Gu Yuan took out a Poké Ball and released Abra. Then he placed the Poké Ball in front of it.
"Earlier, I only put you inside to stabilize your injuries. Now that you're healed, you're free again.
I really want you to stay, but the choice is yours."
He stepped back to give Abra enough space and time to think.
After spending these days together, Gu Yuan had grown very fond of this small Pokémon, but he wanted to respect Abra's choice. He would never force it to follow him.
In his journey to the top, Gu Yuan needed Pokémon whom he could trust, and he also wanted them to trust him completely. Forcing it to follow him would not create this type of trust, and there was also a chance that Abra would end up resenting him.
To prevent future trouble, it was best to be careful in this first step.
Abra looked at the Poké Ball in front of it and, without hesitation, it used its hand to open the ball and went back inside.
Abra was willing to put its trust in the person who had given it the long-lost feeling of family.
"From now on, we're partners. Please take care of me."
Gu Yuan released Abra again and shook its small hand with a smile.
Only then did Gu Yuan use the system to check Abra's detailed info.
Pokémon: Abra
Gender: Male
Ability: Inner Focus
Rank: Rookie
Level-up Moves: Teleport
TM Moves: None
Egg Moves:Ally Switch, Skill Swap
Looking at the data, Gu Yuan guessed why Abra had held on for so long. It relied on its strong willpower from Inner Focus. That made Gu Yuan even more protective of it.
"From now on, we're partners. We fight together and we protect each other."
He stroked Abra's head and spoke with determination.
Abra smiled and nodded. It was ready to grow stronger.
Carrying the joy of capturing Abra, Gu Yuan began to pack up for the final hunt. The pre-trial quests were already completed.
By now, Charmeleon's level had risen to 29. It was only one step away from the Intermediate Rank.
But Gu Yuan decided to slow down. When Charmeleon had broken through to Junior Rank, he had learned that breaking through too quickly wasn't always good.
With Charmeleon's current strength, it could handle what came next. There was no need to rush.
Eevee had reached level 23 and learned Swift.
Not only that, Charmeleon had raised all its moves except Dragon Rush to Intermediate.
With the help of points, Flamethrower and Dragon Breath had even reached Advanced.
Eevee was in a similar situation. It had trained all its moves to Intermediate, while Helping Hand and Swift had advanced to Advanced thanks to quest points.
Gu Yuan had previously noticed that once a Pokémon learned a new move, it could be trained up to Intermediate fairly easily.
But after that, unless it trained long and hard, or some special situation appeared, it was very hard to reach the next stage.
That was just Intermediate to Advanced. Going from Advanced to Expert was even harder.
Even after saving up points and completing several quests, Gu Yuan only had about 200 left.
With the refreshed quest list, he completed many thanks to Charmeleon and Eevee's rapid growth.
[Quest 1: Train Charmeleon to reach Intermediate Rank.
Reward: 300 quest points.]
[Quest 2: Raise Charmeleon by 1 level
Reward: 50 quest points.]
[Quest 3: Raise Charmeleon by 5 levels.
Reward: 250 quest points."
[Quest 4: Train 5 of Charmeleon's moves to Advanced.
Reward: 200 quest points. Current: (3/5)]
[Quest 5: Train 7 of Charmeleon's moves to Advanced.
Reward: 200 quest points. Current: (3/7)]
[Quest 6: Raise Eevee by 1 level.
Reward: 30 quest points. Completed]
[Quest 7: Raise Eevee by 3 levels.
Reward: 60 quest points. Completed.]
[Quest 8: Raise Eevee by 7 levels.
Reward: 120 quest points. Current: (3/7]
[Quest 9: Train 3 of Eevee's moves to Advanced.
Reward: 100 quest points. Current: (2/3) ]
[Quest 10: Train 5 of Eevee's moves to Advanced.
Reward: 200 quest points. Current: (2/5)]
[Quest 11: Capture a third Pokémon.
Reward: 100 quest points. Completed]
[Quest 12: Raise Abra by 5 levels.
Reward: 75 quest points]
Before capturing Abra, there had only been 10 quests. Afterward, two more appeared, one already complete.
The system seemed thoughtful. At least it hadn't made Gu Yuan capture a Pokémon for nothing.
With supplies packed, Gu Yuan headed for the base. Along the way, he ignored wild Pokémon.
Right now, completing Shadow's assigned quest was more important than quest points.
Following familiar roads, Gu Yuan soon reached the forest near the base.
He scouted out a few good ambush spots and then hid nearby, waiting for prey.
Clearly, he wasn't the only one with this idea.
The next day, the first target arrived.
Hawke didn't rush to hide. Instead, he searched around, clearly wary of being ambushed.
Gu Yuan didn't give him the chance. He signaled Eevee to attack.
This time, Eevee's Yawn met a tough opponent.
Facing Primeape with the Vital Spirit ability, Yawn had no effect. But Gu Yuan's real target wasn't Primeape. It was Hawke.
Under the effect of Yawn, Hawke grew drowsy.
Abra followed with Ally Switch, moving the drowsy Hawke next to Gu Yuan. Before Primeape could attack, Abra used Teleport to escape.
A sharp dagger stabbed out and pierced Hawke's throat, leaving him no chance to fight back.
Seeing its trainer fall, Primeape went berserk and charged at Eevee.
But a stream of flames cut it off. Charmeleon's Advanced Flamethrower held Primeape in place.
Gu Yuan quickly found Primeape's Poké Ball and sealed it inside.
With Abra's help, hunting was much easier.
Unfortunately, no matter how he handled it, Hawke's body would leave traces. That meant others would soon notice, and Gu Yuan would need to change hunting grounds.
Burning Hawke's body to ash, Gu Yuan moved to a new spot and waited again.