Who needs a girlfriend when you have Pokémon?

However, Lillie didn't seem to react at all, so Rowe could only turn around and glance at the Pokémon behind him.

"...Newleaf Meow, get some invigorating scents out. Ralts, use your Psychic powers to help!"

The two little guys immediately received Rowe's command. New Leaf Cat rubbed its little paws together, and its fur emitted a refreshing fragrance, which smelled like mentholatum or menthol, and was very invigorating.

Meanwhile, Ralts used her psychic powers to pry open Lillie's tightly closed mouth. Afraid that she would choke, Rowe carefully put the small pieces of fruit into the girl's mouth, and then had Ralts control the girl to chew and swallow the fruit.

This is indeed a delicate task, but fortunately, while Ralts is not yet capable of manipulating large objects, it is precisely this kind of delicate work that she excels at.

With the help of Rowe and his team, Lillie, who had eaten the sweet peach, gradually relaxed her furrowed brows. Coupled with the refreshing scent of vanilla, she sneezed softly and finally woke up.

"Um, what am I doing..."

Chapter Thirty: Let me tell you upfront, I'm really strong!

"Well……"

First, I applied peach pulp to the wound, and then fed the remaining peach to Lillie. Normally, even if a Pokémon is poisoned by a potent toxin, eating a peach can immediately cure it.

The toxins might be more potent for humans, but the fruit's potency remained, so Lillie regained consciousness after only a few minutes.

As soon as she woke up, she felt a burning pain in her calf, and her still somewhat confused mind immediately cleared up.

At the same time, she felt a cool sensation coming from her previously stinging calves, and the stinging and burning sensation was slowly fading away.

"Are you alright? You look like you've been poisoned. I don't have any antidote on hand, so I can only use berries for now. Once you can move around, you still need to go to the Pokémon Center for a checkup."

When Lowe spoke to Lillie, she was taken aback and instinctively replied, "Huh? Um, thank you..."

Luo Wei took two steps back and replied with a smile, "It's alright. We help each other out when we're traveling. Having more friends means having more options. My name is Luo Wei~"

Lillie paused for a moment, then continued, "Um, my name is Lillie... Ah!"

As soon as she finished speaking, her mind finally cleared and she immediately realized something, "Wait a minute, it's dangerous here!"

"..."

Before Rowe could ask any further questions, Ralts' horns suddenly stood up. In an instant, the little guy seemed to sense something very dangerous, and it quickly hid behind Rowe, trembling.

"What's wrong? What are you feeling...?"

Luo Wei wanted to continue asking questions, but he quickly swallowed his words because a hazy, flickering light and shadow floated in his vision, revealing a creature that resembled a jellyfish.

Ultimate Beast... Nihilego Ido!

Why is this thing here?

Although Lowe really wanted to make a sarcastic remark, considering that he had just seen this thing on Route 103 not long ago, and that this place wasn't too far from Route 103, its appearance here didn't seem surprising.

Furthermore, with the Ultimate Hole as a teleportation point, theoretically, it wouldn't be strange for these things to appear anywhere in the world.

Moreover, with Lillie right here, it seems even more natural for Nihilego to be here, or rather...

(...Could it be that the reason Nihilego appeared in the Hoenn region is because Lillie is here? These Ultra Beasts were all attracted by Lillie.)

No, to be precise, the Ultra Beasts weren't attracted by Lillie. Rowe looked at the bag Lillie carried with her. These Ultra Beasts were clearly lured there by "that thing."

This young lady was supposed to be active in the Alola region, but she actually managed to travel all the way to the Hoenn region. She must have a lot of energy.

Upon seeing Nihilego, Lillie's face showed fear. She instinctively gripped the strap of her handbag and tried to get up, but because her leg injury had not yet healed, her legs were too weak to stand up.

Left with no other choice, she could only say to Luo Wei, "Thank you for saving me, but you should run quickly, this child is in great danger..."

