Trouble in Caterpie Territory

The situation was already obvious: something must have happened in Caterpie Territory.

As for the cause, it was very likely related to the Ekans Habitat.

As Mark pondered, he gently stroked Caterpie's body.

Perhaps because it was unfamiliar with the power brought by its second Ability, Run Away, Caterpie looked extremely uneasy. It had even forgotten about the Pokeball it had been so fixated on moments ago.

However, under the touch of Mark's hand, Caterpie's condition quickly improved somewhat.

Mark nodded slightly. "Your second Ability, Run Away, probably awakened when your body broke through its bottleneck. That affected your emotions, making you feel flustered and want to hide.

"But don't let this power completely control your thoughts. You're different from those ordinary, foolish Caterpie. You possess a relatively complete sense of self, your own understanding of yourself and the things around you, and you know what you want to do."

"Cater?"

Caterpie tilted its head and sank into thought.

What did it want to do... What was it that it wanted to do?

Caterpie stretched out a foreleg and pressed it against the Pokeball nearby, then struck a pose full of determination.

"Cater, cater!"

What it wanted, of course, was a Pokeball of its own—and to become stronger.

Watching Caterpie's response, Mark smiled. "Have you noticed that you're no longer as panicked as you were just now?"

Caterpie froze for a moment, then looked itself over from top to bottom. It really did seem as Mark had said—it was no longer as frightened as before.

Mark continued, "The facts prove that the power of Run Away can't influence your will too much. So let me ask you again: do we really need to fear whatever danger has appeared in Caterpie Territory?"

"Cater, cater."

Caterpie shook its head.

Though it had vaguely sensed that the area around Caterpie Territory might be dangerous, after thinking it over carefully, it suddenly realized that the danger did not seem all that dangerous.

Besides, it was worried.

Had something happened in Caterpie Territory?

"Cater, cater?"

Caterpie suddenly felt concerned. It moved close to Mark and tugged on his clothes with its forelegs, asking him what was going on.

Mark said, "Something definitely happened. My guess is that something changed in the Ekans Habitat.

"According to the information provided by the Caterpie Leader, Caterpie Territory and the Ekans Habitat did not used to border each other. There was a Nidoking's territory between them. But that Nidoking was driven away by one of the Caterpie Leader's traps, causing Caterpie Territory and the Ekans Habitat to lose their buffer zone.

"Of course, it can't be that simple. Under normal circumstances, Ekans wouldn't appear around Clear Stream Village. Even if they occasionally did, there wouldn't be so many of them."

Caterpie wore a thoughtful expression.

Although it had encountered several Ekans over the past few days and fought them, it did not have much of an impression of them.

Though these fierce purple snake Pokemon would prey on Caterpie, their threat level was actually far below that of bird Pokemon.

Mark sighed softly. "I'd originally planned to agree to Uncle Qian Three's request and take you to the Tomato Garden on the South Side of the village later to drive away some Ekans, then see whether there was anything I could help with there.

"After all, I'm a small-town test-taker. There are some things I still know.

"Because of the appearance of Pokemon, this world's technology tree has developed a little crookedly.

"From what I understand, the village's Tomato Garden has some Oddish and Gloom. The tomato harvest depends heavily on the help of these Grass-type Pokemon.

"According to Third Uncle, the villagers know about fertilizing and watering tomatoes, but they apparently know nothing about growing seedlings under plastic film or pruning branches and retaining stems to increase yields.

"Forget it. We'll go next time. Let's set off now and return to Caterpie Territory."

"Cater, cater!"

Caterpie nodded vigorously in agreement.

Mark gave a slight nod and prepared to wake Uncle Qian Three to let him know.

However, after listening to the snoring coming from next door, Mark gave up on the idea.

Uncle Qian Three was old and had been busy all night. It would be better to let him sleep a little longer.

After leaving behind an apologetic note and briefly preparing their gear, Mark and Caterpie set out on the road back to Caterpie Territory.

Just as Mark had guessed, the return journey was indeed highly unusual.

A few hours earlier, when he had brought more than a hundred Caterpie back to Clear Stream Village, he had encountered some Ekans—roughly one every ten or so minutes.

But on this trip back to Caterpie Territory, he and Caterpie encountered an Ekans almost every two or three minutes.

Some of these Ekans looked normal, while others were visibly panicked.

Mark and Caterpie caught two Ekans that appeared alarmed along the way, tightly binding them with silk threads as they tried to ask what exactly had happened.

It proved useless.

Faced with Mark and Caterpie's questions, the Ekans refused to cooperate.

Although Ekans were much smarter than ordinary Caterpie and capable of communication, they were inherently fierce and brutal Pokemon, making them difficult to communicate with.

There was also the fact that Caterpie was one of the interrogators.

It was not that Caterpie lacked strength. Rather, Poison-type Pokemon had a type advantage over Bug-type Pokemon. Poison-type Pokemon possessed an innate resistance to Bug-type moves, so Ekans had a natural psychological advantage when facing Bug-type Pokemon.

Of course, if they interrogated the Ekans for several hours, they would probably be able to get something out of them. But Mark clearly did not have that kind of time.

By the time he wasted it interrogating Ekans, he and Caterpie could have returned to the territory already.

After releasing the two Ekans, Mark and Caterpie accelerated even further.

As they continued onward, the sky had completely brightened.

Along the way, more and more Ekans appeared. Then, a few kilometers from Caterpie Territory, Mark encountered a small group of several hundred Caterpie fleeing in panic.

Leading them was one of the Leader's Guard.

Whether in battle or after falling into danger, the Caterpie in Caterpie Territory loved gathering around a Leader's Guard.

These several hundred Caterpie had followed the Leader's Guard here in their panic.

Apparently having spotted Mark's Caterpie, the leading Leader's Guard suddenly changed its demeanor and made as though it would lead the swarm into battle against Mark's Caterpie.

Clearly, the fighting of the past few days had conditioned this Leader's Guard.

However, after Caterpie subdued it, the Leader's Guard quickly settled down.

Well, the Leader's Guard had not only grown accustomed to fighting, but also to the feeling of being defeated. It obediently stayed where it was, watching Mark and waiting for him to teach it the Tackle Training Method.

It was obvious that the Leader's Guard was not very intelligent.

As a result, after some questioning, Mark and Caterpie obtained only very limited clues from the Leader's Guard's halting words.

Basically, a great many Ekans had attacked like they had gone mad. The Leader's Guard had begun to run away in panic, and then it had encountered him...