Chapter Seven: Capture and Investigation Mission

"That should do it." Gazing at the ferocious Dire Jackal Dragon collapsed on the ground, utterly spent and unable even to struggle, Su Yi knew the moment had come.

"Chansey, I'm counting on you!" Su Yi released Chansey. Given the Dire Jackal Dragon's injuries, if he didn't tend to them promptly after capture, its chances of survival would be slim. So he brought out Chansey, ready to heal at a moment's notice.

"Go! Capture Ball!" Su Yi gripped the red-and-white sphere tightly and tossed it with practiced ease, striking the Dire Jackal Dragon.

The ball opened, and light poured forth, enveloping the monster before drawing it inside.

Buzz!

The capture ball trembled violently. Su Yi clenched his fists, even more anxious than when he'd first mounted the beast. At this point, he had only seven capture balls left.

He'd started with five from the initial mission, earned five more as a reward, used one to stall the Swift Wyvern, one for taking in Leafeon, and one for bringing Chansey along. With no way to obtain more for now, every ball lost was irreplaceable.

Seven might seem plentiful, but failure was always a risk, and Su Yi was loath to waste even one.

Buzz!

The ball shuddered again.

"Stop struggling—look at the state you're in," Su Yi murmured, as if coaxing the Dire Jackal Dragon not to be so stubborn.

Buzz!

The ball's vibrations grew weaker.

Holding his breath, Su Yi fixed his gaze on the ball.

Thunk!

The capture ball stilled. Silence fell.

But within Su Yi's heart, tranquility was nowhere to be found.

He strode forward, picked up the Dire Jackal Dragon's ball, and held it tightly. Drawing a deep breath, he performed the very thing he'd dreamed of as a naive child.

Su Yi raised the ball high with one hand and grinned broadly. "Dire Jackal Dragon! Get da★ze!"

"Meow!"

"Lucky!"

Leafeon and Chansey trotted over, cheering joyfully for him.

"Finally!" Su Yi exhaled in relief. As he relaxed, fatigue and aches washed over his body.

This was his first true capture. Leafeon had followed him out of trust, and Chansey had come out of kindness; neither counted as a proper battle capture.

At first, upon returning to this world, he'd merely wanted to check on Leafeon and his friends, say goodbye, and perhaps capture a small herbivore like an Ankylo or a Crested Drake to slowly build his plans.

But his very first attempt had been interrupted by the Dire Jackal Dragon, who snatched the herbivore away. Pursuing the wounded dragon, he was then confronted by the Barroth he'd once encountered.

Such was his luck.

This string of events left Su Yi, despite his "golden finger," quite disheartened. It wasn't arrogance or impatience; he simply thought that with such an advantage—especially the hunter knowledge the golden finger provided—he ought to fare better. Instead, he kept running into obstacles, and it stung.

When he tracked the Dire Jackal Dragon, he forced himself, as an adult, to calm down and think things through. That helped him finally integrate the hunter skills he'd learned.

Once composed and determined, Su Yi entered the right mindset using his hunter fundamentals. Mounting the Dire Jackal Dragon was an act of desperation; if he'd let it escape, tracking it again would surely lead to more trouble.

Not wanting to drag things out, he decided to hunt the Dire Jackal Dragon using the methods of a true hunter.

But this was only possible because the Dire Jackal Dragon was already seriously injured. Even so, recalling his bold actions left Su Yi sweating cold.

Yet, this ordeal taught him a valuable lesson: while a hunter must be cautious, courage and decisiveness are just as vital.

Once he'd recovered most of his strength, Su Yi drew out the capture ball and released the Dire Jackal Dragon.

The colossal beast, several dozen meters long, appeared sprawled on the grass. Even as one of the lowest-ranked among large monsters, its physique was staggering, not something an ordinary creature could compare to.

The wounded Dire Jackal Dragon looked at Su Yi with wary, powerless eyes and let out a low growl, pitiful in its weakness, but Su Yi stayed on guard.

Unlike Pokémon, monsters didn't submit after capture. Even if a Pokémon disliked its trainer, it rarely turned murderous, for they'd accept the trainer's command. Monsters, on the other hand, saw their captor as a jailer and would bare their fangs and claws at the first opportunity.

So, after capturing a monster, Su Yi still had to tame it.

"Relax," Su Yi said, tossing a Sitrus Berry toward the Dire Jackal Dragon.

It backed away warily, eyeing the berry, then Su Yi.

He sensed a certain scrutiny in the monster's gaze. Communicating with monsters sounded absurd, yet at this moment Su Yi felt, somehow, that the newly-captured Dire Jackal Dragon could understand him.

Trusting his instincts, he took out another Sitrus Berry and ate it in front of the beast.

The Dire Jackal Dragon considered for a moment, then swallowed the berry.

The restorative fruit, imparting Pokémon traits, had an immediate effect. The beast felt its strength return.

