Fellow Countryman

"Don't move."

A hand clamped around the Third Squad captain's throat.

The Third Squad captain froze as he reached for a Poké Ball, but just as he intended to force it open, his left hand suddenly went numb.

Then his body was abruptly flung into the air before being violently slammed to the ground!

"I told you not to move." The person behind the Third Squad captain chuckled, easily reached into his clothes, took out the Poké Ball, and crushed its button with one hand.

The Third Squad captain was horrified. Destroying a Poké Ball's switch just like that? How much strength would that take?

"Houndoom—" He opened his mouth, only to find that his lips had gone numb, as though they had vanished.

Paralyzed!

The Third Squad captain suddenly understood. Human bodies were far more fragile than Pokémon bodies and simply could not withstand negative conditions.

What the hell was going on?

As he stared blankly, he saw the Haze around them disperse. His Houndoom was being pinned to the ground by a little shark and beaten mercilessly.

All around him lay heaps of fallen Pokémon and people.

A fierce Arbok had wrapped itself around a Houndoom, then viciously sank its poison fangs, crackling with electricity, into its body. The Houndoom howled in agony before passing out on the ground.

Nearby, a Beedrill was hunting down a Ninjask at an utterly terrifying speed. Its two long, thick stingers only needed to graze the Ninjask's body to send it crashing down.

High atop the cliff, Elekid held both hands high as lightning churned through the clouds overhead. It was like a god commanding thunder itself; whenever there was a person or Pokémon still capable of moving on the ground, it would call down a bolt of lightning to blast them.

Scattered across the ground were dozens of destroyed Poké Balls, leaving many Pokémon trapped inside with no way to get out.

"Only... you... how... is that possible?" The Third Squad captain's face was filled with disbelief. His words came out in fragments, drool spilling onto the ground. He had considered the possibility of a Pokémon League squad, even wondered whether it might be fellow poachers, but he had never imagined that one person had done all this!

And these Pokémon knew far too many moves!

"You think it's absurd, don't you? I think it's absurd too." Heiduo pinned the Third Squad captain down with one foot and smiled. "More than ten Pokémon and eight people, yet when faced with danger, you chose to attack blindly? How exactly did you manage to escape the Pokémon League police every single time?"

It was like IG not understanding how G2 could beat RNG.

And G2 not understanding how RNG could beat IG.

Heiduo, who had nearly been sent to prison by the Pokémon League police, simply could not understand how these rookies, who panicked the instant they encountered trouble, had managed to escape time and again.

Many of them had not even been taken down by him. They had been hit by their own companions' Pokémon moves and lost the ability to resist.

The Third Squad captain had nothing to say. All he felt now was regret—deep regret. Why had he not kicked those idiots off the team back then? Had he kept them around just because they were easy to bully and exploit?

But there was no medicine for regret in this world. The next second, Heiduo knocked the Third Squad captain unconscious.

Thus, Heiduo's one-against-eight battle came to a successful end.

"Hiss! Lighter!"

Inside the truck's cab, Elekid held a roll of bandages in its left hand while applying burn ointment to Heiduo's back with its right.

During the chaos, Heiduo had unfortunately been hit in the back by a Flame Burst. The pain had nearly made him pass out.

Fortunately, the wound was not large. On top of that, Fire-type moves came with a built-in "hemostatic" effect, so Heiduo had not collapsed from blood loss.

After hastily bandaging the wound, Heiduo turned off the signal jammer and used his communicator to call the police and Tuo Nan.

He had been exceptionally lucky. The target Vaporeon had actually been here, completely unharmed and missing no limbs or anything.

After taking a Glare in the Haze, those idiots from the poaching group had actually been stupid enough to attack each other. Fortunately, he had dodged quickly, or he would have taken more than one Flame Burst.

It was paralysis, not confusion. How had they lost their minds like that?

As for the infrared goggles, Heiduo obviously could not let them put those on. The moment they shouted about them, he had already prepared to deal with the goggles.

That was another example of their stupidity.

Lastly, there was the matter of stealing the Poké Balls, and Beedrill deserved the credit for that. After Heiduo taught it Knock Off, it used the terrifying speed it gained after three Agilities to knock everyone's Poké Balls onto the ground, where Gible, using Dig, dragged them underground.

If every villain were this explosively stupid, then it would not be hard to imagine Team Rocket's downfall.

A thousand Zhuge Liangs could not beat a thousand pigs under their command!

A godlike opponent was not scary; piglike teammates were!

"Lighter!" Heiduo kicked Elekid. If Elekid's arms were not the longest among the four of them, why would it be the one bandaging him?

Elekid slowed down with a wronged expression. "Bibi!"

Once the wound had been bandaged and he had explained to Officer Jenny and Tuo Nan why he was here and what exactly had happened, Heiduo hung up and waited for the police and Tuo Nan to arrive.

For some reason, the voice that had cried for help in Chinese had not made another sound after the fighting began. To be safe, Heiduo picked up the medicine and bandages, walked to the back of the truck, and opened the cargo compartment.

What greeted him were several stacked iron cages. Most of the Pokémon inside looked listless and exhausted.

