71 Capturing Diglett
As night fell, the surroundings became quiet. Because the machinery and equipment couldn't be brought in, the construction work was temporarily stopped. And as the person in charge, Ryoichi had to let the worker leave first to save the labor cost. At least until this Diglett invasion was dealt with.
Inside a small cabin, two figures were sitting in the living room.
Ryoichi, covered in dirt, sat on the sofa. He took a deep breath and kneaded his back, relieving it.
"Do you find anything yet?" he asked tiredly.
Ryoichi had walked around the forest for a whole day, inserting the signal transmitters inside the Diglett's holes that he found. It was not until three hours later that he finally finished his task.
You give what you get is one of Hisoka's principles. Since Ryoichi had helped him before, needless to say, he was willing to help him solve his problem.
On the computer desktop, a simple map was gradually taking shape. The signal transmitters were slowly transferring the information they scanned below the ground.
Beep!
Beep!
A few minutes later, a flashing red dot appeared on the map. Hisoka clicked on it, and immediately, a row of coordinates appeared on the screen.
"Alright, it is finally working," Hisoka said happily while writing down the coordinates on a small piece of paper.
After saying that, Hisoka picked up his jacket lying on a chair and quickly left the cabin.
Ryoichi, who was leisurely sitting on the sofa, also followed suit. Even though he was still very tired. This might be his last chance to get reinstated back into the League.
"Wait for me!" Ryoichi screamed, rushing out of the door.
After walking a few steps away from the cabin, Hisoka took a Pokeball from his belt and threw it out.
"Come out, Rhydon!"
Pop!
Rhydon let out a roar as he appeared in a flash of red. His tails lightly hit the ground, kicking up a small cloud of dust.
"Hey, buddy. I need your help," Hisoka patted Rhydon's thick arm.
Roar!
Rhydon nodded excitedly. He was getting tired of staying inside a Pokeball. Thankfully, Hisoka called him out.
"Let's go. Just head straight over there," Hisoka pointed his finger toward the forest.
After saying that, Hisoka climbed on Rhydon's back and sat on his shoulder.
Roar!
Rhydon let out a cry and ran toward the forest with heavy steps. His body was like a giant fortress, clearing all the obstacles as he smashed through the woods with unstoppable momentum.
"Woah!"
Ryoichi gasped in astonishment after seeing the four meters tall, Rhydon.
It wasn't every day you got to see such a giant Pokemon in front of your eyes.
When he took a closer look, he found Hisoka's figure sitting on Rhydon's back confidently.
Clearly, this giant Pokemon belonged to Hisoka.
Ryoichi's face was full of shock as he stared at the moving Rhydon.
'When did this kid capture such a large Pokemon. Man, this guy is even bigger than a Tyranitar,' he thought enviously.
Taking a closer look, he found the figure of Hisoka sitting on the shoulder of the giant beast, and the jar ran out with confidence.
This iron armored tyrannosaurus should not be his Pokémon!
"Hisoka! Wait for me! I want to try to ride that Rhydon too!" Ryoichi screamed.
He quickly rode an old bicycle left by a worker and followed after Hisoka.
...
With a height of 0.2 meters and weighing 0.8 kilograms, Diglett is one of the smallest Pokemon in the world. Its strength is relatively weak, but it is quite hard to catch this Pokemon because it stays underground most of the time.
Diglett is a nocturnal Pokemon. Actually, rather than saying that, it is much better to say that they simply hate sunlight. It spends much of its time underground and has very thin skin. If Diglett is exposed to sunlight, its blood will heat up and cause it to grow weak.
At this time, a group of Diglett was moving in a row, heading toward a cave with berries, fruits, and vegetables on their back, leaving tilled soil in their wake.
Diglett also had the habit of storing their food, berries being their favorite. Besides that, they can also eat tree roots or leaves when they can't find any food.
Boom!
Boom!
The Earth trembled, halting Diglett's track. Then, they looked around a confusion, trying to find the source of the shaking just now.
Suddenly, a huge black shadow appeared in front of these Diglett. It was a four meters tall Rhydon.
They had seen this kind of Pokemon in the forest a few times, but it was their first time seeing such a large one.
What was scary was that this particular Rhydon was staring at them coldly.
Although Diglett is easily frightened when facing an enemy alone, these guys are quite fearless when they are in a group. Don't underestimate them.
Thinking that this Rhydon was trying to snatch their food, Diglett became angry immediately. They went underground and quickly surrounded Rhydon.
They knew how to deal with a Pokemon that was much bigger than them. The easiest way was to dig the soil underneath the enemy and trap them underground.
Rhydon was carefully observing the Mole Pokemon around him. Then, he remembered Hisoka saying to him that the easiest way to defeat many enemies was to use his strongest move, Earthquake.
Roar!
Rhydon clenched his fist and stomped on the ground with his right leg. Quickly, cracks began to spread from Rhydon, covering the whole area. The Diglett, who had just encircled Rhydon, didn't manage to react on time and were immediately knocked out by the powerful shockwaves.
Only a few Diglett managed to survive the Earthquake. All of them were injured, though.
What can those Diglett do now? They can't do shit because Diglett has an inherently weak racial value. Just one Earthquake was enough to knock them out.
After several Rock Blast, the other Diglett fell unwillingly to the ground. The other surviving Diglett burrowed underground, trying to escape from the terrifying Rhydon.
Rhydon didn't bother to chase the fleeing Diglett. Hisoka and Ryoichi walked out of their hiding spot and began to capture the fainted Diglett using a Pokeball one by one.
"Is that all of them?" Hisoka asked.
"Yep! they are all here," Ryoichi answered, raising a black bag in his hand to Hisoka.
