"Mm, I'll help you with that," Aven said with a smile.
Seeing the motivated Vespiquen made Aven happy.
"When you've fully adapted to your abilities, I'll take you to the Black Coast Forest. At that time, I'll help you use your pheromones to attract the Combee living there. After growing through this spring, those young Combee should be gradually reaching maturity."
Vespiquen's pheromones had the ability to control Combee — and this effect was not limited to the ones she had raised herself. Even the Combee raised by other Vespiquen could be influenced.
However, in order to control Combee from another Vespiquen's hive, she would have to inject her own pheromones directly into their bodies.
Now that spring had passed, the Black Coast Forest Vespiquen's hive must have produced even more Combee. This would certainly weaken her grip over them, and that created an opportunity.
If they waited too long, the Black Coast Forest Vespiquen would secrete more pheromones to reassert her control over the hive — and once that happened, the overall strength of her swarm would increase dramatically, making them much harder to deal with.
To obtain the White Apricorns guarded by the Vespiquen's hive, Aven was determined to defeat them no matter what. With those fruits, he could produce Poké Balls in large quantities.
At the same time, capturing enough Combee would also greatly improve pollination for the orchard's berry trees — which in turn would benefit the trees tremendously.
Of course, this would also be greatly beneficial for the Combee themselves. The pollen from these berry trees would help them produce more Honey, allowing them to develop more quickly.
And once these Combee joined Vespiquen's hive under Aven's care, he would raise them properly as well. If they became strong enough, they could even branch out and have a chance to evolve into Vespiquen themselves!
In the wild, a Combee colony could only have a single Vespiquen, but under artificial breeding conditions, it was possible to split a hive — a tremendous growth opportunity for them.
"Bzzzz bzzz bzzzz!"
Vespiquen beat her wings rapidly.
The thought of soon seeing her former companions filled her with excitement.
She couldn't help but wonder — when those who had once rejected her saw that she had successfully evolved into a Vespiquen, how would they react?
Energized and motivated, Vespiquen immediately began training, trying to convert the nutrients in her body into pheromones.
For this, Aven planned to specially prepare a nutrient juice for her later. According to attribute classifications, pheromones like hers contained Bug-type energy, so a medicine could be made using Figy Berries as the main ingredient.
Figy Berries naturally had restorative effects, and by adding Sweet Honey and other berries, he could create a nutrient drink tailored for Vespiquen. For a professional Pokémon Breeder like Aven, this was no difficult task.
He believed that with his help, Vespiquen would quickly be able to produce enough pheromones — and by then, the number of Combee she could control would surely surpass the Black Coast Forest Vespiquen's hive.
"Next, it's time to deal with the issue of Mothim," Aven said.
From his backpack, he took out a Poké Ball and pressed the button. A beam of white light shot out, forming into Mothim's figure.
The moment Mothim appeared, he instinctively used his invisibility, vanishing into the air.
However, only a moment later, his figure reappeared in midair — and floating right beside him was Froslass.
Glancing at her, Mothim's eyes revealed deep admiration. Over the past days, he had come to realize that her ability to turn invisible was far superior to his own!
"Mothim, do you know what you did wrong?" Aven asked sternly.
He didn't have many strict demands for his Pokémon, but one rule was absolute — under no circumstances were they allowed to harm their own companions.
Although Vespiquen had been the one to initiate the fight this time, the root cause of the conflict was Mothim stealing her Sweet Honey. That was why Aven felt it was necessary to give him a proper lesson.
"Moth… moth… moth…"
Mothim lowered his head weakly, his attitude clearly showing remorse — he obviously knew he was in the wrong.
"This is the first time you've made a mistake, so I'll give you another chance," Aven said.
"But if you do it again, I will release you and let you return to the wild to live freely."
Hearing this, Mothim was startled and hurriedly flew to Aven's side, expressing that he would never make the same mistake again.
After spending time here, Mothim had completely fallen in love with this life — no need to worry about food, and so many strong companions to protect him. This was exactly the life he wanted!
"Mm. Then I'll forgive you this time. But I want you to go apologize to Vespiquen," Aven said.
Mothim hesitated for a moment, then nodded and flew toward Vespiquen to obediently apologize.
Seeing this, Aven gave a small nod of approval.
Still, he began to reflect. As a Pokémon Breeder, he naturally understood the relationships between certain Pokémon species — like how Combee and Mothim were natural enemies.
In a Pokémon Daycare, when accepting Pokémon for boarding, such hostile relationships had to be taken into account.
For example, Combee and Mothim, or Seviper and Zangoose — such Pokémon could never be housed together, or trouble would inevitably occur.
Similarly, for a Trainer, having two naturally hostile Pokémon in the same team required careful handling, maintaining the relationship between them with oneself as the center.
"Now then… the next thing to deal with is the Black Coast Forest Vespiquen hive," Aven thought.
Pulling his focus back, he went to the table in the backyard of the breeding house and spread out the map he had drawn.
