Hunt: Strategic Planning / Hunt: Encirclement

She had taken these Pokémon through the trials set by several Alola captains. Although their types might indeed have been a little too uniform, their strength was beyond doubt.

In the Alola region, because the people were far too simple and honest, there was neither a League nor any concept of Gyms.

Instead, there were people known as "captains," who set up trials to test Trainers. Thus, in Alola, captains were equivalent to Gym Leaders in other regions.

And as a Trainer who had already passed several trials, Mei naturally found Qiao Ran's attitude somewhat hard to accept.

Besides... among people her age, Mei had always considered herself a "genius." Her journey had been smooth sailing from the very beginning. On the very day she set out, she had encountered an Island Guardian Deity and received a treasure from it. Beyond that, she had met many remarkable people and gotten to know the young lady of the Aether Foundation... Deep down, she had even felt that perhaps she might be the protagonist.

The legendary experiences she had gone through in one month of traveling already surpassed what many people experienced in their entire lives.

"I want to see your Pokémon too."

Mei stared straight at Qiao Ran. It seemed that nothing he said would change her mind.

"Fine."

Qiao Ran shrugged. Since this was pre-battle preparation, he naturally needed to release his Pokémon and let Mei see what he could do in battle.

Perhaps this girl might even come up with some unexpected plan.

"First, her—come out, Vulpix!"

Qiao Ran took out the first Poké Ball. A flash of light passed, and a snow-white little beast appeared in his arms.

"Are you feeling better now?"

Qiao Ran stroked her body and asked about her condition.

"Woo woo awoo..." Vulpix stretched comfortably, indicating that she had recovered somewhat. Though she might not yet have returned to peak condition, she was already able to fight again.

"An Alolan Vulpix! Ah... so cute. You raised her so well. The shine of her fur... and that tail..."

Seeing Alola's local Pokémon, Mei's eyes lit up as well. She could not help reaching out to pet Vulpix, but Vulpix nimbly dodged away.

"Sorry, this girl might be a little shy around strangers."

Qiao Ran smiled helplessly. Vulpix had never been close to anyone except him. Even Eve, who had "traveled" with him for a while, was still disliked by Vulpix, who even seemed somewhat contemptuous of her.

"It's fine, it's fine... every Pokémon has a different personality. By the way, do you want some water?"

Mei waved her hand and offered him a bottle of water, telling Qiao Ran not to mind. She dealt with Pokémon often too, and at times like this, it was better to let them do as they pleased.

"No need. I'm not very thirsty right now."

Qiao Ran refused the bottled water Mei offered. They might have to execute their battle plan soon. What if he drank too much and needed to use the bathroom? It was not like he could ask those Nihilego to wait.

"Then next is..."

Qiao Ran took out a second Poké Ball. After another flash of light, his Altaria appeared in midair.

Earlier, Qiao Ran had wanted her to catch him in the air,

but before she could act, he had already been caught by another Pokémon.

"Clee—!"

"Oh my god! A golden Altaria! It's actually golden!!"

Mei was startled by the sudden appearance of the Dragon-type Pokémon, her mouth forming an O. This was the first time in her life that she had seen a golden Altaria, and her voice was filled with unconcealed amazement and envy. How lucky did someone have to be to encounter a Pokémon that itself represented happiness?

By merely the second Pokémon, more than half of Mei's resentment had already vanished. This Altaria... truly had the qualifications to stand above the rest.

Not every Pokémon was born Shiny, nor did every Shiny Pokémon shine this beautifully.

"Then next is..."

As he spoke, Qiao Ran took another Poké Ball from his waist. But halfway through, he pulled his hand back and took out the next ball as well.

"It's too troublesome to take them out one at a time. Everyone, come out together."

"What Pokémon could they be?"

Mei took a sip from her bottle of water, her eyes full of anticipation.

"Come out—Suicune! Dianxi!"

"Pfft!"

Mei immediately sprayed out her water.

Sui... Sui what?

For one brief moment, Mei even imagined that she might have misheard him. Perhaps he had said Blastoise, Mudkip, Vaporeon, or some other Pokémon. But when she saw the light solidify, she truly lost all ability to speak.

