In the past hour, Kelly had used a clever strategy to lure the Ariados and Spinarak out of the grove. She then had her four Pokémon prepare their strongest moves to take them all out in a single wave.
Furthermore, Kelly didn't lure them all at once; instead, she brought them out in groups, wave after wave.
Kelly counted her haul and found it to be significant. There were twenty Bronze Badges and five Silver Badges.
Her pockets were full. Kelly patted her waist bag and flashed a joyful smile.
She then set down her backpack, took out a box, and opened it to reveal a collection of Pokéblocks.
Handing out various colored Pokéblocks to her team, she said, "Everyone, take a good rest. We'll head out again in a bit."
However, Kelly felt a hint of concern. Two hours had already passed, leaving only five more. She wasn't sure how long her team would need to recover.
"Roar!!"
"Magmortar, use Flamethrower!"
"Steelix, Earthquake!"
A massive pillar of fire erupted from Magmortar's mouth. The opposing Pokémon—Raticate, Parasect, Vileplume, and others—were hit directly and collapsed. A few remained stubborn, attempting to counterattack.
Immediately afterward, Steelix slammed its tail heavily against the ground. The earth shuddered violently as a massive fissure tore open, and a surge of immense energy erupted from beneath the opponents.
This sent the remaining few flying, and silence finally fell as all the wild Pokémon lost their ability to battle.
Matsumoto walked up to them and removed all the badges from their bodies.
He placed the newly acquired badges into his waist bag, then recalled Magmortar and Steelix. He left the area, heading toward his next destination.
After he departed, a drone appeared at Matsumoto's previous location. Everything that had just transpired was witnessed by everyone at the forest entrance.
Elsewhere, Konan stood atop a tree. Below, Blaziken and Cloyster were battling two Pokémon.
After a short while, both opponents were pinned to the ground by Blaziken and Cloyster.
Konan jumped down. Blaziken removed the badges from the two Pokémon and handed them to Konan. She took the Silver Badges and tucked them into her bag, where over a dozen Bronze Badges were already resting quietly.
Recalling Cloyster, she turned to Blaziken and said, "Let's go, Blaziken."
Blaziken gave a serious nod and followed Konan to the next location.
Sato sat atop Charizard, flying through the air. Below, Electivire, Alakazam, and Gengar were engaged in battle with a group of Pokémon.
Although Sato's side only had four Pokémon, they didn't flinch.
Each of his Pokémon was capable of taking on ten opponents at once.
Electivire's entire body crackled with lightning. Under its assault, lower-level opponents lost their ability to battle instantly.
Alakazam launched Psychic attacks, and Gengar did the same, unleashing various Ghost-type moves.
Under their overwhelming offensive, the opposing group of Pokémon quickly lost their ability to battle.
Seeing all the Pokémon collapsed on the ground, Alakazam activated its telekinesis. Its spoons bent slightly as an invisible force in the air seemed to press the buttons for it.
All the badges floated into the air, flew toward Sato, and landed in his palm.
Sato checked them: a total of 10 Bronze Badges and 5 Silver Badges.
He recalled the three Pokémon and said to the Charizard beneath him, "Let's go. To the next place."
"Roar!!"
With a mighty roar, Charizard vibrated its wings and flew toward the distance.
Besides them, others were using their own methods to search for Pokémon, defeat them, and collect badges.
The strong had already collected dozens, while the weaker ones might only have a few.
In a section of the forest, several Stantler were strolling leisurely. One could clearly see a collar fastened around their antlers.
Even they were Pokémon sent in by the academy leaders. Before being released, staff members had explained the situation to them.
This is a competition. If you encounter people coming in today, they will attack. If you can't win, just surrender, and they won't attack you further. Despite being told this, the Stantler didn't care much.
They were mild-tempered and disliked conflict, so they didn't pay the matter much mind.
They continued as they always did. One Stantler was currently eating berries from a small tree.
It loved these berries and had searched for a long time before finding them. It raised its head to bite off a fruit.
Suddenly, something seemed to flash before its eyes. A dull thud followed, and the Stantler in front of it collapsed to the ground.
It was too sudden. The other Stantler were shocked. In less than a second, another Pokémon lost its ability to battle and fell.
Then, like falling dominoes, they went down one after another. The first Stantler had just turned its head to look at its companions.
Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through its body. Without even making a sound, its vision blurred. Everything went dark, and it knew no more.
Once all the Stantler were on the ground, three Pokémon appeared in the sky: Beedrill, Scizor, and Heracross.
The three walked up to the Stantler and pressed the buttons on the collars to release the badges.
Eichi emerged from the brush and picked up the badges.
A total of eight badges: six Bronze and two Silver.
He placed them in his waist bag, and the clinking sound of badges colliding could be heard.
Eichi looked at his bag; it was packed with badges. Bronze Badges made up the majority, with the rest being Silver.
These were the results of five hours of hard work.
He felt his collection was missing one type: a Gold Badge.
There were two hours left. He had to account for the return trip—say, twenty minutes—leaving a bit over an hour.
However, in all this time, he hadn't encountered a single Gym Leader rank Pokémon. This suggested that their numbers were quite small.
Eichi channeled his Bug Force to restore the stamina of his three Pokémon. Having this cheat-like ability significantly boosted his badge collection speed.
Next, he wouldn't bother with Experienced or Elite rank Pokémon; his main targets were those at the Gym Leader rank.
Eichi expanded his Bug Force, sensing his surroundings as his perception spread further and further.
Suddenly, he opened his eyes and said, "What a coincidence."