Once she learned of Team Galactic's movements, Li Bing immediately led her team out.
And since Mercury's goal was to draw Li Bing in—the two sides collided almost at once.
"Crawdaunt, [BUBBLE BEAM]!"
"Pidgeot, [AIR SLASH]!"
"Arbok, [POISON FANG]!"
"Sandslash, [GYRO BALL]!"
With scattered mountain fires flickering in the background, both sides' Pokémon traded attacks without pause.
Brilliant surges of elemental power crisscrossed over the charcoal-black earth, colliding in violent bursts.
However—this was Dragon Country's turf.
In both numbers and overall strength, the League held a clear advantage.
Team Galactic couldn't hold out for long before they began withdrawing, falling back in an orderly retreat toward the Secret Realm.
But watching them pull away, Li Bing didn't look pleased.
Instead, her crescent-shaped brows tightened.
"Strange."
"It was just to disrupt the firebreak… but they committed way too many people."
From the clash just now, the force in front of her was unmistakably Team Galactic's elite.
To deploy a unit like that for a single interruption—something didn't add up.
"Elite Four Li, is something wrong?" Zhao Yong asked. The Gym Leader had come to support her, and seeing the change in her expression, he couldn't help speaking up.
In Dragon Country, besides the top-level positions of Champion and Elite Four, each province also appointed Gym Leaders to maintain regional stability.
And to handle this wildfire, Li Bing had pulled in several nearby provincial Gym Leaders for support.
Li Bing said, "It's nothing definite. I just think Team Galactic is making too big a show of this."
"Even if the firebreak is fully cut, we're not putting this fire out overnight."
Fire suppression was a process.
If Team Galactic wanted to obstruct it, constant harassment alone could slow them down badly.
But what they'd done today felt more like an all-in play.
"Elite Four Li… do we chase?" Zhao Yong asked next.
By now, Team Galactic had almost fully retreated into the Secret Realm. If they didn't pursue, it would be too late.
"Chase."
Li Bing gave the order without hesitation.
Whatever Team Galactic was plotting, these were their elite troops—that much was clear.
Since that was the case, how could they let them go?
As for whether the enemy had a back-up plan—they'd deal with it when it showed itself. Soldiers for soldiers. Water for fire.
At Li Bing's command, several Gym Leaders led their teams into the Secret Realm in pursuit.
However—high above, ten thousand meters in the sky, beyond Li Bing's notice, a jade-green bird kept flashing through the cloud layers in restless arcs.
...
Chengdu.
Once known as the Land of Abundance.
Sitting on a seismic belt, Chengdu had always been riddled with small quakes.
But this time—the 7.8-magnitude earthquake had dealt damage that was nearly impossible to undo.
For the relief teams, the hardest problem was the roads.
The quake had outright severed Chengdu's transport arteries to the outside world.
So aside from airborne support units, everyone else could only repair the roads bit by bit and advance step by step.
Of course— beyond the transportation nightmare, the support teams also faced the risk of attacks from wild Pokémon emerging from Secret Realms.
And along one of the essential routes into Chengdu, a small Secret Realm had cut the way in two.
If they wanted to pass, it was a hurdle no one could go around.
For that reason, the relief force sent elites into the Secret Realm to clear it.
Among them was Su Qingxue.
Because this was a quake-born disaster, the Secret Realm terrain was mostly badlands and mountains.
Most of the Pokémon inside were Rock- and Ground-type, with a smaller portion being Steel-types.
"Nidoqueen—[ICE BEAM]. Slow them down as much as possible."
"Beedrill—[FELL STINGER]. Clean up."
"Aron, you handle anything that slips through."
Even among elites from top universities, Su Qingxue still stood out.
"Nido!"
At the command, Nidoqueen struck first.
Pale, frigid Ice-type energy gathered in her mouth. In only a few seconds, an Ice Beam swept across the Graveler, Geodude, and Onix ahead.
And Nidoqueen's intent was clear—not to defeat them, but to pin them in place.
So after the Ice Beam, only a few actually fell.
Most were simply locked down, their movement seized by the biting chill.
They struggled desperately against the frost.
But then—the Beedrill that had been waiting to pounce erupted into motion.
"Bzz!"
On the thin insect wings on Beedrill's back, current pulsed like veins, tracing a brilliant pattern across the membrane.
The next second… a streak of light tore through empty air, and Beedrill appeared right in front of a Geodude.
Like a charging knight, it drove the long lance in its hands—packed with Bug-type energy—straight through Geodude's body.
No frills.