"Su... Suicune... It really is Suicune!"

The proud Messenger of the North Wind appeared in the pitch-black space. Her raised head and the ribbons drifting around her body both proclaimed her identity.

And that was not all. Beside Suicune, Mei spotted a small figure.

—It was an exceptionally petite Pokémon, not even a meter tall by the looks of it. Yet her presence was no weaker than Suicune's, perhaps even stronger, especially because of the pink diamond atop her head.

"Di... Dianxi... Dianxi!"

Mei cried out while clutching her cheeks. As a girl raised in the Pokémon world, she had obviously heard Dianxi's legends. Or rather, most girls had heard those legends as children. They had all held at least some admiration for this adorable yet noble Pokémon.

"W-wait, let me catch my breath. Am I seeing things...?"

Mei took several deep breaths, then gulped down several mouthfuls of water. Yet even after doing all that, she still could not calm herself.

This boy... who exactly was this boy?!

Why could this guy just keep pulling out Legendary Pokémon?!

Mei's horizons were already broad. At the beginning of her journey, she had encountered Alola's Island Guardian Deity and received a gift from it. But... catching Legendary Pokémon and traveling with them as companions was something Mei had never even dared to imagine.

Why... could a person be with gods?!

And after catching them, did that mean he fed gods every day... and even bathed them?!

As Mei thought about it, her eyes actually began spinning. The amount of information was simply too much, and her whole mind was about to overload.

Unable to cope, Mei flopped onto the bed and covered her head with a Clefairy doll, trying to calm herself down.

"Don't be like that. They may be Legendary Pokémon, but they aren't very strong yet. Otherwise, I wouldn't have fallen from above earlier."

Qiao Ran looked at Mei, who was already sprawled on the bed like she had burned herself out, his expression full of helplessness.

In his own world, everyone he met failed to recognize quality. But now it seemed... that perhaps people being too knowledgeable was not necessarily a good thing either.

"Huh? Not... strong?"

Hearing Qiao Ran's words, Mei lifted her head in surprise. She seemed unable to understand what he meant.

"They may be Legendary Pokémon, but they aren't mature Legendary Pokémon. Ordinary people may not know this, but Legendary Pokémon can reproduce too..."

Qiao Ran gave his explanation. This was also the story he had prepared in advance. Before people from this Pokémon world, he obviously could not tell lies like "I caught them on the back mountain." He could only give Dianxi and the others the background of being "baby Legendary Pokémon."

However, when Qiao Ran said this—especially when he mentioned that "Legendary Pokémon can reproduce too"—he suddenly felt several pairs of eyes staring directly at his back. The feeling made his heart tremble.

Qiao Ran thought it over a little, but still could not quite understand—

I didn't say anything wrong, did I? Legendary Pokémon can breed, right? Why are they staring at me like that...???

"I-is that so? So Legendary Pokémon can have babies too."

Mei nodded blankly, indicating that she had learned something new. She truly had not understood this sort of thing before. Or perhaps... there were not many people in this world who could know how Legendary Pokémon continued their bloodlines.

"Anyway, let's not talk about that now. What we need to consider first is how to defeat that Nihilego and rescue Lillie."

Qiao Ran rubbed his aching temples. The topic had drifted a little too far off course. They were here to discuss a battle plan, not how babies were made.

"R-right, we need to rescue Lillie first!"

At the mention of Lillie, Mei immediately perked up. With a flip on the bed, she sat upright. As expected of a woman who had lived in Alola, her physical fitness was indeed far superior to that of ordinary people.

"Alright, let's discuss serious business."

Qiao Ran patted his cheeks as well and began analyzing their current situation.

"What we need to do now is defeat that black Nihilego. In other words, from beginning to end, we only have one target. As long as we defeat that one, our objective will be achieved."

"However, that Nihilego is extremely unusual. She can command the other Nihilego. In other words, if we cannot end the battle quickly after encountering her, we will inevitably face an assault from countless Nihilego."

