It is said that in the depths of Mt. Aso, there lives a people who believe in flames.

They are the darlings of fire, with red hair like lava and red eyes like fire, capable of manipulating flames with incredible means, dancing in the blazing winds. The flamebirds that inhabit the volcano are their patron saints – every year, red-haired people hold festivals when the lava of Mt. Aso is at its hottest and pray for the protection of the flamebirds in the coming year.

The grand festival dedicated to the gods is called the "Five Mountains Fire Ceremony", and the day of the festival is called the "Fire Worship Festival", which is the most important festival of the year for the people of the flames.

Xiao Ya carefully read the front and back of the poster, and roughly understood what kind of festival the fire worship festival was.

As the grand finale, the Five Mountains Fire Ceremony is held after dark, and a wooden frame connected by ropes is erected radially around the crater in advance to form a "large script" shape. When the time comes, the person at the end of the five rays will light up the wooden frame at the same time, and the flame will pass along the wood and rope until it converges in the center of the crater. Viewed from the night sky, Mt. Aso looks like a giant character burst into flames – a spectacular sight that attracts many visitors from the neighborhood every year.

The girl's gaze pauses on the person in the poster photo. It is said that this ethnic group in the deep mountains usually has little contact with the outside world, and only during the fire worship festival will a large number of foreign tourists be welcomed. Red-haired and red-eyed people are dressed in exotic costumes with intricate and beautiful lines on their faces. They danced to the beat of drums, and their brightly colored feather ornaments fluttered in the wind.

"Flame Folk ......" Saya gently read out the line of text next to the photo, vaguely capturing a hint of familiarity.

Did she see the word ...... somewhere?

After thinking for a moment to no avail, Xiao Ye put the question aside for the time being, took out her phone and flipped through the information in the GT forum.

The fire-worshipping festival takes place at the "hottest time of the lava" – a time usually decided by the patriarch of the Flame People and is said to vary from year to year. The poster she got was from last year, and the date is no longer available, and the date of this year's fire festival is not available on the Internet, and most of it has not yet been announced. But since the local Yong Zhen mentioned that "the fire worship festival is going to be soon", it must have been held in the next few days.

However, in previous years, in order to attract tourists, the date of the fire worship festival has always been announced on the forum nearly ten days in advance, so why is there no news at all this year?

Putting aside her doubts for the time being, Saya carefully browsed through the information related to keywords such as Mt. Aso, Flame People, and Wind Thief—and sincerely sighed that smartphones can really increase the travel experience by fifty percent, and finally had to go to the Pokémon Center without having to look up any information.

The support of the amount of intelligence made Xiao Ye quickly plan the next trip. After noon, it was the hottest time in the Orange Islands, and Xiao Ye didn't care too much about it, so he left the town under the scorching sun and stepped into the almost uninhabited Mt. Aso [Japanese.あそさん, English..Mt.Aso].

She knew that it would not be easy to find the Wind Thieves who had lived in the mountains for generations, and it would be even more difficult to recover the stolen goods from the criminals. However, the old woman in the town provided the contestants with food and lodging for several days, and in order to repay the kindness, Xiao Ye thought that whether or not she could achieve her goal, she should at least try it first.

When the purple-haired girl stepped into the forest, the scorching sunlight was filtered out by the branches and leaves, and the temperature became slightly more comfortable. Xiao Ye's footsteps did not stop, and the invisible rhythm had unfolded around itself and slowly spread.

In the previous special training, Xinghai warned that it is best not to practice this technique by permanently turning on the detection method - once I get used to the non-blind spot viewpoint that is not constrained by the five senses, it will be as difficult to adapt as ordinary people who are suddenly blindfolded in an environment where detection cannot be used, causing anxiety and panic. If you want to exercise regularly, just change the always-on detection to intermittent use.

Since the purpose of this trip is to find people, waveguide detection is naturally indispensable.

Xiao Ye went deep into the mountains and forests without hurrying. The dense trees brought a slight coolness, and the little Pichu who was curled by the heat temporarily came to life, hoping that the big stupid dragon responsible for fighting off wild Pokémon would stay away from it.

