At the command, Mightyena had already reached the specially designed cart collecting the Poké Balls. Its jaws opened wide as its sharp teeth closed in on the handle, which was now within reach.
"Slash!"
Another voice rang out. A pale blade of light swept across Mightyena's back. Its black-and-white fur split open as drops of blood scattered through the air. Mightyena let out a painful cry before falling to the ground with a whimper.
Beside the cart carrying the Poké Balls stood a dark brown Pokémon. At first glance, it looked like a Scyther with a flat head… but this was definitely not a Scyther!
This Pokémon was at the Gym-level.
It had just been released by the Team Aqua squad leader, and its speed was astonishingly fast.
Sidney's expression tightened as he immediately recalled the injured Mightyena.
How could a mere Team Aqua squad leader possess a Gym-level Pokémon?
More importantly, as an Elite Four member of Hoenn, he had never seen this Pokémon before. Judging by Team Aqua's usual habits, it was probably a Water-type as well.
Suppressing his doubts for the moment, Sidney quickly ordered, "Cacturne, use Cotton Spore!"
Cotton Spore caused a Pokémon to release soft, cotton-like spores that tightly wrapped around its opponent and reduced its speed. Against a Pokémon that specialized in speed, it was one of the most effective moves.
At that moment, flames and a dense stream of blue-black seeds came from behind. They were Flamethrower and Bullet Seed.
"Elite Sidney! We'll keep it occupied for you!"
Two unofficial League trainers behind him had finally gotten their chance to act, and they rushed to support Sidney one after another.
Sidney gladly accepted their help. His strength already crushed the opponent, so with several League trainers assisting him, wouldn't victory be easy?
The Flamethrower and Bullet Seed moved even faster. Before Cacturne could finish gathering its spores, the attacks had already reached the brown Pokémon.
Team Aqua squad captain Andre merely raised the corner of his mouth and shouted, "Kabutops, Rapid Spin!"
Rapid Spin could increase a Pokémon's speed while also allowing it to break free from moves such as Bind, Wrap, and Leech Seed. A Pokémon skilled enough could even use it for short-distance movement.
Kabutops raised its two pale arm blades. Its slender yet powerful body instantly transformed into a spinning top whose shape could barely be seen.
In the blink of an eye, the spinning top moved several meters at high speed and perfectly avoided the attacks. The Flamethrower naturally missed, while every Bullet Seed fell harmlessly into empty space.
"Swords Dance!" Andre ordered again.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Kabutops slowly twisted its body into a strange dance.
At the same time, clusters of floating Cotton Spore drifted toward Kabutops, which stood in the middle of the street.
"Water Gun!"
The command came from behind once again, this time in perfect unison.
Dozens of meters away, the retreating Team Aqua members released various Water-type Pokémon once more: Staryu, Kingler, Croconaw, Wingull, Buizel, and others.
Although there were many different species, every one of them was highly skilled with the basic Water-type move Water Gun. Clearly, they had received special training for this.
More than a dozen streams of water merged together and easily scattered all of Cacturne's Cotton Spore.
Kabutops also completed its Swords Dance with their help.
Sidney stared at the Team Aqua members in disbelief. In his impression, weren't evil organizations supposed to collapse and flee at the first sign of trouble? How could they have such coordination?
Besides, this was not his first encounter with Team Aqua. Most of their members had always been timid and cowardly, running away like rats the moment they saw a Gym-level League trainer.
Had these Team Aqua members been replaced?
But there was no time for him to think about it now. He reached to his waist and pulled out two more Poké Balls.
Sidney wasn't worried about losing. He had a full team of Gym-level Pokémon, while the opponent only had Kabutops and a few insignificant underlings behind it.
The unofficial League trainers behind him, however, were beginning to panic. The back-and-forth battle in front of them was completely different from the scene they had imagined, where an Elite Four member would simply sweep through Team Aqua.
The longer the battle remained deadlocked, the lower their chances of winning became.
Not only could Team Aqua receive reinforcements, but the aftermath of such an intense battle could also hit the trainers. These unofficial League trainers had the courage to take risks, but they certainly did not want to gamble with their lives.
In the blink of an eye, they all reached the same decision.
"Typhlosion, Flamethrower!"
"Sceptile, Energy Ball!"
"Swellow, Air Cutter!"
Several attacks shot forward at incredible speed, but their target was not Kabutops, which was skillfully dodging between the streets.
Their target was Kabutops's trainer, squad captain Andre.
As long as they killed this Team Aqua squad captain first, Kabutops would naturally become much easier to deal with.
Perhaps Sidney, as a Hoenn Elite Four member, had no intention of hurting anyone, but the unofficial League trainers didn't care about that. As long as they could earn contribution points, they had no problem killing a few members of an evil organization.
Seeing the three attacks coming toward him, Andre couldn't help feeling his scalp tingle.
Fortunately, he had prepared for this in advance. He had positioned himself beside a stone pillar, so all he needed to do now was move slightly to hide behind it.
Bang!
Smoke and dust erupted as the Flamethrower grazed past him. The Energy Ball left a crater in the stone pillar, while Air Cutter carved several deep marks into its surface.
Still shaken, Andre came out from behind the pillar, glanced at the damage, then quickly backed away.
If all three attacks had been moves with greater impact force, he might really have died here.
He immediately turned around and shouted, "Quick, set up Rain!"
More than a dozen Team Aqua members heard the order, but only three of them gave commands. Of the dozen or so Water-type Pokémon, only three knew Rain Dance.
That was still more than enough.
"Rain Dance!"
* * *
Vroom! Vroom!
On the northern department store street of Lilycove City, the sirens of police cars pierced through the air. Even inside a well-insulated car, the sound could be heard clearly through the windows.
The evacuated crowds, the weaker Pokémon, and even the League trainers who had fled faster than most of the others were all moving away from the area.
If Shiro hadn't been mistaken, those should have been League trainers.
He sat on the transverse sofa inside the extended limousine and leaned forward slightly. "Mr. Cairo, what happened up ahead?"
Cairo, who was sitting beside him, had been staring at the end of the street without a moment's rest. He nervously wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief.
That was the road they had originally planned to take, but it was now surrounded by police vehicles and motorcycles. Several layers of red warning tape had also been stretched across the area by the busy Officer Jennys, all to warn everyone else not to approach.
"Uh, maybe... some criminal organization is causing trouble," Cairo replied uncertainly.
He had only heard that some cities in Hoenn were frequently attacked by Team Aqua and Team Magma, which had also caused some of Devon Corporation's operations in those cities to develop more slowly.
But personally experiencing an attack by an evil organization while escorting an important guest was certainly not pleasant.
Fortunately, they still had time to take another route.
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