The weather was clear, with not a cloud in the sky. Today was another fine day.
At this time, on some unknown road in Viridian Forest, the three of Nobunaga were leading their Pokémon as they hurried on their way toward Cerulean City.
On both sides of the road were lush towering trees. The thick, straight trunks shot up into the clouds, and the emerald-green branches and leaves swayed with the wind, but none of the three were paying attention to such scenery.
Golbat released ultrasonic waves over and over again, sensing whether there was danger on the road, while Koffing and several other Pokémon protected them at their side.
When they reached a dense thicket, Golbat suddenly flew up from Nobunaga's shoulder and sent a gust of wind toward the bushes.
After the thicket was destroyed by the gust, a Nidorino jumped out from within and assumed a fighting stance toward Nobunaga and the others.
After observing, Nobunaga discovered that this Nidorino's horn did not have poison on it, and though it was also male, it did not have much desire to attack Golbat, so it must have the Hustle Ability.
"Does anyone want to catch this Nidorino?" Nobunaga asked the two.
Stone preferred Rock- and Steel-type Pokémon, so he directly refused.
Menyan also wanted to wait until Sandshrew evolved into Sandslash before catching a new Pokémon, so he also waved his hand.
So Nobunaga, without being polite, commanded Ekans to fight Nidorino.
Ekans rushed up and used Bite, biting down on Nidorino's neck.
Nidorino was not scared either; even while being bitten on the neck, it used Horn Attack on Ekans.
In pain, Ekans used Bind, its long body binding Nidorino.
Then it sprayed Acid onto Nidorino's face. Nidorino rolled all over the ground in pain, and Ekans did not loosen the Bind.
Instead, it tightened little by little. Slowly, under the Bind, Nidorino couldn't catch its breath and fainted.
Seeing this, Nobunaga threw a Poké Ball. A red light flashed; the Poké Ball then shook a few times and stopped in place.
Nidorino was also successfully caught by Nobunaga.
After the battle, Ekans's body lit up with a white evolution light.
Seeing that Ekans was about to evolve, Nobunaga quickly had the Pokémon around him surround Ekans to protect it.
About a minute passed, and the evolution light slowly disappeared from Ekans's body.
The original 1.8-meter-long Ekans had now become a giant cobra about five meters long.
After the evolution was complete, Arbok saw Nobunaga and quickly slithered to his side, sticking out its tongue and licking Nobunaga's cheek.
After seeing Arbok's action, Nobunaga also stroked its head, which after evolving looked even more ferocious.
Several Pokémon all looked at Arbok with envy.
As the big brother, Koffing had been stuck on the edge of evolution for half a month; who would have thought the little brother Ekans would evolve first—both envious and unwilling.
As for Golbat, after previously seeing Crobat's heroic bearing, it had always wanted to evolve, dreaming of quickly evolving into Crobat.
Grimer also especially wanted to evolve into "Stinky Grimer" [unclear], because that way it could eat more.
After seeing the envious looks from the other Pokémon, Arbok also looked very proud; after all, it was the first among Nobunaga's many Pokémon to evolve to its final form.
In order to test Arbok's post-evolution data, the three of Nobunaga decided to stay here one more day. They found an open area nearby, and then began setting up camp.
After settling the camp, Nobunaga treated Nidorino's injuries. Nidorino also initially acknowledged Nobunaga as its Trainer, and then slowly fell asleep.
After seeing Nidorino fall asleep, Nobunaga took Arbok to the open area to the side. After testing its length and weight, he had Arbok release all of its Moves once.
The power had become greater, and it had also learned several new Moves.
The "death makeup technique" recorded in the notebook could now also be learned.
Arbok coiled up, and its body continuously switched between attack snake patterns, defense snake patterns, and speed snake patterns.
As it kept switching, it also gradually became familiar with the pattern changes.
By dinnertime, the food that had originally been enough for Ekans to eat was no longer enough after it evolved into Arbok.
Nobunaga had no choice but to first let Arbok go hunt for itself in the forest, and he promised Arbok that after they reached Cerulean City, he would let it have a good, full meal.
After hearing Nobunaga's words, Arbok slithered its huge body and went toward the dense forest.
After entering the dense forest, Arbok became an experienced hunter, quietly coiled on a tree.
It clearly had not hunted by itself before, yet it appeared so skilled, as if this were a gene carved into its bones.
After a while, a Raticate passed under the tree. Arbok quickly opened its bloody maw and pounced, swallowing the Raticate into its belly in one bite.
Then it wrapped its body around a huge rock and kept twisting. After a while, it digested the Raticate.
After coming down from the rock, it turned and slithered toward Nobunaga's direction.
PS: (In the wild, Arbok generally won't eat too full, otherwise it will affect their combat power.)
After seeing Arbok return, Nobunaga felt relieved. He stroked Arbok's snake head a few times, then returned to the tent to rest; after all, they still had to travel tomorrow.
In the tranquil sky were countless diamond-like stars, making the forest's night scene even more beautiful and enchanting.
Accompanied by the melodious chirping of insects, with soft moonlight as a pillow, the three of Nobunaga quietly fell asleep.