From the moment they were exposed to being surrounded, it was practically seamless.
Fortunately, neither Sato nor Cynthia was weak, and both remained completely calm despite the onslaught of wild Pokémon.
On Sato's side, Sharpedo and Krookodile led the offense while Umbreon supported from the flanks.
Aqua Jet!
Sand Tomb!
Feint Attack!
The sky was Sharpedo's battlefield. It zipped through the air nonstop, unleashing Aqua Jet with wild freedom.
Trailing a long stream of water vapor behind it, every place Sharpedo passed was left littered with fallen Fire-types.
Though there were still plenty of Electric-types on the field, not a single one could track Sharpedo's position… Because Krookodile was going all out too!
One sand vortex after another appeared out of nowhere in the midst of the wild Pokémon clusters, locking most of them in place.
Even the few lucky enough to escape ended up hesitating between fleeing and counterattacking.
That's when Umbreon took the stage!
Its soft paws let it approach enemies in complete silence. Then, at just the right moment…
One strike to the throat!
Ever since Gengar's Spatial Barrier had been fully mastered, Sato no longer needed Umbreon by his side at all times.
On one hand, losing the "bodyguard" role gave Umbreon more free time.
But on the other hand… as teammates grew stronger, Sato's decreasing reliance on it gnawed at Umbreon's heart.
Umbreon didn't want to be a backup, it wanted to be a main fighter… It wanted the center stage!
After a long period of solitary training, Umbreon had begun to change its own fighting style. No longer passive and defensive.
Of course, it hadn't abandoned its original strengths either. In fact, it had started learning how to trade blows in brutal close-quarters combat.
Just like now, Umbreon would creep close and strike hard.
If it could KO the opponent in one hit, great. If not, it would take the hit and strike again. A second claw, a third…
This aggressive, never-let-go fighting style was both wild and unreasonable. But at the same time, truly awe-inspiring.
Umbreon was no longer just that "support" Pokémon who cast Heal Bell and Wish in team fights!
Which is why, even as new wild Pokémon kept joining the fray, Sato's team -thanks to their perfect coordination- held the line with ease!
---◓---
On Cynthia's side, Milotic, Gastrodon, and Eelektross were equally in sync.
With its Levitate Ability, Eelektross was an airborne turret, firing powerful Zap Cannon blasts one after another without pause.
Due to the sheer number of enemies, Eelektross didn't even need to aim carefully. Just lobbing shots into the densest clusters was enough.
With every Zap Cannon explosion, waves of wild Pokémon fell like dominoes; Electric-types among them.
Milotic was no less fierce. No one knew how it managed to summon such massive tidal waves in a place almost completely devoid of water.
Wherever the waves swept, wild Pokémon collapsed with zero resistance, crushed in a single surge!
Sato guessed Cynthia's Milotic must have used quite a few rare items to enhance its energy control, otherwise the move wouldn't have this much power.
And finally, Gastrodon didn't lag behind either. Riding the residue of Milotic's water waves, it catalyzed large swaths of swampy terrain across the battlefield.
The restricting power of the swamp was no weaker than Krookodile's Sand Tomb, and in some ways even stronger.
Previously, even seven Trainers combined couldn't withstand the encirclement, yet now Sato and Cynthia had blocked it with only three Pokémon each.
The difference spoke for itself.
When the battle reached a stalemate, the stronger "wild" Pokémon finally grew restless.
The first to descend was a Magmortar nearly three meters tall, its jaded expression locking straight onto Eelektross in the sky.
Magmortar stepped into the middle of the wild Pokémon horde, and even its own allies quickly made way for it.
A moment later, Magmortar raised its cannon-like arms…
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Ten fire shells shot out in pairs, and then each compressed sphere expanded sharply, forming massive blazing "大" shapes.
Fire Blast!
"Block it. Consecutive Knock Off!"
At the critical moment, Cynthia's voice pierced through the chaos of battle, reaching Eelektross clearly.
Eelektross steadied itself in the air. Facing the massive Fire Blast closing in, it coated both suction-cup-like hands in dense Dark-type energy.
Then, rotating around its own body as an axis, it swung its arms repeatedly.
Pa…
Pa-pa-pa…
Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa!
PA!
Ten crisp slapping sounds rang out, no more and no less, each one perfectly striking down one Fire Blast, sending all of them crashing back into the wild Pokémon horde and dealing substantial damage.
Those ten sharp Knock Off strikes were like ten resounding slaps smashing across Magmortar's face…
For a moment, the morale of the wild Pokémon nearly collapsed.
---◓---
On the other side, Umbreon had also been targeted by a powerful Pokémon.
Right after it used Feint Attack to bring down a fairly strong Electivire, a red targeting line suddenly locked onto Umbreon's body.
Umbreon immediately sensed it and turned its head, spotting a Magnezone staring at it coldly from not far away.
Around Magnezone, ten Zap Cannon spheres spun continuously.
The next moment, Magnezone's twin magnets pointed directly at Umbreon, and the Zap Cannons, as if receiving a command, all launched toward it at once!
Umbreon instinctively wanted to evade, but Sato's voice arrived at the exact same moment.
"Rapid Shadow Ball, detonate them!"
"Umbree!"
If Sato said not to dodge, Umbreon would not dodge.
Umbreon rapidly formed ten Shadow Balls, aligned them with the ten Zap Cannons, and hurled them all at once.
The next instant, an earth-shaking explosion erupted. The ten Zap Cannons were detonated simultaneously by the Shadow Balls. The resulting force was far more than ten plus ten.
Any wild Pokémon at the center of that blast would suffer catastrophic injuries, and both Umbreon and Magnezone -the instigators- were blown away by the shockwave.
The tremendous explosion caused both sides of the battle to halt simultaneously.
Sato and Cynthia quietly recalled their Pokémon to their sides, and the heavily injured Umbreon was carried back carefully by Sharpedo.
"Umbree…"
With its unyielding nature, Umbreon gritted its teeth, jumped down from Sharpedo's back, and quietly activated Wish to heal its own wounds.
Umbreon stood tall, trying to tell Sato that it could still keep fighting!