Chapter 443: The Evolution of the Applin! The Arrival of Carmine!

"."

Luo Mu fell into a rare silence.

Because he had discovered a somewhat tragic fact.

On that final cast just now, he had forgotten to add bait; in other words, this Feebas could not possibly have been attracted by bait and then caught by Luo Mu.

Combined with its reaction, rather than saying Luo Mu had caught this Shiny Feebas, it was more accurate to say this Shiny Feebas had "willingly taken the hook," actively biting a hook that held absolutely nothing.

All that talk of exploding luck and no longer being skunked was false.

This Feebas had practically hooked itself!

Seeming to have grown impatient, it shot Luo Mu a look of disappointment akin to feeling angry at someone's stupidity for not improving, then simply thrashed its powerful tail, locked its dull gaze onto the few Poké Balls scattered near the fishing gear, leaped over, touched a Poké Ball, and captured itself.

The Poké Ball didn't even shake three times; it was a perfect capture straight away.

At this, not only was Luo Mu silenced, but the Serperior just extending its vines, the Luxray lifting its paw, and the Mimikyu currently dancing all froze in place.

Did this even count as walking right into a trap!? Morning.

Danyu and Uli woke up to find Luo Mu wearing a very strange expression.

How should one describe it? It was like the face of someone who had stayed up very late, sporting slight dark circles, yet displaying two conflicting emotions of secret delight and suppressed grievance, looking utterly conflicted.

Facing their inquiries, Luo Mu merely waved his hand, offering no explanation.

How could he possibly say that after finally catching a fish following ten thousand years of being skunked, the fish had actually thrown itself at him?

Would he still have any dignity left if he said that! After tidying up the campsite and taking all the trash with them, the three of them descended directly from the summit of Oni Mountain to its base in one go.

After all, since there was no need to battle wild Pokémon, Luxray and the others naturally exerted their full speed.

With Luxray accelerating its muscles via electric currents, Arcanine capable of using Extreme Speed, and Rapidash-Unova no less speedy than them, the descent was incredibly thrilling, just like riding a roller coaster.

Upon reaching the foot of the mountain, the three Pokémon did not reduce their speed in the slightest.

According to Uli and Danyu, if they hurried back to Greenfall Town now, they should arrive just in time for the contest for the strongest Applin.

Some time after the three departed.

In a certain cave, Pecharunt, who had been curled up asleep clutching its mask and bearing some dust and wounds on its body, suddenly opened its eyes.

"Boni..!"

Startled awake, Pecharunt ignored the dull pain across its body and hastily pulled aside the camouflage vegetation to peer outside.

Upon seeing the proud sun hanging in the sky, a human-like expression of disappointment floated across its small face, which resembled a tangerine.

Last night, it had spent considerable effort searching for food and had gotten injured, leading to exhaustion that caused it to accidentally oversleep! At this rate, that person from the mountain top had probably long since descended.

Pecharunt felt somewhat helpless, and somewhat disappointed.

Having missed this opportunity, it did not know how long it would have to wait before another chance arose.

Now, with three masks lost and the mask in hand damaged, without a mask it could not exert its power at all; even finding ordinary food was incredibly difficult, and now that hope had finally arrived, it had missed it again.

For a moment, Pecharunt's eyes turned slightly red once more.

After quite a while.

Having composed its emotions and given itself a pep talk, Pecharunt struggled to climb back to the summit of Oni Mountain; looking at the empty Crystal Pool, although it had expected this, it still lowered its head.

Could it be that it could only continue waiting again?

Seven o'clock in the morning.

Luo Mu and the other two arrived at Apple Hill right on schedule.

Compared to yesterday, because they had arrived early, today they witnessed a scene they had not seen yesterday.

Many Applin came down from the apple trees where they nested, moving in groups toward the huge apple tree in the center.

Meanwhile, the townspeople of Greenfall Town, accompanied by Poochyena, Mightyena, and other Pokémon responsible for guarding the orchard, were driving away wild bird Pokémon that attempted to attack the Applin.

After all, these Applin were the great treasures that generated wealth for the Kitakami region.

Watching the townspeople who had already begun shooing away the birds, Uli's face showed an expression of disappointment.

Danyu, however, said thoughtfully, "In that case, even if honeyed apples had appeared on the trees again, they would have long since been taken and destroyed by those my lords."

Uli nodded gently, agreeing with Jie De Xiang Fa.

Come to think of it, him finding a honeyed apple was truly a case of exploding luck.

