I'm the Owner of the Pokémon Day Care In the World of Pokémon

Chapter 1344: Token of Gratitude: Parasect

The battle between Politoed and Sceptile's side was quickly decided.

Sceptile, still recovering from serious injuries, couldn't muster much fighting power. Politoed alone was no match for both Houndoom and Arbok at the same time.

Soon, Sceptile was tightly constricted by Arbok's coiled body, while Politoed was struck down by a Dark Pulse from Houndoom, collapsing onto the ground.

Just as Arbok opened its jaws, ready to use Fire Fang on Sceptile, and Houndoom formed a ball of dark energy at its mouth to deliver a final blow to Politoed, a clump of mud and a dark shadow suddenly fell from the sky.

The mud struck Arbok's head, causing it to jerk sideways and miss with its Fire Fang. The pain forced it to loosen its grip on Sceptile.

Meanwhile, the dark shadow crashed directly into Houndoom, sending it flying with a yelp and rolling uncontrollably on the ground.

When the shadow hovered mid-air and came to a stop, both Politoed and Sceptile realized it was a muscular, imposing Swellow. Their hearts filled with hope at the sight.

This Swellow was one of the top ten rulers of the Guli Mountain Range and a powerful presence second only to Swampert, the number one ruler.

"Swellow~!"

With a long cry from the Swellow ruler, Swampert slowly emerged from the forest.

It turned out the other rulers who were gathering had arrived.

Due to the varying distances of their territories from Sceptile's location, only Swampert, Swellow, Ampharos, and Metagross had made it so far.

But they were more than enough. With these four present, Houndoom and Arbok were no longer a threat. Aside from Swampert, the strongest ruler, Swellow alone was more powerful than both Houndoom and Arbok.

After being struck down by Swampert's Mud Bomb, Arbok seemed to enter a frenzy. Its body writhed madly, its venomous fangs gleaming with a cold, terrifying light.

Its abdominal pattern expanded sharply as it shot off the ground, mouth wide open, lunging at Swellow in the air.

Under normal circumstances, the ruler Arbok would never have chosen Swellow as its primary target, knowing it couldn't win.

But under Marshadow's control, Arbok's mind was in chaos, acting purely on instinct.

In the wild, Arbok prey on Taillow and Swellow, and this predator-prey dynamic led to Arbok's poor choice.

Seeing Arbok pounce, Swellow remained calm. It flapped its wings, which shimmered with a metallic sheen, and struck Arbok squarely on the head, swatting it to the ground. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

But it didn't end there. As Arbok screamed and hit the ground, a flurry of Air Slashes rained down from above, precisely targeting its weak spot at the neck.

Striking at a snake's weak point is as effective in the Pokémon world as it is in reality. Arbok fainted on the spot.

Meanwhile, Houndoom was being utterly dominated by Swampert.

Swampert's terrifying strength left Houndoom nearly powerless at close range.

With its fragile body, Houndoom was grabbed by the throat and had its head shoved into the dirt by Swampert. After a few punches, it stopped moving altogether.

Houndoom and Arbok were defeated in the blink of an eye. Ampharos and Metagross didn't even need to lift a finger.

With the fall of Houndoom and Arbok, their subordinates were no longer a threat and were quickly subdued.

Like their rulers, Houndoom and Arbok's followers were also under Marshadow's control, entirely devoid of their own reasoning.

Not long after, the remaining two of the ten rulers arrived. However, by then, the battle had completely ended, and Sceptile's two trusted subordinates, Cacturne and Gallade, were leading their troops in cleaning up the battlefield.

With this, the rulers of the Guli Mountains—Swampert, Swellow, Metagross, Ampharos, Politoed, Sceptile, Sableye, Bronzong, as well as the defeated Houndoom and Arbok—were all present.

Among the ten rulers of the Guli Mountains, Swampert and Swellow were the strongest. Both of them were Level 100 Pokémon, and their territories were located at the border between the Guli Mountains and the wilderness.

It was precisely because of their presence that high-level Pokémon from the wilderness had no opportunity to invade the other side of the Guli Mountains.

