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Outside the door, Lance saw that Nando had been captured and pushed the door open to enter. As he passed by the hot spring, he casually fished Bruno out of the water.
"Cough, cough... Got him? Why is there only one person?"
After climbing out of the water, Bruno coughed a few times, looked up at Nando, who was being strangled by Arbok and was almost turning white-eyed, and asked in confusion.
Liam patted Arbok's body, signaling it to loosen its grip a little so as not to harm the guy too much.
"Only this guy came out, but having him is enough. If I remember correctly, this guy holds a certain position in the poacher organization. He should know a lot of things... Am I right, Mr. Poacher? I have a few questions for you, and you'll cooperate, won't you?"
Liam turned to stare at Nando, who was only half-exposed, and smiled kindly.
Nando: "...Mmm, mmm, mmm!"
Nando felt a chill run down his spine under Liam's gaze. Suddenly, the snake's tail around him tightened again, and he quickly nodded and grunted in agreement.
"That's more like it. Since you're so cooperative, I won't have to go through too much trouble. Let's go inside and have a good chat."
After saying this, Arbok dragged Nando into the room, and the three quickly followed.
Ten minutes later, Liam, Bruno, Lance, and Arbok walked out of the room, leaving only an unconscious Nando behind.
"This guy can't take a punch. I only hit him once, and he passed out on his own."
Bruno said with a look of disappointment, as if he hadn't had enough.
Liam and Lance glanced at Bruno's fist, which was as big as a sand pot, and both broke out in a cold sweat.
Liam walked over to the boulder and felt around for a moment before finding an unusual protrusion. He pressed it, and the protrusion sank into the stone. Immediately, the boulder began to move slowly.
"It seems this guy wasn't lying. This is indeed the new headquarters of their hunting group. There should be quite a few people down there. We need to be careful when we go in," Liam said, looking at the slowly opening underground passage before turning to Bruno and Lance.
"Don't worry, don't worry. Come out, Hitmonchan! Heh, we'll take the lead."
"Hitmon!"
Bruno released his Hitmonchan, his face filled with excitement and a fighting spirit.
"I don't need you to worry about me either."
Lance crossed his arms, looking completely calm.
"Alright, you're all amazing. Let's go then. Iron Fist, you go first."
Liam glanced at the two future Elite Four members and Champion, then waved his hand, signaling Bruno to take the lead.
"Got it! Hitmonchan, let's go!"
"Hitmon!"
As soon as Bruno finished speaking, he charged down the passage, with Liam and Lance following closely behind.
Once inside, Liam noticed clear signs of expansion in the passage—loose rubble still littered the ground. As they went deeper, the tunnel grew wider.
After descending a sloping path, they entered a massive underground cavern. Lights hung along the rocky walls, illuminating the entire space. There were several other passages leading off from the cavern, though it was unclear where they led.
At the moment, the cavern was occupied. Not only were there people, but there were also many advanced research devices set up and running. Among them were two large glass tanks, inside which floated some unknown objects.
The person Liam was looking for, Blaine, was among these research devices, busy with various operations. Surrounding Blaine were two people dressed in poacher uniforms, keeping a close eye on him.
Liam tapped Bruno on the back, pointed at the two bored-looking poachers chatting ahead, and then made a slashing motion across his neck.
Bruno understood and turned to his Hitmonchan, pointing at the two poachers and making the same slashing motion.
Liam: "..."
"Hitmon!"
Hitmonchan nodded in a low voice, then dashed forward, its fists crackling with electricity. In a few leaps, it reached the two poachers.
Before they could react, Hitmonchan delivered a powerful punch to each, electrocuting them until they were charred black. Their bodies convulsed violently, and they collapsed to the ground, spitting out black smoke before passing out.
"What's going on?!"
Blaine, who had been focused on his experiments, was startled by the sudden commotion. He looked at Hitmonchan in shock, unsure of what had just happened.
"Gym Leader Blaine, are you okay? We're here to rescue you."
Seeing that the two poacher guards had been taken down, Liam stepped forward.
Blaine's mouth fell open in surprise when he heard Liam's voice, momentarily speechless.
"This isn't the place to stay. Gym Leader Blaine, you should come with us and leave this place," Liam said with a smile, knowing that Blaine had recognized him.
Blaine finally snapped out of his daze and shook his head, his face filled with worry.
"I can't leave! They said they planted explosives in the volcano. They threatened me to conduct experiments here for them. If I leave or call the police, they'll detonate the explosives and cause the volcano to erupt. If that happens, everyone on the island will be in danger."
Liam frowned upon hearing this. He hadn't expected the poachers to be so extreme. This made it even more imperative to stop them from carrying out their plans.
"Don't worry, Gym Leader Blaine. We won't let what you described happen. You need to leave now and go to the Cinnabar Island police station to report this. We'll handle things here and let the police clean up the mess."
"But—" Blaine hesitated, unsure of what to do.
At that moment, Bruno's eyebrows furrowed, and he turned to Liam.
"There are footsteps approaching quickly from the passage ahead. Quite a few of them. It seems they've discovered us. Do we fight or retreat?"
Without hesitation, Liam grabbed Blaine's arm and pushed him toward the passage.
"Do as I said. Don't worry about what's happening here. Go, now!"
"…Alright! I'll bring the police right away! Hang in there! And whatever you do—do not let them detonate the explosives! Be careful!"
With that, Blaine turned and ran out. At the same time, several figures emerged from the other passages, armed with various weapons, shouting as they charged toward Liam and the others.
"Hitmonchan, Vacuum Wave!"
"Arbok, use Poison Sting!"
"Hitmon!"
"Chaaarbok!"
Seeing the group charging at them, Liam and Bruno didn't hold back, quickly issuing attack commands.
Hitmonchan's fists swung through the air, releasing waves of Vacuum Waves, while Arbok opened its mouth wide, unleashing a dense barrage of Poison Stings.
The group of poachers was instantly overwhelmed by the barrage of attacks, sent tumbling to the ground.
"Come out, Charizard! Use Heat Wave!"
Meanwhile, Lance, unable to resist joining in, summoned a robust Charizard. As soon as it appeared, Charizard flapped its wide wings, sending out waves of scorching heat that blew the already fallen poachers away.
They screamed as they were thrown to the ground in the distance, where they lay motionless.
"Nice follow-up," Liam praised.
"Hmph," Lance snorted, ignoring the compliment.
"These guys are too weak. Not a single one of them can fight. They don't even have any Pokémon. How boring."
Bruno looked at the pile of poachers in the distance, shaking his head in disappointment.
"Whoosh!!"
Just as Bruno finished speaking, a Shadow Ball shot out from the passage ahead, reaching Bruno in the blink of an eye.
"Charbok!"
Just as the Shadow Ball was about to hit Bruno, Arbok let out a roar. Its thick tail lashed out like a whip, striking the Shadow Ball and sending it flying back at an even faster speed.
It crashed into the ceiling in the distance, causing a large cloud of dust to erupt. From within the dust, a cold voice rang out.
"Boring, huh? Then let us play with you. We'll make you understand that those who dare to mess with our hunting group will pay the price!"
"Chaa! Chaa! Chaa!"