As Beedrill's twin stingers were pulled out, Fearow completely collapsed. Its innards had all been pierced, and its death was rather swift.
Fearow fell to the ground, raising a cloud of dust. When the dust settled, blood had already stained a large patch of dirt red.
Even Tetsuya had not expected that strike just now to have such power!
The power of Pursuit was already great, combined with Rage which pushed Beedrill's attack to its limit. Focus Energy further unleashed an astonishing burst of attack speed, striking Fearow's vital point. Coupled with the Ability Sniper, the power of this move -[Fatal Pursuit]- could no longer be measured in numbers.
"Terrifying… this Beedrill is too terrifying…" The five from Violet City kept retreating. Now even their strongest Fearow had already become a dead soul under Beedrill's stingers. How could they still dare to seek death.
Although Spearow were fierce, they also knew their limits and retreated along with their teammates.
"Hn. Do you still dare to set your sights on my Pokémon now?" Tetsuya asked.
The five of them swallowed and said, "N-No, no…!"
"If you want me to let you go… hand over your Pokémon!" Tetsuya said.
"B-But… but we don't have any extra Pokémon…" The team leader said helplessly.
"Oh? In my eyes… all your Pokémon are extra!" Tetsuya said arrogantly.
"Y-You, what do you mean!?"
"Hand over one Hoothoot and three Spearow, and I will let you leave here safely," Tetsuya said coldly.
The leader was extremely unwilling, his hands shaking.
"Leader, we can't! It has already been three and a half months. In another two and a half it will be the half-year evaluation. If we haven't caught three Pokémon by then… we're finished!"
"We've wasted three and a half months for nothing… Who knows if we'll ever have another chance to catch such Pokémon again!!"
The four of them spoke one after another to their leader.
"Ahhh! shut up! I can refuse to hand over the Spearow and Hoothoot, but with that Beedrill, Poliwag, and Sandshrew… do we even have the capacity to resist if they forcefully take them!?"
The Violet team leader hit the nail on the head. The remaining four were instantly scolded awake, lowering their heads and saying nothing.
Three and a half months. Now that Tetsuya had taken their Pokémon, it was equivalent to crippling this team. On the road of competition, there were now five less people. For the half-year evaluation, they could at most catch three Pokémon to make up the numbers.
"Put them on the ground, and you can get lost."
Tetsuya said coldly. Beside him, Beedrill's twin stingers were still dripping with Fearow's blood, looking extremely terrifying!
---◓---
Three Spearow and one Hoothoot, four Poké Balls were placed on the ground, and they left with bleak figures.
Once bitten, twice shy. Now the five of them all sighed repeatedly, regretting that they had acted rashly without investigating the situation clearly. This lesson had cost them dearly…
Tetsuya picked up the four Poké Balls on the ground.
Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly heard a deep and powerful long howl.
"Not good… run!¹[1]"
Tetsuya did not give much explanation and immediately ran. Although Takuya and Haruto did not understand why, they did not dare to linger and followed Tetsuya as they ran.
---◓---
They ran for more than two hours. After confirming safety, Tetsuya finally stopped.
"Huh... huh... T-Tetsuya, why did you run?" Takuya and Haruto asked.
Tetsuya wanted to explain to them but felt it was unnecessary, so he said, "Just now I heard a long howl and felt danger, so it was better to leave early."
Takuya and Haruto were still wondering when Tetsuya had become so timid. However, with their thinking, they could only reach that point.
"Now I'm going to the Shadow Team base to exchange back my Pokémon and pick up some supplies. Let's head to the grassland at the edge of the forest first. It's relatively safer there."
After speaking, Tetsuya gave Takuya and Haruto one Houndour each and said, "These two had already lost the ability to battle at the start when they were defeated by the Cianwood City team. How you make them submit to you depends on your own ability. Also, if Poliwag and Sandshrew are not stronger than them, it will be difficult to tame them."
