Silas temporarily recalled Togepi and Gigalith. The former wasn't yet developed enough to serve as real battle power, and this situation wasn't suitable for it to stay outside.
As for the latter—it was simply too heavy. Moving with it out in the open would give away their position long before they got close. Best to keep it back until the time was right.
With Blaziken and Servine, Silas darted between the scarlet trees of the forest.
High above, Pidgeot soared, its sharp eyes locked onto the enemies below.
It continued its reconnaissance, quickly picking out several Pokémon scattered among the trees that served as sentries.
With a subtle tremor of its wings, Pidgeot shifted its flight path.
Silas narrowed his eyes at the nearly invisible black speck in the sky and immediately understood what Pidgeot was trying to signal.
His brows furrowed. This wasn't some ragtag group of small-time thugs—it was a well-trained poacher team.
According to Pidgeot's report, the enemy had spread out six Pokémon in a perfectly coordinated formation, each covering their zone with flawless spacing. Together, they monitored the entire area.
Silas halted, and instantly Blaziken and Servine reacted with practiced coordination—Blaziken slipping behind a tree, Servine slithering upward into the branches.
"Gigalith, sense their types."
Silas released Gigalith after all. Stealth would be difficult here; best to get a read on the enemy first.
Pidgeot couldn't come down now. If they lost track of the poachers, finding them again would be nearly impossible.
Gigalith gave a small nod and closed its eyes, attuning itself to the vibrations running through the earth.
"Gigalith…" it murmured softly, lowering its voice instinctively.
"Two Venonat, three Houndour… and one Houndoom, likely the leader?" Silas thought aloud.
Common enough choices for poachers' sentry Pokémon.
Still, this also confirmed they weren't part of a massive poaching syndicate—just a regular but experienced team. Silas allowed himself a slight breath of relief.
He checked the time. It had been five or six minutes since the explosion when he had sent a message to Officer Jenny in Crimson City.
But this was deep within the Crimson Forest. Thick shrubs, tangled vines, and uneven trees filled the landscape. Vehicles couldn't even get through here.
That meant Jenny and her team would need at least seven or eight more minutes to arrive.
But can the wild Pokémon inside hold out that long? Silas worried.
From his own keen hearing and Pidgeot's feedback, he knew the embattled Pokémon were already struggling. Against overwhelming numbers, technology, and tactics, their resistance was fragile at best.
At any moment, they could collapse—and if that happened, death wasn't out of the question.
"Awooo~"
A long, pained howl echoed through the forest. It was nothing like the elegant cry such a Pokémon should have made—this one was raw with agony and frustration, cutting straight through the trees.
Silas's heart clenched. "They can't last much longer… Officer Jenny isn't here yet. I'll have to buy some time myself."
He ordered Servine to lash its vines upward, signaling Pidgeot. At the same time, he motioned for Blaziken to follow Gigalith's readings and clear a path.
Pidgeot, hovering above, caught Servine's signal instantly. The next moment, it tucked its wings and dove.
"Captain! That Pidgeot's coming down!"
The poachers weren't fools. At first, they had ignored the circling Pidgeot, but after so long, it was obvious their presence had been discovered.
"Damn it!"
The leader of the poacher team scowled. He turned his gaze back to the massive fox standing before him—Nine tails swaying, its golden fur ragged with dust and wounds.
He had never expected the Ninetales to be this powerful.
Ninetales panted heavily, its once immaculate, silky fur in disarray. Its body was scored with gashes and matted with grime.
Behind it, in the shadow of a cave, two Pokémon Eggs were faintly visible.
The captain's eyes gleamed with greed. A near–Elite-level Ninetales, leaving the depths of Forest to nest here of all places and laying eggs? This was an opportunity too good to waste.
When his men had first brought him this information, he had nearly laughed with joy. If they secured this catch, the profits would last them a long time.
Unlike the large-scale syndicates, his crew didn't field entire teams of Advance-class Pokémon. To have worn Ninetales down this far, he had relied on a lucky opening salvo—a rocket strike at the very start.
And now, burdened with protecting its offspring, Ninetales's strength was severely restricted. It simply couldn't keep up against over twenty ordinary- to Advance-level Pokémon surrounding it.
Especially not when many of them were Water- and Rock-types.
The captain's eyes glinted with cruelty.
Ninetales bared its fangs, eyes blazing with fury.
He saw it, and sneered coldly. "Everyone, increase energy output! Tech team, strengthen the artificial net. Water-types, stagger your attacks—don't give it a chance to recover!"
He snapped again, barking further orders: "Electric-types—three Advance Level, hit that Pidgeot with Thunderbolt! Keep it out of the way and give us time to deploy the net."
