Chapter 114: Target Locked
The light of "Wish" descended, coordinating with the continuous spraying of Healing Spray, finally managing to coagulate the blood on the wound on Bulbasaur's back.
Three consecutive uses of "Wish" left the round, chubby Igglybuff's body deflated from exhaustion.
Igglybuff is only the initial form of its evolutionary line; it's not adept at battling, nor does it possess large energy reserves. Generally, it's raised as a mini pet.
Providing such treatment was already very taxing for her.
However, even so, whether the Bulbasaur could survive remained an unknown.
The bulb on their back is their energy organ, the source of supply for their entire body's energy. This is also the reason why their bulbs are valuable.
Without the bulb, the subsequent long period would be a life-or-death trial for it.
When the Bulbasaur weakly opened its eyes, the Chespin who had guided the rangers all the way here was tearfully embracing him.
Soon after, several wild Oddish and Bellsprout successively ran out from between the trees in the forest, snuggling up together beside the Bulbasaur.
Pokémon of the Bulbasaur evolutionary line are mostly leaders ('big brothers') in the wild; among herbivorous Pokémon, their combat power is considered top-tier.
The final form, Venusaur, is often the leader of a group of Grass-type Pokémon within a certain area of the forest.
The Oddish and Bellsprout gathered around now were usually this Bulbasaur's 'little brothers.' They had merely been scared into the nearby bushes by the speeding jeep earlier and only dared to run out now after confirming there was no danger.
"Wuwu..."
"Wah..."
A chubby Oddish leaned against the Bulbasaur's side, trying hard to support him in standing up again, but unfortunately, things went contrary to its wish, causing it to anxiously burst into tears.
This scene was heart-wrenching to watch.
"This group of son-of-a-bitch poachers!!"
David cursed furiously.
They had already done everything they could. Whether this Bulbasaur could survive next depended entirely on its own fortune and destiny.
If it could manage to regrow a new bulb on its back before its bodily functions completely failed, then it could still continue living.
But if it couldn't, even healing the wound now would be useless. It would still gradually weaken due to the lack of its energy organ, until death.
This process wouldn't even take too long.
At this moment, among the crowd of rangers with slightly reddened eyes, Arthur was arguably the calmest one.
He had no way to help this innocent Bulbasaur survive its death ordeal, but at the very least, he could try to help it get revenge.
"The move that attacked you... was it Fire Lash?"
He quickly asked the Bulbasaur after it regained consciousness.
Long, narrow strip-like wounds, penetration not too deep, with obvious burn marks all around.
Excluding the possibility that the Bulbasaur was ravaged by multiple skills in turn, the most likely culprit skill was "Fire Lash."
In reality, this move, when entangling an enemy, also possesses a certain binding and control effect, which could suppress the Bulbasaur's resistance, making it convenient for the poacher to cut off the bulb on its back.
Considering the circumstances at the time, this explanation seemed even more logical and reasonable.
Hence, Arthur asked this question.
After using the nearby Chespin to convey the question to the Bulbasaur, the latter, lying weakly on the ground, nodded its head.
Subsequently, Arthur quickly asked again, "Then the one who attacked you... was it a Salazzle?"
"Wah... wah..."
The Bulbasaur could only manage to emit intermittent sounds.
Chespin translated, saying: Bulbasaur didn't see clearly at the time, only remembered lots of flames and poison gas.
"Then there's no mistake!"
Arthur quickly confirmed.
The poison gas from Pokémon can often produce a corrosive-like effect. This happened to match their earlier observation of some burned trees having their insides crushed into powder.
Salazzle is precisely a dual-type Fire/Poison Pokémon, and furthermore, it particularly excels at Fire Lash!
Everything matched!
Merely guessing the identity of the attacker wasn't enough.
Arthur quickly turned to ask the other Pokémon in the forest, "Is there anywhere in this part of the forest where Datura flowers grow? Are there any nearby?"
Salazzle is a renowned femme fatale queen among Pokémon. They are highly venomous, scorching hot, yet alluringly beautiful, capable of releasing pheromones to lure and control male Pokémon.
And the Datura flower is one of the few plant species rich in pheromones; it's Salazzle's most beloved food. If encountered, they absolutely wouldn't miss it.
Searching for Datura flowers might lead them to Salazzle's trail.
"Will we be in time? They've likely already escaped," one ranger worriedly stated.
They were likely tracking not a wild Salazzle, but a poacher's accompanying Pokémon.
Even if Salazzle adored Datura flowers, its master probably wouldn't linger here wasting time after completing the poaching, right?
The ranger's worry was not without reason, but Arthur still provided a bold yet meticulous line of reasoning.
"They won't! Salazzle's personality is extremely dominant and tyrannical. In the wild, they always exist being worshipped by groups of male Salandit. Generally, very few trainers can stably suppress them."
"If their needs aren't met, they often escape or even turn against their trainers."
Salazzle is a peculiar type of Pokémon with a very female-dominant, male-subordinate social structure.
Their initial form, Salandit, is clearly a species where the male ratio far exceeds the female one. But within the clan, the status of females is comparable to that of an empress.
Males often need to hand over almost all their gathered food to serve the females. This makes it virtually impossible for male Salandit in the wild to evolve.
The proportion of wild Salazzle that are female is nearly one hundred percent.
Because within the clan, only the female Salandit, who enjoy tribute and sufficient nutrition, ever have the opportunity to evolve into Salazzle.
Male Salazzle only exist in artificial breeding laboratories, and they generally suffer from congenital deficiencies, making survival extremely difficult.
Males being unable to evolve and finding it hard to survive independently is almost a law written into this species' DNA.
Similarly, female tyranny and arbitrariness are also personality traits carved into their DNA, almost impossible to change.
They are very unsuitable for human capture and training. The occasional captures are basically impossible to keep under control.
At least, in all his years, Arthur had never seen a trainer who could make a Salazzle obediently listen.
Analyzing Salazzle's likely destination, there should be a high probability of intercepting her master's path.
This reasoning stemmed from Arthur's experience and understanding of this type of Pokémon.
For a short while, many of the rangers remained half-believing, half-doubting.
However, David was the quickest to provide a response.
"Go a bit further in the southwest direction. There's an experimental farm belonging to the research institute over there. I remember they seem to grow Datura flowers."
"A research institute's experimental farm? Inside the reserve?" Arthur was surprised for a moment.
"Yes. It's that Raymond who brought you here, remember? The company they work for trades with the reserve Pokémon here and has rented several plots of land here to use as experimental farms, for growing various valuable cash crops."
Raymond had initially said they researched reserve ecology and vegetation.
In reality, researching ecology was false; cultivating cash crops was the truth.
What they truly researched was the impact of the reserve's unique climatic conditions and ecological environment on various high-value rare crops.
Private enterprises, after all; research is mostly oriented towards money. How could there be so many grand ecological projects?
David often went there to freeload meals; he knew the setup inside out.
"Okay. Then let's head there and take a look!"
Immediately, the vehicles started up again!
Everyone now finally had a clear and distinct tracking target, no longer buzzing around randomly like headless flies.
(End of Chapter)
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