The next morning, we began our journey.
Although I had already given each of my Pokémon their own Poké Balls like in the anime, one thing I didn't think of while watching the anime was how to distinguish between the Poké Balls once the Pokémon are inside. Because, well, the Pokémon look the same, and there is no difference in mass of the Poké Balls when Pokémon are inside them or not.
After around ten minutes of trying to place the Pokémon belonging to different Pokémon in different places in clothes.
I started my journey.
Of course, I had Luxio, Zorua, and Zeraora out with me.
Luxio was a must because of its sharp eyes and its X-Ray.
It could spot strong wild Pokémon from a great distance. And its X-Ray vision would be extremely critical in night and forest areas where normal vision is blocked. It would also be extremely useful in case of mists or fogs.
Next, I had Zorua out. Its illusions should be able to fool any wild Pokémon, and also the ones with strong senses.
Most strong Pokémon in the wild would have strong senses. Otherwise, they couldn't have grown strong in the first place. Even one single mistake and they would have been immediately killed or been gravely injured or worse, have their soul sucked out by some ghost Pokémon.
But even strong Pokémon with strong senses would have no experience with Zorua's illusion, as it is its special ability. Sensing discomfort and uneasiness, the strong ones would just retreat because they know they are not the strongest, and without a known advantage, they wouldn't attack recklessly.
This made Zorua's Illusion a great asset for my party.
The little fox-like Pokémon was currently wrapped around my neck, with its eyes shut.
The Huisian Zorua.
It was a little fox-like Pokémon with a white coat and the tips of its fur on its head, neck, and tail with a reddish-pink tint.
As much as I remember from the games and the Pokedex, Hisuian Zorua's lore is quite somber. According to its Pokédex entry, these Zorua were once regular Zorua who were driven from their homes by humans who feared their illusion-creating abilities. They migrated to the harsh Hisui region, but were unable to survive the cold and the hostility of the area and other Pokémon. Their lingering souls, full of malice and spite toward both humans and other Pokémon, were reborn as this new Normal/Ghost form.
A Normal/Ghost-type Zorua.
It was definitely going to be one of my strongest Pokémon in the future.
As I kept walking with Luxio leading the way to the outside of the forest, Zorua wrapped around my neck. My eyes fell on the last Pokémon I had outside of its Poké Ball.
It was Zeraora.
He was, without a doubt, the strongest Pokémon in my team.
After training with my Pokémon for the past year. I realized that no one else even came close to Zeraora in terms of combat strength.
He had incredibly fast and strong legs, which resulted in his extremely quick movements and speed. And with moves like Plasma Fists, Spark, Close Combat, Scratch, and Quick Attack.
Once I realized that Zeraora definitely was my strongest, I started working hard to make him my ace Pokémon.
I wanted to make him strong enough to solo entire teams alone.
Once, I shared my plans with him, he instantly agreed.
We updated our training regimes and started training that very day.
We were also working on a couple of combinational attacks.
The first one was a combination of two of Zeraora's strongest moves, Plasma Fists and Close Combat. It was a deadly combo, with the sheer destructive power of Plasma Fists and extremely complicated and deadly strikes from Close Combat. This new combination, which we called Plasma Combat was essentially used Plasma Fists alongside Close Combat.
Despite training for this new combination, we hadn't had much success.
Even though I had expected this initial setback. It still hurt that despite working hard, it still wasn't enough. But both of us were optimistic. Because we could see early signs. This motivated Zeraora to train even harder.
The other one was a simple combination of Quick Attack and Scratch. It wasn't as powerful and effective as the other one. But this one was easy to master.
This confirmed my hypothesis that stronger moves take much longer to master.
As I was lost in thought, Zeraora suddenly called out to us.
"Zeraa!!!"
"Huhh?!!"
As I turned his way, I saw Zeraora standing still.
"What happened, Zeraora? Why did you stop?"
"Zera Zeraa"
Zeraora pointed to a tree with burnt and scratched marks on it.
I followed his finger.
I realized this wasn't good.
Luxio must have missed this because we had wandered into some Pokémon's territory.
Just then, Luxio felt the presence of a strong Pokémon coming towards them, but before it could even warn me, the Pokémon had already seen us.
It was too late.
It has not even been a complete day yet, and we have already found trouble.
"Shit, we need to leave this area."
But the Pokémon had already caught up to us. It was a four-legged red and white striped fluffy Pokémon.
It stopped right in front of us.
I put my brain into overdrive, thinking of all the possible ways to escape this situation. But, looking at the speed of the Pokémon, it was impossible to outrun him.
So, we had to injure him before making a run.
Given its speed, the only Pokémon that I can even hope to put up a fight with me would be, without a doubt, Zeraora.
As I thought of different ideas, I looked up at the Pokémon, only to realize that I recognized the Pokémon.
It was an Arcanine.
It was a majestic-looking, bright red and white stripped Arcanine.
It made sense why it is said to be a legendary species Pokémon.
As I kept up my guard.
I observed that the Arcanine was not attacking us.
Just staring.
Just staring at us.
Then, with a,
"Woof"
It ran up to me and started licking me with full intensity.
"Ahh!!"
Then, it made sense.
It was the Arcanine that we rescued from the Pokémon Hunters.
It must have found my smell and recognized me in its territory.
And, it had come to greet me.
"Sighhh..."
As I let out a huge sigh, a grin came on my face.