Takuya and Haruto held the Houndour's Poké Balls as if they were priceless treasures. They knew very well how precious such Pokémon were. Even competitors who could enter the main rounds of the League tournament might not necessarily possess such rare Pokémon.
Tetsuya naturally no longer thought much of these Houndour. The long howl just now was clearly a Houndoom's howl. From the sound of it, it was a "commanding" howl. It must be the true leader of that pack. It was very normal for a Houndoom pack to have one male and one female Houndoom.
Generally, the strongest leader would go out alone to search for prey that could be captured. If it could handle it alone, it would naturally act by itself. If it encountered a strong opponent, it would emit that kind of howl to call its companions over.
The Houndoom leading the Houndour should be female. It would also be responsible for finding prey, but more importantly, it would respond to the male Houndoom's call.
His objective was naturally that male Houndoom. At the very least, it could be confirmed to be stronger than this female Houndoom. Having such strength was already very rare.
Holding two Poké Balls, Takuya and Haruto were extremely excited.
"I will definitely make it submit," Takuya said firmly.
"Me too!"
Tetsuya turned his head. The word "make it submit" seemed like something he had not heard for a long time. "Mm, suit yourselves."
What he was eager for now was to exchange back Piloswine and Golett. It had been three and a half months…
Golett was not a big issue since it could not be trained for three months anyway and could survive without food for a long time.
But Piloswine… 'Sigh.' Piloswine had missed a full three and a half months of training, and food was very important to it.
---◓---
After returning to the camp to tidy up, Tetsuya set off toward the Shadow Team base.
Taking a shortcut from their current position, it would still take about three days to arrive.
Taking advantage of Houndoom and the Houndour being unconscious, he fed them an Antidote and placed the Pokémon prepared for exchange into his backpack.
He would soon see Piloswine and Golett again…
Unable to suppress his excitement, Tetsuya traveled continuously without stopping to rest.
Of course, Beedrill was also flying outside the whole time, training its tail stinger and its poison glands.
At night, he only spent a little time reinforcing previous training. Due to Beedrill's relatively low base stats and its innate limitations, even with high aptitude, it had to put in more effort. There was still a long way to go in Beedrill's special -EV- training.
Poison and toxins were only one aspect.
After learning a certain number of moves, it would need to enter the "merging" training phase. Focus Energy was the core of merging. It must integrate the move Focus Energy into its blood, allowing it to concentrate its mind at any time.
The instantaneous burst of attack speed from Focus Energy should be second nature. Aside from some Pokémon with extraordinary Defenses, it must be able to detect and strike the opponent's weak point ninety percent of the time!
After Beedrill's physical condition reached a certain level, it could also learn the move Swords Dance. Swords Dance was a relatively common and very practical boosting move that could greatly increase its Attack power. Of course, this had to be based on its physical condition.
Without a strong body, forcibly using Swords Dance to increase Attack power would only overstrain the Pokémon's body. In severe cases, it could even result in sudden death or lifelong disability due to excessive consumption of bodily functions.
Just like his Piloswine; although it could use the move Curse, Tetsuya had not let it use it yet, nor had he even started practicing it, because its physical condition had not yet met the standard.
After accumulating enough experience, Beedrill could also learn the move Agility. However, while this move was easy to learn, mastering it was very difficult. It required continuous practice of Speed. The vibration frequency of its wings might become invisible to the naked eye, allowing it to reach its speed limit. At the highest level, Agility movement was no longer just a move, but a complete experience of speed at its extreme.
Therefore, up to now, Tetsuya had hardly ever recalled Beedrill into its Poké Ball. Training its wing endurance could be carried out anytime and anywhere.
Takuya and Haruto wanted to release Houndour, but were stopped by Tetsuya. Inside the Poké Ball, Houndour were equivalent to being sealed, unable to sense anything. Once released, with Houndour's sense of smell, they would definitely detect the presence of their companions, and some "lies" would no longer hold together.
•.
•.
¹. Fly! You fools!
[1] Fly! You fools!