Chapter 151: Departure for Hoenn

While Su Yi was feeding his accompanying monsters and carefully checking their wounds, the receptionist, the Aibo, arrived at the shed.

"Wow! Is this an Anjanath? It's so tall!" the Aibo exclaimed in amazement.

The Anjanath was currently the tallest among Su Yi's accompanying monsters, standing at roughly over six meters with a body length of about seventeen meters.

However, the one with the longest body length was the Nargacuga, measuring around nineteen meters.

Yet, Nargacugas possessed very long tails, making up more than half of their total length, so their actual bulk was not quite as massive.

Having eaten its fill and received treatment for its injuries, the Anjanath glanced at the receptionist, walked alone to the shade of a tree, lay down, and began to rest.

"Aibo, thank you so much for your hard work on this hunt. I'm here to gather intel from you," the receptionist said with a wave.

Following that, she began to collect and organize information regarding the monsters encountered during this hunt—this was part of her other role as a researcher.

Things like drawing maps, compiling hunter notes, handing over various quests, and taking inventory of supplies were all handled by the Aibo in her dual capacity as researcher and receptionist.

Therefore, people shouldn't always jump to the conclusion that the Aibo was secretly eating the supplies in their supply box, or even accuse her of munching on power coatings (laughs).

"The Yian Garuga truly is an unreasonable monster. Its battles aren't waged with survival as the primary premise, but rather out of a sheer enjoyment of combat, learning other monsters' fighting styles right in the middle of a brawl."

The receptionist exclaimed while taking notes.

"I wonder what other monsters we might encounter in the New World? How truly exciting."

Su Yi chuckled softly.

Scarred Yian Garuga, Furious Rajang, Seething Bazelgeuse, Savage Deviljho...

How does one translate the concept of a surprise?

Not just in video games, but hearing these names now made Su Yi's heart practically skip a beat.

"I recall that Yian Garuga are nocturnal monsters that sleep by day and come out at night," the Aibo said, flipping through her little notebook.

"Uh." Su Yi froze.

Come to think of it, the time they hunted the Anjanath was early in the morning, which, for a Yian Garuga, ought to have been right around breakfast time before heading off to rest.

It was purely a matter of coincidence.

After exchanging intel, the receptionist went back to submit her report; the discoveries made in the Ancient Forest this time would keep the Research Commission busy for a while.

After resting for a night, Su Yi returned to the Pokémon world, intending to officially head to the Hoenn region to begin his challenge for the League Conference.

Meanwhile, a video was uploaded to Su Yi's social media accounts.

The background of the footage was the lush shed situated at the back mountain.

Su Yi spoke in front of the camera: "In the forest, we can encounter all sorts of creatures."

As he spoke, the camera angle shifted to show a Great Jagras drinking water by a small stream. Su Yi pointed at it and said: "This is a Great Jagras."

The Great Jagras raised its head and affectionately rubbed against his hand. Su Yi stroked it before panning the camera to the other side.

A Kulu-Ya-Ku—carrying a pile of metallic parts and empty bottles that hunters had likely previously left behind in the training grounds—walked into a cave alongside a Tobi-Kadachi that was cradling a Flashbug gathered from goodness-knows-where.

Between the two of them, the Kulu-Ya-Ku was a collector, fond of picking up things it deemed peculiar and bringing them back to its nest to hoard.

The Tobi-Kadachi, on the other hand, loved decorating its nest with shiny objects.

However, the moment the two of them stepped into the cave, they were chased out by an Odogaron that favored darkness and slept with its eyes wide open, presumably annoyed by the fact that they had made the cave way too bright.

Soon after, the Kulu-Ya-Ku used a hard rock to heavily strike and chisel out a dwelling for itself in a sunken rock face, and it looked as though it wanted to continue expanding.

"This is a Kulu-Ya-Ku," Su Yi said with a smile.

The camera view shifted again, moving toward a large tree where a Tobi-Kadachi was perched on a branch, eating its food bite by bite. As it ate, its fluffy, large tail twitched gently.

"This is a Tobi-Kadachi."

Next, a little fellow stumbled down from the sky and pounced onto Su Yi's head.

The camera angled upward to reveal a baby Pukei-Pukei perched on Su Yi's head, calling out happily and licking the camera lens with its large tongue.

Rotom Phone immediately spoke up angrily: "Don't drool all over the phone, Rotom!"

Su Yi gently lifted the baby Pukei-Pukei—which had just learned to fly—down from his head, stroked it with a smile, and said: "This is a Pukei-Pukei."

Leaving the baby Pukei-Pukei to practice flying on its own, Su Yi panned the phone toward a patch of tree shade where a pitch-black Nargacuga was blending into the darkness, resting flat on the ground.

"This is a Nargacuga."

Su Yi suddenly felt something poking his leg.

Looking down, he saw that the young Rathalos was prodding his shin with its wing claws, then pointing at the wobbling, awkwardly flying baby Pukei-Pukei in the sky, letting out an envious cry.

Su Yi squatted down, patted the young Rathalos on the head, and said: "The Pukei-Pukei hatched a bit earlier and developed faster than you. You'll be able to fly soon too, so don't be impatient."

After acting spoiled for a bit, the young Rathalos ran over to a ledge about two meters high, spread its wings, and leaped off to practice gliding.

"This is a Rathalos."

Su Yi shifted the camera once more as a massive entity entered the frame. With a loud *snort*, the Anjanath blew a stream of mucus-like slime onto a tree trunk to mark its territory.

"This is an Anjanath... Stop spraying your snot everywhere!" Su Yi scolded.

The Anjanath turned its head, opened its jaws, and let out a roar, its huge mouth looking as though it could swallow Su Yi whole.

The video abruptly ended right there, titled *My Forest Friends*.

Diste: Since the video was posted, it means he's safe and sound.
Sonia: Are these Pokémon?! Aren't they way too huge?!
Bea: Did you catch new Pokémon? They look immensely strong.
Marnie: So many Pokémon I've never seen before!
Nemona: So you actually have this many Pokémon? And they all look so strong, I really want to battle you again! By the way, when is "next time" actually going to be?
Onyx liked your video.

Su Yi checked the activity beneath the video, put away his phone, and looked toward the boarding lounge.

The public address system began announcing that the flight to Hoenn was about to depart.

Su Yi stood up, joined the queue, and prepared to board the plane.

"Huh? That person is..." Su Yi spotted an acquaintance among the passengers ahead in line—though, of course, it was only a unilateral acquaintance on his part.

Wheat-colored skin, spiky hair, and most importantly, those signature squinted eyes.

"Brock!?" Su Yi exclaimed in surprise.

"Oh? You are...?" Hearing the commotion, Brock turned his head and looked at the stranger in confusion.

"Hello, Pewter City Gym Leader," Su Yi said with a smile.

"Ah, so you're familiar with our gym?"

Brock scratched the back of his head in embarrassment and said, "I'm actually no longer a Gym Leader."

"Are you traveling to Hoenn?" Su Yi asked.

Chatting along the way, the two boarded the plane, and their seats happened to be quite close to each other.

"Yeah, I wanted to travel elsewhere and find what I truly want to do," Brock smiled and said.

"I'm going to challenge the Hoenn League."

After chatting for a little while longer, the two began to rest.

Before long, they arrived at their destination.

"Goodbye, I wish you success in your challenges," Brock said, shouldering his backpack and bidding Su Yi a friendly farewell.

Su Yi waved and whispered with a smile, "We'll meet again."

With that, Su Yi opened the navigation function on his Rotom Phone.

"Petalburg City, the location of the Petalburg Gym is..."

(End of this chapter)