Reiji kept treasure hunting until nightfall. By then, he had found another mid-grade Thunder Stone and five low-grade Evolution Stones. All of them were common stones. He still hadn't come across anything rare.
After putting everything away, he returned to the lake from earlier and set up camp by the water. He had also caught a few Diglett that came to drink, but once he checked their potential and found none of them met his standard, he released them all.
By the time dinner was ready, it was already nine at night. Everyone ate, and then it was time to sleep.
He didn't pitch a tent. The mountain was already hot enough, and there was no need to trap more heat around himself. He laid down a moisture-proof mat and stretched out on it, staring up at the stars while the campfire crackled nearby.
After watching the sky for a while, he still couldn't fall asleep, so he sat back up and called Shelmet over.
He planned to trade-evolve Shelmet once he came down from the mountain, but before that, he had something to test.
When Shelmet and Karrablast evolved by trade, Karrablast would take Shelmet's shell.
Scyther's trade evolution worked by coating its body with a special Metal Coat.
If coating mattered, then what would happen if he mixed a bit of Damp Rock powder into Shelmet's shell before the trade? Would the resulting Escavalier gain some Fire-type resistance after evolving?
Once the thought crossed his mind, he acted on it. He took out another Damp Rock, ground a small piece into powder, mixed it with water, and spread the paste across Shelmet's shell.
"Shelm! Shelm!" Shelmet didn't know what the powder was, but it felt cool against its shell, so it seemed to enjoy it.
Of course it was cool. This was an Advanced-tier Damp Rock. If the stuff didn't make him look like he'd rolled in ash, Reiji would've been tempted to smear some on himself too.
After coating the shell, he sent Shelmet off to sleep. The evolution would have to wait until they left the mountain, so testing Fire resistance was still a little too early.
Still, Shelmet had a bit of Electric-type talent. During evolution, he could try using a Thunder Stone and see if it could absorb any of that energy.
Karrablast could use the Damp Rock side of the test. He wasn't trying to strengthen Escavalier's Steel typing, because he didn't plan to keep it. He only wanted to see whether Fire resistance could be added this way. If it worked, he could apply the same idea to Scyther later.
Boom—boom—boom—
Just as he was about to rest, explosions echoed from halfway up the mountain. He stood and looked into the distance. Flickering firelight flashed through the dark. A Trainer battle, maybe.
He didn't go over to watch. Instead, he recalled the weaker Pokémon and kept only his main team nearby, ready in case anything happened.
But just as he lay back down, a white figure appeared in front of him.
It was carrying Eevee in its mouth, and after staggering into the camp, it collapsed weakly to the ground.
"What… Absol?" Reiji blinked, making sure he wasn't seeing things. "Absol, what happened?"
"Ab…" Absol let out a strained cry. It was wounded and barely had any strength left.
"It says people are hunting it. It wants you to look after Eevee," Darkrai said, rising from the shadows to translate.
"What? We haven't even been apart for a full day. Who's chasing you?" Reiji rubbed his chin. Absol had shown itself far more than usual over the past two days. It wouldn't be strange if Pokémon hunters had spotted it.
"Ab…" Absol nudged Eevee forward with its muzzle, urging it to follow this human.
If not for Eevee, Absol would have escaped long ago. But with a child to protect, it couldn't move as freely as before. Every choice had become harder.
"Eevee…" Eevee was reluctant to leave. They had only spent half a day together, but it already understood how much Absol cared for it.
"Ab." Absol called softly. It didn't want to part either, but it had no better choice. Right now, the only one it could ask for help was this human—the same human who had returned its child without asking for anything.
"Eevee…" Tears gathered in Eevee's eyes as it watched Absol turn and vanish into the night.
Reiji immediately stood, walked over, and lifted Eevee by the scruff of its neck. He couldn't hide the smile on his face.
Well, well. He'd thought he had no fate with this Eevee, and now Absol had personally delivered it back.
"Eevee?" Eevee drooped its legs and ears, too timid to resist, looking pitiful in his grip.
