The dense night enveloped the bustling beach, but the hillside jungle behind the guesthouse burst with a different kind of vitality.
Moonlight filtered through the dense canopy, scattering like fragmented silver onto the damp ground.
Chen Kai and Zhou Zicheng crouched, hiding behind a clump of giant ferns, holding their breath, looking exactly like two scouts on a secret mission.
"That one!" Chen Kai whispered, pointing towards a small patch of ground ahead illuminated by the moonlight.
A brown and yellow Yungoos was rummaging around there, its tail held high, completely unaware of the lurking presence.
Zhou Zicheng, however, hesitated.
"Zhou Zicheng, pick it! According to the plan, send out your Rowlet!" Chen Kai urged in a low voice, his eyes fixed on the target, quickly thinking:
"Don't be afraid, this Yungoos looks to be under Level 10, perfect for Rowlet to get some practice. If there's real trouble, I'll help you!"
Hearing Chen Kai speak again, Zhou Zicheng took a deep breath and pulled out a Poké Ball from his waist.
No matter what, he was still a junior high student, and at this age, it was impossible for him not to desire to become a powerful trainer.
So, after dinner, when Chen Kai learned that the mountain behind the guesthouse was Mount Lanakila, he suggested going to find wild Pokémon for practice and invited Zhou Zicheng to try it with him, and Zhou Zicheng was tempted.
A red light flashed, and the round Rowlet appeared silently in front of him, its large eyes gleaming in the darkness.
"Rowlet, it's up to you! Use Shadow Sneak!" Zhou Zicheng commanded confidently in a low voice.
Rowlet's small shadow instantly merged with the surrounding tree shadows, transforming into an almost imperceptible black line, striking the Yungoos like lightning!
However, just as its Ghost-type energy attack was about to touch the Yungoos—
Chen Kai helplessly covered his face, at a loss for words.
Do junior high teachers in Alola not teach type matchups?
The Ghost-type energy passed through the Yungoos's body as if through air, causing no damage whatsoever!
But this sudden turn of events startled the Yungoos, making its fur stand on end. It quickly turned around, its fierce gaze Lock-On to the exposed Rowlet and the bush where Zhou Zicheng was hiding.
"Ghost-type Shadow Sneak is ineffective against Normal-type Yungoos!" Chen Kai quickly reminded him.
The disturbed Yungoos let out a low Growl, pushing off with its hind legs, its body enveloped in a white glow, and used Tackle, charging fiercely towards Rowlet.
"Quickly defend, switch to Leafage!" Chen Kai's voice was filled with undeniable urgency.
Zhou Zicheng also reacted, quickly giving the order: "Rowlet, hurry! Block it with Leafage!"
Rowlet reacted extremely quickly. Hearing Zhou Zicheng's command, it immediately flapped its wings, instantly summoning a large number of swirling emerald leaves to form a dense leaf shield in front of it.
Bang!
Yungoos's Tackle slammed heavily into the leaf shield, scattering leaves everywhere. Rowlet was knocked back a few steps by the impact, but it successfully mitigated most of the damage.
"Good job! Now use your height!" Chen Kai prompted quickly, "You can use Peck for close-range attacks, or create distance and use Leafage for long-range attrition!"
"Understood! Rowlet, fly up and use Peck!" Zhou Zicheng's command was much clearer this time.
Rowlet flapped its wings and quickly ascended, dodging another pounce from the Yungoos that followed closely. Then, with a nimble dive, its sharp beak viciously Pecked the Yungoos's back.
The Yungoos cried out in pain. Just as it was about to retaliate, Rowlet flew high again, and as its wings flapped, sharp Leafage shot down like throwing knives.
The Yungoos below angrily jumped and pounced, and with its agile movements, it hit the low-flying Rowlet once more. But Rowlet remembered the command, never lingered in battle, struck and left, constantly using its aerial advantage to harass.
The sharp pain of Peck and the continuous slicing of Leafage gradually exhausted the low-level Yungoos, and its movements became sluggish.
Finally, after another of Rowlet's diving Pecks, the Yungoos swayed a few times, let out a reluctant whimper, saw stars, and fell to the ground, losing its ability to battle.
"We won! Rowlet, we won!"
Zhou Zicheng jumped up excitedly and rushed over to hug the somewhat tired but bright-eyed Rowlet.
This was their first victory.
Chen Kai also breathed a sigh of relief, stepping out from his hiding place and patting Zhou Zicheng's shoulder: "Good job! You reacted very well later on. But remember, type matchups are fundamental; next time, make sure to figure them out before battle!"
