Crawdaunt lost its fighting ability!
"Yeah! We did it!" An excitedly high-fived Gliscor, celebrating their victory.
Mao suppressed his surprise and pulled out a Poké Ball to recall Crawdaunt.
"Hmph, you've improved."
Hearing this, An was dissatisfied: "Hey! We clearly won, okay? You're acting like you won! Just wait—once I complete this strategy, Gliscor and I will take on six opponents!"
SubToxic, Spikes, Toxic Spikes, Stealth Rock, Roost, plus Toxic Orb, Swords Dance, and Earthquake—with methods for everything, recovery when needed, and battle power available, he couldn't imagine how to lose!
Mr. Carver was such a good person!
Such a perfect strategy for just that little money.
Since that was the case, he definitely wouldn't disappoint Mr. Carver's expectations. He would take this invincible strategy to Gym battles and even the League Conference!
However, Mao had already caught on.
"Although I don't know where you learned this strategy, just one Taunt could break it," he said pointedly.
"Then we'll use Taunt too!" An retorted defiantly.
His Taunt would prevent opponents from using Taunt, allowing SubToxic to display its full power!
"I'll be watching with interest then." Mao wasn't upset about losing this battle. He smiled at his rival who had finally grown and said: "This way, I won't have to worry about you falling behind me."
After speaking, Mao adjusted his cap brim and turned to leave.
Only An and Gliscor remained in place, as if contemplating the meaning of those words.
Soon, however, his eyes sparked with determination as he resolved:
Just wait! We won't disappoint you. Next time we meet, we'll show you how powerful a complete Gliscor can be!
"Gliscor, our next goal is learning Taunt, Spikes, Toxic Spikes, Stealth Rock, and Roost, plus collecting a Toxic Orb!" An said.
Gliscor called out happily twice.
Both human and Pokémon were full of anticipation for their future.
"Your total for this visit comes to 23,700 League dollars."
In the breeding house, Carver said to a young female trainer.
The girl pulled money from her bag to pay, then left the breeding house with her Pokémon to continue her journey.
It was currently morning, and the breeding house showed a thriving scene.
With no customers visiting, Carver went to the backyard and stood on the grass, gazing toward the shed.
Along the way, Carver saw Bulbasaur and Oddish tending vegetables, plus Castform watering.
His gaze passed over them and finally settled on Chansey and the others on the grass.
So far, Gastly and Bulbasaur had begun gradually opening their hearts and slowly integrating into the breeding house's daily life.
Under Carver and the Clefairy's careful care and companionship, both Pokémon had become much more cheerful and no longer feared humans on sight as they had initially.
But besides them, the other Pokémon's psychological trauma remained severe.
Ralts, Abra, Ditto, Chansey.
According to Carver's observations, he found Ralts had the most severe condition, Ditto and Abra were slightly better, while Chansey continued playing a protective role caring for them.
Although it looked like nothing was wrong on the surface, Chansey's subconscious still held rejection toward humans.
Carver suspected this might be because it had been punished too many times by those Pokémon hunters for protecting Ralts and the others.
This couldn't continue. If psychological trauma wasn't treated promptly, it could very well become a lifelong shadow.
These Pokémon's futures shouldn't continue this way.
Whether they wanted to travel with trainers or stay at the breeding house for a peaceful life, Carver was willing to respect their choices.
However, the most important thing now was trying to make close contact with these Pokémon.
"Gastly?"
Gastly floated over from somewhere and looked in that direction with Carver.
Seeing Gastly, Carver suddenly realized he might be able to contact the remaining Pokémon through Gastly and help them resolve their trauma!
"By the way, Gastly, were you always with everyone before meeting me?" Carver asked.
"Gastly." Gastly recalled past events, then nodded: "Gastly!"
"Do you know if Ralts and the others have anything they want to do, or any unfulfilled wishes?" Carver asked again.
This question sent Gastly into memories and contemplation.
"Gastly..."
It remembered that when they were in that cell, everyone would talk about the past.
Back then, it remembered Ralts' wish was to go home, back to its mother and sister.
But having lived alone since birth—alone in life, alone growing up—Gastly couldn't understand what "mother" and "sister" meant.
Carver patiently waited for Gastly's answer.
Soon, Gastly seemed to remember something and replied: "Gastly gastly!"
Carver looked at it.
Human and ghost stared at each other.
Carver: "..."
He couldn't understand at all!
Wanting to help Pokémon resolve their trauma but being unable to communicate with them was quite problematic.
Looking at it this way, helping wild Pokémon in the forest and obtaining Viridian Power fragments from them also needed to be prioritized.
In that case, perhaps he could reapply to Autumn Leaf Town's Forestry Bureau to become a forest ranger for this forest, like the original owner's parents.
Then this entire Autumn Leaf Forest would fall under his jurisdiction.
A forest ranger's duties included protecting forest ecology, preventing poaching incidents, treating nearby wild Pokémon, and so on.
These perfectly aligned with his original goals.
Moreover, becoming the forest ranger here would provide regular supplies and financial support.
This income would be icing on the cake for the breeding house.
What's more, the breeding house was currently buying Moon Stones in large quantities. Just yesterday, a trainer exploring Meteor Falls had sold them over twenty Moon Stones.
These stones cost Carver quite a bit of money.
Adding the Moon Stones previously exchanged with Steven and those purchased yesterday, the breeding house now had quite a collection of stones.
But judging from the Clefairy's behavior, they still needed many more Moon Stones to start their spaceship.
Obtaining Viridian Power, the Clefairy's situation, Ralts and Chansey's issues, improving Growlithe and Oddish's strength, the wild Bagon, Steven's matters, and Latias and Latios.
"Phew, looks like there are still so many things waiting for me to do!"