"Little one, are you starving?" Reiji smoothed down Eevee's messy fur with his fingers. Bits of gravel and grass clung everywhere, and its face was dusty. After running around with Absol all day, who knew whether it had eaten anything.
He sat back down on the mat and brought out a bottle of Moomoo Milk. Eevee grabbed the bottle at once and gulped it down.
Marshtomp had used this bottle before, so this counted as recycling. He'd thought he wouldn't have another baby Pokémon to feed anytime soon. Then this adorable Eevee had landed in his lap.
Tap, tap, tap—
While he was feeding Eevee, a group of people suddenly broke into his campsite. They had clearly followed Absol here. Each of them had an aggressive Bug-type Pokémon at their side.
"Kid, did you see an Absol?" the leader demanded the moment he saw Reiji, as if Reiji owed him an answer.
"No," Reiji said after a brief pause, shaking his head. There was no way he would tell them.
"Boss, that Eevee…"
One of the underlings suddenly noticed the Eevee in Reiji's arms. They had seen it while chasing Absol.
"Shut up," the poacher boss snapped. He gave Reiji one long look, then turned and left with his men.
Only after they had gone far enough did the underling speak again, confused. "Boss, why didn't we take him down? That Eevee was clearly the one Absol had in its mouth…"
"Are you stupid? Did you not see the Pokémon around him?" the boss snapped. "The pressure from those Pokémon says everything. Seven or eight Advanced-tier Pokémon. What exactly were you planning to use against an Advanced-tier Trainer? You useless idiot."
After being called useless, the underling gave an awkward laugh and shut his mouth. He didn't dare push the boss anymore.
The poacher boss turned to the others, then fixed his gaze on the pickpocket they had recruited in Stonetown.
"Keith, go watch him. When he falls asleep, come tell us."
"Boss, are you thinking…?" the earlier underling couldn't help asking.
"Keith. Go."
Keith looked like he wanted to say something. The boss knew exactly what he wanted, but had no intention of giving it to him. Under that stare, the boy named Keith had no choice but to return the way they came and hide behind a rock to watch Reiji's camp.
"Let the brat keep an eye on him," the poacher boss said after Keith left. "Once that Trainer falls asleep, we sneak over and kill him. Everything he owns becomes ours—especially those strong Pokémon. Then we use Eevee as bait and lure Absol back."
"Brilliant, Boss. I'm impressed."
"You're amazing, Boss. Coming up with a plan like that so quickly? Absol's as good as caught."
The underlings piled on the praise, and the poacher boss soaked it in. That was what underlings were for when there was nothing else to do—flattering him. He enjoyed it.
"Bastard. Give me back my Farfetch'd," Keith muttered to himself.
That was what he had wanted to ask for earlier—his Farfetch'd. Then he could run. But that bastard hadn't given it back and had sent him out as cannon fodder again.
If he had known this would happen, he never would've tried stealing from them. He had seen them carrying Evolution Stones and tried to take them. Not only had his Meowth been caught, but his Farfetch'd had been confiscated too. Now he only had Kecleon left.
Keith didn't know that the moment he approached Reiji's camp, Spinarak had already spotted him. In the next instant, it wrapped him up and delivered him straight to Reiji.
"So you really don't know when to quit," Reiji said with a cold smile. "Gengar, hypnotize him. I have questions."
"Gen."
Gengar released a hypnotic wave into Keith's eyes. Keith went limp almost instantly, and Gengar lifted him by the arm.
"Who are you? And who are they?"
"I'm Keith. They're Pokémon hunters…"
"Who sent you? Why are you with them? Why are they after Absol?"
"The poacher boss sent me to watch you. I stole from them before and got caught. They took my Farfetch'd and forced me to work for them…"
"So the kid isn't really one of them. Not yet, at least," Reiji muttered. The thefts down in Stonetown were probably his doing.
Even if they weren't together, they were the same kind of trash. One group poached wild Pokémon; this brat stole from other people.
"Were you behind the thefts at the foot of the mountain?"
"Yes… and no."
"What does that mean?"
