The Fatty's Provocation (Seeking Flowers, Seeking Collections, Seeking Evaluation Tickets)

"Qing Wu, what a coincidence." Lan Ling smiled naturally.

"What are you searching for?" Qing Wu asked calmly.

"A Green Quality Pokémon. I bought a map at the Exchange Office." Lan Ling waved the parchment in her hand.

Qing Wu glanced at it—another Bellsprout. The Exchange Office was clearly selling the same item to multiple buyers.

"I've got my eye on a Water-type Pokémon, but it's quite cunning. It's slipped away from me several times." Lan Ling muttered.

"So I need a Grass-type Pokémon to help me catch that Water-type." Lan Ling stated her intention outright.

"Good luck, then." As Qing Wu turned to leave, the Fat Trial Participant stepped out of the forest.

Seeing Qing Wu and Lan Ling talking intimately, the Fat Trial Participant glared at them with envy.

His teeth clenched—this was a goddess he hadn't even touched, and now someone was chatting her up from behind!

"Kill him, kill him, kill him." The thought of murder suddenly surfaced in the Fat man's mind.

As Qing Wu turned away, his gaze met the Fat man's gloomy, malicious eyes.

Qing Wu had seen that look many times during the trials.

Especially when fighting over resources—he'd often encounter such hostile stares. He immediately became alert.

Sure enough, he noticed the Pointy-Mouthed Trial Participant tailing him from behind.

Qing Wu took the chance to observe the Pointy-Mouthed Trial Participant's Pokémon—a Yellow Quality Koffing.

"Beep beep." The communicator rang.

The Fat Trial Participant, frustrated by his failure to find any trace of the Green Quality Bellsprout, kicked a tree trunk viciously.

The trunk shook, sending countless leaves raining down.

"Boss, I've tracked that trial participant. He's resting against a tree trunk in a forest not far from us."

The Pointy-Mouthed Trial Participant's voice came through the communicator.

His voice was hesitant, as if afraid of offending a strong opponent.

"Good, Skinny Monkey. Keep watching him and report his location at all times." The Fat Trial Participant spoke viciously, his expression twisted and ferocious.

"But boss, is this really okay? He's the number one in this attack value test."

The Pointy-Mouthed Trial Participant's voice was full of hesitation, afraid to provoke a strong enemy. He tested the waters.

"What's there to fear? I asked my brother—that guy has no backing in Team Rocket. Go ahead and make your move."

"As for being number one, that's just some cheap trick. Nothing worth mentioning." The Fat man sneered.

"Boss." A tall youth beside the Fat man, wearing a simple, honest smile, suddenly spoke up. His Pokémon was a Meowth.

"Meowth seems to have picked up the scent left by the Bellsprout." The tall youth said.

His Meowth was sniffing the ground, following the Bellsprout's trail.

The Meowth's body trembled slightly, as if it had some illness.

"Don't worry, boss. That Bellsprout got hit by my Bellsprout's Acid spray. It can't have gotten far."

A Short Trial Participant said with a grin.

Seeing this Short Trial Participant, the Fat man's anger flared.

"How many times have I told you? Use less Acid, use less Acid!"

"You'll damage the very foundation of any precious Pokémon like that!"

"If that Bellsprout's quality is harmed, I'll have your head!" The Fat man's face twisted into a furious lion.

"Found it." The tall youth pushed aside a clump of grass, revealing traces of Acid and green blood left by the injured Bellsprout.

But the trail of Acid and green blood stopped abruptly at one point—clearly, someone had snatched the Bellsprout.

"This is infuriating!" Rage churned in the Fat man's chest like a volcano about to erupt.

"Beep beep." The communicator sounded again.

"Boss, if you don't come soon, that kid's about to leave. Looks like he's heading deeper into the forest."

"There are strong wild Pokémon there. It'll be trouble to track him." Skinny Monkey said hurriedly.

"Fine. We're on our way." The Fat man's face darkened as he waved the other trial participants over. They were going to cause trouble.

Qing Wu walked forward calmly, occasionally bending down to pick up purplish mushrooms.

"These Hallucinogenic Mushrooms are growing really well here."

Qing Wu noticed that, perhaps because Team Rocket's Trial Base mostly distributed Poison-type Pokémon, the Trial Island was rich in Poison-type materials.

Qing Wu sensed that more people were following him. Leaning against a tree trunk for cover, he released Kecleon and Zubat.

"Quiet. Don't let anyone notice you." Qing Wu whispered to Zubat.

Zubat understood, silently masking its presence like an assassin hidden in the shadows.

"Kecleon, you too. Pretend to be a rock and wait for my signal." Qing Wu said to Kecleon.

So Kecleon curled its body up, pretending to be a motionless stone.

For Kecleon, which already had the Rock attribute, this was hardly a difficult task.

In the Pokémon World, Kecleon also hides under rocks.

When someone breaks the rock, a startled Kecleon crawls out from the ground.

Qing Wu found a spot and sat down, taking out the freshly picked Hallucinogenic Mushrooms, carefully collecting their spores.

These spores had a powerful hallucinogenic effect and could be used to make hallucinogenic poison.

This could have an unexpected impact when battling strong wild Pokémon.

Before long, the fat man swaggered over. His Pokémon was actually a Spinarak.

This was one of the few Johto Region Pokémon in Team Rocket. The Spinarak was much larger than average and extremely vicious.

Because the distance was too far, Qing Wu couldn't use the system's power to scan the Pokémon's specific data.

But from its size, larger Pokémon generally had better quality, so Qing Wu figured the fat man's Pokémon was at least Yellow Quality.

The tall guy's Meowth was obediently nestled at his feet. Qing Wu recognized this tall guy.

Although he was unremarkable now, later on he would rise to be on par with Qing Wu, a Team Rocket executive second only to the Four Generals.

Rumor had it his ranking in this trial wasn't very high either. His main Meowth was severely injured saving him and died after leaving Trial Island.

The tall guy and Meowth had a very close bond. After Meowth died, he turned into an extremely cold killing machine.

This tall guy was someone Qing Wu could recruit for now.

Standing behind the fat man, the skinny monkey used a Koffing. Qing Wu felt the skinny monkey looked familiar.

After some hard thinking, Qing Wu slapped his thigh. Wasn't this the idiot who had his Koffing self-destruct during the test?

"Brat, you've offended me. Break your own arms and legs, and I'll let you live," the fat man said arrogantly.

"Tch," Qing Wu sneered, giving the fat man a contemptuous look.

Breaking your own arms and legs was no different from waiting to die in the forest.

In the wild, dense with Pokémon, injuries easily attracted bloodthirsty, vicious Pokémon.

Those Pokémon would slowly gnaw at your limbs, then bite through your throat while you were terrified.

That kind of fear—Qing Wu had seen it in his past life. It was the punishment Team Rocket used for traitors.

Rumor had it that within Team Rocket, there was a Dark Department dedicated to carrying out executions, controlled by Sakaki.

The leaders of the Dark Department, Cang and Qiong, were twin brothers, known as Team Rocket's God of Death and God of Dreams.

"You all break your own arms, and I'll let you live," Qing Wu threw the fat man's words back at him to annoy him.