By now, all the outer regions of the Black Forest bordering his territory were already under the watch of Pokémon from the Safari Zone — so it was indeed time to advance further.
The northern part of the Black Forest was already mostly under his control thanks to the Nidoking tribe, and the next step there was simply to negotiate with the local groups.
He didn't need to subdue every tribe in the area — he only needed them to follow his rules, namely, not to actively attack humans.
In return, the Safari Zone would offer them protection. This way, while preserving the original order of the Black Forest, he could still bring these wild Pokémon tribes into the scope of his Safari Zone's influence.
In certain cases, he could even provide them with food — though they would have to pay a price in return, such as allowing humans to capture some of their members under mutual consent.
"Mm… Vespiquen still needs time to produce pheromones," Aven muttered. "I can first start negotiating with other Pokémon tribes, then move on to the Black Coast Forest Vespiquen hive."
Decision made, he put away the map and began calling over the Pokémon in the breeding house.
"Nido! Nido!"
In the yard, Nidoran♂ and Nidoran♀ were training on a running wheel.
The wheel spun rapidly as the two little ones ran, whirring like a blazing windmill.
They were clearly enjoying themselves — the running wheel was like a fun toy for them, and it also served as training. They absolutely loved it.
When they saw Aven approach, the two stopped in unison and pounced on him happily, nuzzling and rubbing against him.
"It seems you've both fully recovered," Aven said with a smile.
Sitting on the ground, he picked them up and examined them carefully.
With the aid of potions and the healing life energy of Petilil, very few injuries were beyond recovery — and from their vigorous training earlier, it was clear they could now handle even intense exercise.
"Nido! Nido!"
The two Nidoran exchanged glances, then jumped back and cried out with determined eyes.
Seeing this, Aven understood and smiled. "Alright, I get it. From now on, I'll begin your training! But first… let's make a trip back to the Nidoking Valley. I'm sure they'll be very happy to see you both healthy again!"
Soon, all the Pokémon were assembled — except for Rhydon, who was still busy practicing forging metal. Aven brought along all his main force.
He planned to use this trip into the Black Forest to give the tribes in the forest a show of strength, deterring them from invading the breeding area.
"Toarrr~"
When they entered the Black Forest, the Grass-type tribe was already gathered.
At the very front stood Torterra, the tree on his shell lush with greenery and berries whose fragrance filled the air.
"Torterra, I'll have to trouble you again this time," Aven said, patting the shell before leaping onto his back. Together, they led the Grass-type tribe deeper into the forest.
The outskirts of the Black Forest teemed with Grass-types, many of whom joined the growing procession as they passed, swelling the ranks further.
Once they left the outer forest, other tribes along the way quickly moved aside upon seeing them, wary eyes following Torterra's retreating figure.
These tribes had already noticed the growing number of Grass-types on the forest's edge in recent days.
Yet these Grass-types seemed very friendly — even if others accidentally wandered into their territory, they didn't mind.
It was said that the outer forest bordered a vast grassland belonging to humans — and that those humans had an excellent relationship with the Grass-types there.
Like the Torterra just now, carrying a human on its back — clearly, they were on good terms.
But now… where exactly were these Grass-types heading? Judging by their direction, it seemed they were going toward the Nidoking tribe. Could it be they intended to fight them?
Pokémon weren't the brightest, but they weren't fools either — they could faintly sense that something significant was about to happen in this region.
"Nido! Nido! Nido!"
The two Nidoran ran ahead excitedly — they were almost home.
"Odd~ Odd? Odd!"
Just as they neared the Nidoking Valley, a large group of Oddish popped out from the grass.
Upon spotting Torterra and the human on his back, they cried out excitedly.
These Oddish had been training in the valley with the power of the moonlight, living near the valley's outskirts while also acting as sentries.
The Nidoking leader greatly appreciated their presence — with their watchfulness, there was no way a repeat of the last incident, where poachers snuck in, would happen again.
"Seven, long time no see," Aven greeted with a smile, addressing the Oddish leading the group of Oddish.
After mastering Moonblast, Seven's growth had accelerated greatly — his size was now comparable to a Gloom, and the energy radiating from him was much stronger. Even without evolving, his combat ability could rival that of a intermediate-level wild Pokémon.
"Odd!"
Seven happily hopped onto Aven's shoulder.
Meanwhile, the Grass-type tribe that had followed Torterra into the valley began mingling with the gathered Oddish.
Aven planned to take away the Oddish who were nearly done with their training here — some of them belonged to Sir Berrin, whose boarding period was almost over.
During the assault on Vespiquen's territory, Aven intended to help these Oddish evolve, turning them into two hundred fully evolved Gloom to return to Sir Berrin in perfect condition.
The Oddish brought here, however, would remain, continuing to grow under the moon's power. They would become the Safari Zone's main guardians, as well as the ones responsible for maintaining order in the Black Forest.
(End of Chapter)