After three days of non-stop travel, they finally arrived at the grassland and shrubs at the outer edge of the forest. The Shadow Team base was right ahead.
"You two wait here. You can also try training Houndour in the meantime. I should be back before evening," Tetsuya said.
At the current outer edge of the forest, there was no one around. It could be said to be very safe. Takuya and Haruto were also afraid of running into Raven's grunts, so they gladly stayed behind to prepare camping tools.
Tetsuya step ahead, straight for the Shadow Team base.
After seeing Tetsuya, a Shadow Team grunt said, "If you want to exchange for supplies, you'd better hurry. Once they're gone, you'll have to wait another two and a half months for headquarters' resupply."
"Oh? Mm, supplies are certain, but before that, I'll exchange back my Pokémon."
"Report your name."
"Tetsuya."
After saying that, the grunt went to the place where Poké Balls were stored and took out the ones labeled with Tetsuya's number.
Tetsuya was very familiar with his Poké Balls. They were Piloswine's and Golett's Poké Balls!
After nearly four months of not seeing them, his mood at this moment became inexplicably tense.
The Shadow Team grunt then began checking the list and said, "You need to use a Houndoom to exchange for Piloswine, and a Rhydon to exchange for Golett."
"Check them," Tetsuya said, taking out the Poké Balls of Houndoom and Rhydon.
The Shadow Team grunt took out a Pokémon scanning device and pointed to the two Poké Balls, confirming that they were indeed Houndoom and Rhydon.
"Hoho~ Not bad! You actually managed to catch such rare and strong Pokémon. Haven't you thought about keeping them to increase your own combat power?" The Shadow Team grunt asked probing.
"…You wouldn't understand the bond between me and my Pokémon!" Of course, he could not say that the potential of his Piloswine and Golett was far beyond that of Houndoom and Rhydon…
These grunt had lived on this remote island for a long time and were cut off from the outside world. Their only amusement was to pick a few decent-looking girls to keep and train.
After successfully retrieving the Poké Balls of Piloswine and Golett, Tetsuya held them tightly in his hands. His hard-earned partners had finally returned, and he suddenly felt a warmth in his chest.
"Mm mm, anything else? If not, I still have things to do," The Shadow Team grunt said impatiently, thinking that Tetsuya was nothing more than a fool. Raven valued him so much, yet he kept talking about bonds with Pokémon, which was truly laughable.
"Exchange items."
After speaking, Tetsuya placed in front of the grunt a total of nine Poké Balls: one Rhyhorn caught in the mountains, four Houndour from the Houndoom pack, and one Hoothoot and three Spearow from the Violet City team.
The Shadow Team grunt checked them one by one and could begin the exchange.
Tetsuya was also very clear about the principles of exchanging supplies. First were the most valuable Flying-types.
One Spearow was exchanged for one hundred bottles of Moomoo Milk.
The other three Flying-type Pokémon were all exchanged for Pokéfood. Now both Piloswine and Golett needed to replenish energy with Pokéfood.
After more than three months without eating, their bodies would definitely be extremely weak. Just recovering their vitality would take about a week, and resuming training would take another week. During this period, they would need to eat large amounts of food.
Since Houndour were Pokémon needed by the Shadow Team, their value was naturally higher, while Rhyhorn was relatively lower. They were also exchanged for some compressed biscuits and high-calorie food.
The four Houndour could only be temporarily registered and stored here. When exchanging next time, they could be directly deducted.
'Sigh…'
Moreover, he truly could not keep Houndour with him. Three of them had seen Tetsuya before. In their eyes, Tetsuya was a despicable villain who took advantage of the situation and launched a sneak attack. Whether they could be caught by him was a minor matter. At worst, they might even attack him.
---◓---
After leaving the Shadow Team base, Tetsuya headed straight back.
At this time, Takuya and Haruto had already set up the tent and were feeding Houndour. However, Houndour did not appreciate it at all and completely ignored Takuya and Haruto's presence. The two were quite patient and kept smiling along.
"Houndour, you are already my Pokémon. Quickly eat some of the Pokémon food I prepared for you~"
Houndour seemed to be annoyed by the two of them and directly glared angrily at Takuya and Haruto.
The two were suddenly frightened and fell to the ground with a "thud."
Seeing this, Tetsuya thought: 'Really, two naive kids… They think they can win over Houndour's heart like this? Do they think they have the "Ash" affinity??'
"You oblivious dogs!" Tetsuya scolded sternly, "You are nothing more than weaklings who were defeated by those ten people. Your companions have all been killed by them. If your Trainers had not caught you in time, you would now be nothing but corpses!"
After Tetsuya finished speaking, the two Houndour gritted their teeth, with tears welling up in their eyes.
Takuya and Haruto wanted to speak but were stopped by Tetsuya's glance.
Tetsuya continued, "Heh… do you want revenge? Then follow your Trainers and train well. Becoming stronger is the only path!"
The Houndour paused for a moment, then each walked to Takuya and Haruto's side and began eating the food prepared for them…
Although Houndour had no appetite now, this was a sign that they were beginning to attach themselves to Takuya and Haruto.
Takuya and Haruto secretly admired Tetsuya. The two of them had tried to please Houndour humbly for so long without gaining their recognition, yet Tetsuya had made them submit obediently with just a few words!
…Even though they were lies.
"Come out… Piloswine, Golett…"
Tetsuya steadied himself and finally released his two Pokémon.
At long last…
Piloswine and Golett had been inside the Poké Balls all this time and did not know exactly what had happened outside, but they could still sense that something was wrong. The time had been too long. Such a situation had never happened before, and their bodies had gradually become weak due to hunger.
Sure enough, they looked listless…
But upon seeing Tetsuya, they excitedly rushed over!
"Piloswine… Golett… we have been separated for almost four months… I will explain the situation later. Right now your bodies are very weak. Recovering is the most important task!"
After Tetsuya spoke, the two Pokémon looked confused and glanced at the Beedrill beside Tetsuya.
"This is the Beedrill I just caught. These are my previous Pokémon, Piloswine and Golett. From now on, we are fa…- comrades."
Tetsuya introduced them one by one.
This time he had exchanged a large amount of Pokémon food and gave some to Takuya and Haruto.
Pokémon food had a long shelf life. There was still quite a bit left of the food Piloswine and Golett had before, so he directly took it out for them to eat.
Although the two Pokémon were very hungry, Tetsuya still controlled their diet. After a long period without eating, suddenly overeating would inevitably lead to imbalance in their bodies.
It was just a pity that the Pokéfood he had originally brought was only enough for two months. After finishing it, they could only eat the food exchanged from the Shadow Team, and the quality was naturally far inferior.