Watching the Arcanine whose aura had reached its peak, its fur rippling wildly in the wind, Mars blinked hard several times.
She could clearly feel that this Champion-level Arcanine had already stacked multiple layers of buffs on itself.
But… their battle had just barely begun. How was that even possible?
'Don't tell me you've been stacking since Arceus created the world?'
"Purugly, use Water Pulse! Bronzone, use Rain Dance!"
After a sarcastic mutter, Mars immediately launched her first attack against Officer Jenny No.4.
As one of Team Galactic's three Commanders, Mars had her pride.
'So what if this Arcanine has already pre-stacked its Attack power?'
'It's not like you can max out your stacks, right?'
Her Purugly had the Thick Fat ability, fire-type damage would be halved.
And with Bronzone's Rain Dance in effect, Mars was confident she wouldn't lose to this Miss Jenny standing before her.
Jenny No.4's lips curled slightly upward, her brows lifting lazily, not even bothering to look Mars straight in the eye.
Use moves in front of her Arcanine?
"Extreme Speed!"
The most terrifying thing about Arcanine's Extreme Speed was just that, its speed.
Before Jenny's voice had even finished, Arcanine shot forward like lightning.
The Purugly, still concentrating its Water Pulse, let out a miserable scream as it was sent flying tens of meters backward.
Along the way, several Trainers tried to command their Pokémon to catch Purugly, hoping to earn some credit before Mars.
But the moment those Pokémon touched Purugly, they were smashed to the ground by the sheer impact force. Some even passed out on the spot.
BANG!
With a deafening crash, Purugly slammed hard into a distant cliff wall, bouncing on the ground like a meatball a few times before finally coming to a stop.
At that moment, Purugly's eyes were already dazed.
It looked at Arcanine in disbelief, blinking furiously.
'Is this really a dog?'
'Too damn dog-like!'
Having experienced it firsthand, Purugly had an extremely clear perception of Arcanine's strength.
'That dog absolutely used a power-boosting skill and maxed out its Attack stat.'
"Meow~"
Fueled by anger, Purugly didn't even wait for Mars's next command. It began gathering Water Pulse again, determined to take back some pride.
But Arcanine didn't give it a chance.
It once again activated Extreme Speed.
Its fiery-red body streaked past countless Pokémon, slamming precisely into Purugly again.
Purugly's Water Pulse was interrupted once more, and it was sent flying yet again.
At this point, everyone in Team Galactic was dumbfounded.
They stared at the Arcanine, standing like a war god, and instinctively began retreating.
"T-this… this is Extreme Speed? It's way too terrifying!"
Those who had never faced Miss Jenny before began doubting life itself, why had they joined Team Galactic in the first place? Why did they choose to fight against such a terrifying Officer Jenny?
"No, it's not the move that's terrifying," someone who had fought her before quickly realized.
"It's that Arcanine! Extreme Speed alone isn't this monstrous. Even if it gets priority, other Pokémon could still counterattack."
"What's horrifying is that Arcanine's sheer strength left Commander Purugly with no chance to fight back!"
Mars took a deep breath. She understood this logic too, but there was simply no way to fight back.
Unless…
Mars glanced at the airship in the distance, biting down on her teeth so hard it was as if she'd crush them.
"Damn it… fine, humiliating or not, I'm the villain anyway! What's wrong with using group attacks?"
She knew it would look bad, but if the mission failed, it would be far worse.
"All units! Use crowd-control moves, paralyze that Arcanine!"
"As long as we can restrain it for even one moment, Purugly can land a critical hit!"
"Roger!"
The Team Galactic members quickly responded, preparing to unleash Thunder Wave, Confuse Ray, and similar control skills to immobilize Arcanine.
But the next moment, countless barks erupted, dozens more Arcanines appeared.
Every Galactic member froze, eyes wide, legs trembling.
Because they realized, those Arcanines, just like Jenny No.4's, had all maxed out their Attack power.
["Why aren't you saying anything?"]
Through the communicator came Cyrus's puzzled voice.
["Didn't you just say you'd run into a small problem but could handle it?"]
Mars swallowed dryly, her throat tightening as she stared at the army of buffed Arcanines in front of her, her voice trembling.
"Lord Cyrus, help! These Jennies… they're not even human anymore…"
"We just lost the initiative for a moment, and somehow they've all maxed their Attack stats!"
———
"Huh?"
On the other end, Cyrus, who had been happily grilling skewers, froze, the smile vanishing from his face.
They were just a bunch of Jennies.
At most, they'd been caught off guard for a few seconds. How could they possibly stack Attack power so fast?
He'd just spent half an hour convincing Axel that the Lake Trio were so powerful that without Team Galactic's core members, there'd be no way to win.
It hadn't been easy getting Axel to buy it and wait patiently.
'And now the core members… have all been wiped out?'
'You guys didn't… stop to have a barbecue too, did you?'
———
"Why did Lord Cyrus stop smiling?"
Axel took a satisfied sip of soda, a grin curling at his lips.
Thanks to his psychic powers, even though Cyrus hadn't turned on speaker mode, Axel still knew exactly what was happening.
After adopting the coordinated attack strategy, the Jennies' Arcanines had become unstoppable.
Axel originally thought the Jennies would just deal a little damage and earn some merit points.
He hadn't expected… the entire Galactic elite to get annihilated.
Cyrus's face twitched, his mind spinning rapidly.
'What the hell, when did the Jennies get this strong?"
At first, he hadn't even considered them a threat, he thought Axel was the main competition.
But now… these Jennies were the final bosses.
Cyrus asked himself silently, 'If the Jennies came charging at me now, can I even hope to get the Lake Trio?'
After thinking it over, he fell into silence.
His Pokémon were all wiped out by Yveltal. What was he even supposed to fight with, an egg?
After a brief moment of reflection, Cyrus finally decided to tell the truth.
"Axel… maybe we should just set off the Galactic Bomb now?"
"My men say the Jennies have already arrived. If we don't act fast, something might go wrong."
"Nope," Axel spoke through a mouth full of mutton, his words muffled.
"You said half an hour earlier, now you wanna blow it up already?"
"I'm only halfway through my skewers. What's the rush?"
Cyrus was speechless, "But the Jennies are coming! This mission's important! And you're still eating?"
"Of course I am," Axel took another big bite.
"It's just the Jennies. What, are they gonna kill me or something?"
"Also, you were eating skewers too, weren't you?"
"Why do you always climb up the moral high ground just to scold me afterward? Eat your fill, then curse the cook?"
Cyrus: "I didn't even get to eat my fill!"
Axel: "Then eat!"
Cyrus: "???"
'Is this really the time to be talking about eating?'