Bottom-tier trainers in the Pokémon world

Pokémon: Nidoking

Type: Poison + Ground

Characteristics: unknown

Strength Assessment: Senior Level

Mastered moves: Unknown

"For other Pokémon, this might only be a small advantage, but for Beedrill..."

Xia Yan glanced at the Beedrill, and it instantly understood.

Is there anything more suitable for a sniper's characteristics than striking the opponent's weaknesses?

With a flick of its wings, a gentle breeze swirled around it as it held its breath, its attention fully focused, and swiftly charged towards Nidoking.

The tailwind and energy gathering effects are activated simultaneously!

The distance between the two Pokémon quickly disappeared as they drew closer, and the collision between Beedrill and Nidoking arrived in an instant.

Bear--

Nidoking's clenched fist silently ignited with flames, striking Beedrill directly in the face. The blazing flames carried a fierce power; if this type-advantageous Flame Punch had landed head-on, it would have been enough to severely injure Beedrill.

But facing Nidoking's menacing fire punch, Beedrill remained calm. Its body trembled slightly as it created several shadow clones to confuse Nidoking. At the same time, its two needles crossed, and specks of blue crystal quickly gathered together.

Pfft!

Nidoking was wrong after all; this was Beedrill's chance.

He ducked to avoid Nidoking's arm, and the cave entrance opened wide, revealing a sharp pair of scissors.

boom!

"Hey!"

Nidoking's already injured and fragile wound was struck again, causing blood to gush out. He cried out in pain, staggered, and fell heavily to the ground.

Pressing its advantage, Beedrill spit out a thread that wraps around Nidoking's back. Using the thread's pull, it draws a beautiful arc in the air, preparing for a counterattack.

Boom boom boom!

Nidoking smashed the ground with his fist, and as a crack appeared, several rocks quickly coalesced and hurled at Beedrill.

Faced with the attack of falling rocks, Beedrill had no choice but to change its attack path, loosen its silk threads, and flap its wings in mid-air.

However, there were too many rocks, so it could only avoid the largest rocks and use its long needles to smash some of the smaller rocks head-on.

As a result, they suffered some considerable damage.

However, Nidoking's attack had little effect and he was already in a weakened state, with his old strength gone and new strength yet to be generated, making it the perfect time to launch an attack.

Golden patterns shimmered on the wings.

Its flight speed increased again, leaving a golden arc in the sky.

Acrobatics reappears.

A painful blow to the wound.

The sniper's abilities were triggered one after another, and Nidoking, already injured, could not withstand it. His eyes rolled back, and he collapsed to the ground unconscious.

Taking advantage of the situation, Xia Yan threw out a Poké Ball, which accurately hit Nidoking.

The red light emanating from the Poké Ball captured Nidoking.

With a few shakes, a "thump" sounded.

Successfully subdued.

He picked up the Poké Ball, his fingers tightening.

"Just this one Nidoking alone made the trip worthwhile; we really snagged a bargain this time."

After the battle, Xia Yan gained a much deeper understanding of this Nidoking.

It has the Poison Sting ability and has mastered Fire Punch and Rock Slide, a Fire-type and Ground-type move. It's just unknown whether it has mastered any other excellent moves.

"I can take a closer look when I get back. Although it's not a forced ability, the price of this Nidoking will skyrocket for every good move it has."

Xia Yan didn't plan to capture it himself. Firstly, it wasn't a forced trait, and secondly, it had already evolved to its final evolutionary form, which had limitations in its potential, making it not very valuable to train.

"Gather the tree fruit first and then leave quickly; it's not safe here."

Soon, a total of ten Dragonfire Fruits were collected.

Xia Yan prepared to leave with the Beedrill.

The journey here has been quite bumpy, but unexpectedly, this last hurdle went smoothly...

Just as Xia Yan was about to leave, Casey jumped up again.

"Kashi!!"

The little finger pointed to the small pool next to it.

I was a little scared, but also a little curious.

Two red lights shimmered in the small pool.

Seemingly sensing Xia Yan's gaze and startled, it suddenly disappeared into the water.

