Sidney, who had already rushed to the front, felt somewhat relieved when he heard those voices.
After all, there were still quite a few conscientious League trainers willing to stay behind and help him capture these despicable Team Aqua members. Though he never expected them to be of much help. As long as they did not get in his way, that was enough.
Further down the street, Team Aqua members quickly came out of various shops.
To Sidney's surprise, there was none of the chaos and destruction he had expected. Perhaps it was because of the Water-type Pokémon, but the streets were actually unusually clean. Not a single window was broken, and none of the shop signs had been damaged.
For a brief moment, Sidney, who had some experience with street gangs, almost thought these Team Aqua members had merely come to collect protection money.
But the growing crowd of Team Aqua members soon took out the Poké Balls they had stolen and placed them one after another into a small alloy vehicle with a funnel-shaped opening on top.
This was still a robbery. They were stealing Pokémon.
The Team Aqua member at the front wore a blue-and-white headscarf. His rough, dark face remained calm as he stared fearlessly at Sidney.
"Captain Andre, that looks like the new Hoenn Elite Four member, Sidney..." a team member whispered beside him.
"It doesn't matter. Go inform headquarters and Squad 4 first." After giving the order, Andre took out a Poké Ball.
Seeing the two whispering to each other made Sidney feel slightly offended. A proper Elite Four member was standing right in front of these criminals, and the stolen goods that served as evidence were clearly visible. Their crime was beyond doubt.
Yet these Team Aqua members were neither afraid nor running away. They actually intended to fight him?
Sidney jumped down from Mightyena's back. He found it somewhat unbelievable, but his hand quickly reached for a Poké Ball as he gave the usual warning.
"I'm Sidney, an Elite Four member of the Hoenn region! Hand over the Pokémon you stole now, and your punishment will be reduced!"
His response was a series of red flashes as Poké Balls opened.
One after another, the Team Aqua members spread out in an orderly formation. Their movements were strangely synchronized, all because they had released the same Pokémon, Crawdaunt!
The levels of these Crawdaunt were also almost identical. They were all Advanced-level.
Clack, clack!
Their huge red-and-white pincers, each as large as an adult man's torso, repeatedly snapped open and shut. More than a dozen Crawdaunt stared fiercely at Sidney with their dark eye markings.
As a Gym-level trainer specializing in Dark-types, Sidney could clearly sense the thick malice coming from these Dark-type Crawdaunt.
But he was not afraid in the slightest.
As a young regional Elite Four member and a trainer with exceptional luck, he had complete confidence in his own strength. He understood that sometimes things really were this simple… No matter what happened, as long as you were damn strong enough, everything would work out.
In fact, this situation was even better. As long as he defeated these guys and recovered the stolen Pokémon, he could perfectly resolve this sudden mission. He might even earn old man Drake's praise!
The arrogant Team Aqua members were confident too, though they might not yet have realized how serious the situation was. A genuine Gym-level trainer could never be challenged by a group of identical Advanced-level Pokémon.
Only a few moments after the Pokémon appeared, neither side needed to say anything more. They shouted their orders at almost the same time.
"Crawdaunt, use Bubble Beam!"
"Mightyena, Thunder Fang! Go, Cacturne!"
As soon as their voices fell, the more than ten Crawdaunt raised their enormous pincers. The Pokémon, each a size larger than ordinary Crawdaunt, released their attacks in perfect unison.
The pale-white Bubble Beams looked like light snowballs rippling through the air. They seemed chaotic at first glance, yet they moved together in an orderly barrage toward Mightyena and Sidney.
Some of the bubbles that slipped past also did a good job harassing the unofficial trainers in the back who were hoping to take some credit.
However, the moment the bubbles covered the area, Mightyena disappeared from everyone's sight.
In just a second, the bubbles had only traveled two or three meters when a dazzling flash of electricity erupted from one of the Crawdaunt at the edge.
Because the attack was a Water-type move, the dancing golden lightning naturally began conducting through them and spread from one Crawdaunt to another. In an instant, more than a dozen Crawdaunt were engulfed by the electric light.
Even the Bubble Beams in midair were stopped in their tracks, flickering brightly.
"Cacturne, Magical Leaf!" Sidney shouted again.
These Crawdaunt had already taken the spreading damage from Thunder Fang. With the type advantage, even if they had not been knocked out immediately, their stamina was definitely at its limit.
All it would take was another Grass-type attack with a type advantage, and these Crawdaunt would surely...
"Retreat! Recall your Pokémon!" Team Aqua Squad 2 Captain Andre ordered without hesitation.
Every Team Aqua member pressed their Poké Balls at the same time. As they retreated, the Crawdaunt paralyzed in place by the electricity were recalled from a distance.
Cacturne's Magical Leaf spun around once before naturally missing its targets.
* * *
Further in the back, a Team Aqua member covered his communication device and quickly reported the situation.
"Executive, the one who came is Hoenn Elite Four member Sidney. The Pokémon collection mission has been blocked. What should our next move be, fight or retreat? If we fight, we request immediate support."
A heavy and mocking voice came from the other side. "Hoenn Elite Four member Sidney? That little brat still hasn't even grown up properly, yet he became an Elite Four member..."
"Just fight him. What are you afraid of? That kid has a woman's name and is even weaker than a woman. If we don't teach him a lesson, he'll think he can do anything."
"Andre still has Pokémon, doesn't he? At worst, just stall him for a while. Wait for me. I'll be there soon."
The Team Aqua member hesitated for a second before answering, "Yes, Executive!"
After putting down the communication device, the Team Aqua member responsible for relaying the message immediately ran to the front and carefully repeated the command to Captain Andre.
Andre had been about to order the usual retreat, but he stopped. Without the slightest hesitation or doubt, he nodded and agreed.
After Andre shouted twice, all the Team Aqua members stopped and began preparing for the long-awaited battle.
They had trained for a long time. Aside from fighting Team Magma, they rarely fought League trainers head-on. Because of their leader's strategy of avoiding direct conflict, League trainers had gradually come to see Team Aqua as nothing more than a group of cowardly thieves who liked to run away.
Andre began walking forward slowly with a Poké Ball in his hand.
* * *
On the other side, Sidney saw the Team Aqua members retreating but did not chase after them recklessly.
He had never intended to attack the Team Aqua members directly. After all, they hadn't harmed any of the residents.
His only goal was to recover the stolen Poké Balls. If he could conveniently capture a few Team Aqua members as well, that would be even better. If he failed to catch them, it didn't matter. As a glorious and righteous League Elite Four member, he didn't want to kill people in the middle of the street.
All he needed was to take the alloy vehicle containing the stolen Poké Balls.
"Mightyena!"
**
**
**
Thank you for reading! If you'd like access to extra chapters and want to support my work, you can visit my P@treon:
P@treon/SilverShark769
Vote with Power Stones for Bonus Chapters!
Your support means a lot, thank you!