This strange creature, the Four-headed Weezing, had suddenly tackled Tetsuya to the ground, completely catching him off guard. After all, it had just been happily chatting with his Koffing's side of the fused Weezing body. Who would have thought that after turning around, it would suddenly pounce on him?
Fortunately, Gengar immediately used its psychic powers to protect him.
"It's that Weezing…!"
Gengar communicated to him through telepathy.
"Eh? Which one?" Tetsuya asked, puzzled. Which Weezing was Gengar referring to?
"I absorbed its poison core before, so I recognized it immediately!" Gengar replied.
"… … …!??"
The moment Gengar said that, Tetsuya remembered. He could still vividly recall the peaceful expression on that Pokémon's face when it had used Explosion…
If its potential had not been so poor, he would never have absorbed its poison core. But how had that Pokémon survived? No… how had it fused and evolved together with his conjoined Koffing?
'That was impossible!'
Tetsuya's mind was already in complete chaos. What puzzled him even more was whether this Weezing had come looking for revenge or for some other reason.
If it had come to seek revenge, then he would have no choice but to fight. However, it had now fused together with his own Koffing. If he attacked, he would inevitably injure his own Pokémon as well.
That conjoined Koffing was an irreplaceable Poison King. If anything happened to it because of this, he would regret it for the rest of his life!
Suddenly, the Weezing began calling out continuously. Tetsuya had no idea what it was saying, nor did he dare act rashly.
"Gengar, what is it saying?" Tetsuya asked through telepathy. The priority now was to obtain some useful information from Weezing before deciding how to respond.
"It's saying… 'Wahh! I've been searching for you! It was so hard to find you…' ahem." Gengar translated.
Tetsuya's train of thought came to a halt. He carefully recalled what had happened back then. It had already been nearly five years, so it took some effort to remember everything.
This Weezing had only average potential. It had been ignored in the Black Market and was even abused by the owner. When it had been on the verge of starving to death, Tetsuya had bought it from the Black Market.
In truth, his purpose at the time had simply been to use it to stimulate Gastly into evolving into Haunter. However, when he first bought it, it had been in such poor condition that the quality of its poison toxins had naturally been greatly diminished.
For that reason, Tetsuya had spent both time and money nurturing Weezing. Yet Weezing had already come to regard him as its savior, believing that Tetsuya had rescued it from its miserable life…
However, Tetsuya's reason for buying it in the first place had been its poison core. Coupled with its mediocre potential, he had taken its poison core after it used Explosion.
Ordinarily, a Weezing without a poison core would effectively lose its Poison-type nature, making it extremely difficult to survive. As for what had happened afterward, only Weezing itself knew the answer.
Fortunately, there was one thing in Tetsuya's favor. This Weezing had no idea that he had been the "bad guy". As a result, it still longed for him as its Trainer. After all, during the time he had nurtured it, he had always provided it with the best food and care.
Now Tetsuya understood exactly why this Weezing had been searching for him. It simply wanted to find "its" Trainer. Since that was the case… cough, it was time to play the emotional card!
Tetsuya slowly stood up.
"So you're that Weezing from back then…? Sigh, I mistakenly thought you had died, so I painfully left you behind… I never should have let you use Explosion, you absolutely must forget that move from now on!
As long as you're one of my Pokémon, I will never allow you to use that move again, because I don't want your tragedy to happen a second time…"
Tetsuya began his mind games. Most Pokémon had fairly low… eh, emotional intelligence. Otherwise, with their extraordinary abilities, they would have ruled this world long ago. It was precisely because humans could deceive that Pokémon had remained under humanity's control throughout history.
Especially a Pokémon like Weezing, which was somewhat dense to begin with, was even easier to, well, fool…
"Weeweee… Ziiing!" Look! It was already crying uncontrollably.
"We've finally been reunited, which means we were destined to meet again. From now on, we'll continue fighting side by side! You'll definitely become one of my greatest partners!
…Now tell me, what exactly happened to you all these years? Why were you here? And how did you fuse and evolve together with that conjoined Koffing into the Four-headed Weezing you are now?" Tetsuya asked.
Weezing burst into tears, continuously crying out as it spoke.
Gengar translated from beside it. "Ahem… 'When I woke up back then, my poison core and sac was gone, and I had no strength left at all. I wandered around everywhere like a lost soul… but I never stopped searching for you!
Without my poison core, though, I couldn't use any Poison-type moves. I was no different from a useless Pokémon… I had nothing to eat. I could only survive by absorbing foul gas from garbage dumps.
I drifted through life like that for a very long time… I searched every place we had ever been together, but I never found you. Eventually, I found a temporary home in the mine here because it contained poisonous gases. At least there I never had to worry about food. I don't even know how long I stayed there…
Then one day, the gases in the mine suddenly caught fire, and the entire mine collapsed in a massive explosion. All the humans inside died, and I was gravely injured as well. At the time, I thought there was no way I could survive that disaster. But I held firmly onto my determination to find you. It was that determination alone that kept me alive!
When I woke up again this time, I had undergone some… eh, changes. Flames and the poisonous gases created by the burning the gases reshaped my body, turning me into the same form as that companion. Because of that, I gained two poison cores and sacs, making it much easier for me to use Poison-type moves.
Before long, the mine was sealed off again. However, there was a constant supply of gases for me to absorb, so I never had to worry about food. I continued living there by absorbing the gases. I don't know how much time passed. I spent my days deep within that sunless mine until this latest explosion. Otherwise, I have no idea how much longer I would have remained down there…' "
After hearing Weezing recount everything that had happened over the past several years, Tetsuya now fully understood what it had gone through. He had never imagined that Weezing's obsession with finding him would be enough to keep it alive.
Even more astonishing was that it had somehow undergone a mutated Devolution into a conjoined Koffing. He still did not know how potent its poison and toxins had become, but judging from the fact that it had spent three or four years absorbing gases, its toxicity certainly could not be weak.
There were still several questions Tetsuya needed Weezing to answer.