The swarms of Beedrill grew larger and larger. Soon, there were two or three hundred of them.
Even from far away, you could hear the loud buzzing of their wings.
People had once studied what the most dangerous things in the wild were, and swarms of Beedrill were at the top of the list.
These forest hunters are highly aggressive and live in groups. They are often deadly to new Trainers or travelers who wander into their territory by mistake.
However, Natsui and the others did not help Metagross and Claydol. They followed the rules they had set before the match. They stayed quiet and watched what happened.
For those two Pokémon, driving away the Beedrill would not have been difficult. But they had to do it while fighting each other. They had to watch for attacks from their opponent while avoiding the Beedrill at the same time. That made the battle much harder.
Still, they did not just dodge the Beedrill. They fought back while moving. They were retreating as they battled. The situation looked bad, but they were not in real danger.
The battle moved closer to Natsui and the others.
The buzzing of the Beedrill grew louder for the three people watching.
Natsui and Spenser stayed calm. Their expressions did not change. However, May became nervous.
She was not calm in the face of such danger. She knew Natsui was there to protect her, but she still thought about her own strength.
She had Combusken, Squirtle, and Munchlax. Even if they worked together, they could not stop so many Beedrill.
She was glad Natsui was there. If he were not, she would have hidden a long time ago.
On the large screen, they saw Beedrill falling one after another. But there were so many Beedrill that it did not seem to help much. Then, something happened on both sides of the swarm. The camera on the robot turned. The group saw Natsui's Dragonite and Scizor!
They had probably come because they heard the sounds of battle.
That also proved that they had won their own matches!
With these two powerful Pokémon, the situation changed immediately.
They attacked, and many Beedrill fell. The rest saw they were losing and quickly fled. They disappeared in a moment.
They had arrived fast, and they left even faster!
Many Beedrill were lying unconscious on the ground. The trees were damaged. Without that, no one would have known a battle had happened there.
After the Beedrill left, Metagross and Claydol stopped running. They faced each other again.
However, Dragonite and Scizor moved closer. Claydol, caught in the middle, immediately became tense.
It could feel the power coming from those two Pokémon. It was far stronger than the wild Beedrill. It had already been evenly matched with Metagross. Now that two more powerful Pokémon had arrived, it began to panic.
But Dragonite and Scizor did not intend to gang up on it three against one.
They reached a certain distance and stopped. They left space for Metagross and Claydol to continue their fight.
Seeing this, Spenser respected Natsui even more.
At first, he had thought Natsui wanted the 3-on-3 battle so he could gang up on one Pokémon together. He thought Natsui was aiming for an easy win.
But now he saw that Natsui had never planned to do that. Natsui simply thought one-on-one battles were too troublesome. So, he sent them all out at the same time!
That much was obvious, because Dragonite and Scizor had not attacked Claydol at all!
Young people these days really are incredible.
In the forest, once Claydol saw that Dragonite and Scizor were not attacking and were only blocking the way, it stopped worrying about them. It focused all of its attention on Metagross.
Claydol was one of Spenser's main Pokémon. It had been with him for many years. Metagross had performed very well at the Ever Grande Conference, but it was not yet one of Natsui's main Pokémon. So, Natsui thought they were at about the same level. The fight was perfectly even.
The facts proved that his judgment was correct.
When Claydol and Metagross resumed fighting, they were still evenly matched.
But every battle had to end with a winner.
Both Pokémon used Hyper Beam. The two beams collided in the forest. The battle was nearly over.
As the smoke from the explosion cleared, Natsui and the others looked at the big screen. They saw Metagross and Claydol on the ground. Both were injured, and both had fallen!
It looked like they had knocked each other out.
It was surprising, but it also made sense.
Natsui's Pokémon are very strong. But they usually win with the help of Natsui's plans and commands. Without his help, they are still very strong Pokémon, but fighting Claydol to a draw was already a very good result.
Natsui was satisfied with that. But May and Spenser both shook their heads slightly.
May was disappointed. She wanted Natsui's Metagross to win. She did not like seeing it go down at the same time as its opponent.
Spenser felt a little regretful as well.
He wished Claydol could still get back up.
But he was also happy that it had at least taken down one Pokémon. He had not lost everything.
"Oh my, to manage to take one down by luck, it seems this old man's strength hasn't faded over the years!"
Spenser spoke in a tone that showed he was in a good mood, even though he had lost.
"It hasn't faded at all," Natsui said with a smile.
"Your Pokémon are truly impressive. Otherwise, my Metagross wouldn't have had to give everything it had just to force a draw with Claydol. Looks like I still need to keep improving!"
