They were close, their voices sounding aggressive and a hungry tone that made the hairs on my body stand on end.
"There it is! Get the nets ready!" one of them yelled.
"Don't let it get away!"
Just then, a quick Gust attack, coupled with what seemed like blades made from compressed water, cleared out the entire area, which was previously covered with rocks and trees.
I was stunned at the sight of humans. Of all the ways I had imagined meeting humans in this world, this situation had never crossed my mind.
There were a total of eight men and women, followed by around eleven Pokémon.
At the front, there was a Pidgeot and a Greninja; these were the two Pokémon that were responsible for the Gust attack and the Water Shuriken that cleared out the area.
Both of them looked quite exhausted, especially with all the electric marks across their bodies; they must have been injured while fighting with Zeraora.
They were protecting a hunter. The Hunter looked like a seasoned veteran with a cold face. He was tall and well-built. He wore a tactical vest, like those in the military back in my original world, with multiple pockets and a pair of binoculars and similar equipment hanging around his neck. He was most likely the leader of this hunter group.
As he led the way, there were a few more humans following with their Pokémon. Immediately behind the leader was this large, white-skinned, and blonde-haired man, who, if anyone from my old world were to see, the first word in their heads would be British. There was a huge Tyranitar following closely beside him.
There was also a lean, agile hunter with a sharp, observant look in his eyes. He was followed by two Pokémon on his two sides, a stealthy Sneasel and a powerful Weavile.
The three remaining hunters who followed the others looked like the grunts of the team. They had a mix of Pokémon, although powerful, they didn't look well-trained as their leaders. There was a Primeape, Hariyama, and Machoke.
The leader of the human hunter group came forward, with a smile on his face, while looking towards the little Zeraora,
"Oh, so you also have a child, huh?!!"
"After I have skin you alive, I will sell your sorry offspring to the worst customer I can find. "
"How dare you kill so many of our members?"
"I built this team from the ground up after so many struggles."
"At first, we would have just captured you and sold you to the highest bidder. But now that you have killed so many of my comrades. I will kill youuuuuu!!!"
As the boss was angrily talking about violently killing the Zeraora, the lean, agile hunter from the group started speaking:
"Boss, wait. Think about it. This could be the big break we needed after all."
"Huh?! What do you mean, Robert? speak up,"
After getting the permission to speak, the lean and agile hunter, who was called Robert, spoke up,
"Boss, this Zeraora single-handedly took out more than twenty of us and their Pokémon, and she is still not done. This Zeraora has to be a Champion-ranked Pokémon. Instead of killing her for revenge, if we can capture her, and force her to breed. We can have multiple Zeraora eggs that we can sell on the black market. Every one of us will be billionaires each."
"Hahaha !!! True, True," chipped in the huge British-looking man."
The leader who was brimming with anger before looked to fall into a deep thinking state. After a few seconds, he said,
"Yeah! You are right. We cannot leave this opportunity."
Soon after regaining his calm, the leader first asked,
"Check your numbers, boys," he said, and I heard a low, raspy laugh. "Seventeen Pokémon down. Twelve hunters are dead. We lost a lot, but what's left is worth a fortune. She's got no right arm. However, you don't need an arm to breed, and the kid beside her is too weak to do anything."
"We six are left, with a total of eight Pokémon. The others had come into direct contact with the thunderwave before; it looks like they are completely paralysed. They don't have more than a couple of hours to live. That Zeraora changed the thunderwaves' frequency to kill. What a sly beast!!!"
"Don't worry, just don't let that Zeraora escape. We won't be able to capture a Zeraora in foot, so go surround her from all sides."
That's when I realized I was so stunned by what was happening that I had completely forgotten to hide or even think of what to do in this situation. I racked my brains for a solution or an escape plan, but it looks like the last eight, nine months of peaceful time have frozen and jammed my brain.
I was so deep in thought that I had again forgotten to hide, and that's when one of the hunters saw me, with a surprised look on her face.
"Huh?!!"
"A child, what is a human child doing here?"
As soon as she said this, everyone turned their attention to me. The statement of a human child being here in the forest with two Zeraora was quite unbelievable. In fact, if not for all of them being able to see me, standing with a Shinx and an Archen beside me in front of the female hunter, they would have completely disregarded this as a story.
As all of them had their eyes turned to me, they didn't realize they gave the mother Zeraora an opening.
That was when the mother Zeraora showed her true power. Her only remaining paw ignited with a brilliant, white-blue glow, a dazzling, almost blinding effect that illuminated the entire clearing.
This was the famous Plasma Fists, although in this case, it was just a Plasma Fist, a furious, powerful attack that was far more potent than any Thunder Punch. She was a whirlwind of motion, her lithe body a blur of yellow, black, and electric blue.
The hunters, now panicking, raised their rifles and fired. A net launched from the end of the barrel, a desperate attempt to immobilize the mythical Pokémon. But the Zeraora, in an act of breathtaking speed and grace, caught the net with her bare paw and, in a flash, electrified it, sending the charge back towards the hunters. This net fell on the three grunts, including the female hunter in front of me, their bodies convulsing in a shocking display of the raw power that Zeraora could wield.
Immediately after this, she grabbed hold of her child while building up electricity and thunder in her body, and threw him in my direction with all her might. The child Zeraora, clearly confused by what was happening, came crashing towards me, taking both of us away from the clear field.
The leader, the British-looking man, and Robert quickly started giving commands to their respective Pokémon,
"Greninja, Water Shuriken,"
"Tyranitar, Hyper Beam,"
"Sneasel, Shadow Bind,"
"Weavile, Shadow Claw,"
"Pidgeot, Wing Attack."
That's when all the electricity and thunder in the mother Zeraora exploded from her body, with a final tearful and soft cry,
"Zeraa,"
Realizing what was about to happen, the leader quickly started to call back his remaining teammates, but it was too late.
"No, you bastard.!!"
Everything, close to Zeraora, was obliterated from existence, the entire ground being scorched, trees uprooted from the shockwaves.
This was the ultimate form of the Pokémon move, "Explosion".