Heracross Forest

New Bark Town's entrance, Route 29.

"If you move fast enough, you should reach Jihua City before nightfall." Gold pointed at the main road in front of Heiduo.

"Of course, if you don't make it before dark, you can rest in East Gate Town ahead. Like Jihua City, it's a beautiful place. There are lots of street performances too, and it gets very lively at night!"

Heiduo nodded. Zhan, riding a bicycle, stood beside him.

Forcing himself to ignore Shuangye, Gold smiled. "Then I won't see you off any farther!"

That girl was far too fierce. He had only touched her hand, yet she had nearly dislocated his entire arm.

"Goodbye!"

Heiduo waved to Gold. They would surely meet again someday.

Zhan also said goodbye to Heiduo. He was already intimately familiar with the area around New Bark Town; obtaining Gym Badges as soon as possible mattered most to him.

After seeing off his two new friends, Heiduo turned on his navigator.

The closest place to him was a forest called Heracross Forest, home to countless Heracross.

Beside Heracross Forest was Pinsir Forest, and the two had always been at odds with each other.

"Heracross..." Heiduo looked at the vast Heracross Forest and thought of Ash's Heracross, feeling tempted.

A giant Bug-type Pokémon based on the Japanese rhinoceros beetle, it had long been called the "Bug King" by its fans.

Whether it deserved that title was debatable, but it indirectly proved how powerful this Pokémon was. Its evenly distributed base stat total of five hundred and relatively broad movepool were among the reasons for its popularity.

Especially after gaining Mega Evolution, its dramatically increased strength brought it even closer to the title of "Bug King."

If Scizor, Volcarona, Genesect, and other Pokémon of the same type did not also have equally large—or even larger—fanbases, its position would probably have been unquestioned.

Heiduo was interested. As a Trainer, unless you specialized in one type and devoted yourself entirely to researching it, having Pokémon of different types was perfectly normal.

Heracross had the Bug-and-Fighting dual typing. It was not the absolute best combination, but it was still extremely good.

It was noon, and the blazing sun hung overhead.

Heiduo strolled through the densely shaded forest, the warm breeze brushing against his face with unusual comfort.

Elekid followed at his side. The little guy had never seen such a tranquil, peaceful scene before, and like a country bumpkin who had never seen the world, it touched this and inspected that.

Heiduo had originally planned to let Ekans out, but that guy was too lazy. It would rather curl up inside its Poké Ball than experience the scorching air outside with Heiduo.

Gible was full of energy, but the little guy really could eat. After that simple battle in the morning, it had eaten two cans of Heiduo's Pokémon food.

Ekans could eat two cans a day at most.

And the little guy only picked out the expensive stuff. The Pokémon food Heiduo fed it was a three-to-two blend of specially made Dragon-type and Ground-type food. It ate all the Dragon-type portion, then threatened Heiduo that it would not eat the Ground-type portion unless it got something extra.

Good lord, Dragon-type food cost one hundred per can! Ground-type food cost twenty per can!

No wonder people without money did not dare raise Dragon-type Pokémon casually.

Fortunately, the Pokémon League gave recognized beginner Trainers a monthly subsidy of five hundred. It was not much, but better than nothing.

"Elekid! That thing is poisonous!"

Heiduo hurriedly stopped Elekid, who had picked up a brightly colored mushroom and was about to stuff it into its mouth. He did not have much antidote stocked up, and he did not want to waste one right after setting out.

Several Paras gathered beneath a rock nearby, snickering.

The Spore released by this kind of Pokémon promoted the growth of fungi, making them an indispensable part of the ecosystem.

A little embarrassed, Elekid put down the mushroom, turned its head, and walked away as if nothing had happened.

Heiduo tossed the mushroom aside. Though Heracross Forest was named after Heracross, it actually had no shortage of other Pokémon.

He had only walked a few kilometers, yet he had already seen more than a dozen kinds of Pokémon. Most were Grass-type and Bug-type Pokémon, with some small Ground-type Pokémon as well.

He turned to look at Shuangye. The girl trailed about ten meters behind him, her rabbit-ear headband replaced by a sunhat. Gloves, hiking boots, and other equipment were all accounted for; she was far more professional than Heiduo.

Beside the girl was a creature that looked like both a fox and a cat, entirely pink with enormous eyes.

"Espeon..."

Heiduo narrowed his eyes. The girl did not look like she was from Johto, so why were all the Pokémon she brought out from Johto and Kanto?

And Jenny from New Bark Town was clearly not very familiar with her. Mixed heritage?

Well... whatever. Neither of them interfered with the other, which was just fine.

After walking roughly another two kilometers, Heiduo reached a fairly open area.

An incomparably enormous ancient tree stood quietly in the middle of the grassland.

