Trainers returning from the Kingdom of Roc

Chapter 6: The First Battle

"Monkey, let me tell you this in advance. I know you really want a starter Pokémon right away, but this isn't something you can just pick randomly. It's a lifelong commitment."

Seeing Hou Hao's eagerness to try, Luo Yan couldn't help but remind him.

"You'd better be prepared to come back empty-handed. I'm not going to let you just catch a Pokémon and bring it back. If that happens, not only your dad, but your sister will come and chop me up."

At this point, a cold, aloof woman immediately came to mind, which sent a chill down Luo Yan's spine.

"Oh, I know, I know," Hou Hao said nonchalantly. "My sister hasn't been back in ages. She's a professor and graduate student at Jianghai University now, she's busy. What are you worried about her for?"

"Besides, don't underestimate me, okay?"

"Who am I? Who am I?"

"Your Lordship is the son of the Jiangcheng Gym Leader. My Pokémon must be rare; I don't even give ordinary Pokémon a second glance!"

"Is that so..." Luo Yan glanced at him. "I wonder who was watching a match and saw someone take down four opponents with a single Beedrill, and then slammed their fist on the table, wanting to catch a Weedle as their starter Pokémon."

"Hey, don't sabotage our brother's work."

Hou Hao grabbed Luo Yan and put his arm around her.

"I was forced into it by my dad, who still hasn't given me a starter Pokémon. Come on, it's our turn."

Half-heartedly, Luo Yan and Hou Hao arrived at the immigration checkpoint together.

Just as Luo Yan had said before, the female inspector in charge of passage simply registered them and let the two of them in.

She also gave the two an alarm location device. If they encounter danger or need help, they can press the button and officers will arrive at the scene within three minutes.

Of course, this is just a safety measure; after all, the truly dangerous areas are all Class B or higher.

Whether it was because the two arrived early or because of the entrance, there weren't many people around. After the two entered the woods for more than ten minutes, there was no one else around.

"I'm in! I'm finally in! Wow—this is the smell of the wild! It smells so sweet!"

Hou Hao opened his arms, enjoying the fragrance of nature, and exclaimed loudly. Then he looked at Luo Yan.

"What do we do next? Which way should we go?"

"Young Master Hou, you really didn't do any preparation? Don't tell me you didn't even look at the map beforehand."

"Isn't that what you're here for?" Hou Hao chuckled. "All I need to do is carry the bag."

Luo Yan shook his head helplessly and took out the map he had prepared in advance.

It's common to encounter situations where there's no cell phone signal in the wild, but this place isn't far from the city, so there's no need to worry about signal issues.

Although Green Tributary is only a Class E area, it does not mean that its scope is small. You should know that the "tributary" in Green Tributary is a branch of the Yellow River.

After glancing at the map and determining their location, Luo Yan pointed in a direction.

"Let's go this way and follow the river upstream. We'll see if we find anything along the way. If not, we can still try our luck upstream."

"Yes, sir! Please go first!" Hou Hao said with exaggerated gestures.

Beneath our feet lies soft, thick humus soil, and the air is filled with the damp scent of earth and the fragrance of grass and trees.

The blue line representing the river on the map seems close at hand, but in the dense forest, the straight-line distance is distorted.

The tangled tree roots, hanging vines, and wildly growing shrubs made every step extremely cautious, and the progress was much slower than expected.

It was the height of summer, and the forest's vitality was at its peak. The layers of canopy almost blocked out most of the sunlight, with only a few golden beams of light filtering through the gaps, illuminating the floating dust particles.

This wasn't Luo Yan's first time in the wild, but it was her first time in this world. As she ventured into this pristine environment, her instinctive wariness was instantly reawakened.

He walked slightly ahead, his sharp gaze sweeping across the swaying shadows in front of and to the sides. It was too quiet, yet too bustling. Behind every leaf, behind every tree trunk, there might be unseen inhabitants.

He even had an absurd yet real premonition that something might jump out from some corner at any moment, and that rhythmic background music announcing an encounter might play inappropriately in his ears.

As it turned out, this premonition came true in another way.

Just as they rounded a large tree, an unnatural rustling sound suddenly came from the bushes not far ahead.

The two stopped immediately. Hou Hao subconsciously held his breath, while Luo Yan gently placed his hand on the ball at his waist.

The grass swayed a few more times.

Immediately afterwards, a slightly ferocious purple head emerged, followed by a slender body covered with ring-shaped patterns.

An Arbok slithered to the middle of the path and blocked their way.

It raised its upper body, its yellow eyes coldly locking onto the two uninvited guests, its forked tongue rapidly flicking in and out, emitting a faint hissing sound, as if issuing a warning.

"Arbok! This is my first time..."

Before Hou Hao could finish speaking, Luo Yan pulled him behind her.

"You knew it was an Arbok, yet you still went closer. I didn't bring any antidote."

As mentioned before, most of the Pokémon in the Green Tribe are Grass-type and Bug-type, with Poison-type Pokémon like Ekans being relatively rare; otherwise, this area wouldn't be an E-rank region.

Although the venom of the Arbok snake poses little threat to humans today, serious problems can still arise if a bite is not treated promptly.

"Then what should we do? Let's go around it." Hou Hao stopped walking forward and instead peeked out from behind Luo Yan.

"This guy doesn't look high level. Perfect, we can't miss this opportunity." Luo Yan said as he took out the Gulu Ball from his waist.

"Come on, little guy, let's fight. I'll give you some rations no matter who wins or loses, how about it?"

"Hiss~"

Arbok flicked its tongue, seemingly making a judgment.

Then it raised its upper body, nodded slightly, and prepared for battle.

"Since that's the case..."

Luo Yan suddenly threw the ball.

"Let's fight side by side—Iris!"

“Wuwu!”

With a flash of white light and the sound of hooves hitting the ground, the little unicorn Iris was released and met Arbok's gaze.

Hou Hao also quieted down at this moment, silently taking a few steps back to leave space on the battlefield, and watching Luo Yan's 'first battle' intently.

At the same time, he also saw the mysterious starter Pokémon that Luo Yan had mentioned for the first time.

...