A ninja's master?

Cheng Tian took Yamper and Froakie back to the campsite they had set up earlier.

There was little to do. Cheng Tian hadn't brought much to begin with, so all he had to do was roll up his sleeping bag and pack it away.

Before they left, Froakie doused the campfire with Water Gun to prevent a forest fire.

Set the mountain ablaze, and you'd wear through a prison floor!

Once Froakie had put out the fire, Cheng Tian said, "Lead the way, Froakie."

Froakie nodded and hopped ahead to clear a path. The sky was already growing dark as Cheng Tian and the two Pokémon walked through the forest.

The forest was noticeably livelier at night. Many Pokémon that remained unseen during the day began to emerge, turning the woods into a hunter's paradise.

Froakie moved cautiously and rather slowly. Before long, Froakie suddenly stopped up ahead and turned to gesture for Cheng Tian to halt.

Cheng Tian stopped without a second thought. Following Froakie's gaze, he saw an enormous spiderweb stretched between two trees roughly two hundred meters ahead, with a huge Pokémon perched on it.

Cheng Tian recognized the Pokémon immediately. It was a level 28 Ariados.

Ariados could release a special strand of silk from its rear and actively hunted at night. It spun silk from both its rear and its mouth, making it impossible to tell which end was its head just by looking.

Small hooks tipped its feet, allowing it to walk even across ceilings or vertical walls. When it spotted prey, it bound its victim tightly with thin, sturdy silk, immobilizing it before sinking in its teeth and slowly sucking out its bodily fluids.

Without a doubt, Ariados was a terrifying hunter. The one before them lay motionless on its vast web, waiting for prey.

Froakie and Cheng Tian were remarkably in agreement: they clearly stood no chance against Ariados.

Besides, Ariados sometimes hunted in groups of two or three. They could only see one right now, but who knew whether it had companions?

Cheng Tian and his companions chose to avoid it, making a wide detour before continuing onward.

What they failed to notice was another Ariados lurking in a tree behind them, watching them all the while. Seeing Cheng Tian leave, it swiftly shot out a fine thread of silk.

The silk made little noise as it shot out, escaping everyone's notice as it stuck to Cheng Tian's backpack. As he walked farther away, the thread continued to lengthen.

Looking pleased with its success, the Ariados returned to the one spinning its web between the two trees and nodded smugly.

Another Ariados had now joined them, bringing their number to three. The one on the tree was clearly their leader, and it gave a cruel smile in the direction Cheng Tian had gone.

Cheng Tian and his companions knew nothing of this.

Along the way, they carefully avoided many Pokémon, every last one a nocturnal predator.

At one point, they ran straight into a level 15 Pinsir. Fortunately, Froakie reacted quickly enough to use Lick before Pinsir could act, successfully paralyzing it.

Seeing this, Cheng Tian immediately sent Yamper forward to follow up with Nuzzle. With that double dose of paralysis, Pinsir couldn't move.

Froakie and Yamper kept attacking with Cut and Bite, and before long, Pinsir was unable to battle. The whole encounter caused little commotion.

In the forest at night, a loud battle would often attract even stronger predators. That was why Froakie and Cheng Tian had chosen to paralyze Pinsir first.

Yamper's Electric-type moves would also draw attention at night, so despite Dark-type moves being ineffective against the Bug-type Pinsir, Yamper still chose Bite.

After defeating Pinsir, Cheng Tian and his companions continued onward. Along the way, he checked the Pidove map. Although they had ventured farther into the forest, they were gradually approaching the Fen River.

By eight that evening, after more than three hours of continuous walking, they reached the edge of the woods, where a small lake appeared before them.

Calling it the edge wasn't quite right. Trees still surrounded the lake; there simply happened to be a lake here.

The moon was already hanging high overhead, its clear light shimmering across the water.

Cheng Tian could now make out his surroundings by moonlight.

This clearly wasn't the Fen River, but there was a lake here.

Froakie grew excited. "Froak, froak!" Froakie waved at Cheng Tian, urging him to hurry.

