Caught Red-Handed

If Hu Yang had felt as though he were standing on thin ice a second ago, then now his mood could absolutely be described as spring in full bloom.

Setting everything else aside, at least his safety in this world was now guaranteed.

So now...

"Cramorant," Hu Yang ordered, "use Spacial Rend!"

"Caw?"

Cramorant held its head with its wings, looking just like Misty's Psychic-type Psyduck.

One second, two seconds, three seconds passed. It was as if a flock of crows had flown overhead.

Cramorant tilted its head, its eyes vacant.

Hu Yang: "..."

No way. Was it because his Trainer level was too low that Cramorant wouldn't listen to him?

Hu Yang hesitated. Thinking of the 100 affection displayed in Cramorant's information panel, he crouched down, pointed at himself, and asked, "Do you know me?"

Cramorant finally stopped holding its head. Instead, it lowered its head and began poking at a stone on the ground with its beak.

"..."

Hu Yang reached out and tried to pet it. After confirming that Cramorant would not resist, he lifted it from the ground.

"Caw?"

Cramorant made a questioning sound.

Hu Yang asked again, "Can you understand what I'm saying?"

Cramorant stared blankly for a while, then turned its head and began preening its feathers with its beak.

Watching this, Hu Yang formed a rough guess.

Cramorant did not resist his touch, which meant it knew him.

But it showed no reaction to either his commands or his voice. There were two possible reasons for that.

First, Cramorant could not understand him.

Second, Cramorant could not hear him.

Hu Yang, who had never been a Trainer before, was deeply puzzled.

Could it be that Pokémon being born able to understand human speech, as in the anime and games, simply did not exist?

Or was it because this Cramorant was not a real Pokémon?

Everyone knew that Pokémon in games were merely emotionless strings of data. Their behavior patterns and abilities had all been preset by programmers.

With that thought, Hu Yang picked up a stone nearby and, while Cramorant was not paying attention, hurled it forcefully into the river. A clear splash immediately sounded from the Water-type.

Hu Yang watched Cramorant's movements. The instant the sound rang out, Cramorant clearly heard it. It swiftly raised its head and looked in that direction.

It could hear. It just could not understand.

But that should not have been the case.

Still, now was clearly not the time to dwell on it.

After leaving the forest, Hu Yang planned to find other Trainers and ask them about it.

He recalled Cramorant into the accompanying Master Ball, then got to his feet and continued walking forward along the river.

Water-type was the most important thing to any living creature.

Since ancient times, people had built their tribes and villages near the Water-type. Following the river gave him a much greater chance of leaving the forest than wandering around like a headless fly.

Because of his previous encounter with Beedrill, he kept his movements much quieter this time, making as little noise as possible.

Even so, he still drew the attention of some wild Pokémon.

There were Zigzagoon in the grass, Wurmple wriggling on the trees, Chewtle drinking Water-type by the Water-type, and even a rare Mawile.

None of those Pokémon made any move to attack Hu Yang. They merely watched him from afar with curiosity.

Hu Yang was incredibly tempted.

A real Pokémon ecosystem!

This was something games could never fully capture!

He really wanted to pet them!

Though tempted, reason told him that if he actually approached them, he would definitely invite wary attacks.

After walking some distance, Hu Yang felt the burning pain at his waist becoming more obvious.

He lifted his shirt and saw that the purple area had begun to spread.

This was clearly not a good sign.

Before things got worse, he needed to leave this place as quickly as possible.

His stomach was growing hungrier too.

Summer's lingering heat had not yet fully faded. As noon arrived, the temperature in the air began to rise. It was not ordinary heat, but a stifling humidity.

Based on Hu Yang's thirty years of life experience, this clearly meant it was about to rain.

"Mawile, Zigzagoon... Could this be Hoenn?" Hu Yang silently guessed.

But then the Skwovet that appeared on a tree branch made him uncertain again.