The topography of Mt. Aso is indeed as complex and varied as described in the online sources, and the steep cliffs can be seen everywhere, and you must use both hands and feet to get there. Perhaps due to the frequent earthquakes in this area, the soil in the mountainous area is not solid, and the seemingly flat ground often collapses as soon as you step on it, and even Xiaoye, who is quite agile, has lost his footing several times.

Seeing the ground sink under his feet again, Xiao Yeyan quickly turned around and hung on a thick branch, avoiding the tragedy of being planted in the pit again.

A rattling sound rang out overhead. She looked up and probably wanted to rush over to save someone, but she was immobilized by the jagged branches and leaves piercing the treetops, like a fat string of sugar gourds, and could only look at her master's Charizard with a QAQ face calling for help, and calmly took out the Poké Ball to take it back and replaced it with a forest lizard.

- It was her mistake, she should have thought that Charizard's half-flying skills would be good if she didn't turn herself into a dragon string.

Perhaps due to the proximity to the volcano, there are often fire-type Pokémon in the forest. Fortunately, the forest lizard was agile and with the support of Pichu, he didn't get hurt much along the way.

The young trainer led the Pokémon to wander in the mountains and forests for half a day. As the sun sets to the west and gradually begins to stain one side of the sky red, Saya finally finds walking traces that do not belong to Pokémon.

It was the footprints of half a human hidden in the pile of fallen leaves - it could be identified thanks to a week of actual combat training in the sea of stars, and even if Xiao Ye turned on the detection before, he couldn't notice this kind of detail. While it was unclear who had left the footprints, whether they were Wind Thieves, Flame People, or ordinary Mountain People, anyone who lived in the mountains should be able to answer her questions.

Xiao Ye continued to follow the trail of human passes. It didn't take long for the power of the waveguide to come back with a very different feedback.

Sayo pauses thoughtfully and retracts the forest lizard into the ball.

Pichu on his shoulder blinked in confusion. Sayo made a "keep quiet" gesture and continued to wander as if nothing had happened.

With a new vision that didn't belong to the five senses, she felt the aura of multiple humans and Pokémon getting closer and closer, and stopped moving in the bushes not far from her, as if a beast was watching its prey in the shadows that knew nothing about the danger.

The next moment, before the people in the shadows could start moving, the earth shook violently.

Earthquakes in nature are very different from the sounds created by Pokémon's moves. The whole forest cried in the anger of the earth, and for a moment the earth cracked, the sand and dust flew, and countless fragile branches and leaves broke and fell to the ground, startling the bird Pokémon that stayed in the treetops.

Silent Night, who was defenseless about this, almost fell. Before she could steady, the breath hidden in the bushes moved.

The trainer caught a glimpse of a group of purple figures rushing towards him—the sharp needles of the scorpion's tail had lit up with a starry purple light, and the hoarse roars that could scare the enemy overlapped, mixed with the sound of the earth shaking, making it even more terrifying.

As if frightened, it was not until the scorpions had silently opened their pincers that the attacked man raised his arms in a panic, as if trying to instinctively protect his head. The scorpion at the front mercilessly clamped down on the girl's arm, and the sharp tail needle stabbed hard, injecting the venom that caused severe pain into her flesh.

A faint blade of wind slashed against the side of the attacker. The strap of the backpack was silently severed, and it was knocked away by another Scorpio before hitting the ground.

Only a few seconds passed when the hand reaching out of the forest caught the backpack steadily. The single young trainer opened his eyes wide in "panic" and could clearly see the figures that jumped out - they were five men wearing short gray cloaks and covering their faces with hoods. They were astonishingly swift, jumping on the branches like monkeys, and disappearing into the branches in a flash.

The girl who was robbed in the mountains stood in place for a few more seconds, and then turned around and chased after her like waking up from a dream.

