The six people looked at each other, then looked at the Antidote in their hands. There was no sign of it being fake.
They all released their Pokémon.
The overall level of this team was fairly good. The leader already had three Pokémon: Furret, Phanpy, and Butterfree.
The other five each also had two Pokémon. Since they were a team, the locations where they caught Pokémon were the same, basically from the same groups.
Five Sentret and five Butterfree.
A total of thirteen Pokémon were all in a poisoned state.
After taking the Antidote given by Tetsuya, the poisoned status condition gradually dissipated, and their expressions slowly began to recover.
"Sigh… our Pokémon are all very weak. It seems we need to rest here for a day," their captain said.
"After resting, we should still take a detour to the mountains. This poisonous forest is too dangerous. Fortunately, we retreated in time, otherwise we might not have made it out alive!"
One person's suggestion was approved by everyone.
Tetsuya now very much wanted to go in and take a look, to see if there were any Pokémon worth catching, but going alone was indeed too dangerous. These people had been frightened, and it was absolutely impossible to have them accompany him inside now.
"What Pokémon are inside that makes it so terrifying?" Tetsuya could only obtain the answer by asking.
"Snakes… so many snakes… Ekans, Arbok, as well as Koffing and Weezing. There are too many of them, and their awareness is extremely strong! After we went in, they immediately started attacking us."
Tetsuya nodded. Such a Poison-type army… he couldn't go in now. If Piloswine and Haunter were both here, then there would be nothing to fear. These Pokémon would all become nourishment for Haunter's evolution.
Tetsuya had taken the initiative to "save" these six people, so in their eyes, he was a very good person. Seeing that Tetsuya was alone, they took the initiative to invite him to join their team. Of course, this was exactly Tetsuya's goal, so he did not refuse. Catching Rhydon required relying on their strength.
However, avoiding the forest meant taking a longer route. At this rate, they would not reach the mountains even in half a month, and the four-month plan he had set for himself to exchange back Piloswine and Golett might not be completed.
But now he had no choice but to rely on them…
---◓---
At night when sleeping, Tetsuya, as usual, cleaned out the milk cans and waste from the Ditto in his backpack.
This time, Ditto moved its hand.
Tetsuya felt that something was wrong, so he reached his hand into the bag containing the Quick Powder where Ditto was. Feeling around the bag, he realized that the Quick Powder was already gone. It seemed that it had been completely integrated into Ditto's body.
For two months, he had not paid attention to Ditto, and he did not expect it to complete such a groundbreaking task.
Now Tetsuya was truly eager to test Ditto's strength, but with so many people around, he could only temporarily give up. His expectations for Ditto were growing stronger and stronger. Since his regression, the only one that had always stayed by his side was Ditto.
From now on, Ditto could officially return to his wrist. It only needed to be placed into the backpack when eating.
After being confined in the backpack for so long, Ditto was also restless and could not wait to come out and breathe fresh air.
Tetsuya walked to a distant place, explained things to Ditto, and then wore the wrist transformed by Ditto on his arm. 'As expected… it felt much lighter. Mmm, this was probably the effect of Quick Powder.'
Following the team from Cherrygrove City, they continued forward. Beedrill's training never stopped, and the team also made "battle training" every day.
In Tetsuya's view, these battles had no meaning at all. What he saw every day were the same kinds of battles, and there was not even any basic training. Their physical condition was extremely poor, their use of moves was sluggish, and the power was very average. It was completely like children playing house.
'This is the "strength" I rely on…' Tetsuya could not bear to watch such "battles" at all and only carried out his own training alone.
"Hey, Tetsuya! I think training alone is quite boring. How about having a battle with me?" One of the team members came over with a Butterfree and interrupted Tetsuya's training.
A Butterfree like this indeed could not provide much training effect for Tetsuya's Beedrill.
'Sigh… anything to save time.'
"You five come at once."
Tetsuya was of course referring to the five people other than their leader. As soon as he spoke, everyone was stunned.
Where did you get the courage? One against five?
To speak so arrogantly… it was simply too overbearing!
The five people all looked toward their leader.
He nodded. Now he naturally wanted to give Tetsuya a lesson. Anyone who dared to say such words would not be accepted!
Beedrill flew out, and five Butterfree surrounded Beedrill.
"Butterfree, use Psybeam!" One person gave the command.
The others could only follow along. The five Butterfree successively used Psybeam. The multicolored beams crisscrossed up and down, locking Beedrill in one position. No matter what, it could not avoid such an attack without blind spots.
The five people were quite pleased with their "tactics".
"Pick any one and use [Fatal Pursuit]."
Tetsuya said softly. Beedrill rapidly vibrated its wings, its entire body entering spinning flight. Black energy enveloped the twin stingers, and a black beam shot forward.
The small Psybeam instantly dissipated upon contact with Beedrill's [Fatal Pursuit] and did not cause the slightest obstruction to the Assurance role.
With a "bang," one Butterfree fell to the ground and immediately lost its consciousness.
The five people were completely stunned…
In the brief moment they hesitated, Beedrill's assault had already changed direction and struck another Butterfree again from the opposite direction.
Beedrill was like a proud warrior, imposing, holding its twin stingers upright as it hovered in midair!
In the blink of an eye, after one exchange, two Butterfree had lost their ability to fight, and two people were already eliminated.
"This Beedrill's speed is too fast… Use Confusion to control it!" Their leader could not help but remind them. The instant defeat just now had shocked him. Only now did he come back to his senses, and he did not dare to be careless at all.
Only then did he realize that Tetsuya's earlier words were confidence in his own power.
Butterfree's eyes emitted a blue light, and the psychic waves of Confusion moved toward Beedrill.
"Hn. Double Team."
Now Butterfree's focus was centralized, all directed toward Beedrill's previous position. At that moment, more than a dozen Beedrill suddenly appeared.
Confusion instantly lost its direction!
Seeing Beedrill filling the sky, Butterfree looked around in all directions and immediately lost its sense of orientation.
"Spread Confusion! I don't believe it can hide to the ends of the world!"
The leader of the Cherrygrove City team said.