Natsuhiko crouched down, picked up a piece at his feet, and gently rubbed it.
The black stone wasn't solid; with a slight squeeze, it crumbled, leaving black powder sticking to his hand.
He brought it to his nose and sniffed.
"Coal?" Natsuhiko raised an eyebrow.
Their arrival also caught the attention of the "working" Pokémon in the cave, which slowly crawled out to show itself.
Surrounded by smoke, the Pokémon that crawled out had an orange-brown body with a huge black shell on its back. There were five fiery red indentations on the shell, where something seemed to be burning within.
"Torkoal," Nanmu said as he recognized the Pokémon.
The Fire-type Torkoal, a Pokémon that's either digging coal or on its way to dig coal. The coal burning in its shell continuously produces energy; if the coal runs out, it becomes immobile.
You can gauge its condition by the smoke emitted from its shell. If the flames within the shell are strong, it means it's full of spirit. If the flames go out, it might even die.
It's a fairly standard Fire-type Pokémon.
But due to its unique coal-searching ability, its value is not considered low.
However, there's a special kind of Torkoal, known as the "Sunshine" trait Torkoal.
Much like the "Blowing Sand" trait Gigalith they encountered before, the "Sunshine" trait Torkoal changes the weather to Sunny Day upon entering the battle, which makes it useful as the Weather Hand for a Sunny Team.
If it's the "Sunshine" trait, then the Torkoal's value is considerably higher.
But since the weather didn't change when this Torkoal appeared, it shows that its trait is not "Sunshine," limiting its value.
Nanmu, standing behind Natsuhiko, turned his eyes and said, "Zhenwu, the Torkoal's value isn't low. How about the two of us back you up while you capture it?"
Saying this, he gave Ishino a knowing look.
Ishino caught on and agreed, "That's right, you've caught fewer Pokémon before. Since it's your first team mission, we can't let you be at a disadvantage. If you catch this Torkoal, it's yours!"
Listening to the two behind him echo each other's sentiments, Natsuhiko smirked.
He didn't refuse and nodded, "Alright."
The Salandit landed on the ground.
"Salandit, use Venom Trap."
Hearing this, Salandit opened its mouth, releasing a thick blackish-purple mist towards the Torkoal.
Sensing the faint stench of the mist, the Torkoal reacted a beat slower.
Enemy!
Its back spewed out a massive amount of smoke, and the coal within its shell burned intensely as it spewed a surge of flames from its mouth,
Flamethrower!
Hiss—
The moment the flames met the mist, a hissing sound rang out, and much of the solidified toxin was evaporated.
"Dodge."
Salandit swiftly sidestepped, the red patterns on its back flickering.
Because Salandit and Natsuhiko had almost no momentum together, even the most basic judgments and commands required Natsuhiko's orders.
If it were Beedrill or others, they wouldn't need Natsuhiko's prompts to react to such an attack.
If a Trainer always has to command their Pokémon to fight, they undoubtedly miss the best timing due to the time taken for commands and the Pokémon and Trainer's thinking and reactions.
But dealing with a wild Torkoal was enough.
Although the Flamethrower burned away some of the mist, some still drifted toward the Torkoal.
And once contact was made, the mist spread and proliferated like a pesky ailment.
Torkoal was poisoned.
For Salandit, the fear is that the opponent isn't poisoned; once poisoned, the battle becomes straightforward.
"Poisonous Liquid Impact."
Salandit spat a mouthful of "thick phlegm" at Torkoal.
The effect of Poisonous Liquid Impact is that if the enemy is poisoned, the move's power doubles, from 65 to a massive 130 points!
This was definitely a heavy blow to Torkoal.
Originally, after poisoning the Torkoal, "Venom Trap" would have been the best choice, as it lowers multiple stats of the opponent.
But since this Torkoal was not of the "Sunshine" trait, it was likely of the "White Smoke" trait, which means its abilities cannot be lowered, rendering "Venom Trap" useless against it.
While Natsuhiko was busy commanding Salandit and battling Torkoal, Nanmu and Ishino finally saw their chance.
They suddenly erupted.
"Mightyena, Shatter!"
"Golbat, Wing Attack!"
The Mightyena, poised on the ground, and the Golbat, swooping swiftly from above, both locked onto Natsuhiko.
However.
The charging Mightyena stumbled after just a few steps and fell hard to the ground, while Golbat flapped its wings a few times, struggling to stabilize its flight.
"What?"
Feeling something was amiss, both Nanmu and Ishino were taken aback.
Their vision began to blur, followed by an overwhelming sense of dizziness, causing them to fall back onto the ground.
Their Camerupts were also affected, sitting down weakly.
Poisoned!
When did this happen?!
Realizing belatedly that they'd been poisoned, they were clueless about when or how it happened.
Even Golbat, a Poison-type Pokémon, got poisoned. But why?
Then they saw Natsuhiko, who was directing Salandit in taking down Torkoal, slowly turn around with a playful smile.