"What discoveries have you made while observing the Shadow Team here?" Tetsuya asked.
"They lead joint training sessions every day, and once every week they hold in-team battles. This Raven really does seem to have quite good leadership qualities," Catherine said.
"Did you count how many Flying-type Pokémon they have?"
"Un, I specifically paid attention to that. There are twenty-six of them in total, basically every person has one Flying-type Pokémon…
However, I can discern the flight capabilities of those Pokémon. Wanting to cross the ocean is practically impossible, except for Raven's Aerodactyl. You can tell it's very strong," Catherine said.
"Raven never casually reveals his Pokémon, but training is definitely still necessary. How many Pokémon does he have in total?" Tetsuya asked.
Although he and Raven had been on the same island for three years, Raven's activities had always been behind the original Shadow Team's base, making it impossible to understand Raven's true combat power.
Now that Raven was personally training these people, it showed that he also wanted to use them to establish a faction belonging to himself so that he could gain a foothold within the Shadow Team.
"Seven. Among them, Aerodactyl, Steelix, and Typhlosion are the strongest!"
After Catherine finished speaking, Tetsuya nodded. Almost everyone had a Flying-type Pokémon. Although the probability of flying out was very small, there were still many Flying-types at the ranch. At that time, if each person held two or three of them, why worry about being incapable to cross this vast ocean?
However, from what Catherine had said in his previous life, not many people had escaped Shadow Island. Sustained flight for an entire month would also require remaining above the sea surface, so Flying- and Water-type Pokémon had to cooperate together. If they became hungry, they could only search for food from the sea.
Of course, as for who would become whose food, that was impossible to say clearly…
Tetsuya remembered that in his previous life, Catherine had a Mantine, although she did not yet have it now, and he did not know when she had caught it. However, one thing was certain, it had definitely helped her greatly. Her ability to survive was inseparable from that Mantine's efforts.
"We'll come back again after one month. Right now, we can go chase away the Pokémon,," Tetsuya said.
"Hai! What plan do you have?"
"Set the mountain on fire."
"…?"
---◓---
Catherine showed a trace of surprise as they prepared to advance toward the depths of the forest. After walking along the ground for one day, they constantly encountered riots from Pokémon groups from time to time. Tetsuya and Catherine had no choice but to stop and deal with them, and they simply had not traveled very far.
Left with no alternative, they could only advance through the air. Tetsuya sat on Golurk's shoulder while Catherine rode Skarmory. In just one day, they arrived at the previous fissure.
At this moment, more than half of the trees in the forest had already withered. Most Pokémon had already run toward places where the trees had not withered to fight over food.
Naturally, there were still quite a few Pokémon remaining in this withered forest. Generally, these were Pokémon that had stored surplus food relatively well, or certain special Pokémon that did not need to feed on Berries and plants.
"If these withered trees start burning, then the situation will spiral completely out of control… Tetsuya, you'd better think this through carefully."
Catherine's concern was completely reasonable. Setting fire to the mountain was indeed extremely dangerous. Once the fire became uncontrollable, it could spread to themselves as well.
"Fire won't return to burn a place that has already been burned. As long as we can perceive the direction of the wind, there won't be any problem." Tetsuya already had a plan in mind.
"If the fire really starts burning, the Shadows will definitely come investigate! Wouldn't that cause them to discover ahead of time the secret that this island is about to be destroyed?"
"I'm afraid by that time they won't have any time to investigate. As long as the fire starts, the Pokémon will inevitably run toward the outside of the forest, and in that direction there is only the Shadow Team's base. With the entire forest's Pokémon for them to deal with, do you think they'll still have time to put out the fire?" Tetsuya said.
Tetsuya and Catherine hunted two Tauros and two Stantler, enough food for themselves for quite some time.
After all preparations were complete, Tetsuya released Mamoswine, Beedrill, and Houndoom, while Catherine also released her four Flying-type Pokémon.
Tetsuya and Catherine stood at the edge of the forest, waiting for the sea breeze.
Only after the sea breeze began blowing in the direction Tetsuya had anticipated… "Houndoom, [Blazing Howl], Nasty Plot, Flamethrower."
Tetsuya rapidly called out Houndoom's moves one after another. Houndoom let out two howls. The sky was cloudless, and the blazing sun scorched overhead. Afterward, it used Nasty Plot twice, raising its Special Attack to the highest stage within its capability.
Houndoom's Flamethrower shot into the withered forest like a towering pillar of fire, instantly setting dozens of trees ablaze in succession!
"Beedrill use Gust, Mamoswine use Icy Wind," Tetsuya immediately commanded.
"Everyone, use Gust!" Catherine shouted.
Borrowing the power of the sea breeze, fierce winds instantly surged forth. The flames rapidly spread with the help of the gale, while Houndoom began using Flamethrower in different directions again.
Even a single spark can start a prairie fire, let alone flames this powerful.
Very quickly, the flames had already grown into a massive blaze, devouring everything toward the opposite side, and on that side were precisely the "still-living" forest and the Shadow Team's base.
All the Pokémon throughout the forest panicked and completely erupted into a riot. The Pokémon within the forest ran toward the small remaining section of forest that had not withered, while the Pokémon from that small remaining section charged out of the forest in extreme agitation.
At this moment, it also happened to be dinner time at dusk. The members of the Shadow Team were currently eating dinner at the base, chatting and laughing merrily.
The fragrance of food drifted into the Pokémon's noses…
All the Pokémon charged toward the direction of the Shadow Team's base!
The Shadows on guard spotted a massive number of Pokémon running toward them, but they could only see smoke rising in the distance and did not understand the exact situation.
The Shadow, standing next to a loudspeaker, shouted through it, "A Pokémon riot has broken out and is preparing to attack the base!"
The moment Raven heard this while picking up his fork, it struck him like a Thunder from Pikachu, and he immediately gathered everyone to prepare for combat.
At this moment, the first wave of Pokémon had already broken through the Shadow Team's fences, and the Shadow standing watch had also died at the claws of the Pokémon.
When Raven saw this, he nearly collapsed. An endless stream of Pokémon was charging toward the base. This scene was even more terrifying than the Pokémon tides of ancient times!
"Prepare for waaar! The first group of ten goes up first! The second group stays ready to rotate in at any moment!
Pokémon specializing in defense will create opportunities for offensive Pokémon. Breeders prepare at all times to provide healing for injured Pokémon!
Bring over all the Pokémon from the ranch so my Shadows can rotate theirs at any time! Researchers retreat into the rearmost rooms to avoid being accidentally injured."
At the critical moment, Raven still demonstrated his leadership qualities, organizing everything in perfect order. The entire Shadow Team was now united as one!
What Raven did not know was that what he was about to face would be the Pokémon of the entire forest…