Skwovet had first appeared in Pokémon Sword and Shield, and it was a Pokémon from Galar.

But on further thought, games and reality were different. Games had release orders; naturally, earlier versions did not contain Pokémon from later generations, but later-generation games did include Pokémon from earlier generations.

That meant Pokémon from Galar and Unova could very well appear in other regions.

Having neither eaten nor drunk any Water-type that morning or at noon, Hu Yang was now both starving and thirsty.

With his sharp eyes, he spotted a Berry clutched in Skwovet's arms.

Skwovet had habits similar to real-life squirrels, storing food in advance during autumn for the winter.

So if he followed it, he might be able to find something to eat.

If he was even luckier, he might find a Pecha Berry that could cure Poison-type.

After hesitating for only two seconds, Hu Yang decisively chose to follow it.

At his pace, who knew how long it would take to walk out of the forest.

Perhaps this area was very familiar to Skwovet, because it was not especially wary. Holding a pink Berry, it leaped back and forth between the trees.

Hu Yang followed closely behind, hiding behind a large tree as he watched Skwovet toss the Berry into the hollow of another tree.

After doing that, Skwovet left.

Hu Yang ran over, reached his arm into the tree hollow, silently apologized, and felt around until he pulled out a Berry.

[Oran Berry: Restores a small amount of a Pokémon's stamina when eaten.]

The relevant information surfaced in Hu Yang's mind.

It was not what he was looking for. He placed the Oran Berry in his left hand and reached in again with his right.

But just then, a heartbroken shriek came from the branch overhead.

Hu Yang looked up and met the eyes of the returning Skwovet.

"..."

"..."

This was awkward.

Who would have thought that a dignified adult with perfectly good hands and feet would one day be reduced to stealing a "squirrel's" "winter chestnuts" to eat?

More importantly, he had been caught red-handed.

This was the first time Hu Yang had ever done something like this in his thirty years of life. He instinctively pulled his hand out and extended his empty right hand, trying to bluff his way through it.

But Pokémon were different from ordinary animals. They were very intelligent.

Skwovet sharply pointed at his left arm and made an accusatory sound.

Hu Yang: "..."

Before he could do anything, the enraged Skwovet descended from above. Hu Yang lost his footing and was knocked to the ground by the momentum.

Skwovet's little fists thumped repeatedly against his forehead.

Hu Yang hurriedly grabbed it under the arms and lifted it up, returning the Oran Berry. "Stop hitting me! My mistake, I'm giving it back!"

After all, he was the one in the wrong.

Skwovet took it and snorted. Then its nose twitched, and its gaze shifted to the human's waist. It smelled "Poison-type" and "blood."

Hu Yang noticed its reaction and directly lifted his shirt, revealing the Poison-type wound as he put on a pitiful expression.

"I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to steal your things. I've been afflicted by Poison-type. If I don't cure it, I'm going to die soon."

There was a trace of testing in his heart as he said that.

Cramorant could not understand him, but could other wild Pokémon?

The facts proved that they could.

Because Hu Yang saw Skwovet hesitate before sprinting to the tree hollow. It rummaged around inside for a while, then ran back out clutching a pink Berry.

Its fluffy face was full of reluctance. After a long moment, as though it had made some weighty decision, it pushed the Berry toward him with a resolute expression.

[Pecha Berry: Possesses the miraculous ability to cure Poison-type.]

Hu Yang was stunned. "For me?" Were wild Pokémon really this kind?

Skwovet nodded and squeaked twice, then stretched out its right leg over Hu Yang's stomach.

Only then did Hu Yang notice a tiny pink bandage tied around it in the shape of a bow. It had been covered by the little creature's fur, so he had not seen it before.

That was a style only humans could tie.

Hu Yang froze. From Skwovet's attitude, he vaguely guessed at a possibility.

This Skwovet had once been rescued by a human, so it bore great goodwill toward humans and had chosen to help him here.

The thought filled him with an indescribable excitement rising from the depths of his heart.