At this moment, Tetsuya felt a sense of exhaustion, as if his entire body had been hollowed out. He took out the two Poké Balls that were still left on the Shadow Team member.
Although he had obtained five Pokémon this time, Tetsuya did not dare to harbor any greed toward them. His only way out now was to quickly return to a city and then have Matsuba come pick him up. Only Matsuba could protect him.
And there was no time to sell these Pokémon. Keeping them on himself would only bring trouble.
Not daring to delay for even a moment, Tetsuya once again mounted RaDittash, solely to leave the forest as quickly as possible.
Along the way, Tetsuya threw the five Poké Balls into the forest on both sides. Although Poké Balls could maintain the Pokémon's energy without it dissipating, allowing the Pokémon inside to survive for five or six months, if there was no food for a long time, they would still die inside the Poké Ball.
Pokémon could also break free from Poké Balls, but the environment inside was still very comfortable. Aside from a very small number of them unwilling to stay inside, most Pokémon actually liked the environment within.
By the time they realized there was no food and tried to break free, they likely would not have the strength anymore.
---◓---
Tetsuya rode RaDittash -Ditto-, galloping wildly through the forest.
Before he knew it, it was already night. Ditto was galloping slower and slower, its stamina had already reached its limit, and Tetsuya himself felt dizzy.
If this continued, before they could even leave the forest, both he and Ditto would die from exhaustion.
"Ditto, slow down and stop."
Tetsuya said, and Ditto began to slow down gradually until it came to a complete stop.
"We need to eat something quickly and recover some energy. We only have one hour before we must set off again."
As Tetsuya spoke, he took out food from his backpack and said to Ditto.
Right now, there was no time to care about Piloswine and Golett's dinner. The most exhausted ones were Ditto and Haunter, and of course himself as well.
Tetsuya and Ditto quickly filled their stomachs. As for Haunter, he could only use a good Potion on it. It was not a normal living being and did not need to eat every time.
"You can rest for a while now. Ditto, go into the Quick Powder bag and sleep for a bit. I'll wake you when it's time to depart."
After all, Quick Powder was something tailored specifically for Ditto. Resting inside it also had the effect of rapidly recovering stamina. Resting inside for one hour was almost equivalent to resting outside for two hours.
If they set off after one hour, they should be able to reach the next city by dawn.
Ditto burrowed into the backpack.
Only Haunter stayed by Tetsuya's side. Every minute now was torment. He could not be sure whether there were still pursuers behind them.
Although he himself was already exhausted to the extreme, he was still the backbone of this team. If he collapsed, the Pokémon would lose even more confidence. If they wanted to survive, they could only endure.
---◓---
Tetsuya sat under a tree, staring blankly at the forest. Time passed second by second. Even though his heart had reached the limit of torment, he had to forcibly remain calm.
He kept track of the time.
Tetsuya knew very well that he could not wait any longer.
"Haunter, Haunter! Get ready to depart." The Haunter beside him had also fallen asleep. Tetsuya woke Haunter first and was just about to open the backpack to call Ditto…
A burly middle-aged man appeared within five meters of him like a Ghost-type, yet he had not noticed anything at all!
The middle-aged man was wearing a black cloak and was not masked, while the two people behind him were dressed exactly the same as the two men Tetsuya had killed during the day.
The middle-aged man in the center had deep eyes, and a Hypno walked out from behind him.
Tetsuya felt a powerful pressure. Such pressure was suffocating, and for a moment his mind even short-circuited.
"H-Haunt… Haun… ter… Shadow Ball!"
Tetsuya now felt that even speaking was difficult. This Hypno's aura was terrifying to the extreme!
Haunter fired five consecutive Shadow Balls without the slightest pause. The spindle-shaped Shadow Balls were also flawless in speed.
However, when they reached in front of Hypno, it was as if they had encountered a powerful resistance and abruptly stopped.
Hypno casually flicked them aside, sending the Shadow Balls away.
Tetsuya was already almost in despair. With such psychic force, it could easily block Haunter's Shadow Ball. Even if all of his Pokémon were sent out, there would be no way to contend with such an opponent. Only to see Hypno's body grow larger and larger, and the pendulum in its hand began to swing.
'Illusion… and Hypnosis!'
Tetsuya quickly closed his eyes and reminded Haunter, "Close your eyes quickly, or you will be put to sleep!"
However, this Hypno's Hypnosis was not something that could be avoided simply by closing one's eyes. The hypnotic waves could penetrate the body, so Tetsuya still felt his mind becoming drowsy. He tried to force himself to stay conscious, but he could not resist at all.
At this moment, it felt as if he was already on the road to the Reverse World…
Finally, Tetsuya lost consciousness.
---◓---
Tetsuya only felt that he had a very long, very looong dream. When he woke up, he was in a pitch-black room. There was only an old-style electric lamp in the room, making it extremely dim.
Was he dead?
This was the first thought that jumped into his mind.
However, there was still a person sitting in front of him, the same middle-aged man who had appeared earlier.
"…The Moomoo Tea on the table has not gone cold yet. Drink."
The middle-aged man's voice was low and deep. From the strength of that Hypno just now, it could be seen that this person definitely held a certain status within the Shadow Team.
Tetsuya did not know why he had not been killed. From what he understood, the Shadow Team mainly engaged in human trafficking. Right now, staying alive was the most important thing, even if it meant being trafficked.
However, the life path he had planned for himself for this "timeline" would inevitably go astray because of this.
Life was ever-changing. Even with the ability of foresight, it was impossible to have everything under control.
Tetsuya steadied himself. At this moment, his mind was as calm as still water… maybe.
He downed the drink in front of him in one gulp.
"Hoho~ You are not afraid that I might poison you?" The middle-aged Shadow Team Admin let out a cold laugh.
"If you wanted to kill me, it would take no effort at all. There would be no need to go through extra trouble."
"At such a young age, you already have such courage… Mmahaha! You are indeed a talent worth investing in."
Tetsuya simply looked quietly at the man. Right now, he had no idea what this man was thinking. People like this often had great emotional fluctuations, were irritable and unpredictable. Even if he was calling you brother one moment, the next moment he could put you to death.
"My two subordinates were killed by you… right!?" The middle-aged man once again stared at Tetsuya with a sinister gaze.
Tetsuya also understood that denying such a thing was impossible. "Yes, so what?"
The man in front of him had an even more sinister and terrifying gaze, staring at him fixedly…