The Dangerous Great Marsh

The three people rode on their Pokémon, desperately running toward Yuga, with the Toxicroak in relentless pursuit.

The Great Marsh was not only filled with dangerous Pokémon but also riddled with environmental traps. During their escape, one of the girls suddenly fell into a swamp. No matter how much she and her Pokémon struggled, they only sank deeper. The Toxicroak, meanwhile, was already within striking distance.

The Toxicroak, accustomed to living in the Great Marsh for years, moved across the swamp as if it were solid ground. It was about to pounce on the girl, but her companions were scattered and too far away to help in time.

Luckily, they were already close to Yuga.

Yuga acting very quick, he immediately commanded the Sawsbuck he was riding: "Sawsbuck, Seed Bomb!"

Sawsbuck opened its mouth and launched a volley of green seeds. As soon as the seeds hit the Toxicroak, they exploded violently, knocking the leaping Toxicroak to the ground.

At this moment, the girl's two companions scrambled to rescue her.

The Toxicroak, however, managed to stand back up after being hit. The pain only made it more furious, and it shifted its target to Yuga and Sawsbuck.

It leaped into the air, venom coating one claw, and swiped viciously at Yuga and Sawsbuck.

Sawsbuck carried Yuga as it jumped, countering with High Jump Kick, sending the Toxicroak flying. The Toxicroak landed in a nearby waterhole, rolled several times, and finally stopped moving.

Yuga used his Insight skill to inspect the Toxicroak and discovered that while its level was relatively high, its potential was average at best. Deciding it wasn't worth his attention, he left it alone.

At this point, the three disheveled young people while supporting each other, approached Yuga to express their gratitude.

"Thank you so much, brother! Without you, we would've ended up buried in this swamp today," said the eldest of the three, a young man, with a face full of gratitude.

"Yes, yes! Thank you!" echoed the other two, a boy and a girl. The girl, especially, looked as if she was about to cry, overwhelmed by relief at her narrow escape.

"No need to thank me. It was a rare encounter, and just a small favor," Yuga replied politely.

Through their conversation, Yuga learned that the eldest, the young man, was named Fuyuki, while the girl was his younger sister, Akiba. The younger boy, Normani, was their childhood friend.

Yuga didn't give them his real name but instead introduced himself under the alias "Aoki." His unique status often required him to use a false name to avoid unnecessary trouble.

"Big Brother Aoki, are you an adventurer? You're so strong! That Toxicroak was taken down in an instant!" Akiba said excitedly.

Yuga thought to himself: It's not that I'm strong; it's just that you're too weak.

He had already observed their Pokémon and noted that all of them had very low levels. How they dared to venture into the Great Marsh was beyond him. No wonder they had been chased by the Toxicroak like a pack of frightened rats.

Yuga nodded and replied, "Something like that. I'm here to collect Moonlight Pearls."

"Ah!" Akiba exclaimed in surprise. "Only loser Trainers go around collecting Moonlight Pearls!"

Fuyuki immediately scolded his sister for her rudeness. "Akiba, what nonsense are you spouting! People earning an honest living through their skills are not losers!"

Curious about Akiba's strange comment, Yuga asked, "I'm a Trainer from another region. Is there some special meaning behind collecting Moonlight Pearls?"

Normani, standing to the side, explained, "Here's the situation…"

As it turned out, with the increasing difficulty of collecting Moonlight Pearls and the rising death toll among those people who are venturing into the depths of the Great Marsh, fewer and fewer people were willing to take on the task.

However, the market still demanded Moonlight Pearls. Wealthy individuals began offering high bounties to recruit ordinary Trainers to go deep into the mlGreat Marsh and retrieve them.

Promising Trainers, valuing their lives, were unwilling to accept such dangerous tasks. Wealthy Trainers didn't need the money and thus avoided the job altogether. The ones who took these missions were often desperate, lower-tier Trainers that was willing to risk their lives for the money.

In Akiba's view, these Trainers were simply lacking ambition.

Yuga, however, agreed with Fuyuki's perspective. They were earning their living with their own skills and risking their lives—there was nothing shameful about it.

After chatting with the three for a while, Yuga parted ways with them.

The three of them were novice Trainers on a journey to gain experience, but after being relentlessly chased by the Toxicroak, they no longer dared to stay in the Great Marsh and were determined to leave as soon as possible.

Before leaving, they gave Yuga their contact information, urging him to contact them when he reached Pastoria City so they could properly repay him for saving their lives.