At the very top was an Eevee with its eyes closed. Its fur was messy, and it looked utterly drained. One glance was enough to tell that it had not been treated well.

But aside from the Pokémon, there was no sign that any humans had been there.

Had they been moved? No way. Or were they among that group of people?

Heiduo turned to look at the tied-up "idiots" arranged nearby. They were all rough-looking, burly men.

"Who was calling for help just now?" Heiduo called into the cargo compartment experimentally. Perhaps there was a hidden compartment in the truck.

He deliberately spoke in Chinese, which he had not used in a long time, so it came out somewhat awkwardly.

Something completely unexpected happened.

The Eevee that had been lying there with its eyes closed suddenly sprang up when it heard Heiduo's words. Looking at him, it said, "Oh man, there really is someone from back home! I finally found you! A fellow countryman! I've been listening here for ages! I thought it was criminals fighting criminals, but it turns out you're one of us!" It bounced up and down excitedly.

Holy shit!

Listen to that, listen to that! That thick Northeastern accent! Definitely China from Earth!

Eevee's words left Heiduo completely dumbfounded. It took him a long while to recover.

He had truly never expected that, besides a Meowth that could speak human language, there would be an Eevee with a Northeastern accent in this world!

Oh my god!

"What... is your situation?" Heiduo asked cautiously. He did not recklessly lay all his cards on the table. As the saying went, when fellow countrymen met, they might weep with joy—or one might shoot the other in the back.

One should not intend to harm others, but one must always guard against being harmed.

"What do you mean, what's my situation? Let me out! I'm so scared!" Eevee spoke again, but that familiar Northeastern flavor was gone.

It desperately shook the iron cage, seemingly terrified.

Heiduo had taken this risk not to keep it caged and watch it struggle, so he slowly opened the cage.

Seeing that Heiduo was just standing there impassively and waiting for it to crawl out on its own, Eevee said aggrievedly, "Could you carry me out? I don't have any strength left!"

Then what was that earlier? You were bouncing around like an overexcited husky.

Heiduo's face darkened. Behind his back, he gave Gible and Arbok a signal, telling them to use Glare and Brick Break if anything went wrong.

Handling a Normal-type Eevee would be easy enough.

After making preparations, Heiduo reached into the cage and gently lifted Eevee out, holding it against his chest as he picked up the bandages and medicine lying nearby.

"So comfy~" Eevee rubbed against Heiduo, then took a sniff of his scent. "Mmm~ the fragrance of a cute boy~"

Heiduo: ???

What was this person's deal?

Heiduo suddenly felt a little disgusted by this Eevee. No reason in particular—it was just kind of creepy.

Seeing Heiduo's displeased expression, Eevee gave an awkward laugh. "Ah! Sorry, sorry. It's been so long since I've seen a normal person that I couldn't help myself. Don't take it personally, okay?"

As it spoke, its little paws tightly gripped Heiduo's clothes, as though it feared he would abandon it.

Heiduo gave it a perfunctory response and checked Eevee's information.

[Pokémon: Eevee / Gender: Female / Level: 5]

[Ability: Anticipation / Type: Normal / Trainer: None]

[Moves: Protect lv2 / Safeguard lv2 / Morning Sun lv2]

[Double Team lv2 / Heal Pulse lv2 / Rest lv2]

[Aurora Veil lv2 / Secret Power lv2 / Heal Bell lv2]

This was—!!!!

This had to be a cheat ability! There was simply no other explanation!

Heiduo stood frozen, stunned by the sheer number and variety of its moves. Most of them were survival moves! So there really were creatures in this world that valued their lives this much!

No, wait! Fear of death was an instinct shared by all living things...

"...You're amazing, in every sense of the word." Heiduo had nothing to say. Why did it not use its many recovery moves?

Of course, he did not say that aloud. Otherwise, would that not make it obvious that he could see Pokémon moves?

Heiduo set down the Eevee, which was reluctant to leave his arms, and gave its body a rough examination.

Other than its messy fur, it had no major wounds—mostly just scratches.

Of course, internal injuries were still possible, but with so many recovery moves...

What was it pretending for? Heiduo frowned. Eevee must have had some motive for acting this way, and he could not keep such an uncertain factor by his side...

But if he did not keep it close, there was a good chance it would expose his identity as a visitor from another world.

Tch! What a troublesome little thing! Could it not just be honest?

"Ah... you might not know this, but I know lots of recovery moves. I need to be full before I have enough energy to use them, though... Do you have anything to eat? Just a little~" Eevee seemed embarrassed as it said this, or perhaps it considered asking for food deeply shameful.

So Rest could not restore stamina... or did Rest consume energy to restore stamina?

That was way too scientific, wasn't it?

Heiduo nodded. There was plenty of food in the truck, probably prepared for those people themselves. But since it was sitting there, there was no reason for him not to take it. He would not take much—half would do.

"Wait! Take me with you!" Eevee clung to Heiduo's pant leg, refusing to let him go far. "Don't leave me behind... Those people are so scary!"

The people it meant were the pile of utterly defenseless men on the ground, their hands and feet bound, still unconscious.

If there had been blood on the ground, Eevee would have thought they were all dead!