On the southern side of the lake, near the forest, stood a cave. Froakie led Cheng Tian toward it.

It seemed they had reached their destination. Cheng Tian followed Froakie slowly toward the cave. Its entrance was quite large, more than half again as tall as a doorway.

Froakie led Cheng Tian inside, where he was surprised to find the cave remarkably clean and tidy.

Though it was a little dark, he could still see the broad leaves covering the ground.

The leaves were very dry and crunched faintly underfoot.

There was no particularly unpleasant smell in the cave either. Clearly, it was well ventilated.

Once back here, Froakie immediately relaxed. "Froakie, is this the place you were talking about?" Cheng Tian asked.

Froakie nodded firmly.

But there weren't any people or Pokémon here.

Just as that thought crossed his mind, Cheng Tian felt a chill press against his neck. He was too frightened to move.

Slowly glancing down, he saw a razor-sharp claw less than a centimeter from his neck.

Cheng Tian nearly burst into tears. His voice trembled as he said, "H-hero... what are you doing? Please don't! Please!"

Seeing Cheng Tian's life threatened, Yamper bared its teeth and barked furiously.

Cheng Tian's heart clenched. Buddy, please stop barking! Someone could really die here!

"Froak, froak!" Froakie was startled too and hurriedly cried out, seemingly explaining something. After a long while, Cheng Tian felt the claw slowly withdraw from his neck. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.

Thud, thud. Heavy footsteps sounded behind him. Cheng Tian finally turned and saw a towering figure.

Information about this Pokémon quickly appeared in his mind.

Pokémon: Barbaracle

Gender: Male

Nature: Modest

Ability: Tough Claws

Level: 58

Egg Moves: Night Slash (lv9), Sand Attack (lv9), Bulldoze (lv6), Mud Shot (lv10)

Natural moves: Skull Bash (lv10), Mud-Slap (lv9), Scratch (lv6), Withdraw (lv10), Water Gun (lv10), Fury Swipes (lv8), Ancient Power (lv7), Rock Polish (lv9), Slash (lv9), Hone Claws (lv9), Razor Shell (lv10), Shell Smash (lv6), Cross Chop (lv8), Stone Edge (lv7)

Taught moves: Dig (lv8), Icy Wind (lv6), Rain Dance (lv8), Whirlpool (lv8), Rock Tomb (lv8), Shadow Claw (lv5), Cut (lv10)

Barbaracle had four hands, five claws, and a body patterned in orange and brown. Thick, hard armor covered his torso and lower body, making his defenses difficult to breach.

"Y-y-you... b-big guy, you're that strong?" Looking at that terrifying level and the densely packed list of moves, Cheng Tian couldn't help sucking in a cold breath.

Terrifying. This was the strongest Pokémon Cheng Tian had seen since being reborn here.

Barbaracle's gaze was as calm as still water, yet concealed a formidable edge. Vicious scars crisscrossed his hard armor, displaying his impressive battle record and strength.

What baffled Cheng Tian most was how such a massive body had approached without making a sound, placing a claw right against his neck.

Cheng Tian had no doubt that even if he'd had ten lives, he would already have lost them all if Barbaracle had wished it.

At the sight of Barbaracle, Froakie hopped over excitedly and cried out without stopping, eyes overflowing with admiration and respect.

Listening to Froakie's incessant cries, Barbaracle gradually looked at Cheng Tian with less wariness.

His foolish little apprentice was saying that this human had helped it.

He remained cautious, but had clearly relaxed considerably.

Cheng Tian wasn't stupid either. He took out his backpack and emptied all the Oran Berries he had packed earlier onto the ground. Looking at Barbaracle with a sheepish smile, he said, "Froakie gathered these."

Barbaracle bowed slightly, apologizing for his earlier behavior. Cheng Tian hastily waved his hands. "It's fine, it's fine. I don't mind."

Hearing that, Barbaracle sat down and began eating the Oran Berries. He also separated out two piles, one for Froakie and one for Cheng Tian.

Froakie shook its head and pushed the Oran Berries back.

Cheng Tian declined his share as well.

