The three of them rode on Gyarados and continued forward along the passage. After walking for an unknown amount of time, the passage ahead suddenly became wider. At this time, Eddie suddenly pointed at the wall of the passage and asked, "Are those stones on the wall water stones?"
Lysandre and Diantha looked at the wall and saw that it was dotted with many blue stones, which sparkled beautifully in the dim light.
As they went further, there were more and more blue stones.
"They are Water Stones!" Lysandre said after taking a look at the machine in his hand, "It seems that the Water-type energy here is extremely concentrated, otherwise there wouldn't be so many Water Stones."
"What a pure Water Stone!" Eddie broke off a piece from the wall and said in amazement.
The Water Stone is dark blue overall, somewhat similar to the skin color of the Popplio, but the Water Stone that can be purchased outside generally has blue and white spots of varying depths. The number of blue and white spots is determined by the purity of the Water Stone.
The purer the Water Stone is, the fewer blue and white spots it contains, and the higher the selling price.
Because the evolution of Helioptile requires the Sun Stone, Eddie went to the Pokémon Store to inquire about the Evolution Stone, so he has some understanding of the Evolution Stone.
Diantha and Lysandre also broke off one from the wall each and then made the same exclamation as Eddie.
Although Water Stones of high purity are valuable, Eddie and the other three did not collect them indiscriminately because they did not know what unknown dangers would arise from excessive collection.
After experiencing the escape not long ago, the three of them unanimously decided that it was better to be cautious.
After a while, Eddie and his friends finally reached the end of the passage. The scene that appeared before their eyes stunned them.
The water flowing out of the channel flowed downwards like a waterfall, and below was a huge ocean space, with bottomless blue water at the bottom of the space. There were many channels like the one Eddie and the others were in, decorating the entire space as if it was covered with white ribbons.
Fortunately, Gyarados braked in time, otherwise they would have fallen into the deep sea.
The sky above and all around the space were covered by a transparent air shield, preventing the seawater outside from flowing in. Eddie and the others could even see Pokémon such as Wailord, Lanturn, and Chinchou swimming around outside the air shield.
The Pokémon ignored the sight inside the air shield, apparently having gotten used to it.
"Is this the source of all energy?" Diantha couldn't help but say.
"I'm afraid so!" Lysandre frowned as he stared at the energy detector in his hand. The symbol showing the energy concentration had suddenly jumped from a+ to s. At the same time, the blue wavy line was glowing red slightly, as if it would sound an alarm at any time.
The energy here itself is not harmful to the body, but once the energy concentration reaches a certain warning line, harmless things will become harmful.
In the center of the huge space, there is a piece of land that is like an isolated island. It is not large in area, only slightly larger than Eddie's Prosper Peak.
"Let's go to that island and take a look!"
Just as the three were discussing how to enter the island, Mantyke and Mantine suddenly flew out from the sea below.
Those Mantyke and Mantine did not attack the three people, but they collectively sent out signal beams towards the island.
"Are they calling for help?" Eddie couldn't help but say.
"It's very likely." Lysandre said with a grim expression.
"Cry~"
Sure enough, as soon as the two finished speaking, a long cry suddenly sounded on the island, and then a beautiful ice-blue creature flew out from it.
"It's Articuno!" exclaimed Diantha.
In the blink of an eye, Articuno flew to the opposite side of the three people. Its eyes revealed anger, and extremely cold ice crystals kept falling from its body.
"Screech~ Humans, you are so brave!"
After a cry, Articuno launched an attack on the three people, using its ultimate move, Blizzard.
The howling cold wind mixed with ice and snow blew towards the three people. Fortunately, Selene and Diantha's Gardevoir used their psychic power to put up a protective shield in time to block them.
But Articuno was too strong, and the two Gardevoirs had a hard time dealing with it and couldn't hold on for long.
"Roar~"
The Gyarados under them roared and spurted a stream of water at Articuno. Eddie and Diantha took this opportunity to release the Talonflame and the Braviary.
"Ahhh!!!"
The Talonflame let out an excited cry, red flames bursting out of its body, and it used its Flame Charge attack to swoop down fiercely at Articuno.
"Ah!!!"
At the same time, on the other side, Braviary also used Brave Bird to grab Articuno.
