Looking at the person before him, Victor cursed inwardly.
Gengar floated in front of Victor, warily watching Hunter J.
J had also spotted Victor. Standing on her Salamence, she looked down at him and spoke calmly:
"Have you seen the Ninetales that was here?"
Victor's brow twitched. The Ninetales? The great-aunt's friend?
In the firelight, J saw the change in Victor's expression.
"So you do know it?" J laughed. "Then do you know where it went?"
"You started a fire and planned to burn down this entire forest just to find one Ninetales?" Victor didn't answer her question, but asked one of his own, his voice icy.
"Is there a problem? Someone made me an offer to purchase this Ninetales. I've been looking for it for two or three days and couldn't find it, so I had to start a fire to try and flush it out. But who knew it wouldn't show itself."
J answered his question nonchalantly.
"However, that Gengar of yours doesn't look half bad. It could probably fetch a good price," she added with a light chuckle.
Hearing this, Victor immediately gave the command.
"Will-O-Wisp. Burn it."
Numerous flames appeared around Gengar, incinerating the spider silk that an Ariados had shot from the darkness.
From the first moment he saw her, Victor had been on high alert.
From the moment he met her, he knew there was no escape.
But fortunately, he was very familiar with Hunter J's battle tactics. She would first trap her target with String Shot, then use her beam to turn the Pokémon to stone and take it away.
So, while she was talking, Victor had used his system to locate the Ariados hiding in the shadows.
[Ariados]
[Type: Poison, Bug]
[Gender: Male]
...
"Vespiquen, Air Cutter."
Vespiquen launched several blades of wind at the spot Victor indicated, forcing the Ariados out into the open.
"Close Combat."
Erli met the Drapion head-on, forcing it back with Close Combat.
J looked at Victor with some surprise, her gaze darkening.
"Flamethrower."
The Salamence spat a stream of fire towards Victor.
Watching the Flamethrower rush towards him, Victor gritted his teeth.
"Vespiquen, Staravia, Air Cutter!"
Vespiquen and Staravia simultaneously launched their attacks, which collided with the Flamethrower and created a cloud of smoke.
When the smoke cleared, J and her Salamence had vanished.
Victor was abnormally calm, so calm he could hear his own heartbeat.
He left the Ariados and Drapion entirely to Dali and Erli, while he himself remained vigilant, not daring to lose focus for even a second as he watched for J.
"Gengar, Dazzling Gleam!"
Gengar dodged a Dragon Pulse from the Salamence and fired back with a Dazzling Gleam, which landed a perfect hit.
But the Salamence only shook its body and continued to fly higher.
With the help of his system's prompts, Victor could always pinpoint the Salamence's location.
Standing on a tree branch, J waved her hand, and several more Pokémon hunters appeared, heading for Victor.
Victor whispered something to Gengar. It then used Shadow Clone to create over a dozen copies, each one holding a Shadow Ball, and threw them at the hunters.
The hunters commanded their own Pokémon to block the Shadow Balls, creating another cloud of smoke. When it cleared, Gengar was gone.
"Flamethrower," J's voice rang out again.
Victor didn't have time to react.
The Vespiquen flew in front of him and launched a Bug Resistance to meet the Flamethrower. It was engulfed in the flames and fell to the ground, scorched and unconscious.
Victor gritted his teeth.
Jenny, where are you guys?!
"Staravia, Brave Bird!"
The Staravia shot towards the Salamence, but it dodged, and the Staravia took a direct hit from a Dragon Pulse.
It barely managed to stay in the air, hovering in front of Victor. J, seeing this, chuckled and gave the command: "It's over. Flamethrower."
Just then, Victor saw a figure in the shadows and grinned.
"Gengar! Full-power Dazzling Gleam!!"
J's eyes narrowed. Gengar had suddenly appeared beneath the Salamence, and a Dazzling Gleam hit it directly.
The Salamence cried out in pain and fell to the ground.
J looked down and saw that all of her underlings had been either put to sleep or paralyzed by Gengar's Lick.
"A bunch of useless trash," J cursed, then looked at Victor.
