Another half-year elimination round had ended, and another nineteen people were escorted onto the huge ship. Their future was unknown, and they could only pray for themselves.
Now only thirty-eight people remained on the island, making the vast grasslands appear very empty.
That very night, Tetsuya exchanged for a large amount of Antidote and left. His destination was naturally the poisonous miasma forest.
Haunter's Evolution light was becoming increasingly intense. Without stimulation from special light waves, it had no way to evolve, but what his Haunter needed was poison toxins.
No one dared to easily enter a place like the poisonous forest. "Poison" had always been a terrifying term.
Places that had never been explored were undoubtedly dangerous, equivalent to a primitive forest. Poisonous bugs and giant snakes, any one of them could easily take your life.
Tetsuya slept one night near the poisonous forest.
It was currently winter, and many Poison-type Pokémon were in hibernation. Entering now was considered the least dangerous period. Once winter passed and spring arrived, bringing all things back to life, many Poison-types would awaken and search for food. At that time, they would also be at their most violent phase.
After resting near the poisonous forest for several days, all of the Pokémon had adjusted their conditions to the best possible state. This time, what he had prepared the most of was Antidote.
Before entering the forest, Tetsuya put on a gas mask and protective clothing. With Houndoom scouting ahead, and Beedrill and Haunter opening the path, they advanced toward the poisonous forest…
Just after entering a little more than a hundred meters, they entered a snake nest. The chaotic wet grassland was covered with snake shed, and among the weeds were many holes of varying sizes.
From these snake shed, it could be seen that there were nests belonging to Arbok, Ekans, and Seviper. Looking at the densely packed holes numbering over a hundred, if these Pokémon appeared before him during their active periods in spring and summer, even a mouthful of poison from each one would be enough to melt him.
Right now, the only ones capable of entering these holes were Haunter and Ditto. So they could only rely on themselves.
It was normal for one snake hole to contain three to five Pokémon. It all depended on Haunter's absorption speed. Furthermore, toxin/poison stimulation was different from absorbing vitality. There was always a daily limit.
Judging from the nearby terrain, this should be the territory of snake Pokémon such as Arbok. Fortunately, it was only a little over a hundred meters away. Tetsuya first needed to clear away the miasma within these hundred meters, otherwise constantly wearing a gas mask would also be very inconvenient.
Tetsuya first walked out of the poisonous forest.
Under the control of Piloswine's Blizzard, all of the miasma within a hundred meters completely dissipated.
"Ditto, Transform into Haunter."
At this moment, Tetsuya also called out Haunter. Two identical Haunter appeared before him.
"Right now, only the two of you can enter these holes. Poison-type Pokémon are hibernating inside. Haunter, you should know what to do. Kill them and take their poison sacs to stimulate your Evolution. Know your limits each day. After dealing with one hole, seal it up. Ditto, protect Haunter in case of accidents."
After Tetsuya spoke, both Haunter and Ditto revealed solemn expressions before drilling into one of the holes.
---◓---
About an hour later, Haunter and Ditto rushed back up. Haunter casually hurled out a Shadow Ball and collapsed that hole.
After coming out, poisonous toxins continued to drip from Haunter's body. It had indeed experienced the "baptism of toxins". It was already very familiar with that entire process.
"Finished dealing with it?" Tetsuya asked.
Ditto and Haunter nodded, then Haunter spent another hour assimilating these toxins before beginning on the next hole.
At this rate, they could only clear four or five holes per day, and at night it would take until past midnight to fully assimilate that day's toxins.
Tetsuya roughly estimated that it would still take another two months to completely clear out all the Poison-type Pokémon within these holes.
Two months was enough. After that, the weather would begin warming up. Although the Poison-type Pokémon here would all peacefully die in their sleep, the areas ahead would require true skill. At that time, many hibernating Pokémon would awaken…
Haunter and Ditto busied themselves every day.
Tetsuya could only train together with the other four Pokémon. However, the training conditions here were truly limited, and the area was not spacious enough, so they uniformly realized physical and moves training.
As for sparring battles, there simply was not enough room to fully unleash themselves, so they could only give up on it.
Of course, this kind of basics training was never a bad thing, and under Golett's Gravity, the effects were multiplied several times over.
---◓---
The two months passed day by day…
Haunter's body was undergoing subtle changes. The light of Evolution would always flash unintentionally, but it always felt like it was still lacking that final bit.
Only after all of the holes entrances had been sealed did this area's Poison-type Pokémon become completely exterminated by Haunter and Ditto. Under the stimulation of toxins, Haunter's body had doubled in size, already almost reaching the size of Gengar. The greatest change was that Haunter now had, well… weight.
Haunter itself only weighed 0.1 kilograms, practically no different from being weightless, but after evolving into Gengar, its weight would reach 40.5 kilograms, fully four hundred times that of Haunter.
Therefore, Haunter's Evolution had always been a mystery. Some people had even published theories claiming that a Haunter evolved into Gengar after eating a Clefable!
…Though nobody had ever confirmed it.
Now, after Haunter had absorbed so many toxins from Poison-type Pokémon, this method of Evolution was truly unique to it alone. It was highly possible that these toxins had increased Haunter's weight, also preparing it for evolving into Gengar… maybe?
Just like that, two months passed. During this time, people had occasionally passed by this area, but nobody dared to enter the poisonous miasma forest.
Oh, of course, there were also those who did not know the meaning of death and wanted to challenge him, but there was absolutely no possibility that he would lose to such people.
After all, during the last elimination round, he had drawn far too much attention, sweeping two consecutive matches one-versus-five.
Now that his Pokémon's basics had become even more solid, winning no longer required that much time.
During these two months, the Antidote had not been used up, but the food had nearly run out, so Tetsuya could only return once more to the Shadow Team camp. He still had ten registered Pokémon remaining, enough to cover two more months of food expenses.
After recalling all of his Pokémon, Tetsuya headed toward the Shadow Team camp. At this moment, the outermost area of the poisonous forest was already in complete ruin. More than a hundred snake holes had all been sealed, with only Poison-types that had died in their sleep remaining inside.
The Shadow crossed off Tetsuya's ten registered Pokémon and exchanged them for twenty Poké Balls, Pokéfood, and his own rations.
Haunter still had not evolved, and only one-third of the poisonous forest had been explored. His journey still had to continue.
Tetsuya glanced at the vast grasslands…
It was time to test the results of these two months of training, otherwise once he entered the forest again, there would be no way to fully unleash them.