"Why don't we check the aptitude of the other Ekans first?"
Icarus pondered for a while, still a bit unable to make up his mind, and proposed another plan.
"Alright." Ah Shu nodded and immediately placed the larger Ekans into the slot.
Soon, another burst of machine sounds reached the ears of the three.
The result was similar to the smaller one. Its aptitude was also upper-tier ordinary, and its strength was slightly higher, reaching the lower ordinary level.
"I didn't expect us to be so lucky. Both of them have upper-tier ordinary aptitude. This ordinary-level one can just be handed in for the mission.
Icarus, you still have Pidgey to train. This freshman-level Ekans—since A Ze has already spoken, why not give it to him?"
After listening to the Pokédex's identification, Ah Shu looked at Icarus. Although it sounded like a question, the Poké Ball was already prepared to be handed to Qiu Ze beside him.
"Yeah, that's fine. I just wanted to see if we could hand it in for the mission. I didn't expect us to be so lucky."
Icarus nodded and made an excuse for his hesitation just now.
"Hahaha, in the inner forest, finding two with upper-tier ordinary aptitude is normal. If you go a little deeper, you won't even find it surprising."
Whether he believed it or not, Qiu Ze walked over and patted Icarus on the shoulder kindly.
"That's right, Icarus. Last year I went to the deepest part of the inner forest with the Pioneer Team, and there's wealth everywhere!"
Ah Shu also immediately began changing the topic.
"Oh, really? Then I'll be counting on you two seniors to take your little brother deeper into the inner forest to pick up some money!"
A trace of gloom flashed through Icarus' eyes, but he quickly covered it with a smile.
"Don't worry, don't worry. We'll definitely take you next time!
A Ze, go check over there for any Pecha Berries. Icarus and I will search here."
Seeing that Icarus had recovered his mood, Ah Shu didn't suspect anything and immediately sent Qiu Ze to the other side. He also handed Qiu Ze the Poké Ball containing the smaller Ekans.
"Let's go, Icarus. We'll keep looking for Pecha Berries."
"Yeah, alright." Icarus nodded and began searching nearby.
However, from the corner of his eye, he still glanced toward A Ze.
Sure enough, after A Ze found a hidden spot, he released the Ekans and began spraying it with Potion to treat its wounds.
After all, it was still too early to return. If it died from serious injuries before then, that would be a real loss.
"Damn it… this Ekans has the Shed Skin ability. It's still at the freshman level, and its aptitude isn't bad either."
Icarus cursed inwardly, still feeling unwilling.
As far as he knew, Uncle Sam's Arbok also had the Shed Skin ability.
Snakes with the Shed Skin ability were relatively rare. Their combat ability was stronger, and their survival ability in the wild was also much higher.
If he could subdue this Ekans, then after receiving even a little training from Uncle Sam, it would become a powerful member of his team.
"My team in the inner forest… Pidgey can only serve as a scout. Bellsprout is at best a controller and support.
I still lack a real main attacker.
An Arbok with the Shed Skin ability could perfectly fill that role."
The more he thought about it, the more unwilling he felt. But there was nothing he could do.
After all, Ah Shu and Qiu Ze were good friends, so they would naturally favor Qiu Ze.
His strength was the lowest among the three, and they were still in the wild.
Although Ah Shu and Qiu Ze were friendly to him, he didn't dare gamble.
If he insisted on fighting for it, not only might the two of them attack him directly, but even in later cooperation, if they deliberately held back a little and Bellsprout were seriously injured, he might end up dying passively in the inner forest.
So he gave up.
He even took the initiative to explain his earlier hesitation, giving both sides a step down.
"It's fine… Ekans isn't my best choice anyway. My third favorite Pokémon is that guy!"
A huge and powerful figure quickly appeared in Icarus' mind, and he forced himself to push the thought of Arbok away.
"Have you finished searching, Icarus? We're leaving."
At that moment, Ah Shu, who had reunited with Qiu Ze, called out.
"I'm done, I'm done! I found eight of them!"
Icarus immediately showed an excited expression as he spoke to the two of them.
"Alright. Then keep asking Pidgey to search for Ekans. The other Pokémon will patrol around so we can complete the mission first."
"Okay. Pidgey, let's continue."
After happily handing the Pecha Berries to A Ze, Icarus turned to Pidgey and gave the order.
What he didn't know was that his acting just now had helped him a lot.
When he turned around, Ah Shu and Qiu Ze exchanged a glance, nodded slightly, and relaxed.
Soon, under Pidgey's guidance, the three continued searching for traces of Ekans.
At 3 PM, the last Arbok fell in front of Raticate.
"It really wasn't easy. A mid-level Arbok is actually pretty hard to find."
Ah Shu looked at the lifeless Arbok on the ground and sighed.
"Yeah. Luckily we had Icarus' Pidgey searching for us. Otherwise, with just the two of us, who knows how long it would have taken to finish this mission.
If we didn't complete it before the deadline, our merit points would've been deducted."
Qiu Ze pulled out a dagger, smiled at Icarus, and praised him.
"No, no. I'm just starting out. It was Geodude and Raticate that did most of the work."
Icarus waved his hand and took out his dagger as he walked toward the snake corpse.
"Alright, alright. Stop flattering each other. Let's pack up and head back.
We can sell the materials this afternoon, and divide the Pokédollars tonight."
After Ah Shu cut the snake corpse into several pieces, he began assigning tasks.
"That's true. Having a scout today was really convenient!
We actually found five Arbok, but unfortunately the two in the middle were only low ordinary level. Otherwise we would've finished by noon and could've caught other Pokémon in the afternoon."
After taking the internal organs, Qiu Ze spoke to Icarus again.
"Brother Icarus, you should evolve Pidgey as soon as possible.
By then, an ordinary-level Pidgeotto should be able to judge a target's strength while scouting."
"Yeah, I'm working on it too. I won't hold you two seniors back."
Icarus was pulling out the snake fangs and immediately nodded.
For a moment, the atmosphere among the three brothers was very harmonious, as if the unpleasant moment from the morning had completely disappeared.
Soon, under their coordinated effort, the Arbok was neatly divided and placed into the backpacks of Ah Shu and Icarus.
"Let's go. Time to head back.
There's no need to bury this. Something will eat it anyway."
As the captain, Ah Shu patted the dust off his pants and decided to return.
Qiu Ze and Icarus had no objections. As usual, Pidgey led the way. After clearing a few wild bugs blocking the path, the three safely returned to town.
"Let's go to the Pokémon Center first, turn in the mission, and then we'll calculate the rest of the gains."
As the team leader, Ah Shu was clearly familiar with the process and arranged everything properly.
When they arrived at the Pokémon Center, since Ah Shu had accepted the mission, all the materials were handed over to him to submit at the mission counter.
Soon, the two who were resting in the lounge received a message from Ah Shu, asking them to go to the self-service computer to divide the merit points.
You can guess the third Pokémon! I already have a few options in mind—considering the protagonist's location and financial situation.
(End of this chapter)
-----------Author---------------
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