Capítulo 1217: Automatically Delivered to Your Door
The two Metagross and sixteen Beldum were all Pokémon raised by humans, but their caretaker was far from decent.
Initially, the two Metagross were stolen by a poacher. Though the poacher himself wasn't particularly strong, he had access to black-market technology that allowed him to capture the already pseudo-Elite level Metagross.
Unfortunately, this poacher was too greedy. He demanded an exorbitantly high price when trying to sell the Metagross, which deterred potential buyers and left the Pokémon unsold. As time passed, his activities drew the attention of others.
The first to set their sights on the poacher was a young man from a wealthy family—not excessively wealthy, but affluent enough. However, being unwilling to spend the hefty sum required to purchase the Metagross, he instead plotted to rob the poacher.
But as the saying goes, "the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind." After the young man succeeded in robbing the poacher, two individuals from the hired group betrayed him, fleeing with the captured Metagross.
The people the young man had hired were all from the criminal underworld—none of them were trustworthy. It was hardly surprising that two of them would turn on him once the Metagross were within reach.
The two defectors were bounty hunters operating on the darker side of their profession. They were the type to care only about money, devoid of honor or even basic professional ethics.
After obtaining the Metagross, the pair originally planned to sell them for a substantial profit. However, a breeder friend of theirs proposed a vile scheme.
Since Metagross were so valuable, why not turn them into a renewable resource?
With the breeder's assistance, the two Metagross were subjected to a horrific existence.
Through special methods, the Metagross were forcibly bred to produce Beldum.
Once the Metagross produced their second Beldum, the Beldum were in turn forcibly bred to produce even more offspring.
To prevent the Beldum from growing strong enough to escape, the breeders used drugs to suppress their power, which explained why the Beldum Yuga had encountered, despite being fully mature, were all under Level 20.
And so the cycle continued, with Beldum being bred among themselves. The offspring were often the product of parent-child pairings, sibling pairings, or other close-kin combinations.
While Pokémon generally have a weaker sense of morality regarding such matters compared to humans, this kind of inbreeding carries its own problems.
For example, natural cases of close-kin breeding among Pokémon are not unheard of, especially in species like Salazzle, often referred to as the "Harem Queen" of Pokémon.
As the name suggests, there is usually only one Salazzle in a given group, with all the other Salandit being male consorts. Among these consorts might be the Salazzle's father, brothers, or sons.
While some Pokémon don't care about such things, the resulting problems cannot be ignored. Inbreeding significantly increases the likelihood of genetic disorders in the offspring.
The natural world operates beyond human control, but when humans are involved in the breeding and raising of Pokémon, they are generally very cautious about avoiding issues like inbreeding, which is strictly prohibited.
In the early days of private breeding facilities, some unscrupulous owners did resort to methods similar to those used by the two bounty hunters, aiming to cut costs. While the costs were indeed reduced, the result was the production of countless flawed Pokémon.
Eventually, the League cracked down harshly on such practices, which led to their gradual disappearance.
To accumulate more Beldum and sell them for a high price, the two bounty hunters delayed selling any of the Beldum, forcing them to reproduce repeatedly. Whether the new Beldum suffered from genetic diseases was of no concern to them—after all, the flaws wouldn't be visible at the point of sale.
However, the excessive breeding severely damaged the health of the Beldum.
The two Metagross, observing the bounty hunters' cruelty, grew to despise them deeply. One day, they seized an opportunity to destroy the secret base where they and the Beldum were held captive, escaping with the Beldum in tow.
The Beldum, already overwhelmed by their plight, eagerly followed the Metagross at the first chance to leave those devils behind.
After their escape, the Metagross and the Beldum wandered until they arrived at Crobat's old home. To provide a safe place for the Beldum, the pseudo-Elite level Metagross forcefully seized Crobat's home.
Since the Beldum were weak and the Metagross had to leave frequently to find food for them, the Metagross enlisted a group of Mawile to serve as guards for the Beldum.
