"Uh… how about… this way?" Mark also heard what Sato said. Looking at the three paths ahead, he hesitated for a moment before randomly pointing to the one on the far left.
'Just as expected'
Everyone immediately understood; Sato's theory was now about 90% confirmed. As expected, Mark had pointed to the path leading back to the anthill.
With so many forks, choosing just one wrong would have taken them far away from the anthill. But "directionless Mark" had somehow brought them back again with his random luck.
"Gengar, go scout ahead," Phoebe instructed, sending Gengar out while the rest of the group slowed their pace.
A few minutes later, Gengar returned with surprising news.
"The Durants are all gone. The other participants fled. The entire Durant tunnel… is completely quiet now."
"Let's go. We won't know what really happened unless we check for ourselves," Joseph said, face serious.
Soon, they arrived at the Durant tunnel again, and it matched Gengar's description exactly.
There wasn't a single Durant left inside. Not even any that were too injured to move.
They were all gone.
If not for the collapsed anthill and the remaining battle damage all around them, Sato and the others might've thought they'd been hypnotized earlier and shared a collective dream.
"Ralts, can you check if the deep pit is still there?"
"It is, but it's buried under the collapsed anthill," Ralts answered without hesitation, it had already started scanning the area the moment they arrived.
"The entrance is probably unreachable. And even if we could find it, climbing down would take too long," Sato added, looking around.
"Ralts and I will go down first. Then it can come back and get you all."
"Be careful," the others replied without objection. It was the most efficient plan.
"Ralts."
"Got it, Toto."
Fwoosh!
A white flash, and Ralts and Sato vanished. When they reappeared, they were already at the lowest point they had reached before.
"Let's keep going, stick close to the edge and be careful."
"Mm!"
Ralts moved over to the rock wall, then slowly descended with Sato.
Less than ten seconds later, Sato's feet touched solid ground, and a cold sweat broke out on his back.
If Ralts had been just a bit later last time, he and Umbreon might've smashed straight into the pit floor. Maybe not dead, but a broken leg would've been likely.
The moment they reached the bottom, a breeze blew across Sato from the side; proof that more paths and space lay below.
"Ralts, bring everyone else over."
"On it!" Ralts nodded and vanished from Sato's shoulder.
"Umbreon, Flash."
Sato had decent night vision, but his teammates didn't. A second later, Joseph was the first to be teleported by Ralts.
Umbreon's Flash lit up the pit bottom. Joseph immediately spotted Sato, and seeing something instead of darkness, he remained calm.
Soon after, the other three were teleported down one by one. The whole team regrouped successfully at the bottom of the pit.
"…Toto, I'm tired. I need a break," Ralts said softly as it lay down on Sato's shoulder.
After using long-distance Teleport so many times, and even carrying people with it, Ralts -still in its base form- was inevitably feeling exhausted.
"You've worked hard, go rest for a bit," Sato said as he opened his backpack, letting Ralts crawl in slowly.
Joseph watched the scene and couldn't help but feel a bit emotional. Back then, the relationship between Sato and Ralts had been only slightly better than enemies.
But now, even though Ralts was still in its base form, it was obedient, dependable, and in a crisis… an absolute trump card.
---
As Sato and the others returned to the Durant tunnel, the remaining functioning cameras once again broadcast their presence to the spectators outside Vertress Cave.
And under the gaze of all those watching, Ralts Teleported them away one by one.
"They're back, where are they going now?"
"That's it? The organizers don't even know? Don't keep us in the dark! Show the footage!"
"Yeah! This is so unclear, give us an explanation!"
The audience's attention was completely fixed on Sato's group. Watching them disappear one after another in such a unique way clearly meant they had discovered something new.
But then… why hadn't any new video feeds come through?
Could it be that there were places inside Vertress Cave even the organizers and the Unova League hadn't explored, only to be discovered by these visiting contestants?
That made no sense!
In the Unova League division headquarters, Drake and the other Unova officials were also closely following the Vertress Cave Trial.
When they saw Sato's team return to the Durant tunnel, all of their hearts skipped a beat.
And when Ralts used Teleport to take them away, a few Unova bigshots immediately showed very complicated expressions.
"President…"
"It's fine. Luck is always part of it. In fact, congratulations are in order for Elite Four Drake," the head official said with a cheerful tone, stopping his subordinate from speaking.
"What do you mean by that, Vice President?"
"The kids, Elite Four Drake, sure are something. Not only did they get the first red flag, they've gone and found hidden trial content too."
"…Hidden content?" Drake's face didn't change, but his heart tensed.
'What hidden trial? There had been no indication of such a thing before.'
He couldn't help but worry for Sato and the others. No matter how talented they were, to Drake, they were still just a group of juniors who hadn't fully grown up.
---
At the bottom of the anthill, Phoebe thought Umbreon's Flash wasn't bright enough, so she had Mismagius use Flash too.
And just like that, a cave entrance along the rock wall was revealed; this was where Sato had felt the cold wind earlier.
After a quick check and seeing no other passages, the group didn't hesitate and headed down the only path available.
The road was narrow, with no branches. Just a winding, twisting tunnel that soon had them completely turned around. But in here, direction didn't matter much.
After about twenty minutes of walking, everyone started to grow a little anxious.
At this moment, battles up top were surely raging. Twenty minutes was more than enough to grab another Green Flag.
"I hear running water!"
"Where? Ahead?" Mark asked urgently, since he was the one who had brought them here.
"I hear it too. And where there's water, there's a higher chance of Pokémon living there. Let's hurry!" Phoebe said as she instinctively picked up her pace.
Gradually, they not only heard the sound of flowing water, but the area around them began to brighten. Clearly… the exit was just ahead!