When Cain exited the entrance of the underground tunnel in the Dustox territory, the sun had already disappeared from the sky, and a bright full moon hung on the western horizon.
Cain had his Pokémon block the entrance of the underground tunnel with dirt and cover it all with a thick layer of leaves before truly leaving.
After Cain and his Pokémon left, the weaker Dustox began to slowly return to the area.
Originally, there had been a crowd of Dustox covering the sky, but now only a few dozen were scattered.
Fortunately, they hadn't eliminated the Cascoon as well, so, over time, this place would return to being the Dustox territory.
...
Eight days later.
On the surface of the sea near the Nameless Island.
A huge Tropius was swiftly crossing the surface of the sea, creating waves in the water.
A young man dressed in somewhat worn clothes was riding on Tropius' back, with his feet seemingly glued to the surface, no matter how hard the wind blew, they couldn't be shaken loose.
Next to the young man was a pink Pokémon that emitted a soft blue glow.
This Pokémon, always alert, never left the young man's side.
The Tropius was enormous, standing almost three meters tall, not counting its full height with its head held high.
It had three enormous palm leaf-shaped wings on its back, which, when flapped, could generate a powerful gale, creating waves in the sea.
It also wore a helmet-like structure made of three tree-like leaves on its head, which protected it from the wind during flight, preventing the gusts from affecting its vision.
Hanging from its jaw were a bunch of yellow bananas, one of its distinctive features.
Indeed, this Tropius was the one Cain had found on the first day he arrived at the island, and it was at level 40.
And the young man on its back was Cain, who had been living on the Nameless Island for eight days and had cleared out the four large Pokémon groups on the island.
The Pokémon beside him was Slowpoke, which had now reached level 32.
With its psychic abilities, it had become even stronger.
Cain sat slowly. Although he looked very elegant sitting on Tropius' back, he felt his long hair blowing into his eyes with the wind.
With his right hand petting Slowpoke's back and his left rubbing Tropius' back, he felt the pleasant warmth of Tropius and recalled the experiences of the last eight days.
After leaving the Forest of Dustox that night, Cain planned to clear out all the high-level Pokémon on the island to prevent the next visitor from discovering the island's secret.
The highest-level Pokémon on the island were concentrated in the four large groups.
Oh, at that time, there were only three large groups.
Cain first focused on the Shroomish group.
Since Breloom is a Grass and Fighting type, it is four times weak to Flying-type moves and two times weak to Poison, Fire, Psychic, Ice, and Fairy types.
Cain's Pokémon had a nearly absolute advantage over Shroomish.
Even the unevolved Shroomish, which are Grass-type, are vulnerable to Flying, Poison, Bug, Fire, and Ice types.
Among Cain's Pokémon, Murkrow (Dark and Flying-type), Slowpoke (Water and Psychic-type), Sneasel (Dark and Ice-type), Haunter (Ghost and Poison-type), and Skorupi (Bug and Poison-type) could all counter the Breloom, so the Breloom group became Cain's first target.
However, the Breloom group was very different from the Dustox group.
At least the number difference was considerable, since the Dustox group had around 700 to 800 Dustox.
The Breloom group, while numerous, was significantly smaller in comparison.
It had about 200 members.
Within the Breloom group, aside from two leaders, there was a very coordinated group of Shroomish, with levels around 27 to 28.
Cain took more than two days to completely eliminate this large group.
Finally, only a few newborn or low-level Shroomish remained, barely keeping the group's existence intact.
After clearing the Breloom group, Cain's Pokémon levels rose again.
When the Shroomish group learned their territory had been wiped out, the Shiftry group was very pleased.
A leader Shiftry, with two subordinates of the same type and a large number of Seedot and Nuzleaf, fully took over the Shroomish territory.
While they were celebrating, Cain, who had rested for a day, led his Pokémon back to the Shiftry group.
Compared to the Shroomish group, Shiftry is a Grass and Dark type, which represents a great threat to Slowpoke.
So, while clearing the Shiftry group, Slowpoke became a total support Pokémon, using its psychic powers to boost the speed and attack power of its teammates.
Shiftry is weak to Fighting, Flying, Poison, Fire, Ice, Fairy, and Bug types.
Therefore, even though Slowpoke's combat ability was relatively reduced, the type advantage of Cain's other Pokémon was still evident.
Moreover, Shiftry was too confident in itself and spread its entire group in an attempt to cover two territories at once. Cain seized the opportunity to defeat them one by one.
The time spent was much shorter than with the Shroomish group.
In just a day and a half, Cain had completely cleared the Shiftry group.
During the process, he captured two high-quality Shiftry, one light green and the other green, which he would surely sell for a good sum in the black market.
After all, Shiftry is a Pokémon that requires a leaf stone to evolve.
And these wild Shiftry, who had developed their bodies to the limit, were much more valuable than the Raichu he fought on the S.S. Anne.
Cain then spent half a day inspecting the entire Shiftry territory and finally found two leaf stones, one basic and one medium level, which turned out to be a good harvest.
If it weren't for not wanting to waste too much time, he could have found more, but it didn't really matter much to Cain.
As long as they weren't Superior or Supreme quality evolution stones, their value wasn't too high, only a difference in how much money they would bring in.
With a large number of energy gems, Cain didn't really need money, but the energy gems weren't suitable for mass selling; their value was similar to that of geocentric cleaning milk.
So far, Cain had completely wiped out three of the four large groups on the Nameless Island. Although he hadn't exterminated all of them, the groups were severely weakened and wouldn't recover to their previous levels for at least a decade.
(End of Chapter)