Geodude, already running on fumes, dropped instantly, losing the ability to battle.
And the moment it fell, an invisible airflow spiraled around Beedrill.
Its attack power rose.
Without the slightest pause, Beedrill shot toward the next target and struck again.
In a harvest like this, no move did more work than Fell Stinger.
After only two knockouts, Beedrill's boost had already hit its maximum.
Staring at this oddly colored Beedrill, the Rock-types felt a chill crawl up their spines.
Who would've thought—the Beedrill they'd never once taken seriously could now press down on them with such suffocating force?
They didn't hesitate anymore.
The trapped Pokémon gave up trying to break the icy bind—and launched a collective barrage at Beedrill instead.
STONE EDGE
ROCK SLIDE
ROCK BLAST
In an instant, rocks of every size and shape poured down in a sky-darkening wave.
Faced with such dense fire, Su Qingxue stayed calm.
"Beedrill—show them your speed."
AGILITY
From its Weedle days, this Beedrill had spent years feeding on lightning-struck wood.
That had reshaped its body into something entirely unlike an ordinary Beedrill—especially in speed.
Su Qingxue's Beedrill crushed other Beedrill of the same level.
"Bzz!"
A deep insect cry rang out, low and domineering.
Beedrill's wings flared brighter than ever.
Against a barrage like this, it didn't dare relax for even a second.
With a high-frequency tremor of its wings…
Beedrill became a blur in midair, slipping through the gaps between stones like a ghost, avoiding every single hit.
And in the openings the barrage created, those Pokémon faced Beedrill's one-sided slaughter.
With its attack boosted to the limit, Beedrill could spear through even Pokémon famed for defense—one strike was enough.
And even if one or two managed to endure the hit—Aron was waiting right there.
Very quickly, every Pokémon blocking Su Qingxue's path lost the ability to battle.
That left the students from other elite schools nearby visibly stunned.
Because the number Su Qingxue cleared on her own already exceeded all of theirs combined.
"Nidoqueen that can answer any typing, a high-burst Beedrill, and a physical wall Aron that hasn't fully grown yet… Su Qingxue's lineup is starting to look like a real system," an older upperclassman sighed.
Honestly—while they were still struggling to raise the strength of a single Pokémon, someone else was already building an entire framework.
Sometimes, comparing people really did make you mad.
The students nearby nodded along.
"As expected of Teacher Guo's disciple. That Beedrill is seriously terrifying."
"Yeah. I have no idea how she trained it—Beedrill's supposed to be fragile, but it hits like this."
"Ugh… why doesn't our school have a teacher like that?"
"Enough whining—move!" someone snapped.
"Don't let them clear their targets before you do."
Spurred on by Su Qingxue, everyone grit their teeth and pushed harder.
Before long, the Pokémon population dropped to the Secret Realm's critical threshold.
And the Secret Realm dispersed accordingly.
"Finally—it's gone."
"Thanks to Su Qingxue. If she hadn't lit a fire under everyone, we'd probably be stuck for another half hour."
"Come on. Time's tight—we can't waste it here."
With the Secret Realm no longer blocking the route, the relief force could continue advancing toward Chengdu.
At that moment—ten thousand meters above Chengdu, Team Galactic's main base—a massive airship hung motionless in the sky.
This airship was a treasure Team Galactic had found inside a Secret Realm.
No exaggeration: without it, Team Galactic would likely have been wiped out years ago under a joint international crackdown.
This airship was their foundation.
Inside the main cabin, Team Galactic's leader Cyrus watched with a cold, emotionless gaze as Pluto—dressed in a white lab coat—operated a machine.
Inside the machine were the Lake Guardians that had appeared before.
"Leader, Dragon Country really is worthy of being a populous nation," Pluto said.
"Just the negative emotions produced in Chengdu alone far exceed the total of an entire small country we destroyed before."
Watching the Red Chain being continuously produced by the Lake Guardians, Pluto's face lit with delight.
At this pace, they'd soon have enough energy to control the two Legendary Pokémon recorded in the ruins.
Once they controlled those two, the future of this world would belong to Team Galactic.
However—compared to Pluto's joy, Cyrus wasn't nearly as optimistic.
Dragon Country's disaster response speed was famous worldwide.
Continuing to harvest negative emotions at this scale wouldn't be as easy as Pluto imagined.
"I wonder… will the Seven Sages succeed?" Cyrus murmured.
His fingers tapped the armrest in a steady, intricate rhythm.
---
bonus chaps
100 stones -> 1 chapter
200 stones -> 2 chapters
300 stones -> 3 chapters
and so on
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