Hearing Aron's answer, the Pokémon hunter grinned. "you don't know what's good for you."
"Go, deal with them." He raised his hand and threw another Poké Ball.
As a beam of red light landed, a huge Pokémon appeared on the ground with a loud "boom."
Its body was a combination of plum red and black, with yellow eyes, circular purple markings, purple and red antennae, and a gray-black belly.
[Pokémon: Scolipede (Bug/Poison)
Ability: Poison Point
Qualification: Gym
Level: Lv36 (Advanced)]
The Advanced Scolipede was even more powerful than the Toxicroak next to him.
Though Scolipede looked somewhat cumbersome, it was fast and agile. It could chase down enemies with swift movements, attack with the horns on its head, and wouldn't stop until its opponent was defeated.
Toxicroak was the first to launch an attack. Although its condition had seriously declined, it still had some fighting power left.
Faced with the huge level gap, Combusken had to be careful to avoid Toxicroak's attacks.
"Be careful," Aron said to Combusken, his face solemn.
"Combusken!"
Combusken's eyes were sharp, looking at Toxicroak charging at it with fighting spirit.
At the same time, Scolipede dashed towards Aron at an astonishing speed, its fierce face giving off an intense sense of oppression.
"Emboar, Flamethrower!"
Just as Aron reached for the Poké Ball on his waist, a strong voice suddenly echoed.
In the next second, a blazing pillar of fire shot forth, hitting Scolipede head-on and striking its chest.
Boom!
Being twice weak to fire moves, Scolipede took considerable damage from this powerful flame.
Aron looked up in surprise and saw two people approaching from the distance.
It was the tall, burly Takashi and the thin Lian.
Beside Takashi stood a large, muscular Pokémon with a fiery mane, black arms, and red wristbands.
[Pokémon: Emboar (Fire/Fighting)
Ability: Blaze
Qualification: semi-Elite
Level: Lv37 (Advanced)]
Emboar, one of the starters from another region, was known as the "flaming beard."
"Aron, are you alright?" Lian called out.
"I'm fine."Aron secretly breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the figures of the two.
"Damn it,two more brats,"The Pokémon hunter cursed secretly, his fierce eyes swept over Takashi and the two, and finally fell on the tall and burly Emboar.
The Pokémon hunter's Scolipede was likely no match for it.
Meanwhile, Combusken was using its ability, Speed Boost, to evade and gradually exhaust Toxicroak's stamina.
Finally, as Toxicroak was worn out, Combusken took it down with a Flamethrower.
And after Toxicroak lost his combat ability, Combusken gained a huge amount of experience points in an instant, directly promoting one level, and was very close to the next level.
Relatively speaking, Aron contributed at least three-quarters of the credit for defeating this Toxicroak, with Combusken only picking up the fruits of his efforts.
As he watched Toxicroak fall, a cold gleam flickered in the Pokémon hunter's eyes. He knew he was at a huge disadvantage now.
"Combusken defeated an Advanced Toxicroak alone?" Lian murmured, swallowing nervously.
"Aron, this guy's a Pokémon hunter. Let me take care of him," Takashi said firmly.
"Alright." Aron nodded.
"You three brats think you can stop me? Scolipede, go!" the Pokémon hunter shouted, extending his arms with a twisted grin.
"scool!"
With a roar, Scolipede lunged to face Emboar head-on.
As the two powerful Pokémon squared off, the Pokémon hunter's hand drifted to his waist, where he kept a smoke bomb.
But just as his hand was about reach his belt, a sharp, agonizing pain hit him, like a knife stabbing into his mind. It spread through his entire body, overwhelming him.
"Ahh!"
The Pokémon hunter screamed, catching Takashi and Lian's attention.
Aron's eyes glowed blue as he focused on the hunter, speaking coldly. "You knew I was a Psychic, and yet you still tried to use such cheap trick in front of me."