He looked at the panting, somewhat disheveled Rowlet and added, "Quickly treat Rowlet's scrapes; it performed exceptionally well tonight."
Chen Kai walked forward and sprayed some Potion on the Yungoos.
The Yungoos recovered some of its strength and scurried away in a hurry.
Just then, in the shadows not far behind them, a low, dense bush subtly rustled, emitting a faint, almost imperceptible "shush" sound.
Zhou Zicheng, immersed in joy, was oblivious, busy checking Rowlet's wings.
But Chen Kai's keen ears caught the movement. The smile on his face faltered slightly, and he instinctively, with a hint of vigilance, looked towards the darkness in that direction.
Through the gaps in the dense branches and leaves, two extremely faint, almost imperceptible glimmers of light seemed to flash and disappear, so quickly it felt like an illusion.
That feeling… was it a pair of eyes?
A small silhouette blurred for a moment in the shadows, then completely merged into the deeper darkness, as if it had never appeared.
Chen Kai frowned, staring at the now silent bush for a few seconds, muttering to himself: Was it a nocturnal Pokémon… or something else?
"Kai Ge, what's wrong?" Zhou Zicheng asked, seeing Chen Kai's expression.
"It seems to be a Pokémon; it has already left." Miraidon transmitted to Chen Kai at this moment.
"Nothing." Since Miraidon said so, Chen Kai dismissed the matter.
"Now that Rowlet has mostly recovered, let's strike while the iron's hot and find another wild Pokémon to battle!" Zhou Zicheng was still in an excited state.
Chen Kai naturally wouldn't refuse, and the two continued deeper into the mountain forest.
However, Mount Lanakila's peak soared into the clouds, so they were essentially walking diagonally upwards.
Only after confirming that their figures and voices had completely faded into the distance did the low bush, which Chen Kai had just watched vigilantly, stir again.
The rustling sound was a bit clearer than before, and the branches and leaves were gently pushed aside.
A figure emerged from the shadows and stood upright.
The moonlight fell unobstructed upon her.
It was a little girl who looked to be about ten years old, not tall, and so slender that a gust of wind seemed capable of blowing her away.
Most striking was her peculiar, short, dark purple hair, as if steeped in the night, which glowed faintly under the moonlight.
Her face was smudged with dirt, and a few strands of purple hair on her forehead were matted with sweat or dew.
She wore a black pinafore dress, the deepest, most inconspicuous shade of black.
However, the dress was patched with many pieces of coarse cloth of different shades, large and small, varied in shape, and mismatched in color, covering the entire dress. The stitches were crooked and uneven, clearly done by an unskilled hand.
Only the golden glow of the bracelet on her arm seemed out of place with her attire.
At this moment, having just emerged from the bush, her clothes were still clinging with a few withered leaves and small broken twigs, making her appear particularly disheveled.
She seemed unconcerned by her predicament, merely wiping a smudge of dirt from her cheek with the back of her hand. Her eyes, which had gleamed faintly in the shadows—now a clear purple under the moonlight—were intently gazing in the direction Chen Kai and the others had disappeared, with a hint of curiosity in their depths.
Just then, the bush beside her moved again.
A smaller figure nimbly leaped out, floating lightly in the moonlight beside the girl.
It was indeed a Pokémon that, at first glance, looked very much like Pikachu!
However, upon closer inspection, its condition was unsettling.
Its yellow fur was not fluffy and shiny like a healthy Pikachu's, but rather dull. On its left hind leg, near the hip, there was a patch sewn with coarse black thread, the stitches crooked and ugly, like a hideous centipede resting there, exceptionally jarring.
However, the most bizarre and unsettling aspect was its face.
It didn't look like a real Pikachu's face at all!
Under the moonlight, although the outline of its head was still round, its features presented an extremely distorted, misaligned, and terrifying appearance, like a child's scribble.
What should have been round, cute black eyes had dilated, lifeless black pupils.
Its mouth was not Pikachu's iconic cute little "W," but a jagged, asymmetrical slit outlined with crude lines, stretched upwards into a stiff, mask-like, eerie arc.
Where the red electric sacs should have been on its cheeks, there were only two blurry, smeared dark red stains, like dried bloodstains or poor-quality paint.
Above this nightmarishly distorted face, the only thing that brought a hint of incongruous, fragile beauty was a tiny, almost glowing pink wild flower tucked at the base of its left drooping black pointed ear.
The flower was fresh and delicate, with a few rounded petals clustering around a tiny goose-yellow pistil, like a faint candle flame stubbornly burning in a dark abyss.
