"Tsk, tsk. Serves you right for trying to rob me."
Hisoka was counting his gains on the ground. Two men were lying a few meters away from him, tied up.
"Not bad. This should get me around 100,000 dollars,' he nodded in satisfaction.
Um!
One man with a cloth stuffed in his mouth screamed at Hisoka in anger, struggling to break free.
Bonk!
"Shut up!"
Hisoka shouted as he thwacked the man on the head, knocking him out.
Instead of killing these guys, he asked Kirlia to hypnotize them to sleep and stripped their clothes before hanging them on a tall tree naked.
As for their Pokemon, as a gym leader, he had the authority to lock someone else's Pokeball for a short time if they were suspected of doing something illegal.
As for what happened to them after that, it was none of his business.
'This mine is so deep.'
While slowly walking through the dark mine, he forced himself to calm down. He had a hunch that something might happen soon.
Meanwhile, Kirlia was walking next to Hisoka. Her mind was in full concentration. Having a Psychic-type Pokemon at this time brought massive help to him. She could not only use Teleport to escape, but she could also perceive danger in advance. Using her psychic power, she could observe the area around her.
Every living thing must have mind feedback. Even Ghost-type Pokemon have one. Nobody could escape her watch.
Weavile's dark grey coloring blended well with the dark. She was following Hisoka in the shadows secretly. As an assassin, she must never expose herself at all times.
If something unexpected occurred, she could sneak around to conduct a sneak attack.
After a long period of mining, the mine went deep underground. No one was even sure how deep it was.
When Hisoka glanced at his watch, he found that almost an hour had passed since they entered the mine. He had taken his time on the way. There was no harm in being extra careful.
He guessed that they were probably around 400 meters below the ground by now due to the thinning air. And it was getting harder for him to breathe.
Along the way, he had seen quite a few evolutions stones. Unfortunately, they were only half-formed. An evolution stone must be fully formed for it to work. It took a long time for it to become a complete evolution stone.
Swoosh!
Suddenly, his face changed slightly. A few meters away from him, a blue fireball suddenly appeared.
Will-O-Wisp!
It was a status-inflicting move that only a few Fire and Ghost-type Pokemon could learn.
The move itself wasn't really that powerful. The only thing he was afraid of was its painful burning effect. Even pouring water on the burned parts could not alleviate its effect. It could only be healed by using certain medicines.
When he approached where the blue fireball had just disappeared, his eyes widened in shock. He found a human skeleton on the ground.
The bones were scorched black. It looked like whoever they belonged to was burned alive. He looked around and saw no other footprints except for him.
'So, this person must have been one of the missing hunters, huh,' he thought.
He also found a few broken pieces of Pokeballs scattered near the area. The Pokemon most likely had either died or escaped.
The person must have been attacked by Will-O-Wisp and had no time to release his Pokemon. They were severe burn marks on the skull. It was likely the person was attacked from above by some kind of Pokemon.
That was what he presumed had happened to the dead hunter after examining the bones.
Hisoka frowned slightly as he rubbed his chin in thought.
'But that is impossible. Will-O-Wisp isn't that powerful enough to char a person. Unless-'
"Unless it was a group of Pokemon!" he whispered fiercely.
An ominous wind suddenly came, causing a chill to run down his back. He suddenly remembered the blue fireball he had seen before.
"Kirlia, Teleport!" he roared.
In a blink of an eye, they teleported a hundred meters across the mine.
Then, a purple haze slowly emerged from the wall.
Hehe!
A few seconds later, more than twenty black, spherical Pokemon surrounded by purple haze appeared in their sight.
Ghastly, a Ghost/Poison-type Pokemon.
They had wide mouths with two visible fangs. Their eyes were longer than their round body. The purple haze around them contained toxins, which could induce fainting and coma.
Kirlia missed them before because she was focused on the path ahead. She had never expected that there were so many Ghastly above them all this time.
A lone Ghastly wasn't that scary, but a group of Ghastly was terrifying. Also, Ghost-type Pokemon had always been feared for their bizarre attack.