The remaining eight rulers were Master-level Pokémon with varying levels of strength. Among them, Houndoom was second only to Swampert and Swellow in power, but unfortunately, it had been controlled by Marshadow.

Although the great battle had ended, Sceptile had just returned, and its territory was in chaos. After inviting the other rulers into its domain, it busied itself with handling other matters.

Only after all the issues were resolved did it finally gather with the other rulers.

Meanwhile, Kazuma and the others, who were playing with a Treecko in a tree hollow, suddenly heard footsteps outside.

The Treecko, which had snuck in, instinctively burrowed into Kazuma's arms, hiding in his clothes and refusing to come out.

Before long, Gallade entered with two Shiftry.

Sceptile, busy meeting the other rulers, had assigned Gallade the task of sending Kazuma and the others away after settling territorial matters.

Having promised Mr. Kaya to release the humans, Sceptile intended to keep its word. It was grateful to them for saving its life.

Seeing Gallade enter with the Shiftry, Kazuma and the others instinctively stepped back two paces. They couldn't help it—the Shiftry looked menacing and difficult to deal with. After all, it was these two Shiftry that had captured them.

But to their surprise, Gallade threw a pile of items onto the ground. The soldiers looked down and saw that it was their confiscated Poké Balls!

"Gallade~"

Gallade gestured at the Poké Balls on the ground and tried to communicate with Kazuma and the others. Unfortunately, the soldiers couldn't understand a word.

After a long while, one soldier tentatively asked, "Are you returning these to us?"

"Gallade~"

Gallade nodded. Although it used to dislike humans, knowing that they had saved its leader had softened its attitude toward them.

The soldiers exchanged glances, seemingly in disbelief. Finally, Kazuma bent down and picked up his Poké Ball, prompting the others to follow suit.

Once the soldiers retrieved their Poké Balls, Gallade ordered the Shiftry to escort them out of the tree hollow. Though they didn't know what the Pokémon intended, they had no choice but to comply.

After all, you have to lower your head when under someone else's roof.

Sceptile's territory, just after the great battle, was still littered with traces of conflict. As Kazuma and the others emerged and surveyed the chaotic scene, they speculated about what might have happened.

This was the domain of the Sceptile. Who would dare cause such trouble here?

It wasn't until they were led out of Sceptile's territory that Kazuma cautiously asked Gallade, "Are you letting us leave?"

Gallade turned to Kazuma, nodded slowly, and left.

The soldiers were overjoyed. Though they didn't understand why the Pokémon had suddenly decided to release them, they were simply glad to be free.

Suppressing their excitement, they followed behind Gallade and the Shiftry, keeping quiet as there wasn't much to talk about with the Pokémon.

Gallade and the Shiftry dutifully escorted them all the way to the border between the inner and middle regions of the Guli Mountains before departing.

Once the Pokémon left, the soldiers finally felt the full reality of their release.

"We're really out..." one soldier said, slapping his face in disbelief.

"We are, but the first thing I want to do now is take a proper bath!" another soldier remarked, pulling at his smelly, sweat-soaked clothes in disgust.

At that moment, a small head suddenly popped out from Kazuma's collar—it was Treecko. Gasping for air, it looked like it was suffocating.

There was no helping it; Kazuma's clothes smelled terrible!

"Treecko! Why are you here too?" the soldiers exclaimed in surprise when they saw it.

When Treecko had burrowed into Kazuma's clothes earlier, none of them had noticed. They assumed it had snuck away, but it had followed them out instead.

Treecko scratched its head bashfully, then quickly climbed out of Kazuma's clothes and onto his head, brushing through his hair as if to rid itself of the smell.

"What do we do now? Should we take you back?" one soldier asked, scratching his head in confusion.

Treecko immediately shook its head. Though its exit was accidental, it had no intention of going back. It was curious about the outside world and wanted to explore!

Kazuma pondered for a moment and said, "We'd better head back for now. Who knows what's happened in the Sceptile's territory? We need to report back to headquarters."

"That's true," the other soldiers agreed.

