The Chase

Run!

As soon as Natsu and Weedle met at the agreed place, he clutched Weedle, who had the two restrained fruits encased with silk threads, and ran as if his life depended on it, which was true in the present situation.

The two fruits appeared just like ordinary berries; the rich fragrance and the flickering lights before were all gone. It's just that Natsu and Weedle don't have the heart to pay attention to this. There was only one thought running through their minds.

Run!

They quickly traversed the dense forest. Natsu recalled all the possible obstacles on the way back. Remembering the return path in advance and dispersing the aggressive Pokémon that may appear on the course were preparations for this moment.

"There is a large bare root in front. Then there is a bush with thorns. Then there is a large tree that needs to be detoured."

Natsu's face turned red, and fine sweat oozed out of his forehead, momentarily blurring his eyes and moistening his nose. He gasped violently through his mouth as his chest bellowed.

During this period, he had been training with Weedle a lot. To set an example for Weedle, he insisted on it every day until he couldn't hold it any longer before taking a rest. In addition, the food had improved compared to before, and the body was no longer so weak. Otherwise, even if he had grabbed the fruits from this bunch of Bug Type Pokémon, he wouldn't have been able to escape.

Bzz Bzz Bzz.

However, no matter how hard he ran, he continued to hear the voice of wild Pokémon behind him, with Beedrills at the head of the pack.

Holding their two spikes, the thin wings behind their backs, moving like a typhoon, gradually shortened the distance between Natsu and Weedle.

Natsu didn't care about them; he just ran, jumped, avoided, or rammed through all the obstacles that might hinder their escape. But his body was also scratched by various branches and thorns. He was very embarrassed as he had spent a lot of money to buy clothes not long ago.

Weedle, lying on Natsu's shoulders, clutched his clothes tightly with seven pairs of pink feet and turned to face the Pokémon chasing behind them.

Hiss—

It spat out threads or webs one after another, not trying to cause much damage but just to slow down the pursuit of these Bug Type Pokémon.

It glued the two ends of the silk thread to the trees on both sides of their escape and set up layers of barriers. When a Pokémon gets too close, it spits out an Electro Web to limit it.

Weedle was in charge of blocking the pursuit while Natu was in charge of escaping. Each of them had a clear division of labor, and they trusted each other completely.

Natsu believed that Weedle could stop the pursuit, so he didn't look behind, just kept recalling the possible obstacles and pinpointing the best escape route. Weedle also believed that Natsu could take it away, so it concentrated on blocking the Pokémon behind them, using all of its strength.

The pursuit did not fall behind with their cooperation, but they couldn't close the distance again. Weedle's silk thread became their most hated thing, but there was no way to avoid it altogether, other than hanging in the far back. Neither Beedrill nor Butterfree, the fastest of the two chasing Pokémon, had any method to solve the issue.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Suddenly, a violent figure rushed from the back to the front.

It was Pinsir!

It finally caught up, dragging its bruised body, hunched over, its huge pincers like a sharp harvester. All the branches, bushes, and even Weedle's silk thread couldn't do much to hinder it.

Seeing it coming, Weedle felt a lot of pressure.

"Weedle!!" It roared in a low voice and most of the moves landed on Pinsir.

But neither String Shot, Poison Sting, or Electro Web could do much damage, and the pain seemed to fuel its anger further. With a surging airflow, it got closer and closer.

Pinsir was an enemy Weedle could not defeat at this time.

"Wooo!!"

Weedle was getting a little anxious and shouted at Natsu between the release of its moves.

It felt a bit regretful. If it didn't want to enter this forest and fight for these two fruits, they would have never fallen into such a dangerous situation. Natsu didn't have the strength to speak, and just gave Weedle a firm look. And this look made Weedle, who almost wanted to sacrifice itself to buy time for Natsu, stunned.

Don't panic, keep calm.

Although Natsu didn't say it, the words it heard most often during training and battles reverberated in its mind at this moment.

Trust Natsu, he didn't give up, there's still a chance!

Weedle's eyes narrowed, and it continued to unleash all its moves at Pinsir again.

Even if they can't cause much harm, at least they can somewhat hinder it. As long as it persists, opportunities may appear.

The little eyes became particularly focused, and locked on Pinsir's body, calculating its running trajectory, as well as the tiny gaps in the seemingly hard carapace.

That's Pinsir's weakness!

Weedle's eyes lit up as if it had figured out something crucial, and the three Poison Stings shot out almost subconsciously.

Puff-

Then, under Weedle's own somewhat surprised expression, Poison Sting deftly swept an arc, avoiding the hard carapace on Pinsir's leg, submerged into the soft muscles in the narrow gap between the two carapaces.

"Pinsir!!!"

Pinsir roared miserably, its footsteps becoming very stiff, stumbled, and fell heavily to the ground, not even stopping before sliding several meters on the ground due to inertia.

It worked!

Weedle's eyes widened with surprise.

But before it got too happy, the two Beedrills had quickly approached not far from them. Weedle could feel the sharpness of the pinpoints which caused a shiver to run down its spine.

Just when Weedle thought everything was going to shit, Natsu finally ran to the most critical place in his plan.

A thick and slow-moving stream.

This is the best place he expected to avoid pursuit! Grabbing the Weedle on his shoulder with one hand, and clutching the two precious berries with the other, he took a deep breath and jumped in instantly.

Plop—

The cold biting stream in late autumn along with the chill of the night almost forced him out of his breath. Drilling in, Natsu took Weedle in his arms, curled up, and let the water wash him away.

And the Bug Type Pokémons who were chasing after saw this scene, raged endlessly. They are instinctively afraid of water. Soon after Natsu submerged in the water, he disappeared. The Berries were also no longer emitting any fragrance, making it impossible for them to continue the chase.

After wandering angrily along the stream for dozens of laps, they could only disperse in unwillingness.

On the other side, Natsu, who was holding his breath, felt the burning pain in his lungs. After making sure that he had floated far enough, he finally came out of the water, dragged his numb body, and climbed onshore.

Lying laboriously on the ground by the stream, he put Weedle aside.

This was the first time Weedle was drenched in water like this, so it was startled and didn't regain its senses until its feet touched the ground again.

One person and one Pokémon looked at the two small fruits bulging through the clothes then looked back at each other and smiled.