Night fell.
Unlike the last time he entered the forest at night, when it was just Natsuhiko and Weedle. After Weedle fell asleep, Natsuhiko had to stay awake, maintaining vigilance around him.
This time he was better prepared.
He released the Paras he had confiscated from the black market and used its notable spore ability to lay down several circles of spores around their temporary shelter found that night.
If any creature approached, Paras would sense it.
At the same time, Natsuhiko also prepared for camping out in the forest at night, using basic insect repellent powder and sprays to cover his own scent to avoid attracting Pokémon.
Leaning against a small hillside, although he couldn't find a cave, such a place was already quite a nice camping spot.
As for Paras, it didn't have any resistance to this.
Its relationship with its previous Trainer was just average, and its Trainer only used it as a tool for making money, so changing owners was just following orders as usual.
He lit a campfire and had a simple dinner with Weedle and Paras.
"We can't exhaust ourselves too much outside, let's just do some basic training today."
"Woo—"
Weedle nodded.
Daily training had slowly become a habit for it, and it would feel uneasy if it didn't train for a day.
So upon hearing Natsuhiko's arrangement, Weedle started its basic training on its own.
Basic training didn't need Natsuhiko's assistance, and in the wild, Natsuhiko also saved his energy and strength, so he didn't train alongside it, instead, he silently watched the flames leaping in the campfire, lost in thought.
His thoughts were chaotic, with many things on his mind.
The power plant issue was resolved, but none of the lingering doubts were answered, and Natsuhiko felt a layer of invisible fog seemed to be slowly covering Goldenrod City, making it hard to see clearly.
Many things seemed correlated, yet also appeared unrelated.
He also pondered about what identity he should use and in what form to publish some advanced knowledge about Pokémon.
Publishing knowledge that's too advanced wouldn't work; for instance, if he announced the existence of Pokémon's super-evolution now, he might not only fail to make money but could be mocked mercilessly, with people claiming he's daydreaming.
So choosing a suitable topic, paired with some plausible explanations and conjectures, became quite important.
If handled well, these advanced Pokémon knowledge could potentially bring him a significant fortune.
But if it became too conspicuous, it might attract not wealth, but danger.
Carrying various thoughts and concepts, Natsuhiko embraced Weedle, who had finished training, and lay down to sleep.
He didn't dare to sleep too soundly.
Even though Paras was watching, there's always a possibility of unforeseen events happening.
...
...
The morning fog lifted with the rising sun.
Fortunately, nothing special happened all night, although occasionally a few wild Pokémon wandered into their camp and were driven out by Weedle.
After burying any traces of their stay, he took Weedle, packed up Paras, and continued toward their target location.
After a day's long journey yesterday, he was now very close to the area where the Tangela was active according to the mission.
"Let's try to find this Tangela today and capture it," Natsuhiko said softly.
If he had enough money now, he might consider leaving Goldenrod City, this prosperous yet intricate city.
Beneath the seemingly calm surface, it's as if a storm was brewing.
This assignment's reward was substantial; if secured smoothly, he might make such a choice.
Weedle now was not the same as before, he felt confident that even leaving Goldenrod City, he could still find a decent job.
More importantly, he had successfully registered with the alliance as a Trainer, and upon leaving, he could stay at Poke Centers for free.
"Woo~~"
As they kept moving deeper, Weedle called out to indicate they had reached the target active area.
Natsuhiko nodded, recalling all kinds of information about Tangela, including its habits and temperament.
"Tangela is generally found near grassland edges close to mountains or oceans; sometimes, they're also found in large forests or jungles, they like more humid environments..."
He lifted his head to look.
"This river flows down from that mountain, and it's most likely an upwelling of groundwater; regardless of the source, there's a mountain and water, and surely there will be dense grass, which undoubtedly is the best habitat for Tangela."
After making a simple analysis, Natsuhiko made a judgment.
He approached the mountain.
Soon.
He came unobstructed to a spot not far from the foot of the mountain, where a patch of not very dense thicket appeared in view.
Yet Natsuhiko didn't feel very happy.
If he were to summarize the path he took near this mountain, it would be...
Too eerie.
Indeed, eerie.
Clearly, a perfect habitat for Pokémon with a mountain and water, yet he hadn't encountered a single wild Pokémon along the way, nor faced any attacks from them.
It was too abnormal.
From leaving Goldenrod City to here, although it wasn't overly dangerous, they had at least faced wild Pokémon attacks no less than ten times.
Clearly, the deeper they went, the more likely they were to encounter attacks, and the stronger the wild Pokémon they met would be.
But upon getting here, and walking for no less than two hours, they hadn't encountered a single sudden attack.
Not even a shadow of a Pokémon in sight.
"Weedle, do you feel anything?" Natsuhiko asked.
In the wild, a Pokémon's intuition is more reliable than a Trainer's.
"Woo?" Weedle chirped, signifying it felt nothing unusual, and everything was normal.
But this didn't ease Natsuhiko, instead, his expression grew more serious.
Deliberating for a long time, he still couldn't think of any reason; he couldn't give up the task, so he could only suppress his inner unease and continue moving closer.
Whirl—
Suddenly, as Natsuhiko was communicating with Weedle, a fierce gust of wind swept towards them.
Natsuhiko's face changed, he quickly stooped down to avoid being blown away by the gust.
The grass used to cover his form around him was all blown down.
Subsequently.
A Pokémon with a golden body, resembling a fox, with short whiskers, holding a silver spoon in its right hand, floated toward them with a menacing glare, wrapped entirely in light blue psychic power.
"Woo!!" Weedle hastily cried out, launching a power grid.
But its usually successful power grid at this moment, stopped midair before reaching the opponent, halted by the psychic power.
Natsuhiko stared intently at the suddenly appearing Pokémon, his heart trembling fiercely.
"Yujira!"
A pure Psychic-type Pokémon Yujira, a natural psychic user with a highly developed brain, and intelligence not weaker than humans, even smarter than most humans.
This Pokémon's species value isn't high at just 400 points, but most of its species value is in Special Attack, Special Defense, and speed, making it an absolute Special Attack Type Pokémon.
Along with its numerous Psychic-type Techniques, and the scene it just displayed, it was definitely a powerful Pokémon.
In his mind, Natsuhiko quickly assessed Yujira's strength.
Senior Level!
Just a mere encounter, Natsuhiko determined that Weedle was definitely not its match.
And from Yujira's current state and demeanor, it seemed extremely angry at their approach or even furious.
This state of Yujira was very rare to see; generally, Yujira maintains absolute calm, even in anger, it wouldn't be like this...
Psychic power out of control.
Coincidentally, such an out-of-control situation, Natsuhiko had encountered once not long ago.
The Drowzee from the slums...
But now wasn't the time to analyze their connection; a more pressing issue was right before them.
They...
Were in big trouble!