This was the Disguise Pokémon—Mimikyu.
The black spot on Mimikyu's belly looked at the purple-haired girl, and it emitted an extremely faint, guttural mumble with a scratching noise: "Kyu… ka… zi…" The sound was distorted, completely unlike any normal Pokémon Growl.
The girl turned around and said to Mimikyu with a smile, "How interesting, these two are foreigners!"
"Should we follow them and see?"
Mimikyu nodded:
"Kyu!"
With Mimikyu's Helping Hand, the purple-haired girl, like a shadow merging into the night, followed far behind Chen Kai and Zhou Zicheng, cautiously.
They used the cover of dense vegetation, moving so lightly that they made almost no sound.
Just as they approached the halfway point of the mountain, a commotion and a clear command from a young boy suddenly came from a clearing in the forest not far ahead.
"Dracovish, use Tackle!"
The purple-haired girl immediately stopped Mimikyu and quickly hid behind a large volcanic rock, only peeking out a small part of her head and her clear purple eyes.
Under the moonlight, Chen Kai was standing at the edge of the grass, intently commanding a Pokémon she had never seen before, one with an extremely fierce and strange appearance!
This strange Pokémon was letting out a low roar at an Alolan Raticate in front of it, which was also quite large, with shiny black fur and sharp whiskers.
"This Pokémon is called Dracovish?" the girl murmured to herself, feeling a touch of shock.
She had never seen this kind of Pokémon, neither in her studies nor online.
However, Dracovish seemed a bit confused by Chen Kai's command.
It shook its large head, letting out an unclear low Growl, and instead of charging forward, it hesitated, shuffling its feet in place.
"Raticate!" The Alolan Raticate on the other side wouldn't wait!
A fierce glint flashed in its eyes, its hind legs pushed off the ground, and its body enveloped in a white glow, it charged fiercely towards Dracovish like a black cannonball!
Bang!
A muffled thud! Raticate squarely hit Dracovish's relatively vulnerable side.
Dracovish's massive body staggered from the impact, letting out a roar of pain, its huge fish head shaking from side to side, clearly a bit dazed from the hit.
"Dracovish! Snap out of it!" Chen Kai shouted anxiously, "Don't just stand there, retaliate! Use Tackle! Tackle back!"
This time, Dracovish seemed to understand part of the "attack" intention, but it clearly didn't grasp the essence of "Tackle."
It violently swung its huge fish head, simultaneously flailing the pair of comically short fins below its jaw, and its two thick hind legs also began to kick wildly and aimlessly!
It was using Thrash!
"Gaaah—!"
Dracovish shrieked, its massive body twisting and spinning wildly in place, its sharp teeth, fins, and hind legs flailing and kicking aimlessly in the air, stirring up a cloud of dust and fallen leaves.
This sudden, erratic "dance" actually made the Raticate, which was preparing to pounce again, pause for a moment, instinctively taking half a step back.
"Did it not hit?" The girl and Mimikyu in the shadows didn't see clearly.
But they and Chen Kai all saw that just as Dracovish made an unguarded turn, that cunning black Raticate seized the opening!
It closed in like a phantom, opening its large mouth filled with sharp incisors, and viciously ‘Bit’ Dracovish's relatively slender fin!
"Aoo—!!!"
Dracovish let out an ear-splitting roar of pain, its huge body twisting and jumping wildly due to the intense pain, trying to shake off the Raticate that was biting down hard and refusing to let go. The scene became chaotic for a moment.
"Come back, Dracovish!" Chen Kai made a decisive decision, and a red light accurately struck the struggling Dracovish, recalling it to its Poké Ball.
He had a hint of helplessness and heartache on his face: "It seems we still need more practice…"
Immediately after, Chen Kai didn't hesitate, quickly throwing out another Poké Ball: "It's up to you, Xiao Mei! Finish it with Thunderbolt!"
"Zzzzz—Boom!!!"
As soon as Xiao Mei appeared, a thick, incredibly destructive Thunderbolt, like a golden enraged dragon, tore through the darkness of the forest, striking the Alolan Raticate with lightning speed and pinpoint accuracy!
"Zzz—!!!" Raticate only managed to let out a short, shrill scream. Its entire body was enveloped in violent electricity, instantly stiffening, its dense black fur standing on end, and wisps of smoke rising.
The next second, it fell straight to the ground, its eyes spinning in circles, completely losing its ability to battle.
A faint smell of scorching permeated the air.
The battle ended so quickly and so thoroughly that Zhou Zicheng, and the purple-haired girl hiding in the shadows, were both caught off guard.