Chapter 14: The Staryu Riot
The riot came extremely suddenly. With the charge of the Staryu and Starmie, the entire Black Gold Carbon Pit erupted in chaos.
Kikuyo had no time to strategize against the Yuan Family; in fact, at this moment, she was practically crying out for the Yuan Family to come and provide support.
As the Staryu and Starmie charged into the training and work areas, news of the entire Black Gold Carbon Pit's unrest naturally could not be contained.
What needed to be done now was to minimize the impact and losses as much as possible.
As for Kikuyo herself, she rushed into the Black Metal Carbon Pit with the Ju family Superiors, as well as East Steel and Earth.
At this time, it wasn't just the Staryu rioting in the cave; there were also many Small Elves that originally lived in the cave.
Some Small Elves, through communication with the Staryu, decided to fight against the humans who were destroying the carbon pit, to reclaim ownership of the Black Gold Carbon Pit. After all, humans were practically a common enemy for all Small Elves living in the Black Gold Carbon Pit.
Every piece of ore mined from the Black Metal Carbon Pit not only contained the sweat and blood of the miners but also that of the Small Elves.
For some Small Elves unwilling to join the disturbance, the Staryu and Starmie directly used Confuse Ray on them. Even if they couldn't control these Small Elves, it was enough to make them attack and destroy indiscriminately.
Therefore, although it was only a disturbance by the Staryu colony, its impact in the Black Gold Carbon Pit was enormous.
On the surface, it seemed like a mere disturbance caused by Chenxi capturing a Staryu, but in essence, it was almost a clash between humans and Small Elves for survival resources. The capture of the Staryu just became the final straw.
The Staryu's lightning-fast actions caught the Spirit Hunters in the hunting area off guard, causing them significant losses.
Such a disturbance quickly spread throughout the entire Black Gold Carbon Pit, and Chenxi naturally noticed it.
Since he couldn't find the Original Power skill, Chenxi felt that capturing this Staryu, which knew Power Gem, was a decent compromise.
So, he found a relatively secluded corner, intending for Floette to comprehend Power Gem.
Under Floette's kind and friendly care, this Staryu quickly used Power Gem, allowing Floette to Mimic it.
But before Floette even began practicing, rumbling sounds echoed through the cave.
Even the entire Black Gold Carbon Pit subtly and continuously vibrated, making Chenxi somewhat puzzled.
“The Black Gold Carbon Pit’s defense facilities are too poor. This environment is not suitable for Floette to comprehend at all!”
Chenxi sighed, intending to retreat from the training area to the work area.
Although a child like him would surely attract attention in the bustling work area, and if he were discovered, it might be difficult to enter the Black Gold Carbon Pit again in the future.
But compared to the unknown danger, Chenxi decisively chose to back down.
If it really came to it, he would put aside the Rock-type Awakening Power for now. After all, capturing this blue-ranked Staryu this time wasn't a loss.
Ultimately, he wasn't one of those guys who had nothing and had to risk their lives. As the legitimate son of the Sinnoh Yuan Family, Chenxi had plenty of resources at his disposal and no need to take risks.
Because of this thought, as the Earthquake continued, Chenxi's idea was to temporarily withdraw and leave the Black Gold Carbon Pit.
However, because Chenxi was in a relatively remote part of the training area to allow Floette to comprehend the skill, it would take some effort to return to the work area.
Chenxi intended to evacuate the Black Metal Carbon Pit, but the Small Elves that originally lived there had already rioted.
Chenxi had only walked a few steps when he saw a Golem with confused eyes leap out from a corner.
It swung its arms, attacking Chenxi, but its trajectory seemed strange no matter how he looked at it!
“Floette, Magical Leaf!”
Chenxi decisively commanded Floette, and the scattered Magical Leaves Lock-On onto the Golem.
No matter how strange the Golem's attack was, it couldn't escape the Magical Leaf's attack.
The Golem endured Floette's attack, and the intense pain cleared its confused state. More importantly, its Sturdy ability allowed it to withstand Floette's damage.
But the first thing it did after recovering from its confused state was to unleash its Self-Destruct skill without hesitation.
Its glowing body suddenly expanded, and with a loud boom, it decisively Self-Destructed.
