"Master, I'm fine, I feel great now." Slowpoke's eyes gleamed with a blue light, and a telepathic voice echoed directly in Cain's mind.
Hearing the youthful voice of Slowpoke, Cain couldn't help but smile slightly; it seemed like Slowpoke was truly in good shape.
Not only did he show no signs of weakness, but even his previously inconsistent telepathy now seemed to flow much more smoothly.
Cain reached out and stroked Slowpoke's pink head, smiling, "Next time, don't push yourself too hard, listen to what I say."
"Yadong~~" Slowpoke, enjoying the pat on his head, made a sound of contentment.
Then, his eyes sparkled again, and in Cain's mind, he said, "Master, I'm fully recovered now. I can use Teleport once more, and it won't be like last time."
"Oh?" Cain's eyes lit up, clearly surprised by Slowpoke's words.
If they could teleport again, they would be very close to the base.
However, Teleport only allows movement to places that have already been visited, so the closest location to the base where Slowpoke could teleport them would be the area around the waterfall they had been at before.
Calculating the distance, it certainly wasn't far, especially compared to the distance they had covered this time.
Cain was confident that once Slowpoke was fully recovered, teleporting that short distance wouldn't be difficult for him.
So he didn't stop him and nodded with a smile, "Alright, let's do it again, and then we'll prepare dinner."
After speaking, he signaled to Murkrow, who had been keeping watch in the tree.
Once Murkrow swooped down, Cain said, "Murkrow, Slowpoke has recovered, and we're going to use Teleport again. Gastly, come out too."
Since finishing his exploration of the surroundings, Gastly had been hiding in Cain's shadow, a place he found very comfortable.
"Kekeke~~" Gastly slowly floated out of the shadow, circling around Slowpoke, curious about his special abilities.
"Yadong~~" Slowpoke made a sound, connecting telepathically with Gastly; it was clear that, as one of the older members of the team, Slowpoke felt a certain responsibility toward the younger, newer companion.
"Alright, Gastly, don't bother Slowpoke. Slowpoke, go ahead," Cain said with a smile after watching Gastly play around for a bit.
Gastly, being the newest member of the team, was clearly a bit immature.
He may have lived for quite some time, but in terms of a Gastly's age, he was still a child, and with his mischievous nature, he hadn't yet started serious training, so Cain allowed him a bit more freedom.
"Kekeke~~" Upon hearing Cain, Gastly obediently floated to his side, as if to say, "Look, I'm being good."
After Gastly moved aside, Slowpoke began using Teleport again.
Clearly, he had gained more experience, as the activation time for the move was shorter, and his energy control was much more precise.
When they opened their eyes again, they were in another forest. Looking around, Cain tried to recall where they were.
Compared to their quick passage through Scyther territory, where they hadn't paid much attention to the surroundings, Cain remembered this place very clearly.
This was where Cain and Murkrow had been chased by a pack of Raticates, which had led Cain to meet Slowpoke at that fateful crossroads.
Murkrow also clearly recognized the place, descending from the sky and pointing out some remnants on the ground to Cain.
"I know, I know, that's where the Raticates were chasing us, and we built those barricades to stop them." Cain smiled, patting Murkrow's wing as he spoke.
"Kekeke?" Hearing this, Gastly became intrigued and started asking Murkrow questions.
As the oldest member of the team, and thus the veteran, Murkrow began recounting to Gastly the circumstances they had faced and how he fought his way through the Raticates, defeating many of them.
Cain smiled and shook his head; Gastly's arrival had clearly made his Pokémon more lively.
Murkrow, being Cain's first Pokémon, had always carried the most pressure, being a reliable and battle-hungry companion, though he didn't speak much.
Slowpoke, as the second to join, was relatively shy but steady.
When it was just the two of them, they often exchanged only a few words before everything fell silent.
But Gastly, with his mischievous and playful nature, had become a mediator between Murkrow and Slowpoke, causing both Pokémon, who normally didn't talk much, to start communicating more freely.
Although Cain didn't want to interrupt their rare communication, the sun was about to set, and if they didn't light a fire soon, it would be harder to move around at night.
"Alright, stop for a moment. Murkrow, go hunt some rabbits or wild pheasants. Gastly, gather some firewood. Slowpoke, use your psychic power to set up the tent." Cain interrupted their conversation and assigned the tasks.
Murkrow and the others stopped chatting immediately; they didn't show any complaints at Cain's orders and quickly set out to complete their tasks.
That night, they sat around the fire. Murkrow, satisfied after the meal, lay on the ground unwilling to move, and Slowpoke, too, didn't want to do anything after eating.
Only Gastly remained full of energy and very active.
As a Ghost-type Pokémon, he didn't need to eat, though he could consume energy pokéblocks. However, Cain had not yet prepared specific pokéblocks for Gastly, so his meal for the day consisted of residual energy from the beasts Murkrow had hunted.
During the meal, seeing Murkrow and Slowpoke eating so enthusiastically, Gastly became curious, wondering what was so special about the food that his older teammates enjoyed it so much.
However, after trying once to put food in his mouth only for it to fall to the ground immediately, Gastly decided not to insist.
After resting for a bit following dinner, Cain said, "Alright, we've rested enough. Before bed, let's do some exercises to digest the food."
At these words, Murkrow and Slowpoke automatically stood up, accustomed to waiting for Cain's training plan.
Gastly, though not knowing what to do, imitated the others and stood still.
"Murkrow, 50 uses of Dark Pulse and 100 of Wing Attack, targeting that big tree," Cain pointed to a large tree, assigning Murkrow's night training.
"Slowpoke, continue training your psychic power; today you need to lift five rocks, 500 times." As Slowpoke's psychic power was increasing rapidly, Cain immediately raised the requirements of his training.
"As for you, Gastly..." Cain paused for a moment to think, "Today you'll just do sprints. Use your speed to run back and forth between those two trees... let's do 2000 reps first; I want to see what your stamina is like."
(End of chapter)