Kael instructed Lulu to prepare dinner, while he himself retrieved a black case from his backpack. Opening it revealed a variety of components neatly arranged inside. With practiced ease, he took out the main body and began assembling it.
About five minutes later, a jet-black unmanned aerial vehicle stood quietly on the grass.
This was a custom-built field reconnaissance drone Kael had commissioned at great expense from a heavy-industry subsidiary of Silph Co. He had named it the Falconer Drone, equipping it with solar charging panels and an infrared detection camera.
Before carrying out his next steps, he needed a clear picture of the surrounding terrain. Of course, if the drone could directly pick up Sneasel's whereabouts, that would be ideal.
As the Falconer Drone rose steadily into the air and disappeared into the night sky, Kael opened his laptop and linked it to the drone's system. In an instant, a bird's-eye view of the emerald forest unfolded before his eyes.
Searching for a specific Pokémon in such a vast area was no different from looking for a needle in the ocean. Modern technology could drastically reduce the difficulty—but without a bit of luck, results were still far from guaranteed.
An hour passed since the drone's launch.
Kael uploaded Sneasel's image into the drone's onboard recognition system. Any creature with a matching silhouette would immediately trigger an alert. Unfortunately, that best-case outcome did not occur.
That said, the drone's primary task was to map the surrounding terrain and identify dangerous Pokémon populations. Finding Sneasel directly would have been a bonus—failure to do so was hardly a loss.
The scan results soon came in.
At eastern coordinates 1274, 654, a group of Mankey had established territory, led by two Primeape.
At western coordinates 1745, 693, there was a Nidoking and a Nidoqueen.
At northern coordinates 1534, 765, lived a herd of Rhyhorn.
Only the southern region consisted of a vast canyon and jagged rocky terrain. Aside from a few Geodude, there were no wild Pokémon capable of posing a serious threat.
Studying the incoming data, Kael fell into deep thought.
All living creatures instinctively seek benefit and avoid danger. Dark-types like Sneasel, especially, were no less intelligent or emotionally complex than a human child of around ten years old.
Assuming this Sneasel was injured or weakened:
The eastern region was Mankey territory, reinforced by two Primeape leaders. Fighting-types naturally counter Dark-types—both mechanically and instinctively—making the east the last place Sneasel would choose.
Next were Nidoking and Nidoqueen, Pokémon fiercely protective of their territory and already near the top of Viridian Forest's food chain. Any creature with a functioning brain would avoid provoking them.
That left the northern and southern regions.
The southern area was the safest in terms of hostile Pokémon, but the environment was harsh and offered little in the way of food. The north, on the other hand, was home to Rhyhorn—herbivorous, mineral-eating Pokémon with generally docile temperaments. Their massive bodies and slow speed made it difficult for them to threaten an agile Pokémon like Sneasel.
Which meant—
Unless something unexpected had occurred, the Sneasel was most likely hiding in either the northern or southern region.
"Then I'll use the dumbest method there is—process of elimination," Kael muttered.
He set the drone to autonomous patrol mode and headed first for the closer northern area. If there was nothing there, he would move south.
...
Guided by the drone, Kael soon arrived at the Rhyhorn herd's territory.
"Something feels off," he said quietly.
Several trees in the area bore heavy damage. Approaching one of them, Kael placed his palm against a deep indentation in the trunk. Cracks radiated outward from the impact point—damage consistent with Horn Attack.
"Kael, I found something!" Lulu's soft, childish voice echoed in his mind.
She waved her small hand, and a dark shape suddenly flew out of a nearby thicket, landing heavily on the grass in front of him.
"This is… a Rhyhorn's corpse."
Kael's gaze sharpened.
The body was covered in numerous savage claw marks, but none of them were fatal. The true cause of death lay at the center of its forehead—where a spiderweb of fractures, roughly the size of an adult's palm, had caved inward.
A crushing blow to the head.
Instant kill.
The claw marks told him who the culprit was. A Rhyhorn's hardest body part was its head, and damage of this magnitude could only mean one thing—
That Sneasel had likely mastered a powerful Fighting-type move.
Kael had Lulu use her psychic power to return the Rhyhorn's body to the bushes where it had been hidden.
At this moment, his desire for that Sneasel rose to an entirely new level.