That night, after he had secretly gone to Oni Mountain and returned empty-handed, he happened to be struck on the head by that honeyed apple just as he was passing by Apple Hill.

The Blueberry Academy side had also conducted research; although other apple trees possessed the possibility of producing special apples, compared to this huge apple tree in the Kitakami region, the probability was still far too low.

Regarding the regret felt by the two, Luo Mu did not mind it in the least.

Looking at the Applin staying beside Serperior, he opened his mouth to ask, "Have you really made your decision?"

"Kaji!"

The Applin's small eyes were full of determination.

After thinking for so long, it had already made its decision!

Seeing this.

Luo Mu gave Danyu and Uli a helpless smile.

"It seems the honeyed apple will not be needed after all."

After coming into contact with Dipplin and witnessing the evolution into Flapple and Appletun, the Applin had made its choice.

Serperior sighed and allowed the Applin to merge into that large group of Applin.

Even though there were many Applin with similar appearances, Serperior still kept its gaze firmly locked on the Applin's figure.

It could distinguish which one was the cub it had raised, and furthermore, just as it had when conversing with Luo Mu earlier, even if the Applin's choice did not align with Ji De Xiang Fa, it would still support it.

Danyu and Uli said another word to Luo Mu, then ran off to find those my lords.

After all, since they were using an item produced by an apple tree belonging to Greenfall Town to trigger evolution, both emotionally and logically, they ought to inform the owner of the orchard.

A moment later.

The two ran back; in truth, Dan Yu had done all the explaining the entire way, while Wuli had served merely as a decorative prop.

Flushed slightly from the run, Dan Yu said with a hint of excitement, "Mr. Luo Mu, the Orchard Master has agreed to let your Applin evolve using the apples here!"

"He said that if your Applin has the ability to carve out a path among all the other Applin, they wouldn't mind doing a favor by going with the flow!"

"I understand."

Luo Mu nodded, his expression showing slight surprise.

He had originally prepared to trade money for this opportunity, never expecting the Orchard Master to be so generous; indeed, most people here were probably quite friendly, weren't they?

But when Luo Mu learned from the two that today's stock was scarce, with only one Sweet Apple on the entire tree, he suddenly realized the truth.

No wonder they were so generous; it turned out they were waiting for him right here.

At this moment.

Although the number of Applin gathered beneath the giant apple tree was not as large as yesterday, it still approached one hundred.

Even though Luo Mu was confident that his Applin's physical fitness and move proficiency far surpassed those of other Applin, this numerical gap was still too great. After all, Applin could only learn a few moves, and their constitution couldn't achieve any terrifying leap before evolution; being able to fight ten or twenty untrained Applin at once was already the limit.

Of course, that was just under normal circumstances.

Fortunately, the apple serving as the evolution item was indeed the one chosen by his Applin, so there was no need to wait another day.

Time reached eight o'clock.

The bustling crowd of gathered Applin, as if receiving some signal, began to climb upward and started fighting on the branches of that giant apple tree.

Defeated Applin kept falling from the tree; for a moment, the tree was filled with the sights of Applin colliding with one another.

These townsfolk raising Applin had never intended for them to possess combat capability, having taught them almost no moves; aside from a few exceptionally talented Applin, most Applin knew only a simple, unadorned "Tackle" that couldn't even be called a proper move.

At this point, Luo Mu's Applin stood out remarkably.

Before coming to the Kitakami region, Luo Mu had specially spent a large sum to purchase an item called the "Mirror Herb," allowing his Applin to learn the egg moves "Rollout" and "Defense Curl" from Da Nai Guan, and to learn the move "Sucker Punch" from Ai Li Qi Si's Grimmsnarl.

Coupled with the moves it usually mastered, one could say that the most outstanding individual on the entire tree was undoubtedly it.

Moreover, this little fellow didn't know from whom it had learned, but while still under the tree, it had quietly used "Defense Curl" six times in a row, maxing out its defense.

Immediately after.

The Applin rolled along branches thicker than a human arm like a rampaging truck; any Applin blocking its path, even if they exerted every ounce of strength, without exception, were directly knocked flying by the Applin.

Not only were Wuli and Dan Yu stunned.

Even those few townsfolk, who had been confident, planning merely to watch the tourist make a fool of himself and wait for Luo Mu to fail so they could earn his money with the stock they "just happened" to have left, stood with their mouths agape in shock, their faces filled with astonishment.

Wait.

