Looking at the constantly swaying patch of herbs, Andrew asked, "Ange, have you figured out a way to catch them?"
"Of course!" Ange nodded with a guilty conscience, then looked down at the Lilligant beside him.
Lilligant let out a soft hum and extended a hand toward Ange.
"What is it?" Ange asked.
"Lidi~" Grass seeds, what do you think? Lilligant asked irritably.
"Ah!" Ange suddenly understood, retrieved the grass seeds, and placed them into Lilligant's hand. "Here you go!"
After taking the grass seeds, Lilligant divided them into four portions and handed them to Flabebe and the three Floette.
"Hura~"
"Rabe~"
Flabebe and Floette understood instantly, flew above the herb patch, and scattered the grass seeds among the plants.
Next, brilliant green light emanated from their bodies, falling into the herb patch and giving the entire area a glowing veneer.
Then, everyone watched as Lilligant walked slowly into the herb patch.
Bathing in the Grass Field created by Flabebe and Floette, Lilligant opened its arms as grass-type energy converged toward it.
Under its control, the grass seeds scattered in the ground immediately took root, sprouted, and rapidly grew, quickly transforming into strands of vines.
The vines zipped back and forth like snakes through the herb patch, searching for the troublemakers.
Seeing those glowing vines, Hau asked Ange in surprise, "Mr. Ange, is that Grass Knot?"
"Huh? Y... Yes, probably?" Ange was also baffled, because he had only just learned that Lilligant had this trick up its sleeve!
Through the vines controlled by Grass Knot, Lilligant could easily sense everything happening in the herb patch. It quickly located the traces of the troublemakers and directed the vines to pounce.
"Zhi~~" The troublemaker let out a sharp cry and charged straight at the vines closing in on it.
It possessed sharp teeth and bit through a vine in a single snap.
However, a single broken vine changed nothing, and more vines soon swept toward it from all directions.
The troublemaker fled in panic, but the vines were like an inescapable net, everywhere at once.
Seeing this, the other two troublemakers rushed toward Lilligant and lunged at it.
Lilligant calmly flicked out Magical Leaf, and the two troublemakers hurtling toward it were instantly knocked flying.
"Zhizhizhi~~" Almost immediately, one of the troublemakers was caught.
Standing outside the herb patch, Ange and the others could clearly hear the panicked cries of the troublemakers, though they still could not see its true appearance clearly through the dense herb cluster and pitch-black night.
The captured troublemaker was tightly wrapped in vines. It lowered its head, trying to bite through the vines, but a new vine immediately tightened around its neck and head, immobilizing it completely.
Seeing their companion caught, the other two troublemakers lunged straight toward the vines binding their companion, trying to bite them apart.
Yet the moment they moved, vines from every direction bound them tightly as well.
"Zhizhizhi~"
"Zhizhizhi~"
"Zhizhizhi~"
Accompanied by three sharp cries, Ange and the others watched as the vines lifted the three Pokémon high into the air.
Andrew and Hau immediately shone their flashlights forward, and everyone finally saw the true appearance of the troublemakers.
Ange's earlier guess had only been half right. The troublemakers were indeed mouse Pokémon, but they were neither Raticate nor Rattata.
Raticate and Rattata were brown and purple Pokémon respectively, whereas the ones held aloft by Lilligant were entirely white.
They walked on two legs, with small bodies, round heads, and conspicuously large ears, making them look far cuter than Rattata and Raticate.
A Maushold! Ange recognized the three Pokémon at a glance.
No, strictly speaking, in Pokémon biology, the three individuals of a Maushold were considered a single Pokémon!
No wonder that in Ange's earlier perception, they possessed nearly identical aura signatures!
Ange remembered that what he had sensed yesterday was clearly four separate auras, which meant that there were actually four family members in their Maushold, rather than just the three present here?
Maushold, the Family Pokémon, normal type. Like Exeggcute and Maushold, although each individual could act independently, they were actually composite creatures that needed to live and cooperate together.
Maushold had two forms based on the number of family members: a family of three and a family of four.
A Maushold evolved from a pair of Tandemaus.
Tandemaus, as the name implied, were composite creatures consisting of two family members living in cooperation.
