Ignoring Arbok’s screams, Jasper slowly walked over, stared coldly at the Arbok, and said, “I’ll give you two choices. One, fill this bottle with your venom, and I’ll let you leave. Two, die here, and I’ll take the venom from your corpse myself.” As he spoke, he took out a glass bottle from his waist pouch and shook it in front of Arbok’s eyes.
“Arbok…”
Watching the Arbok ignore its injuries and hurriedly burrow into the grass to flee, Jasper figured that today would probably become a terrifying memory for its entire snake life.
Not only had it been beaten up, but even most of the venom it relied on to survive had been robbed from it.
It was practically on the verge of tears, probably thinking that it had to stay far away from this sorrowful place.
Jasper chuckled softly, then carefully looked at the venom inside the glass bottle in his hand.
The deep purple liquid had not a single trace of impurity.
It was top-quality stuff.
This venom would definitely be very popular among Trainers with Poison-type Pokémon and should sell for a good price.
Mt.
Moon.
It was already Jasper’s third day here.
Inside a cave, Jasper was walking through the dark passage.
The flashlight in his hand gave off a faint beam of light that shone ahead.
Suddenly, waves of sound came from deeper inside the cave.
Flap!
Flap!
Flap!
It sounded like the wings of some creature beating through the air, gradually drawing closer.
Jasper slowly stopped.
Before long, bursts of piercing squeaks mixed with the sound of flapping wings kept coming toward him, growing closer and closer.
“Could that sound be…?”
“Come out, Crystal Onix.” Jasper decisively took out his Poké Ball and threw it.
The Crystal Onix’s enormous body immediately landed inside the cave, blocking Jasper’s front.
Under the beam of the flashlight, the figures of those creatures gradually appeared ahead.
Letting out sharp squeaks, they flew toward him.
“As expected, it’s a swarm of Zubat? Crystal Onix, block them. Use Screech,” Jasper immediately ordered, then took out earplugs and stuffed them into his ears.
“Roar!”
The Crystal Onix opened its mouth and let out a loud roar.
Invisible sound waves instantly surged toward the Zubat.
The Zubat let out shrill squeaks and flew chaotically through the air.
From time to time, some of them crashed into the cave walls and fell down.
Clearly, that Screech had a huge effect on them, especially in a cave like this.
Jasper also took this chance to quickly retreat toward the cave entrance.
Zubat were a very common kind of Pokémon.
Most of them lived in groups in dark environments like caves.
They had four sharp fangs in their mouths and often sucked the blood of humans or Pokémon.
Fortunately, Jasper had reacted in time this time.
Otherwise, with so many Zubat, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
After retreating from the cave, Jasper looked behind him.
Luckily, those Zubat had not chased after him.
In the wild, it was better to avoid battle whenever possible, preserve one’s strength as much as possible, and avoid other unexpected accidents.
He let out a long breath.
It seemed he could only change to another cave and continue exploring.
Then he recalled the Crystal Onix.
After all, its body was far too eye-catching.
Although he had encountered quite a few wild Pokémon over the past few days, with the Crystal Onix’s strength, dealing with them had been fairly easy.
Just like that, Jasper stayed on Mt.
Moon until the sixth day.
Finally, while Jasper was resting under a tree, he saw a white figure hopping in the distance.
After following the Clefairy all the way, he finally arrived outside a cave surrounded by trees.
Looking around, he found that the surrounding environment was extremely hidden.
“No wonder I couldn’t find it,” Jasper could not help complaining inwardly.
Inside the cave, looking at the enormous Moon Stone in front of him and the countless ordinary Moon Stones scattered around it, Jasper admitted that his heart was moved.
How much money would all of this be worth?
Even if he could not take away that giant Moon Stone, he had to find a way to take the scattered Moon Stones.
He was not Ash and the others, who could enter a treasure mountain and return empty-handed.
Looking at the many Clefairy and Clefable gathered around the giant Moon Stone, Jasper did not want to rob the Moon Stones right in front of them.
On one hand, Clefairy were kind Pokémon, and Jasper did not want to hurt them for his own selfish gain.
On the other hand, with so many Clefairy and Clefable, who knew how powerful they would be if they joined forces?
Jasper clearly remembered that they had once used Metronome together and collectively unleashed Hyper Beam to send Team Rocket flying.
Jasper did not want to take that risk.
What followed was very simple.
Against these Clefairy, who had no awareness of guarding against this kind of thing at all, Jasper first used the Crystal Onix to lure the Clefairy and Clefable away.
Then he secretly entered the cave and stuffed all the high-quality Moon Stones scattered around the giant Moon Stone into his pocket.
There were eighteen pieces in total.
As for the remaining mid- and low-quality ones, he left them for the Clefairy.
Afterward, once he regrouped with the Crystal Onix, he quietly left Mt.
Moon.
Along the way, Jasper kept touching his waist pouch, feeling exceptionally good.
However, he did not know that this day had been a nightmare for the Clefairy.
First, a crystal demon had attacked them for no reason.
Then, after they finally drove that crystal demon away, they returned to the cave only to discover that many of their beloved Moon Stones had suddenly disappeared.
This also caused the Clefairy, in the days that followed, to always leave more than half of their group behind to guard the Moon Stones no matter what happened.
Of course, that was a story for later.