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Night was approaching.
Although he had temporarily taken the Sneasel pack under his command, Roy didn't trust them completely and chose not to spend the night in their lair.
Leaving the Sneasel habitat, Roy traveled a short distance to find a spot upwind with a wide view. There, he began setting up his tent and prepared to make camp.
Being his first time doing this sort of thing, it took two hours to get everything set up before he could finally rest.
After discussing among themselves, his three Pokémon decided to take turns keeping watch throughout the night.
To be honest, camping might sound fun, but the reality was far from enjoyable.
There was no soft bed, and Roy could feel the cold of the snow seeping through the tent fabric. The frigid wind whistled constantly, punctuated by the occasional long, eerie cries of unknown Pokémon... At least thanks to the icy environment, there were no mosquitoes to contend with—otherwise, he'd have acquired several welts for his night's sleep.
At one o'clock in the morning, a few Raticate came to steal food but were chased away by the vigilant Vulpix.
In the middle of the night, several Mightyena attacked the camp but were repelled by Lucario.
Roy, as expected, barely slept at all.
When he awoke the next day, dark circles had appeared under his eyes.
"What torture," Roy sighed, suddenly developing a newfound respect for Ash from TV.
As expected of a top-tier rookie Trainer—able to accept this nomadic lifestyle of ups and downs at just ten years old. Ash had truly crossed mountains and seas, witnessing volcanoes and snowfields alike...
Vulpix lay on Roy's shoulder, also looking listless.
"Let's get moving," Roy said, summoning his energy.
After a brief breakfast, he headed to the Weavile's Den and met with them at 7:00 AM.
He handed today's Pokémon food to the leader Weavile. After tasting these man-made delicacies, the Dark-type Pokémon instantly ignited their work ethic. They dispersed in all directions, surveying the distribution of Pokémon groups in the distance and searching for score cards.
Roy took his Pokémon to visit nearby Pokémon groups, looking for any worth capturing.
"Squirtle, you'll be responsible for all the battles today."
"Squirtle!" The Water-type nodded. This had been decided yesterday.
After its comprehensive evaluation reached B-level, Squirtle's growth rate had slowed considerably... the reason being that its potential had been almost fully tapped.
Maintaining its current form and continuing to train would make it stronger, but the difficulty was comparable to forging a new path where none had gone before.
Very difficult.
The easiest way forward was to seek evolution, following the path pioneered by its ancestors to its conclusion.
Squirtle's attributes in all aspects met the evolutionary standards, but it still lacked the crucial element of battle experience.
Coincidentally, battling wild Pokémon was necessary for Roy's plan to capture a new team member, so he decided to let Squirtle handle these encounters.
This approach would not only help Squirtle accumulate experience but also allow Roy to observe if any wild Pokémon displayed outstanding talents.
After each battle, Roy would take out Potions to heal the defeated Pokémon, offer rewards, and enlist their help in finding score cards.
The carrot-and-stick approach was proving extremely practical, as Roy had already demonstrated with the Weavile family.
Time flew by.
Five days had passed since Roy had begun his wilderness survival test.
Under the influence of his point-earning abilities, the area of Roy's "capitalist empire" had expanded to cover approximately 20 square kilometers around him, with more than a dozen groups of Pokémon working diligently under his direction.
During mealtime, Weavile, who had been promoted to worker management, approached Roy.
Information collected by other groups, along with discovered score cards, would be handed over to Weavile, who would then deliver everything to Roy.
After five days, Roy had collected twenty-four score cards...
If he remembered correctly, the school had only placed 40 bonus point cards in total, making Roy the undisputed leader in points.
"Snea!" Weavile danced excitedly while communicating something.
In truth, Roy didn't need Pokémon body language. With his aura-sensing abilities, he could understand their words directly.
But he didn't reveal this, preferring to play along.
"You saw humans?" Roy asked.
As his influence expanded, his food quality had also improved.
He gnawed on braised snow rabbit meat provided by the Pokémon and muttered:
"What's so strange about seeing humans? Haven't you encountered plenty of Trainers these days?"
Roy knew the movements of all nearby students.
No one could have imagined that in what should have been a resource-scarce wilderness survival test—where other students were still worrying about daily meals—Roy had cleverly established a Pokémon workforce through his skills and determination.
"Weavile!" The Dark-type shook its head, indicating that the humans it had encountered this time were different.
Listening to Weavile's explanation, Roy frowned, realizing something was wrong.
"Someone is attacking and kidnapping other humans?"
This was clearly not something students taking an exam would do.
"What's going on?" Roy touched his chin thoughtfully. "Could it be a test of the students' ability to handle danger?"
Based on Roy's understanding of teachers, this possibility seemed quite high.
Consider it—students with novice Pokémon and no survival experience thrown into a wilderness area. Although a "rescue device" was provided, and wild Pokémon were generally not too powerful, danger was still unavoidable.
What normal school would dare do this? Wouldn't they face severe backlash from parents?
Only specialized Trainer schools with professional instructors would dare implement something so risky.
At the time of admission, all students had signed consent forms.
Over the years, no serious accidents had occurred.
"Take me to see," Roy decided, wanting to judge the situation for himself.
Weavile led the way, with Lucario carrying Roy on its back at a speed of tens of kilometers per hour.
Five minutes later, Roy arrived at the location of Weavile's sighting.
Lucario growled softly—it had sensed human activity nearby, just two hundred meters away.
Roy and Lucario exchanged glances, both holding their breath as they slowly approached.
Soon, Roy spotted the person Weavile had described.
It was a tall, thin man wearing a navy blue cloak like those issued by the school. He appeared to be in his early thirties—obviously not a student.
...Of course, he might just look older than he was.
However, the person bound beneath the tall, thin man made Roy reject this possibility.
Callan, stripped of his clothes and wearing only a vest and shorts, had his limbs tied together as he shivered in the snow, his lips turning blue.
This unlucky guy... why is he always getting beaten up? Roy thought, his expression turning serious.
Someone who would do this to students was obviously not a teacher.
How on earth had they sneaked in? The safe zone had multiple checkpoints with professional Trainers in charge.
Not knowing his opponent's strength, Roy didn't rush out immediately. Instead, he silently took out the rescue device from his pocket.
But at that moment, Roy's heart pounded loudly as he sensed an aura suddenly lurking near him. Without warning, it launched a Sucker Punch in his direction.
Killing intent!
With the hairs on his body standing on end, it was the first time in Roy's life that he'd faced such a chilling, deadly intent.
Lucario reacted instantly, countering with Rock Smash as it lunged toward the shadowy attacker.
BOOM!
The strength of the newcomer matched Lucario's, and both combatants were forced back.
Now Roy could clearly see his attacker.
It was a gray humanoid doll that appeared relatively normal, except for a zipper sewn across its mouth. Scarlet eyes stared directly at Roy and Lucario, and a creepy, vengeful aura surrounded its entire body.
A Banette.
"Oh? It's actually a Lucario..." The tall, thin man walked over and looked at Roy with surprise, greed and malice gleaming in his eyes.
"It's rare to see such an uncommon Pokémon."
"You're the kid with the Alolan Vulpix..."
Though phrased as a question, the man's tone carried absolute certainty. Without waiting for Roy's answer, he raised two Poké Balls.
At that moment, the black tattoo on the back of his right hand caught Roy's attention.
The tattoo pattern featured a circular badge as its outermost layer, with a triangle outlined inside it. An eye emerged from the center of the triangle.
The symbol of Team Illuminati.
Roy had researched the meaning of this pattern online a few days ago.
Why had he checked?
Because Reece had mentioned this organization at the dinner table that day...
—Team Illuminati.