As Yuga continued his journey, he encountered several groups of people. Some were adventurers, while others, like him, were there to gather Moonlight Pearls.

Yuga tried to inquire about the Moonlight Pearls, but most people responded with wary looks, making him decide to drop the subject.

He could understand their caution, though. In a place like the Great Marsh, maintaining vigilance was far better than being as naïve as Akiba and her companions.

They were lucky to have run into Yuga. If it had been someone else, they might have been robbed and killed with no one to seek justice for them.

By the time it was almost dark, Yuga had reached the deeper parts of the Great Marsh. However, he chose not to continue further because traveling at night in the wetland was exceedingly dangerous.

The dangers didn't just come from wild Pokémon; even without their attacks, one could easily fall into a swamp by mistake, making it nearly impossible to climb back out.

The Great Marsh was filled with countless marshes, in addition to the visible ponds and lakes of various sizes.

Of course, Yuga's hesitation wasn't out of fear of getting stuck in the marshes. With Charizard and Chimecho by his side, the marshes posed little threat to him. The real issue was that traveling at night was inconvenient. After all, he wasn't just rushing to a destination—he was also searching for Marshgrass along the way.

Finding a relatively dry spot, Yuga summoned Palossand. After absorbing enough water and sand, Palossand instantly transformed into a towering castle.

Perhaps Yuga was the only person who could enjoy the luxury of staying in a castle in the middle of nowhere.

After a simple meal, Yuga retreated into the castle to rest, releasing Mimikyu and Decidueye to keep watch during the night.

Pulling a bed and quilt out of his system storage, Yuga lay down to sleep. However, he was woken in the middle of the night by Palossand shaking his body.

Being jolted awake from a good sleep, Yuga felt extremely irritable and almost lashed out at Palossand.

When he learned it was Decidueye calling for him outside, Yuga slapped his cheeks to clear his head, grabbed a flashlight, and went outside.

Once outside, Decidueye chirped at him urgently. Yuga shone the flashlight toward it and was startled to see a human figure lying at Decidueye's feet.

"Where did this come from?" Yuga asked as he approached.

Decidueye replied that the body had suddenly fallen from the sky, landing right on top of Palossand, which had even scared the ghost-type Pokémon.

Crouching down to examine the person, Yuga discovered that they had been dead for some time, their body already bloated.

It was a middle-aged man, but due to the severe damage to his face, Yuga found it difficult to determine his exact age—after all, he wasn't a professional.

Judging by the wounds on the corpse, it seemed the man hadn't been killed by a human but rather by a Pokémon, possibly under a human's command.

Searching the man's belongings, Yuga found a small spatial backpack containing some basic supplies but nothing that could identify him. The bag also held several Moonlight Pearls.

Yuga speculated that the man had also come to the Great Marsh to gather Moonlight Pearls but had lost his life for some unknown reason. Clearly, the depths of the Great Marsh were far from hospitable.

When dawn broke, Yuga found a spot to bury the man. Since he didn't know the man's identity, he had no way to return him to his family and could only bury him on the spot.

As for the man's belongings, Yuga didn't touch a single item, leaving them as burial offerings.

After dealing with the corpse, Yuga continued on his way.

The deeper he ventured into the Great Marsh, the fewer humans he encountered, especially since he was following a route recommended by the village chief—one rarely traveled by adventurers.

After walking for half a day without encountering another soul or finding any Moonlight Pearls, Yuga did encounter several Pokémon attacks.

Fortunately, Yuga's Sawsbuck could use its Camouflage ability to blend its fur with the surrounding environment. Yuga also wore clothes of similar color, reducing the number of attacks they faced.

As Yuga continued walking, he suddenly noticed a chubby Bidoof standing by a nearby pond. The Bidoof was holding a round, white fruit, munching on it while curiously observing Yuga.

Seeing that fruit, Yuga's eyes lit up—wasn't that a Moonlight Pearl?

Moonlight Pearls were not only incredibly nourishing for humans but also highly beneficial for Pokémon, which explained why they were so hard to collect.

"Mimikyu!" Yuga called out.

The shadow space flickered, and Mimikyu emerged from Yuga's shadow.

"Catch that Bidoof!"

As soon as Yuga spoke, Mimikyu leaped into action. Before the Bidoof could react, Mimikyu used Shadow Claw to grab it by the scruff of its neck.

The captured Bidoof struggled fiercely, dropping the half-eaten Moonlight Pearl it was holding. However, against Mimikyu, which had already reached pseudo-Elite level, its struggles were completely futile.

