CH48 (178), Treasure Hunt (3)

"I think approaching a Scyther nest without investigating their numbers would be a folly. So, I propose we follow the tracks, BUT we should stop and have the flying group confirm their number once we notice that we are close to our target before we continue to approach them.

Your Xatu, especially, should be really good at determining their number. If there are more than 12 Scyther then the whole thing is too risky and not worth it." Yu elucidated what he had decided, and I agreed.

I could obviously call out my other Pokemon if it became necessary but his cautious attitude was the right one.

"Good idea, I fully agree," was all I felt the need to say. Subsequently, we began to follow the tracks when just a minute in Luna/Clefairy tugged at my shirt.

"Family head, I found some faint human tracks not far from the Scyther ones that lead in another direction," she said with enthusiasm.

'Those clever b****rds,' I thought to myself. They used the Scyther tracks as a distraction to draw away attention from the ones they left behind so that only really attentive people/students would notice them.

Moreover, if not for Luna we would have most likely missed them as they wanted. I stopped Yu and told him about her discovery.

"Luna found faint human traces, so let's follow those first before returning to the Scyther ones," I suggested and he agreed.

We let Luna lead the way since she was the one that noticed them in the first place. The tracks led to an inconspicuous "little" crack in the ground beside a bush that had a 3-pointer coin in it.

Luna metaphorically beamed in accomplishment while handing over the coin to me and I swear I saw pink sparkles being released when I patted her head in praise for finding a coin.

We returned to the spot we stopped tracing the Scyther tracks and resumed pursuing them. Just two minutes later we noticed markings that clearly indicated that we were not far from the Scyther's habitat.

Those were left as territory markings and they did their job pretty well, at least for us. We stopped as soon as we saw them and let Horus/Xatu, as well as Staraptor, fly ahead so that they could check out the situation for us. They came back pretty soon with news.

'Alright, I've got bad news, okay news, and good news. Which one do you want to hear first?' Horus asked me and I had to stop myself from facepalming.

Leave it to Horus to decide to poke fun at me during a time like this. At least he used open telepathy so that everyone could hear our talk to avoid making things awkward for Yu.

"The good one," I told him and I felt his amusement.

'We saw the coin, so we know for sure that there is one. Moreover, we are pretty sure that it's a 10-pointer,' he said.

"That's great!" Yu exclaimed when Horus said that.

"Okay, shoot. What's the bad news?" I asked, curious how bad this was going to be.

'The boss Scyther seems to be at the (low) gold stage. Still, it could be the (mid) gold stage as well, but I think it's low.' Horus replied, which made Yu groan.

I was not happy with that as well. Still, if it came down to it Mothra/Butterfree and Horus could take it on by double-teaming it. Besides, the boss being at the gold stage meant that it could be sapient.

In that case, I would have an easier time bargaining with it. Moreover, it should know that seriously harming or killing us could potentially provoke others to come for retribution.

I believe that the strong and sapient Pokemon around Rota knew about the human academies, so Scyther should think double before slaying us. At least, I hoped so. Not that anything would happen to me either way, but it was better to have assurance than not.

*sigh*

"What's the okayish news?" I inquired, hoping sincerely that it would not be too bad.

'There are a total of 9 Scyther including the boss. The other 8 are all at the silver stage, either (low) or (mid).' He finished and I saw that Yu looked seriously worried after hearing what Horus said.

"What do we do? It seems to be a bit more than I feel comfortable challenging." He admitted, asking for my opinion.

"I'd say that we give it a shot. As long as it's not at the (high) gold stage, Mothra should be able to keep it busy, and together with Horus, they might even be able to take it out." Yu made a really doubtful face when I said that, but I chose to ignore it and went on.

"So, the others can deal with the other Scyther while Mothra deals with the boss. Besides, the boss Scyther could have gained sapience. So, we could bargain with it either at the beginning or after proving too difficult to deal with." I finished and I saw that the last part swayed him a bit.

Seeing him wavering I decided to give him a last push.

"Furthermore, if possible see could try to snatch the coin while diverting their attention. We'd obviously have to flee afterward, but it's still an option."

That seemed to have been enough cause he gained a resolute look.

"Let's do it." He said and I nodded.

Decision made, we made our way to the Scyther territory. Upon entering the small clearing the Scyther were staying at, we both wanted to curse. The coin was smack dab in the middle of the Scyther, who were expecting us by the way.

A Scyther, who I assume was the leader, stepped forward and addressed us. Yu and I automatically looked over to Horus for a translation.

'Er, well, essentially, he told us to f*ck off.' Horus told us.

Crude language aside, at least we now knew that the leader was indeed sapient. Yu threw me a look that said "what do we do now", which made me wonder why everyone expected me to know the answer to everything. Well, I did most of the time, but still.

"Scyther, we won't leave without that coin beside you. It's useless to you anyway, so how about we exchange it with something else?" I offered and he waved me off.

