Chapter 18: I Choose You!
Bai Feng thought for a long time before finally calling Grandpa Fu.
Grandpa Fu was surprised to receive Bai Feng's call and teased, "I didn't expect such a busy person like you to remember to call me. What kind of favor do you need this time?"
"Hehe..." Hearing Grandpa Fu's words, Bai Feng suddenly felt a little embarrassed. "There is indeed a small favor I'd like to trouble you with."
"I knew it," Grandpa Fu said, feigning annoyance. "Go on, what is it?"
"I'd like to borrow a Jumpluff from you," Bai Feng requested.
"Just for that? Alright," Grandpa Fu readily agreed, without asking why Bai Feng needed to borrow a Jumpluff.
Bai Feng said gratefully, "Okay, I'll have Talonflame come pick up the Jumpluff later. Just have the Jumpluff follow Talonflame back to me."
Soon, Talonflame returned from Bi Yi Gym with a Jumpluff.
The experiment continued.
"Jumpluff, I'll trouble you. Use Sleep Powder on Oshawott," Bai Feng said.
"Wata~"
Jumpluff gently waved the Cotton Ball on its hand, and a stream of Brown Powder drifted out, controlled by a gentle breeze to scatter over Oshawott.
Within seconds of inhaling the Sleep Powder, Oshawott couldn't control its heavy eyelids and slowly fell asleep.
Seeing this, Bai Feng once again injected Golden Finger Energy into Oshawott's Body and restarted the experiment.
The experiment initially went very smoothly. Bai Feng controlled the Golden Finger Energy, probing the Energy Circuit in the sleeping state little by little, over and over again.
With the Fruit Tree as a prior example, Bai Feng knew that this process required Time and patience.
The Hidden Energy Circuit within a Pokémon's Body was even more stubborn than that within a Fruit Tree. Bai Feng needed to expend more effort and concentration to awaken it.
However, he overlooked one point: even though Oshawott was asleep, its pain sensation still existed. Just as Bai Feng was about to light up a corner of the dim Energy Circuit, Oshawott's Body suddenly twitched violently.
Bai Feng was startled and quickly stopped his actions.
After a moment, Oshawott woke up again. The instant it opened its eyes, it felt a stinging pain coming from somewhere in its Body. Although it had been in a deep sleep before, the pain seemed to linger in its Body and hadn't disappeared even after waking up.
"Oshawott, are you okay?" Bai Feng asked worriedly.
Oshawott shook its head, indicating that a little pain was nothing.
'This isn't just a little pain,' Bai Feng thought. Seeing Oshawott's expression, he knew that feeling must have been uncomfortable.
"How about we stop?" Bai Feng said hesitantly, worried that he might torture Oshawott too much.
"Woo~ woo~"
Oshawott shook its head vigorously. Bai Feng might be willing to give up, but it wasn't. The Experiment hadn't yielded results yet. If they gave up now, wouldn't all the suffering it endured before be in vain?
"Alright then, we'll try one last Time. If it still doesn't work, we'll stop!" Seeing Oshawott's persistence, Bai Feng had no choice but to agree to try one more Time.
"Jumpluff, this Time use Paralyze Powder on Oshawott."
Since Sleep Powder didn't achieve the desired effect, they would switch to Paralyze Powder.
The reason Oshawott twitched was that it could still feel pain even while asleep, causing a stress response in its Body. So, perhaps blocking the pain sensation would work?
Paralyze Powder could cause a Pokémon to fall into a paralyzed state, thus losing control of its Body, which could effectively block pain sensation.
Of course, it wasn't a 100% block. The Pokémon could still feel a slight tingly, Electric Current-like sensation, but this was within a tolerable range.
As the Paralyze Powder landed on Oshawott, Oshawott indeed fell into a paralyzed state. Its Body became unresponsive, and its perception gradually disappeared. It could only faintly sense a trace of Electric Current flowing through its Body, feeling tingly and numb.
"Oshawott, does it hurt much?" Bai Feng pinched Oshawott and asked.
After falling into a paralyzed state, Oshawott's physical perception disappeared, but its consciousness was very clear.
"Woo~" It doesn't hurt, just feels a bit strange.
