"Matthew, I'm ready. If you are too, let's move out!"
Hearing Aven's words, Matthew nodded, mounted his Mightyena, and began leading the way up front.
Aven followed closely behind, riding on the Bibarel while holding both Petilil and Ralts in his arms.
As they re-entered the Black Forest, Matthew couldn't help but feel a mix of emotions as he saw the continuous appearance of magical beasts around them.
So it turned out he had already been inside Lord Aven's territory back then—and those magical beasts within the forest had already noticed him.
Even those seemingly inconspicuous Oddish turned out to be highly skilled scouts, capable of quickly transmitting messages throughout the Black Forest.
Meow~ Meow~
Luxio ran at the front of the group.
It could sense that the Black Forest was filled with electromagnetic waves, and it carefully distinguished them, alert for any potential dangers.
Matthew led the way in silence. His Mightyena was also an expert at scouting, and with a Crobat providing support from above, their travel speed was quite fast.
"Lord Aven, up ahead is the territory of a group of Mothim."
At that moment, Matthew had his Mightyena come to a stop and turned to explain to Aven, who had just caught up.
"Mothim?" Aven nodded slightly.
Burmy, the pre-evolution of Mothim, was quite common in the Black Forest, and they were also a major food source for many Pokémon.
In Fruitvale Village, it wasn't unusual to spot these Pokémon, and some villagers had even started capturing and raising them.
Unfortunately, Burmy couldn't use moves like String Shot, so it had little economic value and often damaged vegetation.
Moreover, Burmy was relatively hard to evolve, especially compared to Oddish, which was easier to raise. As a result, its cultivation value was very low.
Thus, Aven never considered it a priority for training. Most of the time, they were left to roam freely, and villagers also preferred raising Oddish instead.
However, since Matthew specifically pointed out that they were entering Mothim territory, that meant the number of Mothim in this area must be significant.
"Let's go straight through. With Petilil and the others with us, those Mothim won't be a real threat."
Hearing this, Matthew nodded, then called down the Crobat from above and led Aven directly into the area.
Just as he had guessed, this part of the forest housed a large number of Mothim, along with many Wormadam as well.
Burmy's evolution was a bit unusual. Male Burmy evolved into Mothim, while female Burmy evolved into Wormadam.
Additionally, depending on the environment and what they wrapped themselves in, Burmy would take on one of three forms: Plant Cloak, Sandy Cloak, or Trash Cloak.
Since they were currently in a forest, the Burmy here were all in their Plant Cloak form.
"This is indeed a large colony. If I could subdue them, it would really boost the combat power of my territory," Aven thought.
Fruitvale Village already had strong land and water combat units, but their aerial forces were lacking—with only Yanma holding the line.
Perhaps these Mothim could help fill the gap in his airborne forces.
However, taming an entire colony was never an easy task. Even though he had already subdued several groups of Pokémon, it was always based on deep bonds built over time.
As for these Mothim, who were peacefully living in the forest, if he directly announced his intention to tame them and bring them back to his territory, they would definitely see him as an invader.
"No, that won't work."
"Maybe I should first find a way to incorporate this area into my territory."
"If a few Mothim eventually wander into the Safari Zone, I might have a way to get them to stay."
"I believe that with the allure of Pokémon food and better living conditions, some Mothim would choose to remain in the breeding zone—and in that way, I can gradually absorb their colony."
Aven pondered carefully. He suddenly recalled that Mothim had a particular fondness for Honey—they would often travel great distances just to find and eat it.
In his past life, he had witnessed Mothim colonies fighting with Vespiquen colonies over Honey on more than one occasion.
Even when facing the vastly stronger Vespiquen colony, the Mothim would still charge forward without hesitation—showing just how obsessed they were with Honey.
And right now, he happened to have a Combee. Once it evolved into a Vespiquen, it would form a Combee colony capable of producing large quantities of Honey every day.
That would make for a perfect lure to attract the Mothim.
He also considered another option: letting the Mothim attack the Vespiquen colony in the Black Coast Forest.
But... that did seem a bit underhanded.
While Aven was lost in thought, they had already passed through the Mothim territory.
The Mothim and Wormadam were rather lazy creatures—as long as Aven and the others didn't attack first, the wild Pokémon weren't interested in moving.
Meow~ Meow~
Shortly after leaving the Mothim territory, Luxio suddenly cried out while facing a large tree.
"Luxio, did you find something?" Aven asked curiously.
Meow~ Meow~
Luxio nodded, indicating that it sensed remnants of electromagnetic waves on that tree.
"Lil lil~"
Petilil carefully looked at the tree but still didn't see anything.
Tilting her head, she gave it some thought and then used her energy to make the surrounding grass grow up along the tree.
As the grass climbed higher, a figure suddenly appeared from the tree and flapped its wings to take flight.
It was a Mothim, but it had used some means to hide itself completely from view.
"Lil lil, lil lil~"
Petilil's little eyes sparkled as she looked at Luxio, growing more impressed by the ability to sense electromagnetic waves.
Inspired, she tried to sense the life energy of her surroundings. She had heard that Luxio's sensing ability came from detecting bioelectricity—
so maybe she could do something similar by sensing the life energy within other living beings.
After training with Energy Ball over the past few days, she had become increasingly sensitive to life energy.
Maybe... she really could try it!
"So that's it—a Mothim that has learned the move Camouflage!"
Aven's gaze sharpened. Camouflage was a very rare move, and the Pokémon most likely to learn it was Kecleon.
The effect of Camouflage was to change the user's type depending on the environment—similar in principle to the move Nature Power.
Besides changing type, the move also allowed the user to blend in perfectly with their surroundings, effectively becoming invisible.
"This Mothim has great potential."
Aven watched as the Mothim flew back into its territory, pressing his lips together in contemplation.
For a Pokémon breeder, nurturing interesting Pokémon was also part of the fun.
If this were his previous life, where he had Poké Balls, he would've been very eager to capture this Mothim and raise it.
But in his current situation, it would be difficult to capture that Mothim—he had no clear opportunity to interact with it.
"I'll wait until Poké Balls can be created, and then come back and try again."
"If that Mothim is willing to follow me, I might be able to raise it into a truly powerful Pokémon—and use it to help tame the entire Mothim colony."
Aven quietly made a mental note and continued deeper into the Black Forest.
Along the way, they passed several other intermediate-tier magical beast colonies.
Every time they came across one, Aven would pause to observe.
Their goal this time wasn't just the Nidoking Valley—every magical beast colony they encountered was also a potential target.
Just like with the Mothim earlier, if possible, Aven planned to tame all of them.
Different Pokémon had different habits, and even Pokémon of the same species could vary.
By observing them, he could assess their situations and develop taming strategies accordingly.
They pressed on through the Black Forest. After half a day of travel, they finally arrived at Nidoking Valley, which wasn't very far from the southeastern edge of Aspiration City.
"Ralts"
As they approached the valley, Ralts suddenly called out softly.
Possessing Fairy-type attributes, it could clearly sense a very comforting energy coming from the distant valley.
"It seems this place really does have Fairy-type treasures," Aven murmured, eyes narrowing.
As long as he could confirm that there were Fairy-type treasures in addition to the Moon Stone, then this trip would definitely be worth it.
(End of Chapter)