Taking a step forward, it opened its mouth and called out, clearly craving more.

"There's more where that came from." Su Yi tossed another healing fruit, which the dragon devoured without hesitation.

Taking advantage of the moment, Su Yi edged closer.

After finishing, the Dire Jackal Dragon lifted its head, uneasily shifting its paws as Su Yi approached.

On instinct, Su Yi mimicked the animal tamers he'd seen in his previous life—tossing another berry with one hand for the dragon to catch, and slowly reaching out with the other, intending to touch it.

But the Dire Jackal Dragon still backed away uneasily, growling a warning. Seeing this, Leafeon gripped its bone dagger, flashing an attack technique and standing protectively before Su Yi.

"Don't you dare harm Su Yi, meow!"

Su Yi sighed. "Looks like it'll take patience to tame it. At least it didn't try to kill me outright."

"Chansey, use Heal Pulse on it."

"Lucky." Chansey nodded and cast Heal Pulse.

A gentle light enveloped the Dire Jackal Dragon. Its wounds were so severe that Chansey had to sustain the healing for quite a while.

Finally, after expending much of Chansey's strength, the beast's wounds began to close, leaving fresh scars.

Feeling its body recover, the Dire Jackal Dragon relaxed a little.

Su Yi tossed it a few chunks of herbivore meat—originally his emergency rations—from his inventory.

The dragon wolfed down the meat, then instinctively headed toward its nest.

"Huh? We're back near the nest," Su Yi realized. During the earlier hunt, the dragon had fled toward its lair.

He checked the map and saw the nest was indeed nearby.

The Dire Jackal Dragon crawled to the cave's entrance but didn't go in, glancing back and forth before looking at Su Yi.

"It seems... a little smarter," Su Yi mused, noting a new intelligence in its eyes.

"Maybe that's because it's become a Pokémon."

That was his only explanation; after all, Pokémon were known for their intelligence.

Shaking his head, Su Yi recalled the Dire Jackal Dragon into its ball.

At that moment, the Guiding Fireflies on his belt flew over to a pile of items outside the cave.

"These are Kestrel Bird scales and decorative feathers, with bloodstains—must be from the one bitten by the Barroth," Su Yi said.

Buzz.

A soft hum drew his attention. He took the Hunting Manual from his belt. The Azure Star on the cover glinted with blue light.

He flipped to the quest page, where a mission report symbol appeared. Su Yi tapped it open.

[Quest: Hunt the Kestrel Bird
Support: None
Rewards: 5 Capture Balls, 2 Trap Tools
Time Limit: 3 days.]

"A survey quest has been triggered," he observed, examining his first mission beyond the initial one.

He found he could choose whether to accept. If he declined, or failed to find any clues within three days of accepting, the quest would vanish, and he wouldn't be able to obtain another related quest for three days.

"Should I take it or not?" Su Yi weighed his options.

Capturing the Dire Jackal Dragon had only been possible thanks to the help—direct or indirect—of the Rathalos, Mizutsune, and Barroth. Although the Kestrel Bird had also been attacked by the Barroth, Su Yi wasn't sure how badly it was injured.

Until he'd tamed the Dire Jackal Dragon, it remained unreliable, and the Barroth was still on his trail.

He considered whether to take the risk and try for the quest, or return to the Pokémon world to reorganize his team first.

"I'll go check the Kestrel Bird's condition before deciding. There's no harm in failing, and the Kestrel Bird doesn't attack people, so as long as I watch out for other monsters, I should be fine."

He made up his mind. If he waited a few days, the Kestrel Bird might recover its strength, and it would be much harder to catch.

"Let's go for it while the iron's hot!" he said, encouraging himself.

"Shall we keep hunting, meow?" Leafeon showed no signs of fatigue—if anything, it was eager.

Su Yi checked the time, then sent the Guiding Fireflies to follow the Kestrel Bird's trail.

Not long after Su Yi and Leafeon left, a menacing brute lumbered into the area.

Barroth lowered its massive snout, sniffing the ground for traces of the Kestrel Bird.

Suddenly, a familiar scent filled its nostrils.

Roar!

Barroth bellowed, excitement gleaming in its eyes. Sniffing intently, it quickened its pace in pursuit.

...

The Ancient Tree Forest was a tangled, complex environment. Within the colossal ancient tree, rainwater and earth had accumulated, creating a unique ecological niche.

Su Yi followed the Kestrel Bird's tracks upward into the ancient tree.

"Glowbug—excellent," he whispered, treading lightly as he used a net to catch one of the firefly-like insects on the trunk.

"The resources atop this ancient tree are truly abundant. No wonder, in the game, the botanist established a research base here using the tree's saplings to cultivate all sorts of insects, plants, and fungi."

Gathering materials as he went, Su Yi found his efforts richly rewarded.