"Buuu."
After letting out a cute cry, Ampharos wiped out an entire group of Spinarak that had foolishly rushed forward to hunt under the leadership of a single Ariados.
Pokémon of the Bug/Poison type like these usually preferred to stay in one place and wait for prey to come to them if they weren't being led by their evolved form, Ariados.
But once Spinarak evolved, Ariados tended to become rather short-tempered. As a result, the Spinarak were forced to charge together under the command of their clan leader.
Spinarak were extremely patient Pokémon. After laying traps with their thin yet sturdy silk, they would wait endlessly for prey to fall in.
Before prey arrived, a Spinarak could remain completely motionless in its nest for several days at a time.
Even after prey became entangled in its silk-woven web, it would wait until the target was utterly exhausted before acting.
Silas put away his notebook and crouched down to gather some materials.
Unlike the weak silk produced by Caterpie, Spinarak silk was a very high-quality material.
Nets woven from Spinarak silk that could be used to catch aquatic Pokémon were extremely popular as simple, practical tools.
Living by the principle that even a mosquito is meat, Silas had no intention of letting it go to waste.
While collecting the silk, Silas unconsciously recalled a scene from a few days earlier, when he had witnessed the rapid response of Officer Jenny units in Spinarak Town.
They were fast—really fast.
As the name suggested, Spinarak Town was famous for exactly what one would expect.
The Officer Jennys there partnered with Spinarak, pushing their sensitivity to web vibrations to the extreme.
Without exaggeration, the web traps spread throughout the town were enough to leave anyone with nowhere to escape.
Just from the faint vibrations transmitted through the silk, Spinarak could determine the type of intruder with astonishing accuracy.
The only pity was that this training method was no longer much of a secret, meaning Silas couldn't profit from it.
Fortunately, Spinarak and its evolved form, Ariados, weren't particularly strong in direct combat, and their web setups were restricted by both time and terrain. Otherwise, these Pokémon would likely be far more sought after.
That said, this didn't stop certain poachers from using them—under specific conditions, they were still extremely useful.
"Let's go. Looks like we're almost there."
Silas stood up, glanced at the faintly visible buildings in the distance, and spoke to Ampharos beside him.
"Buuu."
There was a trace of relief in Ampharos's cry.
Staying focused the entire way to protect its Trainer was exhausting.
Who knew when Silas got busy, he stopped paying attention to everything—it was downright exhausting for a Pokémon.
Following a narrow path in the forest that someone had cleared long ago, the man and Pokémon soon arrived at the second-largest city in the Johto region—Violet City.
Surrounded by a sea of trees and various unique landscapes, the city carried an ancient, traditional atmosphere.
Its environment was somewhat similar to Blackthorn City, also in Johto, yet distinctly different.
Silas first found a quiet spot on the outskirts and returned Ampharos to its Poké Ball. A Shiny Pokémon drew far too much attention.
The moment he entered Violet City, his eyes were immediately drawn to a three-story tower.
The purple tower swayed back and forth, as if it might collapse at any moment, yet people around it walked calmly as if this were completely normal.
This was Sprout Tower, one of Violet City's famous landmarks.
The tower was built using a flexible structural design. No matter the time, it always looked like it was about to topple over, but in reality, this design greatly reduced damage from earthquakes and other disasters.
Only in a disaster-prone region like Johto would buildings specifically designed to withstand earthquakes be so common—other regions wouldn't bother considering this.
After all, how much effort or cost could Pokémon possibly expend just to build a house?
According to legend, Sprout Tower's central pillar was formed from a Bellsprout over thirty meters tall, with the outer structure built around it.
If that legend were true, Silas could only assume that Bellsprout must have been a Dynamax specimen. Otherwise, he couldn't imagine how a Pokémon with an average height of just 0.7 meters could grow over thirty meters tall.
That height was simply absurd.
Standing by the small lake in front of the tower, Silas observed the monks walking inside but chose not to enter.
