Chapter 492: Misjudging the Difficulty
"What happened?! Why did my Kabutops just die?!"
Several hundred meters away from Arthur, behind another dune, a man slammed his fist on the steering wheel in front of him. "How is this possible? Weren't there only two people over there?"
"Was it an attack from the Krookodile Chieftain? That shouldn't be right!"
This time, they thought they had found the safest method. Once again, they had tried to provoke the local wild Pokémon into fighting Arthur, hoping to fish in troubled waters and snatch the Sandslash. Their biggest fear had always been the Krookodile Chieftain, one of the Seven. After kidnapping its most prized heir, if they dared to show their faces in its territory again, they would surely be hunted to the ends of the earth.
So, they had been extremely cautious, avoiding any overt actions. They had even framed someone else for their first attack to divert the Chieftain's attention before sending in their Pokémon, not daring to show their own faces.
They had thought the main difficulty of this operation would be escaping the territory after they had the Sandslash. As for capturing it, everyone had thought it would be a piece of cake. If their first attempt at provoking the sub-leader at the edge of the territory hadn't failed, they wouldn't have even bothered sending in the Kabutops and Diggersby, thinking a surprise attack from a single Onix would be enough.
Who would have thought that things would go so contrary to their initial plan?
The team's leader, who hadn't sent out any Pokémon, turned pale. "Did your Kabutops send any information before it died?! What about the rest of you? What are your Pokémon doing? What's the situation over there?!"
The question only made things worse. The faces of the surrounding men turned white.
"Captain, my Talonflame is calling for help! Can we save it?!"
"My Diggersby is calling for help too! He says there's a terrifying human over there!"
"The Sandslash is free! The Onix couldn't drag it underground!"
One piece of bad news after another. The captain felt like he was going numb. "What in the world is going on?! Who did Zeratano hire this time?!"
He couldn't accept it. Any normal person, seeing the great Krookodile Chieftain charging at them in a rage, would be focused on how to calm it down and handle the situation. Why would that person dare to be distracted and deliver a killing blow at a time like this? And how many seconds had it been since the operation started? How had it all fallen apart so completely? Did you all just embezzle the funds the organization gave you to train your Pokémon?
What puzzled him most was: a terrifying human? Why was the human the terrifying part, and not a specific main Pokémon? The captain's mind was in a mess.
But time waits for no one. Arthur wasn't giving him much time to think.
After the Sandslash came to its senses and freed itself from the Onix's bite, Specter did a little hop, released its hold on the Onix's shadow, and jumped to the side, pinning the shadow of the Talonflame that had been knocked down by Greninja's Water Pulse. This bird was the fastest, and it was the culprit that had bombed the Chieftain. Taking it down was the top priority.
"FLAME! FLAME!!" The moment its shadow was pinned, the Talonflame let out a sharp, high-pitched cry. It knew it was in trouble. Its master was hundreds of meters away, unable to provide support or a recall beam. This was bad.
Faced with a life-or-death situation, the Talonflame's fighting spirit ignited. With another loud cry, its feathers began to burn, and its body temperature skyrocketed. This made Arthur raise an eyebrow. He recognized the move as the powerful Fire-type Overheat. A move with immense power that also came with a severe drawback. Is it trying to take us down with it? Or sacrifice itself to cover its teammates' retreat? Arthur was confused. Since when did the Pokémon of a poaching ring have such a high level of resolve and self-sacrifice?
In reality, the Talonflame was just hoping to use a powerful move to force Specter to release its shadow and back away. But for Old Flame and Specter, a single, un-buffed ultimate move was not enough to make them retreat. Are you drunk, buddy?
"Old Flame, hold it down!"
Overheat was still a powerful move. If it exploded, the range would be large, and if it accidentally set their vehicle on fire, they'd be in trouble.
After a single Dragon Dance, Old Flame's speed was now unmatched. It appeared in front of the Talonflame in a flash, grabbed it by the neck, slammed it to the ground, and then spread its wings, completely covering it with its body.
BOOM! The burning feathers exploded with a muffled thunder. But most of the force was absorbed by Old Flame.
Shaking its head, Old Flame snorted a puff of black smoke with a few embers in it and looked down at the Talonflame with contempt. Its gaze seemed to mock: Weak. Have you eaten?
Mega Charizard X was a Fire/Dragon-type, with a double resistance to Fire moves. This Talonflame wasn't weak—it was at least at the main player level—but its ultimate move had only managed to give Old Flame a nice sauna.
The Talonflame was terrified. What's going on? Is face-tanking ultimate moves the new meta? I'm using my ultimate, at least have the decency to dodge!
Arthur walked forward step by step, his commands never ceasing. "Greninja, stop the other Kabutops! Little Lapras, keep using Freeze-Dry! Mismagius, use Mean Look on the Diggersby that's trying to run! Lina, land and start using Dragon Dance!"
After a rapid-fire series of commands, Arthur turned to the Talonflame. "Your sacrifice was meaningless."
The Talonflame shook its head frantically. I didn't, I wasn't, who said I wanted to sacrifice myself?! Don't spread rumors!
"I'm not letting a single one of you get away."
The Talonflame was beginning to despair. Can you give me a chance? I didn't have a choice before, but now I want to be a good bird.
"I'm very curious to see who it is that wants to fight me so badly."
The Talonflame was desperately sending a message to its master through their telepathic link: Master, help me!!!
But the next moment, the link was abruptly cut. Doublade's Fury Cutter had stacked again.
In the distance, another of the men reported with a pale face, his voice trembling, "My Talonflame is dead too."
More desperate reports followed.
"My Kabutops is dead..."
"The enemy used Mean Look, my two Diggersby can't escape..."
"My Onix is being swarmed! That person has a lot of Pokémon, and several of them are ridiculously strong! My Onix won't last much longer."
The captain took a deep breath, his hand on his weapon trembling. "We miscalculated..."
This time, they had completely misjudged the main difficulty of the operation. The problem wasn't how to escape the Krookodile's territory after they had their prize. The problem was that, unless they went all-out, they wouldn't even be able to get a single spine off the Sandslash.
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