The small teams argued endlessly, and none of them was willing to suffer a loss.
Finally, one of them became impatient and threw a Poké Ball toward the nearest Beedrill that had lost the ability to battle.
Tetsuya secretly rejoiced and retreated far away to avoid being caught in the crossfire.
As one person threw a Poké Ball, how could the others be willing to fall behind? They all threw out Poké Balls one after another, no longer caring whether they were Beedrill or Spearow.
The Spearow leader and the Beedrill leader that were still in battle saw this scene. Without any discussion, they actually formed an alliance in an instant. They flapped their wings together, and a Gust was immediately stirred up.
The Poké Balls that had been thrown were all blown back!
The Beedrill leader took the lead, and with the Tailwind created by the Gust, its speed was more than doubled. With its twin stingers thrust forward, the person who had thrown the Poké Ball first had his chest pierced instantly and died on the spot…
Seeing such a scene, how could the remaining people dare to hesitate any longer!?
They did not even care about the Poké Balls or Pokémon on the ground and turned to run.
The remaining three Spearow and three Beedrill naturally gave chase relentlessly.
These kinds of Pokémon were just that single-minded.
Watching the crowd and the Beedrill and Spearow run far away, Tetsuya finally walked out from behind the tree.
There were eight Poké Balls dropped on the ground. He still had four left. Tetsuya did not leave a single one unused. He caught ten Beedrill and two Spearow. Tetsuya mainly focused on catching Beedrill, so all the Beedrill on the ground that had fainted were caught by him.
Although there were still more than ten Spearow and five or six Weedle on the ground, he had no more Poké Balls left.
But of course… he would not leave them for passing teams either.
Taking out his dagger, Tetsuya slit the throats of all those Spearow, and the Weedle were cut into two halves.
Now even if anyone passed by, all they would see would be a field of corpses.
After handling all of this, Tetsuya left the scene at the fastest speed.
The teams that had just been chased were fortunate that the patrol personnel appeared in time and saved their money-makers. Otherwise, more people would likely have died.
When they returned again, the scene before them would probably make them doubt their lives.
All dead!
The "hard-earned spoils" were all dead just like that!
---◓---
Tetsuya kept walking along the outer edge of the forest, and of course, behind him, a "Spearow" followed at a distance.
He had traveled nonstop for an entire day. Now he was already far from the place where he had just committed the act. Those kids were not something he cared about. The key was that there were still three Beedrill and three Spearow remaining. If they detected the scent on him, it would be troublesome. Moreover, the Weedle he planned to raise was also a member of the Beedrill group.
Tomorrow, he would take these spoils to the Shadow Team's stationed area to exchange for items. Of course, it was impossible to exchange them all at once.
As evening approached, Tetsuya found an open space and set up his tent.
At this time, he released the Weedle.
The Weedle looked at the unfamiliar human in front of it with hostile eyes, raising its horn, ready to attack Tetsuya at any moment.
"If it weren't for me saving you, you would have been pecked to death, and yet you still hate me like this… heh, what an ungrateful bug!"
Tetsuya spoke nonsense with a straight face.
Pokémon, as a "kind" of creature, although powerful, mostly had low emotional intelligence. Their feelings toward those who saved their lives or toward companions were unwaveringly loyal. Sometimes they would even be betrayed by humans without realizing it.
Sure enough, the Weedle showed a trace of hesitation, and its gaze was no longer as fierce as before.
"Do you think you can defeat a Spearow?"
Tetsuya's words once again struck the Weedle's weak point. Although it was considered outstanding among Weedle, when facing a Pokémon like Spearow, it had no hope of winning at all.
This time, the Weedle lowered its head in shame.
"I can. Now you are already my Pokémon. As long as you accept my training, I can make you capable to fight one-on-one against any Spearow in this forest!"
'…Any one?'
The Weedle revealed a look of longing, but this goal still felt too distant. Even if it evolved into Beedrill, it could not guarantee defeating every Spearow, and Spearow held an absolute advantage in terms of type.
"You may think this is a fantasy… but hey, how will you know if you don't try. right?"
Tetsuya was also testing the Weedle. If this Weedle had strong battle awareness and the will to become stronger, then it would be worth training. Otherwise, no matter how high its potential was, it would be in vain.
Looking at the Weedle's determined eyes, Tetsuya finally felt reassured.
Here, being able to have such a Weedle was already good enough. What he needed was an "assistant" that could grow rapidly.
He needed to quickly evolve this Weedle into Beedrill, give it the strength to defeat Houndoom and Rhydon, then capture them to exchange back his Piloswine and Golett. This was his ultimate goal!
The Shadow Team only gave half a year, but he would not give himself that much time. Although staying inside a Poké Ball for half a year would not lead to death, the body would already be drained. Even if the body could recover, it would still affect subsequent battles.
However, the one most severely affected would naturally be Piloswine. After all, it was an "organic" Pokémon and required physical food to replenish its vitality.
Although a Ghost-type Pokémon like Golett would not be affected as much, being sealed in such a confined space for so long would definitely seal again the energy expansion it had trained for such a long time…
Four months!
At most, he would give himself four months. He had to exchange back Piloswine and Golett.
Since it was already completely dark and he had not prepared food for Bug-types, the Weedle could only eat some leaves nearby to fill its stomach.
Most of the Poison-type Pokémon he had raised in his previous life also had Bug types, Ariados, Drapion, and of course Beedrill.
So-called Pokémon food was not needed at all. He knew best what Weedle was most suitable to eat.
So this would definitely be the last time Weedle ate leaves.
---◓---
As the night deepened, Ditto returned to his side. Now it only needed to stay inside the backpack. Its food, milk, was also inside, and it could take care of itself.
The Beedrill and Spearow in his possession would naturally be used to exchange for milk, medicine, and Poké Balls.
Keeping them on him was absolutely impossible. These Beedrill and Weedle all belonged to the same group. Once they appeared in front of the Weedle, the lies he had told would collapse on their own.
The most crucial point was that the aptitude of these Beedrill was simply too poor. They did not even qualify to serve as transitional Pokémon for him.
Early the next morning, Tetsuya headed toward the Shadow Team's stationed area. He needed to exchange for more valuable items.