"Some were me. Some were things the poacher boss forced me to steal. Some were other thieves. It's a big town. I'm not the only pickpocket…"
"Spinarak, gag him."
Reiji had the situation more or less figured out, so he had Spinarak seal the boy's mouth again. He could deal with him after going back down the mountain.
Theft alone wouldn't earn a death sentence under League law. Those poachers, however, were the sort who deserved life behind bars.
But Reiji had no intention of handing them over to Officer Jenny. Keith had said the poachers were carrying plenty of Evolution Stones, most of them stolen. In that case, Reiji wouldn't be polite. They could help fill his cash reserve.
He left Keith unconscious and sent Darkrai after the poacher gang. With Darkrai ambushing them, there was no way they could escape.
Sure enough, when Reiji brought his Pokémon over, several flashlights lay scattered across the ground. Four men and four Pokémon were sprawled out cold, sleeping like the dead.
Now he could take his time dealing with them.
Their Pokémon would all be confiscated first.
To catch Absol, these Pokémon hunters had mostly brought Bug-types, along with one Fighting-type.
After checking them one by one, Reiji found mostly Beedrill, Pinsir, and Spinarak.
A bunch of garbage.
Not one valuable Pokémon among them. Even the Advanced-tier Beedrill wouldn't sell for much.
The materials from Poison-type Pokémon were worth a little, but these weren't Pokémon raised on poison, nor were they Team Rocket's Pokémon. No need to destroy evidence by dissecting them. Releasing them would do.
Looking at this lineup, the only reason they had managed to wound Absol was because Eevee had become its weakness and because they had surrounded it.
Even then, they still failed to keep Absol from escaping. That alone showed how pathetic they were. With this level of strength, becoming Pokémon hunters was basically asking to die.
Reiji kept the three Pokémon that were worth something—two Pinsir and one Machoke. Then he crushed the remaining Poké Balls and released the rest.
There was a forest at the foot of Evolution Mountain. The Bug-types could fly down on their own.
As for the four men's belongings, only the boss had a backpack. Reiji had Spinarak search them, then tossed anything valuable into the boss's bag.
Everything else went into a pit Kingler dug, including the four dead men. He buried them on Evolution Mountain, then had Hanhan move over a rock and press the soil flat. No one would bother digging there.
Reiji took the boss's backpack and returned to the lakeside camp, then dumped everything out.
There were two million Pokédollars in cash and two items, both Elite-tier Bug-type items.
The Evolution Stones were the real haul. All kinds of common stones, piled together.
He counted nine mid-grade stones and twenty-seven low-grade stones. Not a single high-grade one.
There were also several messy fossils in the bag. He didn't bother sorting through them, along with a few Heat Rocks and Smooth Rocks.
Aside from some personal belongings, there was nothing else worth keeping. He tossed the rest into the fire to erase the evidence.
For the phones and other electronics, he removed the SIM cards and threw them into his junk box for anonymous use later.
Not bad.
The nine mid-grade stones alone were worth twenty to thirty million. The low-grade stones were worth around one to one-point-two million each, adding another twenty-odd million.
Altogether, this haul would bring in around sixty million once he moved the goods.
Sure enough, robbing robbers paid fastest. Making money legally was painfully slow.
Later, he found two Poké Balls in the poacher boss's backpack. One held Farfetch'd, the other Meowth. Both had potential in the forties—nothing he cared about.
They were probably the pickpocket kid's Pokémon. Reiji threw the Poké Balls over, hitting Keith awake.
"Mmph! Mmph!" Keith jolted awake. He saw himself tied up, then noticed a Poké Ball rolling in front of him. In the firelight, he recognized Farfetch'd inside.
"Mmph… mmph…" Keith's eyes widened with both shock and relief. He hadn't expected to reunite with Farfetch'd like this.
But he was still bound. He had no idea what had happened to the boss and the others. Then he noticed the pile of items on the ground—and among them, the boss's razor, just as Reiji tossed it into the fire.
Keith's pupils shrank.
If the boss's razor was here, then the boss and his men were probably finished.
Maybe this man had already killed them.
Would he die here too?
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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