Chapter 214: Preparing for the Tournament

Watching the enlightened Olai eagerly return to the lab, Aven smiled faintly and left the room to prepare his own experiment in the adjacent potion room.

This time, he planned to formulate a potion specifically to aid Combee's training.

The potion room was stocked with various berries and materials—all recently purchased using the village's abundant funds.

Since Master Olai's arrival, the village had spared no expense in buying alchemy ingredients using his exclusive channels.

Now the lab was filled with almost every potion ingredient available on the market.

"Bug-type Figy Berries, Combee's Sweet Honey…"

Aven moved through the lab swiftly, pulling ingredients from memory.

"No wonder Olai calls himself a master— Figy Berries are notoriously hard to find."

He sighed as he examined the specially processed Figy Berries in his hands.

This berry was both rare and difficult to grow. Its market price was sky-high, usually bought only by professional alchemists.

Unfortunately, these berries had been specially treated and could no longer be used as seeds. Otherwise, he would've wanted to plant some himself.

The same was true for other rare berries like the Wiki Berry. They were all processed to prevent seed extraction, ensuring their monopoly.

"Guess I'll have to rely on berry mutations," Aven thought to himself.

Berry mutations could yield entirely new varieties—his best bet to break the monopoly and boost Fruitvale Village's strength.

Rare berries were the key to formulating potions or juices that could directly increase a Pokémon's power.

With that thought, he began mixing the potion for Combee.

The Figy Berry would be the main ingredient, its Bug-type energy enhanced by carefully chosen supporting compounds.

Finally, he added Sweet Honey—rich in essential nutrients for Combee.

Soon, a bottle of orange-colored "Sweet Honey Potion" was complete, releasing a faint, sweet fragrance that made Petilil's eyes sparkle with excitement.

"Let's go find Combee."

At Aven's words, Petilil quickly swallowed its saliva and nodded eagerly.

As Aven left with the potion, Petilil deliberately lagged behind, eyeing the jar of Sweet Honey left on the table.

Just as it was deciding whether to sneak a taste, the jar suddenly floated into the air on its own.

Then, its lid opened, and the honey inside was scooped out by an invisible hand, vanishing into thin air. The empty jar was gently returned to its place.

Petilil froze in shock before letting out a sharp screech. That darn Froslass—that honey should've been hers!

"Froslass, too much sugar will make you fat," Aven said with a chuckle.

Hovering in the air, Froslass stuck out her tongue, still holding the Sweet Honey. Who are you kidding?

"Come on, I'll help you get another piece from Combee."

Aven smiled as he picked up the pouty Petilil on the table. When it heard what he said, a sweet smile finally appeared on its face.

Froslass also showed a look of anticipation. She floated over to Aven's side and sat on his shoulder, still licking the sweet honey in her mouth.

Outside the village, a faint fragrance lingered in the air, and the atmosphere was especially fresh and pleasant.

It was hard to imagine that just a month ago, Fruitvale Village was still shrouded in a foul stench. The transformation since then had truly been tremendous.

During the day, Vileplume would usually stay with its own group.

Now, many new Oddish had joined the village. Combined with the Gloom, their numbers had grown to nearly a thousand.

Vileplume had to manage these Oddish, helping them learn the rules of Fruitvale Village so they could gradually integrate into village life.

At first, these Oddish were extremely timid when encountering humans in the village.

But after some time, they gradually got used to the villagers' presence and were no longer as afraid as before.

After spending time living in Fruitvale Village, they fully accepted it as their new home.

Compared to the constant dangers of the Black Forest, Fruitvale Village was far safer and more comfortable. Now, even if you tried to drive them away, they wouldn't want to leave.

When the villagers learned about the large number of Oddish in the village, some of those aspiring to become apprentice Trainers started taking an interest in them.

Aven didn't stop them. If the villagers could earn the Oddish's trust, they could also befriend and bond with them as partners.

"Odd~"

As Aven arrived at the grassy field outside the village, the Oddish cheered happily.

They all knew who was responsible for their improved lives and completely regarded Aven as their leader.

Moreover, when Vileplume trained the Oddish, it would often speak of Aven, boosting their goodwill toward him even more.

"Looks like everyone's doing well here." A smile appeared on Aven's face.

These Oddish would become a crucial part of the village's protective force. Under their protection, Fruitvale Village would only become more prosperous.

"Buzz buzz buzz~"

Upon seeing Aven, the Combee flew off from Vileplume's flower and hovered around him.

"Combee, how have you been in Fruitvale Village?"

Hearing his question, Combee happily nodded and flew in a circle before returning to rest on Vileplume's petal.

"Plume~"

Vileplume waved, indicating that it had been taking good care of Combee.

Then it spread its hands as if complaining that Combee was really slow, still unable to master the Sweet Scent move despite all the teaching.

Seeing Vileplume tattling on it, Combee quickly lowered its head, looking embarrassed.

"Thanks for your hard work, Vileplume."

"Combee, don't be discouraged. Let me tell you, when Vileplume was learning Sweet Scent, it took a whole month to get it right."

