Chapter 275: Catching Them All in One Net

The tuft of curly fur atop the Six-Tail's head felt incredibly soft, just like a fluffy cloud, and its tiny head was only slightly larger than Luo Mu's palm.

Most peculiarly, whenever Luo Mu stroked the curly fur on the Six-Tail's head, his palm would sense a faint chill.

Luo Mu remembered that this was the ability of Six-Tails from the Alola region, capable of producing fine ice particles from the curly fur on their heads and tails; it was truly miraculous.

Seeing how much the Six-Tail enjoyed his petting, Luo Mu's right hand grew bolder and slid downward, stroking its small and adorable body—

The texture was equally peculiar; accompanying the smooth fur should have been warm body heat, yet the Six-Tail's body felt perfectly cool to the touch, and Luo Mu was already imagining how comfortable it would be to hold the Six-Tail during the scorching heat of summer.

The Six-Tail's body shivered; it felt something was off, but the Poffin in Luo Mu's left hand made it unable to stop, so it ignored that strange sensation.

At this moment, the Six-Tail's mind was filled with only one thought: (ω) What is this delicious thing? It's the first time I've eaten something so tasty!

Eat, eat, eat, eat!

Stopping his petting motion, Luo Mu watched the Six-Tail eat faster and faster; he had thought it was an elegant little Princess, but unexpectedly, the Six-Tail revealed its true form so quickly.

Luo Mu laughed softly and said, "Eat slowly, don't choke; no one is snatching it from you."

"Mimikyu~"

Unfortunately, good times never last long.

Icicle Crash!

"Shasha!!"

They were—Sandslash (Alolan Form).

Luo Mu had intended to press his advantage and capture these two Sandslash with food as well to take them away, but he didn't expect the two Sandslash to suddenly shift their gaze toward Mimikyu—

"Miuwu~"

Thinking this, Luo Mu pondered for a moment, but no matter how he thought, he couldn't come up with a way to make it up to the two Sandslash, so he simply closed his eyes, skillfully took two round spheres from his pocket, and threw them at the Sandslash.

Mimikyu reported the situation to Luo Mu; Luo Mu stood up from the haystack, used one hand to pat the dry grass sticking to his pants, and said in a deep voice, "It seems the owner of the cave has returned."

Mimikyu also went to the Six-Tail's side to whisper comfort; as long as Luo Mu was nearby, it could draw the attention of other Pokémon, and naturally, the Six-Tail heard Mimikyu's voice as well.

Mimikyu's presence was undoubtedly a top-level threat to them; the pupils of the Sandslash couple contracted, they let out a roar, ice-type energy gathered from everywhere onto the frozen spikes on their backs, transforming into dense icicles that shot toward Mimikyu.

Ask yourself, as a Pokémon who has struggled and climbed in the wild, upon seeing a creature taller than yourself, would your first reaction definitely not be to approach and ask for pets?

Not every Pokémon is as innocent and sweet as the Six-Tail.

The two Sandslash possessed keen senses of smell and naturally understood how fragrant the Berries in Luo Mu's hand were, so their expressions obviously became hesitant.

Without needing his reminder, Mimikyu stepped forward, its entire body radiating a dazzling light; under the illumination of the strong light, the howling icicles completely crumbled.

About half an hour after the Six-Tail fell asleep, Mimikyu raised its head to look at the entrance of the cave; it keenly detected some rustling movements at the end of the tunnel, which was the outside world.

The Six-Tail, inexperienced in the world, was directly frightened; its fur slightly bristled, and it cowardly burrowed into Luo Mu's arms, just like a little ostrich.

At this moment, Luo Mu felt he had reached the peak of his life; looking at the cute Six-Tail, his entire being was healed.

The next instant, accompanied by a clear sliding sound echoing through the cave, two figures landed steadily on the ground one after the other; sensing a strange scent and an uninvited presence, they immediately emitted angry threatening sounds.

The Six-Tail also woke up due to the commotion of Luo Mu standing up, making a soft and sticky cry in a daze, as if acting spoiled or wondering what was happening.

By then, the Six-Tail, having intruded into the other party's territory, would likely be in danger.

Subsequently, under the surprised expressions of the Sandslash, two pairs of huge and sharp Shadow Claws slammed down heavily; only a heavy slapping sound was heard, and amidst the scattering dust, the Sandslash couple simply lost their ability to battle.

