"Little Fire, don't face it head-on. Gain some altitude and dodge first."
Meng Xi quickly issued the command. Judging by its appearance, it shouldn't be able to fly.
Fletchinder obeyed the command and began to gain altitude, looking down at Ceruledge from high above.
After warning Fletchinder, and to prevent Ceruledge from shifting its target to them, who were completely defenseless, she quickly grabbed the other two and fled.
"Huh?"
"Huh what! Have you forgotten the lesson from before? We need to run too!"
The three of them sped toward the main group, but Ceruledge seemed to have no interest whatsoever in the fleeing group.
Seeing its opponent take to the sky, it didn't panic. While it certainly couldn't fly, however...
Ceruledge focused its mind, and a purple vortex appeared directly in front of it. It then leaped into it.
"It disappeared! What's going on?"
Jiao Xiaoyan looked back and noticed something unusual; Ceruledge had inexplicably vanished.
She initially thought this was a good thing, that perhaps the opponent had no way to deal with Fletchinder and had left.
"You guys, hurry and get on!"
Jiao Wuyan also noticed that the Pokémon had disappeared and, just in case, hurriedly reminded the girls to get on the helicopter together.
But Lin Siyu and Meng Xi still felt uneasy.
A flash of insight hit Meng Xi, and she suddenly realized something. She anxiously looked at Little Fire, who was hovering in the air, and shouted.
"Little Fire, watch out for your surroundings!"
Fletchinder was currently worried about not being able to find its opponent in the air when it heard its trainer's warning.
It quickly scanned its surroundings, a strong sense of crisis rising rapidly in its heart, making it feel vaguely uneasy.
From the perspective of the people on the ground, Fletchinder was frantically scanning its surroundings, but suddenly, a purple vortex appeared out of thin air behind it.
"Watch out behind you!"
Meng Xi's words rang out.
Before Fletchinder could react, a figure lunged out from the vortex behind it—it was the Ceruledge that had just disappeared.
Ceruledge extended the long sword on its arm, and with a single strike wrapped in dark energy, it knocked Fletchinder down.
Fletchinder felt the severe trauma to its body and, unable to put up any resistance, went into a rapid freefall.
"Little Fire!"
Seeing this scene, Meng Xi turned pale with fright and left the others behind, intending to catch it.
But before she could take two steps, she was held back.
"Meng Xi! Come back, don't be stupid!"
Jiao Xiaoyan's face was clearly very anxious; she didn't want the other girl to take risks. After all, if her own Pokémon couldn't beat the opponent, Meng Xi would just be throwing her life away by going over there.
However, Meng Xi was in no mood to listen to her and tried to shake off her hand with force.
But Jiao Xiaoyan had, after all, spent time in the military, and for the moment, Meng Xi was completely unable to break free.
Bang!
At this moment, Fletchinder hit the ground with a thud.
"Little Fire!"
Meng Xi no longer cared about anything else; she used both hands to forcibly break free and ran toward the spot where Little Fire had fallen without looking back.
Several people who were closer intended to stop Meng Xi.
But Lin Siyu stepped in front of them first. Out of consideration for her small stature, she ultimately let Meng Xi run past.
"Damn it! Causing trouble at a time like this! We should take advantage of their infighting and evacuate immediately!"
A few people had already started whispering complaints about the trouble those two were causing.
But Lin Siyu happened to hear them! She immediately disregarded her image and cursed at them.
"What do you mean by that? Little Fire just saved you guys! And now you want to repay kindness with ingratitude?"
A portion of the people didn't speak, their faces showing embarrassment. They couldn't refute what she said, because it was the truth.
However, there were a few troublemakers who insisted on being stubborn.
"Hmph! Who knows if it was just them infighting, and it was all just a coincidence!"
"You!!!"
Lin Siyu was instantly exasperated, feeling like her good intentions were being treated like garbage.
"Enough! Stop talking!"
Jiao Wuyan had originally come to check on his granddaughter, but he hadn't expected to run right into the argument.
As expected, people's prejudice against magical beasts is very serious now.
Although someone tried to play peacemaker, Lin Siyu didn't give them any face and, ignoring everyone else, left on her own.
"Siyu!"
Jiao Xiaoyan wanted to stop her, but was stopped by Jiao Wuyan.
"Grandpa?"
Jiao Xiaoyan looked at her grandfather in confusion.
"They should have their own way of handling this; let's not go and add to the chaos. They probably understand the situation better than we do."
...
"Little Fire!"
On this side, Meng Xi had also found the fallen Fletchinder in the clearing.
Fletchinder was trying to use its wings to support its body and stand up; it looked back and realized Meng Xi had come over.
Meng Xi gently picked it up and immediately saw the terrifying, gruesome cut on its back.
She was speechless for a moment, her eyes slightly reddening.
"Little Meng!"
It was only then that Meng Xi noticed Lin Siyu had actually followed her over.
"Why did you come over too? Be careful..."
"Hmph! As your senior, can I just let you go alone?"
Lin Siyu said to herself, and after reaching Little Meng, she quickly found a Super Potion in the bag left behind by Fei Xiao.
Fei Xiao had said before that if a Pokémon was injured, this spray could be used to heal it.
"You didn't even bring the medicine! As expected, you still need me."
Lin Siyu carefully picked up the spray and applied it to the wound on Fletchinder's back, then took out bandages from the bag and roughly wrapped them around Fletchinder.
"Siyu, you... never mind, let me do it!"
Meng Xi was touched for a moment... and then it was gone; the emotions she had worked so hard to build up were completely gone.
If she kept bandaging it like that, it would really turn into a mummy.
Meng Xi took the bandages and simply bandaged Little Fire up properly.
Clang! Clang!
The familiar metallic sound rang in their ears once again.
The two of them realized that Ceruledge had landed at some point and was now standing in front of them, staring straight at them.
Coupled with its pitch-black, terrifying aura, it made people feel fearful involuntarily.
"Ceruledge... can we talk for a moment?"
Meng Xi looked nervous, but she still gathered the courage to try and ask.
Because they noticed this time that it hadn't taken the opportunity to attack them just now.
"Suo."
But Ceruledge's cold gaze said it all.
The sharp sword in its hand still had traces of bright red on it. With a casual flick, it pointed the sword at the two of them.
Lin Siyu's expectant expression collapsed immediately, and she spread her hands: "Looks like there's no talking this out. Don't let me find out what those guys did!"
By the end, Lin Siyu's fists were cracking and popping.
"Fletchinder!"
The pain from Fletchinder's wound had lessened significantly. After taking flight, it looked directly at Ceruledge, flames burning in its eyes.
"Little Fire!"
Meng Xi was worried about its wound and was about to reach out.
At this moment, Fletchinder turned its gaze to meet Meng Xi's eyes.
At this moment, even though neither of them had said anything, Meng Xi seemed to understand what Little Fire wanted to say.
Is this the bond between Pokémon and trainer that Sister Fei Xiao talked about!
A wry smile hung on Meng Xi's face.
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