The waters of Lake Verity were still very deep. Even though Dawn could swim, it was difficult for her to dive all the way down in one go.
Not to mention that many Pokémon were active down there as well, which undoubtedly increased the difficulty of the search. With such a vast lake, who knew how long it would take to find Piplup?
Holding her breath, Dawn kept pushing aside passing Magikarp as she searched for Piplup's whereabouts, but there were simply too many Magikarp drawn over by curiosity…
At this moment, Rowlet was clutching an ordinary fish and swimming upward. Its feathers were still red, but its appearance had changed somewhat.
This was a new outfit it had made using the scale it tore off from that Pokémon earlier. After putting it on, it felt like it could swim much faster than before.
"Goo?"
As Rowlet swam upward, it suddenly noticed a group of Magikarp gathered together not far away, seemingly doing something. Were they having a party?
"Go away!"
Dawn waved her arms, trying to push the Magikarp aside, but they stubbornly refused to leave, blocking her from diving deeper.
With no other choice, she had to surface first to catch her breath before trying again. However, the Magikarp seemed unwilling to let her go. They even went a step further, attempting to snatch food directly from her.
"Ah! Don't touch there!" Dawn cried out in panic, pressing down on her skirt, but in doing so she accidentally swallowed some water.
Her expression immediately turned distressed. Looking at the surface of the lake less than five meters away, she wanted to just swim up in one desperate push.
But the Magikarp bit onto her clothes, looking determined to tear something edible off her today, dragging her down tightly and refusing to let her leave.
Just then, the Magikarp suddenly stopped moving. A flash of fear passed through their expressions almost simultaneously, and then they scattered in all directions, fleeing for their lives.
Dawn didn't know what had happened, but she seized the opportunity and surged upward in one breath, finally escaping danger.
"Goo?"
Rowlet tilted its head, not understanding why those guys all ran away the moment it arrived.
But when it saw Dawn, it suddenly seemed to remember something important. It released the fish it was holding and dove back down again.
Seeing Dawn surface and gasp for air, the sunglasses man shouted from the lakeshore, "Did you find it or not?"
"There are too many Magikarp down there…"
"I don't care. You've got fifteen minutes!"
"I got it!"
With that, Dawn dove back into the lake once more, while Lumiere, hanging from the tree, wore an expression that was hard to describe.
He couldn't understand why this kid didn't just run. As long as he waited for Rowlet to come back up, he could wipe them out easily…
At the bottom of the lake, the massive creature that had been sleeping finally woke up. It had no idea what had happened earlier. The only thing it knew was that it was hungry now.
And when the red Gyarados awoke, the Piplup hiding behind a rock not far away was scared half to death and panickedly swam upward.
But its movements were too sudden, immediately drawing Gyarados's attention. The big creature hadn't expected a little thing to be hiding in its home, and instinctively felt that this was a deliberate provocation!
For a violent and ferocious Pokémon like Gyarados, this was absolutely intolerable. It let out an enraged roar and charged straight at Piplup.
"Goo~"
The commotion below was so intense that it immediately caught Rowlet's attention.
It then saw the huge creature it had plucked a scale from earlier chasing a little penguin straight toward it.
Although it didn't recognize Gyarados, it did recognize Piplup—because before going into the water, Lumiere had described it to it. As long as it was something Lumiere said, it remembered it very clearly… more or less.
"Goo!"
Rowlet flapped its wings and swam downward at full speed. This was something Lumiere had entrusted it with—it absolutely had to accomplish it.
Under no circumstances could it let Piplup be eaten by that huge monster!
"Roar!"
Gyarados continued to roar furiously. Piplup's face turned pale with fear, feeling that today might truly be the end.
But then it suddenly saw a red figure swimming rapidly toward it. Judging from the cries, it seemed to be coming to save it.
Piplup didn't think any further and immediately hid behind Rowlet, clinging to it and trembling.
"Roar!"
Gyarados hadn't expected another Pokémon to appear here, let alone steal away its prey!
"Goo!"
Rowlet's expression hardened. Facing a Gyarados dozens of times its own size, it charged forward without hesitation to fight it head-on.
Powerful currents erupted in an instant, rapidly expanding outward and forming a massive vortex. Piplup couldn't react in time and was flung away.
Dawn, who had just dived down for the fourth time and was about to change direction to continue searching, was suddenly drawn by the vortex below.
Then a blue little penguin shot out from that direction, dizzy and disoriented, crashing straight into her arms.
"Piplup!"
A radiant smile bloomed across Dawn's delicate face. She never would have imagined that Piplup would come rushing toward her on its own. Could this be fate?
"Piplu…"
Piplup was already half-conscious and had no idea who was holding it anymore.
Dawn immediately swam upward. Her plan was to first use Piplup to rescue Lumiere.
Once the two of them were released, she would immediately borrow Lumiere's phone to call for help to save Piplup, since her own phone had been soaked in water for too long to work.
It could only be said that she still had the mindset of a child. This was her first time traveling far from home alone, and she had never experienced the cruelty of the world. She was far too naïve—how could someone like a Pokémon Hunter possibly reason with you…
And sure enough, the moment she reached the shore, she was caught by Ariados's String Shot, bound tightly into a bundle just like Lumiere, and slammed onto the ground. The Piplup in her hands rolled away.
"What an obedient little brat," the sunglasses man said, casually lifting Piplup off the ground with ease.
"Mmmph!" Dawn's mouth was also sealed by silk, leaving her unable to speak. Her eyes, however, looked as though they wanted to tear him apart piece by piece.
"Alright, Ariados. Throw these two into the lake to feed the fish," the sunglasses man said, waving his hand as he turned to leave.
"Cha!"
The two Ariados were just about to move when, from the surface of Lake Verity beside them, a massive number of bubbles suddenly emerged!
Immediately afterward, a red Gyarados with spinning eyes burst up from the water with a loud splash, sending water flying everywhere and drawing everyone's attention.
"Holy crap! There really is a red Gyarados!"
The sunglasses man stood frozen in place, his expression filled with excitement. Gyarados was already an incredibly powerful Pokémon, and a shiny one would sell for at least fifty times the price!
What kind of luck was this? First Piplup, then a shiny Gyarados—and it even looked like it had already been taken down. If this wasn't heaven helping him, what was?
"I'm rich! I can retire early! Hahahaha!"
The sunglasses man burst into laughter and ordered the two Ariados to ignore the two kids for now and pull the Gyarados over first.
He needed to inspect it properly to confirm whether it was dyed or genuine. After all, he'd been scammed before by someone selling him a dyed golden Magikarp, so he had to be cautious.
However, just as the two Ariados moved to the lakeside, a white beam filled with overwhelming pressure and destructive intent suddenly fired out from the Gyarados!
This was the destructive white beam—Hyper Beam! Under the sweep of the beam, everything around it began to rapidly collapse, disintegrate, and turn into dust.
A deafening explosion followed. The terrifying shockwave even blasted Lumiere down from the tree, and when the smoke cleared, the two Ariados were already sprawled on the ground, completely unable to continue fighting.
The sunglasses man swallowed hard. Staring at the scene before him, his body trembling, he asked, "W-what… what just happened?"