The two Sandslash appeared to be partners; the difference in their sizes was obvious, with the taller Sandslash protecting the smaller one behind it, vigilantly watching Luo Mu and his group, the enemies who had broken into their nest.

Immediately after, Luo Mu took out several Sitrus Berries he had specifically brought, ripened by Applin; for the Sandslash, this kind of food they had likely eaten before should make it easier to reduce their hostility.

First, this cave was undoubtedly not the nest of the Six-Tail family; whether looking at the Six-Tail hiding in the dry grass with an empty stomach, or the deep claw marks on the surrounding ice walls, all clues pointed to the owner being an Ice-type Pokémon with sharp claws.

Luo Mu: "."

As for Luo Mu, he calmly sized up the owners of the cave without fear, the corners of his lips rising slightly: "So it's you."

The most striking feature was their backs, which were covered in ice and bore dense, huge, sharp spikes; seemingly because the frozen spikes accounted for a large portion of their weight, their not-so-tall bodies made a dull sound when landing.

Luo Mu did not hesitate and directly squatted down; this was a method effective in the wild for reducing the wariness and aggression of wild Pokémon.

Having eaten and drunk their fill, treating Luo Mu as a human worthy of trust, the Six-Tail's tense spirit finally relaxed; its watery large eyes were half-open due to drowsiness, its small mouth gently yawning, and it curled up its body to lie in Luo Mu's arms, falling into a dazed sleep.

As soon as the Sitrus Berry left the container, it emitted a faint fruity fragrance; at the very least, it made the Six-Tail, which had buried its face in Luo Mu's arms, stare straight-eyed, but it was also afraid of the two Sandslash and dared not poke its head out, completely trapped in a dead end of indecision.

Luo Mu wondered to himself if today was a giveaway event for Alolan forms; just after meeting a Six-Tail, here came the Sandslash again.

At the same time, the Six-Tail also felt a bit embarrassed; it was truly starving to death, otherwise it wouldn't have forgotten the etiquette taught by its elders.

After the Six-Tail finally ate its fill and drank some water Luo Mu carried with him, through the translation of the master of acting, Mimikyu, Luo Mu pieced together from the Six-Tail why it had appeared here.

The Six-Tail must have fallen into the cave for some time, otherwise it wouldn't be so hungry; the owner of the cave had not returned during this period, likely having gone out to find food, and judging by the Six-Tail's level of hunger, Luo Mu felt there was a probability the cave owner would return today.

After the spheres hit the two Sandslash and then fell to the ground, emitting a few shaking sounds, followed by a crisp 'ding-dong' sound, Luo Mu finally opened his eyes; looking at the two Poké Balls lying quietly on the ground, he revealed a smile of 'plan successful'.

Knowing that Mimikyu had no malicious intent, the Six-Tail's sense of rejection toward it decreased considerably, and its eating pace slowed down somewhat.

They were two Pokémon resembling scaled animals; to put it plainly, they looked like a combination of pangolin and hedgehog/porcupine elements.

Most of their skin and scales were light blue, their bellies and mouths were white, their foot claws were all sharp two-toed, and their claws were exceptionally large, like hooks.

Their types were Ice and Steel, with a four-times weakness to Fire and Fighting.

He just felt quite sorry for the Sandslash; after all, he had trespassed into their home first and then beaten up the 'house' owners; sin, sin.

Naturally, Luo Mu and the Six-Tail were also within the attack range of the Sandslash.

The two Sandslash were stunned; the one with the Dragon Scale was actually Luo Mu's Mimikyu, which glared with angry small eyes, and shadows spread out from beneath it, instantly connecting with the shadows of the two Sandslash.

His thinking was very simple: since he couldn't find a way to make it up to the Sandslash for the time being, he could only take them back to the farm and raise them with good food and drink!

Mimikyu, observing from the side: (_)?

Those abacus beads were practically hitting it in the face!

"Miuwu."

It seemed that only after the aura of the Sandslash completely disappeared did the Six-Tail gather the courage to poke out its buried ostrich-like head, observing the surrounding environment with curiosity, as if it didn't understand why the two Sandslash had suddenly vanished.

Luo Mu put the Six-Tail down from his arms, asked Mimikyu to take good care of it, then stepped forward to pick up the two Poké Balls; after pondering for a moment, he opened one of them.

