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Early the next morning, after spending the night at the Pokémon Center in Fortree City, Liam and Lorelei set off again, riding on Aerodactyl, heading toward Lavaridge Town!
Originally, following Liam's route from when he came, he would have needed to pass through Mauville City before continuing on to Lavaridge Town. However, to save time, Liam chose not to take the detour. Instead, he opted for a direct route—flying straight from Fortree City to Lavaridge Town!
But this path was far from easy.
After crossing a vast forest and a stretch of low mountain ranges, what awaited them was a roaring sandstorm raging through the skies.
This was a desert. An endless desert stretching as far as the eye could see.
Because Aerodactyl was a Rock-type Pokémon, the sandstorm didn't affect it much. But for ordinary people—or Pokémon of other types—this place would be a forbidden zone.
To pass through this desert, Liam and Lorelei made some preparations.
First—water. Although Liam had calculated that, at Aerodactyl's speed, crossing the desert wouldn't take too long, it was still necessary to carry some.
Next—protective clothing against wind and sand. Liam had windproof goggles and the Vortex Mask, while Lorelei had her Ice Mask. All of these had lenses to protect their eyes. With the addition of windproof face coverings, their preparations were complete.
Finally, Liam looked at the raging sandstorm ahead, took a deep breath, and patted Aerodactyl.
With a powerful beat of its wings, Aerodactyl shot into the sky—plunging straight into the sandstorm without hesitation!
"Whoooosh—!"
The deafening roar of the storm filled their ears! Countless grains of sand battered Liam and Lorelei. Lorelei wrapped her arms tightly around Liam, pressing against his back, while Liam firmly gripped the ridges on Aerodactyl's back to avoid being blown away.
"ROAR!!"
Flying through the storm was anything but comfortable. Fortunately, after a few minutes, Aerodactyl burst out of the sandstorm zone!
In an instant, it felt like they had entered another world. Behind them, the storm still raged violently.
But ahead—was a calm, golden desert.
Liam and Lorelei quickly brushed off the heavy sand clinging to their bodies. Aerodactyl, equally covered in sand, didn't care at all and continued flying steadily.
"Phew… the rest of the journey should be much calmer. At this speed, we should reach Lavaridge Town before nightfall."
Liam glanced at his navigation map, confirmed their direction, and calculated the remaining distance before speaking to Lorelei.
"Huh? That fast? That's great! I've heard Lavaridge Town has many hot springs with amazing effects! Once we get there, I'm definitely going to relax properly!"
Lorelei's eyes lit up as she shouted through her mask.
"Heh, if you want to relax, wait until after we finish our mission. After that, you can soak as long as you like."
A faint smile appeared beneath Liam's mask as he looked into the distance.
With the right direction and a flying Pokémon like Aerodactyl, what would normally be an extremely dangerous desert journey became relatively manageable for Liam.
From his map, he could see they were nearing the center of the desert. It had taken Aerodactyl nearly an hour to reach this point from the desert's edge—meaning that in another hour, they would be able to leave the desert entirely.
However…
Even though the journey had been smooth so far, something unexpected happened as they approached the desert's center.
"Bzzz! Bzzz! Bzzz!"
"ROAR!!"
Just as they were about to reach the center, a loud buzzing sound suddenly echoed ahead!
At the same time, Aerodactyl—who had been flying at high speed—abruptly halted midair, its sharp eyes fixed on the desert below as it growled lowly.
"Hm? What is it, Aerodactyl? Did you spot something?"
Liam immediately noticed the change—and he had already heard the strange buzzing as well.
"What's going on? That sound… it's like a lot of wings beating!"
Lorelei also became alert, listening carefully as she frowned slightly.
"BOOM!!"
The moment she finished speaking—
The desert ground ahead suddenly collapsed! In an instant, a massive crater appeared!
And then—
"BZZZ! BZZZ! BZZZ!!"
Accompanied by a thunderous vibration of wings, a massive swarm of pale green Pokémon surged out from underground like a rising tide!
They formed something like a flowing river in the sky—circling once before flying off into the distance.
"T-those are Vibrava! There are so many of them!!"
Liam immediately recognized them—but even he hadn't expected such an enormous number of Vibrava here.
"Incredible… what a sight!"
Lorelei stared wide-eyed at the departing swarm, her voice filled with awe.
Vibrava are the evolved form of Trapinch. This desert was the perfect habitat for Trapinch, and with few natural predators—and even fewer humans—this place likely supported a huge population. That was probably why such a spectacular scene had appeared.
"Gii… gii… gii…"
At that moment—
A faint, sorrowful cry drew Liam and Lorelei's attention.
They turned toward the source—
There was another Vibrava, wobbling as it struggled to fly away from the crater.
It was injured.
One of its wings was clearly torn and damaged, and its body was covered in scrapes and dirt. It had obviously been hurt during the ground collapse.
Now, with the swarm already gone, this lone, injured Vibrava cried out as it tried to catch up.
But its damaged wing couldn't support flight.
With a final weak cry, the poor Pokémon lost strength—and began falling toward the ground.
"Not good! Aerodactyl—go save it!"
"ROAR!!"
With a powerful roar, Aerodactyl shot forward like an arrow! In the blink of an eye, it reached beneath the falling Vibrava—
Liam quickly reached out and caught it in his arms!
"This Vibrava is badly injured! We need to get out of here quickly! I'll give it emergency treatment first, then put it in a PokeBall. That should keep it stable until we reach a Pokémon Center!"
Holding the over one-meter-long Vibrava, Liam examined its injuries. One wing was torn and nearly broken, and its body was covered in wounds.
Even with his medicine, it couldn't be fully healed immediately.
So Liam quickly took out several healing sprays from his bag, treated the wounds as best he could, and then placed the Vibrava into a PokeBall.
"ROAR!"
Understanding the urgency, Aerodactyl roared and accelerated instantly—
In a flash, it tore across the sky at incredible speed!