“Hmm, I see. Also, let me add a self-introduction…” Rowe took out his Pokédex from his waist and pointed it at Nihilego in front of him, “…My name is Rowe. I’m currently on Professor Birch’s assignment to conduct an ecological survey of this unknown creature. Also, I’ve already encountered this guy once.”

"Eh?"

Lillie was stunned, but when she saw the Pokédex in Rowe's hand, she immediately realized that Rowe was not lying.

The third-generation Pokédex is not yet widely available in the Hoenn region, and most trainers still have the first-generation Pokédex developed by Professor Oak.

It is said that Professor Birch has only distributed the third-generation Pokédex to a very limited number of promising trainers, and the fact that the boy named Rowe has the Pokédex means that he is one of them.

Looking at Loewon's companion, Ralts is a very rare Pokémon, but at least it has a population inhabiting the Hoenn region. However, its other companion, Neoleafy, doesn't exist at all in the Hoenn region.

In other words, it could only be obtained through special means. Since Lowe has a Pokédex, he must be a registered trainer. Therefore, this new Leafeon could not have been obtained through poaching or smuggling, but through legitimate channels.

If you want to acquire these rare starter Pokémon that aren't even available in this region through official channels, there's only one possibility...

...A genius trainer with exceptional talent, on whom the League places high hopes!

"So don't be afraid, I'm...very...strong~"

Last time, facing Nihilego was a two-on-one situation, so there was no reason to confront him head-on. This time, however, with Ralts as a new partner and only one opponent, it was a two-on-one situation, so naturally, Luo Wei wanted to test his opponent's strength.

Nihilego sensed the presence of a living being, and all its tentacles immediately began to dance. Rowe, however, showed no mercy; since it was a battle between wild Pokémon, there was no need for any chivalrous talk...

"New Leaf Cat, Flash! Ralts, use Shadow Clone Jutsu to cover us!"

As soon as she finished speaking, New Leaf Cat charged forward, and Ralts cooperated by opening its arms, with crimson light flashing from the horns on its head. Instantly, New Leaf Cat's figure split into seven or eight parts, attacking Nihilego from all directions.

Xu Wuyi probably didn't expect that Luo Wei's side would not only not run away, but would even dare to fight back...

Even more unexpectedly, Rowe was able to get the two Pokémon to perform a remarkably beautiful teamwork right from the start...

Ralts's Shadow Clone is a visual illusion created by interfering with sight and hearing with psychic power, so it can naturally be applied to other objects. In any case, it doesn't create a physical clone, but just a bunch of phantoms out of thin air.

The illusion simulates Shin-Ye-Nyan's movements, and it's more like creating several mirrors to reflect Shin-Ye-Nyan's actions, forming an illusion. The combination of these two makes Shin-Ye-Nyan's already fast movements even more difficult to distinguish between reality and illusion.

Nihilego had many tentacles, but they were still not as numerous as the phantoms at this moment. The figures attacking from all directions made it difficult for Nihilego to distinguish between the real and the fake. Its waving tentacles pierced through several figures, but they were all fakes.

At the same time, a flash of light appeared above Ralts's head, and Rowe immediately understood, "Be careful, this time it's coming from a direction of 30 degrees north!"

The new leaf cat's main body was being targeted by that tentacle, but upon receiving instructions from Luo Wei, it immediately moved to dodge and pass by.

Ralts used its telepathic abilities to read the opponent's movements and relayed them to Meowth through Loew. Although Ralts currently lacked the ability to directly attack, its support capabilities were absolutely top-notch...

This is another unique feature of Pokémon battles: having an extra teammate can make the situation more than the sum of its parts!

New Leaf Cat dodged the attack, its sharp claws flashing across the ground as it leaped into the air and swung its claw down at the translucent umbrella canopy...

Chapter Thirty-One: You didn't expect that, did you? I brought an antidote fruit!

In Pokémon battles, the addition of each new Pokémon can drastically change the status quo. In short, the combined power of Pokémon can create a chemical reaction where 1+1 is greater than 2.

For example, right now, Ralts didn't even directly engage in a head-on fight. Instead, she used her abilities to help and assist, using her telepathic abilities to read Nihilego's movements and then relaying it to Rowe, who then assessed the situation and gave commands to Neoleaf.