The smaller female Sandslash appeared again in the cave; the Six-Tail was startled by this move and cowardly hid behind Mimikyu once more.

The Sandslash was clearly somewhat dazed now, not only because it had just been knocked unconscious by a single swipe from Mimikyu's claw, but also due to the strange sensation after being captured; this made the Sandslash hesitate for a moment, and ultimately it did not launch an attack against Luo Mu.

However, the Sandslash still maintained a hint of vigilance; regarding this point, it was clearly time for the food temptation method.

Luo Mu took out several Pamap Berries and Poffins one by one, placing them on the ground before the Sandslash, finally taking a few steps back to convey to the Sandslash the signal that he bore no hostile intent.

The female Sandslash struggled internally for a while, but ultimately could not resist the temptation of food; temporarily casting her husband to the back of her mind, she began to gorge herself on the food provided by Luo Mu.

Once she started eating, she could not stop; feeling the warm current flowing within her body, along with a deliciousness she had never experienced before, the Sandslash's worldview was being impacted.

So, there is actually food this delicious in this world.

The female Sandslash's gaze toward Luo Mu changed; as for aggressiveness and vigilance, those had long since vanished into the clouds along with her husband.

Seeing that the Sandslash was no longer vigilant, Luo Mu smiled: "Have you calmed down now?"

The female Sandslash hesitated for a moment, then nodded lightly.

"It is like this; you should know that you have already been captured by me, correct?"

Luo Mu locked eyes with the Sandslash, and after receiving its signal of nodding confirmation from it, he continued:

"To be honest, I plan to take you both back to my farm; there, every day there will be food like this, even more varieties of food, and you will not need to go out in wind and snow weather constantly just to forage."

The Sandslash's eyes lit up upon hearing this; could there really be such a good thing in the world?

"Of course, having enjoyed safe shelter and food, you naturally must contribute to the farm when necessary—for example, maintaining the cold temperature of the farm's ice cellar, which should not be difficult for you Ice-types, correct?"

Luo Mu thus laid out the obligations that the Sandslash pair must fulfill.

Before the Sandslash could express its opinion, the Vulpix, gradually poking out its little head, widened its big eyes that seemed to be twinkling with stars, its face filled with longing.

Oh my, does this mean we can eat even more delicious food!?

The female Sandslash hesitated and held back for a moment; truly, the conditions Luo Mu offered were too tempting, and the Sandslash also believed that since Luo Mu and Mimikyu were so strong, there was no need for them to deceive her; furthermore, after being captured by the Poké Ball, the Sandslash naturally felt a few extra degrees of affection toward Luo Mu that did not affect her rationality.

In less than ten minutes, the female Sandslash chose to submit to Luo Mu, completely selling herself out.

With the female Sandslash already having defected, capturing the other male Sandslash, who was even more fierce and combative, was a piece of cake; in less than two minutes, under the combined brainwashing of Luo Mu and the female Sandslash, he muddily chose to submit as well.

Two more Ice-type Pokémon added to the farm!

"Mm-hmm... the blizzard is still raging outside, it seems my guess was mostly correct."

After communicating with the two Sandslash, Luo Mu roughly understood a bit of the current situation outside.

The Sandslash felt that the inexplicable blizzard that had suddenly arisen outside was somewhat unusual and very eerie, so they had ended their foraging early and returned to their nest.

Looking again at the little cutie in his arms and the abilities that surely existed in its elders, Luo Mu felt he already had the answer.

This blizzard was very likely stirred up by the Vulpix's parent, a Ninetales, in order to search for its child.

Alolan Ice-type Vulpix possess two abilities: "Snow Cloak" and "Snow Warning"; the former allows them to naturally conceal their form in wind and snow, while the latter, like the Politoed, grants them the innate ability to summon wind and snow.

After pondering for a moment, Luo Mu first recalled the two Sandslash into their Poké Balls, then had Mimikyu return to his shadow, picked up the Vulpix, and summoned his Dragonite.

The moment it left the Poké Ball, the Dragonite looked at the Vulpix in Luo Mu's arms; its eyes glowed slightly, and it immediately intended to open its arms to give the Vulpix a big hug.

The Vulpix shrank back slightly, but still chose to trust Luo Mu and his Pokémon, remaining motionless and simply accepting the Dragonite's warm embrace.

Luo Mu, unable to move: "."

Don't hug, this kid will naturally counter you in the future!

