Agumon was dumbfounded.
Now he was caught in a dilemma—he couldn’t bite down, but he couldn’t pull away either.
Agumon instantly froze in place.
Sinshi finished his countdown at that moment, then slowly pulled his hand back.
He naturally wiped the saliva off on Agumon’s body while saying, “The countdown is over.
Since you didn’t object, I’ll take that as your tacit agreement.”
“You’re…
*cough, cough*…
playing dirty,” Agumon said, clutching his throat and coughing incessantly.
“Whether I’m playing dirty or not is a minor issue.
What’s important is that since you consider me an important friend, you shouldn’t take all the blame on yourself.
Instead, you should choose to face things together with your friends.”
Sinshi patted Agumon’s shoulder and said, “This is the most basic, fundamental trust between friends.”
Hearing this, Agumon wanted to say something more.
Sinshi raised a hand, pretending he was about to shove it in his mouth again, and Agumon instantly covered his mouth.
“Alright, don’t look so down.
Next up is grilled fish time.
We need to eat our fill so we have the energy to travel tomorrow.”
[Friendship] 60→70 (Important Friend)
Glancing at the change on the panel, Sinshi didn’t give Agumon time to react.
He picked up the fish from the ground, tossed it to Agumon, and pushed him toward the campfire.
Seeing Agumon looking conflicted, wanting to speak but unable to find the words, Sinshi chuckled and shook his head.
Right at that moment, the panel jumped with another notification.
Sinshi immediately stopped, his eyes scanning the surroundings to find what had triggered the panel.
“Sinshi, what’s wrong?”
“A Pokémon has appeared nearby,” Sinshi said.
“What?” Agumon instantly perked up, lowering his voice.
“Is it the guy who stole our grilled fish earlier?”
“I’m not sure, but it’s best to be careful.
Over there.”
While keeping an eye on the information on the panel, Sinshi slightly turned his body to face the entity’s location.
Agumon also widened his large green eyes, staring warily in the direction Sinshi indicated.
Not far away, in the forest that had now completely plunged into darkness, a shadow gradually emerged.
*Rustle, rustle!*
The shadow slowly pushed through the bushes and stepped out of the forest’s perimeter.
Judging by its path, it seemed to be heading straight toward them.
Even if it wasn’t the Pokémon that stole the grilled fish, it probably didn’t come with good intentions.
Agumon’s nerves instantly tensed.
Flames began to slowly gather in his mouth; as long as Sinshi gave the order, he would absolutely roast the opponent alive.
Sinshi placed a hand on his shoulder, signaling him to stay calm.
One human and one Digimon watched quietly.
It wasn’t until the shadow stepped out of the forest’s canopy and into the clearing that its appearance gradually became clear under the moonlight.
It was a monkey-like Pokémon with purple fur covering most of its body—its head, back, and tail—while only certain parts were beige.
However, more eye-catching than its face was the tail on its rear, which far exceeded its body length.
The strangest part was that the end of this tail wasn’t empty; instead, it featured a giant three-fingered hand, looking as if it had grown an extra hand out of thin air.
But Agumon didn’t care about any of that.
What he cared about was what that hand-like tail was currently gripping—a grilled fish.
The other party’s identity was obvious: the fish thief!
Since that was the case, there was nothing left to discuss.
Agumon took a step forward, the flames in his mouth burning fiercely, ready to compress into a fireball and launch an attack.
Sinshi reached out and interrupted Agumon.
“Wait.”
Agumon looked at Sinshi in confusion.
“Don’t rush.
Let’s see what happens first.”
Looking at the panel information that only he could see, Sinshi spoke slowly.
[Species] Aipom [Category] Long Tail Pokémon [Type] Normal [Ability] Skill Link (If using multi-strike moves, always hits the maximum number of times) [Level] 8 [Exclusive Move] None [Learned Moves] Scratch, Tail Whip, Sand Attack, Astonish, Fake Out [Base Stats] 360 (HP 55, Attack 70, Defense 55, Sp.
Atk 40, Sp.
Def 55, Speed 85) [Friendship] 10 (Thankful for your grilled fish, thankful for nature’s gift) [Status] Healthy (Bound) [Information Summary] Described in ancient books as a peculiar Pokémon with only one hand, it relies entirely on the strength of the hand on its tail to maintain balance while swinging through the forest.
Over a long period of evolution, their tails became increasingly nimble, while their actual hands grew clumsier.
They have a mischievous nature and love to play pranks and tease people.
There are over a hundred recorded cases of them snatching travelers’ belongings, making them widely disliked by many travelers.
“Aipom…
No wonder it could steal the grilled fish in such a short time and then escape the panel’s detection range.”
Sinshi naturally saw that the grilled fish on the other party’s tail was his stolen one.
But logically speaking, after stealing the grilled fish, Aipom had absolutely no need to come back.
It could have just eaten it and slipped away.
Yet it had returned, which made Sinshi a bit puzzled.
It wasn’t until he saw a very out-of-place green seed on top of Aipom’s head, the “Bound” status in its status bar, and a second set of data popping up on the panel after Aipom’s profile that Sinshi noticed another figure lurking in the forest shadows behind Aipom.
It was a Pokémon wearing what looked like a snow-covered stump hat on its head, with a snow-white upper body and a dark brown lower body.
Its thick arms and legs, combined with its barrel-like waist, made it look exceptionally sturdy.
At the same time, lines of small blue text appeared before his eyes.
[Species] Snover [Category] Frosted Tree Pokémon [Type] Grass, Ice [Ability] Snow Warning (When entering a battle, it will start to snow) [Level] 13 [Exclusive Move] None [Learned Moves] Leer, Powder Snow, Leafage, Ice Shard, Leech Seed, Icy Wind [Base Stats] 334 (HP 60, Attack 62, Defense 50, Sp.
Atk 62, Sp.
Def 60, Speed 40) [Friendship] 20 (Naturally close to humans) [Status] Healthy [Information Summary] A Pokémon that lives on mountains with deep snow.
It absorbs nutrients by burying its feet in the snow.
When spring arrives, the excess nutrients it absorbed transform into berry-like ice pops around its waist.
It has a naturally gentle disposition and is close to humans.
If it finds human footprints in the snow, it will actively follow them to find the humans.
Even when faced with disobedient children, it will not lose its temper.
And this Snover, defined by the panel as gentle, was currently standing behind Aipom, wearing a very stern expression as it urged the monkey forward.
Aipom glanced fearfully at Snover’s thick arms waving back and forth in front of its face.
Finally, with an awkward expression, it walked toward Sinshi and Agumon, stopped two meters away, and stretched out its tail to hand back the stolen grilled fish.
Sinshi watched this scene with great interest.
The current situation looked very much like a child who had made a mistake being brought over by a parent to apologize in person.
But that didn’t seem quite right either.
The two Pokémon didn’t look like they knew each other; rather, it looked more like the result of Snover enforcing “peace” through brute force.
After all, what kind of parent brings a child to apologize trussed up like a turkey, while occasionally waving a massive fist over their head?
So, was this Snover playing the hero?