Realizing resistance was pointless, the Bidoof quickly emitted a distress signal, calling for reinforcements. Soon, two Bibarel arrived—clearly the parents of the first one.

Yuga noticed that the two Bibarel had quite high levels, nearly reaching pseudo-Elite level themselves. He suspected that if it weren't for limitations in their innate potential, they might have broken through to the pseudo-Elite level long ago.

Without hesitation, the two Bibarel launched an attack on Mimikyu, aiming to rescue their child. However, even while holding the Bidoof, Mimikyu fought them off effortlessly.

Although the two Bibarel had decent battle experience and were fighting on home turf, the level gap was too significant. In no time, they were rendered powerless by Mimikyu.

Taking advantage of the situation, Yuga initiated a negotiation. Picking up the half-eaten Moonlight Pearl, he addressed the Bibarel couple, "If you tell me where to find more of these, I'll let your child go."

The two Bibarel exchanged glances and agreed without hesitation, which surprising Yuga.

In truth, the Moonlight Pearl their child had been eating wasn't something they had grown themselves—it was stolen.

The place where Moonlight Pearls grew was extremely dangerous. The Bibarel couple had risked everything to snatch a few pearls, so they had no qualms about leading Yuga there.

If Yuga died while trying to collect the pearls, they'd get their revenge. If he succeeded, it wouldn't matter since the pearls weren't theirs to begin with—they wouldn't lose anything.

Guided by the Bibarel, Yuga crossed a wide lake. This lake was home to a large number of Water-type Pokémon. Riding on Lapras, Yuga encountered multiple attacks from the Water Pokémon, but all were fended off by Lapras's Ice Beam.

Though the Bibarel looked fluffy and awkward on land, as Water-types, their swimming skills were remarkable. Watching their short, plump limbs paddle quickly and smoothly through the water was both impressive and amusing.

After swimming across the lake and traversing a shallow beach, Yuga arrived at an area resembling a green carpet. This "grassland" was dotted with numerous white fruits, which were the very Moonlight Pearls Yuga had come in search of.

As soon as they reached the destination, the two Bibarel demanded that Yuga return their child. Yuga did not refuse.

Once freed, the Bibarel family of three disappeared without a trace in an instant.

Since he had already arrived at his destination, Yuga didn't mind how quickly the Bibarel fled.

Just as Yuga was preparing to gather the Moonlight Pearls, the scene that followed left him dumbfounded.

A mighty and robust Staraptor descended from the sky, grabbing a Moonlight Pearl in its beak and attempting to fly away. Suddenly, countless Poison Stings and Pin Missiles shot up from beneath the Marshgrass. The Staraptor was instantly turned into a pincushion.

The sight made Yuga break out in a cold sweat. Thankfully, he had been slow to act. Otherwise, it would have been him turned into a pincushion.

No wonder the Bibarel family had fled so quickly earlier, and no wonder this place, despite being full of Moonlight Pearls, had not been picked clean by other Pokémon.

Carefully observing the dense Marshgrass, Yuga noticed faint rustling sounds coming from beneath it. Clearly, other Pokémon lived there, and they were the true owners of this Marshgrass and the Moonlight Pearls.

Marshgrass was actually a type of aquatic plant. Its roots grew in shallow water, while its stems and leaves extended above the surface. When the plants grew densely together, as they did here, they formed what appeared to be a grassland.

In reality, however, the dense leaves concealed a watery underlayer.

After observing for a long while, Yuga finally identified the Pokémon hiding beneath the aquatic plants.

Qwilfish—thousands upon thousands of Qwilfish, perhaps even more, their sheer numbers enough to make one's scalp tingle.

Qwilfish are Water- and Poison-type Pokémon. A single Qwilfish wasn't particularly threatening, but when thousands of them gathered together, it was an outright disaster.

Their bodies were covered in spines that were laced with potent poison. They could launch this poison as either Poison Stings or Pin Missiles. Otherwise, that Staraptor wouldn't have met such a grim fate so swiftly.

Using his Insight skill, Yuga checked the Staraptor's level. It wasn't any lower than the Bibarel family's—if anything, it was a level or two higher. Yet, it had been taken out in a single encounter.

The Qwilfish here were generally not very high-level, but their sheer numbers created a qualitative advantage. Their overwhelming quantity was beyond comprehension.

For a moment, Yuga found himself in a dilemma.