After the Dragonite loosened its arms with satisfaction, Luo Mu, holding the Vulpix, mounted its back and looked up at the hole above, his face filled with the desire to speak but holding back.

It seems that due to its size, the Dragonite cannot fly up there?

The Dragonite seemed to have foreseen that Luo Mu was about to say it was fat; angrily stomping its foot, and since the Sandslash couple had already been abducted, it decided to use the most violent method to get out—

Under the Vulpix's terrified expression, the Dragonite raised its draconic head, brewing a terrifying energy fluctuation in its mouth; the next instant, a Hyper Beam that nearly pierced through the raging wind and snow outside burst forth!

As the underground cave began to collapse under the Dragonite's terrifying destructive power, it spread its wings, clad in surging, burning Dragon-type energy, bursting through the falling rubble and soil in one go, appearing directly amidst the howling blizzard!

The moment it was exposed to the blizzard, the Vulpix began looking around as if it had sensed something; its reaction further verified Luo Mu's conjecture.

This blizzard was definitely caused by the Vulpix's parent!

Without hesitation, Luo Mu immediately shouted in his mind: "System, give directions!"

【Okay dear, go in that direction, dear】

Following the System's guidance, the Dragonite smoothly landed on a slightly flat snowfield, and at the same time, they saw a trace of a noble figure looming in the wind and snow.

That was a creature covered in light blue, flowing fur, a true snow mountain spirit—Ninetales (Alolan Form)!

People in the Alola region even regard the Alolan Ninetales that appears accompanied by blizzards as an incarnation of a god; this alone is enough to show how sacred and elegant the Ninetales' appearance is.

In an instant, the Vulpix seemed to sense the Ninetales looming in the blizzard; it broke free from Luo Mu's arms and excitedly ran toward the Ninetales.

Seeing this, Luo Mu felt somewhat helpless.

Originally, he had planned to catch both the Vulpix and the Ninetales in one net and take them all away, but now it seemed highly probable that he would lose both Lady and soldier.

Running to the Ninetales' side, the Vulpix affectionately rubbed against its body; the Ninetales accordingly lowered itself, extending its tongue to lick the Vulpix that had been missing for so long, emitting a rumbling sound from its throat that sounded like scolding.

The blizzard had stopped at some unknown time; watching the Vulpix and Ninetales bathed in the falling sunlight, Luo Mu raised the corners of his mouth and intended to turn and leave.

"Mewu—"

At this moment, the Ninetales suddenly raised its head and cried out to stop Luo Mu.

Luo Mu's movements paused; meeting the Ninetales' ice-blue pupils filled with wisdom, Luo Mu discovered that he could actually see an expression of assessment in the Ninetales' gaze.

The Ninetales' gaze circled between Luo Mu and the Dragonite, and recalling the events the Vulpix had just chirped about in its ear, it could judge that Luo Mu should be a good person.

The Ninetales was very open-minded and knew that this snow mountain was a human creation; its age was much greater than that of the Ecological Dome, and it was very clear about the human intention behind building the Ecological Dome.

After all, it was the Pokémon of a teacher at Blueberry Academy who had passed away after living out their natural lifespan.

Rather than letting the Vulpix be captured by someone inexplicably at some unknown time in the future without its knowledge, the Ninetales preferred to personally select a human worthy of entrusting the Vulpix to.

The Luo Mu before its eyes undoubtedly perfectly met the Ninetales' requirements.

He showed great patience toward the Vulpix, generously provided delicious food, and even brought the Vulpix to find itself; more importantly, that Dragonite gave the Ninetales the feeling that even with its type advantage, it did not have the slightest chance of winning.

A Trainer possessing both strength and character is indeed very hard to encounter.

The Ninetales used its nose to nudge the Vulpix forward, emitting a urging cry.

Stumbling forward, the six-tailed fox looked back at every step, bewildered: Had its mother abandoned it?

Yet urged by the nine-tailed fox, the six-tailed one returned to Luo Mu's side, emitting several soft, cooing cries.

Perceiving the nine-tailed fox's intent, Luo Mu lifted the six-tailed fox and solemnly promised, "I will treat it well."

The nine-tailed fox nodded slightly, turned, and walked into the depths of the snow plain. As wind and snow rose again, blurring the white world, several more nine-tailed and six-tailed foxes, seemingly waiting for it, appeared in the direction of its departure.

(End of Chapter)