienced ground collapses like this countless times. He was an absolute veteran at digging holes.
Sure enough, a few moments later, his PokéNav chimed with an urgent message notification.
Just like them, upon realizing the ground was collapsing, Metagross had immediately used psychic power to teleport Steven away.
It was just that their teleportation destination was clearly different from where Hakuya and Roxanne were.
That guy Steven was currently at the very bottom level of the cave, which was absolutely packed with fossils. Captivated by the various types of fossils, he was even prepared to temporarily abandon the goal of finding the Legendary Giant Rock, turning around to pull out his hammer and start digging right then and there.
"It seems we'll have to split up for now, then." Hakuya and Roxanne exchanged a glance and reached a conclusion.
Deep within the cave.
"The Giant Rock has already been transferred to the submarine in the deep waters off Rustboro City. Your mission is to remain at the ruin, photograph the detailed contents of the murals and transmit them back, and excavate all the fossils there and bring them back."
"Understood, Boss."
A heavily muscled man wearing a blue sailor uniform, his chest deliberately exposed, standing as tall as a professional wrestler, nodded heavily and hung up his communicator.
"Lord Matt." At this time, a grunt wearing the same blue sailor uniform ran over, his face full of respect. "Our excavation team is making smooth progress. Not only have we unearthed ancient fossils here, but we've also discovered traces of a massive number of fossils at the bottom of the ruin cave. And the variety is surprisingly complete, covering Shell Fossils, Armor Fossils, and Claw Fossils..."
Under the guidance of Team Rocket, Team Aqua and Team Magma had both come to understand the paramount importance of funding.
For an organization to truly possess enduring vitality, relying solely on faith and passion was far from enough; they needed sufficient money.
As for where the funds would come from?
The fastest method right now was naturally to excavate the fossils in this cave.
Not only were fossils considered top-tier hard currency among fanatic rock enthusiasts, capable of selling for a high price, but after being revived by fossil restoration machines, Fossil Pokémon could also be sold on the black market, where many collectors would be willing to buy them. At the very worst, those Fossil Pokémon could be trained and utilized themselves, bolstering the combat strength of the organization's forces.
Therefore, hearing that the fossil excavation was proceeding methodically, and that the variety discovered far exceeded their expectations, Matt—one of Team Aqua's Admins—nodded with great satisfaction.
"By the way, the fossil excavation work is extremely important. You guys made sure to drive away the wild Pokémon living here beforehand, right?" Seemingly recalling something, he turned his head and asked.
"Please rest assured, Lord Matt."
The Team Aqua grunt patted his chest confidently.
"We planted special devices at the fossil excavation sites in advance. The special soundwaves emitted by those devices are unbearable for these wild Pokémon, and will only instill them with the desire to flee. So there's absolutely no need to worry about them interfering with our excavation operations."
As for whether any Trainers might wander in here?
Not just this Team Aqua grunt, but even Admin Matt felt it was highly unlikely.
Setting aside the fact that they had specifically installed a device to shield psychic fluctuations at the ruin's entrance, absolutely very few people even knew about the existence of this ancient ruin hiding the Legendary Giant Rock in the first place.
"Good!"
Hearing this, Matt was in an exceptionally good mood.
Then, he shifted his gaze and saw several grunts wearing specialized red uniforms slacking off.
"Hey! All you Team Magma bastards! Hurry it up and work faster!"