"That's good, let's start again now," Bai Feng said.
Injecting Golden Finger Energy into Oshawott's Body once more, this Experiment finally succeeded. Bai Feng successfully lit up a corner of the Hidden Energy Circuit in Oshawott's Body.
During the Experiment, Oshawott didn't show any more stress responses.
However, this process was very Time-consuming. To prevent Oshawott's paralysis from wearing off, Bai Feng had Jumpluff replenish the Paralyze Powder several times in between.
But even after spending so much Time, Bai Feng only managed to light up a tiny bit before stopping.
It was impossible to light up all the Hidden Energy Circuits at once. Lighting up a Pokémon's Hidden Energy Circuit was much more difficult than a Berry's, so Bai Feng could only do it little by little.
Moreover, he couldn't do it continuously. He needed to wait for a period before the next session, otherwise, he worried that Oshawott and Bai Ye wouldn't be able to handle it.
Although the pain sensation was blocked by the paralysis, it didn't mean it truly disappeared.
After Oshawott finished, it was Bai Ye's turn. This Time, it was completed even more smoothly.
After the Experiment, Bai Feng had Talonflame send Jumpluff back to Bi Yi Gym. At the same Time, he felt that he should also catch a Pokémon that knew Paralyze Powder. Otherwise, he couldn't always trouble Grandpa Fu to borrow one in the future.
"How do you two feel?" Bai Feng asked Bai Ye and Oshawott, who had fully recovered from the paralyzed state.
"Woo~" I feel great.
Oshawott replied. Although not obvious, it felt that its perception of external Energy seemed clearer.
"Sha~na~"
Bai Ye felt the same as Oshawott.
"That's good," Bai Feng nodded with satisfaction. "From now on, I'll perform this kind of Experiment on you every once in a while. You should be mentally prepared."
"Woo~" No problem, bring it on!
"We also need a Pokémon that knows Paralyze Powder to assist with this work. We can't keep troubling others, so while we have Time, let's go check the nearby Wild Mountain and see if we can catch one."
Seeing that it was still early, Bai Feng took Bai Ye and Oshawott to a nearby Wild Mountain.
There were many ownerless Wild Mountains near Fang Xing Mountain, which was why Bai Feng had bought land here in the first place. Because in the future, if he needed to expand his planting area, he could continue to buy one, two... or even more Mountains nearby.
Some Pokémon lived in these Wild Mountains. The Quantity wasn't large, nor was it small. Bai Feng thought it shouldn't be difficult to find one that knew Paralyze Powder.
Many Poison-type and Grass-type Pokémon knew this Move, and the most common Pokémon in the Mountains were Grass-type.
Before setting off, Bai Feng packed some Berries in his bag, planning to use them as compensation for the Pokémon they encountered.
He needed to find a Pokémon that knew Paralyze Powder, but not all Pokémon knew this Move, so he had to ask them one by one. This would inevitably cause some Pokémon to feel annoyed. To prevent being attacked, he needed to pay them a little compensation to appease their anger.
Bai Feng chose a Mountain east of Fang Xing Mountain as his target because he had heard Talonflame and Fletchinder say that Pokémon often came from this direction to steal things from the Orchard.
The plants on this Mountain were very lush. Because it was rarely visited by humans, there was almost no place to step. Bai Feng and Oshawott had to clear a path as they walked.
Occasionally, Flying Pokémon like Fletchling and Pidgey would fly through the Forest, but they weren't Bai Feng's target.
Bai Feng kept his eyes and ears open, paying close attention to the surrounding Situation, afraid of missing his target due to carelessness.
After walking for a while, he suddenly heard rustling sounds from the Grass. He walked over and pushed aside the Grass to see a Paras planting Mushrooms inside.
Probably startled, this Paras sprayed a cloud of powder towards Bai Feng the moment it turned around. It was purple powder.
It was Poison Powder, not Paralyze Powder.
Seeing this, Oshawott quickly created a Water Screen in front of Bai Feng, melting all the Poison Powder into the Water.
Bai Feng quickly soothed the Paras, "You don't need to Fear, we don't have any ill intentions. We just want to ask if you know the Paralyze Powder Move."
