Chapter Eighty-Nine: The Gala Gala Uprising

The Marrowbone was the evolved form of the Cubone, but even after evolving it remained purely Ground-type, so Zhao Fang was not the least bit alarmed. If it had been an Alolan Marrowbone, he might have been more cautious, though even then it would still be at a disadvantage against the Gyarados.

"Roar!" The moment Gyarados appeared, it let out a thunderous bellow, looming over the Marrowbone from above, its eyes glinting with feral menace.

"Gyarados! Use Water Pulse to finish it!" Zhao Fang did not have Gyarados use Aqua Tail. After all, it had not yet mastered that move, so a technique like Water Pulse was far more suitable.

Gyarados opened its enormous maw, and a jet of water burst forth, shooting straight at the Marrowbone. The Marrowbone quickly dodged aside and used Bone Boomerang, hurling the bone club in its hand toward Gyarados, but Gyarados evaded it with Splash.

Zhao Fang could not help but find it rather amusing that the Marrowbone was attacking his Gyarados with Ground-type moves. In this world of Pokemon, the notion of complete immunity did not exist in quite the same way, but using Ground-type techniques against a Flying-type Pokemon, even if a bone club managed to land a hit, would still deal no damage at all.

"Gyarados, get close to your enemy. Use Iron Head to strike its skull, then seize the chance to use Water Pulse!" Zhao Fang came up with a solution. He did not want to waste too much time here with the Marrowbone, and the altar ahead made him somewhat hesitant as well.

Gyarados lashed its tail and surged forward at high speed. A metallic gleam shimmered over its head, and then it rammed full force into the Marrowbone’s skull. Even with its skull protecting it, the Marrowbone still took a heavy blow under Gyarados’s immense strength, its head left dazed and dizzy for a moment.

Gyarados seized that opening and, at point-blank range, unleashed Water Pulse straight into the Marrowbone’s abdomen, slamming it hard against the wall and sending it sprawling weakly to the ground.

"That’s enough. Come back, Gyarados." Zhao Fang did not continue the assault. The Marrowbone had already lost the ability to fight, and what he needed now was to get the stone off the altar as quickly as possible.

He glanced at the Marrowbone, and noticed that the Cubone behind it had vanished at some point. An uneasy premonition rose in Zhao Fang’s chest. With that thought, he rushed up to the altar in a few quick steps and gripped the stone placed there.

A familiar text box appeared once more: a mysterious meteorite containing strange power. Zhao Fang raised an eyebrow, but had no time to dwell on it. He put the stone away immediately, then quickly swept his gaze around the altar again.

There were no other passages nearby, but behind the altar were several oddly shaped stones. Zhao Fang hurried down and picked them up. Several more text boxes popped up, but he did not have time to read them, because he had already heard the sound of something like ten thousand beasts stampeding nearby.

"So this is one fight and then a whole swarm comes at you. This Cubone must have been the reincarnation of a siren head." Cursing under his breath, Zhao Fang ran back toward the passage he had come from. Even with Gyarados as a Flying-type Pokemon, facing a whole crowd of them would still be a terrifying prospect.

"Marrow!" A furious roar rang out. Zhao Fang looked back and saw a Cubone leading a large pack of Marrowbone charging straight toward him. He ran even faster, feeling as though he had returned to the days of middle school entrance exams, now fighting for the thousand-meter run in his physical test.

Fortunately, Zhao Fang had already sensed something was off when he realized the Cubone was gone, so he had been running at full speed as well. In the end, just as the Marrowbone was about to fling its bone boomerang, he leaped to the opening, climbed up, and then hurried onward again.

He had no intention of lingering. Who knew whether the Marrowbone would come bursting out after him? Though at their height, they would probably need a small ladder to climb up to the opening.

"I hope the haul is a good one." After running a short distance, Zhao Fang heard the Marrowbone’s furious cries behind him. He quickly ducked into a crevice and moved forward bent at the waist, not even bothering with the scrape of stone against his arms. Before long, he emerged from the fissure.

As soon as he stepped out, he immediately turned to look around. There was no one nearby, so he straightened his clothes and hurried toward the outer area. He needed to report this to the League. Otherwise, if trainers were later injured or killed, the League would send investigators to determine what had triggered the Marrowbone riot. If they traced it back to him, Zhao Fang would probably have no choice but to join some villainous organization and go up against the game’s protagonist.

Soon, Zhao Fang arrived at the boundary between the deep area and the outer area, and with an expression of panic, explained that while he had been digging for stones, he had seen a Cubone that wanted a battle, only to discover a huge mass of Marrowbone behind it. The League staff was stunned, and after seeing the Pokédex Zhao Fang produced, they quickly contacted the person in charge of the Stone Cavern and trainers to deal with the Marrowbone outbreak.

Zhao Fang did not get away from it either. After the person in charge arrived at the Stone Cavern, they even specifically asked why Zhao Fang had encountered a Marrowbone riot. Once the incident had been handled, they even took Zhao Fang back to the fissure before finally allowing him to leave.

By the time Zhao Fang came out of the Stone Cavern, night had already fallen completely. He first went to the Pokemon Center to heal his Pokemon, then found an inn and opened a room to take stock of everything he had gained from the Stone Cavern.

The most important prize, of course, was the meteorite that seemed to be intended for a ritual to summon Rayquaza. Zhao Fang could not tell what it was for, but since the cheat had labeled it as "mysterious," it was surely of some special use. He planned to keep it himself and see whether it might prove useful in the future.

The other gains were the stones he had picked up from behind the altar. Once he settled down, he examined them carefully. In total, he had obtained five stones, but four of them were merely classified as ordinary stones, with no value at all. The last stone, however, was different.

A stone containing amber; if cracked open, it might reveal an unexpected discovery.

Seeing that text box, Zhao Fang smiled in satisfaction. He intended to show these stones to Diantha. The other four were naturally just there to make up the numbers, and Zhao Fang did not expect Diantha to fail to see that they were ordinary stones. But this one might bring him some unexpected gains.