Pokémon: Chronicles of Freedom-Chapter 409 - 408: The Slowpoke Group

"Slowpoke, go into the water and check what's in there."

Saying this, Cain placed his hand on Slowpoke's back and stepped directly into the water.

With the protective barrier from Slowpoke's psychic ability, Cain had enough air underwater. Of course, he wouldn't be able to sustain it for long.

To his surprise, upon entering the water, Cain discovered a wide variety of Pokémon living there.

If he could relocate all the Water-type Pokémon from this lake to his backyard, the construction of his Water Gym would progress much more smoothly.

A city with a Water Gym lacking Water-type Pokémon wouldn't attract League trainers.

In addition to the common Magikarp and Goldeen found everywhere, there were many Pokémon unique to the Hoenn region: Huntail, Gorebyss, Luvdisc, and even the rare Relicanth!

Not only that, but he also spotted Spheal and Corphish swimming in the water.

It could be said that this place housed nearly all the Hoenn region's Water-type Pokémon.

This place was a true treasure trove!

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However, once underwater, Slowpoke seemed to sense something. Without any instructions from Cain, it headed straight in a specific direction.

Cain remained silent; Absol had informed him there was something in the water, and now that Slowpoke had decided on its own to head somewhere, it seemed what they were looking for was connected to him.

After swimming in that direction for a while, the scenery before Cain changed. The small lake turned out to be much larger than it seemed; after passing through an area of algae and rocks, they arrived at a dark cave.

Slowpoke didn't stop. Upon entering the cave, the space expanded considerably.

After swimming a bit further, a large shoreline appeared in front of them.

A hidden space beneath the lake?

The view opened up suddenly, and Slowpoke brought Cain directly to the shore inside the underwater cave.

What Cain saw in front of him made his eyes narrow.

"Slowpoke?" Cain murmured.

Because in front of him, there appeared many Slowpoke—not just a few.

However, there were neither Slowbro nor Slowking, only around thirty Slowpoke, and Cain could see that all of them bore some scars on their bodies.

Not only that, but the Slowpoke, who normally enjoy resting by the water, were now all huddled in a corner around a small puddle, silent.

Moreover, Cain noticed that the skin of each Slowpoke seemed somewhat dry, as if they hadn't entered the water for a long time.

"Yadon!" Cain's Slowpoke called out, drawing the attention of the other Slowpoke.

Seeing an unfamiliar Slowpoke appear suddenly, a seemingly older Slowpoke slowly emerged from the group—likely the leader.

"Yadon!"

"Yadon!"

The two Slowpoke began communicating.

Although Cain didn't understand what they were saying, he could feel that his Slowpoke's attitude was becoming increasingly serious, and its eyes were beginning to show anger.

After about ten minutes of communication, the elder Slowpoke sighed and slowly retreated. The other Slowpoke, whose eyes had briefly shown a glimmer of hope, returned to lying on the ground, staring lifelessly at the central puddle as if it was their last hope.

"What's going on, Slowpoke?" Cain asked.

"Yadon!" Slowpoke cried out angrily.

Cain had never seen it this upset.

Then, Slowpoke used telepathy to link its consciousness with Cain's.

"Master, my companions here told me that there's a group of strong enemies in the water who have always attacked them, preventing them from entering the water or escaping. They're stuck here, waiting for death," Slowpoke said with a youthful voice filled with uncontrollable anger.

"Enemies? But when we came in, we didn't see any enemies," Cain said.

When they entered, everything had been clear.

As if to counter Cain's words, shadows began to appear in the water.

First, a Sharpedo's fin surfaced, and then more fins started to appear: one, two, three. Three Sharpedo fins, followed by many smaller yellow fins appearing in pairs—a large number of them.

There were about thirty or forty in total.

"This is..." Cain activated his scan system.

A data diagram of the Pokémon appeared before him.

He focused on the strongest one.

Pokémon: Sharpedo (Dark Green)

Gender: Male

Level: 35

Type: Water + Dark

Ability: Rough Skin

Held Item: None

Egg Moves: Ancient Power, Brine, Double-Edge

Basic Moves: Slash, Night Slash, Feint, Leer, Bite, Rage, Focus Energy, Aqua Jet, Assurance, Screech, Swagger, Ice Fang, Scary Face, Poison Fang

Learned Moves: Icy Wind, Liquidation, Water Pulse

TM Moves: None

No wonder this group of Slowpoke was trapped here, too afraid to enter the water. It turned out they were being harassed by a group of Sharpedo and Carvanha.

As Water/Dark types, they were a perfect counter to the Water/Psychic Slowpoke.

And since this was the Hoenn region, the Slowpoke here were an introduced species. It made sense to Cain that they were being attacked by the Sharpedo.

There might be many unknown reasons, but the facts were clear now.

The group of Slowpoke had been harassed by Carvanha and Sharpedo. Had Cain and his team not arrived, this group of Slowpoke would likely have been wiped out.

Sharpedo and Carvanha were not as effective on land; otherwise, the Slowpoke would have been annihilated long ago.

However, Cain's Slowpoke was clearly enraged, furious at the group's weakness and resignation for not fighting back.

But Cain understood their plight.

Here in Hoenn, Slowpoke were an odd species; their evolution required the presence of another Pokémon, Shellder.

However, this body of water didn't have any Shellder, preventing the Slowpoke from evolving into Slowbro.

Furthermore, with Dark-type opponents, losing was entirely normal.

The scars on their bodies clearly indicated they had fought before but simply couldn't win.

Carvanha could evolve into Sharpedo, but they could not.

This was the sad fate of Pokémon requiring special conditions to evolve.

It was also why Slowpoke were better suited to life in the Kanto region—because Kanto had Shellder!

However, Cain's Slowpoke didn't see it that way.

To it, even if they couldn't win, they should still launch themselves into battle and fight with all their might. Even if they all perished, they should at least take a piece of flesh from the enemy!

This might also result from the time it had spent with Cain—a subtle influence that had seeped into its thoughts.

Because Cain was exactly that type of person!

(End of Chapter)