When Hisoka turned around to run away, he found that there were also several Ghastly on the other side. There was even a Haunter among them.
He took a deep breath to calm his nerves.
His mind was thinking of a way to get out of this situation. It was impossible to fight all of them with just a few Pokemon.
Luckily, Kirlia had the upper hand against them with her Psychic-type moves.
...
"Kirlia! Push them away!"
Ha!
A purple energy ring was pushed out of Kirlia's body, hitting the Ghastly and pushing them away.
'Tell Weavile to ambush that Haunter. But, remember, she must do it quickly.'
Hisoka said a few words to Kirlia.
She nodded lightly as a blue light flashed in her eyes.
What they needed now was to hold and wait for Weavile to take action against the leading Haunter.
'Why is there so many Ghastly in this mine?' he thought confusedly.
The evolution stones found around Stone Town were mainly Fire Stone, Water Stone, Leaf Stone, and Thunder Stone. There was absolutely no reason for them to be here.
...
Haunter let out a chilling laugh as it looked at the two figures in front of him.
'Let's play with them,' it thought happily.
In the meantime, Weavile was sneaking around the back, slowly moving toward the Haunter. She slowly raised her claws as Dark-type energy covered them.
With a burst of speed, she arrived behind it instantly.
'Huh?'
Night Slash!
Her claws slashed against the unaware Haunter.
Haunter screamed in pain as the claws nearly slashed its body in half. It didn't expect that someone would sneak attack it from the back.
"Yes!" Hisoka clenched his fist.
Quickly, he took his Pokeball and retrieved Weavile. Without wasting any more time, Hisoka and Kirlia teleported a hundred meters away before disappearing from view.
The other Ghastly looked at each other in dismay. They had never thought their leader would be downed suddenly. Helpless, they could only wait for the Haunter to recover.
The reason why Hisoka did that was to stop them from chasing him. As long as that Haunter was still around, they would not let him go that easily.
...
At the same time, a few hundred meters below the ground, a purple-haired in a black trenchcoat also encountered the same thing. He was facing a group of Ghastly with a Gengar in the lead.
"Arcanine! Use Flamethrower!"
A top hunter like Tucker didn't choose to run away like Hisoka. Instead, he decided to confront the enemy head-on. He was full of confidence in his strength.
An Arcanine was standing guard in front of him, baring its teeth. Hearing Tucker's command, it released a stream of fire at the Ghastly.
The Ghastly let out a heart-wrenching scream under the raging fire. Many of them fell to the ground unconscious.
Gengar, seeing its companion fall one by one, growled in anger. Its eyes flashed red as a purple energy ball quickly formed in its hands.
Then, it pushed its hand forward, releasing the Shadow Ball toward Arcanine at high speed.
"Use Fire Blast now! Stop that thing," Tucker ordered quickly.
Hu!
Roar!
Arcanine took a deep breath and released a powerful star-shaped blast of orange fire at the oncoming Shadow Ball.
Boom!
"Nice!" he cheered.
Gengar frowned after seeing its attack was blocked by them. It raised a hand toward them and released a black, ring-shaped aura at them.
'That's Hypnosis!'
"Oh no, you don't! Heat Wave, Arcanine! Full power!" he shouted, throwing his fist in the air.
A white flame emerged from Arcanine's body and rushed toward the Gengar. It quickly expanded as it moved toward the opponents.
The temperature inside the mine began to rise rapidly. The white flame spread out and burned the whole Ghastly group.
Argh!
In desperation, Gengar could only order the other Ghastly to retreat. Their figure quickly disappeared from the view as they ran through the walls. Their special body structure allowed them to phase through solid objects.
"Well done, Arcanine!" Tucker applauded his Pokemon happily.
Roar!
Arcanine whirled at his feet excitedly, causing him to laugh. He shook his head at his Pokemon antics.
Then, he looked around the surroundings for a moment before lowering his guard. He was not interested in chasing the fleeing Ghastly. It would be a complete waste of time.
