A Chance Encounter with a Rhyperior

He had been so focused on collecting the quest materials that he had forgotten Combusken had no way to deal with the opponent without destroying the spores.

This place was also rather cramped. Even if Pidgeot came out, it probably would not be able to spread its wings, much less fan the air.

Tetsuya recalled Combusken to prevent it from being poisoned and quickly came up with a solution.

He had Combusken fire its weakest Ember behind Parasect, avoiding harm while forcing it not to advance.

He controlled the Drone to fly down and dismantled its fan system.

After connecting it to his Explorer Suit, the little fan that had originally only supported movement suddenly became much more powerful.

He aimed the fan at the slowly drifting spores. Their speed slowed even further, and they began to descend gradually.

When Parasect saw this, even its Little Head beneath that mushroom cap—if it had one—could not understand why this was happening.

Unable to move under Combusken's pressure, it simply stayed where it was and frantically spread poisonous spores through its mushroom cap.

Tetsuya kept fanning. The spores Parasect released were not endless, while his was a machine.

Sure enough, after a while, Parasect stopped releasing spores. Its entire body seemed to have lost its soul as it collapsed to the ground.

"Finish it with Flamethrower."

Seeing it like that, Combusken followed its Trainer's command and gave it a swift end.

Tetsuya carefully took out a container and continuously collected Parasect's poisonous spores.

After being decocted in water, this stuff could become a decent medicinal ingredient. As for its specific use...

Well, the person who had posted that quest seemed to be an uncle in his forties.

It took half an hour to finish collecting all the spores scattered throughout the cave.

During that time, Combusken was responsible for watching the three Pokemon. Whenever one woke up, it knocked it back down.

Tetsuya walked over and stroked Combusken's head. "Well done!"

"Cha!"

Combusken patted its wings—hands?

He took out a pair of gloves and began picking the two little mushrooms from Paras's back.

The four little mushrooms were neatly placed in a bowl. Tetsuya took off his gloves and had Combusken burn them directly to prevent environmental contamination.

"There's more than enough Parasect spore—100 grams with plenty to spare—but we're still short on Paras's little mushrooms. Let's keep looking."

After securely placing the haul at the bottom of his backpack, Trainer and Pokemon continued deeper inside.

They passed countless forks in the road. Tetsuya used his Navigator to record his route so he would not be unable to find his way out.

Although, if things truly came to it, he could just find somewhere he could see the sky, release Pidgeot, and have it fly him out. Still, he would rather not use that method unless absolutely necessary.

After all, Mt. Moon was extremely high. It could even be seen from Pallet Town.

To be safe, high-altitude riding was not recommended.

As he let his thoughts wander, Combusken dealt with another Geodude that had foolishly gotten stepped on.

Great. They had gone the wrong way again.

Tetsuya watched the humidity steadily drop, feeling somewhat helpless.

It was pitch-black inside the cave. He had no idea where he was going.

Paras liked to live in dark, damp places because only there could they find the tree roots they depended on for survival.

He checked his location. He was currently on the western side of Mt. Moon's outer region, and there seemed to be an Underground River nearby.

After finding a landmark, Tetsuya felt his way toward the Underground River.

Generally speaking, Wild Pokemon often appeared in places like this, because water was one of the foundations they depended on for survival.

As they gradually approached the river, the air became noticeably fresher.

The stalactites above often gathered moisture, which formed tiny droplets that dripped from their tips.

Combusken irritably shook its head. Another drop of water had just landed on it.

Although the High Temperature on a Fire-type Pokemon's Body Surface quickly dried its fur, the sensation of water still made it very uncomfortable.

Once they could hear the sound of flowing water, Tetsuya first sent out the Drone to survey the situation.

The sound of the rushing river Echoed through the pitch-black cave. Other than that, there was complete silence.

It seemed no Pokemon had come here to drink at the moment.

Tetsuya cautiously walked out of the Cave Entrance he was in, followed the Stone Wall for several steps, then turned and entered another stone cave the Drone had detected.

After following the path for a while, he quickly found a clue.

He crouched down and examined the tracks on the ground.

Four-legged movement, around five of them. It looked like a fairly large Paras family. Judging by the depth of the tracks, there should not be a Parasect among them.

But even if there was, it did not matter. Paras and Parasect were completely countered by Fire-type Pokemon.

Their Bug-and-Grass typing made them take quadruple damage from Fire-type attacks to begin with. If their Ability happened to be Dry Skin, that multiplier would increase by another factor.

Combusken followed the tracks left by the Paras straight ahead, and they soon spotted the group of Little Cuties. As expected, there was no Parasect.

Without needing Tetsuya's command, Combusken obediently Spit Up five bursts of flame.

How could these Novice Level Paras, or those who had only just reached Normal Level, withstand Combusken's attacks?

Even though Combusken had greatly restrained its power, the immense gap in talent and the type advantage still caused all five Paras to faint outright.

Tetsuya harvested the little mushrooms with an indifferent expression, then left without the slightest mercy once he was done.

The five unconscious Paras were left behind, making him look exactly like a man who left after finishing the job.

"Fourteen mushrooms. We're still short by three Paras, but there's no rush." Tetsuya calculated the most time- and effort-saving approach.

"We can look for Sandslash first. If we're lucky, we'll find shed claws directly and won't need to fight."

The two little mushrooms on Paras's back were excellent ingredients for nutrient supplements before they evolved, while Sandslash's claws were supplementary ingredients for a type of medicine.

After they were harvested and replenished, both mushrooms and claws would grow back quickly.

That was why some Trainers with Paras, Parasect, and Sandslash made money this way.

However, the market had always had more demand than supply, so plenty of people still posted quests to buy them.

Tetsuya obviously could not raise these kinds of Pokemon, so the best approach was to collect them from these Pokemon in the wild.

Unlike the Paras family, which preferred dark and damp places, Sandslash liked dry environments. Its unevolved form, Sandshrew, was even afraid of water and usually stayed far away from it.

He kept walking in the Opposite Direction from where they had come, moving away from the river. Tetsuya picked a Cave Entrance at random and walked inside.

Five minutes later, Tetsuya and Combusken ran out in a miserable state.

"Why the hell is there a Rhyperior in this place? Damn it, would such a high-level Pokemon really live in such an outer area? That's way too unreasonable!"

Tetsuya complained frantically, but he did not dare slow down in the slightest. Combusken trailed behind him, using both hands and feet to destroy the Cave Entrance and block it with rubble.

It then quickly caught up with its Trainer and fled, while only enormous sounds could be heard faintly from behind the blocked Cave Entrance.

Please invest, bookmark, recommend, and send Monthly Passes!!!

I'll take anything!!

(There'll be an extra chapter at two in the afternoon, as an early celebration for reaching a thousand bookmarks. It really wasn't easy.

I'm desperately looking for excuses to add extra chapters, hahaha.)