Xia Yan stared blankly at the fleeting figure, hardly believing his eyes, and murmured:

"Just now, it seemed...it looked like...a fossil helmet, right?"

Chapter Eighteen: The Forest Ranger

Because it was too fast, Xia Yan couldn't see it clearly at first glance.

But in his mind, the only creature that could match those red eyes and yellow, brick-like carapace was the Kabuto.

But Helmets is a fossil spirit, and so far, the only fossils that the Alliance's archaeological experts have been able to find are Helmets fossils. They have never heard of a living Helmets being found.

Perhaps he does, but at his level, he wouldn't have access to such information or materials.

How could there be a fossil helmet in such a place?

Xia Yan looked around again.

He was currently in a low-lying area between several low hills, and a huge crack was the work of King Nido.

I walked to the edge of the small pond and leaned down to look into it.

It didn't seem very deep; you could see the bottom of the pool, and there were a few water-type Pokémon moving around in it.

When Xia Yan noticed them, all the water-type spirits vanished in a flash.

"It looks ordinary, but if you think about it carefully, if this were a stagnant pool, how would the water-type spirits survive? As a water source, if it can't be replenished, it would soon be drunk dry by the wild spirits nearby..." Xia Yan thought to himself.

Rainfall alone cannot replenish the water at a rate that keeps pace with the rate of depletion.

Judging from the messy footprints on the ground, it's easy to see that there are definitely many wild elves who frequently come here to drink water.

"Could it be an underground spring?"

Xia Yan offered a guess.

This seems to be a fairly reasonable guess.

If it's an underground spring, who knows what complex undercurrents might exist beneath the surface of this pool?

It was probably because of Nido's attack that the ground shook, which brought out these creatures that lived deeper underground.

"It's a pity we didn't bring any equipment for underwater combat, and besides, Beedrill can't fight underwater at all." Xia Yan looked at the "ordinary" pool and felt a little regretful.

It's not that Kabuto is a particularly good Pokémon, but as a living fossil, a Pokémon from over 30,000 years ago, it has extremely high research value.

If he could catch a fossil helmet, its value would probably be enough for him to train two more Pokémon.

He just can't go into the water.

"Forget it, since this place has been peaceful for so long without being discovered, I guess no one will notice it anytime soon. I'll come back and explore when I'm stronger and have a Pokémon that can fight underwater."

After thinking it over, although he was really tempted, Xia Yan rationally chose to give up.

The main reason is that he doesn't actually have that ability right now.

After silently memorizing the place, she left the small depression with Beedrill, Casey, and a backpack full of Dragonfire Berries.

...

...

Another three days have passed.

Thanks to Beedrill's hard work and protection, Xia Yan finally made it back to the safe zone of Goldenrod City.

The sudden surge in activity of wild Pokémon has caused considerable trouble for trainers like him.

When Xia Yan returned to the safe zone, he found that the number of Alliance staff guarding the area had increased.

They guarded against wild Pokémon crossing the safe zone, and also tried to prevent some trainers from venturing into the wild during this dangerous time.

"Hello."

As soon as he entered the safe zone, an Alliance staff member dressed in dark green appeared in front of him.

Along with it was a certificate he was holding.

"Forest ranger?"

"Yes, I am Kochi, the captain of Team 13 of the Saffron City Rangers' Guild. I am in charge of investigating the recent overly active wild Pokémon around Saffron City. Considering whether the wild Pokémon are resisting due to over-capturing, we need to investigate the situation of every trainer who has returned from the wild."

Please show your identification and the Pokémon you are carrying. Thank you for your cooperation.

His tone was polite and reasonable, but he seemed to have an air of unyielding authority, which didn't seem to resonate with me.

Xia Yan frowned.

To be honest, while it's not exactly a secret how many Pokémon a trainer owns and what kind of Pokémon they have, it's still hard to accept that they're being asked to check so directly.

Seemingly sensing Xia Yan's dissatisfaction, Keqi showed an apologetic expression.

“During this extraordinary time, for the safety of the residents of Golden City, we must investigate the cause as soon as possible. We have no intention of offending you, and we hope you can understand our predicament.” Ketchum once again lowered his stance.