Towering trees reached toward the heavens all around them. As they ventured deeper, the number of Scyther steadily increased.
Eichi activated his Eye of the Bug Emperor. Looking along the path, he saw that most of the Scyther possessed Good talent, and there were quite a few with Excellent talent. Ordinary talent Scyther were very rare, but so far, he hadn't seen any with Outstanding talent.
Suddenly, a Scizor appeared in his field of vision. A Scizor had finally appeared within the Scyther tribe, and it possessed Excellent talent.
Furthermore, the number of Scizor was not small; he could see more than a dozen of them just from where he stood. All of them had at least Excellent talent, and two of them had even reached the Outstanding grade.
Teacher Muramasa was clearly very familiar with this place. It seemed the Scyther and Scizor all recognized Muramasa and Masamune. They greeted the duo as they passed, and Muramasa waved back in acknowledgment.
The Pokémon were very curious about Eichi and his Scizor, watching them with inquisitive eyes. After all, they hadn't seen a second human in this place before. Conversely, Eichi's Scizor was incredibly excited.
It had never seen so many Scyther and Scizor before. It felt a massive surge of goodwill toward this place, feeling a profound sense of kinship.
After seeing Muramasa, everyone followed along. A grand army of Scyther and Scizor marched in a mighty procession behind Muramasa and Eichi.
The crowd followed the two of them to a spot beside three towering trees. These three giant trees were several times larger than the others. Their branches were lush, and their roots were thick. Within Eichi's perception, their vitality was extremely vigorous.
Moreover, they were covered in Berries. Each giant tree bore different types of fruit. On the way here, there had also been many fruit trees laden with Berries. These were likely the food sources for the Scyther and Scizor tribe.
While they walked, Eichi asked, "Teacher Muramasa, why have we come to this place?"
"This is where you will conduct your final training," Muramasa replied. "Your final training is actual combat, and this is the location for Scizor's combat sessions. Later, I'll have to ask them to help with the combat training."
Eichi nodded. He then asked, "Teacher Muramasa, you seemed very familiar with this place when we entered. Are you very close with them?"
Muramasa explained patiently, "That's a long story. When I first arrived in the forest, I liked to go deep into the woods to find powerful Pokémon to challenge. One day, I found them. I also met the leader of the Scyther and Scizor tribe. Seeing him, I was filled with the joy of finding a worthy opponent."
"I wanted Masamune to fight their leader, but they weren't willing," Muramasa continued. "However, I'm not someone who gives up easily. I stood guard around their territory. Whenever I saw a Scizor, I went up to fight it—though I didn't hit too hard, just enough to make them lose their ability to battle."
"Whenever they gathered together, I would run away, only to return later. After a while of this torture, their leader finally couldn't take it anymore and agreed to battle me. I fought their leader, and of course, my Masamune won in the end. Although I won and earned everyone's recognition, they still hated me."
"But later, when they faced invasions from other Pokémon tribes, I stepped in to help. Once, the Houndoom tribe teamed up with Ariados to lure them away, leaving only some weaker Scyther in the territory. Those Scyther were attacked and were in dire peril."
"Fortunately, I arrived in time and drove them all out. If I hadn't been strong enough, they might have been wiped out. After helping them several times, they stopped hating me. I also frequently brought Pokémon food for them to eat. Gradually, through more interaction, our relationship grew better. Oh, one thing I forgot to mention—the sister of the Scyther and Scizor tribe leader is Masamune's wife."
Eichi was very surprised; it was the first time he had heard Teacher Muramasa speak so much. He felt as though Muramasa had never told anyone these things and had been feeling stifled keeping it all inside. Now that he finally had someone to show off to, the words poured out in a torrent.
However, Eichi now had a general idea of what had happened. Still, he hadn't realized Teacher Muramasa could be so shameless in the past.
As they finished talking, they arrived before the three giant trees. A Scyther in front let out a long cry. A few seconds later, more than a dozen figures like red lightning charged out from the trees.
Behind them were several green figures. They stopped in front of Muramasa. Before them stood a group of Scizor, with several Scyther behind them whose small stature suggested they were youngsters born not long ago.
In the center of the Scizor stood one with several hideous scars on its body. Combined with its fierce expression, it looked truly domineering. If Eichi hadn't known that Masamune had defeated the leader of the tribe, he might have actually thought this tribe leader was stronger based on appearance.
In Eichi's Eye of the Bug Emperor, nearly half of these dozen or so Scizor possessed Outstanding talent. The one with the best talent was their leader, whose talent was slightly stronger than Masamune's. What amazed Eichi the most was that they actually had two Scizor at the Elite Four-rank.
Truly, this Scyther and Scizor tribe was practically cheating; their talent and strength were both incredibly high.
These Scizor greeted Muramasa and Masamune. Eichi could decipher their meaning: they were essentially saying it had been a long time and they missed them. Then, the Scizor leader asked when they would have another battle.
Muramasa took out two Poké Balls and released the Pokémon inside. One was an Elite Four-rank Scizor, and the other was the Scyther that had battled Eichi's Scizor last time. The Scizor Muramasa released was likely the sister of the tribe leader and Masamune's wife.
As soon as she saw the Scizor leader, she flew over, and they began to chat with their claws crossed. Meanwhile, the Scyther greeted the surrounding Scyther and Scizor.
This cleared up the suspicion that this Scyther was Masamune's child. It made sense; how could the talent of Masamune's child be only 'Excellent'? It definitely wasn't Masamune's child.
Then who exactly is it?
Meanwhile, after the Scizor leader finished catching up, Muramasa said, "I have a favor to ask you all, but let's talk about that in a moment. I've brought the Pokémon food you all like this time."