Sand Scale Fruit

Recognizing their situation, Fang Yuan and Eevee began observing their surroundings.

Lush, tender grass covered the ground beneath their feet, growing as high as their calves. Every so often, they could see several tall trees within their line of sight. Farther away, the trees seemed to grow even denser.

"Why do I feel like nowhere is safe? This place also seems to..."

Fang Yuan swallowed. The next second...

Rustle, rustle~~

Rustle, rustle~~

Suddenly, Fang Yuan and Eevee heard grass shifting nearby.

Eevee glanced at Fang Yuan.

What a jinx.

Fang Yuan's expression darkened too. Just what he feared had happened. Could he really be this unlucky? Only a few minutes had passed, and a Pokémon had already noticed them?

How were they supposed to wait here for rescue now?

Fang Yuan and Eevee held their breath, trying their best not to make a sound and hoping to throw off their opponent's judgment. However, they had underestimated this Pokémon's sense of smell.

"Rattata..."

Before long, a mouse-like Pokémon with a mostly light-purple body crawled out. Its most distinctive features were its two large front teeth.

"That scared me to death. Eevee, get it."

"Eevee!" Eevee assumed a fighting stance.

"Screech!!"

Rattata's triangular eyes held red pupils crisscrossed with blood vessels. A long cream-colored whisker on each cheek swayed despite the lack of wind. As it ground its teeth, it glared viciously at Eevee.

"Rattata... Just a minor character. Eevee, don't be afraid. It's time to put the results of your special training into actual combat. Uh..."

While Fang Yuan was rambling, Rattata had already attacked. Its limbs burst with tremendous power, and in the blink of an eye, it charged over with Quick Attack.

A straight line?

Who was it looking down upon?

"Use Sand Attack!" Fang Yuan said quickly.

Even Eevee no longer used such a straightforward Quick Attack. It was far too easy to detect and counter. Eevee forcefully swung its forelegs, kicking up a cloud of sand that obscured Rattata's vision.

"Keep moving."

Fang Yuan did his best to stay calm as he made his judgment. This was his first time commanding a battle. As a rookie, it would have been a lie to say he was not nervous.

Fortunately, Eevee was incredibly reliable and clearly understood Fang Yuan's intentions.

Compared with Rattata's Quick Attack, Eevee's Quick Attack was faster and used with greater flexibility.

Circling the area shrouded in sand, Eevee turned into a shadow and moved rapidly while it and Fang Yuan stared intently inside...

"Now!"

The sand cloud stirred. The instant Rattata rushed out, Eevee rode the momentum and slammed it back inside headfirst.

With a bang, Rattata fell to the ground and rolled a long distance before losing consciousness.

The winner had been decided.

Eevee wore a proud expression.

But before it could celebrate for long, both its and Fang Yuan's expressions changed again. The commotion had been too great. More Pokémon were coming, and there were quite a few of them.

"Run."

Rattata was strong—not in terms of strength, but because of its tenacious vitality. That vitality allowed Rattata to live in any environment, and coupled with their terrifying breeding speed, Rattata's danger level far surpassed that of most Pokémon.

Flies, mosquitoes, rats, cockroaches—rats were one of the Four Pests, and that still applied among Pokémon.

The Trainer Association had never relaxed its control over wild Rattata.

"There probably aren't few Rattata here."

Realizing this, Fang Yuan and Eevee quickly left the grass and ran through an open area toward a large tree.

However... when Fang Yuan saw a Spearow take flight from the tree, his expression darkened even further, and he chose to circle around in another direction.

They could not afford to provoke an eternal villain like Spearow.

After all, in the anime, Zhi Ye had merely accidentally hit a Spearow on the head with a stone, and it had brought over a hundred Spearow to hunt him down...

Little Eevee was not like Pi Shen, capable of taking on a hundred enemies alone.

It was not that Fang Yuan and Eevee did not want to find a safe place and stay put, but they discovered that Pokémon were everywhere. And because of Alien Syndrome, these Pokémon attacked them like mad the moment they saw them, giving them no peace at all.

Luckily, these Pokémon were not very strong...

Fang Yuan felt relieved. The disaster level of this Secret Realm definitely was not high. That made things much safer.

After dealing with a Sandshrew, they changed direction once again, because another Diglett had set its sights on Eevee.

Fang Yuan finally understood what it meant to be surrounded by enemies on all sides.

After battle after battle, although the intensity of the fights was not high, if this happened a few more times—or if they were surrounded by a slightly larger group—they would definitely be finished.

They had to quickly find a place with fewer Pokémon.

Fang Yuan was deeply grateful now that he had deliberately trained Eevee's abilities. Thanks to Eevee's vigilance, they had luckily avoided several ambushes.

At the same time, he felt grateful to himself as well... His daily exercise had finally paid off. At the very least, he would not be unable to run when Pokémon chased after him now.

"100 push-ups! 100 sit-ups! 100 squats! Then a 10-kilometer run! Eat three proper meals a day! From now on, you must keep this up every day too!"

As they ran, Fang Yuan had no idea how much time had passed before they finally discovered a tree that seemed to have no Pokémon moving around nearby.

But when Fang Yuan and Eevee looked up, surprised expressions immediately appeared on their faces. Was this a berry tree?

"Could it be a Berry?"

After examining it carefully, Fang Yuan discovered that several green fruits really were growing on the tree.

"Looks like they aren't ripe yet... What a pity."

"No... This shape... Why does it look so familiar?"

Fang Yuan racked his brain. After a while, he cried out in delight.

Sand Scale Fruit!

One of the finest Berries.

A Berry known as a mysterious fruit treasure!

Ancient legends said that the Sand Scale Fruit contained the power of the sky and could increase a Pokémon's speed!

This kind of fruit tree was extremely rare. Only a few had been found in Secret Realms around the world, and every one discovered had been protected like a treasure.

Fang Yuan stared fixedly at the several swaying fruits on the tree, his eyes practically glowing green.

"Eevee, go pick them."

"Looks like we weren't unlucky... We hit the jackpot."

The Sand Scale Fruits probably tasted good. Although Fang Yuan had not eaten any, he could see that Eevee was thoroughly enjoying them.

There were four Sand Scale Fruits on this tree in total. If they were taken outside and auctioned off, their value would be immeasurable, and people would surely fight madly over them.

But Fang Yuan had no such plan, because even if he took them out, the Sand Scale Fruits would not belong to him in the end.

A person could not be too greedy.

Better to...

"Are they tasty?"

Watching Eevee devour all four Sand Scale Fruits in just a few bites, leaving nothing but the cores without a scrap of flesh remaining, Fang Yuan asked painfully.

At least none had gone to waste.