"Boss, when's this gonna end? How long do we have to keep hiding in here?" In a small natural cavern inside Granite Cave, a Pokémon Hunter dressed in black tactical gear muttered in frustration.
Beside him, a burly man was counting a large batch of Poké Balls one by one. Upon hearing his companion's complaint, he glanced over casually.
"We've got enough Aron, but the boat to leave Dewford Island won't arrive until the day after tomorrow."
"Heh heh heh! If you're that fed up, you can take the ferry and leave yourself, but don't go ratting us out if you get caught."
At that moment, another Pokémon Hunter, younger and slimmer in build, walked over with a grin.
He then turned to the burly man. "Boss, here's the last crate of Aron Poké Balls. Brought them all over for you."
"Alright, set it down. If you've got the time to bicker, go check on the Aron herd. See if there's any chance to snag a few more."
"Ahem! Uh, Boss, me and Monkey are gonna go inspect the gear in the warehouse." As he spoke, the Hunter gave his skinny partner a meaningful look, and the two slinked off.
Aron weren't so easy to catch. If it weren't for the Boss's Marowak having a major advantage against them -and their use of powerful paralyzing and sleep-inducing bombs- it wouldn't have been this simple.
During the process, they also had to guard against retaliation from Lairon and Aggron. Not only were the evolved forms stronger in general, more importantly, once Aron evolved, most of them could naturally learn Protect, making them much more troublesome to deal with.
Just as the two Hunters headed for the warehouse and left the Boss behind, the remaining two Hunters had already gone off to take care of something else.
This was precisely the distribution Ralts had shown Sato's group after they infiltrated the cave.
While the five Pokémon Hunters were preoccupied in separate areas, Sato and his group quietly closed in on their assigned targets.
Once all three were in position, Sato used Ralts's Telepathy to issue the command: all three would strike simultaneously.
On the left, Joseph sent out his main Pokémon, Florges and Gogoat. At a subtle signal from Joseph, both Pokémon executed their roles as planned.
At this point, the rule forbidding Trainers from commanding their Pokémon to attack humans simply didn't apply.
Florges's Petal Dance fell silently upon the two Hunters.
At the same time, Gogoat's Vine Whip lashed out, binding the two Pokémon Hunters tightly after they were torn up by the Petal Dance.
On the right flank, Mark also sent out his only two main battlers: Arbok and Lapras.
After receiving Sato's mental order, Mark had Arbok spring out first. One fierce Glare paralyzed the two hunters on the spot.
Then, from behind a rock, Lapras unleashed its Ice-type finisher: Sheer Cold.
As the icy blue glow faded, the two Pokémon Hunters were frozen solid into ice sculptures, their fates unknown.
What surprised them, though, was how decisive and ruthless Mark turned out to be despite usually acting goofy and carefree.
But similarly, when it came to moves/attacks from Pokémon, most humans were just that fragile.
As the battles on the left and right wrapped up quickly, Joseph and Mark faintly heard the sounds of combat still coming from not far off.
'Did Sato mess up?'
That thought flashed through their minds… only to be swiftly dismissed.
Sato was the one in the middle; the least likely link to have any problems.
But regardless, both Joseph and Mark rushed toward the central area to prepare to assist.
---
Back at the central battlefield, Sato was currently riding atop Mega Sharpedo, dodging the flying rocks and rubble whizzing toward him from all directions.
Opposite him, the leader of the Pokémon Hunters lay on the ground, unconscious and possibly dead.
But the Golem beside him had gone completely berserk, relentlessly attacking Sato.
In Granite Cave: a place where Rock- and Ground-type Pokémon could exert 100% of their strength. Sato was indeed finding it a bit tricky dealing with a frenzied Golem.
And now that he sensed the battles on both flanks had ended, a rare hint of discomfort flickered across his face.
"Umbreon, use Protect! Sharpedo, ignore me and charge straight in with Aqua Jet and blast Golem away with Hydro Pump!" Sato shouted, sending out Umbreon as he gave rapid-fire commands.
Sensing Umbreon's presence now riding along its back, Sharpedo instantly understood Sato's plan.
It accelerated, its body cloaked in Water-type energy, weaving skillfully through the barrage of rocks. In just moments, it closed the gap to the raging Golem.
Hydro Pump, fired.
Whoosh!
The 300-kilogram Golem was blasted back by Mega Sharpedo's Hydro Pump.
And remembering the briefing that mentioned Golem might have the Rock Head ability, Sharpedo didn't hesitate to fire off another Hydro Pump.
Even as a Pseudo-Elite Four level Pokémon, Golem was still defeated by Sharpedo; after all, a 4x weakness was no joke.
Just then, Joseph and Mark arrived at the scene with their Pokémon.
Sato let out a quiet sigh of relief. Thankfully, he'd managed to finish the battle before they showed up and saved "face" as the team leader.
But sometimes, there's always someone who just doesn't know when to stop.
"Sato… did you just wrap up your fight? Hehhehheh, we were faster than you!"
Mark, oblivious to Joseph's frantic eye signals, still wanted to gloat a bit more about his results.
Seeing this, Joseph silently lit a candle for Mark in his heart, then turned without a word and headed back to the left-side battlefield to drag the Pokémon Hunters over.
As for the real reason? Naturally, it was to escape the gruesome scene.
AHHHHHH!
Joseph's hand trembled, slowing his efforts to tie up the Hunters.
"Gogoat, no rush… let's take it slow."
"Gogo~" Gogoat, seeming to realize what Joseph meant, nodded in understanding.
Suddenly, Joseph felt a tremor ripple through Granite Cave, followed by a familiar roar.
He didn't dare delay any longer and quickly ordered Gogoat to carry the two Pokémon Hunters over to Sato's side.
Thump thump thump...
When Joseph reached them, he saw Sato and Mark continuously releasing Aron from their Poké Balls using the "release" function.
"Come help, there are way more captured Aron than we expected," Sato said meaningfully as he glanced at Joseph.
Across from them, the shiny Onix silently observed their actions, saying nothing but its eyes glimmered with gratitude.
Joseph didn't say much either and immediately stepped forward to help release the Aron.
Meanwhile, in a spot out of Sato's sight, Mark gave Joseph a deeply aggrieved look, as if screaming with his eyes…
'YOU ABANDONED ME!'