It was said—only said, of course, that the monks who lived in Sprout Tower did so not only to shelter wandering Pokémon, but more importantly, to suppress the resentful spirits of Pokémon buried beneath the tower.
In other words, Sprout Tower's existence was closer to that of the Pokémon Tower in Lavender Town, except that this burial ground was not open to the public.
Naturally, this rumor had never been officially confirmed.
However, there were occasional reports of people being pranked by Pokémon like Gastly inside the tower, which caused many to firmly believe the stories.
Silas wasn't afraid of ghosts—after all, in a world with Ghost-type Pokémon, most "ghosts" were simply Ghost-types playing tricks, but he had no interest in actively seeking them out.
Ghost-type Pokémon's pranks could sometimes be fatal.
The only thing that truly intrigued him was this.
If Ghost-type Pokémon really appeared here, then the burial of large numbers of deceased Pokémon beneath Sprout Tower was likely a fact.
So what exactly had happened in the past to cause so many Pokémon to be buried beneath it?
For some reason, despite the current harmony between humans and Pokémon in Johto, conflicts between the two in the past seemed more severe than in any other region.
Soon, Silas smiled lightly and turned away.
What did any of that have to do with him anyway? It wasn't his problem.
What Silas didn't know was that during the time he approached and left Sprout Tower, the monks inside had been extremely tense.
"Has it calmed down?"
A plainly dressed monk asked anxiously, sweat covering his forehead.
Judging by his appearance, he was likely over seventy years old.
Even in the generally long-lived Pokémon world, that was no small age.
Yet at this moment, he showed none of the calm composure typical of elderly people.
"Yes, it's calmed down."
Beside him, a middle-aged monk in his thirties or forties—also drenched in sweat—answered.
"Good… good."
The elderly monk let out a long breath.
"Why did it suddenly start attacking the seal?"
Faced with this question, the younger monks surrounding them had no idea how to respond.
The man before them was the head monk of Sprout Tower, the longest-living and most experienced monk still alive there.
If even he didn't know, then they certainly couldn't.
"Forget it."
Facing the silence, the head monk sighed helplessly.
"Kong, take a few disciples and reinforce it underground again. Don't let it break free."
If an outsider heard this, they would be utterly shocked.
In the common understanding, Sprout Tower was nothing more than a simple three-story tower, with no underground structures, since such structures would be unfavorable for earthquake resistance.
Yet from the head monk's words, it was clear that a deep secret lay hidden beneath Sprout Tower.
"Yes."
The monk who had been called out, named Kong gave a formal bow, then led several younger disciples out of the room.
"I just hope that after this disturbance, it will settle down for a while."
Watching the departing disciples, the head monk thought silently to himself.
Yet no matter how hard he tried, he could not understand why the sealed entity below—whose pattern of assaults had remained unchanged for hundreds of years, had suddenly altered its behavior today.
If he had not strictly followed his master's teachings and remained stationed at the center of the seal, today might very well have been the day that thing broke free.
Before long, as the head monk sat alone in quiet contemplation, the room once again fell into silence.
The bustling crowds outside would likely never know what had just occurred inside Sprout Tower, so close to them.
"Thank you very much, Nurse Joy."
At this moment, the completely unaware Silas was at the Pokémon Center, completing the procedures for his Gym Challenge.
After retrieving his Pokédex, he took the room key Nurse Joy handed him and returned to his temporary lodging.
Although he wasn't short on money, and Violet City was famous for its many guesthouses, he still preferred staying at the Pokémon Center.
Perhaps it was simply because he liked the atmosphere there.
Ding—
The moment he entered his room, his wristwatch chimed with incoming messages.
Silas raised his hand to check and found there were two.
The first was a notification that his Gym Challenge application had been approved far more quickly than expected.
The second was a message from Walker, whom he hadn't contacted in quite some time.
"You're in Johto now, right, kid? I saw your challenge application. Come over this afternoon. I'll receive you personally and I've got something I need your help with."
