Poachers are a group of people universally despised, making a living by poaching Pokémon, and their poaching range is not limited to wild Pokémon; Trainers' Pokémon are also among their targets.
Xia Country has a strong crackdown on poachers, but where there is light, there is darkness. These groups are like cockroaches, almost impossible to eradicate, and when you find one poacher, it often represents a large organization behind them.
In some cases, even the reputation of dark organizations is better than theirs, as not all members of dark organizations view Pokémon as tools that can be discarded at any time, but poachers do.
"I originally planned to train in the wild, but now I'll have to postpone it for a while." Lin Fan had a headache. A major reason why poachers are so rampant is that their strength is generally very high, at least that of a high-level Trainer, and most are Elite-level Trainers. The current Lin Fan would find it difficult to defeat them.
Collecting his thoughts, Lin Fan turned his gaze to Liu Shi.
Never mind, I'll finish this battle first. This Poliwhirl is not an easy opponent to defeat.
He casually tossed out Beedrill's Poké Ball, signaling the start of the battle.
"Poliwhirl, Bubble Beam!"
As Liu Shi's voice rang out, Poliwhirl's belly swelled, and with a full-body effort, it violently sprayed out countless extremely fast bubbles, each carrying powerful energy.
Facing this clearly probing attack, Lin Fan commanded, "Counter Shield."
The rapidly spinning Silk Thread collided with the countless incoming bubbles, splashing countless water droplets and canceling each other out, while Beedrill's eyes grew sharper and calmer, clearly having completed a Focus Energy.
"Light purple Silk Thread?" Liu Shi was somewhat confused, but that didn't stop him from continuing his attack.
"Muddy Water!"
A towering tidal wave rose from the ground, turbid like muddy water, and pressed down on Beedrill with overwhelming momentum.
This Poliwhirl's strength was already close to Elite-level. Liu Shi probably intended to use the Water Stone to help Poliwhirl break through to Elite-level upon evolution.
"Agility, force your way through with speed!"
Facing the unavoidable Muddy Water, a faint white light appeared on Beedrill's body. Using the sharp Double Needle on its hands as weapons, it tore a small gap in the Muddy Water and silently passed through it.
However, when Beedrill prepared to approach Poliwhirl to attack, it was surprised to find a light rain falling from the sky.
"Rain Dance!" Lin Fan's eyes widened slightly, a little astonished.
Weather-altering moves are extremely difficult to learn, requiring high talent from a Pokémon and cannot be mastered by effort alone.
Even if Poliwhirl learned this move, the rain in the sky was light, like fine Silk Thread, indicating that it had only a preliminary grasp, and further progress would be incredibly difficult.
It is precisely because of their extremely high learning difficulty that Pokémon with innate weather-altering abilities are extremely valuable, each one a sought-after commodity.
Poliwhirl has two evolution forms: Poliwrath, which evolves with a Water Stone, and Politoed, which evolves with a King's Rock. Among the latter's three abilities is "Drizzle," which evolves from Poliwhirl's hidden ability Swift Swim, greatly increasing its speed in the rain.
This Poliwhirl's ability... could it be Swift Swim?
Lin Fan saw the fleeting smile on Liu Shi's face and immediately had a somewhat ominous premonition.
"Gua guaa~"
Poliwhirl jumped to the side, dodging Beedrill's Poison Sting, and took the opportunity to create distance from the latter.
It was already a Pokémon good at speed, and with the ability's boost, its speed increased significantly. Although this rain was a 'cut-down' version, preventing its ability from reaching full power, it still gave it the capital to compete with Beedrill, especially with the rain-boosted Muddy Water being a major killer.
"No way, is Liu Shi that serious?" Primeape's Trainer was surprised. He had never seen Liu Shi use Rain Dance when fighting him. Their so-called acquaintance seemed a bit off.
Uncle Wang also frowned. Although not being defeated wouldn't prevent Lin Fan from being hired as a sparring partner, Lin Fan was someone he had brought, so Liu Shi should have held back a bit.
He usually treated his subordinates well, so it shouldn't be a matter of him losing face now, right?
Facing their confusion, Liu Shi, uncharacteristically, explained, "I've fought him before; his Pokémon shouldn't be underestimated."
Lin Fan was a little helpless, but also a little pleased.
Being recognized by others was his honor and the best praise for Beedrill.
And... Liu Shi was right, his Pokémon, absolutely could not be underestimated.
"I originally thought this move wouldn't be useful after learning it, but I didn't expect to actually find an opportunity to use it. Sure enough, every move has its moment to shine." A smile appeared on Lin Fan's face, "Beedrill, Poison Fang!"
This move was not something Beedrill specifically learned, but rather something it accidentally mastered while trying to learn Poison Jab, as its internal Poison-type energy was constantly being stimulated. It hadn't practiced it much normally.
After all, this was a special attack move, and given Beedrill's dreadful special attack stats, even if it hit the opposing Pokémon, it wouldn't do much damage. At most, its own corrosive poison would make the opponent slightly wary.
Liu Shi thought the same. He was initially puzzled if Lin Fan had given the wrong command, but the next second he saw Beedrill perfectly understand Lin Fan's intention, flying directly into the air and looking up at the energy cloud releasing the light rain, spitting out a large mouthful of dark purple special poison.
"What is it doing? It can't be trying to pollute the rain, can it?" Primeape's Trainer was incredibly surprised, and the next second his eyes suddenly widened.
It actually polluted it?!
He saw the originally clear raindrops gradually taking on a faint purple hue, very light, but definitely present. They gathered into small puddles on the ground, and that hint of purple became even more apparent.
"Even if it can pollute the rain, it's useless. How could these toxins, diluted so much, still be effective?" Primeape's Trainer shook his head, stating his opinion.
However, Liu Shi's expression changed somewhat.
He remembered the Ekans that had been poisoned back then.
If it were an ordinary Pokémon's poison, he naturally wouldn't care, as he also had Poison-type Pokémon and had some research in this area.
But that was Weedle's... no, Beedrill's poison, even more potent than Weedle's.
Back then, it was able to win by poisoning Ekans with a poison he completely couldn't understand. Now, it was once again demonstrating the power of its poison, giving Liu Shi a bad premonition.
Just as he was about to command Poliwhirl to use a full-power Muddy Water to end the battle, he saw a faint, abnormal purple glow appear on the latter's face, and its expression looked somewhat pained.
Poisoned!
Liu Shi gritted his teeth, glancing at Primeape's Trainer.
Jinx, can't you just keep quiet for a bit?
The latter innocently covered his mouth, feeling a bit wronged.
Who would have thought that this Beedrill could poison Poliwhirl with a Poison Fang diluted by the rain cloud?!