After bidding farewell to Norman, Tetsuya headed alone in the direction Norman had pointed out. The first place he had to pass through was Petalburg Woods.
Petalburg Woods was a carefully planned forest. The trees were not packed too densely together, allowing sunlight to filter through the woods, while streams murmured between the trees. Walking through a forest like this put Tetsuya in quite a pleasant mood.
There were no harsh conditions in a forest like this. Tetsuya sent out all of his Pokémon, and under the warm sunlight, they all showed a hint of laziness. Still, it was also quite a good place to train Pokémon, balancing work with rest.
Ditto's capacities still depended primarily on Tetsuya's commands. Through its tireless training, its strength was also steadily improving. Hopefully, this journey would not be in vain.
Mamoswine continued controlling wind and snow as it moved through the forest. This training had been going on for a long time, and Mamoswine's ability to control the power of Blizzard had grown even stronger. It had already dominated controlling [Blizzard Cyclone], [Blizzard Vortex], and gathering storms, and was now constantly working on increasing their power.
Golurk's training had never stopped. Ever since its previous energy eruption, nothing similar had happened again, and the rate at which its energy spread was also quite slow.
Fortunately, the use of its various moves had already become completely ingrained in Golurk. Combined with the Bright Powder, it often produced unexpected results in battle.
Weezing was also close behind. With its potent toxins and the power of its various moves combinations was becoming increasingly stronger.
Thanks to its potent toxicity, it was not particularly disadvantaged even when facing Steel-type Pokémon. Its level could already be said to be on the same as Golurk's. It was simply that the two had different fighting styles and each specialized in dealing with different types of Pokémon.
Next were Drapion and Ariados, which were currently the main focus of Tetsuya's training.
Tetsuya could not have been more familiar with the training routines for these two Pokémon. As the Pokémon that had made him "famous" in his previous life, training them naturally came with ease.
Naturally, they were also steadily growing stronger through Tetsuya's training.
Miltank had always assisted with the training of these Pokémon. Although it had no combat ability, its role was irreplaceable!
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As Tetsuya traveled through Petalburg Woods, the forest also began to restore their feral instincts. Drapion and Ariados now obtained all of their food entirely through hunting, fully revealing their ferocious nature.
As he ventured deeper into the mountains, Tetsuya finally reached the primeval forest Norman had mentioned.
The environment here was already completely different from Petalburg Woods. There was very little space between the trees, the vegetation was dense and lush, and even the air was extremely humid.
All kinds of dangerous Pokémon also roamed the marshlands below. An environment like this was indeed very suitable for Poison-type Pokémon to inhabit, so Tetsuya directly sent out Ariados and Drapion.
Walking through woods like these, it was impossible to tell whether it was morning or noon without checking the time. Tetsuya glanced at the time and saw that it had finally reached noon.
His food supplies were still plentiful, and Mamoswine's food formula had also been improved by Pryce.
It primarily used cooling Berries as its ingredients, but most importantly, powdered Never-Melt Ice had been added. As a result, Mamoswine's food was extremely effective at improving the power and control of its Ice-type moves.
These were all the results of Pryce's research.
'Getting these things from Pryce for free…'
◓---
After that call with him, where Pryce mentioned the Legendaries, Tetsuya could only think of a manga plot where Pryce captured Celebi to travel back in time for his Lapras.
Now, in this timeline where he won't recover Piloswine, Tetsuya couldn't help but wonder if Pryce might try to use Celebi to go back and search for it. If that happened, what he did to Piloswine would be exposed…
If only he had known how close they'd be at this moment- 'Stop! It's not the time to dwell on this. There'll be time to plan later…'
---◓
As for Golurk's food, there was also a ready-made formula. It consisted mainly of minerals, which were also components of its body and would always provide some benefit for the release of its sealed energy.
There was no suitable food for a four-headed Weezing…
Poisonous gas required cooperation with Muk. Unfortunately, the "Muk plan" Tetsuya had stated in Gringey City had yet to take shape, which had also affected Weezing's growth to a certain extent.
Right now, the most voracious were Ariados and Drapion.
Just as Norman had said, this forest was a paradise for Poison-type Pokémon, which could be seen everywhere. At lunchtime, Ariados and Drapion split up and went their separate ways to search for food.
Ariados was a Pokémon that hunted through ambushes. It began setting up Spider Web among the nearby trees, then camouflaged itself within the forest and waited for prey to appear.
Drapion simply strode boldly into the forest. Now that it had both the power and confidence to back it up, it was completely fearless. There was no need for Tetsuya to worry about it. Unless it encountered a large group or an Elite Four level Pokémon, there was simply nothing that could do anything to it.
---◓---
Drapion returned quite early.
By evening, Ariados was still hiding motionlessly behind a tree branch, staring fixedly at the Spider Web. Several hours had already passed. This was also a test of its patience, something crucial to becoming a qualified hunter.
Tetsuya had already begun preparing dinner for his other Pokémon.
Finally, a buzzing sound could be heard…
More than a dozen Beedrill could be seen flying over from the distance!
Evening was the best time to gather nectar, and the Beedrill colony had begun heading out in full force. What they did not expect was that a deadly trap awaited them up ahead.
The first Beedrill became stuck in the Spider Web and struggled desperately. One after another, the Beedrill flying at high speed were completely unable to stop themselves in time and crashed into it.
Only the four or five at the rear avoided crashing into it because they were farther away, but Ariados had no intention whatsoever of letting those five Beedrill escape.
Five white strands of silk suddenly shot out from the forest!
The five Beedrill, which were still hovering nearby as they prepared to rescue their companions, panicked when the white strands that had suddenly appeared stuck to their bodies.
In one fluid motion, Ariados flung all five Beedrill onto the Spider Web. Just like that, more than a dozen Beedrill were now stuck to it.
However, more than a dozen Beedrill were not about to simply wait for death. All of them struggled desperately, having already realized that their lives were in danger.
The combined strength of more than a dozen Beedrill was considerable, and the Spider Web looked as though it might collapse at any moment.
At that moment, Ariados made its move.
Sticky Web shot out from the forest in patches and stuck to the Beedrill's wings. Without the power of their wings, even if the Beedrill managed to break free from the Spider Web, they would still be unable to fly. When that happened, they would still be Ariados's prey.
This was only Ariados's first step. Ariados finally revealed itself, moving across the Spider Web with remarkable speed. Its silk shot out, five strands twisting together to wrap each Beedrill tightly. Before long, all that could be seen on the Spider Web were more than a dozen cocoon-like bundles.
Only now was the job truly finished.
It was already dinnertime, and Ariados had not even eaten lunch. The hunger accumulated over two meals drove Ariados nearly mad as it began devouring…