Clutching his head in agony, the Pokémon hunter's efforts to stop the pain were futile.
"scooool!" Scolipede, sensing its trainer's distress, roared furiously and turned to help.
But in that brief moment, Emboar seized the opportunity, covered in flames, and charged at Scolipede.
Unable to dodge, Scolipede was sent flying, hitting the ground hard.
"Please… let me go! Let me go!" the Pokémon hunter dropped to his knees, tears streaming down his face as he begged Aron for mercy.
Takashi and Lian watched, shuddering at the hunter's current state.
With calm eyes, Aron looked at thePokemon hunter, then stopped using Psyshock.
Just as the Pokémon hunter was about to catch his breath, the items on his belt, including Poké Balls, smoke bombs, and even his sunglasses,suddenly lifted into the air.
With a look of despair, he watched them float over to Aron.
"Psychic…" Takashi muttered in awe.
"Amazing…" Lian was speechless, staring in awe.
"Ralts!"Ralts peeked out from behind Aron, looking at the hunter and then at Aron with admiration.
"Psychic abilities are overpowered," Aron thought to himself.
Without Psychic powers, defeating Toxicroak would've been impossible, let alone taking down the Pokémon hunter from a distance.
The unexpected arrival of Takashi and Lian wasn't part of his plan, but Aron's confidence come from the Poké Ball he held.
It was his biggest safeguard in the Peaceful River Forest.
Lukas was a powerful Gym-level Trainer, and the Pokémon in this Poké Ball was Gym-level too.
This Pokémon hunter could act so boldly with only two Advanced-level Pokémon.
And Aron has Lukas's Pokémon, so he can walk sideways in the Peaceful River Forest.
"Plan before action",it was the principle that Aron always keeps in mind.
All of his actions to protect Ralts and confront the hunter was because he was very confident about his safety.
Turning to Takashi and Lian, Aron smiled and said, "Thanks for the help."
"No problem, Aron," Lian replied, pushing his glasses up with a smile.
Takashi showed a slight smile, then said seriously, "Let's decide what to do with this guy first."
They all turned to see the once-arrogant hunter collapsed on the ground, tears falling from his eyes.
Looking at this scene, Aron was slightly taken aback, and suddenly realized that he seemed to have underestimated the power of Psyshock.
Humans, after all, had far less resilience than Pokémon.
Takashi and Lian shivered, glancing at Aron with newfound respect.
"Tell me, did you come here for Ralts?" Aron asked, gesturing toward the Pokémon beside him.
The hunter, possibly disoriented or unwilling to answer, remained silent.
But Aron's next words made his body tremble slightly.
"If you don't talk, I'll give you another dose of Psyshock."
"I… I'll talk." The hunter raised his bloodshot eyes to Aron, his voice hoarse.
After a moment, he sighed and said weakly, "Yes, this shiny Ralts is exactly what we're after."
"'We'?"
"Yes, we. I'm just one of the team members searching for it. Several others are looking for its tracks in the forest right now."
"If I captured it alone, I'd get all the credit. But I didn't expect…"
The hunter looked at Aron with fear in his eyes.
"So he's just one of the group," Takashi noted with a frown.
"How many members are there?" Aron asked.
The hunter's eyes flickered. "Eleven. They're spread out across the Peaceful River Forest, and it won't be long before they find you."
The three were silent for a moment.
"What's their strength?"
"There are Advanced-level trainers like me, and professional-level ones too. And the leader this time is a Gym-level trainer."
"Gym-level?" Aron's brow furrowed. "A Gym-level Trainer?"
"Yes, one assigned directly from our base. He's leading the team to capture a Gardevoir, but we didn't expect it to send Ralts away before we got to it."
The mention of Gardevoir held a lot of significance, and Aron's eyes flickered thoughtfully.
"Ralts!"
Ralts suddenly grabbed onto Aron's sleeve, clearly distressed at hearing the word "Gardevoir."