Before long, after Murkrow repeatedly evaded Koffing while relentlessly targeting Zubat, the bat Pokémon finally succumbed to the continuous strikes, losing its ability to battle and crashing to the ground.
A cold sneer played at the corner of Aoki’s lips.
With Zubat dealt with, the slow-moving Koffing posed no threat at all.
The chubby youth gritted his teeth, desperately wanting to go all-out against Murkrow, but Koffing couldn’t even touch a single feather of the black bird.
The green-clothed youth looked at his fallen Zubat, his face turning pale with panic, utterly at a loss for what to do.
“Idiots!
Don’t just stand there staring!
He’s only one person—why don’t you two charge him directly?!
Are you waiting to die?” the chubby youth roared, his neck turning thick and red.
If even Koffing lost the ability to battle, their fate was obvious.
At the thought of this, sweat poured down his forehead uncontrollably.
Hearing his shout, the green-clothed youth gritted his teeth, drew a dagger from his utility belt, and gripped it tightly.
Clever as he was, he naturally understood the consequences if Koffing fell.
Even the short boy, who had been sitting dazed on the ground, snapped out of his shock.
He stood up trembling, his eyes bloodshot.
As if by tacit agreement, both of them charged at Aoki simultaneously.
Aoki’s expression didn’t change in the slightest.
As a former member of Team Rocket in his past life, what hadn’t he seen?
They were just two greenhorns.
Although his current body was still somewhat thin, he had undergone specialized hand-to-hand combat training in his past life.
Two teenage boys were nothing in his eyes.
Besides, things had reached a point where the three of them no longer posed any real threat to him.
“Murkrow, finish the fat one first,” Aoki said casually as he flipped the two youths to the ground.
“Caw!” Murkrow let out a sharp cry, flapping his wings.
Under the chubby youth’s horrified gaze, Murkrow’s sharp talons slashed across his throat.
The boy clutched his neck with both hands, struggling to speak, but no sound came out.
He slowly slouched to the ground, lifeless.
Without its trainer to direct it, Koffing became nothing more than a useless target.
Under Murkrow’s relentless attacks, it quickly lost its life as well.
In the end, all three youths and their three Pokémon lay dead beneath Aoki and Murkrow’s assault.
Aoki turned a blind eye to the despairing looks of the three youths.
Long accustomed to life and death, he was not naive enough to think this was a friendly world.
This was a dog-eat-dog world, a harsh reality.
Once someone became an enemy, they had to be prepared to die.
Showing mercy to an enemy was being cruel to oneself.
In this trial, only those who survived were the winners!
Deftly unbuckling the storage belts from the three corpses, Aoki led Murkrow away from the bloody scene without delay.
The scent of blood would soon attract wild, ferocious Pokémon from the forest, and the corpses would satisfy their appetite.
After walking an unknown distance, Aoki and Murkrow sat down under a large tree.
Aoki pulled out a few Dark Speed Berry Blocks to restore Murkrow’s stamina, then dumped out all the contents from the three storage belts, leaving a miscellaneous pile of items scattered on the ground.
There was nothing particularly valuable.
Aoki casually kept a dagger, some food, and a few wilderness survival supplies.
What surprised him slightly was that the green-clothed youth actually had a bottle of healing spray.
He wasn’t sure where the boy had gotten it; perhaps he had stolen it from someone else.
Looking at the crooked, messy treasure map in his hand, Aoki felt utterly speechless.
Although he knew these maps were left behind by Team Rocket as rewards for newcomers, the drawing skills were truly atrocious.
Even the handwriting on it was wobbly—as expected of a treasure map that cost only a hundred points to redeem.
Based on the earlier conversation among the trio, the treasure map’s destination seemed to be located directly south of the cave.
According to the map’s terrain details, passing through two more Pokémon territories would bring him to the spot.
Since the chubby youth had mentioned passing the Rattata territory already, the next area ahead would be Weedle territory, while the treasure itself was buried in a Caterpie territory.
Compared to the Caterpie territory where the treasure was hidden, the Weedle territory was far more dangerous.
Bug-type Pokémon generally grew very quickly, which meant there would inevitably be Beedrill present in the Weedle territory.
Beedrill swarms were tyrants in almost any forest.
It wasn’t because an individual Beedrill was extraordinarily strong, but because of their hive-mind instinct—provoking a single Beedrill meant facing relentless pursuit from an entire swarm.
More importantly, Beedrill were extremely xenophobic and highly aggressive.
“Hopefully, there aren’t too many Beedrill in that territory, or we’ll have to make a detour,” Aoki said, shaking his head helplessly.
Facing a massive swarm of Beedrill would give even him and Murkrow a headache right now.
However, because the map only drew a simple path, no one knew what unexpected dangers might await on a detour.
They might run into a wide river and end up wandering further off course, or encounter even more dangerous Pokémon.
Compared to unknown dangers, known risks were far more acceptable.
Now that he had the treasure map, walking away without taking a look simply wasn’t in Aoki’s nature.
Stashing the map into his storage space, Aoki stood up and patted the dirt off his clothes.
He had Murkrow dig a small pit in the ground, threw the three storage belts along with all the useless junk inside, covered it with a layer of soil, and stomped it down loosely.
Sometime later, deep within a dense patch of woods, Aoki held the dagger in his right hand, clearing away thorns and branches blocking his path.
He crouched low as he moved forward.
Murkrow fluttered his wings softly in the air, keeping his movements silent in a manner that looked slightly comical.
Aoki and Murkrow had officially stepped into the Weedle territory marked on the map.
After finishing the battle with the trio, Aoki and Murkrow had walked roughly seven to eight kilometers before entering this zone.
Upon entering the area, both Aoki and Murkrow concealed their presence, hoping to cross safely without alarming any Beedrill.
After cautiously advancing another kilometer, Aoki let out a slight sigh of relief.
Up to now, he hadn’t spotted a single Weedle, Kakuna, or Beedrill.
However, his suspended heart didn’t stay at ease for long.
In the forest ahead, the trunks of thick trees—each wide enough to require a man to wrap his arms around—were densely covered with golden cocoons that looked like polished gold.
Almost every tree had three to four cocoons hanging from it.
Looking across the woods, dense patches of golden yellow dotted the sea of green.
Taking a soft breath, Aoki stopped in his tracks and observed the area for a moment.
The silver lining was that there wasn’t a single Beedrill in sight.
Still, he couldn’t afford to lower his guard.
When Kakuna were in their cocoon state, any slight shock could force them to instantly evolve into Beedrill.
Given the current density, if an emergency occurred, he would be facing swarms of freshly evolved Beedrill.
Even if they were just newly evolved Beedrill and posed little difficulty for Murkrow individually, their sheer numbers alone were enough to make Murkrow feel uneasy.
Exercising extreme caution with every step, it took them two full hours to finally cross the Weedle territory.
However, it wouldn’t be long before this place truly transformed into a Beedrill sanctuary.
Given the nature of Beedrill, bar any accidents, this swarm would soon become one of the dominant forces in this forest.