"It's a human wearing a cloak."
"Very strong. Even the strongest Machamp leaders were defeated by his Pokémon in a single move."
"After he defeated our clan leader, he used a few more moves to take down all the Machoke, then captured the entire clan."
"I managed to sneak away. He was too strong."
"I went out to train in the morning, and when I came back to see this, I hid outside."
"Well, I also left early in the morning, only to be captured when I returned. So this all happened while I was gone."
······
Riolu used its aura to communicate the entire time, so its mouth never moved, yet the three Machop spoke one after another, relaying most of the information.
Eddie now understood why there were no Machop living on Mt. Moon.
"If it really was an entire clan, there should have been about five Machamp and at least twenty to thirty Machoke."
"And that cloaked man actually defeated the entire Machop clan of Mt. Moon in just a few moves. If he's not a Gym Leader—no, if he's not at least a quasi-elite trainer, something like this wouldn't be so easy to pull off."
Eddie couldn't precisely gauge the strength of Machamp and Machoke, but as a family group, their overall power shouldn't have been weak.
For the cloaked man to take them down so effortlessly and capture them all... his strength must be immense.
Riolu also realized this as it listened, its brow furrowing. It had clearly grasped just how powerful the enemy was.
At first, it had assumed the Machop clan was taken using underhanded tactics. But now, it was clear—they were defeated outright by sheer strength and then taken away.
"Do strong human trainers have a habit of collecting entire Pokémon clans?" Riolu asked Eddie in confusion.
"No, not even the strongest trainers, let alone the ones with bad intentions, would waste time capturing an entire Pokémon family—unless that family had some kind of secret," Eddie replied, rolling his eyes. He was just as puzzled by the cloaked man's actions.
"What are you planning to do? That guy must have a reason for this, but he's obviously way too strong. Forget about finding him—if you do, you won't stand a chance against him."
"...How do you know it was done by a strong trainer? Can you understand Machop's language?" Riolu questioned.
"The special energy within me is called the Power of Viridian. It allows me to communicate with Pokémon. Even though you used aura to talk with the Machop, I could still understand what they were saying."
Eddie smirked proudly, and Riolu finally understood why he had this ability.
"...I don't know what to do now. I thought a group of people had used tricks to capture the Machop clan, but it turns out a powerful trainer simply took them away."
"You're right. Even if we could find him, we'd probably end up getting captured too."
Riolu's face was filled with worry and uncertainty.
"Why are you so determined to save them? I know you Riolu have a strong sense of justice, but this seems personal," Eddie asked, sensing there was more to it.
Riolu looked down, troubled.
"...They raised me. We may not be of the same species, but they're my family. I came here this morning to train, but when I returned, they were all gone."
"You were raised by the Machop clan? What about your real family?" Eddie asked, his curiosity deepening.
"I don't know. Machop told me that I was found in a river. At first, I was still an egg. A Machamp picked me up, and I later hatched."
Eddie frowned at this. Riolu was a rare Pokémon, but since one existed here, its parent Lucario should also be around somewhere.
Even though this was the Kanto region, if no Lucario were present, how did Riolu appear in the first place?
Eddie often joked that things like this were just inconsistencies in different game versions, but he had looked into the origins of Pokémon from other regions before.
Treecko's case was more straightforward—it was originally from the Hoenn region but had been captured and transported here by someone.
Frogadier, however, was in a situation similar to Riolu. It claimed to have been born in a river, never having seen its parents, and was instead raised by some kind-hearted Water-type Pokémon.
These cases felt a bit odd.
Still, it was just one or two Pokémon. Maybe they were brought here by trainers. It was something to investigate later.
For now, Eddie had something more important to focus on—figuring out how to get Riolu to join him.
"You understand that your current strength isn't enough. Against someone that powerful, there's not much you can do," Eddie said bluntly.
Riolu's expression darkened with frustration, but it didn't argue—because it knew Eddie was right.
"You actually have two problems. First, you need to become stronger before you can even think about facing that trainer. Second, you have to find him in the first place. No matter how strong you get, it won't matter if you can't track him down."
Riolu nodded. Neither task would be easy.
Getting stronger was already a challenge, but tracking someone down in a place it wasn't familiar with? That seemed even harder.
"I have a suggestion," Eddie continued. "It'll help you get stronger while also searching for that trainer."
Riolu's eyes lit up with anticipation, looking at Eddie with sharp determination.
Eddie smiled.
Now they were getting to the real conversation.