"It seems someone arrived here before us. They defeated Steelix after a fierce battle and took our target away."
"That person left not long ago. Track them immediately based on the battlefield's traces!"
Looking at the untreated battlefield, the leader quickly deduced what had occurred.
However, before their squad could move, a shockwave blasted out from their direction and directly struck the awakening Steelix.
Being thoroughly beaten by Mega Charizard Y was already enough to infuriate Steelix. Now, being provoked again instantly caused its rage to surge to the absolute limit.
Without letting out a roar, Steelix silently burst forth with its fastest speed.
At this moment, it only wanted to use blood to quench the fury in its heart.
"Retreat, quickly! That person hasn't left yet!"
In an instant, Yano realized what was happening. He immediately prepared to lead his men away, but their speed was a step too slow, and they fell right into Steelix's attack range.
Unleashing Stone Edge, Steelix transformed into a moving Gatling machine gun, frantically bombarding Yano and his team.
"Abandon a portion of the Pokémon and leave!"
Saying that, Yano took the lead by releasing two Pokémon.
Following this, everyone struck together, barely managing to block Steelix's onslaught.
Originally, Yano's squad was only responsible for gathering intelligence rather than direct confrontation. Consequently, when facing this Steelix, his squad was fundamentally unable to resist.
Most crucially, Steelix was not stupid either.
A few Pokémon were simply not enough to appease its wrath. Its true targets were Yano and these humans!
There was nothing it could do about the human who commanded Charizard, but was it unable to kill weaklings like them?
Using Dig, Steelix bypassed the Pokémon meant to block it and instead emerged right in the middle of Yano's team.
It swept with Iron Tail, and absolutely no one could withstand a single blow.
"Split up and retreat! Escape as many as we can!"
Seeing that the stalling tactics were ineffective, Yano fled in a random direction.
Poké Balls were thrown out one after another.
By the end, only a Middle-tier Elite rank Pokémon remained by Yano's side to protect him.
Its colossal body gave Steelix an astonishing attack range.
Swinging its tail like a long whip, it easily defeated and slaughtered the Pokémon one by one.
Blood splattered everywhere, and corpses appeared one after another.
The pervasive scent of blood further stimulated Steelix's ferocity.
During their panicked flight, these people failed to notice that an invisible force seemed to be influencing them and Steelix.
It made it incredibly difficult for them to break free from Steelix's pursuit, and Steelix could easily discover their locations to strike.
After a while, the area around Steelix turned into a total mess. A massive number of corpses piled up, and the thick scent of blood finally allowed Steelix to vent the fury in its heart.
Striking the ground with its tail, Steelix buried the corpses and then went to sleep contentedly.
"Huff! Huff! Huff!"
Rapid panting echoed. Under the threat of death, Yano did not dare to look back at all, focusing entirely on fleeing for his life.
Yet, he failed to notice that the Pokémon that had been following by his side had already disappeared.
Abruptly, Yano actually saw that Steelix appear right in front of him.
Before he could command his Pokémon to strike, he was tightly coiled by Steelix's tail, then tossed into its mouth as its sharp teeth chewed his body.
The intense pain and the approach of death directly caused Yano to break down.
"Speak up, speak up. Tell me everything you know, and I will help you escape this misery."
Suddenly, a low whisper echoed near Yano's ear.
At this moment, Yano was like a drowning person catching onto the last straw. Without a second thought, he chose to comply, revealing all the intelligence he knew.
The moment Yano uttered the last word, the intense pain completely vanished.
A sense of powerlessness surfaced, and Yano felt just like a fish out of water, feeling as though his entire body had lost all sensation.
"So that's how it is. As expected, Team Aqua and Team Magma are the only rookies."
Beside Yano, Gu Yuan spoke with slight surprise.
From Yano's mouth, Gu Yuan gained a general understanding of Team Galactic's strength.
Just like Team Aqua and Team Magma in the Hoenn region, Team Galactic also had three Peak Executives, but Yano had only interacted with Saturn.
Yano did not know much about Saturn's exact strength, but he knew that Team Galactic possessed numerous Champion rank Executives, and that was still not all of them.
As for Yano, he was responsible for investigating clues regarding Dialga.
Most critically, Team Galactic had already developed a technology capable of refining items containing Dialga's or Palkia's energy, which meant drawing out the energy inside them.
The main purpose of this energy was to search for clues regarding Dialga and Palkia, but it also had a side effect, which was enhancing a Pokémon's strength.
However, within Team Galactic, this practice was undoubtedly seen as a reckless waste of resources. Therefore, not many people used it, and they instead concentrated all their strength on finding the two legendary Pokémon to create a new world.
Yano's squad happened to be equipped with the device that possessed this technology.
After obtaining the relevant usage of the device from Yano, Gu Yuan prepared to test it out.
"Are you ready, Charizard?"
As Gu Yuan's inquiry rang out, Charizard nodded firmly, its eyes holding a hint of anticipation and excitement.
The device was activated, and it was actually only about the size of two tablets.
After connecting two wires to Charizard, the energy within the device began to transfer into its body.
Nothing much happened at first, but as time passed, Charizard's strength truly began to rise. Furthermore, it was exceptionally solid, without the slightest feeling of instability.
Unfortunately, this enhancement could not last too long, and the energy inside the device was soon completely depleted.
"Hold on a moment. Speaking of which, this thing should also be able to produce an effect."
Taking out the shard he had just found on Steelix, Gu Yuan began to use the device to extract its energy.
Fortunately, the operation of the device was not difficult, and the extraction process merely required connecting the same two wires onto it.
Very quickly, the energy within the shard began to be extracted.
Next, Gu Yuan repeated his previous action, transferring the extracted energy to Charizard.
Evidently, the shard contained a vast amount of energy, allowing Charizard's strength to make considerable progress, which also gave Gu Yuan a taste of success.
"It seems that besides challenging those wild Pokémon, this is going to be my greatest opportunity. I must definitely grasp it well."
Saying that, Gu Yuan looked down at Yano, who was lying on the ground.
Even while unconscious, Yano seemed to sense some sort of danger, and his entire body shuddered.