For nearly the entire afternoon, Aoki led Murkrow in hit-and-run tactics pushed to their absolute limit.
They would strike a location, immediately flee, rest for a short while, and then attack another patch of woods.
By the end of the afternoon, they had wiped out four forest colonies of Kakuna.
Although a single Kakuna offered pitifully little toward Murkrow’s growth, bit by bit it added up, and Murkrow still leveled up once, reaching Level 14.
However, during each subsequent extermination of a Kakuna cluster, a few Kakuna would evolve prematurely into Beedrill in extreme Rage.
But to Murkrow, even Level 13 or 14 Beedrill were no different from Kakuna, to say nothing of newly evolved ones.
Moreover, Murkrow now understood Pokémon like Beedrill much better, defeating every enemy almost without wasting any extra stamina.
With Aoki scanning them periodically using his microchip, data on all the appeared Beedrill was saved in the microchip.
Most of the dozens of Beedrill possessed red potential, with only a select few reaching orange potential.
This highlighted just how rare Pokémon with high potential were.
Murkrow’s green potential made its talent practically one in ten thousand.
The gap between a red-potential Beedrill and an orange-potential Beedrill was quite obvious.
First of all, an orange-potential Beedrill possessed one more egg move than a red-potential one.
Furthermore, all its growth stats were significantly higher.
At the same level, a single Gust move from Murkrow would knock out a red-potential Beedrill, whereas an orange-potential one required at least two Gust attacks to be fully rendered unable to battle.
It was precisely because of such a clear difference that Pokémon with higher potential were all the more precious.
This showed that Team Rocket had poured massive resources into this trial—among the three hundred trial takers, the lowest potential of any starting Pokémon was orange.
With constant battles, even though Murkrow was continuously replenished with intermediate energy blocks, it was getting a bit tired—mental exhaustion far outweighing physical fatigue.
“Can you still hold on?” Aoki asked softly as he gave Murkrow a specialized massage to speed up its recovery, watching the Pokémon close its eyes in comfort.
Murkrow felt too relaxed to utter a sound and simply nodded at Aoki.
“Then let’s squeeze in one more round before night falls.” After resting a bit more, Aoki and Murkrow left the safe Metapod territory once again and stepped into the Beedrill territory.
After four raids, the outer Kakuna woods within the Beedrill territory had grown increasingly sparse.
To find more, they had to head deeper in, but the deeper they went, the faster the Beedrill would respond, making it progressively more dangerous.
This time, they spent nearly twenty full minutes venturing deep before Aoki finally found a patch of woods densely hung with Kakuna.
Looking at the Kakuna hanging densely from the trees, Aoki was rendered momentarily speechless.
He wondered why Beedrill had such incredible reproductive capacity.
Without rival species or natural predators, their reproduction speed and growth rate meant ruling the entire Trial Island wouldn’t be impossible.
Fortunately, the law of the jungle prevailed in nature.
Against certain overpowering Pokémon, sheer numbers couldn’t win, which was why distinct territories had formed to avoid encounters with superior powerhouses.
Just as Murkrow was about to use Gust to sweep up all the Kakuna in one go as before, several Beedrill suddenly flew out from between the trees.
Seeing the Beedrill, Aoki frowned.
*Already?
No…
these must be Beedrill posted here as guards in advance.* This situation meant the entire Beedrill swarm had taken Aoki and Murkrow very seriously.
Since Beedrill were social Pokémon, a small group would rarely stay behind alone in one spot unless their sole purpose was to guard against the pair’s arrival.
Sure enough, as if a hornet’s nest had been stirred, figures of Beedrill surged endlessly from the forest.
A chorus of buzzing echoed back and forth like enraged roars.
Naturally short-tempered, the Beedrill glared furious daggers at the human and Pokémon before them.
In a single day, this pair had wiped out nearly a hundred of their kin and countless Kakuna offspring.
Such near-genocidal slaughter had thoroughly ignited the fury in their hearts.
Watching the swarm of Beedrill pouring in from all sides, Aoki’s face turned grim.
It seemed a remarkable leader had emerged within the Beedrill swarm—one capable of setting an ambush.
It was like facing a pack of wolves: a single wolf or even a disorganized pack wasn’t terrifying, but a pack commanded by an alpha made every wolf united and fearless of death.
The Beedrill swarm now closely resembled such a pack.
As more and more Beedrill appeared, they gradually formed an encirclement.
*We can’t let this continue.
If we’re completely surrounded, today might be the end of us,* Aoki thought.
The more dangerous the situation, the less room there was for panic.