With this blessing, Xin Ye Miao nimbly swam out graceful dance steps, like a dancer gracefully moving on a stage, dodging all attacks with elegant movements.

Over there, Shin-Ye-Nyan used a flash of lightning to close the distance between the two sides. Its sharp claws scraped against the ground, accompanied by a bright, cold light bullet that leaped up. Its claws then slammed down directly towards Nihilego Ido's bright, large umbrella.

Previously, May's Torchic had launched two strong attacks against Nihilego without much success, but Rowe's New Leaf Cat's slap actually made Nihilego shake violently.

This attack seemed to have hit a vital point, and with its sharpened claws boosting its attack power, although it wasn't quite at the level to deal overwhelming damage, the power of this strike was still much higher than May's Torchic's previous attack...

Torchic has no way to increase its attack power, and its Fire-type attacks are resisted by the opponent's Rock-type, so it can only deal half the damage and therefore can hardly deal any effective output.

It's different in Krowell...

"Continue, Flash!"

With the attack working, Rowe immediately had New Leaf Cat continue using Lightning Flash, creating distance while further increasing its attack power by sharpening its claws.

Anyway, at worst we can just play hit-and-run tactics. With the six-stage physical attack boost, as long as this slap lands solidly, even the toughest opponent will suffer!

Nihilego naturally wouldn't stand idly by while being attacked, but its tentacle attacks couldn't reach the agile Nefox. Although it had a speed advantage, Nefox had Ralts to help predict Nihilego's movements and its shadow clones to interfere with the opponent's judgment.

Since the tentacle attack can't catch Shin-chan, we'll have to change our battle strategy, for example...

Nihilego slammed its tentacle into the ground, sending shards of rock flying. Rowe was momentarily stunned, but Lillie, who was standing nearby, had already reacted.

"This, this is it... It used this trick before..."

"Understood!"

As soon as Lillie spoke, Rowe came to his senses. Sure enough, the flying rubble melted instantly, turning into a dark purple liquid that splashed out. The ground beneath his feet collapsed where the tentacle had struck, turning into a small patch of foul-smelling mud.

"...Acid bombs and poison traps?"

After all, Nihilego is a Rock and Poison type Pokémon, so it is naturally good at using Poison-type moves. Rowe originally thought that Lillie was poisoned by a Bug-type Pokémon in the forest, but now it seems that she was poisoned by Nihilego.

But if Lillie was attacked by Nihilego, how did she escape?

Although she fainted from exhaustion later, she must have escaped from Niohuru's clutches on her own before that.

Okay, I can probably guess why.

In short, the situation has become tricky. Nihilego sank to the ground, its tentacles scattering the foul-smelling venom in all directions.

It is a Poison-type, so it is immune to poison damage. However, if Newleafy wants to launch an attack, it must get close to the opponent.

Nihilego was standing on a pool of venom. It had smeared venom on its body and was spreading the venom around itself by constantly flicking it with its tentacles. It was clear that it wanted to create an area around itself that was difficult for anyone to approach.

Newleaf Cat's Grass-type nature is weak against Poison-type, but fortunately it has the ability to change its type to avoid being weak against Poison.

Even if you can avoid the restraint, you can't avoid the damage from the venom. Once you get close, you will be continuously damaged by the venom, which makes the new Leafy Cat, whose moves are almost all close-range skills, seem extremely passive.

The only move that can attack from a distance is the leaf, but once used, it turns him into a Grass-type, which is weak to Grass, increasing the risk of the battle. Therefore, Luo Wei has to carefully choose whether to use it.

If the first attack misses, and the attribute is countered, and before it can change back to its original form and take a Venom Impact, New Leaf Cat will definitely be instantly killed.

"..."

Seeing that Rowe's expression had darkened, Lillie didn't know what to say for a moment, so she spoke cautiously.

"Well, if it really comes to that, you'd better run away quickly..."

"..." However, Luo Wei calmly shook his head after hearing this, "No, I was just having a headache about how to win~"

"?"