High above, the male Talonflame moved.
He didn't waste breath on a roar. Every scrap of emotion sank into those raptor-sharp eyes—leaving only pure killing intent.
With a snap of his wings, his whole body became a black-and-red blur, streaking down from the heights along an aerodynamically impossible, ghostly line!
He was using Acrobatics—a Flying-type finisher that shows its true terror only when you carry no item.
"So fast!"
Jason's pupils tightened.
The mice below hadn't even processed what was happening; all they felt was a hurricane slamming down from the sky, squeezing the breath from their chests.
But Jason tracked the motion clearly. This speed was several times the female's—practically teleporting.
A thought flashed through his mind:
"Is its Ability Gale Wings?!"
His heart leapt into his throat.
Gale Wings, Talonflame's Hidden Ability: one effect, broken in practice—when at full HP, all Flying-type moves gain absolute priority.
In battle, nothing beats speed. At full health, a Gale Wings Talonflame is the undisputed first-strike king. No matter how fast you are or how clever your setup, in front of it there's only one outcome:
Death.
Because it always moves first.
A cold sweat pricked Jason's back. If he hadn't, by sheer luck, laid Stealth Rock and Toxic Spikes beforehand, everyone here—himself included—might have been solo-wiped by this male Talonflame on Gale Wings alone.
But then he exhaled.
Gale Wings, for all its power, has a fatal weakness: take any damage—any—and the priority vanishes instantly.
Which made Stealth Rock the perfect counter. If it dared to land—if it so much as brushed those jagged stones—its "always first" would be gone.
But first, they had to survive this unstoppable Acrobatics.
As Jason's brain raced for answers, the corner of his eye caught something that sent his blood pressure through the roof.
Not far away, a Maushold—four white mice—had quietly whipped out four tiny brooms made of twigs and leaves and were about to start sweeping the ground.
Jason's mouth twitched.
They were about to use Tidy Up—now of all times!
Tidy Up clears nearby Stealth Rock, Toxic Spikes, and other hazards while greatly boosting the user's Attack and Speed.
But… bro, do you see the timing?
If you clean the field now, how are we supposed to break Gale Wings? You want us all served on a platter?
"What are you, Talonflame's inside men? Running an espionage op on me?" Jason howled inside.
Ditching all pretense, he shouted with everything he had:
"STOP! What are you doing?!"
The four mice froze mid-sweep. They turned around, baffled—only to meet every other mouse's "are you stupid?" glare. Realization hit.
Shff!
At lightning speed, all four hid their brooms behind their backs, straightened up with paws tucked in, and looked around like, who, us? we did nothing, saw nothing.
The biggest one coughed twice and mumbled, "S-sorry… we, uh, clean so often we got itchy broom fingers…"
"…"
Itchy fingers, my tail. Your "teamwork" almost itched us to death.
Jason swallowed back a mouthful of blood and a TPK. But by then, Acrobatics was right on top of them.
What now—try to face-tank it with his double-boosted Defense?
Just as he braced to throw himself in front—
A Tandemaus pair stepped forward.
They met each other's eyes, resolve shining, thrust out their tiny paws—
Vmmmm—!
A semi-transparent, pale-green barrier bloomed before the mice.
Protect!
BOOOOM!!!
Talonflame's blistering Acrobatics slammed into the shield with an eardrum-rattling crack! The barrier quaked, spiderwebbed with cracks—then, miraculously, held.
The recoil flung Talonflame back—down onto the ground, onto the jagged Stealth Rock. Gale Wings broke on impact.
Jason's eyes lit up.
"Holy—MVPs!"
He hadn't expected this bonus. Protect isn't a move Tandemaus learns by level; you normally need a rare TM.
The Maushold from earlier stepped up to explain. "They're the only pair in our family that's ever trained outside. By chance, they learned that move from a human. The last time Talonflame seized our home, that was how we escaped in one piece."
It sighed, voice dimming. "But… they're not fully trained. The move drains them. They can only use it once in a short time."
Around them, other Tandemaus pulled long faces. Their one defensive ace, spent at the start. Could they really beat an enraged Talonflame now?
Jason, though, smiled when he saw Talonflame's Protect-stuffed dive fail and Gale Wings break on Stealth Rock.
The most dangerous moment had passed.
"Everyone," his voice steadied, iron-calm. "Now, we counterattack."
He turned to the almost-traitor Maushold from earlier and gave a new order:
"Maushold—now. Tidy Up!"
The family that had been scolded a moment ago lit up, whipped the brooms back out, and started duang-duang-duang sweeping with unprecedented zeal. Another Maushold caught on and joined in.
In short order, the Stealth Rock and Toxic Spikes were cleared away. The eight mice of the two families glowed with an orange light—the mark of surging power and speed.
Seeing Gale Wings broken hadn't surprised the male Talonflame—he'd expected it. But watching the mice voluntarily erase the hazards that hurt him made him laugh.
"Ha ha ha! You trash really think a little buffing trick is enough to beat me? With those pesky stones gone, it's even easier to kill you. What a hopeless lot!"
At that, the freshly emboldened Tandemaus faltered again. True—without Stealth Rock, wouldn't Talonflame be freer to strike?
Jason didn't flinch. In a flat, matter-of-fact tone, he answered:
"Who told you we're trash?"
"If, in a minute, this 'trash' takes you down, won't that make dying a little… hard to swallow?"
With that, his body shifted—Glimmet gone, and he became Tandemaus.
This time, blended into the swarm, he no longer stood out.
He raised his forepaws high like a general commanding an army, leveled a finger at the jeering Talonflame, and blew the horn for an all-out assault:
"All mice! On my mark!"
"With me—Population Bomb!"
"Show this arrogant bird that we mice were never trash!"