Aoki’s habitual composure compelled him to quickly evaluate an escape route.
His microchip was also active, analyzing the surrounding environment.
“Kaa!
Kaa!” Murkrow cawed aggressively at the Beedrill swarm.
In truth, even if there were twice as many Beedrill, none of them could match its speed.
However, if it fled alone, Aoki would be in mortal danger.
Thus, as Aoki’s Pokémon, Murkrow grew anxious, putting on a fierce show of force against the Beedrill.
Before the Beedrill swarm could complete the circle, Aoki began slowly retreating with Murkrow.
“Bzzzz!” A deep, resonant buzz sounded from behind the Beedrill swarm.
Instantly, as if receiving a command, every Beedrill went wild.
The rage in their blood-red eyes flared brighter, and the sound of flapping wings surged toward them like a cresting wave.
“Murkrow, use Gust in front of us to block them as much as possible!
Then quickly use Peck to take out the few Beedrill behind us.
We’re retreating!” Aoki ordered calmly.
Fortunately, the encirclement wasn’t complete yet—a massive swarm crowded the front, while only two or three stragglers guarded the rear.
As long as they could knock out the stragglers behind before the front swarm broke through the wall of wind, they could still escape smoothly.
A second later, channeling its Flying energy to the limit, Murkrow conjured two massive white whirlwinds between them and the Beedrill, blocking the swarm’s advance.
Even when one or two tried to force their way through, they were instantly drawn into the whirlwinds and thrown out incapacitated.
Without looking back, Aoki reached toward his storage belt and pulled out a piece of brownish-yellow cloth.
Wrapping it swiftly around his head, he protected everything above his neck, leaving only his eyes exposed, and charged straight into the dense brush.
As for the two Beedrill rushing straight at him, Aoki paid them no mind.
He trusted that Murkrow, right after casting Gust, would deal with these final two roadblocks in time.
*Bang!
Bang!* Murkrow didn’t disappoint.
A dark flash streaked past as Murkrow delivered Peck attacks, knocking down both low-level Beedrill to lie motionless on the ground.
Peck was also a Flying-type move, dealing massive damage to Beedrill.
Having easily dealt with the two Beedrill, Murkrow hovered above Aoki, ready to escort him away.
*Bzzzt!
Swish!
Bang!* Suddenly, from inside the whirlwinds blocking the Beedrill, a massive figure appeared, standing completely unfazed amid the Gust attack.
With a furious roar, a sharp, long needle pierced through the whirlwind, instantly dispelling it.
Only then could they see the figure clearly—a giant Beedrill twice the size of a normal one.
Hearing the noise, Aoki glanced back out of the corner of his eye, his pupils shrinking abruptly.
A giant Beedrill—the leader of the Beedrill swarm, an entity on the verge of becoming a boss Pokémon.
Because of the distance, the microchip couldn’t scan its data, but based purely on aura, it was no weaker than the Pinsir they had defeated earlier—and perhaps even a notch stronger.
However, now was not the time for battle.
No matter how special it was, Aoki would not linger.
Without missing a beat, he quickened his pace, retreating hastily with Murkrow.
After having Murkrow use Gust several more times along the way to block their path, they finally shook off the Beedrill swarm.
About half an hour later, Aoki and Murkrow had completely shaken off the Beedrill swarm.
Perched on a tree deep within Metapod territory, Aoki breathed heavily, finally able to rest.
It was fortunate that his recent nutrition had been decent, with proper meals every day, combined with the breathing techniques he had learned in his past life during physical training.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to endure running for half an hour straight.
As his breathing gradually evened out, thinking back to the vast number of Beedrill he had seen before escaping gave Aoki a headache.
He had initially thought this was a newly formed, unorganized Beedrill swarm.
Even if their numbers were large, they were fresh evolutions vulnerable to Flying-type moves.
As long as he controlled the pace, he could erode their entire territory step by step, making it the perfect leveling spot for Murkrow.
Little did he expect that a leader capable of commanding the entire swarm would emerge so quickly, and one with no small intelligence at that, which posed a huge obstacle for Aoki.
Whether a swarm possessed a leader made a world of difference in its combat power and cohesion.
A swarm with a competent leader could unite scattered individuals into a clenched fist, delivering a brutal blow to any enemy.
The emergence of this Beedrill leader had almost cost Aoki his life.
Though troublesome, it would be a pity if Aoki and Murkrow gave up just because of this.
He had only caught a brief glance during their escape and hadn’t had time to scan the Beedrill leader’s stats.
Still, to become the undisputed leader of the swarm so quickly, its potential and strength were surely far from weak.