The scorpion's stabbing wound was not shallow, and uncoagulated blood trickled down his fingers. As always, Sayo didn't care about this, just shook her numb arm.

The scorpion's toxin is injected very "experienced", and it only causes a brief period of pain, and the paralysis is not strong - the paralysis that Xiao Ye feels now is actually the little guy on her shoulder.

"Master, why are you holding me back!" Pichu waved his little paw angrily. If it weren't for Xiao Ye's sudden slap on its head at the critical moment, it would have already taken those people down, "The bag contains our rice mound for several days!"

"I'll get it back—but I'll have to wait a bit. Saya winked at Pichu with her right eye.

The shaking of the earth has slowly stopped. While the sound of the leaves swaying still doesn't stop, Saya quickly explains to Pichu why she did so.

If you want to get back the old woman's stolen jade bracelet, finding out the location of the wind thief's lair is an essential first step - fortunately, Xiangtang Island is inaccessible, there are few ships going to sea, and most of the wind thieves have not had time to dispose of the stolen goods that they just arrived a few days ago.

According to a source on the forums, the Wind Thieves are often active at night, but now that they have grabbed a large travel backpack that is not convenient to carry, Xiao Ya thinks that the Wind Thieves will most likely choose to return to the base camp to drop off their loot first.

In fact, she originally planned to find a few local mountain people to inquire about the range where the wind thieves often hang out, but her behavior just now was just a temporary idea after recalling the blood and tears of "a single traveler who entered the mountain and was robbed of all his belongings" in the forum. Therefore, in addition to personal items such as mobile phones and ID documents, all of Xiaoye's belongings are in the bag, and if you lose it, I'm afraid you will really run out of food.

When Pichu heard this, he immediately covered his mouth with his little paws, and said that he would do his best to keep quiet and protect his dinner.

The girl slowed her steps, and sprang up through the forest as fast as the wind thief. However, before he had run a few steps, a new breath suddenly appeared in the range of the waveguide detection.

It just so happened that there was a clearing with few trees in front of him, and Xiao Ye saw the appearance of the person at a glance.

It was a teenager with bright red hair. As he jumped over the branches, the light-colored scarf wrapped around his neck rose high in the wind, revealing the intricate patterns on the back of his blouse.

The boy wore a pendant with three feathers attached to his chest, and the interlaced colors of gold and red swayed in the air, as if burning out of thin air. The orange of dusk shone from the sky, draping the boy's figure in an illusory, flaming cloak.

The red-haired boy waved his hand lightly, and the Pokémon hidden in the shadows behind him popped out like sharp arrows.

The Wind Thief looked back consciously, but even the quickest Scorpio couldn't make a move before he could kick him in the air. The strong chicken's body was almost out of the shadow, and the orange light wrapped around its feet kicked it away. It swerved to its feet, its claws dancing with a sharp slight, sweeping away the dust from the air.

The man in the cloak stumbled back a few steps, and the "trophies" in his hands also rolled to the ground.

Xiao Ye, who saw all this from afar, showed a thoughtful look, and his steps suddenly accelerated, and the fallen leaves and broken branches made a rustling sound when he stepped on them.

"Hey, hey, aren't you going to follow quietly——!?" Exclaimed Pichu as he lowered the strength of his telepathy.

The trainer smiled at the anxious electric mouse, and sighed inwardly that his luck was rare and good.

"There's a better way now. ”

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Small Theatre:

As if frightened, it was not until the scorpions had silently opened their pincers that the attacked man raised his arms in a panic, as if trying to instinctively protect his head. The scorpion at the front mercilessly clamped down on the girl's arm, and the sharp tail needle stabbed hard, injecting the venom that caused severe pain into her flesh.

The supersonic bat in the back mountain of Zhenxin Town, the big needle bee in the forest at the gate of the town and the three-in-one magnetic monster in the Thunder Mountain and the bigmouth bat of the fake rocket team in Red Lotus City and the rocket team members of the underground base and the Quartz Alliance player A Bai snake in the elevator in the village: This is not fair, why is it a different face when we are treated!