On the way to the Vileplume, we found a 1-pointer and came across our first pair of students. That we managed to go 4 hours without meeting others had been a slight miracle, that got broken at that moment.
The two took one look at us and made a fast tactical retreat. It was a dust-cloud-worthy speed, but unfortunately, I saw no anime effects. It would have been pretty funny.
"It seems like they were afraid we'll rob their coins. Looks like others noticed that there is no rule against appropriating coins." Yu said pensively.
"Yeah, that's probably also why we didn't see anyone until now. They are all staying out of each other's way to avoid getting robbed since they don't have to worry about the way back once the time is up." I acknowledged this before explaining our lack of encounters.
Anyway, after that little situation, we resumed our walk and reached the Vileplume. We managed to obtain another 10-pointer from the boss lady. This time around we didn't have to fight for it and I was thankful for that.
I was even more thankful that boss Scyther had been right regarding boss Vileplume's attitude since she was even stronger than him and even had subordinates, "children", that were just as strong.
We would have stood no chance if we had been forced to battle against them. Thankfully, all she asked of us was to fetch water for her group from a nearby stream so that they did not have to walk there. Laziness at its best.
Still, considering the size of her group it would have taken us a long time to get enough water so I asked if I could use my Gyarados instead. Vileplume told me that she wanted authentic water, so I had Dilong/Gyarados use Rain Dance to shower them all.
Neither Vileplume nor her group members looked worried by my giant Gyarados at all, which I could understand. She was strong enough to deal with him and us if we tried something after all.
After a few minutes, she was satisfied and handed us the coin before pointing us towards a pond to the southwest where a group of Quagsire lived.
Apparently, they were pretty strong as well as non-aggressive and would be willing to trade their coin for food IF they had one in the first place. Since they did fit the whole strong, large group thing 10-pointers seemed to follow, we did make our way there next.
It took us nearly 20 minutes to reach the pond, but we did manage to find a few coins on the way so it wasn't as if we wasted time. The air squad found two 3-pointers at the crowns of a tree respectively, and we found easy-to-find tracks that led to three 1-pointers on the ground.
Trusting the words of boss-lady Vileplume we collected berries when we came across some to offer them to the Quagsire. Once we reached the pond, we saw Wooper playing in as well as around the pond, while some Quagsire were lazing around and keeping watch, I think(?).
As soon as we appeared they all stopped and looked at the newcomers, aka us, which was a bit unnerving. Still, I sent Horus/Xatu forward to inform them of the reason for our visit.
One of the Quagsire entered the pond and returned with a slightly bigger one. What followed was an exchange between Horus and the bigger Quagsire. At one point he even asked for 10 berries from me, which he threw to the Quagsire.
'Alright, after some fierce negotiations and a bit of bribery Quagsire told me that they had a coin, but a few of their group members were bored and used Water Gun to play catch with it.
As a result of an overzealous Quagsire, the coin was sent flying towards the south and they didn't bother searching for it. Seems like they were asked to protect it from any students, but since they lost it they can't be bothered fighting us.' Horus told us after he was done talking with Quagsire.
He didn't bother hiding his amusement at the situation, and I had to smile a bit as well. Yu on the other hand face palmed when he heard Horus explain what happened to the coin we came here for.
Without further ado, we headed southward. We had to be really attentive the whole way since we had no idea where the coin landed. Mothra/Butterfree was the one who managed to spot it.
The coin got stuck in the foliage of one of the trees and if not for her flying at the "low to mid" height we would have missed it. She proudly presented the coin to me and I praised her for her attentiveness which made her really happy.
It did turn out to be another 10-pointer. While Mothra was doing an impromptu happy dance, Yu spoke up.
"So, how many points do we have right now?" He asked and I began adding them up.
"Together with this 10-pointer, we have 115 points at the moment. So, we're missing 85 points to the 200 points we set as our minimum." I informed him, which prompted him to look at his watch.
"Alright, it's currently 3:14 p.m, so we still have 2 hours and 46 minutes until the deadline. Seems feasible," he finished before looking a bit hesitant while gazing in Mothra's direction.
He no doubt wanted her to stop so that we could keep going, but did not want to sound like an a**hole. He released a sigh of relief when Mothra finished her little jig before he had to say anything.
During the next hour, we managed to find three 1-pointers, one 3-pointers, and two 5-pointers. We got the 1- and 3-pointer coins on the way to the places where we found the 5-pointers.
We even came across two more pairs with the first one running away like the previous one. The second one on the other hand was a less nice encounter.
It happened while we were getting the second 5-point coin. We had to fight against a troop of Primeape and Mankey since negotiations failed. The troop was a bit big with 33 Mankey and 5 Primeape, so it took a small while to take them out despite having a few Pokemon capable of using psychic moves.
Anyway, right after we took out the last Primeape our Pokemon were ambushed from the side. They probably thought our Pokemon were tired, but they were wrong. I noticed the students watching from the direction the Pokemon came from and told our Pokemon not to go too far.
