Inside the forest, Sato had been walking for an entire day, but he still hadn't found any trace of a Key Stone. He tried putting himself in the shoes of the instructor. If I were Director Yanagi, where would I hide the Key Stones?
He reasoned that the most likely place would be the nests of powerful Pokémon. Having thought of this, he began searching for the habitats of large and strong Pokémon.
Before long, he found a Donphan habitat. Sato hid in the shadows and stealthily released a Pokémon.
Haunter!
"Haunter, go find out if this item is here," Sato said. He took out a piece of paper with a sketch of a Key Stone's shape and pointed it out to Haunter.
Haunter nodded and instantly vanished from the spot, while Sato turned back to continue his observation in secret. A few minutes later, Haunter materialized out of thin air and shook its head at Sato.
"Let's go to the next place," Sato muttered.
After searching several Pokémon groups in succession, he finally found one in an Arbok group. However, he was also discovered. Fortunately, Sato was fast; otherwise, things would have been dangerous.
Elsewhere, Konan had come up with the same idea as Sato, but she used her Misdreavus.
"Go, Misdreavus!"
"Misdre," Misdreavus nodded and vanished. Konan watched the Stantler herd ahead. After a while, Misdreavus appeared by her side. It pulled a bead out from its body—it was a Key Stone.
"Great job! Thank you, Misdreavus," Konan said.
"Misdre!" Misdreavus gave a happy smile.
In a forest not far from her, Tetsu was using his Noctowl to search, just as he had done the previous day. Luckily, Tetsu's fortune was quite good. Within a few minutes, Noctowl spotted a Key Stone on a Murkrow. After a brief battle, Noctowl successfully defeated the Murkrow and obtained the Key Stone.
Similarly, among the Class 1 trio, only Kelly remained. Kelly was quite impressive; she had rescued an injured Rhyhorn. To her surprise, it was the child of a Rhydon leader. As a result, the leader of the Rhydon group proactively gave the Key Stone to Kelly.
Now, only one of the ten Key Stones remained. Everyone else was still working hard to find that last one. However, none of them noticed that they were gradually approaching the mine.
Shinta was diligently searching for the Key Stone. The previous trial had been too embarrassing. This time, he was determined to be the first to find one. A Mr. Mime stood before him.
"Mr. Mime, I'm counting on you. Find the Key Stone quickly," Shinta urged.
Mr. Mime nodded with a somewhat sour expression and continued the search. Suddenly, its face changed.
"Mime!"
"What is it, Mr. Mime?" Shinta asked. Mr. Mime took a step back, looking frightened.
Shinta's expression also shifted. He took a step forward and shouted, "Who's there?"
A figure stepped out from the jungle. It was a man wearing a black uniform with the letter "R" printed on his left chest. When Shinta saw this, his pupils shrank.
"Team Rocket!!"
The Team Rocket man sneered and said, "Correct, but unfortunately, there's no prize."
"Mr. Mime, use Psybeam!"
Upon hearing the command to attack, the Team Rocket man released his own Pokémon.
"Arbok, use Fire Fang!"
A massive purple figure appeared on the ground. As soon as it emerged, it attacked Mr. Mime with incredible speed. Mr. Mime couldn't react in time; it was terrified and was directly bitten by Arbok's Fire Fang.
"Mime!" It cried out in pain and collapsed, unable to get up.
"Mr. Mime! Damn it!" Shinta cursed. "Go, Ursaring!"
Recalling Mr. Mime, Shinta sent out Ursaring. The massive figure of Ursaring appeared in front of Shinta.
Seeing this, the Team Rocket man sneered, "It's useless."
"Ursaring, use Brick Break!"
"Arbok, use Wrap!"
Ursaring roared and charged, swinging its paw to strike Arbok. Arbok tilted its head to dodge, then its body swayed and lunged forward, winding itself around Ursaring's neck and instantly pinning its head.
Ursaring struggled uncomfortably, trying to pull the snake off, but it couldn't budge Arbok. The pressure increased, making it harder to breathe. It could only roar repeatedly until it eventually fell to the ground, losing its ability to battle.
"Ursaring!" Shinta couldn't believe his Ursaring had been defeated so quickly.
He recalled Ursaring and was about to release another Pokémon when he suddenly felt someone seize his neck. Looking down, he saw a dagger pressed against his throat. Glancing back, he saw another man in a black uniform.
"Don't move, or my dagger might slip," the man said.
Shinta said somewhat panic-stricken, "What do you want? I'm telling you, I'm a student of Silver Academy. Our teachers won't let you get away with this!"
Hearing Shinta's words, the two Team Rocket members exchanged looks. The man in front stepped forward.
"Then tell us," he asked sinisterly, "how many of you came this time, and how long are you staying?"
Shinta hesitated, but the Arbok beside him glared with a ferocious look. He was terrified, drenched in cold sweat, and quickly replied, "I'll talk! There are ten students and ten teachers this time. We're out here for training. Our current trial is to find things the director hid in this forest. He said the deadline is seven days; if we don't find them by then, we have to go back."
After he finished, the Team Rocket man thought for a moment and pulled a coil of rope from his pocket to tie Shinta up.
"Hey! What are you doing? I told you everything, why won't you let me go?"
While walking on the road, Matsumoto was working hard to find a Key Stone. He had also thought of searching inside Pokémon nests. However, he didn't have any Ghost-type Pokémon, nor had he brought any Psychic-types, which made things a bit awkward.
So, he chose to have one Pokémon lure them all out while he went inside to search. But after several attempts, he found nothing and had been chased by those Pokémon the whole way. Still, he didn't give up and was looking for the next nest.
Suddenly, a figure stepped out from the bushes to his right. Seeing the uniform the man wore, Matsumoto's heart pounded wildly. He was just about to release a Pokémon.
"Hypnosis!"
Behind the man followed a yellow Pokémon—it was a Drowzee. Drowzee's eyes emitted a yellow glow. The moment Matsumoto saw its eyes, he knew it was bad, but it was already too late. The world before him blurred, and he could only faintly see the person walking toward him. His eyes closed, and he collapsed to the ground.
In the same forest, several other students encountered the same situation as Matsumoto. One by one, they were captured.