Heracross and Butterfree densely covered it, clinging to the giant tree and drawing its sap.

An intensely sweet, cloying scent drifted through the air.

Heiduo approached and looked up at the massive tree whose top could not be seen. The Heracross sensed his arrival, tilted their heads to glance at him, then looked away.

No wonder they were famous for their gentle temperaments.

With a sigh, Heiduo walked over to the nearest pool of sap. Looking at the golden, tantalizing sap, he could not help dipping a finger into it and putting it in his mouth.

"Ugh!"

Heiduo dry-heaved. The sap was sweet enough to rot his teeth. He simply could not stand that level of sweetness; it would probably need to be diluted with water before it was edible.

Elekid scooped up a little with its hand and put it in its mouth.

"Bibi!"

It cried out in enjoyment, clearly loving the sap.

"You like it?" Heiduo raised an eyebrow, then took an empty can from his backpack and used his multipurpose knife to scrape the sap into it bit by bit.

Elekid came over to help. It absolutely loved the sap.

When Shuangye saw Heiduo busying himself beside the tree, she walked over.

The Espeon at her side had long been unable to resist the fragrance of the sap. It immediately ran to the tree and began licking it up in small mouthfuls.

Seeing this, Shuangye was at a loss. She clearly had not known that the sap was so alluring to Pokémon.

An empty can was tossed over from a distance.

Shuangye had been about to knock it away, but for some reason, she caught it instead.

"An empty can. I'm not asking you to owe me a favor—one hundred each, how about it?" Heiduo said without turning around as he scraped sap from the tree.

To keep Shuangye from thinking this was charity, Heiduo deliberately named an outrageous price.

He really had gone to great lengths.

Holding the empty can, Shuangye's expression shifted. She glanced at Espeon, saw it looking at her expectantly, and finally made up her mind.

"Oh."

She answered flatly.

If it were not for her Pokémon, she would never accept anything from a Pokémon trafficker like Heiduo.

Yes, it was for Espeon.

Despite her words, Shuangye began gathering sap in earnest.

Half an hour later.

Heiduo looked at the three full cans of golden sap and let out a long breath.

At his side, Elekid hugged the three cans with complete satisfaction. This much would last it for a very, very long time.

After putting the sap into his backpack, Heiduo looked around. It was hard to believe that no one had come to harvest such Pokémon-beloved sap in large quantities.

It would definitely be popular with Pokémon if made into desserts, right?

Wouldn't money come pouring in by the fistful?

Just as Heiduo considered whether he should be the first to try it, someone walked over from nearby.

"Young man, collecting a small amount of sap is fine, but you can't drain the pond dry."

The man was a middle-aged fellow in green-and-yellow hiking gear. He had a kind face, and beside him stood a brown bear over two meters tall.

[Pokémon: Ursaring / Gender: Male / Level: 61]

Whoa! A level sixty-one Ursaring—this guy was a big shot!

"Uh, so this place is managed. Sorry..." Heiduo said awkwardly. "May I ask if the sap I took is a problem?"

He was knowingly asking. The man had already said it was fine to collect a small amount.

"It's fine, it's fine. That little bit you took isn't even enough for one meal for them." The middle-aged man smiled. "I'm the forest ranger in charge of this area. My name is Mori."

"Hello, hello! My name is Heiduo, and I'm a beginner Trainer!"

Heiduo hurried forward to greet him.

There were countless professions in the Pokémon League, and forest ranger was one of them.

As the name implied, they existed to protect places where Pokémon lived, such as forests and wetlands, preventing excessive logging and destruction, as well as mass Pokémon capture.

It was an exceptionally noble profession.

"Hehe, hello." Mori smiled faintly and pointed at Shuangye, who refused to come closer. "And that young lady is?"

"Oh! She's my companion. She doesn't really like dealing with people, so please don't mind her," Heiduo explained.

"It's fine, it's fine." Mori waved his hand. After being a forest ranger for so many years, he had seen all kinds of people. At a glance, he could tell that Shuangye and Heiduo did not seem to have a particularly good relationship.

But he had no intention of mediating between them. Instead, he continued questioning Heiduo.

"Are you interested in Heracross?"

Huh? Was he about to give him a sales pitch?

Heiduo paused, then nodded. "To be honest, I really am quite interested in them."

Upon hearing that Heiduo was interested in Heracross, Mori's expression immediately turned serious.

"If you want to catch them, you'd better think it through!"

Not understanding why Mori was being so serious, Heiduo asked, "Uh, is there something special about them?"

Could they have some disease humans could not resist?

"It's not that there's anything particularly unusual about them. It's just that most Heracross are gentle and avoid conflict. As long as you give them enough food, they become exceptionally loyal and powerful warriors."

Mori first praised Heracross, then changed his tone.