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At this moment, Liam felt quite satisfied, a faint hint of pleasant surprise on his face.
Previously, although Liam had continuously used his own power to nourish Piplup's body, it had still fallen just short of reaching an "excellent" standard—there had always been some deficiency.
But this time, after evolving, it had directly reached an excellent level! This truly caught Liam off guard.
Still, it was a good thing, so Liam didn't dwell on it. He turned around, quickly took out some Pokémon food from his bag, and happily fed it to Prinplup.
Watching Prinplup devour the food ravenously, Liam's face filled with pride.
Although this result was partly due to the "shortcut" of mysterious energy, Liam's desire to train Pokémon—his heart as a trainer—had never taken shortcuts. Seeing the once frail and weak Piplup become what it was now made him deeply gratified.
Back then, although Piplup had poor physical condition, its level wasn't actually low. After all, it had already learned moves like Bubble Beam, meaning it had long reached the threshold for evolution. However, perhaps due to its weak physique, it couldn't release the power needed to evolve and had remained stuck in that stage.
Now, under Liam's care, its body had improved, its strength accumulated—and through this battle, after fully recovering its stamina, it finally broke through and successfully evolved into Prinplup!
All of this was inseparable from both Piplup's own efforts and Liam's proper care.
In short—
A cause for celebration~ cheers all around~
The next period was a time for rest. Prinplup, having just evolved, needed to get used to the new power within its body.
Moreover, Prinplup didn't yet know many moves and needed to learn more offensive skills. During the Piplup and Prinplup stages, its strength lay more in special attacks. However, among the TMs Liam currently had, there weren't many suitable options.
So Liam decided to exchange a few TMs from the system for Prinplup.
At present, Liam had nearly 30,000 exchange points—he had already accumulated quite a bit, and during his journey in Hoenn, the Pokédex rewards had added even more.
First, he exchanged two moves: Water Pulse and Water Pledge.
These were two different kinds of Water-type special attacks—perfect for Prinplup.
Additionally, Liam could now finally teach Prinplup Surf. Since Surf consumed a lot of stamina, Liam hadn't dared teach it back when it was still a Piplup. But now, that concern was gone.
Finally, Liam also exchanged the TM for Blizzard, allowing Prinplup to learn it. With this, it would no longer have to fear Grass-type Pokémon in future battles.
Because of learning and practicing new moves, Liam stayed an extra day in Fortree City. It wasn't until the morning of the third day that he resumed his journey.
The road between Fortree City and Lilycove City was long, filled with forests and mountains, with a few small towns scattered along the way.
During this journey, Liam encountered many Pokémon—though most were fairly ordinary species.
However, one night, near a hillside, Liam spotted an Absol!
Out of respect for the Disaster Pokémon, Liam immediately tried to capture it. But this Absol clearly had no intention of fighting. After slashing out a Psycho Cut that kicked up a cloud of dust, it turned and disappeared, leaving Liam standing there without even having the chance to throw a PokeBall.
Slightly depressed, Liam could only return to his tent and sleep.
A few days later, Liam arrived at a three-way fork in the road.
Going straight would lead him to his destination—Lilycove City.
Taking the upper path would lead to Hoenn's Safari Zone, also known as the Hunting Ground.
As for the lower path, it led out to sea, toward a place called Mt. Pyre—a resting place for Pokémon.
Liam stood at the crossroads for a long time, thinking. In the end, he decided to head to the Safari Zone first.
After all, there were several rare Pokémon there—and as a trainer, capturing rare Pokémon was practically a duty!
Turning left, Liam soon arrived at the entrance of the Safari Zone.
After paying 30,000 Pokedollars, he entered with 30 Safari Balls in hand.
The last time he had been to the Safari Zone in Kanto, he had also paid quite a bit—but his gains back then had been tremendous.
With a faint smile, Liam stepped into the tall grass, thinking to himself that today he would definitely make his money back!
.....
Time flew by, and half a day passed. The sky had already begun to darken as the sun slowly set.
At this moment—Liam tightly gripped his last Safari Ball, staring excitedly at the yellow, electric mouse in front of him!
"Hahaha! Pikachu! I finally found you! Accept your fate, Pikachu! Get into the ball already! Go—Safari Ball!"
After searching the entire afternoon, Liam had finally encountered the "legendary" Pikachu! Overflowing with excitement, he hurled his last Safari Ball with all his strength!
Then—
Yo~ yo~ yo~ ding!!
The capture… succeeded!
But—
"Pika pika…"
Liam stared at the completely unharmed Pikachu still standing beside the Safari Ball.
Tears streamed down his face.
"AHHH!! What kind of curse is this?! Why is it always Stantler?! Thirty of them! Thirty!! Why is it that every time I try to catch a Pokémon, a Stantler jumps in and blocks the ball?! What did I ever do to deserve this?!"
Liam collapsed to his knees, looking back at the 29 already-used Safari Balls in his box. All he could do was pound the ground in despair.
"Pika pika~"
Meanwhile, seeing that there was nothing else to do, Pikachu simply turned around and hopped into the grass, disappearing.
"Ding dong~ Attention all Safari Zone visitors~ As it is getting late, the Safari Zone will soon close. Please exit promptly."
Liam: "…Waaahhh!!!"
In the end, Liam ended up with 30 Stantler and one Teddiursa.
The Teddiursa had been specially gifted by a staff member, who couldn't bear Liam's utterly defeated expression. Liam was extremely grateful—at least it gave him a small bit of comfort as he left the Safari Zone.
Meanwhile, after Liam had gone far away, the staff watching him finally let out a collective sigh of relief.
Staff A: "Phew! That worked out—30 Stantler were taken away in one go. The forest shouldn't suffer large-scale damage for a while now. Good job, everyone! Training the Stantler to block balls every day was worth it!"
Staff B: "Exactly! The Safari Zone's environment should hold up a bit longer now. We really have that guy to thank!"
Staff C: "That's right! We even managed to give away one extra Teddiursa from after winter. Today is truly our lucky day! Let's all go celebrate after work!"
Everyone: "Ohhh!!"
"Achoo!"
"Hm? What's that? Is someone talking bad about me again?"
Walking under the setting sun, Liam rubbed his itchy nose and looked up in confusion.