'Scyther says it not impossible for him to give us the coin, but we have to beat five of his underlings and win at least 3 times. Moreover, even if we win we still have to give him something in exchange for the coin.' Horus played translator once more.

I had to nod hearing Scyther's demands.

"Just as I suspected, our teachers probably asked him to do that in exchange for something. Otherwise, it would have made no sense for them to hide a coin with them since no one would have had a chance to get a coin from the boss Scyther." I told Yu, who nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I think so too. Anyway, the terms it stated are much better than I expected, so let's do this. We should hurry up a bit since we can't afford to waste too much time." He threw in and I had to concur.

"Alright, let's do this," I told the Scyther who simply send out one of his lackeys.

"Thor, you're up, and make it quick please," I told my Pikachu, who excitedly nodded.

The boss Scyther gave the signal and the battle began. Well, it ended as fast as it began as well, and except for me and my Pokemon, everyone was shocked.

Yu's mouth was wide open in disbelief and if this had been a cartoon I was sure they would have fallen to the ground while his eyes would have popped out.

Well, I guess a Quick Attack boosted Volt Tackle used as an opening move would catch nearly anyone off guard since nearly no one uses what qualifies as a finishing move at the beginning of a fight.

Anyway, while it was not enough to knock out the Scyther, it did send it flying. Moreover, it was currently still on the floor shaking its head, which gave Thor enough time for a Thunderbolt if he wanted to attack.

Still, since it became apparent that Thor could have finished the match Scyther called out the end before Thor could release his Thunderbolt much to the disappointment of my Pikachu.

I threw a Cheri berry at the Scyther since I noticed that it had been paralyzed by Volt Tackle. A bit of goodwill could not hurt after all. It nodded gratefully before walking back to its group after which the boss sent out another one.

Thor swaggered over and climbed on top of my head before asking if he had done a good job. He was obviously asking to be praised, which I did since he actually did a good job, swagger aside.

"Horus, you're next." I sent him out since I wanted to finish this quickly.

Horus nodded and just levitated over. After the signal, he just raised his wings and froze his opponent using Psychic. He obviously did not need to raise his wings but did it just to look cool that little poser.

Anyway, after using Psychic he simply fired a really strong Air Slash in front of the immobilized Scyther's feet to show that he could finish the fight without having to hurt.

The boss told him to release his minion and it returned to its group with its head bowed. The whole fight would have been way harder if it had been a serious one, but since there was no real reason for the Scyther to risk their health, my Pokemon were having a much easier time beating them.

Boss Scyther was declaring the results as soon as my Pokemon proved their strength since he saw no need to hurt his underlings for a little reward. I seriously doubted Horus would have otherwise won a match against a (mid) silver-stage Scyther that easily.

Oh, he would have still won, but it would have taken a minute or so and not a few seconds. I saw Yu glancing between Horus, Thor, and my other Pokemon, no doubt wondering just how strong they really were. Anyway, Horus returned as well and the third Scyther stepped up.

"Mothra, darling, your turn," I informed her and she happily went forward.

Once boss Scyther gave the signal she just gassed her opponent with Sleep Powder. Like that was the biggest cloud I had seen so far and the Scyther had no chance to escape before it fell asleep.

I actually saw the boss Scyther release a sigh of frustration before declaring the fight over. I threw a Chesto berry towards them so that they could quickly wake up the sleeping Scyther and the boss actually nodded in gratitude.

'He says that a deal is a deal and that we could have the coin for 60 berries. He apparently planned to ask for 90 berries at first, but he likes your attitude so he reduced the number.' Horus translated once again what the boss Scyther said.

"Thank Arceus that we gathered a lot of berries because you said they would come in handy, or we would have had to go out to gather some now," Yu exclaimed in happiness.

I nodded and began to take out 60 berries from my bag. Horus levitated the berries over to the Scyther while the boss kicked the coin over to us. I picked it up and saw that it was a 10-pointer.

I flashed it to Yu, who grinned happily when he saw the 10 on it before I put it away. After that, I decided to see if I could reap more from them.

"Say, seeing how strong you are. You should probably know what is going on around here. Have you heard or seen anything regarding other coins?" I tried my luck with it and it actually nodded.

'Scyther says they "acquired" another coin and he would be willing to trade that one for another 40 berries. He also mentioned that he would be willing to hint us in the direction of another one if we went through with the trade.' Our translator conveyed and we agreed.

That transaction actually reduced our stock close to zero. Still, we managed to get another 5-pointer in exchange, so we were satisfied with the result.

After the leader told us that there was a large group of Vileplume 15 minutes east of here. According to him they probably had a coin as well. He even warned us that the leader of the Vileplume was at the gold stage as well, but added that she was a chill individual as long as they did not threaten her group.

Since the Vileplume group actually did fulfill the requirement for a 10-pointer, at least according to our assumptions, we decided to head there next.

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