Elf: Who told him to be an investigator!

But what he said when he was weighing the Six-Tails was not wrong.

Even though Liuwei ate a lot of cookies, it couldn't hide the fact that it had gained a lot of weight. Even its size was a whole size larger than when it hatched from the egg.

Supporting its six tails, Ze Shu spread out its fluffy tail.

The six tail tips that have quietly forked out are already visible, but now only the part of the tail near the base is still connected.

It will only be considered a bit bigger when all six of its tails have fully grown out.

As for now, it's still a baby.

Yes, such an easy baby to fool.

He then picked up the Snow Child and weighed it in his hand.

Its weight and size haven't changed at all; it's still small.

"This won't do."

As Ze Shu spoke, he took out a few blue, crystalline cubes from his pocket and stuffed them into the little mouth of the Snow Child, which was tucked under its straw hat.

This is an Energy Cube, a very nutritious Pokémon food. Hmm, it's also quite expensive. It didn't bring many, since it hadn't had time to shop after receiving the 800,000 League Coins from Cynthia before arriving at Mt. Coronet.

"Yo, yo-ki..."

"Huh?!"

"You have it too, you have it too."

Zeshu was preparing to stuff an energy cube into Liuwei as well.

But out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly noticed a red and purple figure darting out from around the corner not far away, rushing towards him at an extremely fast speed, with a very clear purpose.

The figure of the other party was extremely conspicuous on the snow-white Tianguan Mountain, and the sharp claws on his hands gleamed coldly on the snow.

It is Mannura.

"Gurgle—"

"Bu-ee! Bu..."

In just two seconds, with Eevee's warning, the Weavile had already reached Zephyr.

Its target was the energy cube in Ze Shu's hand. As soon as it touched it, the energy cube was attracted to its hand as if it were being drawn in.

Ze Shu could clearly see the wicked smile on its lips and the smugness in its red eyes, and its large ears on both sides of its head twitched triumphantly.

"Gurgle!"

The very next second after succeeding.

Mammalian wanted to escape.

Before it could escape, its red eyes greedily fixed on Ze Shu's waist, and its sharp claws reached out to steal the belt containing Ze Shu's Poké Ball and all his belongings.

It remembered that all the good things that humans had were taken from here.

"Oh."

What a thief!

Just before the Weavile's hand reached for Zeshu's belt, Zeshu's hand reached out and grabbed the Weavile's large ear, then gripped it tightly.

then……

He kicked his legs, twisted his waist, and his shoes sank into the snow.

With a swing of his arm, he grabbed the Weavile's big ears and flung its entire body away!

As the Weavile looked on in astonishment, a tearing pain shot through its large ears.

Its body was swung far away by Ze Shu! It spun in the air, drawing a beautiful arc, and was thrown down the mountain to an unknown place.

"Hmph, trying to steal my things? You mere Mavila." Ze Shu clapped his hands.

Is this the Mt. Coronet Pokémon that Cynthia was talking about that attacks people?

That's all there is to it.

This Weavile arrived very quickly, in less than two seconds. It also left very quickly, probably in less than two seconds as well.

Unfortunately, one of my energy cubes was stolen.

Six-tailed Fox was extremely aggrieved: (「▼皿▼)！

Those are the energy cubes that need to get into its mouth! Ze Shu gave them to it!

I'm so angry!

We need to bring that guy back! Let it...

"Ooh, oh wow~?"

Ooh~ What's that popping into my mouth? So good~

It was Yukidouji who put the energy cube it wanted to eat into the mouth of the Six-Tailed Fox.

Seeing the Six-Tails happily eating with its mouth wide open, Yukidouji revealed a joyful expression: "Yo-yo-ki..."

Ze Shu smiled and said, "Everyone has one."

……

They encountered no further problems along the way, and Ze Shu and his companions arrived at their destination without any major issues.

The ranger's cabin on Tianguan Mountain.

This was a simple wooden cabin made of coniferous trees from the cold-climate forests of Mount Tenguan. A simple wooden enclosure surrounded the cabin, and both were covered in snow. It reminded Zeki of his house at the Masked Base.

However, the situation here is even worse.

Serving as a forest ranger in the freezing cold and harsh environment of Tianguan Mountain is admirable, regardless of anything else.

The faint sounds of children playing could be heard coming from inside the house.

Ze Shu went up and knocked on the door.

Two little boys, both wearing cotton hats, opened the door. Their big, round eyes looked at Ze Shu, and then they shouted in unison, "Daddy! Daddy! Someone's here to see you!"

Soon, a middle-aged man with a stubble beard, dressed in a cotton-padded coat, came out.

He glanced quickly at Ze Shu before smiling and asked, "Do you need any help? I'm a forest ranger from Tianguan Mountain, and I'm quite familiar with this area."

Ze Shu picked up the Snow Child: "Do you know this child?"

Upon seeing the "stranger," Yukito felt a little shy and wanted to shrink into Zeki's arms, but then it remembered that the ranger Zeki had mentioned might be the person who had saved it.

So I mustered up my courage and greeted them: "Yo, yo-ki..."

The forest ranger paused, a flicker of memory crossing his eyes, then honestly shook his head: "I don't remember."

He has saved so many Pokémon that it's impossible for him to remember them all.

……

"Oh... so you're that Snow Child! I see, I see... you were introduced by Professor Yamanashi."

Zeshu learned the name of the forest ranger—Mori Mori.

In Morimori's little house, two cups of hot tea were steaming on the small table in the living room.

Besides that, what caught Ze Shu's attention was a 'gyro launcher' on the table.

"Hunting sniper..."

Generally, rangers in mainstream areas are mostly Pokémon Trainers. Only in less urbanized regions like Fire, Almia, and Oblibia, where there is a so-called "Raider League," do they use these hunting buoys.

I never expected that there would be rangers in Sinnoh using this thing.

But thinking about it, it makes sense, considering that Mt. Coronet has a low level of urbanization, or even virtually none. A hunting dart that can always communicate with wild Pokémon might be more suitable for this environment and more versatile.

Holding a cup of hot tea, chatting casually, Ze Shu mentioned the Manneken Pis that he had encountered on the road.

"Did you encounter that Weavile on your way here?" Mori asked helplessly when talking about the Weavile.

"Has something been stolen...? Sigh, that Weavile is always lurking on the roads of Mount Coronet, and it's already stolen items from hundreds of trainers..."

"Unfortunately, that Weavile is very fast; even I couldn't catch it... It's also very unruly, and I can't communicate with it properly even using a cursor..."

They stole items from hundreds of trainers?

Ze Shu twitched the corner of his mouth.

How much of its stolen goods must it have accumulated?

I should have known better than to throw that maniac away. At least I should have caught it and confiscated all its "stolen goods"!

"You could say it was stolen," Ze Shu chuckled. "But I also threw it down the mountain..."

"What?" Mori Mori didn't understand. After Sawaki explained in detail, he looked at Sawaki with admiration and said, "That Weavile is very vengeful. You'd better be careful..."

Ze Shu: "That's really great."