Insect Fruit

*Crack*

Natsu got nervous every time he stepped on a dry branch. Fortunately, after exploring the forest during the day, Weedle had adapted to this state of high tension in the wild.

In particular, this adventure was at its strong request. If it weren't for its persistence, Natsu, with his stable personality, would not choose to enter the depths of the woods.

However, Weedle got it wrong. Natsu made his decision after careful consideration, and no one's words would affect his decision, not even Weedle. He chose to enter despite knowing the danger because he was sure the thing that attracted Weedle was extraordinary. If they can acquire it, maybe it would bring significant benefits to Weedle. Even if they can't get it, at least they wouldn't have regrets later on.

He kept in mind the path he traveled, including every mound or stalk that might become an obstacle. He would encounter Pokémon who attacked them on the way, and they would also be cleaned up to prevent his retreat from being blocked. If he can't even clear the Pokémon on his way, there's no point going further.

The sun slowly disappeared on the horizon as the moon rose from the east. Pale moonlight enveloped the forest, like a thin veil shadowing the trees, adding a haze to the atmosphere. The moonlight passed through the canopy layers, leaving mottled lights like scattered droplets on the ground. The visibility in the forest dropped sharply and traversing the surroundings depended solely on their hearing and Weedle's senses.

Suddenly, a shadow jumped out of the bushes next to them. A closer look revealed that it was only a Rattata. Its movements were a little flustered. It flashed away in front of Natsu and jumped directly into the grass on the other side.

But Natsu, who saw this scene, not only did not relax but instead stared in the direction where Rattata came from. The night predators appeared a bit early.

He heard rustling followed by a piercing sound from the bushes. Whatever the creature was, it wasn't slow. Immediately afterward, a slender Ekans slithered out with a pair of yellow eyes that appeared exceptionally bright at night. It was the Pokémon that was tracking Rattata.

When the Ekans left the bushes, its senses picked up on Natsu and Weedle.

Weedle saw Ekans shiver slightly. It instinctively used 'Intimidate.' Not giving Ekans the time to react and think, Natsu commanded in a low voice:

"Weedle, String Shot."

Weedle spit out the silky threads without hesitation, aiming directly at Ekans' eyes. The sticky white threads stood out in the dark woods, their edges reflecting the moonlight, appearing like silver lines.

The String Shot hit Ekans' eyes with precision. Being blinded so suddenly, the Ekans panicked. But it quickly reacted, and its anger as a predator soared. Snakes don't see objects only through their eyes.

However, since Natsu and Weedle had already launched the offensive, they didn't want to give Ekans much time to react.

"Electro Web."

*Sizzle*

Weedle spat out the web, yellow arcs of electricity passing through, as it was rapidly expanded while traveling through the air. It shrouded Ekans, which was unable to dodge preemptively.

Although the current was not strong, it still caused Ekans brief convulsions and spasms. The toughness of the silk threads also made it impossible for it to break free in a short time.

"Weedle, use Bug Bite."

He used this advantage to get rid of it completely. Poison and Bug Type moves can't do significant damage to Ekans, so Natsu naturally chose Bug Bite, which currently was Weedle's highest damaging move.

Weedle spat out a silk thread that stuck to Ekans' body and then approached it as quickly as the thread was spat out.

"Ekans!!"

There was a scream of pain.

The petite Weedle lay on Ekans, who had not yet broken free from the shackles of the silk threads and bit it seven inches down the head with its glowing green mouth. Immediately, its scales cracked, the muscle fibers were torn, and blood spilled.

Seeing that Ekans was about to break free because of the pain, Weedle continued to wrap it in String Shots. After making sure it couldn't break free in a short period, it bit down again.

Ekans never imagined that, as a predator, it would be attacked by a Weedle, a Pokémon at the bottom of the food chain. In its eyes, it was just a little careless. The point was that these sticky threads were very tough and were assisted by electric currents so that it couldn't break free for a while. And this short period made it pay a severe price.

Looking at the scarred and incapacitated Ekans, Natsu directly stepped over it, "Time is running out. The longer into the night it is, the more dangerous it will be. When we come back, we will deal with it if it is not gone by then. We don't have time to cut open its body and harvest the poison sac. It's better to let go of the smaller prize for a chance at the bigger one."

Weedle jumped back on Natsu's shoulders, didn't say anything, just stared at the depths of the woods where they were heading. It could feel that the place was not far. Fortunately, it was not in the deepest part of the forest. Weedle probably wouldn't have sensed it if it were in the deepest part.

Natsu soon learned this piece of information from Weedle's mouth. But his focus was on another matter.

"From the reaction of Rattata and Ekans, they should not be able to sense the existence of the thing like Weedle. Rattata is a Normal Type Pokémon, and although Ekans also has the Poison Type Attribute, it wasn't affected by the attraction. So what attracted Weedle this time must be related to Bug Type?"

With this conclusion, there would be a high probability that there would be no Pokémon with other Attributes in the competition, so the pressure they would face should be much lesser.

But relatively, the number of Bug Type Pokémon in the forest is not small, and they might be attracted like Weedle and were moving in the same direction. Time was running out, as could be deduced by Weedle's increasingly agitated response. But Natsu kept his composure and approached slowly.

During the period, they defeated another Zubat and Mankey, who were blocking the road, and cleaned up the hidden dangers that might be left on their path of retreat. Once he found something wrong, he could take back Weedle as soon as possible.

He waded across a creek and through several lush bushes. Finally, as he got closer, even Natsu could smell a faint fragrance of naturalness, which showed how tempting it was for Pokémon.

In the dense forest, an open area suddenly appeared; his line of sight was restored, the moonlight directly illuminating the ground.

In this empty area, there were a lot of Pokémon, some of which appeared as groups. The patch of land seemed to be divided by the groups with hidden hostilities in the air.

The most numerous were the Weedle and Beedrill on one side, and opposite to them were the Catterpie and Butterfree, with smaller Pokémon groups such as Paras in the middle. Finally, a sturdy Pinsir was occupying a piece of territory by itself.

All of these Pokémon were hostile to each other. But it could be noticed that their eyes were all locked in the middle of the area.

Hiding in the thick bushes, Natsu could faintly glimpse a small sapling growing in the center of the area. What really attracted these Bug Type Pokémon were the two round emerald green fruits growing on the sapling, which emitted a faint fluorescence under the illumination of the moonlight.

A few Venonats were standing under the small tree, alert of the nearby Bug Type Pokémon, the tentacles on their heads shaking frequently. It seems that this place had initially been Venonat's territory, and the Bug Type Pokémon were attracted to what they guard.

Natsu squinted at the fruit and remembered the description of this fruit in a book about Bug Type Pokémon that he read not long ago.

"Insect Fruit? One of the main ingredients of Peak Level Bug Type Pokéblock, which can improve Bug Type Pokémon's perception and use of Bug Type energy, and improve the comprehension and mastery of Bug Type moves?"

These two pieces of information about the fruit flashed in his mind. He also understood why it was such a big temptation to Weedle and the Bug Type Pokémon around.

This was nature's gift to Pokémon.