Walking into the forest entrance, Lucas looked at the white expanse before him; the once lush greenery was now completely covered in a white coat.
After clearing the snow at the junction between the forest entrance and the Breeding House's backyard, Lucas walked in with Gengar and the others. As they passed under the trees, snow would occasionally fall from the branches and land on their heads.
Compared to the liveliness of summer and autumn, the forest in winter felt exceptionally desolate.
Up until now, Lucas had not found a single trace of any Pokémon on the outskirts of the forest.
"It seems this snow has had quite a large impact on the forest Pokémon."
Lucas lifted his foot and stepped down, treading through the snow onto the withered branches buried beneath.
After walking through the outskirts for a while, Lucas finally spotted a few Pachirisu on a tree.
One Pachirisu, which was munching on a berry it had taken from a tree hollow, had originally planned to come out and sunbathe. Finding no sun today and being too lazy to go back into its hollow, it simply stayed outside in the snow while eating its berry.
However, its eyes were fixed ahead, its tiny face filled with a great deal of worry.
It sighed while nibbling on the berry in its hands.
It had heard that an uninvited guest had arrived at the Cave ahead, injuring many of the forest's family members and taking the Cave for itself.
That Cave was originally intended by the forest Pokémon for the weaker ones, the elderly, or the newborns to use for their activities, so they hadn't expected it to be usurped.
Today, they were still discussing whether to go over together and take the Cave back.
But the strength of that uninvited guest was truly formidable; many powerful Pokémon had been defeated by it, even the leader of the Seviper, the Honchkrow, and the Lopunny leader.
It wanted to help too, but with its small body, it figured the intruder could probably send it flying thousands of miles away with a single slap.
Sigh.
If only that hateful, perverted human were here.
His Pokémon are so powerful; maybe they could help it and the forest take the Cave back.
The hateful snow had blocked the passage between the forest and the Breeding House, and it couldn't get out; otherwise, it would have run to the Breeding House to find him for help.
At worst, it would let him bury his face in its belly again.
Sigh, what a pity it couldn't get out.
So annoying for a Pokémon.
The Pachirisu kept sighing, taking bite after bite of the berry in its hands until its cheeks were stuffed full.
Its eyes remained fixed on the path ahead.
It suddenly felt itself being picked up by someone. Just as it looked down, it felt a sense of weightlessness and the sound of wind in its ears. Before it could react, it felt itself being caught.
Then, it caught a familiar scent.
"Standing outside in such cold weather, are you that eager to feast on the cold wind?"
The familiar voice reached the Pachirisu's ears.
It was stunned for a moment.
Looking at the incredibly familiar face before it, the Pachirisu's already simple brain completely short-circuited.
How could he be here?
Did some Pokémon run out to deliver the news?
Lucas looked at the still-dazed Pachirisu. "What's wrong?"
Hearing Lucas's question, the Pachirisu finally snapped out of it.
In the next second, it anxiously tugged at Lucas's clothes.
It pointed into the distance.
"Don't worry, don't worry. Tell me slowly, what happened?"
Lucas spoke while leading Gengar and the others toward the place the Pachirisu was pointing.
The Pachirisu climbed onto Lucas's shoulder and explained the situation in his ear.
An outsider Pokémon had stolen the Cave they used for the elderly and newborn Pokémon to spend the winter in——
Lucas listened as he ran, his brow furrowing deeply.
An outsider Pokémon?
Even Seviper and the others couldn't defeat it?
Lucas came to a halt and saw a group of Pokémon gathered together, their bodies covered in wounds.
Gengar floated over to them, taking out Potions to begin treating them.
Lucas walked over to the Lopunny and checked its body.
It looked like it had been injured by a heavy blow, specifically to the leg.
When the Lopunny saw it was Lucas, the vigilance in its eyes instantly vanished.
Lucas treated its wound, and after bandaging it up, he patted its head.
"It's okay, leave the rest to me."
Hearing Lucas's gentle tone, the Lopunny nodded and finally fell into a deep sleep.
After finishing the treatment of the Pokémon on-site with Gengar and the others, Lucas exhaled a breath of cold air, stood up, and clapped his hands.
"Everyone, let's go and see this powerful Pokémon."
"Just what kind of character it is."
Lucas narrowed his eyes slightly.
Gengar nodded, while Lilligant remained silent.
Dash kept stretching his wrists.
Electric arcs constantly jumped across Luxray, and Vespiquen flew quietly beside Lucas.
Following the Pachirisu's guidance, Lucas arrived in front of the Cave.
Lucas looked at the Cave; when he had come here before, he hadn't known there was even a Cave in the forest.
The Pokémon surrounding the Cave entrance made way as they saw Lucas arrive.
The entrance was pitch black. According to the Pachirisu's description, the Pokémon that had occupied the Cave seemed to be very robust; otherwise, it wouldn't have broken Lopunny's leg bone with a single punch.
Lucas glanced at Dash beside him.
Robust?
"Dash."
Dash nodded, then stepped forward and took off his safety helmet, which Lucas took from him.
Dash loosened the belt at his waist, and then his four arms slammed violently into the rocks at the Cave entrance.
The impact immediately caused the ground to shake and the mountains to tremble.
Seeing Dash's performance, Seviper recalled its battle with Zangoose while Dash had been watching from the side.
It silently backed away a short distance.
Dash's commotion quickly drew a Pokémon out.
Lucas watched the figure gradually become clear.
Its body was composed of rock, primarily black and orange-red, with a thick drill horn on its head and a smaller one above that.
Rhyperior.
When Lucas saw the true face of this Pokémon, he suddenly understood.
No wonder Seviper couldn't beat it, and neither could Lopunny or Honchkrow.
If it was a Rhyperior, then it was understandable.
The Rhyperior was furious when it saw the Pokémon before it.
These guys had been pestering it here for a while; today they were all here, and it planned to take them all out in one go so they wouldn't disturb it again.
However, it was somewhat wary as it looked at Dash, who was clearly even more robust than itself.
The Rhyperior let out a low growl.
It was asking why Dash was also targeting it.
Dash was very disgusted by its behavior of seizing the Cave, driving out the Pokémon inside, and injuring the forest Pokémon.
Among them was the Lopunny who often went to the Breeding House to spar with him.
Consequently, he was very angry right now.
However, he still restrained his temper and turned to look at Lucas.
"Rhyperior, tell me, why did you seize this Cave for yourself? Why did you injure the Pokémon living inside and those who came to demand an explanation?"
Lucas asked.
Only then did the Rhyperior notice Lucas's presence, looking at this weak human.
It gave a disdainful laugh and then let out a low growl.
Strength is the foundation of everything.
Lucas gave an "oh" and then nodded.
"Dash."
Dash's four arms slammed together, creating a massive airwave.
"Crush it."
As soon as Lucas spoke,
Dash landed four punches on the Rhyperior.
The Rhyperior flew back like a cannonball, slamming heavily into the rocks of the Cave.
Cracks appeared on its body.
The Dynamic Punch left it dizzy and disoriented.
Nevertheless, it struggled to stand up.
Lucas, Gengar, and Lilligant were somewhat surprised.
It could actually still stand up after taking a double-effective Dynamic Punch, especially one from Dash?!
But standing up was useless.
Dash would demonstrate that with his actions.
The Rhyperior struggled to stand, not yet realizing what was happening.
In the next second, pain flared through its body again.
But it only hurt for a single second.
Because in the very next second, it directly fainted.
Lucas looked at the Rhyperior embedded in the rock and walked up to it.
"Do you know who protects this forest?"
Lucas said to the unconscious Rhyperior, "You actually dare to tell me that strength is everything?!