The Mawile, who lived in a nearby valley, were once bullied by another group of Pokémon. The Metagross happened to pass through while searching for food and rescued them.
As fellow Steel-type Pokémon, the Mawile acknowledged the Metagross as their leaders and agreed to protect the Beldum in exchange for the Metagross providing them with shelter.
After listening to the Beldum's story, Yuga gazed at them with deep sympathy. Their situation was truly tragic—not only had they suffered severe depletion from excessive breeding, but many also bore genetic diseases due to inbreeding.
No wonder the Metagross were filled with rage when they first encountered humans like Yuga, and no wonder the Beldum attacked without hesitation. They had only ever known humans as sources of suffering.
After the conversation with the Beldum, Yuga took out the Iron Wall Pokeblock usually reserved for his Kartana and distributed them to the Beldum. Initially, the Beldum were too afraid of Yuga to touch the Pokeblock. But once the first Beldum tried one, the rest quickly followed suit.
They had never tasted Pokeblock of such high quality before. Considering the bounty hunters were reluctant to give them even berries, this was a feast.
The Beldum were simple and straightforward by nature. As their conversation with Yuga continued, their wariness gradually faded.
Of course, this had a lot to do with the Celebi's Blessing that Yuga carried.
After an indeterminate amount of time, the two Metagross regained consciousness. Seeing Yuga together with the Beldum, they assumed he intended to harm them and became extremely agitated. Yuga had to expend considerable effort to calm them down.
With the Beldum assisting in persuasion, Yuga managed to negotiate with the Metagross. He proposed that they, along with the Beldum, follow him, and he presented the following conditions.
1. They would not be forced to do anything they were unwilling to do (primarily to soothe the Metagross's sensitive hearts).
2. Yuga would help the Beldum recover from their depleted bodies and cure their genetic illnesses.
The Beldum's depleted condition required a large amount of rare minerals to provide the necessary special elements. Fortunately, Yuga's mine sub-ecopark was abundant in such minerals, so this wasn't an issue.
As for the genetic illnesses, Yuga had already consulted the system, and small genetic medication would be sufficient to cure the Beldum.
3. The Metagross and Beldum would provide clues about the bounty hunters, and if given the chance, Yuga would eliminate the two perpetrators on their behalf.
The conditions Yuga offered were tempting for the Metagross, but they were wary of deceit, as they viewed all humans as cunning by nature.
However, thanks to Celebi's Blessing, the Metagross no longer harbored as much hatred for Yuga as they initially did.
Yuga noticed the Metagross's hesitation but understood their caution. After all they had endured, it was only natural to be wary.
"I have no reason to lie to you," Yuga said after a moment of thought. "You're already in my hands—if I wanted to do something to you, I could have done it without all this effort to negotiate. What would I gain from tricking you?"
The two Metagross exchanged a glance. That was true; they were already like fish on a chopping board. If Yuga had any malicious intent, there would be no need for kind words or bargaining.
After a brief silence, the Metagross agreed to Yuga's terms.
They didn't care much about revenge; their only wish was for the Beldum to live carefree lives. They could tell Yuga was powerful and likely held a high status in the human world. With his protection, the Beldum wouldn't have to live a life of hiding and constant fear.
Recalling that the Metagross had been busy fighting since their return and hadn't had a chance to eat, Yuga took out some Pokeblock and offered them.
As Yuga and the Metagross began to build rapport, two figures suddenly appeared outside the mountain.
"Big brother, are you sure it's here?" one person asked.
"This is definitely the place," the other replied, holding a strange device resembling a cellphone. He stared intently at the screen, which displayed two red dots.
"When we catch them, I'll make sure they suffer for daring to escape! They've made us chase them all this way!" the first person said angrily.
"Calm down, let's find them first," the other person advised.
The two began heading toward the mountain, making their way directly toward the cave where Yuga and the others were.
It turned out these were the bounty hunters who had captured the Metagross and Beldum.