Seeing the message, Silas immediately understood why his application had gone through so quickly.
After all, the current Violet Gym Leader, Walker, was a close friend of his senior brother Chuck, this was clearly another case of pulling strings.
But then again… why did it feel like this wasn't the first time?
After replying politely to Walker's message, Silas packed up briefly and left the room again.
To be honest, he hadn't expected Walker—who usually wandered freely across regions to actually be staying at the Gym during this period.
As a powerful Flying-type specialist, Walker was a firm believer in freedom.
For him, being unable to travel the world with his Pokémon and experience the sky firsthand was practically unbearable.
"Hm… could it have something to do with Senior Brother Chuck recently returning to Johto?"
Silas thought as he left the Pokémon Center and headed toward the Violet Gym.
If that were the case, then the friendship between those two really was something special.
No misunderstandings, of course—pure friendship. Both men each had exactly one wife, and Walker even had a son.
That son was Falkner the future Violet Gym Leader and also a very powerful Flying-type Trainer.
Silas remembered him fairly clearly from the anime in his previous life.
Walking along the city's main road toward the center, he soon arrived before a building with a spiraling, upward structure.
This was where the Violet Gym was located—at the very top of the building.
As a Flying-type Gym, its most distinctive feature was its location.
Situated at the top with no roof, it allowed Flying-type Pokémon to fully display their capabilities.
Climbing upward on foot, Silas soon spotted the familiar figure of Walker.
It had to be said—there was a reason Walker was rated as one of Johto's most charismatic men.
The aviator outfit, the toothpick between his lips, that free-spirited, unruly air—combined with a face only slightly inferior to Silas's—made him a certified heart-stealer across all age groups.
Not to mention his formidable strength as a Trainer and the unique presence that came from extensive life experience.
"Good afternoon, Senior Walker," Silas greeted respectfully.
"Hey, no need to be so formal. When you're at the Violet Gym, just treat it like your own home."
Walker threw an arm around Silas's shoulder in a bold, easygoing manner.
Silas was genuinely grateful to Walker—after all, back in Fuchsia City, Walker had helped him quite a lot.[T/N: Before I thought it was Flanker who had helped him in Fuchsia City, sorry for the mistake]
"Um, Senior Walker, you called me over so urgently—was there something you needed?"
As they chatted and walked deeper into the Gym, Silas voiced his question.
"Oh, that? It's nothing major. If I remember right, you have a Flying-type Pidgeot, don't you?"
Walker dodged the question instead of answering directly.
"Yes, I do."
Though confused, Silas nodded honestly.
"How about we battle first?"
Falkner suddenly issued a challenge.
"Huh?"
Silas let out an involuntary sound of surprise.
"Never mind, never mind. I'll just say it outright."
Clearly not good at asking for help, Walker decisively abandoned his roundabout approach.
"It's like this—you know I have a son, right?"
Facing Silas's baffled expression, Walker finally explained why he had called him here.
In short—it was simply a case of a parent's concern.
In Silas's impression, Falkner was indeed a very capable Flying-type Trainer. His ability to inherit the Violet Gym in the future and manage it well (with many Gym apprentices) was proof enough of that.
But when it came to personality, things weren't quite as ideal.
In Walker's eyes, his son had serious issues in both attitude and understanding when it came to Pokémon training.
However, as a father who was rarely home, Walker's authority and persuasiveness in Falkner's eyes were extremely limited and their relationship wasn't good either.
So Walker thought that Silas, being close to Falkner in age, might be able to give him a proper lesson.
"A lesson?"
Silas froze for a moment after hearing that.
"Yeah. If you defeat him head-on, won't that prove that his training methods are wrong?"
Walker said this as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Silas blinked, completely at a loss.
He finally understood why Falkner's relationship with his father wasn't very good.
Aside from Walker being away from home all year round, this man's hopelessly blunt personality was probably a major contributing factor.
..
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