When the number of family members suddenly increased by one or two one day, it meant they had evolved into a Maushold.
The relationships among members of a Maushold were very complex and varied; they could be siblings, parents and children, or individuals with no biological relation whatsoever.
The three Maushold caught by Lilligant at this moment were a combination of two large ones and one small one.
Lilligant controlled the vines, gently lowering the Maushold down onto the ridge of the field.
Andrew stepped forward angrily, "Aha, so it was you lot causing trouble all along! If I don't give you a hard time today, you'll think our Herb Village is easy to bully!"
With that, he snatched a shovel from a nearby villager and raised it to strike the Maushold.
The three Maushold were already trembling with fear, and seeing the descending shovel, they instinctively closed their eyes and huddled together.
At that moment, Ange grabbed the shovel shaft, smiling as he placated Andrew, "Grandpa Andrew, calm down. The damage is already done, and getting angry won't help—it'll just hurt your health."
Andrew threw the shovel onto the ground, saying with a heartbroken expression, "Who knows how many of our herbs they've ruined? Those were grown through everyone's hard work over an entire year..."
Ange said, "Yes, yes, I understand. My family farms too. If I worked hard all year and watched the crops I was about to harvest get ruined, I'd want to chop the troublemakers up too!"
"Right? Tell me how I couldn't be angry; that's everyone's blood, sweat, and tears..."
Soothed by Ange, Andrew finally calmed down somewhat, chatting grumblingly with Ange about the recent losses caused by the Maushold.
Ange said, "Grandpa Andrew, leave the Maushold to me. I'll make sure to teach them a lesson!"
Andrew nodded. "Alright, I'll leave it to you then. I trust your work—just make sure you teach them a proper lesson!"
With that, Andrew turned around with the other villagers to inspect the damaged herb patch.
Looking at the tearful Maushold, Ange said, "Know you're scared now, do you? Why weren't you scared when you were doing bad things?"
The Maushold's level was quite high, but Ange hadn't expected them to be such cowards.
Maushold Type: Normal Ability: Friend Guard Gender: None Level: 49 Moves: Pound, Baby-Doll Eyes, Echoed Voice, Helping Hand, Super Fang, Double Hit, Bullet Seed, Play Rough, Hyper Voice, Charm, Beat Up, Copycat, Population Bomb, Agility, Dig, Crunch.
Individual Values HP: 20 Attack: 24 Defense: 19 Special Attack: 21 Special Defense: 28 Speed: 30
With such small courage, yet they still came to cause trouble. Ange found it completely incomprehensible.
Thinking this, he pulled out a Poké Ball and tossed it forward. All three Maushold were sucked inside instantly.
The Poké Ball shook twice before growing still, proving a successful capture without any struggle.
Indeed, they were true cowards.
With the Maushold gone, the vines controlled by Lilligant rapidly withered and soon vanished.
The cost of Lilligant forcing the grass seeds to sprout and grow rapidly was that they would wither away from depleted life force.
Lilligant was only an ordinary Pokémon, not Xerneas, and lacked the power to freely control plants to grow and harvest instantaneously.
"Let's go talk somewhere else!" Ange said to Lilligant.
"Lidi~" Lilligant nodded.
Thus, Ange led Lilligant, Flabebe, and the Floette back toward Andrew's house first.
Seeing Ange return, Grandma Yulian hurried over and asked, "How is it? Is the matter resolved?"
Ange smiled. "It's all sorted out. You can rest easy."
Hearing this, Grandma Yulian breathed a sigh of relief. "That's wonderful, simply wonderful! Everyone can finally rest in peace; we've really been put through the wringer lately."
She then looked at Ange with maternal affection. "Thanks to you, Ange."
Ange waved a hand. "Didn't I come to Herb Village specifically to solve this issue? It's only what I should do."
After chatting with Grandma Yulian for a bit, Ange returned to his temporary guest room, retrieved the Poké Ball, and released the Maushold.
As soon as they emerged, the family of three dashed quickly into a corner, trembling as they huddled together.
"Zhizhizhi~~" One of them kowtowed repeatedly toward Ange, begging him not to hurt them.
Ange asked, "Can you tell me the reason you caused trouble? You shouldn't be doing this for no reason, right?"
