Star Grass

Dian began searching beneath a nearby tree.

Before setting out on his journey, he had looked up plenty of information just in case. Coelacanth Grass and Void Thorn, for example, were things he had discovered online.

He had written down useful facts and important information in a notebook so he could consult them whenever he needed to.

He had long since memorized the appearance of Antidote Grass and the places where it commonly grew. It seemed that knowledge was finally coming in handy.

For that, he had to thank the researchers who quietly studied botany and the people who generously shared their findings.

Although some information cost money, everyday reference material like this was free.

Of course, it was also possible that someone wanted to enlist the public to search for resources.

Dian carefully parted the weeds, doing his best to avoid their thorns, since he had no idea whether they were poisonous.

A scratch would be nothing serious, but poisoning himself while searching for Antidote Grass would be a real joke.

As he searched, he wondered whether the location had changed if this really was the past.

If the location had stayed the same, weren't the surrounding trees far too tall?

If time had gone backward, the trees should have been shorter. Why were they taller instead?

Unless it wasn't just a matter of time. Perhaps the location had changed drastically as well.

"There really is some!"

Dian carefully dug away the soil with his bare hands, then pulled out a little plant that was green all over except for the tiny white stars on its leaf tips, taking care not to damage its roots or stems.

He examined it closely, then shut his eyes and compared it to the picture in his memory. They looked almost identical.

"If you pinch open the base of the stem, a clear liquid will seep out. Touching it lightly will make your hand feel a little numb."

Dian checked it against what he remembered and found that it matched perfectly.

Delight shone in his eyes. Now, even if that Ekans came back, he would have something to fall back on.

Just then, Hoppip came bouncing over and curiously inspected the Antidote Grass in his hand. "Na-na?"

It leaned in to sniff it, and the leaves on its head reached over to touch it as well.

"This is Antidote Grass. It can counteract ordinary poisons."

Dian carefully brushed the dirt from the roots and the base of the stem.

According to the botanist, this plant's common name was Star Grass, a vivid and fitting name.

Its roots and the base of its stem had no antidotal properties. On the contrary, they could cause numbness.

As for the parts above the base, only the leaves bearing white stars could counteract poison. The more numerous and densely packed the white stars were, the stronger the effect. But anything taken to an extreme could turn into its opposite. When Antidote Grass grew very old and white stars covered its leaves, it would produce a potent poison.

Once the entire plant turned white, its antidotal properties vanished completely, leaving only its toxicity. At that point, Star Grass could no longer counteract poison at all and instead became extremely poisonous itself.

Such were the wonders of creation.

Dian could still remember the botanist's entranced expression as he explained it. The man had practically been a mad scientist.

He observed three seconds of silent sympathy for the botanist's wife. The objects of her jealousy were probably all plants.

Perhaps even Grass-type Pokémon.

Then again, his wife might have been a plant fanatic too.

Suddenly, Hoppip bit down on the Star Grass and quickly swallowed the entire plant.

Dian was just about to reach out and stop Hoppip when a flash of inspiration suddenly lit up his mind.

His gaze drifted as he muttered, "Right, why didn't I think of this sooner?!"

Dian drew a deep breath, feeling as though his horizons had expanded like never before. It was a kind of mental liberation.

Why did people eat? Naturally, because their bodies instinctively needed food.

There was even a theory that eating a particular part replenished the corresponding part of the body.

Although it lacked a scientific basis, it actually had a wide range of applications.

Hadn't he followed that very line of thinking in his earlier experiments?

Even when he had been raising Beedrill, he had worked according to the same principle.

Most Pokémon surely had senses far keener than his. Since Hoppip wanted to eat Star Grass, that meant the plant must benefit its body.

And what were those benefits? Naturally, they lay in Star Grass's numbing and antidotal properties, as well as its latent potent toxicity.

Those properties aligned perfectly with three moves Hoppip could learn: Poison Powder, Stun Spore, and Aromatherapy, which was normally an Egg Move.

There was even a connection to Hoppip's own Ability, Leaf Guard.

A flood of ideas instantly surfaced in Dian's mind, and the outlines of several new training methods soon took shape.

For a moment, he grew so excited that he could barely wait to get started.

But after looking at his surroundings, he quickly calmed down again.

This place was a veritable treasure trove. He needed to gather as many resources as possible to raise his Beedrill and Hoppip.

As for Misdreavus, Dian had some ideas too. He simply hadn't put them into practice yet.

Besides, Misdreavus still had a great deal of untapped potential.

"Na-na, na-na."

Hoppip ran back and forth energetically. After eating that stalk of Star Grass, it seemed to have become much more lively.

It suddenly stopped at a patch of grass and leaned its whole body into it.

Coming back to his senses, Dian noticed his Hoppip lying in a patch of grass, doing who knew what.

He walked over to look and was immediately surprised.

There was another stalk of Star Grass there, and judging by its white stars, it was even older than the one before.

Hoppip's two leaves dug briskly through the soil, heedless of the dirt.

Strangely enough, the soil that Dian had struggled to dig through was easily scraped aside by Hoppip.

Before long, it had dug up the Star Grass. Its two little eyes blinked happily, and it ate the plant in a few bites.

Dian suddenly realized that Grass-type Pokémon understood plants' feelings better than anyone. By the same token, they were experts at finding medicinal plants.

Sure enough, he didn't have to lift a finger after that. Hoppip went off to find Star Grass on its own.

Dian followed closely behind, tucking the Coelacanth Grass and Void Thorn he gathered along the way against his chest. He no longer worried about whether they might get crushed.

The resources here were simply too astonishingly abundant.

Previously, he had searched for more than half a month and found fewer than ten stalks of Void Thorn. Now, in just this short time, he had found three, and both their color and their age were better than those of his previous finds.

The white lines down the middle of the Coelacanth Grass were also more distinct, so its effects were bound to be stronger.