How is your Applin this fierce!?

A maxed-out "Rollout" was truly terrifying.

In just a few minutes, on the giant apple tree that had originally been densely packed with Applin, only Luo Mu's Applin remained.

Stopping its roll, it cautiously looked left and right; finding no competitors left, it happily crawled toward the Sweet Apple.

Seeing its actions, Luo Mu exchanged a glance with his Serperior, a look containing both helplessness and gratification.

This little fellow is quite smart; it seems it learned this trick from Da Nai Guan.

"Defense Curl" plus "Rollout," for these Applin who had barely experienced a few battles, was indeed a dimensional strike.

Before long.

As the Applin ate all the flesh inside the Sweet Apple and burrowed directly into it, a dazzling light of evolution instantly lit up the tree.

Under the somewhat complex gaze of the Serperior, the evolutionary light subsided, and a figure fell from the tree, appearing before Luo Mu and the others.

That figure was none other than the Applin that had completed its evolution.

No, it should now be called Flapple.

Flapple emitted a sweet fragrance attractive to both humans and Pokémon from its entire body; the Serperior showed no reaction to this, merely extending a vine to pat Flapple's head in encouragement.

Bid farewell by the forced professional smiles of several townsfolk, the three left Apple Hill and headed toward the Companion Plaza in Mossui Town.

The entire plaza looked just like a small park commonly found in ordinary towns.

On the vast circular open ground, residents of Mossui Town had gathered, including both the elderly and children.

At the very back of this plaza stood a shrine enclosed by a fence.

Unlike ordinary wooden shrines, the shrine here looked slightly crude, constructed from a few pieces of cloth and stones, inside of which were placed three stone statues of a monkey, a dog, and a chicken.

The statues looked somewhat old and damaged, suggesting they had a history of some length.

"This is the shrine enshrining the Three Companions."

Dan Yu introduced it to Luo Mu.

Looking at this combination, Luo Mu blinked, feeling it was somewhat familiar, as if he had heard of it in some fairy tale before.

Glancing over the stone stele standing beside the shrine and noting that the story recorded there was largely the same as what he knew, Luo Mu's expression became somewhat strange.

If the ghost really was that seemingly petite green Pokémon, was it truly the murderer who killed the three Companions?

After standing before the shrine for a while, Luo Mu called to Dan Yu and Wuli, intending to leave directly.

Just then.

A man with a look of shrewd calculation on his face suddenly blocked his path.

"Companion Charity Donation! If you too are moved by the story of the Companions, please contribute your strength to restoring the statues and shrine of the Companions for Mossui Town!"

While reciting the script skillfully, the man hugged a donation box and rushed straight over, blocking in front of Luo Mu; as if he had targeted him specifically, wherever Luo Mu walked, this person blocked that way.

Luo Mu: "."

Wait, does this include forced donations?

Luo Mu's face turned unpleasant.

Leaving aside whether the story of the Companions had moved him or not.

Regarding the matter of donation, if it were voluntary, that would be one thing, but honestly, Luo Mu greatly detested this kind of behavior of forcing donations under some banner or other.

Glancing around, he noticed that quite a few other tourists, much like himself, had also been stopped.

Compared to the bewildered expressions on Kieran and Carmine's faces, it seemed these people were specifically targeting unfamiliar faces like theirs.

"Kindly move aside."

Luo Mu spoke in a cold voice to the man blocking his path.

Even so, the man acted as if he hadn't heard, instead launching into another remark guaranteed to raise one's blood pressure.

"Mr., look, everyone else has donated; surely you could contribute just a little?"

Looking around, sure enough, those tourists were all awkwardly pulling out varying amounts of paper money and dropping it into the donation box.

His fists clenched.

His fists hardened.

He had been in high spirits, never expecting to encounter a group engaging in semi-forced donations and moral kidnapping.

Just as Luo Mu was about to have Mimikyu scare the man before him to clear the way, the man suddenly lifted off the ground.

"W-whoa!"

With a panicked expression, he looked left and right; despite his fear, he still clutched the donation box in his arms tightly.

At that moment.

A female voice filled with amusement rang out.

"Oh my, my Noctowl must have woken up groggy from sleep; how did it use Hypnosis again?"

Still dressed in her cool midriff-baring outfit, Sha Li held up her camera and snapped a photo of the man floundering in the sky above.

Perched on her shoulder, a Noctowl's eyes glowed faintly, clearly having used a Psychic-type move.

(End of Chapter)