The three Maushold exchanged glances before looking up at Ange with tear-filled eyes and nodding.
"Zhizhizhi~~" The largest Maushold carefully stepped forward and explained the reason to Ange.
It turned out they were Pokémon traveling together with their companions.
While passing through Herb Village, one of their companions suddenly fell ill and collapsed.
They didn't know what illness it was, but it caused the companion immense agony every day.
On one occasion, a Maushold accidentally brought back some Mental Herbs taken from Herb Village and fed them to their friend, who was astonished to find that the pain had lessened considerably.
To save their friend, the Maushold began frequently sneaking into Herb Village to steal Mental Herbs.
However, as time went on, their friend's demand for Mental Herbs grew larger, forcing them to visit the village more and more often.
The massive theft of Mental Herbs finally drew the attention of the villagers, leading to chases and ambushes, until the Maushold dared only appear at night.
After consuming large amounts of Mental Herbs, the Maushold discovered that their friend's condition hadn't improved at all; instead, it had worsened.
Yet without consuming the Mental Herbs, their friend's agony would continuously intensify, placing them in a terribly difficult predicament. That was why they still dared to steal from the village despite risking capture by the villagers.
Listening to the Maushold's explanation, Ange fell into deep thought.
Mental Herbs possessed analgesic properties, which was why their friend's pain eased after eating them.
However, while Mental Herbs could relieve pain, they could not cure illness.
Ange suspected that the reason their friend was suffering more and more was because the underlying sickness had been masked for too long and had now deteriorated.
Having finished explaining their motives, the Maushold resumed kowtowing to Ange, begging him to let them go back and take care of their friend.
Ange thought for a moment and said, "Can you take me to see your friend?"
Hearing this, the Maushold assumed Ange wanted to capture their friend along with them as punishment, and wept as they begged him not to.
Seeing how timid they were, Ange thought helplessly: It's truly amazing that you guys had the guts to come here and steal things.
"Alright, I'm not going to do anything to your friend. I just want to check its condition and see if I can help."
The three Maushold paused, looking up at Ange in disbelief.
"Zhizhizhi~" Really? Are you really willing to help us?
Ange nodded. "Really. What benefit would I get from lying to you?"
"Zhizhizhi~~" The three Maushold immediately looked at Ange with eyes full of gratitude.
Their friend's condition was growing heavier, and they were truly terrified that their friend would die if things went on like this.
Ange added, "I can help you, but I have one condition."
What condition? The three Maushold looked at Ange doubtfully. Surely he wasn't going to punish them?
Thinking this, the three Maushold huddled together trembling once more.
Ange laughed despite himself. "Stop overthinking it! Once I help you, you have to go apologize to everyone in Herb Village!"
Hearing this, the three Maushold fell silent. Would they be beaten to death?
Seeing them remain silent, Ange said, "If you do something wrong, you have to face it bravely. Don't worry, I'll go with you!"
The three Maushold looked at each other, and finally the largest one took a deep breath and stepped forward.
"Zhizhizhi~" We're willing to apologize!
For the sake of their friend, it was willing to accept punishment!
"Good kids!" Ange smiled and patted each of their heads.
"Zhizhizhi~~" The largest Maushold tugged at Ange's trouser leg, wanting him to come visit their friend right away because they were extremely worried about its condition.
"Alright, let's set off now!" Ange agreed.
Though it was getting late, a patient's condition could not be delayed.
Thus, after bidding farewell to Grandma Yulian, Ange followed the Maushold outside.
In the dark of night, accompanied by Lilligant, Flabebe, and the Floette, Ange held a flashlight and followed closely behind the Maushold, walking all the way toward the woods outside the village.
As they walked, Ange asked, "You should have another member in your family, right? Why didn't it come today?"
The three Maushold were surprised that Ange knew they had another family member.
"Zhizhizhi~" The largest Maushold explained the reason to Ange.
It turned out that during the battle, one of the Maushold had been injured while lunging at the Aegislash, and was currently resting and recovering at their temporary shelter.
Through the conversation, Ange learned that the four Maushold had no biological relation to one another; they had met during their travels and decided to live and journey together.