Unbeknownst to the Metagross, the bounty hunters had implanted tracking devices in their bodies—specifically, bio-trackers that couldn't be detected.
Had the Metagross and Beldum not fled to so many different locations after their escape, they might have been recaptured long ago.
Now that the group had settled in Crobat's home, the bounty hunters had naturally tracked them here.
The two bounty hunters were brothers. The one who had spoken first was the younger brother, and the second was the elder.
When Yuga felt he had spent enough time in the cave, he decided it was time to leave.
By then, the bounty hunters had already reached the cave entrance.
The elder brother glanced at the tracker in his hand and then at the dark cave. "They should be inside."
The younger brother sneered. "They sure know how to hide."
Just as they were about to enter, the elder brother's expression suddenly changed. "They've disappeared from the tracker!"
The younger brother's expression also changed. He snatched the tracker from the older brother's hand and exclaimed, "Impossible! This is top-of-the-line equipment!"
But the fact remained: the two red dots representing the Metagross had indeed disappeared.
What they didn't know was that the dots vanished because Yuga had just captured the Metagross in Poké Balls.
Originally, the bounty hunters had Poké Balls for the Metagross, but the Pokémon destroyed the balls when they destroyed the base. Without that, Yuga wouldn't have been able to capture them with his own Poké Balls.
When Yuga emerged, he was accompanied by his Bellossom and Kartana. Crobat also appeared; now that its home had been reclaimed, it needed to inform its fellow bats.
As Yuga stepped out of the cave, he bumped into the two bounty hunters heading in. The older brother quickly pulled the younger one back and eyed Yuga warily. "Who are you?"
Yuga frowned. "And who are you? Why does it matter who I am?"
Bellossom darted in front of Yuga protectively, and Kartana floated above him, ready for battle. As for Crobat, the timid Pokémon had already vanished, wanting nothing to do with a human conflict.
"Did you see any Pokémon inside?" The younger brother, now scowling, demanded harshly, clearly thinking of the missing Metagross.
Pokémon? Yuga quickly connected the dots. These two must be after the Metagross and Beldum. So, their identity... His thoughts raced.
The older brother pulled the younger one back again and smiled amiably. "My brother and I are trying to catch a Pokémon. It ran into the cave earlier, and we just wanted to ask if you've seen it. That's all."
"Oh, I see." Yuga feigned sudden understanding. "I didn't see anything. Maybe we just missed each other."
"Then there's no problem," the older brother replied with a warm smile.
"Well then, I'll take my leave," Yuga said, turning away with Bellossom and Kartana.
As Yuga's figure receded, the two brothers exchanged a glance. They each released a Nidoking and Nidoqueen, attacking Yuga from behind.
However, Yuga had been prepared. Without needing his command, Bellossom and Kartana swiftly turned around. Their Leaf Blade attacks clashed with Nidoking and Nidoqueen's fists, sending the pair flying.
"You…"
Seeing this, the two brothers widened their eyes in disbelief.
Yuga turned back, his smile faint. "So, you're bounty hunters?"
The older brother quickly pulled his younger sibling back several paces, his eyes darting between Bellossom, Kartana, and Yuga before cautiously asking, "Who are you?"
Yuga replied calmly, "I asked you first. You haven't answered if you're bounty hunters."
The older brother's gaze darkened as he pieced things together. By now, he was almost certain that the Metagross and Beldum were in Yuga's possession.
The younger brother, however, lost his patience. "Brother, why waste time talking? The Pokémon are definitely with him! Let's just take them back!"
The older brother glared at his sibling, but before he could respond, Yuga said, "So, you're admitting it. I was just about to come looking for you. I didn't expect you to deliver yourselves to me.
"Bellossom, Kartana, attack!"
As soon as Yuga gave the order, Kartana appeared above Nidoking and struck it down with a single Leaf Blade.
Nidoqueen was also knocked unconscious by an Energy Ball from Bellossom, leaving it in a critical state.
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