The people from Cherrygrove City all broke out in a cold sweat for Tetsuya as the Tauros herd passed right in front of his position.
Their leader's mood was somewhat complicated…
He "hoped" something would happen to Tetsuya, because Tetsuya had shaken his position as the "backbone" of the team, this was out of jealousy.
He did not "want" something to happen to Tetsuya, after all, Tetsuya had saved him, and along the way it was also because of his efforts that many wild Pokémon blocking their path had been driven away, this was out of fear of his conscience condemning him.
Good and evil were separated by a single thought, the choice was made in an instant, many people who turned from good to evil had gone through such a period of torment.
A loud "Moo!" was heard!
Everyone's eyes once again focused in Tetsuya's direction.
The main body of the Tauros herd had indeed charged straight ahead, however the last Tauros was spinning in place.
It turned out that one of Beedrill's stingers was stabbed into Tauros'… rear!
At this moment, Tauros' rear was already covered in blood, and from the pain it was spinning wildly in place, shaking to try to throw off Beedrill.
They saw Tauros' three tails swing, about to whip Beedrill.
"Beedrill, that's enough, retreat first!"
After Tetsuya spoke, Beedrill suddenly pulled out its twin stingers. Blood gushed even more from Tauros' rear, and its three tails failed to hit Beedrill, instead striking its own wound again, causing Tauros to cry out even more in pain.
Now Beedrill finally appeared in front of Tauros, with blood still remaining on its stingers.
When enemies meet, their eyes turn red.
Tauros' eyes were filled with bloodshot veins as it charged fiercely toward Beedrill!
Beedrill was also a "Battleloving-type", but it still strictly followed Tetsuya's command and began flying toward the area where Toxic Spikes had been laid in advance.
A Pokémon like Tauros, once it started running wildly, would continue even if it could not hit Beedrill at all.
Beedrill lured Tauros into the Toxic Spikes field and began circling around it.
Tauros charged back and forth repeatedly. Although its hooves were tough, going back and forth like this inevitably caused cuts on its legs. Although Beedrill's toxin was not yet very potent, it still made Tauros extremely uncomfortable.
Tauros' charging speed became slower and slower under the influence of the toxin.
"Time to move… Beedrill! Focus Energy, Double Team!"
Tetsuya began the counterattack. Beedrill used Focus Energy, its mind became more concentrated, the red light in its eyes intensified, its wings vibrated at high speed, and more than a dozen clones spread out.
Tauros suddenly saw so many Beedrill appear, it had great strength but did not know where to direct it.
"[Twin Fury], hit and run tactics."
The reason Tetsuya had gone through so much effort to deal with Tauros was indeed because this Pokémon's raw strength was too great, and the momentum it had gained from running for so long was also extraordinary. To completely take it down was truly not an easy task.
Beedrill advanced and retreated unpredictably. Each time it approached Tauros, it only attacked twice. Tauros was being toyed with until it was furious, spinning around Beedrill in all directions.
This kind of battle continued for fifteen minutes. Tauros finally stopped, panting heavily, its entire body already covered in wounds.
Excessive blood loss combined with the invasion of toxin finally began to bring down this frenzied Tauros.
At this moment, although Tauros was full of unwillingness, it had also realized that its life was in danger.
It finally wanted to run. For a Pokémon that only knew how to attack to think of escaping, it had to be at a moment like this, when its life was hanging by a thread.
Tauros used its last bit of power and began running back along the original path, now only hoping to quickly reunite with its herd.
"[Fatal Pursuit]."
At this moment, the power of this move could absolutely be brought to its peak!
The black spiraling sphere shot toward Tauros like a Draco Meteor from Garchomp.
Bang!
It was the sound of Tauros falling to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust into the air.
As the dust settled. Beedrill's twin stingers were embedded in Tauros' abdomen at its side.
Tauros twitched twice at the end and finally stopped moving completely, its blood had already dyed the ground red.
Only then did Beedrill pull out its stingers.
"Mm, you've worked hard, Beedrill."
Only at this moment did the six people who had been watching from above stride down, clicking their tongues in admiration as they looked at the fallen Tauros.
"I'll leave the rest to you. Make sure to clean it thoroughly inside, and there is Beedrill toxins in the blood, it must be washed clean. It's a pity we don't have a pot, we can only roast it," Tetsuya said.
"Haha, how could we go out into the wilderness without a pot?" One of them grinned and took out a pot from his backpack. Although it was not big and they would need to cook in batches, the beef cooked this way would be much easier to chew than roasted meat.
Next, the six people truly got busy. One fetched water, one gathered firewood, and the remaining four all began dissecting the Tauros' corpse.
After working the entire afternoon, they finally cut the Tauros into pieces, and the blood had all been washed clean.
They set up the pot and began the first round of soup cooking. Including Tetsuya, there were seven people in total, and two pots would not be enough.
Unexpectedly, that person even had salt… which was simply perfect!
Fortunately, he had also retrieved his backpack, such a person would not easily starve in the wilde.
The seven people, who had not tasted meat for two months, directly ate three pots of beef, each one eating until they could not eat anymore before stopping.
After the meal, they all savored the enjoyment.
The remaining beef should last for another two days, but after that, there was no guarantee.
---◓---
With the temptation of good food, for these two days, it was Tetsuya alone who scouted the surrounding mountain area, while two people were always left behind to prepare lunch or dinner.
Tetsuya was also quite helpless. After all, leaving such meat out carelessly would easily result in it being stolen by wild Pokémon. However, in these two days, there had been no progress regarding Rhydon. Thinking about it, at least he had regained strength, which was also good. The body was the capital of revolution, if he were to fall, no matter how strong his Pokémon were, it would be useless.
During these two days, he also reinforced another round of systematic training for Beedrill.
With a Beedrill like this now, no one dared to challenge it anymore. Just looking at its training posture was already enough to make people shrink back in fear.
It was not until the third day, after finishing all the beef, that everyone lost their expectations and finally set off again.
Times of rest were always short and pleasant.
As they went deeper into the mountain area, they also encountered quite a few Rock- and Ground-type Pokémon, but their main goal was Rhydon, so they could not act too conspicuously here.
Along the way, when someone wanted to catch one or two Rock-type Pokémon, they were all stopped by Tetsuya.
At this moment, Tetsuya was already silently scheming in his heart. The leader of the Cherrygrove City team also needed Rhydon, the same as himself.
However, his need for Rhydon had not yet been exposed. If a situation arose where it became unavoidable, it seemed he would need to make preparations in advance…
Rhydon was something he had to obtain!