Actually, he was quite interested in what had happened here.
It was not surprising if there was one or two Ghost-type Pokemon in this mine. Ghost-type Pokemon liked to linger around old and dark places, after all.
After seeing so many Ghost-type Pokemon, he felt this mine was a bit strange. He had never seen this kind of situation before.
'Well, I hope nothing bad will happen,' he thought, scrunching his brows together.
"Come on, boy," he rubbed the head of Arcanine before pushing on toward the depth of the mine.
...
As the mine went deeper, the surrounding air became thinner. Hisoka was wearing an oxygen mask as he slowly moved forward.
What he didn't know was the bottom floor of all mines were actually connected to each other.
Currently, Tucker, who entered from a different entrance, along with the other hunters, was gradually moving toward this floor.
Suddenly, a bright light appeared in the distance.
Hisoka slowly approached the light, only to find himself in a large cavern. The chamber was so large that he couldn't even see the end. It was almost as if the cavern was boundless.
"This is..."
Hisoka was shocked by the scene in front of him. Just a few meters below, there were numerous plants on the ground. A pleasant smell wafted in the air.
Sniff!
When he took a deep breath, his whole body was suddenly refreshed. It seemed to have a great effect on his mind too.
He quickly climbed down to take a closer look at the plants. The plant had a blue-green color like the ocean. It only had a single leaf on each plant.
"This is Mental Herb!"
Hisoka recognized it at a glance.
Mental Herb was a rare medicinal plant. There were only a few people selling them in the market. And the price was so outrageous that it wasn't even worth buying one.
At first, Mental Herb wasn't that expensive. It was mainly used to make some perfumes.
But since someone invented incense a few years ago, the price shot up twentyfold overnight.
Mental Herb, combined with a few other things, could be made into all kinds of incense with amazing effects.
He knew how to make two kinds of incense. One was Sea Incense, and the other was Odd Incense.
Staying under the effect of the incense would allow a Pokemon to master their move quickly. Sea Incense would allow a Pokemon to master a Water-type move. While Odd Incense was specifically used to train Psychic-type moves.
Kirlia usually took a few hours to practice all of her moves daily. Having an incense would shorten that time to just an hour. Time was the most precious in the world. Being able to get stronger faster meant that they would be able to increase their upper limit.
An item that could enhance a Pokemon's combat strength without side effects would get more expensive in the future.
He swallowed hard as he looked at the numerous Mental Herb in front of him. His hands were trembling with excitement.
It wasn't just that. He also saw many scattered evolution stones on the ground. This place was simply a treasure trove.
Zip!
Suddenly, he felt someone opening his bag. When he turned around, he saw Kirlia rummaging through his bag.
"Kirlia, what are you looking for?" he asked curiously.
"A knife!"
"Oh!" A light bulb went on inside his head.
"Yes, let's get as many as we can!"
...
Hisoka was holding a long knife as he cut the plants around him. Around him were his Pokemon, Kirlia, and Weavile. Both of them were helping him to collect the Mental Herb and evolution stones.
While they were focusing on their task, they didn't realize that a dark-bluish floating figure was observing them quietly from above.
It had no visible arms or legs. On its lower half, there were several appendages that resembled a ruffled dress. It also had several round red gems on its neck.
Its large red eyes were staring at them in curiosity as it slowly approached.
"What! Hahaha! I'm rich! There is a lot of Mental Herb!"
Suddenly, there was a burst of laughter from the other side of the cavern.
The dark-bluish figure was startled by the shout. It stopped in its track and immediately vanished into thin air.
Hisoka immediately stopped what he was doing.
'That must have been the other hunters. The others should be arriving soon,' he thought in a split second.
Deciding that hiding was the better option, he quickly stored all of his gains in his bag and quickly found a place to hide. He already got a lot.
As the saying goes, 'greed makes man blind and foolish, and makes him an easy prey for death.'
He expected there would be a bloodbath in this place soon. And nope. He didn't want to be a part of that.
...