Faced with the siege of multiple Pokémon, Articuno did not panic. Its wings vibrated violently, and a hurricane appeared, instantly sweeping away the Talonflame and Braviary that were swooping down on it.
"Cry~"
The resistance of Eddie and the others completely angered Articuno. Its wings vibrated even faster, and the Blizzard blowing towards Eddie and the others became even more violent. The two Gardevoirs finally began to lose control.
With a crisp sound, the psychic shield created by Selene and Diantha's Gardevoir broke. As the strong wind swept over, Eddie and the other two were all blown away and fell into the sea below one after another.
As for Gyarados, it took Articuno's Blizzard head-on and was frozen into an ice sculpture, solidifying in the seawater in the passage.
"Yeah~"
"Huh~"
The Talonflame and the Braviary wanted to swoop down to catch Eddie and Diantha, but they were blocked by the Articuno that followed closely.
"Yeah~"
"Huh~"
The two giant bird Pokémon had no choice but to continue fighting with Articuno.
"Plop~plop~plop~"
Eddie, Diantha, Lysandre, Selene, and Gardevoir fell into the water one after another.
Because he was falling too fast, Eddie drank several mouthfuls of seawater before he was able to float to the surface. He quickly released the Popplio and ordered:
"Popplio, save them!"
"Woo~"
The Popplio responded, and in the blink of an eye blew out a huge blue bubble, covering Eddie and the others one by one.
The Bubble created by the Popplio was very strong. After containing Eddie and the others, it floated steadily on the water.
However, as if things were not bad enough, the Articuno above was temporarily held back by the Talonflame and the Braviary, while the Mantyke and Mantine below were surrounding them with a fierce look in their eyes.
The key is that Eddie and the others cannot use Pokémon to attack them, otherwise the Bubble protecting them will be broken, and the three of them will fall into the water again.
"Popplio, Sing!" Eddie suddenly had an idea.
"La la ~ la ~ la la la ~ la"
As the moving singing of the Popplio sounded, the Mantyke and Mantine that were surrounding them stopped moving forward, closed their eyes, and fell into the water.
"Hurry, let's go to the island." Diantha said, pointing to a small island not far from them.
"Woo~"
Upon hearing this, the Popplio quickly controlled the Bubble and floated towards the island.
"Screech!!! Humans, how outrageous!"
The Articuno in the sky became furious when it saw that Eddie and his companions were aiming to land on the island. It flapped its wings, forcing back the Talonflame and the Braviary that were attacking it from both sides. It was about to swoop down, determined to freeze Eddie and his companions into ice sculptures.
But the Talonflame and the Braviary would not let Articuno succeed. After stabilizing their bodies in the air, they attacked it again.
The Braviary used the Tailwind skill, and the speed of the two giant eagles suddenly increased, blocking Articuno in the blink of an eye.
Articuno was completely annoyed by the harassment of the two big birds in front of it that were as clinging as flies. It opened its mouth and spit out an ice-blue ray, which froze the Braviary that was closer to it into an ice sculpture in just an instant.
The Talonflame was horrified when he saw this, and just in time, he used his claws to grab the Braviary that was falling into the water. Then he quickly retreated, no longer daring to approach Articuno.
Diantha, who was landing on the island below, saw that her Braviary was frozen into an ice cube, and her face changed drastically. But when she saw that the Talonflame rescued it in time, she breathed a sigh of relief.
The Talonflame was emitting high temperatures all over its body, melting the ice on the Braviary bit by bit.
Thanks to the delay of the Talonflame and the Braviary, Eddie and his team successfully landed on the island, while Articuno followed closely behind.
"Hurry, let's run into the woods!" Lysandre roared and released his Pyroar.
"Roar~"
As soon as Pyroar came out, it turned its head and sprayed a column of fire at Articuno in the air. Unfortunately, Lysandre's Pyroar was not as strong as Gyarados before, and its sprayed flames did not even reach Articuno, but were dispersed by the opponent's wings.
Seeing that he couldn't win, Pyroar turned around and chased after his trainer.
"Screech!!! Humans, stop, don't move forward!"
Articuno's roar continued, and a large amount of extremely cold air was emitted from its body. Wherever it passed, all the flowers, plants, and trees were frozen.
"I can't run anymore!" After the three of them had been running for an unknown amount of time, Diantha said breathlessly, with an abnormal blush on her pale little face.
"Hold on a little longer!" Eddie gritted his teeth. In fact, he was also very tired.