Floette used the Protect skill to block the direct damage from the sudden Self-Destruct skill.
However, the shockwave from the Self-Destruct also caused the entire Black Gold Carbon Pit to shake violently, clearly indicating that there was no safety to be found.
“It seems I really can’t stay here!”
Chenxi glanced at the Golem, which had completely lost its fighting ability, but he made up his mind to leave this place.
Having the Sturdy ability and the Self-Destruct skill, in this narrow mine shaft, it was truly a disgusting problem.
If a few more appeared, even if Floette was fine, Chenxi feared he himself would be buried.
Thinking of this, Chenxi decisively ran through the cave, escaping in the direction he had come from.
Compared to when he entered, Chenxi found the path to exit much more difficult.
Not only was it due to the chaos caused by the flow of people, but also the nearly instinctive Self-Destruct behavior of Graveler and Golem-like Small Elves when they encountered danger, causing the entire Black Gold Cave to experience tremors and collapses, leading to the continuous breakage and damage of the established paths.
However, thankfully, Chenxi's decision to leave was decisive, so although there were a few close calls along the way, there wasn't much danger in the end.
He fled all the way to the work area, where he saw Kikuyo and others leading a large number of Trainers to stabilize the situation.
To Chenxi's surprise, Elder Zhou was also among them, along with a large number of medical personnel from the Elf Garden.
“Young Master!” Elder Zhou also saw Chenxi and quickly came before him.
Elder Zhou, seeing Chenxi safe and sound, breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Young Master, it’s good that you’re alright.”
“What exactly happened here?” Chenxi asked Elder Zhou directly.
Elder Zhou replied, “There’s a Staryu tribe beneath this Black Gold Carbon Pit.
Due to the mining operations in the Black Gold Carbon Pit, the Staryu were provoked into a riot.
And the Staryu also mastered the move Confuse Ray, which can confuse Small Elves.
So, what was originally just a Staryu tribe riot escalated into a major disturbance throughout the entire Black Gold Carbon Pit.
These days, the Ju family had been trying to conceal this matter, but this Staryu riot caught them completely off guard.”
“That’s outrageous! With such a huge hidden danger as a Pokémon tribe, they didn't even clear it out beforehand!” Chenxi complained.
Chenxi, having understood the reason, then said with concern, “However, fighting these Small Elves in an underground carbon pit can easily cause the entire cave to collapse. Our Trainers’ strength might not be fully utilized.”
“Please don’t worry about that! Our Ju family will resolve it!” Kikuyo walked over, looked at Elder Zhou and Chenxi, and said to Elder Zhou, “This must be the Young Master of the Yuan Family. The environment here is dangerous, it’s better to send him up first!”
“Elder Zhou, aren’t you coming with me?” Chenxi looked at Elder Zhou when he heard this.
“Young Master, the Black Gold Mine Pit concerns the stability of the entire Oreburgh City. Our Elf Garden must, after all, provide some assistance within its capabilities!” Elder Zhou said to Chenxi with great solemnity.
If the initial investigation was merely to find out what the Ju family was doing.
But now, whether Elder Zhou wanted it or not, this matter already concerned the entire Oreburgh City.
The Elf Garden, as a medical unit, certainly couldn't leave.
“As long as there is one staff member of the Elf Garden on the front line, how can I, as the legitimate son of the Yuan Family, retreat alone!”
Chenxi said decisively. Chenxi knew that if he ran away from this sudden disaster, others would at most just gossip.
But if he didn't run, even if he did nothing, he would still earn a considerable amount of prestige for himself.
This Black Gold Carbon Pit was still being mined even in the era of the Alliance.
This means that the Ju family survived this crisis, and as a medical personnel in the rear, he would certainly be safer than on the front line.
Chenxi felt that there was no need for him to flee in disarray from such a stable and profitable venture.
“Young Master!” Hearing Chenxi’s words, Elder Zhou’s face was filled with both respect and worry. He was about to refuse.
But Chenxi reached out first to stop Elder Zhou, saying, “I will stay obediently with the Elf Garden staff and won’t disturb your normal work. I understand that I’m just a mascot to reassure people.”
Seeing Chenxi say this, Elder Zhou no longer stopped him. After all, with the Young Master of the Yuan Family staying, it might not affect others much, but for the staff of the Elf Garden, it truly was the most reassuring thing.