He had spotted a long wound across Barbaracle's waist. Though parts of it had scabbed over, blood was still seeping out.

Cheng Tian immediately understood why Froakie wanted these Oran Berries.

They must have been intended to help Barbaracle recover. Although wild Pokémon had strong natural healing abilities, especially serious injuries still required medicine or other aids.

Oran Berries were one such aid. After all, these Berries could restore some of a Pokémon's stamina.

And if his guess was right, the Barbaracle before him was Froakie's master.

He had seen Cut listed on both Pokémon's information panels. Unless Froakie had inherited the move from its parents, it could only learn it through a Technical Machine or instruction from another Pokémon. It couldn't learn the move entirely on its own.

Besides, Froakie held Barbaracle in such high regard that their relationship was obvious at a glance.

After a long silence, Cheng Tian slowly spoke. "Um, Barbaracle, you look badly hurt. I could treat your injuries. Would you be willing to let me?"

"Froak?" Froakie brightened at his words. It hadn't expected Cheng Tian to know how to treat injuries. This was wonderful!

Barbaracle considered it for a long time. He wasn't stupid. Cheng Tian wouldn't treat him kindly and heal him for no reason.

Barbaracle was quite old, and had naturally seen far more of the world than Froakie.

In his younger days, he had been considered one of the strongest in his group. But after failing to win the position of leader, he had been driven out.

Traveling westward, Barbaracle had left the familiar coast where he once lived far behind. Along the way, besides his lingering bitterness, he had seen many things.

After much wandering, he had finally reached this forest and discovered the lake. He had settled here.

Noticing Barbaracle's hesitation, Cheng Tian hurriedly said, "You don't need to overthink it. With how strong you are, there's nothing I could do to you anyway."

Only after hearing that did Barbaracle slowly nod.

Seeing this, Cheng Tian took a Potion from his backpack and walked over.

Up close, the wound looked even more gruesome.

Given a Pokémon's healing rate and constitution, Barbaracle should have been able to recover from even this severe wound with enough time.

But a faint purple discoloration surrounded the wound. It was unmistakably poison.

No wonder. No wonder Barbaracle couldn't recover. He had been poisoned!

Cheng Tian frowned. Any Pokémon capable of attacking Barbaracle and injuring him this badly must have been quite strong.

"There's poison in this wound. That's why you're recovering so slowly. I'll remove the poison first. It might hurt a little, so bear with it."

Barbaracle said nothing in response. Seeing this, Cheng Tian took out a bottle of Antidote and sprayed it onto the wound.

The poison was severe. It took three bottles of Antidote to remove it completely. Afterward, Cheng Tian didn't skimp, using another two bottles of Potion on Barbaracle.

Barbaracle didn't make a sound throughout the entire process.

Once all this was done, the wound began healing at an astonishing speed. Cheng Tian let out a breath of relief.

"All right, that's taken care of. It should heal completely before long."

Barbaracle nodded, his gaze toward Cheng Tian growing much gentler. No one could feel the change in his body more clearly than he could. This human really had treated his wound.

Froakie looked at Cheng Tian gratefully, reached a small white hand into the foam around its neck, and took out a blue Oran Berry. After wiping it clean, Froakie handed it to him.

This time, Cheng Tian didn't refuse. He smiled and thanked Froakie, patted its head, then accepted the Oran Berry and began eating.

After finishing it, Cheng Tian looked at Barbaracle and said, "Barbaracle, it's getting late. Would it be all right if we stayed here tonight?"

Barbaracle nodded. Cheng Tian had helped him, so of course he could stay the night. With Barbaracle's permission, Cheng Tian took out his dry rations, water, and Yamper's food, and the two of them began eating.

After their meal, just as Cheng Tian and Yamper were opening the sleeping bag and getting ready to sleep, Barbaracle suddenly raised his head warily, as though he had sensed something.

"Barbar!" Barbaracle moved in a flash, vanishing straight out of the cave.

Cheng Tian froze for a moment. "Froakie, Yamper, let's go outside and see what happened."

New author, new book-please recommend and bookmark it.