At this moment, the roars of other Pokémon leaders came from a distance. They were very dissatisfied with the Glalie leader's massive destruction of the terrain. This also served as a warning to the Glalie leader. Seeing this and unable to find Eichi, the Glalie leader had no choice but to lead the other Glalie and Froslass back.
After a while, when all the Glalie and Froslass had left, Eichi crawled out from a pile of ice chunks. His three Pokémon were with him. During the attack from the shattered ice, the three Pokémon used Protect to shield him.
However, that would have made them too easily discoverable by the Glalie, so he and his three Pokémon lay flat, letting the ice chunks bury them.
Before being buried, Eichi mobilized the Bug Force in his body to form a protective film around himself and his three Pokémon. Once the Glalie left, Eichi and his Pokémon crawled out of the ice.
After removing the protective film, Eichi said, "Good work, the three of you. Return to your Poké Balls and rest." He then took out three Poké Balls and recalled them.
The time should have been enough for Tetsu to catch that Snorunt, especially since its rank is only Rookie, Eichi thought. Now I should go wait for him at the cave entrance.
Hmm? Why did it suddenly get cold? Eichi found it strange that his own body could feel cold. Looking around, with his Eye of the Bug Emperor active, an ice chunk caught his attention. The source of the cold should be it. He was about to pick it up with his hand.
But as soon as he reached out and his hand was less than half a meter away from the ice chunk, Eichi felt his palm becoming intolerably cold. This thing is really icy. Eichi mobilized his Bug Force, wrapping it around his arm, which helped significantly.
He picked up the ice chunk. With his other hand, and put it in his backpack, pulled out a small box for storing Pokéblocks, and placed the ice chunk inside it. Eichi then used his Bug Force to wrap the ice chunk, isolating its cold energy.
Eichi had a suspicion: this ice chunk might be a Never-Melt Ice. However, this was just a guess; he would need to consult some data back home to confirm it.
After putting the box into his backpack, he focused a little bit of his mind to control the Bug Force, channeling it into the box holding the ice chunk. Then, he quickly ran toward the cave entrance.
After emerging, he noticed that Tetsu hadn't arrived yet, meaning he still hadn't caught it.
Eichi waited in place, and after a while, Tetsu ran out, completely drenched in sweat. He urgently told Eichi, "Eichi, run!"
Hearing this, Eichi knew something was wrong. They ran immediately, dashing into the forest.
When the pursuing Glalie reached the forest, they had completely lost sight of Eichi and Tetsu.
Unable to find the humans, they had no choice but to return home.
A short distance away, in a patch of tall grass, Eichi and Tetsu were lying flat. Tetsu held Noctowl, curled up tightly. After the Glalie left, the two stood up. Tetsu quickly took a Potion from his backpack and sprayed it on Noctowl's wounds.
After applying the Potion, Tetsu said to Noctowl, "Thank you for your hard work, Noctowl. Return to your Poké Ball and rest."
After recalling Noctowl, Eichi asked, "Were you successful in catching it?"
Tetsu held up a Poké Ball and smiled. "Of course I caught it!"
"That's great," Eichi said. "It means our efforts weren't useless."
Tetsu was exhausted from running and sat down on the ground to rest, while Eichi stood up. He suddenly thought of a question. "That's strange."
"What's strange?" Tetsu asked.
"Did you notice that the Glalie's potential is extremely high?" Eichi said. "The average potential of the other Pokémon groups in this cave isn't as high as the Glalie clan's."
"How can you tell?" Tetsu asked.
"You can actually tell certain things about a Pokémon's talent from its appearance, but this Glalie clan is clearly not normal," Eichi explained. "Even if Pokémon from a Pokémon Breeding Center have good potential, theirs is still too high."
"Alright," Tetsu said. "Let's not worry about that for now. We should get out first."
"You're right. Let's go."
Returning to the main entrance, they had to pass through a metal gate, just as they did upon entry. There were two metal gates in the hall.
Eichi passed without any changes from when he entered, but Tetsu now had an extra Snorunt. On the staff's computer nearby, four of his six Poké Balls now contained a Pokémon.
The staff member next to them said to Tetsu, "Since you caught a Pokémon inside, we need to register it."
"No problem," Tetsu replied.
Tetsu then filled out a form at the desk, and only then did the Snorunt truly belong to him.
While Tetsu was filling out the form, the female staff member, upon learning that Tetsu had caught a Snorunt, sounded a bit envious. "Your luck is really good; you actually managed to catch a Snorunt. Their potential is excellent, so you must take good care of it."
Eichi asked, "Excuse me, do you know what's going on with these Snorunt? I noticed that the Glalie and Froslass all seem to have extremely good potential."
The female staff member replied, "It's like this: those Snorunt, Glalie, and Froslass were specially traded from a family in the Hoenn Region by a Silver Academy leader. That family is very skilled at breeding Ice-type Pokémon, especially Glalie and Froslass. Furthermore, the Glalie leader in there is that leader's personal Pokémon."
"I see," Eichi nodded. "That explains it. Thank you very much for answering my question."
The female staff member waved her hand and smiled. "No problem."
Tetsu had just finished filling out the form, so the two thanked the female staff member and walked out.
It was already afternoon; time had passed quickly. Their experience at the Pokémon Breeding Center had been very exciting, so Tetsu was still visibly agitated.
However, the most pressing matter now was to eat. The two hadn't had lunch yet and had used up a lot of energy today.
After eating, the two went back together.
At the dormitory door, Tetsu suddenly said, "Eichi, thank you for today."
"It's nothing," Eichi replied with a smile.
Entering his dorm, Eichi threw himself onto the bed, lying still and emptying his mind.
After a minute, he abruptly got up and sat at his desk, taking out the box containing the suspected Never-Melt Ice.
He placed it on the desktop. The box was opened, but because of the surrounding Bug Force, no cold energy was escaping from the ice. Eichi searched his desk for a moment and finally found the book.
He often borrowed books from the library to read when he had free time.