So, after Thor/Pikachu shocked the assailant's asses we counter-robbed the pair and got 31 points worth of coins from them, which was more than we managed to get by searching on our own for an hour.
Still, at the end of the hour, we had gathered a total of 47 points, meaning we were only missing another 38 points.
"It's 4:20 p.m now, so we still have 100 minutes until the deadline. Should we search for another pair? That seems much faster than searching for coins." Yu suggested, but his tone showed that he did not really like the idea.
He was most like only suggesting it since it was the most obvious choice for a fast finish. The logical choice you know.
"I'd prefer not to. At least, not before we are missing a lot of points and there are only 30 more minutes," was my answer.
He agreed since he was as I said not thrilled by his own suggestion. After that was cleared we resumed our search and just a few minutes later Enji/Growlithe alerted me that he had smelled another human scent.
We knew that it was a teacher's scent since it was the scent of a single person and not a pair. He led us to a bush and the coin was simply placed inside. Whoever "hid" the coin didn't even bother burying it.
After the obligatory praise, we returned to our search. We found another 1-pointer and a 3-pointer during the next 15 minutes before we came across a clearing with tall grass that nearly went up to our hips. Somewhere close to the middle of the clearing a coin was placed on top of a boulder.
It actually was a 10-pointer, which was a bit alarming since those were normally placed with big groups of Pokemon, but we saw no such Pokemon around the clearing. The situation practically screamed trap.
We took an experimental step forward and quickly jumped back when we heard a rustle ahead of us. We got pretty nervous right up until a Sentret suddenly straightened up. For a brief moment I relaxed, but that screeched to a halt when Yu opened his mouth.
"Oh, sweet Mew, it was just a Sentret." He quasi-yelled in relief and I knew at that moment that he had f*cked up.
He had raised the flag, challenged Murphy, and provoked fate with that sentence of his.
Not a moment after he uttered those words, a lot more rustling sounds started coming from the clearing, and one by one, more and more Sentret, as well as Furret, began straightening up until close to two hundred of them were staring at us.
Not only that a few of them were purposely showing off their strength, and all of them were at the silver stage. That was not the worst part, no it was the fact that the biggest one in the center was not among them.
I couldn't help throwing an accusing look at Yu who had gone pale after being stared at by all newcomers. I decided to try diplomacy.
"We come in peace," I began, and they all, as one, shifted their gaze towards me, which was a bit unsettling, to be honest. Nonetheless, I kept going.
"We need the coin on top of the big boulder, and we are willing to trade berries for it." Once I said that the biggest one, which I assumed was the leader yelled something, and one by one the Sentret and Furret vanished back into the tall grass until only a few silver-stage Furret, as well as the boss, were left standing.
The boss began speaking and Horus, who had moved beside me after the Furret appeared, translated what he said.
'He says that they had promised to fight whoever tried to take the coin before allowing them to take it. Not only that, but it's going to be a fight against 6 of its underlings at once,' was what the leader had apparently said.
"Good, good, good. That's much better than having to fight against all of them." Yu said, now looking much better than he after the mass appearance and I absolutely agreed with that.
"We agree," I yelled out and upon the leader's order 6 of the Furret stepped forward.
"Alright, everyone except for Thor and Enji can go wild," I told my Pokemon. I wanted to keep Thor by my side just in case and Enji as well. That he was not at the silver stage yet might have been a tiny reason as well.
All at once Horus, Mothra, and Luna/Clefairy moved out quickly followed by Zebstrika and Staraptor. Meanwhile, Yu and his Sandshrew moved to my side probably due to safety reasons.
I would like to say that it was an epic free for all, but it wasn't, not really. Since my Pokemon were just built different, they quickly took out the (low) and (mid) silver-stage Furret they were facing before taking out the ones Yu's Pokemon were facing as well.
Once that was done the boss Furret jumped onto the boulder and smacked the coin over with its tail. Horus blocked it with a stone using his telekinesis so no one got hurt, not that the boss was trying to hurt us or anything.
After it threw over the coin it said something to us and our translator Horus was on the job.
'He said, that now that the deal had been fulfilled he was willing to talk about that trade you had offered at the beginning. Apparently, his pack members had found a few coins throughout the day and he was willing to trade them for food.'
"What a pleasant surprise!" Yu exclaimed when Horus said that and I had to agree.
I wanted to give them a thumbs-up, instead, I asked the boss how many coins we were talking about.
'5' Horus told us boss Furret's answer and I suppressed the grin forming on my face to avoid showing how happy that made me. You know for the negotiations and everything. Well, my partner was less subtle in showing his happiness at the news. Yu had a big smile on his face.
"Alright, I can give you 15 berries per coin," I offered the boss Furret.
I deliberately gave a low starting number that while lower was not too low to be insulting.
The Furret shook its head and said something in return. I waited for Horus's translation to see what his counter-offer was.
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