The night was not silent; many Pokémon liked to move around and forage during the night.
In the forest, a troop composed of nearly a thousand Morelull was slowly moving toward the pond, the spores on their heads glowing like little nightlights, illuminating the surroundings.
Because there were so many of them, when viewed from above, they formed a long, bright, dragon-like trail of lights.
Julian, who had been fast asleep, was nudged awake by Metagross.
Yawning, Julian looked through a small window in the tent and found that it was still nighttime.
"Is there something going on?"
Metagross: "A large group of Morelull is approaching."
Julian only knew that they were nocturnal creatures and that the mushrooms on their heads were very delicious, loved by many Pokémon.
Even if the mushrooms on their heads were eaten, they would regrow overnight, so it did not cause much harm to the Morelull.
However, the taste wasn’t particularly appealing to humans.
Stepping out of the tent, he noticed that the surrounding Pokémon were already awake.
"Whoa, that’s a lot of them."
Although he couldn’t see the Morelull directly, the nearby forest was lit up, and with this brightness, it was definitely not just two or three hundred Morelull.
Judging by the movement of the light, it really did seem like they were heading straight toward his location.
Uncertain of the reason, Julian recalled his Pokémon into their Poké Balls and took to the skies on his Dragonite.
Before long, nearly a thousand Morelull arrived at the pond.
At first, Julian thought they had come to drink water, but then realized that might not be right.
Because many Grass-type Pokémon could absorb water and nutrients from the ground by rooting.
Then, he watched as the Morelull began climbing up the cliff beside the pond, where the huge waterfall flowed down from.
Julian had already pulled out his phone, sensing that something interesting was about to happen, and decided to record it.
The Morelull rooted themselves vertically onto the cliff face, and the light from nearly a thousand Morelull made the entire cliff very bright.
From time to time, Flying-type Pokémon would pass by and eat the mushrooms atop the Morelull’s heads.
Even the Bruxish in the pond below would leap out of the water to nibble on the mushrooms.
But then, as the thousand Morelull emitted a collective sound, all the Pokémon feeding on their mushrooms stopped their actions.
In the next second, countless glowing spores were released from the tops of the Morelull and floated slowly into the air.
Uncertain of what these glowing spores were, Metagross used its psychic powers to block the spores drifting toward them.
At the same time, Julian, who was still in the air, noticed that glowing spores weren’t just appearing here—they were emerging in other places as well.
Because it was nighttime, the fluorescence was clearly visible even from a distance.
As the spores drifted down, merging into the earth, the grass, and the trees, something remarkable happened.
Some of the shorter trees actually began to grow, and the most noticeable changes were in the flowers and grass — flowers bloomed at night, and the grass became more lusher and greener.
"This is their way of giving back to nature," Julian murmured to himself.
Pokémon and nature shared a symbiotic relationship. Many Pokémon instinctively protected the environment they lived in.
Some Pokémon even existed solely to safeguard nature.
For example, Diglett, whose presence enriched the fertility of the soil where it lived.
Celebi, who protected forests, and Shellder, which could purify water.
After more than half an hour, the glowing spores faded, only to be replaced by the bright white light of evolution.
However, not all the Morelull evolved — only about a dozen Morelull evolved into Shiinotic.
As for the remaining Morelull, they might have to wait until the next time they "gave back to nature" before they could evolve, and this time could be half a year or even a year later.
Once the evolution was complete, the Morelull and Shiinotic slowly descended from the cliff face. They needed to find a dark place to sleep before dawn.
Julian returned to his tent, only to find it already occupied.
A dozen or so Morelull were curled up inside, fast asleep.
Staring at his tent, Julian was a bit puzzled — did his tent really meet their criteria for darkness?
Or maybe they were just too exhausted to find a proper shady spot, so they settled for his tent.
"Ah, forget it—I’m not sleeping anymore anyway."
Checking the time, he saw that dawn was only an hour or so away. Since he wasn’t sleepy anymore, he decided to just stay up.
He left the tent to the Morelull.
Pulling out a scent-eliminating spray, he thoroughly sprayed the tent and the surrounding area to erase his own scent.
He didn’t want anyone tracking him by smell—not because he was afraid, but because he disliked unnecessary trouble. Treasure hunting was his main goal, after all.
If Pierce and the others managed to defeat Tapu Fini and came to Akala Island, then he wouldn’t be able to use his Dowsing Machine freely anymore.
But by the time they arrived, Julian figured he would have already left this island and headed for the next one.
The Morelull’s spectacle had stirred up quite a commotion, waking many trainers—including Julian—who decided to start their day early.
Now airborne on Dragonite’s back, Julian spotted another trainer a few hundred meters ahead, riding a Braviary.
With such a vast sky, the two of them still managed to run into each other — What were the odds?
The opponent’s Braviary exuded the aura of an early-stage Elite.
Braviary, just like its name suggested, was a brave and fearless Pokémon, full of courage and extremely loyal to its trainer.
This was a Pokémon unique to the country of Pampas in the West, where it was even considered a national symbol, rarely seen in other countries.
So the nationality of the trainer in front of him was basically confirmed.
The opposing Trainer, spotting Julian riding a pseudo-legendary Dragonite, immediately tensed up—though she relaxed slightly upon realizing that Julian was alone.
No matter where it was, a pseudo-legendary Pokémon was a symbol of status.
Under the cover of darkness, the other trainer couldn’t clearly make out Julian’s face.
But thanks to his sharp eyesight (a perk of his enhanced physique), he could see hers just fine.
A blonde, blue-eyed woman—classic Western beauty standards in full effect.
Since they had encountered each other, he decided to see if she had found anything good.
Julian took out his Dowsing Machine, and soon ten red dots appeared on it, seven of which were right in front of Julian—clearly, they marked the treasures currently in the woman’s possession.
But looking at the size of those red dots…
"...I genuinely have zero interest in robbing her," Julian muttered under his breath.
He seriously suspected that this woman had been robbed before. It had been more than a month, and yet all she had managed to find were trash items — it was even hard to look at.
"Dragonite, let’s go."
No point in bothering her. She looked pitiful enough as it was.
Julian immediately changed direction and flew off.
Annis, the blonde Trainer, breathed a sigh of relief when she saw this. She really didn’t want to get into a conflict with trainers from other countries.
"That accent just now sounded like someone from Drakoria. But weren’t there supposed to be five of them? Why is there only one here? Could it be they split up?" Annis muttered, watching the distant figure disappear into the night.
Upto 30 chapters ahead on :-