Spenser laughed loudly when he heard that.
Natsui was being polite. But Spenser knew his own Pokémon were strong. Many challengers had lost to his Claydol.
Dragonite and Scizor were clearly stronger than Metagross. And Metagross was not even part of Natsui's main team yet. Spenser realized there was a huge gap between them.
Natsui talked about "keeping improving," but if he improved any further, Spenser would not even be able to beat his weaker lineup.
The referee robot began collecting Spenser's defeated Pokémon.
Spenser had handed his Poké Balls to the robot earlier. The robot returned the unconscious Claydol to its ball, then went to retrieve the other two Pokémon.
Metagross was also unconscious. Dragonite picked it up. Together with Scizor, they returned to the battlefield area.
Natsui and Spenser talked for a few more minutes. Then, Spenser handed a gold coin to Natsui.
"Please accept this. This is the Spirit Symbol of the Battle Palace, proof of defeating me."
This Symbol was made of gold like the others, but its design was very simple. It looked like a square block with a line carved into it.
...
Natsui and May left the Battle Palace. They returned to the quiet town on Meta Island.
This challenge had been much easier than they expected.
It was only noon when they got back.
Natsui had barely needed to do anything. He just watched the battle and easily earned the symbol. His Pokémon had done all the work on their own.
This was the easiest place he had challenged in the Battle Frontier.
Of course, it was only easy for him.
Other Trainers would find it very hard to win without giving commands. Natsui's Pokémon had already been trained for that kind of battle. If Ash or other Trainers tried it, it would be a very difficult fight.
But a win was still a win. The trip had been worthwhile just for the beautiful scenery!
It was time to head to the next place.
However, the next location was far away. Natsui went to the ticket office at the pier. There, he learned that the next ship would not arrive for another three days!
That was very bad news.
It had been easy to get there, but leaving was a different story!
Natsui had no choice but to use his second mount.
Dragonite appeared once again for Natsui and May.
It had just finished a battle, but since it had been much stronger than its opponent, it had not been hurt very much. After resting in its Poké Ball, it had already recovered its energy.
"Thanks for your hard work."
May smiled and greeted Dragonite. Then Natsui helped her up, and the two of them climbed onto Dragonite's back.
Once they were ready, Dragonite spread its wings and flew high into the sky.
The wind brushed against them. May felt very comfortable. Dragonite climbed to a suitable height and flew straight ahead. May looked back. Meta Island grew smaller and smaller until it was far behind them.
It had been a while since Natsui had flown through the sky like this.
On his journey, he had two Pokémon he could ride. The first was Charizard, who was at Charicific Valley. The second was Dragonite.
The two of them flew in very different ways.
Charizard felt more powerful and steady. But it was not as fast as Dragonite.
Dragonite had more energy. It liked to dart up and down suddenly. It also liked to skim close to the water. It was not as stable as Charizard.
Both were excellent fliers, but they had different styles.
The next place was not too far away. It was near Fuchsia City. Dragonite was very fast, much faster than a boat. But by the time they were nearing the mainland, the sky had already grown dark. They had to land on a small island for the night.
This island was closer to the mainland. It was larger and more prosperous than Meta Island.
The forest was smaller, and there were tall mountains. But the town itself was larger and more populated. The streets were clean and lively.
Dragonite slowly landed in town.
They asked the locals about the island. They learned that it was called Potpourri Island, and the town was Wisteria Town. It was one of the best towns in the area!
They also heard about a competition that would be held the next morning. It was an Orienteering Competition. Humans and Pokémon worked together to visit five locations on the island as quickly as possible. The winner would receive the Pokémon Friendship King medal. There was also a special fruit from Potpourri Island as the prize!
An orienteering competition?
Special fruit?
May became very interested the moment she heard about food.
They had arrived at the perfect time.
If the Battle Palace challenge had been any harder, they would not have arrived today. They would have missed the competition.
They walked along the street and arrived at the Pokémon Center on the outskirts of town.
Along the way, everyone was talking about the competition. Both children and adults were excited. That made May even more excited.
They went into the restaurant and started eating dinner. Then, May finally spoke to Natsui.
"Natsui, let's join that orienteering competition tomorrow too!"
Natsui laughed softly.
"Join the competition? I think your real target isn't the medal, but those specialty fruits, right?"
"Hehe."
May felt a little embarrassed, but she still told the truth.
"Whether it's the medal or the fruit, I want both! I just heard that this competition isn't about battle strength at all. It's purely about orienteering. If that's the case, then I'm confident I can beat you!"