Perhaps sensing Bai Feng's calm attitude, the Paras didn't attack again and was no longer afraid. It gently waved its pincers, indicating that it didn't know the Move.
"Then do you know if there are any Pokémon nearby that do?" Bai Feng asked again.
The Paras shook the two Leaves on top of its head, still answering that it didn't know.
(／.＼) Bai Feng felt so tired.
"Thank you, here you go," Bai Feng took out a Berry as usual and handed it to the Sunkern.
However, just as the Sunkern was about to take the Berry, a shadow suddenly darted out from somewhere, sweeping past Bai Feng's Palm like Wind and snatching the Berry.
Hey! What the heck!
Already annoyed, Bai Feng was instantly infuriated and wanted to curse. Not only could he not find the Pokémon he wanted to catch after searching for so long, but he also encountered a robbery. What terrible luck!
"Bai Ye, let's chase!"
Bai Feng took out another Berry and threw it to the Sunkern, then picked up Oshawott and chased after the shadow with Bai Ye.
The shadow was very fast. Its Body seemed small, and its movements were exceptionally agile, darting back and forth between the Grass and bushes, almost exhausting Bai Feng.
Damn it, if I catch you, I'll teach you a good lesson!
Fortunately, Bai Ye could use Psychic to interfere with the target, otherwise, that guy would have been long gone.
After chasing for a while, the target saw that it couldn't shake off Bai Ye's Psychic lock and finally stopped. Only then did Bai Feng get a clear look at the true appearance of the thief who stole his Berry.
It was a small and cute Helioptile.
You're so cute, why are you a thief?
"Ay bip~ Ay bip~ Ay bip~" It was just one Berry, do you guys really need to chase me like this?
Helioptile hugged the Berry and cursed at Bai Feng.
Bai Feng shouted angrily, "Cut the nonsense! You stole my stuff and you think you're right? Give the Berry back!"
Helioptile hugged the Berry tightly and cautiously retreated two steps.
"Since you won't give it back, don't blame me for being impolite! Oshawott, Water Gun!"
"Woo~"
Oshawott opened its mouth and shot a stream of Water towards Helioptile, but Helioptile was extremely fast and vanished from the spot with a flash.
Bai Feng was a little surprised. This Helioptile's speed was a bit too fast, which reminded him of Grandpa Fu's Sawsbuck.
*Buzz buzz buzz...*
Electric Spark crackled around Helioptile's Body. Then, a Golden Orb appeared above its head. It controlled the Golden Orb and shot it towards Oshawott.
Oshawott opened its mouth and emitted Sound Waves, using a sound barrier formed by Charm Voice to easily disintegrate the incoming Golden Orb.
But Bai Feng's eyes lit up.
This... isn't this Electromagnetic Wave?
He suddenly realized that he had been mistaken before. Paralyze Powder wasn't the only Move that could cause a Pokémon to fall into a paralyzed state.
Look... Electromagnetic Wave could also do it! Since he couldn't find a Grass-type Pokémon that knew Paralyze Powder, an Electric-type Pokémon that knew Electromagnetic Wave would also work!
I choose you!
Bai Feng's gaze towards Helioptile suddenly became fervent, scaring Helioptile into an involuntary shiver.
This... could this person be a pervert?
Seeing that the other side had more people and looked difficult to deal with, Helioptile directly threw the Berry in its arms to Bai Feng.
Fine, here you go!
After throwing it, it turned its head and tried to run.
But how could Bai Feng let it have its way?
"Bai Ye, use Psychic to grab it!" Bai Feng quickly called out.
"Sha~na~"
A flash of purple light flickered in Bai Ye's eyes. The next second, the fleeing Helioptile was controlled and lifted into the air.
Helioptile twisted its Body, desperately wanting to resist, but besides being fast, it didn't know any attacking Moves.
You... what do you want to do? I don't taste good.
Bai Feng chuckled and lifted Helioptile up.
"From now on, you'll follow me. I guarantee you won't have to worry about food or shelter. You can eat as many Berries as you want."
The struggling Helioptile suddenly quieted down. It raised its head, its eyes looking brightly at Bai Feng.
(ω)
(End of Chapter)