Cain couldn't use his psychic powers, so he couldn't communicate with the Unown.
Therefore, he also couldn't open an alternate space.
Fortunately, he had stored specialized camping equipment in his storage team, precisely in case he couldn't create an alternate space.
Although he originally thought it was due to the influence of the spatial environment, he now realized it was because of his own body.
Another problem was that, since he couldn't move well, his Pokémon could only eat pre-prepared food. No fresh food for now.
Cain, on his part, could barely ingest liquid foods with Florges' help.
His body's recovery was going very slowly, and he didn't know how long it would take to fully heal.
At one free moment, he scanned the three Skuntank.
It was no surprise that these three Skuntank dominated this area; the fact that they were a trio already gave them an edge, but on top of that, their level was quite high.
Each of them was at level 53, which placed them at the quasi-elite level.
Such a group was already quite rare among wild Pokémon.
Though it wasn't clear how many such Pokémon existed in this space.
Thanks to the device given to him by Dr. Blaine, he was able to confirm that he was in a rather peripheral area of this space.
And by adding the path he had already traveled, he could roughly estimate the total size of the space.
It was huge!
At least comparable in size to the space where Celebi resided.
But the terrain here was much more complex than Celebi's.
While that one consisted almost entirely of ancient forests, here there were all kinds of terrains.
The point from which he had been transported was a meadow, but now he was in a forest.
During the day, Cain observed the immediate surroundings and compared them with the map.
In the center of the space, there was a great mountain.
They could even see it from where they were.
It was an active volcano, although it wasn't known where the lava came from.
The mountain seemed very tall, as its lower part was completely covered in snow.
Cain estimated that the mountain was about as tall as Mt. Chimney in the Hoenn region.
With his location confirmed and having a sense of the wild Pokémon levels in the area, Cain could relax a little.
With the help of Slowking and Florges, he cleaned off the black sweat that still remained on his body.
Even when rinsed with water, those black residues continued to emit a horrible smell.
Apparently, his Pokémon were already used to everything.
Not even the smell fazed them.
After changing into clean clothes, the pain almost made Cain pass out again.
Once everything was in order, he was finally able to rest properly.
Luckily, he had the sand chair created by Tyranitar, since anywhere else, his body wouldn't have been able to bear the pain.
Night fell.
Exhausted, Cain fell asleep immediately.
His Pokémon snuggled close to him, while the three Skuntank proudly took on the role of guards.
Sometimes, you shouldn't underestimate wild Pokémon.
Ever since Tyranitar dominated them, those three Skuntank became incredibly useful.
And they were very responsible during the night.
That's how noble wild Pokémon can be.
...
The night passed quickly.
Day came.
Cain woke up and noticed that, except for his mouth, he could now move the muscles in his face.
He moved his face cautiously and, except for some pain, had no major issues.
Still, he couldn't eat anything that required chewing or swallowing.
Only liquid food.
"Let's go, we can investigate the area a bit today," said Cain.
Now he could speak normally.
Though that was his limit for the moment.
Today's goal was simple: explore a 20-kilometer radius from the small pond, identifying the distribution and level of Pokémon in that area.
The three Skuntank pulled the sand cart, while the rest of his Pokémon accompanied him.
But think about it: how many wild Pokémon would dare approach when seeing a 3.2-meter Tyranitar and a 3-meter Aggron?
Of course, there are always a few brave ones...
After all, to wild Pokémon, Cain looked like a walking treat.
And if they walked carelessly, it was possible they would step into someone else's territory, provoking the local Pokémon.
Even the gentlest Pokémon defends itself when cornered.
They first headed toward the central volcano.
According to the logic of this space, the closer to the volcano, the stronger the wild Pokémon would be.
And the farther away, the weaker they'd be.
Though it wasn't known where the volcano's lava came from, it was certain that the area around it had a high concentration of fire-type energy.
And if an area is rich in one type of energy, it's usually rich in other aspects as well—so long as the environment isn't extremely hostile.
During the first five kilometers, they didn't encounter especially strong Pokémon or large groups.
But after passing five kilometers, the frequency of encounters increased, as did the level and size of the groups.
Probably due to the high concentration of energy in this space, the Pokémon levels were generally quite high.
At the ten-kilometer mark, individual quasi-elite level Pokémon began appearing in the groups and attacked Cain's team.
But none were able to overcome Aggron and Tyranitar's defense.
Upon reaching the twenty kilometers, Pokémon started appearing that caught the attention of these two giants.
When they were about to reach the 20-kilometer mark, they entered a Slakoth forest.
The enormous, old tree branches were full of hanging Slakoth, all looking sleepy and disinterested.
Cain's group didn't attract much attention.
They thought they'd soon pass through the forest and could explore in another direction.
But they forgot something: Slakoth evolve into a very energetic type of Pokémon...
Vigoroth!
And the Vigoroth weren't going to ignore the intrusion of Cain and his Pokémon.
What surprised Cain was that the leader of this Slakoth tribe wasn't a Slaking, but a Vigoroth.
And not just any Vigoroth: one at a very high level.
Probably, this Vigoroth was smart enough to know that evolving into Slaking would greatly increase its strength, but its ability would limit it too much.
So it preferred not to evolve, sacrificing the extra power of Slaking in exchange for retaining full combat freedom.
(End of chapter)