Qiao Ran recalled the earlier battle. He felt that the main reason for his failure had been dragging out the fight and allowing the other Nihilego to interfere. With other Nihilego acting as shields, that thing was practically unbeatable.

"So if we want to win, we must compress the battle time as much as possible. To achieve that goal... we must also optimize our move choices."

"Mhm... mhm."

Mei nodded, listening seriously to Qiao Ran's analysis. She suddenly realized that aside from having extraordinarily unusual Pokémon, this boy was also quite clever.

"Nihilego is Rock- and Poison-type. Its weak points are physical offense and defense. In other words, if we are looking for the optimal solution, we should first choose Ground-type physical moves, followed by Steel-, Water-, and Psychic-type moves. If there is no other option, special attacks can also be useful."

Qiao Ran looked seriously into Mei's eyes and asked the question that concerned him most.

"How many moves of those types do your Pokémon know?"

"Um..."

Mei counted on her fingers, then shakily raised one.

"...One?" Qiao Ran looked at that single finger and silently cursed in his heart.

"Mhm, it seems only Toxapex knows one Scald... My other Pokémon don't know moves of those types... Sorry..."

Mei lowered her head awkwardly and poked at her little fingers. She did not want things to be this way either, but that was simply the truth.

Qiao Ran sighed inwardly. He had thought he might have found a powerful ally this time, but he had never expected her to truly be an incredibly devoted Poison-type specialist.

"Forget it... Dianxi and the others should still handle the main offense. As long as Dianxi and the others can land their moves, we'll already be halfway to victory."

Qiao Ran felt that he needed to change his approach... In the end, the people he could rely on were still his old companions—they were the most dependable.

After discussing things for a while, Qiao Ran and Mei had basically come up with a workable plan. Although Mei was still slightly hesitant, Qiao Ran believed the plan was worth trying.

—Although Qiao Ran did not like gambling, sometimes whether he gambled or not was not up to him. As the disadvantaged side, he had no right to make such a luxurious demand.

"Alright... I don't have any other options. We'll do as you said."

After considering it carefully, Mei finally agreed with Qiao Ran's proposal. Although the plan would place her in an extremely dangerous situation, she still took Qiao Ran's hand and nodded firmly.

"This time, we have to succeed!"

With their plan set, the two rode Altaria back up from below to the broken bridge.

As for why they did not choose Tropius, the reason was actually simple. Altaria's wings naturally had a sound-dampening and concealing effect. Compared to the enormous Tropius, she was better suited for this sort of covert operation.

The Aether Foundation was cold and gloomy, devoid of even the slightest sign or trace of life. Qiao Ran and Mei advanced carefully, step by step, guarding against Nihilego that could emerge from the shadows at any moment.

After the operation began, the two did not communicate at all, because they knew they had to seize this opportunity.

The petite Mei concealed herself in the bridge's shadows and crept forward. Soon, she entered that spacious room—this was the place Qiao Ran had visited before, and several huge transparent containers still stood in the center of the room.

Mei walked forward without saying a word. Her destination was the containers in the center.

However, just as she was about to reach her target, her gaze suddenly sharpened. She pulled an opened can from the bag on her back and slammed it hard onto the floor.

Clang—!!! Clang—!! Clang!

The can bounced repeatedly across the ground, creating an astonishingly loud noise in the previously silent, empty room. The sound continued to echo—

In an instant, the crystals on the room's walls gradually lit up. A strange aura began to spread, and a heavy atmosphere filled every corner of the room.

White jellyfish drifted out from the shadows, reflecting specks of fluorescent light in the darkness. Clearly, the commotion Mei had caused had attracted many, many Nihilego. As soon as they appeared, they began floating toward Mei.

—Mei's enticing body was drawing them in.

"Come on... come closer..."

Mei continued approaching the containers at the center, but her gaze remained fixed on the doorway.

"..."

Finally, when she silently counted to seven in her heart, the figure she had been waiting for truly appeared at the entrance and drifted over from that direction.

—It was a massive black Nihilego. Enclosed within her was a beautiful girl, whose face wore a wicked grin.

"Lillie...!"