The most relaxed one among the three is Lysandre. He has a strong physique, and you can tell at first glance that he is someone who exercises regularly.
Eddie's physical strength is actually not bad. After all, he has to do a lot of farm work every day. It's just that he is young and his body has not fully developed. He is far behind an adult like Lysandre.
At this time, he felt that it would be great if he had the physique of a super newbie like Ash Ketchum.
Lysandre saw that Diantha's face was indeed very pale, so he shouted to Pyroar, "Pyroar, help Diantha."
"Ah~"
The Pyroar responded, braked, and stopped in front of Diantha, then carried her up in an instant.
Pyroar are not very big, and even though Lysandre's is taller than the average Pokémon, it's still a bit of a stretch to use it as a mount.
Fortunately, Diantha was just a little girl in her teens with a light body, so the Pyroar could barely carry her.
"Cry~"
The angry Articuno blew out another stream of cold air, which was promptly blocked by Selene and Gardevoir with their psychic power. However, as Articuno's attacks became more and more fierce, the two Gardevoirs could no longer hold on.
"Hurry, eat this!"
While running, Eddie took out two Berries and handed them to Selene and Gardevoir to replenish their strength.
At this moment, the energy detector in Lysandre's hand issued a shrill alarm.
"Not good, this place is filled with a lot of energy that is harmful to the human body."
"Look what that is?" Diantha said, pointing ahead.
They saw a huge deep pit in front of the three people, with a tall white jade pillar standing in the pit. Even from a long distance, Eddie and the others could feel the terrifying energy emanating from the white jade pillar.
"Ding~ Don't get close to there!"
As Eddie and the others approached the giant pit, Articuno let out a terrified scream and stopped chasing.
"Let's collect all the Pokémon." Seeing that Articuno didn't come any closer, Lysandre suggested with a pale face, "The energy here has begun to affect our bodies, and the Pokémon outside will also be affected."
The energy detector in Lysandre's hand was still flashing red light wildly, but he had turned off the alarm.
Eddie and Diantha nodded, took out the Poké Balls, and collected their Pokémon.
As time went on, Lysandre and Diantha's faces became paler and paler, obviously suffering from the erosion of harmful energy.
But what surprised Eddie was that he didn't feel much.
After examining the body, Eddie quickly discovered something abnormal.
There was indeed a scarlet energy in the air that was difficult to distinguish with the naked eye and was eroding Eddie's body, but as soon as this energy entered his body, it would be attacked by the golden finger energies and then expelled, so they could not cause any harm to Eddie's body.
"What are you going to do?"
Seeing that Diantha and Lysandre were sweating, Eddie asked hesitantly, not knowing whether he should continue to move forward. He was fine, but Diantha and Lysandre seemed to be in pain.
"Keep going. We've come this far, and I won't be satisfied until I go take a look!" Lysandre pointed at the white jade pillar and said, "The secret of the Sea God's Cave may be hidden there!"
Eddie looked at Diantha, only to see her nodding with a pale face, agreeing with Lysandre's proposal. This girl was a person who would not give up until she saw the Yellow River.
"Okay, since you all want to go and take a look, I can only accompany you."
"Wait!"
Lysandre rummaged through his space backpack for a while, then took out three pieces of black clothes. He handed two of them to Eddie and Diantha and said:
"This is a protective suit produced by my research institute. It may not be able to completely resist the erosion of energy, but it will definitely play a role."
Eddie and Diantha quickly took the protective suits and put them on.
The effect of the protective suit was much better than Lysandre had expected. At least Diantha felt less uncomfortable.
As for Eddie, he still didn't feel anything.
"Okay, let's go!"
Just as the three were about to go down into the deep pit, two cries were heard behind them again. The three looked back and saw that two legendary Pokémon - Moltres and Zapdos - had appeared beside Articuno at some point. These two Pokémon were not in the Cave of the Sea God before. Unexpectedly, after they came back, some humans broke in here and approached the forbidden area!
"It's Moltres and Zapdos!" Diantha whispered.
"Don't worry about them. They seem to be afraid of this place and don't dare to come close." Eddie said.
This was indeed the case. The three legendary birds watched Eddie and the other two descend into the deep pit step by step. Their faces were filled with horror, but they did not dare to get any closer. They could only watch the three disappear from their sight.