"Thrash" was a powerful Normal-type move with a base power of 120.
For a period of time, the user would rampage uncontrollably, attacking everything around it. However, once the move ended, the user would also fall into confusion.
It was one of the moves Whiscash could naturally learn after evolving. In the future, once Silas's Sandile reached the Elite rank, it would also be capable of learning the move on its own.
A cold smile appeared on Silas's lips.
"Keep your distance from Whiscash and continue wearing down its stamina with Sand Tomb!"
Silas wanted to train his Pokémon, but he had no intention of putting them in real danger. Injuries and pressure were acceptable but only within controllable limits.
A high-level Pokémon going all out with Thrash had already exceeded the amount of pressure Sandile could currently handle.
Charging in head-on now would simply be foolish. Using a long-range restraining move like Sand Tomb was the correct choice.
"Woooaarrrgh!!"
Whiscash's eyes turned bloodshot as it roared madly, struggling with all its strength against the swirling yellow sands. It lashed out wildly in every direction, but achieved very little.
Silas merely watched calmly from afar, waiting for the move's effects to end while Whiscash's stamina gradually drained away.
Then-Silas's emotionless command rang out.
"Sandile, move in and use Crunch!"
Sandile rapidly crawled across the ground. Dark-type energy surged around its jaws while its sharp teeth gleamed with a sinister light.
CRUNCH!
It bit down fiercely.
Moments later, Whiscash's eyes rolled back as it collapsed heavily onto the ground, its body covered in deep bite wounds.
Silas casually took out an ordinary Poké Ball from his spatial ring and tossed it forward.
The instant the Poké Ball struck Whiscash's body, a flash of red light appeared. Whiscash was pulled inside.
Click.
The Poké Ball shook once before becoming completely still.
Capture successful.
A faint smile appeared on Silas's face.
He immediately ordered Crawdaunt to guard the nearby lakeside and prevent other wild Pokémon from approaching while he himself walked toward the water's edge.
Looking at the seemingly bottomless lake, Silas fell into thought. He unclipped a Luxury Ball from his waist.
"Sharpedo, help me explore underwater. See if there's anything valuable in Whiscash's nest."
Silas attached an underwater detection device onto Sharpedo so the footage could be transmitted directly to his Pokédex screen.
When it came to underwater movement, Sharpedo was undoubtedly the best choice.
"Sharrrp!"
With an excited cry, Sharpedo plunged into the lake.
Watching the murky underwater images transmitted through the Pokédex, Silas narrowed his eyes slightly.
"This Whiscash is pretty unusual… It actually transformed the bottom of the lake into a muddy swamp while keeping the surface layer crystal clear."
As the footage descended deeper, piles of bones gradually appeared on-screen. Some clearly belonged to humans. Others likely belonged to Pokémon.
The countless white bones piled together proved one thing ,This Whiscash had definitely killed both humans and Pokémon before.
This was the true reality of the wild Pokémon world.
The peaceful utopia shown in the anime from Silas's previous life had always been nothing more than a fantasy.
Ten minutes later, Sharpedo resurfaced.It had managed to recover several relatively valuable materials from the nest, mostly Water- and Poison-type resources worth around twenty thousand Pokédollars.
Soon afterward, a familiar hoarse cry echoed through the sky.
"Cawww!"
Silas looked up.
His Honchkrow had returned.
....
An hour later, Silas arrived at the second location marked by the intelligence broker as a possible sighting area for Absol.
As usual, Honchkrow was sent into the sky to scout while Silas conducted a carpet-style search through the core area.
Unfortunately, nothing special appeared along the way. Most of the wild Pokémon they encountered were weak and easily defeated by Sandile.
He still hadn't found any high-potential Pokémon But Silas wasn't disappointed. Truly talented Pokémon were incredibly rare in the wild to begin with.
According to the map, the third possible location where Absol could appear was inside a mountainous forest region.
The map even carried a special warning:
[Possible sightings of Geodude and Onix.
Be cautious of Self-Destruct attacks.
Trainers are advised to bring a Pokémon with the Damp Ability.]
Silas glanced toward the distant mountain forest. Originally, he had only planned to investigate two locations today in case time ran short.
The mountain region had been reserved for tomorrow. But after glancing at the setting sun, Silas decisively folded the map and stored it inside his spatial ring before heading directly toward the forest anyway.
As for the warning written on the map ,He didn't care much about it. Those warnings were meant for beginner and intermediate trainers.
With his current Elite-level strength, ordinary threats in the wild no longer posed much danger.
In fact, there might not even be any high-level Pokémon between Level 30 and 39 within this mountain forest.
After all, truly strong Rock-types usually migrated into underground mountain caverns where mineral resources were far richer.
The Geodude remaining near the surface were generally the weaker ones, surviving by feeding on exposed rocks and minerals.
Of course, this was only Silas's personal judgment. More than anything, it came from confidence in his own strength and the extensive wilderness survival experience he had accumulated over time.
For beginner and intermediate trainers, however, wilderness survival was often their greatest enemy.
Every year, countless rookie trainers died while camping outdoors. Yet despite this, more and more people still set out on journeys. And the League never tried to stop them.
On the contrary It openly encouraged this trend. Because from the League's perspective, ordinary civilian trainers dying in large numbers wasn't something worth mourning over.
At the same time, those trainers unintentionally helped humanity expand further into the wilderness.
As for true prodigies or League-backed elites, they naturally wouldn't fall to such basic challenges And if they did fail ,Then they simply weren't worthy of the resources invested into them.
• Starter Pokémon.
• League funding.
• Superior education.
If someone still lost to ordinary civilian trainers despite all that support, it could only mean their talent was insufficient.
Thus, the League viewed wilderness survival as a massive screening process for beginner and intermediate trainers,A brutal method of eliminating the weak.
Once a trainer reached the advanced rank, they would usually possess at least one or two Pokémon above Level 30.
At that point, ordinary wilderness survival was no longer difficult for them. Advanced trainers formed the League's true backbone.
As for Elite-level trainers like Silas Surviving in the wild was nothing more than everyday life.
Whether it was the League, Team Rocket, or any other faction, the number of Elite trainers under their command was often the clearest measurement of their overall power.
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(End of chapter)