“This Young Master of the Yuan Family seems to have some courage!” Earth glanced at Chenxi and praised him.
“After all, he is the future heir of the Yuan Family, and it’s said he even defeated the genius girl of Celestic Town, so he naturally has some strength!” East Steel briefly sized up Chenxi. He quickly turned his gaze to the depths of the Black Gold Carbon Pit and said, “We mustn’t be outdone by a twelve-year-old child and be completely looked down upon.”
“The reinforcement of the Black Metal Carbon Pit will be handled by my Ju family. You all fight to your heart’s content. As long as you don’t unleash attacks above the Tianwang level, the safety of the entire tunnel will not be affected!” Kikuyo stepped forward and guaranteed.
As she spoke, the Ju family's Superior Trainers summoned Ground-type Small Elves, having them first use Earth Power to consolidate and reinforce the construction tunnel, making it incredibly sturdy.
Earth, along with the Spirit Hunters, entered the tunnel, each summoning Small Elves to begin clearing out the rioting Small Elves.
Some of these Small Elves were directly captured, while others were directly killed. This slightly bloody scene made Chenxi, watching from the rear, somewhat dumbfounded, even feeling an inexpressible shock.
Because this world seemed somewhat different from what he had imagined; his worldview was being reshaped.
“This looks like war!” Chenxi murmured, looking at the scene before him.
“This is war, Young Master!” Elder Zhou said, looking at Chenxi, “The war between humans and Pokémon!”
Chenxi was slightly stunned, but he nodded and didn't say much, just feeling like he had a new understanding of this world.
Soon, Kikuyo directed the Ju family's Trainers to reinforce the tunnel, East Steel commanded the Gym Trainers to lead the frontal assault, and Earth directed the Spirit Hunters to provide support. With the cooperation of the three parties, the entire operation proceeded steadily.
The Small Elves, who were fighting due to confusion, naturally recovered at an extremely fast pace, either being captured or killed. Even the Staryu and Starmie began to be suppressed.
The situation in the entire Black Gold Carbon Pit began to stabilize.
Of course, such a forceful advance naturally led to extremely severe battle losses for the human side's Small Elves.
Especially for the Gym Trainers, who were the main assault force, the vast majority of the Small Elves they sent out were severely wounded and on the verge of death.
At this time, Elder Zhou was already directing the Small Elves in the Elf Garden who had mastered Grassy Terrain, who had formed a thick layer of Grassy Terrain in the rear.
The Small Elves that were brought in were basically thrown onto this area first, relying on the healing effects of the Grassy Terrain for initial treatment and recovery.
Then, the staff members of the Elf Garden would feed these injured Small Elves the already prepared Energy Powder, helping them recover at an extremely fast rate.
Even with various methods to help these Small Elves recover, unless their lives were disregarded, it was still somewhat difficult to get them back into battle immediately.
“Elder Zhou, how long will it take for these Small Elves to recover their fighting strength?!”
Chenxi did not stand on the sidelines giving orders; instead, he simply observed and thought more, asking Elder Zhou whenever he encountered something he didn't understand.
Because Chenxi believed that long-established rules would definitely be more efficient than anything he could come up with on a whim.
“As long as the injury isn’t to their foundation, they can recover after a night’s sleep. As for those with more severe injuries, they might need a few more days of rest!” Elder Zhou replied when he heard Chenxi’s question.
“Is there any treatment technique that can make them recover quickly and immediately return to battle?!” Chenxi asked.
Elder Zhou pondered for a moment and said, “It is said that the Joy Family of Kanto has mastered a rapid recovery treatment method.
It allows a Trainer’s Small Elves to recover at an extraordinary speed after multiple high-intensity battles.
However, these methods all come with a cost. Some affect the Small Elf using the skill, while others affect the Small Elf itself.
But our Yuan Family’s Grassy Terrain combined with traditional Chinese medicine treatment, while slower, has no hidden dangers!”
By the end of his statement, Elder Zhou's face was filled with pride.
At this moment, Chenxi was about to say something when suddenly, several Onix burst out from the walls. Accompanying them was a large group of Staryu and Starmie. These creatures bypassed the Elite Trainers walking through the mine tunnel.