He didn't care about conserving resources now. Better to lose some profit than to risk failure. A weakened near-Elite wasn't going to overturn the battle.
So long as they finished before Officer Jenny arrived. He had no desire to rot in a cell for life—the League's punishments for poachers were notoriously severe.
If this had been a Champion-level Pokémon, he would have fled without a second thought. But this? This was manageable.
Too weak. Too unlucky. You'll become my fortune, he thought, smirking as victory seemed within his grasp.
Pidgeot? Just another bird. Against Electric-types and a web of conductive wire, what could it possibly achieve?
The poacher team moved in unison.
Weapons in their hands glowed brighter as they poured enhanced firepower into their attacks.
At the same time, torrents of Water-type moves—Water Gun, Hydro Pump, Bubble Beam—exploded from their Pokémon, filling the air with a flood of attacks.
Three Magneton hovered in formation, bodies pulsing with crackling electricity. After a brief charge, three bolts of lightning surged upward toward the diving Pidgeot. The streams even began to converge midair.
The captain's grin widened. His Magneton were among his best assets.
But even as the storm of attacks closed in, Ninetales's eyes gleamed. Though not Psychic-type, its natural affinity for supernatural powers allowed it to wield techniques like Extrasensory with ease.
And the older a Ninetales lived, the stronger its psychic talents became.
After all, it was said a Ninetales could live for a thousand years.
One of its nine tails flickered faintly with light—but no one noticed.
High above, Pidgeot executed a graceful tactical roll, its tail feathers trailing a streak of lingering white energy as it slipped past the three converging Thunderbolts.
So this is supposed to be Electric-type power? It wasn't even as fierce as Blaziken's Flamethrower. Pidgeot gave a mocking cry down at the three Magneton, its tone dripping with contempt. Pathetic.
The smug grin on the poacher captain's face lasted only a moment before vanishing.
He immediately seized command of the Magneton. "Use Tri Attack—lock down its escape routes!"
Just a Pidgeot. No trainer's orders. And it dares to mock me? The captain seethed. Those Magneton were his personal pride, raised with his own hands.
The other poachers kept silent. Sure, their captain was furious over a bird's taunt—it was ridiculous—but he was the one paying them, so they didn't complain.
Pidgeot hovered in place, its powerful wings whipping faster and faster until a swirling storm gathered around it.
In the next instant, its Hurricane clashed with the three converging Tri Attacks, the collision detonating in a shriek of energy that rattled eardrums.
"Gigalith—Rock Slide! Blaziken—Flare Blitz Servine—Magical Leaf, rapid fire!"
Through the ringing in the air, Silas's commands cut through.
"Thud!"
Stones materialized above the poachers' Pokémon that had been pressuring Ninetales. One after another, the boulders came crashing down, striking hard.
Two or three Pokémon were instantly pinned under the sudden onslaught.
The carefully formed formation shattered, their coordinated barrage against Ninetales abruptly broken.
The fox's sharp instincts pounced on the opening. "Awooo!"
With a desperate cry, it endured several Water-type attacks head-on. One glowing tail flared again, and its eyes blazed blue-violet.
The result was immediate—seven or eight enemy Pokémon shrieked in agony as a devastating Psychic burst hurled them back.
It was Psyshock. Even Psychic-types themselves struggled to wield it so brutally.
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"
A roaring blaze surged forth. Through the flames, the silhouette of a towering humanoid Pokémon came hurtling forward, legs driving like pistons as it charged straight into the chaos.
Blaziken.
Its body wreathed in fire, it plowed through four, five enemy Pokémon before colliding hard with a Golem, finally halting its rampage.
As the flames dispersed, Blaziken stood tall before the poachers' team. Its claws gleamed white, honed like blades, before it slashed downward in a brutal strike against Golem.
"Thud!"
The Rock Pokémon never even reacted. It wasn't that it was too slow—it was that Blaziken was too fast.
The sound of flesh and stone colliding rang out. But the one who fell wasn't Blaziken. Golem toppled backward, slammed into the dirt.
It wasn't knocked out, but it was down for the count, unable to rise quickly.
"Servine~"
Blue-violet leaves shimmered across the battlefield, slicing through the chaos. Five or six of them homed in on the prone Golem.
"Snap! Snap! Snap!"
One after another, the leaves shattered against its rocky hide—but the Grass-type energy within still ripped through it, exploiting its Rock/Ground typing with brutal efficiency.
The newly evolved Golem, fresh from its recent evolution, let out a groan of shame and unwillingness before collapsing, defeated.
The poachers stared in shock. In barely four or five seconds, the entire tide of battle had flipped against them.
Their minds buzzed with confusion, the ringing of combat drowning out reason.
...
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