"Got it!"
Hisoka nodded, turned to his Pokemon, and said, "Rhydon, can you make a tunnel here?"
Rhydon nodded to Hisoka's request. He then bent his head and began to dig a big hole in the ground using his spinning horn. Although he was quite large, his digging speed was quite fast.
Soon, a wide tunnel appeared as Hisoka and Ryoichi quickly left the cave.
...
"What are we doing here?" Ryoichi asked confusedly.
Hisoka wasn't surprised that Ryoichi would ask this question. Right now, they are located near a lake, which was a place Diglett simply hated as a Ground-type Pokemon.
"Shhh!" Hisoka raised a finger to his mouth.
"Be patient."
...
Boom!
"He's here," Hisoka said in a low voice.
"Huh? Who's coming, Hisoka?" Ryoichi said suspiciously.
There was a slight vibration from the ground, felt by Hisoka and Ryoichi. It gradually became stronger as the calm lake now started to become agitated.
Swoosh!
A giant Pokemon rushed out of the lake. Under the moonlight, the figure of Rhydon can be clearly seen.
"W-What?" Ryoichi stammered, pointing his trembling finger at Rhydon.
"How does your Rhydon able to stay in the water. This is impossible!" he screamed.
"Nothing is impossible, my friend. The fact is already in front of your eyes," Hisoka said playfully.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Ryoichi shouted in exasperation.
After Rhydon had walked to the shore, a small whirlpool suddenly appeared in the lake's center. He had used his digging skills and used his horn to dig a tunnel directly into the small lake. Slowly, the water inside the lake disappeared along with the lake.
Hisoka had chosen a small lake mainly to avoid losing control of the situation. So even if the water pressure went out of control, it would not have too much of an impact on the surrounding nature.
Although Diglett usually liked to burrow and stay in tight places, it was still quite easy to capture them. On the other hand, Dugtrio was much harder to catch due to its fast-moving speed under the ground.
Diglett and Dugtrio are also good helpers for agricultural reclamation. The land they reclaim often becomes very fertile, which was very popular among the farmers.
Even some people living in remote villages regarded the Diglett and Dugtrio as the incarnation of a good harvest.
But once the number of Diglett living in the same area increased, it could easily lead to disaster. These Diglett, who had lost their food sources in the wild, would turn their sight to human farmland, causing heavy losses to the farmers.
To prevent this, Kanto League invested a lot of manpower and resources in this area. However, Diglett is a beneficial Pokemon in general, and the League can't really do anything to them. They can only transfer the excessive number of Diglett to somewhere else.
The lake water went into the tunnel dug by Rhydon. And after a few moments, the water all went inside the cave dug by the Diglett. Many Diglett were already knocked out by the water. They were only a few Diglett left, which he didn't plan to catch as they ran out of the tunnel.
Suddenly, a strange Diglett with three heads emerged from the ground.
"It's Dugtrio!" Hisoka shouted.
"Come out, Kirlia and Weavile!" Hisoka quickly threw two Pokeball in the air.
"Kirlia, Psychic!"
"Weavile, Ice Punch!"
Hisoka gave two orders at once.
Kirlia's eyes glowed light blue, and when she raised her right hand, three blue spheres released from her hand and went toward the Dugtrio, restricting its movement.
Dugtrio immediately panicked, feeling that it couldn't move its body no matter how hard it tried.
Then, Weavile ran toward the Dugtrio while raising his glowing blue fist and landed a punch on Dugtrio's middle head.
Bang!
Dugtrio didn't even see who attacked it just now. It was instantly knocked unconscious by Weavile's effective Ice Punch.
"I'll leave the rest to you, Ryoichi. I think it's better if you don't mention my name in this task. You can take all the credits for yourself. And who knows? The League might just reinstate you back," Hisoka said, looking at his friend, Ryoichi.
Hisoka knew that getting rid of the Diglett would have no benefits for him. He initially came here at Ryoichi's personal request. The League would definitely not give him any rewards. It would be better for him to pay the favor and let Ryoichi take the full credit.
Joy flashed in Ryoichi's eyes when he heard what Hisoka said just now. He had forgotten about this due to his rush to solve this Diglett infestation and the construction work being halted. Solving this issue would save the League's manpower and resource. This would give him extra points for his League assessment at the end of the year.
And if the reservoir here was finished on time, he might be able to resume his official duties later. He would no longer need to worry about his career.
Ryoichi let out a big smile as he put his hand on Hisoka's shoulder and said, "Thank you, Hisoka. I won't forget about this."
After saying that, Ryoichi took out a Pokeball and approached the unconscious Dugtrio.
Beep!
The Dugtrio was captured by Ryoichi without any resistance.
A few moments later, another Dugtrio appeared in front of them. It looked as if it had escaped from the flooded tunnel just now. Again, it was easily defeated under the dual attack of Kirlia and Weavile. Kirlia's Psychic restrains it, and Weavile's Ice Punch lands the final blow.
After that, Ryoichi and Hisoka went around the cave capturing all the fainted Diglett in a Pokeball.
...
A few hours later, a ray of morning light slowly emerged in the sky.
Hisoka and Ryoichi had returned to the cabin near the reservoir site. Both of them were carrying a large box filled with dozens of Pokeball.
They had captured about 110 Diglett and 4 Dugtrio in this area. Which meant that they had finally solved the Diglett infestation.
Looking at the hundred or so Pokeballs in the box, Ryoichi finally couldn't help but sigh in relief. With this, he'll be able to add some points to his work portfolio.
Later, Ryoichi will contact the League personnel to transfer Diglett and Dugtrio away from this area and resume the construction work.
Hopefully, his life will turn for the better now.
...
