Pokemon: Rising From The Dark

Aoki's purpose of entering the forest is very clear: to train his Pokémon, improve their strength, and then capture more Pokémon.

This time, Aoki brought hundreds of Pokéballs, not just to increase his hunter points.

In the near future, many newcomers should be joining the team. Instead of buying Pokémon from the Hunter Guild, it's better to capture them directly and distribute them.

If he had known this before, Aoki would have captured Pokémon more aggressively on Trial Island. The Pokémon there generally have much higher potential.

There's no other way now.

Fortunately, Aoki has a System. Compared to others, identifying a Pokémon's potential is much easier.

It took an hour to conduct a preliminary survey of Pokémon distribution in the back mountain.

There are three major groups of Pokémon in the area.

The largest of these are Wurmple and its two evolutionary lines, Dustox and Beautifly.

These two groups have the largest number of Pokémon, which satisfies Aoki.

Although Bug-type Pokémon generally have lower long-term potential, their fast growth rate is an advantage. With some basic training, they can be battle-ready quickly.

So, Aoki plans to capture most of the Wurmple from these two groups.

Bug-type Pokémon also have another advantage: their large numbers increase the chances of finding ones with good potential.

If managed properly, the Wurmple population in the back mountain can be cultivated systematically, potentially providing Aoki's group with a steady supply of Pokémon.

Inspired by Wurmple, Aoki also plans to introduce Weedle and Caterpie from the Kanto region. With some management and training, these two Pokémon lines are not much weaker than Dustox and Beautifly.

And when it comes to offense, Beedrill has the strongest attack capabilities among the four.

"It seems like the resources in the back mountain shouldn't be wasted. I'll have Skye find some people to organize the area, so we can use it to raise Pokémon internally," Aoki thought.

If a faction relies entirely on purchasing Pokémon from outside, sustainable development will be impossible. Having an internal source of Pokémon is ideal.

The Bug-type Pokémon in the back mountain are a good source. Aoki can use the System to filter out Pokémon with poor potential. Over time, selective breeding will improve the overall quality of the population.

Besides these two groups, there is another significant one: the Slakoth Forest.

Aoki was quite surprised when he discovered this group.

As for the final evolution of Slakoth, Slaking, Aoki was quite familiar with it.

Slaking is an odd case—a Pokémon with a base stat total exceeding that of some Legendary Pokémon but hindered by its Ability.

Most Pokémon Abilities, even if they don't provide an advantage, at least don't restrict them.

But Slaking is different. Its natural talent is exceptional, and as a Normal-type Pokémon, it can learn a variety of moves from different types, allowing it to counter many opponents. However, its Truant Ability severely limits its battle potential.

Perhaps the creator of the Pokémon world thought Slaking was too powerful and needed a limiting factor. After all, if Slaking could attack every turn, very few Pokémon could stand against it.

Still, Aoki had an idea regarding Slaking: using the move Skill Swap to exchange its Ability with another Pokémon. It doesn't even need a particularly strong Ability—just getting rid of Truant would be enough.

That would instantly double Slaking's strength.

However, there's a catch—Skill Swap is not permanent. After a while, the Ability reverts.

That raises a question: Can a Slaking, which is used to lying around all day, suddenly adjust to constant movement, both physically and mentally?

Probably not.

And no matter how talented Slaking is, it still requires some basic training.

Ideally, Skill Swap would last longer. At least two Pokémon would need to take turns using it on Slaking, ensuring it never returns to Truant mode, making both training and battling more effective.

Even two Pokémon might not be enough—it would be better to have three Pokémon continuously using Skill Swap on Slaking.

Not only that, but the best way to train Slaking would be to start using this method when it is still a Slakoth.

Once it evolves into Vigoroth, it no longer has Truant, so training becomes easier. But after it evolves into Slaking, this strategy would have to continue indefinitely.

In other words, to train a fully combat-ready Slaking, at least three additional Pokémon specializing in Skill Swap would be necessary. They would need to stay near Slaking at all times, making the training costs skyrocket.

It would all be worth it if the strategy succeeded—such a Slaking would be stronger than many pseudo-Legendary Pokémon. But what if it failed?

A complete waste of resources.

For that reason, Aoki only considered this as a theoretical strategy and wasn't planning on seriously training a Slaking.

The name "Slakoth Forest" was fitting.

When Aoki led his Pokémon into the forest, he saw Slakoth lying on trees or sprawled on the ground. Even if there were Berries right next to them, they wouldn't bother reaching for them.

Only when they were truly starving would they sluggishly move and push the Berry into their mouths.

They completely ignored Aoki's presence, as if giving him free rein to do whatever he wanted.

If Aoki hadn't scanned them, he might have been tempted to capture a few. Even if he didn't train them himself, they could be useful for his subordinates as trump cards.

But this wasn't Trial Island, and the average potential of the Slakoth here was low. Most had only yellow-tier potential, with the occasional light-green one. Aoki wasn't interested in capturing them for now.

Slakoth's low value comes from its extreme laziness—it barely moves, making level progression excruciatingly slow.

Most people wouldn't have the patience.

Even if someone endured it and raised Slakoth into Vigoroth, which is relatively strong, frequent battles would accelerate its evolution into Slaking.

After finally training it, it would become a Slaking, and then… who would have the patience to keep training it?

After wandering around Slakoth Forest for a while, Aoki found traces of Vigoroth but decided not to go further.

The Slakoth Forest might be a valuable resource worth exploring later, but for now, improving his Pokémon and focusing on battle training was more important.