After spending a day in the forest, Yuga and his companions were covered in dirt, so they each went back to clean up before meeting at the cafeteria for a meal.
As soon as they entered the cafeteria, they encountered five individuals, including Kondoh.
Without guessing, Yuga knew that these five were likely Beidou's former teammates.
The leader of the group, a man, walked directly towards Beidou upon seeing them.
He didn't spare a glance for Yuga and Flannery and simply shouted, "Beidou!"
Beidou had no intention of engaging with them and walked past the man with Yuga and the others to get their food.
At this moment, Kondoh, who was behind the man, pointed at Beidou and yelled, "Beidou, don't be unreasonable. We've already apologized to you. What more do you want?"
Seemingly emboldened by reuniting with his teammates, Kondoh's voice was loud, immediately drawing the attention of everyone in the cafeteria.
Beidou turned around, staring at him as if he were insane, and retorted, "Who says I must accept apologies? Whether I choose to speak to you or not is my freedom, isn't it? Do you have a say in it? Stop shouting here!"
"You!" Kondoh was visibly angered, pointing at Beidou for a while before finally shifting his gaze to his own team captain, Anxia, the man who had spoken first.
Anxia looked at Beidou, who was struggling to speak, then glanced at a girl behind him with an uncertain expression. He sighed and chose not to say anything, merely watching Beidou and Yuga's group walk away.
The three of them collected their food, found a table, and sat down. Beidou, noticing the curious expressions on their faces as they stared at him, reluctantly put down his chopsticks and said, "You're both so curious about my business, huh?"
Both of them nodded simultaneously.
Beidou sighed and said, "Alright, alright, I'll tell you. It's not that big of a deal, really."
Beidou and his teammates had encountered extremely bad luck. When they had set out in the morning, not long after entering the forest, they encountered a pseudo-Elite Pokémon, a Victreebel.
Once a Pokémon reached the pseudo-Elite, its strength underwent a dramatic transformation, making it impossible to defeat with sheer numbers alone.
The Ursaring Yuga's group had encountered earlier, at just over level 50, could potentially be handled with sheer numbers. However, when a Pokémon reached the pseudo-Elite, it was a different story. Although the level difference between 59 and 60 seemed insignificant, the difference in power was like night and day.
In the blink of an eye, one female trainer among the six was caught by Victreebel's vines.
At a crucial moment, Beidou caught Victreebel off guard, and his Delcatty used its Fire-type Awakening Power to burn the vines and save the girl.
Then, realizing they couldn't defeat Victreebel, they turned to run. However, their speed couldn't match Victreebel's swift vine attacks.
Just as the vines were about to capture the girl Beidou had saved, she unexpectedly reached out and pulled Beidou in front of her, using him as a shield.
That way, Beidou ended up restrained by Victreebel's vines and was nearly delivered to its mouth.
At this critical moment, the others were solely focused on their own escape and didn't even think about turning back to rescue Beidou.
Fortunately, at that moment, Mr. Moore descended from the sky on his Charizard and defeated Victreebel, saving Beidou. The others only stopped running after they saw this.
Beidou didn't mind that the others hadn't come back to save him. At crucial moments, people often thought only of themselves, and he had no grounds for criticism. However, what he couldn't tolerate was that the girl he had saved turned on him.
Beidou and that girl had a heated argument, but instead of blaming her, the others not only didn't reprimand her but also took her side. They repeatedly emphasized that Beidou wasn't hurt and that he should stop making a fuss. They even said that she was a girl, and he should cut her some slack.
What's wrong with being a girl? Did that mean girls should be unconditionally forgiven when they made mistakes?
Beidou couldn't understand the thought process of these people and eventually decided to part ways with them.
In reality, those individuals knew that the girl had done wrong, but their act of leaving Beidou behind when he was captured by Victreebel made them lose face. It was as if Beidou had seen their most embarrassing side, prompting them to unconsciously take the opposite stance against him, as if doing so could cover up their cowardly behavior.
However, Beidou didn't care about this at all. In his perspective, prioritizing oneself in a life-threatening situation was only human nature, and he had no grounds to criticize them. .
After hearing Beidou's story, Yuga and Flannery both sighed.
Yuga asked, "So what will you do next?"
Beidou wore a troubled expression and replied, "Well, aren't we on the same team?"
Yuga said, "Being on the same team with us is fine, but after the mission, won't you return to the Ever Grande City Day Care Center? You're still colleagues, and won't it be awkward when you meet them again?"
Beidou sighed and said, "Let's take it one step at a time. Besides, if anyone should feel awkward, it's them, not me."
Yuga chuckled and shook his head, saying, "It's up to you then. It's not a problem for us since we were originally just a team of two."
Since they had to continue exploring the forest the next day, after dinner, Yuga, Beidou, and Flannery parted ways after went to visit the Pokémon Center. After all, they had fought all day, and some of their Pokémon were injured. Relying solely on Yuga's Chimecho wouldn't solve all their problems.
Before returning to their rooms, Yuga found a spot to tidy up the Pokémon he had newly captured today.
The two Lotad and two Surkrit were very obedient and didn't dare to resist Yuga. They accepted their fate of being captured.
The shiny Ariados is also a spineless guy. When it saw Vivillon, it immediately chickened out, retracting its minions, lying down on the ground, and bowing its head to Yuga.
As for the Ursaring, it was a bit tricky to handle.
After an intense battle, the Ursaring was seriously injured, and the pain from its wounds, along with the anger of losing its child, made it extremely agitated.
Fortunately, Yuga brought its child back, and that calmed it down.
Yuga then proceeded to treat its injuries. Although it still didn't want to interact much with Yuga, at least it stopped resisting.
It had to be said that Kondoh had a good eye; this stolen Pokémon Egg he had taken was of Green potential. Yuga had gotten a good deal out of it.
Speaking of which, in places rarely visited by humans , high-potential Pokémon were more abundant. In towns near the outskirts, powerful Pokémon and those with high potential had long been captured, leaving behind descendants with less remarkable potential.
In places like Illuma Island, which had accumulated powerful Pokémon over a long period, they would choose strong partners. Offspring born from such unions had a higher chance of having high-potential Pokémon.
Such places, despite their dangers, were a paradise for trainers.