"You're not bad. Ariados, String Shot."
The Ariados forced Dali back with an X-Scissor, then shot its silk at Victor.
"Machoke!"
At the critical moment, the Staravia cut the silk apart with an Air Cutter.
Victor's mouth was dry. Against J's overwhelming power, he was gradually losing the advantage.
Hunter J was just too strong. Even with all his effort and the help of his system, Victor could barely hold on.
Even Gengar had been forced to take two Flamethrowers from the Salamence and was now covered in wounds, barely staying afloat.
J seized the opportunity, aiming the launcher on the back of her hand at Gengar.
"Get away! Don't get turned to stone!"
"Gengar—" Gengar quickly dodged the beam.
Thank goodness. I've been guarding against her petrification beam from the very beginning.
J frowned. She realized Victor seemed to know a lot about her. He was able to precisely avoid her hidden Ariados and Drapion, and he had even dodged her petrification beam.
"You seem to know me very well," she couldn't help but ask.
Victor smiled. "Who doesn't know Hunter J?"
He then thought for a moment. "I can tell you where that Ninetales went."
"Just a stalling tactic," J sneered, seeing right through his intention.
While they were fighting, the forest fire had grown larger, and the Pokémon within were fleeing in all directions.
An Azumarill was escaping with its family. When it reached the edge of the forest, it saw Victor, and it saw the Salamence in the sky.
It recognized that Salamence as the Pokémon that had started the fire. It stopped and stared at it with hatred.
Gengar shook its wobbly body and floated in front of Victor.
Dali and Erli also began to retreat to his side.
"Hyper Beam!"
The Salamence spat a terrifying beam of energy.
"Dazzling Gleam! Air Cutter! Focus Punch!"
All the moves were launched, canceling out the Hyper Beam and kicking up a cloud of dust that covered the battlefield.
Seizing the moment while the Salamence was immobile, the Azumarill bounced on its tail, launching itself into the sky. It got close to the Salamence and struck it down with a powerful Play Rough.
"Where did that Azumarill come from?!" J cursed.
Victor cheered. The Dragonslayer lived up to its name.
But as the Azumarill was falling, the Salamence trembled on the ground, stood up, and flew again, striking the Azumarill with an Iron Head and sending it flying. It landed near Victor.
Seeing the Azumarill get knocked away, Victor cursed under his breath. It was a shame.
The Azumarill's last Play Rough hadn't been strong enough. Otherwise, it could have defeated the Salamence for good.
The Drapion and Ariados attacked again. All of Victor's Pokémon were already covered in wounds.
"Why is this damn Salamence so tough! Three super-effective hits and it's still not down."
"Draco Meteor! Poison Sting! Thunder Fang!" J shouted.
The Salamence spat out energy that formed into meteors in the sky and rained down.
Gengar swallowed all of Ariados's Poison Stings, but a Thunder Fang hit the Azumarill just as it was getting back up, and it collapsed in pain.
"Block the Draco Meteor!" Victor roared.
Gengar's Psychic flared, blocking one meteor after another. Dali and Erli were also punching them away. The Staravia weaved through the air, dodging, but in the end, it took two direct hits and fell to the ground, unable to battle.
Just as J thought Victor was out of options, the sound of sirens echoed around them.
"Arcanine, Flamethrower!"
Jenny! You finally came!
Victor breathed a sigh of relief.
Seeing the surrounding Officer Jennys and International Police, J cursed, jumped onto her Salamence, recalled her Drapion and Ariados, and flew unsteadily into the distance.
She looked back at Victor.
He was staring back at her with an equally cold gaze. Illuminated by the night and the flames, his expression was exceptionally cold.
The Gengar at his side was swaying, having taken several Flamethrowers from her Salamence, but it was still forcing itself to stay up and watch them.
And those two Machoke. They were clearly no match for her Drapion and Ariados, but they had managed to hold them off.
She had heard Jenny call him Victor.
"Victor, sooner or later, someone will hire me to capture that Gengar of yours."
"Next time, you definitely won't be so lucky!" he shouted back at her retreating figure.
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