Capturing Arbok

Even if it fought to the death, Arbok might not be able to get close to the two Pokémon, making half of its moves useless.

Moreover, their attacks were too powerful. Its body was reaching its limit.

Seeing that the situation had turned against it, Arbok chose to flee.

Reaching this level had been a struggle, and survival had always been instinct. Running had kept it alive when it was weak, and it saw no shame in doing it again.

Keep fighting? Wait to die?

Watching the Arbok turn and slither away with clear intent, Aoki's expression remained unchanged. His voice was cold.

"Slowpoke, finish it. Use Confusion."

Having already powered up with Calm Mind, Slowpoke's Special Attack had increased. A blue light flickered in its eyes as invisible psychic waves surged toward the fleeing Arbok.

Already weakened by the previous rounds of battle and hit with multiple super-effective Psychic-type attacks, Arbok was both physically and mentally exhausted.

Under the full-force attack of Slowpoke's Confusion, the Arbok, who had been crawling at full speed, suddenly froze. Its eyes rolled back, and it collapsed straight to the ground.

Aoki took out a standard Pokeball from his ring and threw it at Arbok.

The moment the Pokeball made contact, it activated, engulfing Arbok in red light.

Click!

The Pokeball shook slightly. A red light flashed on the button in the center before it finally locked.

Slowpoke used Telekinesis to float the Pokeball back to Aoki. He smiled and patted its head in approval.

Without hesitation, Aoki released Arbok.

The freshly awakened Arbok flinched, its body shrinking back in fear as it stared at Aoki, who stood guarded by Slowpoke and Murkrow.

It winced as pain shot through its wounds.

"I don't care what you're thinking," Aoki said, his voice devoid of emotion. "Disobey me, and you die. If you even think of betraying me, don't bother opening your eyes again."

Hearing Aoki's words, Arbok glanced at Slowpoke and Murkrow, who both looked ready to strike. It quickly lowered its head, acknowledging its situation.

Survival was all that mattered.

Aoki took out a healing spray and treated its injuries—just enough to keep it from dying, but not enough to fully recover.

There was no way he would trust this cunning viper. As long as it lived long enough to be sold, that was enough.

He quickly stabilized Arbok's condition. Under its resentful gaze, he recalled it into the Pokeball.

Overall, Aoki was satisfied with this battle.

Slowpoke and Murkrow had worked well together.

With a double advantage over Arbok due to type matchups, Slowpoke had been the main damage dealer, and its Psychic-type attacks had also provided partial control over the battle.

Meanwhile, Murkrow handled mobility—switching between melee and ranged attacks—seamlessly working with Slowpoke's control. Their teamwork had been refined through repeated battles.

Arbok's level wasn't low, and its potential was decent. Coupled with the advantage of having a strong final evolution, it had still taken three rounds of attacks from both Slowpoke and Murkrow to take it down—despite being heavily countered.

Arbok had only managed to fire off a single Poison Sting before being overwhelmed.

But its value was still high.

Even though Aoki hadn't found a Nidoran this time, this hunt had still been profitable.

"Search the area. Let's see if there's anything valuable here." Aoki smirked. He was quite pleased to have caught such a valuable Pokémon.

The best at treasure hunting was Gastly. It could move freely, and nothing escaped its investigation.

Under the large tree that Arbok had claimed as its territory, there were piles of white bones. The strong aura of death made Gastly eager to feast.

The purple mist around its body darkened slightly, growing denser.

With the combined efforts of Murkrow, Slowpoke, and Gastly, they uncovered several valuable items—materials worth roughly 50,000 Pokecoins.

Some of the materials were related to Poison-types, so Aoki decided to keep them for Gastly and Skorupi.

Speaking of Skorupi, it had slept through the entire battle. The small Pokémon was still curled up on Aoki's shoulder, completely undisturbed. The quality of sleep during its growth stage amazed Aoki.

After cleaning up the area, Aoki left with his Pokémon, heading toward another location marked on his map.

Three hours later, Aoki arrived at the second of the three possible Nidoran locations provided by the informant.

This time, he found nothing.

Along the way, aside from defeating a few weak wild Pokémon, nothing particularly noteworthy happened.

Not even a single Pokémon with decent potential had appeared. It had been a complete waste of time.

During the search, Aoki stopped to rest and deal with lunch.

There was plenty of time, so he didn't settle for dry rations.

His Pokémon enthusiastically hunted down some wild rabbits and birds. They had missed the taste of freshly grilled meat.

The one who ate the most was Miltank. This was her first time trying Aoki's barbecue, and she was hooked.

Her recent physical training had also increased her appetite, and she ate more than the rest of the Pokémon combined.

During the meal, Aoki took a moment to feed Skorupi some milk. The small Pokémon, having slept all morning, lazily drank before letting out a satisfied burp and going right back to sleep.

Aoki was gradually getting used to caring for a newborn Pokémon.

However, one thing worth noting was that after the constant battles that morning, Gastly had reached level 16.

Murkrow had also leveled up, reaching level 21—his first level-up since leaving the Trial Island.

After leveling up, Murkrow actively requested an increase in his training weights.

Aoki agreed and increased his load to 25 pounds.

He understood why Murkrow was pushing himself so hard.

Murkrow could feel that he was falling behind Slowpoke.

Even though Slowpoke hadn't leveled up this time, that was only because there were many Bug-type Pokémon in the area, giving him an advantage and making him the first to improve.

It was only a matter of time before Slowpoke gained another level.

Not wanting to be left behind, Murkrow took the initiative to increase his weight training.

Though he wasn't jealous of Slowpoke's growth, Murkrow was determined to push himself harder—he wanted to keep up with Aoki's pace.

Gastly's rapid progress also gave him a sense of urgency.

He knew he had only outperformed Slowpoke and Gastly so far because of his natural advantages. But he also understood that his potential was slightly lower than theirs.

As the self-proclaimed "big brother" of the team, he wanted to set an example.

Murkrow would give 120% effort to grow stronger, take on more responsibilities, and support the entire team.

That way, even if he was eventually caught up, he could say with confidence that he had done his best.