Hippopotas

"Larvitar, Misdreavus, find the direction of the oasis first."

Dian immediately had Misdreavus sense for signs of life while Larvitar picked a route they could cross easily.

He gave a wry smile. Good thing he hadn't brought Quagsire, Zubat, or Skiploom. This really wasn't a place to raise them. The same went for Slowpoke.

No wonder so many Trainers specialized in a single type of Pokémon. There were real conflicts that were hard to overcome.

"Mis!"

Misdreavus closed her eyes and sensed their surroundings, then pointed ahead. Larvitar nodded too. It seemed that direction would work.

Dian nodded. Next, they needed a ride. They couldn't afford to waste Misdreavus's and Espurr's energy in the desert.

He took out his Capture Styler, ready to search the area for a Pokémon whose help they could borrow.

But the moment he took it out, he saw an incoming call.

"Uh... I don't want to answer."

Dian's face darkened. He had a bad feeling about this.

A hand promptly reached over his shoulder and pressed the answer button.

"What makes Dian unhappy makes me happy."

Yue Jifei held her windbreaker in place as she spoke cheerfully. Her expression soon turned cold, though, when a beautiful blonde woman appeared on the screen.

"Dian, you have a mission."

On the other end was Miss Lümei, diligent as ever.

She brought up a map on her tablet and pointed to two markers. "The blue dot is your current location, Dian. The red dot is your mission target."

She tapped the screen again, bringing up an image of a Pokémon and its information.

Information appeared before Dian's eyes as well. Combined with what he had learned at the Ranger Academy in Almia, it formed a new data panel.

"Hippopotas?"

Dian looked at the sandy-yellow, hippo-like Pokémon in the