After two days, there was still no news from Cynthia, but Steven sent an email.
Reading the email, Terrance didn’t know what to think.
When Steven had time to look at Terrance’s email, he couldn’t contact anyone else. Fortunately, he understood a bit of ancient text and sent his interpretation to Terrance.
Based on the text Terrance sent, Steven’s email summarized the following information:
“Four sides converge, breaking the chains.”
This is the brief version. Steven also included his own interpretation, which suggested that the patterns in the four ruins need to be activated simultaneously for it to succeed. He also mentioned that if they didn’t mind waiting, he could find someone to decipher the remaining text more clearly when he returns in about a month.
The group looked at each other. Maki indeed could not translate the phrase “Four sides converge, breaking the chains”. Terrance had sent it to Steven, who translated it, but the result didn’t seem to be good news…
This perfectly confirmed their worst suspicion.
“In a while, we can also decode the remaining text, but a month is too long,” Terrance, Murasakibara, and Albert were all concerned about waiting a month.
They had already wasted enough time and had no patience to delay further.
Moreover, having obtained the information on how to correctly awaken Regirock is sufficient for now.
“Are we really going to do this?” Arvin frowned. “We might get in danger.”
Activating the four ruins simultaneously meant Regirock could only be in one. They had four Trainers, so splitting up would significantly disperse their strength!
If Regirock appeared, one person alone might not be able to fight against it.
Additionally, where should Ishi and Maki, who would hold the cameras, go? How should they determine Regirock’s exact location?
“The most likely place where Regirock is sleeping should be the two ruins in the north,” Maki said. “According to ancient text, this is considered a good and suitable place for living.”
“If I were Regirock or the people guarding it, I would choose this place,” Maki added.
“Although that makes sense, it’s still a gamble,” Albert said.
Maki took the camera and said, “We have no other choice.”
“How about this, you four Trainers split into four directions, with one person going to each of the two ruins in the north.”
“And the other two, go south. We’ll stay in touch using our communication devices, and if Regirock appears, Ishi and I will rush there immediately!”
“That’s impossible,” Terrance shook his head. “Walking would take too long, and in this environment, we can’t ride Pokémon. The higher the altitude, the worse the sandstorms, so Flying Type Pokémon also can’t carry people; it’s too dangerous.”
“I expected this situation…” Maki grinned, making Ishi and Arvin look puzzled. “Really?”
Maki nodded. “Ishi and I can fly helicopters, so I got two private helicopters.”
Their eyes widened, staring at her in disbelief. Private helicopters…they could get such things?
Terrance regained his composure and shook his head. It wasn’t surprising these three dared to take risks and had good backgrounds, but…
“Helicopters aren’t safe either as there is still a possibility of sandstorms,” Terrance said.
Maki replied, “The risk is small. Compared to riding Flying Type Pokémon, it’s negligible. We’ve walked in the desert for half a month without encountering a large sandstorm.”
Terrance was speechless for a moment, then said, “Alright, let’s do it.”
This was better. With helicopters, it would take less than an hour to get to the farthest ruin if everything went smoothly.
That was much faster than walking on sand.
“The plan is for Ishi and me to fly the helicopters to the center of the four ruins and wait for your call. If Regirock appears, Ishi will go to support, while I pick up the others and get everyone to the site within an hour!” Maki explained.
“It’s still risky,” Murasakibara hesitated. “What if one person can’t hold off Regirock for long?”
“Well…” Ishi pondered for a moment and said, “There’s no other way. The person might only need to hold Regirock for twenty minutes at most. My helicopter will arrive within that time, bringing the Adventure Team as backup. We shouldn’t have any problem stalling for a bit longer then.”
Murasakibara and Albert were still worried, but Arvin, familiar with the Adventure Team, was not concerned.
Terrance said, “We don’t necessarily have to confront it. Even if Regirock wakes up, it doesn’t mean we have to engage in battle.” Terrance said, “It’s possible… Regirock might not even notice us. And even if it does, as long as we hide or run away, it might not even be able to catch us.”
Twenty minutes is neither long nor short. If they could hide and observe Regirock secretly, they could arrive immediately. Even if Regirock is powerful, releasing all their Pokémon might allow them to hold out for a while, or even defeat it.
The worry was if Regirock went berserk from the start, not giving them a chance to react.
“In the end, we are being too cautious, assuming from the start that Regirock is someone difficult to defeat by one person alone…” Ishi said, “That’s just our worst-case speculation. What if, as Arvin suggested, Regirock isn’t that strong? Or as Terrance said, what if it’s not even looking for a fight?”
“Maybe… like that Trainer who defeated the legendary Pokémon, we’ll encounter a weak Regirock, like that Zapdos…”
Everyone nodded. They shouldn’t be too pessimistic. After all, there are cases of Regirock being captured by people, like Mr. Brandon… If they were to release all their six Pokémon to confront it, would they really be powerless?
No, the four Trainers, including Terrance, weren’t that pessimistic about their strength.
“Alright then, let’s assign directions…” Ishi, the leader of the Adventure Team, was also feeling uneasy. Their current plan had veered significantly from their initial predictions, which increased the difficulty quite a bit.
“The helicopters will be ready tomorrow. Before that, Terrance and Arvin need to capture two Pokémon capable of using Ancient Power,” Maki said.
In the time that followed, they busied themselves with final preparations for the tense and hectic upcoming operation. Terrance and Arvin again ventured into the desert to capture Pokémon capable of using Ancient Power, while Maki took charge of arranging the helicopters.
Albert and Murasakibara chose the ruins in the north, which is most likely to have Regirock, so they discussed tactics with Ishi.
This was the final rush before the action.
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