The luminous Weezing struggled for a while but quickly settled down—perhaps realizing that Gengar and Carvanha were still watg from nearby, ready to strike.

  "Ding!"

  Sato picked up the Poké Ball and immediately released Luminous Weezing again.

  Iy, the Pokémon League strictly reguted the number of Pokémon a Trainer could carry at any given time.

  While traveling, Trainers were limited to carrying a maximum of six Pokémon.

  This rule existed because a Trainer's focus and resources were limited—carrying too many Pokémon would make proper training difficult.

  Additionally, it was meant to disce Trainers from capturing unnecessary Pokémon.

  After extensive researd adjustments, this rule became mandatory for all Trainers below the Pseudo-Elite Four level—they could not carry more than six Pokémon at a time.

  For Pseudo-Elite Four and above, they could apply for special permission to increase their carry limit.

  However, enf this rule was nearly impossible.

  As long as Trainers kept their active party within the limit inside League-governed cities, they wouldn't fay problems.

  Oside, however, they could do as they pleased—the League had no way to monitor them. Even if a Trainer was caught exceeding the limit, they could easily cim that they had just captured the extra Pokémon.

  However, a few years ter, the League's genius Researcher, Bill, developed the Poké Ball Remote Transfer System, whipletely ged everything.

  This system forced the rule into full enfort—even if a Trainer captured a Pokémon in the wild, as long as they had a registered transfer point, the Poké Ball would be teleported away instantly.

  For Trainers without a registered transfer point, the Poké Ball would be locked, preventing them from using the Pokémon until they visited a Pokémoer aered a transfer location.

  Many rogue (not affiliated) Trainers protested against this system, but the opposition was quickly crushed.

  For the Pokémon League, this was an absolute victory!

  Now, the League could monitor all registered/affiliated Trainers, keepiailed records of every captured Pokémon.

  More importantly, this system signifitly reduced criminal anizations' influence, while also allowing the League to identify and i in the most promising Trainers, accelerating the League's growth.

  Before long, anizations outside the League also reverse-engineered Bill's iion, creating their owe transfer systems.

  The goal was the same—to better trol their own Trainers.

  But right now, all of that was still in the distant future.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  As Sato applied medie to Weezing's wounds, he carefully observed this exceptionally rare Pokémon.

  The brightness of Weezing's glow wasn't statistead, it fluctuated with eahale and exhale, dimming and brightening in an endless cycle, giving it a mystical aura.

  The medie worked quickly, and the cooliion seemed to soothe Weezing, making it quickly fet its earlier rese.

  Now, it felt a slight fondness for the Trainer who had captured it—at the very least, it no longer resisted his ands.

  "Weezing, have you always lived here?"

  "Weezing…"

  "Were you blowing like this? What I mean is—have you always been this bright? Have you ever noticed that you're different from others of your kind?"

  Weezing paused in thought, its vat expressions twisting in ption.

  It hen shook its head—floating up and down.

  Despite not having the best looks, its glowing form masked its fws—like a shinieor, it was both ugly and strangely captivating.

  "Hmm… then do you know how you became like this?"

  Weezing's eyes turned bnk, then it suddenly seemed to remember something.

  Without hesitation, it began floating deeper into Luminous S.

  Sato quickly stopped it, packed up his retly set-up tent, and climbed onto Weezing's back.

  Weezing wobbled unfortably for a moment but soon ignored him and drifted forward into the s. Gengar and Carvanha followed closely behind.

  Sato had never vehis deep into Luminous S at night before.

  Strangely, he could sense many wild Pokémon lurking nearby, yet none of them attacked along the way.

  Weezing drifted along for over ten minutes before arriving at a se of the s devoid of reeds.

  Areas like this usually tained bottomless bogs—yet Weezing seemed ready to desd!

  "Wait, wait!"

  Sato patted Weezing quickly, and it tried to lift its head to look at him—only to realize it was just a floating mass, so it ended up rising slightly instead.

  "Weezing, is the thing that makes you glow ihe s?"

  "Weez…"

  Weezing bobbed up and down, nodding.

  " I go down there? I 't breathe uer—so is there an open space below…?"

  "Weez?"

  Sato and Weezing cked synization, and with Weezing not being the brightest, they struggled to unicate.

  "Alright, let's do this—Gengar, go down with Weezing and take a look. I'll wait here."

  Ghost-types had two natural advahey could turn invisible and ignore physical terrain.

  Nodding, Gengar followed Weezing into the depths of the s.

  Sato stood on a small patch of solid ground, patiently waiting for their return.

  Meanwhile, the wild Pokémon lurking nearby had finally lost their patiene by ohey began closing in on him! They were afraid of Weezing!

  Sato was surprised by this realization but quickly released Ariados.

  Since Weezing was the ohey feared, all he o do was stall for time—there was no need for a full battle.

  Finally, one Gligar couldn't hold bay longer.

  Through the swaying reeds, a pale purple shadow glided silently through the air.

  Because it didn't o fp its wings, Gligar's stealth was superior to most Flying-types.

  "Puff!"

  The surrounding fireflies scattered in panid in that instant, a strand of white silk shot out!

  Ariados s String Shot perfectly, stig onto Gligar's body befiving it a sharp pull!

  Gligar's glide was instantly disrupted, f it to fil wildly in midair.

  Just before it plummeted into the s, Ariados she silk, allowing Gligar to barely stabilize itself—it desperately fpped its thin wings, managing to nd safely on a nearby reed.

  Gligar's humiliati caused the other Pokémon to hesitate, their gazes toward Ariados filled with caution.

  For a while, everything fell silent.

  But soon after, the tension broke—two more purple shadows burst out, rapidly charging at Sato!

  Two Rattata!

  "Puff!" "Boom!"

  Ariados once again strue squarely with String Shot, while the other was sent flying by Carvanha's high-speed tackle, nding straight into the s!

  However, the moment Rattata hit the water, it began kig its limbs rapidly.

  Whether it was due to its small size or its Run Away ability activating, Rattata miraculously escaped the bottomless bog!

  Sato's surprise was fleeting—even a Pokémon as weak as Rattata had developed survival skills ireacherous Luminous S.

  But he didn't have time to dwell ohought—because suddenly—a dozen bck shadows surged toward him at once!