As Aven finished speaking, Vileplume suddenly looked up, its face blushing, while Combee buzzed happily and flew around excitedly.

"But to be fair, the difficulty Vileplume had in learning Sweet Scent was quite different from yours."

Combee buzzed a few more times and returned to perch on Vileplume's flower, its antennae twitching.

"Alright, I'll stop teasing you."

"This is a special Sweet Honey potion I prepared. It'll help with your growth and development."

After a bit of playful teasing, Aven took out the potion. As soon as he opened the bottle, a fragrant aroma spread in the air.

He dropped a bit of the potion onto one of Vileplume's petals, and Combee immediately flew over to taste it. All three of its faces revealed a look of bliss.

At the same time, it could feel a warm energy flowing through its body, gradually merging within and making it buzz in comfort.

At the center of Fruitvale Village—

Because the ground there was too hard for planting berries, it had been left undeveloped.

Now, that once-flat open space had been completely excavated and transformed into a special arena resembling a colosseum.

At the center stood a rectangular battle platform, flanked by open space and surrounded by spectator seats capable of holding several hundred people.

This was the Pokémon battle arena Aven had instructed Fessen to build.

While the ground was indeed hard, it didn't matter much to a Rhydon.

Its drill-like horn spun rapidly, carving out the site in a very short amount of time. The only real bottleneck was how quickly the excavated soil could be transported away.

After carving out the arena's basic shape, Fessen organized the villagers to handle the finer details.

Finally, with Rhydon's Earth Power and Ancient Power reinforcing the ground, the makeshift battle arena was completed.

In three days, the Knight Selection Tournament would begin, and the patrol squad members would fight here for a chance to earn a Knight title!

As villagers passed by the arena, they couldn't help but feel excited. They had heard of the gladiator arenas in Aspiration City, but those places were far out of their reach.

Now, they could watch thrilling Pokémon battles right here in Fruitvale Village. They were thrilled and couldn't wait for the competition to start.

Inside the Pokémon Breeding House, tickets to watch the tournament are still on sale.

Though ticket prices weren't high, the sheer number of battles meant that sales were quite substantial.

Phyllis had been stationed at the Breeding House during this period. The revenue from ticket and potion sales had greatly improved the village's finances.

"Whew, just three more days to go," muttered Pete as he walked past the large arena with his Gloom, eyes shining with anticipation.

"Gloom~" The Gloom beside him called out with great enthusiasm.

After nearly a month of growth using growth fertilizer, Gloom's development had improved significantly.

Previously, having never absorbed fertilizer, it lagged far behind the cultivated Gloom outside the village.

But the first-time effect of fertilizer was even more potent. Combined with this wild Gloom's excellent natural potential, it quickly caught up.

Additionally, it showed strong talent in learning moves—it had already mastered Acid.

Pete walked over to the arena and sat on the steps outside, pulling out a Trainer Battle Handbook from his cloth bag.

The handbook contained data on many common Pokémon, including Gloom, Mightyena, and others.

Besides introducing these Pokémon, it also listed their weaknesses—something Pete had been diligently studying.

For example, Grass-type Pokémon are immune to powder-based moves. This made Pete realize that against Gloom and Weepinbell, using moves like Sleep Powder would be ineffective.

Also, Poison-type Pokémon cannot be poisoned. So, while Acid could be used as an offensive move, it wouldn't inflict poison on the target.

For Gloom, the poison status combined with healing moves like Absorb or Leech Seed could be a strong attrition tactic—but not against other Poison-types.

Pete read with fascination. He hadn't known Pokémon harbored so many secrets. With this information, he could plan battle strategies much more effectively.

"If I face a mirror match, I'll have Gloom use Acid directly."

"If the opponent is a Mightyena, I'll go for a poison-based attrition strategy. But since Mightyena is really fast, I might have to use Stun Spore or Sleep Powder to slow it down."

He had already formed a preliminary strategy in his heart, all based on the handbook.

Apart from a few individuals with Pokémon like Mightyena, most patrol members had Gloom or Weepinbell.

In such scenarios, Acid would become crucial. Otherwise, battles would devolve into long attrition fights to see who lasted longer.

Meanwhile, at the knight camp, Mado and Jorah were also reading Aven's Trainer Handbook.

Beside Mado stood a Stunky, while a Yanma buzzed around Jorah.

They had both captured these Pokémon in the grasslands outside the abandoned orchard after arriving in Fruitvale Village. Both had now officially registered as apprentice Trainers.

In order to earn the villagers' respect—and to live up to the opportunity Aven had given them—they trained hard, determined to prove themselves worthy of being knight instructors.

"You two really plan to enter this Knight Selection?" Sutter looked at them with a complicated expression.

It was clear that these two disabled knights wanted to prove themselves. But hearing that they had given up their instructor roles to join the patrol team made Sutter sigh inwardly.

Mado and Jorah exchanged a glance and smiled.

"Only by doing this can we truly become knight instructors!" they said earnestly.

"If we can't even pass a single Knight Selection, how could we possibly be qualified to instruct the others? How would the recruits trust us? We'd rather give up our titles than carry them unearned!"

(End of Chapter)