Thus, the group of soldiers quickly set off toward the reclamation camp with Treecko in tow.

Meanwhile, Kazuma's older brother, Shin, had already received Yuga's notice earlier, informing him that Kazuma and his group were being released. He had been waiting outside the camp for their return.

Sure enough, before long, Shin spotted Kazuma and the others running toward the camp from a distance.

"Kazuma!!!"

Shin waved his arms with all his might. As Kazuma and his group approached, he rushed forward and hugged them tightly, paying no mind to the indescribable odor on them.

"Kazuma, July, Travis, Lulu... You're all really back!" Shin said emotionally, his voice choked with tears. These past days, he had been constantly on edge, worried sick about his younger brother and his team's safety.

"Brother, why are you here? Were you waiting for us?" Kazuma, embarrassed by his current state, awkwardly pushed his brother away.

But how did his brother know they were coming back?

"Yes, I was. Thanks to the Gym Leader..." Shin replied with excitement.

"The Gym Leader?" Kazuma caught onto the key point in his brother's words.

"Brother, what did you just say? The Gym Leader?"

Only then did Shin realize that Kazuma didn't yet know about the Gym Leader's arrival in the Guli Mountains. He quickly explained everything, and Kazuma became very emotional upon hearing the story.

So that's why they were released—it was because the Gym Leader had arrived!

Kazuma and Shin were both apprentices at Verdanturf Gym, a fact unknown to the other soldiers in the Pioneer Corps. Thus, their conversation left the other soldiers thoroughly confused.

While Kazuma and his group returned safely to the Pioneer Corps camp, on the Sceptile's side, the rulers' meeting had begun.

The eight rulers looked at the unconscious Houndoom and Arbok, unsure of how to handle the situation. None of them knew how to break Marshadow's mind control.

Having ruled the Guli Mountains together for so many years and even fought side by side in the past, the other eight rulers didn't want anything bad to happen to Houndoom and Arbok.

At that moment, Arbok suddenly woke up. As soon as it opened its eyes, it tried to attack the other rulers. However, before it could act, the Swampert swiftly stomped on its head.

Unable to move its head, Arbok thrashed its long, muscular tail wildly, smashing the ground with loud thuds.

A Master-level Pokémon struggling with all its might was a terrifying sight. The ground cracked deeply under the force of Arbok's tail strikes.

To prevent further rampaging, Swampert smashed its fists down on Arbok's head. After a few solid punches, Arbok fell unconscious again.

Seeing Arbok in this state, the rulers all had the same thought: they needed to find Marshadow as soon as possible and deal with it!

This was the Guli Mountains, and they were the rulers here. Even though Marshadow was a Mythical Pokémon, they couldn't allow it to run amok.

The eight rulers began discussing their plan to locate Marshadow. At the same time, they also needed to investigate the disappearance of the three Regis.

The three Regis represented the will of Regigigas. Although Sceptile suspected Marshadow might be involved, they still needed to investigate to uncover the truth.

After finalizing their plans regarding Marshadow and the Regis, Politoed suddenly remembered its promise to reward Yuga and brought up the matter with the group.

Initially, Sceptile thought it should provide the reward since the Max Revieve had been used on it. However, Swampert mentioned that it had something suitable as a reward, so Sceptile didn't argue further.

After returning to the camp, Kazuma cleaned himself up and went to meet Yuga. The two hadn't seen each other in a long time and had an emotional conversation that lasted a while.

Yuga also noticed the Treecko following Kazuma. Activating his Insight ability, he saw that it was a blue potential Pokémon.

He didn't think much of it, assuming Kazuma must have had some stroke of luck. After all, this was the Guli Mountains, a place full of unexpected encounters.

The next day, a few Pokémon arrived outside the reclamation camp, specifically requesting to see Yuga.

When Yuga went out to meet them, he saw the Pokémon carrying a colossal Parasect, as large as a small mountain. They explained that Sceptile had sent it as payment for the treatment it had received.

This Parasect exuded an aura of immense power and was clearly a Master-level Pokémon. Upon closer inspection, however, Yuga discovered that the Parasect had been dead for quite some time.