"Marowak, a piercing sound!"
Although the pressure of the battle ahead was extremely high, Marowak still scratched its bone club against its skull at the first moment.
The sharp, piercing sound suddenly rang out, and the movements of the Death Wind Pokémon all subconsciously paused.
Not far away in the air, an energy wave suddenly appeared and was instantly detected by the ever-vigilant Beldum!
"Iron Head!"
"Beldum!"
Beldum turned into a silver flash and slammed into the source of the energy wave!
"Dream Eater!!!"
A shrill scream echoed as a Pokémon wearing a wizard's hat and exuding an evil aura under its noble appearance appeared next to Beldum.
"Dream Eater, it's you! Marowak, Rock Throw! skiploom, Leech Seed!"
At the moment the Dream Eater was struck hard, the Death Wind Pokémon all stopped, and the red light in their eyes faded.
Hearing Rax's command, Marowak and skiploom moved quickly—Rock Throw and Leech Seed both hitting their mark.
Beldum followed up with another Iron Head, slamming the Dream Eater into the ground with immense force.
"Don't hold back—keep going!"
Rax's eyes were cold, and he didn't let up just because the Dream Eater had fallen.
Looking at the endless army of corpses in front of him, he realized how vile this Dream Eater was.
Rax had seen numerous human corpses among this army of death.
This Dream Eater must have captured every creature passing by and added them to its army of death.
"Stomp, Iron Head, Poison Powder!"
Even skiploom attacked without hesitation.
No one dared to show mercy to such a malevolent entity.
Minutes later, the Dream Eater had been blasted into fragments, with no hope of revival.
Among the shattered pieces, a dark purple crystal stood out, undamaged despite the onslaught.
Rax hesitated for a moment but carefully picked it up.
'I'll find an expert to identify it later,' Rax thought to himself.
After defeating the Dream Eater, the trio rested for a long time on the grassy terrain and replenished their strength with a stash of sweets.
The intense battle left them all feeling like they had just woken from a dream.
At this moment, Rax felt incredibly fortunate.
Thankfully, Marowak had been reliable enough to hold off the enemy even while exhausted.
Thankfully, Beldum had been fed Superpower Energy Blocks, which sharpened its awareness to detect the Dream Eater in time.
Thankfully, skiploom was part of the team and had immediately used Aromatherapy when the situation called for it. Its endurance and healing abilities had kept the team going until the end.
Without any one of these elements, they wouldn't have survived.
In the Pokémon's eyes, the seemingly fragile Rax was their unwavering pillar of strength.
The Screech from Marowak, combined with Beldum's keen detection of the Dream Eater, had been the key to victory.
After recovering, Rax wanted to leave as quickly as possible.
But before leaving, he decided to explore deeper into the Death Army's territory.
There, they discovered a pool of foul-smelling, turbid water.
This was where the Dream Eater had been keeping its army of corpses.
Rax realized that if he had been lured by the illusion of capturing the quasi-legendary Sticky Pokémon earlier, they could have fallen into this pool and been destroyed without even a fight.
The thought sent chills down his spine.
Yet, he couldn't just leave it as it was, knowing the pool might give rise to more evil Pokémon in the future.
Rax measured the pool—it was about 10 meters wide, with unknown depth.
"Marowak, you'll need to work hard again," Rax said.
"Maro?"
Determined to prevent another disaster, Rax and his Pokémon decided to fill the pool and bury the remnants of the Dream Eater's army.
Marowak led the effort, channeling ground energy to bury the corpses.
skiploom scattered grass seeds on the overturned earth and used Grass Terrain to help the soil recover.
Beldum scouted the area, ensuring no remnants were overlooked.
Rax handled logistics, running back and forth to prepare light food for his Pokémon.
The process took a full week.
Fortunately, skiploom's Aromatherapy and their stockpile of sweets kept morale high. Otherwise, Rax would have been worried about the toll on their mental state.
When the last drop of black pool water was buried and fresh grass sprouted over the area, Rax and his Pokémon felt an immense sense of relief.
It was finally over.
Rax looked up at the sky—the sun was shining brightly, as if cleansing the land.
After completing this arduous task, the oppressive weight he'd been carrying lifted.
Even the Pokémon seemed to smile.
skiploom affectionately clung to Rax, her eyes full of trust and admiration.
Rax gently pinched skiploom's fluffy appendages and patted Marowak and Beldum on their heads.
"Let's go!"
"Oh!" x3
Their journey continued.
Due to the delay, however, Rax's supplies were nearly depleted.
He followed his map to the nearest village to restock.
When Rax saw the first wisp of chimney smoke, he recalled Beldum and Marowak, leaving only the harmless-looking skiploom by his side.
The village, Niwan Village, thrived on crafting clay pots. The villagers, noticing an outsider, stared curiously at Rax.
After asking for directions from an elderly lady, Rax reached the village's only shop.
Inside, a group of children gathered around an old TV, engrossed in a Pokémon battle between Infernape and Torterra.
Rax waited and watched quietly as Torterra defeated Infernape with Stone Edge.
When the children noticed him, one girl blurted, "Who are you… an pokemon?"
Rax chuckled. "I'm not an pokemon. I'm here to buy supplies."
The girl, blushing, stammered, "Ah, what do you need?" Her eyes kept darting to skiploom..