The raging fmes seemed to fill the tun. The snowman version of Darmanitian opes mouth wide. Its long, fiery fangs luoward the middle-aged man.

  The man widened his eyes, shaking violently, but all it did was reveal the silver-white shackles on his wrists.

  The fiery fangs of Darmanitian ed both the man and the cart in an instant, leaving behind rge, scorched marks where they oood.

  The two blue-uniformed security guards, who had wisely retreated to the sides of the tunnel, now threw their Pokéballs.

  "e out! Drizzile!"

  "You too! Charjabug!"

  A blue upright lizard-like creature and a deep greeangur bug appeared at the tunnel's entrance. Both Pokémon were Intermediate level, and even they showed fear in the face of the frenzied Darmanitian, which was at the Advanced level.

  This kind of battle was far from the usual League-style rotation matches. A single mistake could result in fatal injury or death.

  "Drizzile! Use Water Pulse!" The bulkier security guard shouted his and. The water-type Drizzile erfect for dealing with the fmes almost engulfing the tunrance.

  Drizzile nodded and flicked the purple-blue fins on its head before bringing its cws together at its chest. In just a moment, it gathered a water sphere as rge as a basketball.

  With a swift motion, Drizzile unleashed a water jet, shooting directly toward Darmanitian at the tun.

  "I'll put out the fire! You block the exit!" The bulkier guard waved his hand at the thinner guard across from him.

  The thinner guard immediately nodded, direg his Pokémon.

  "Charjabug! Use String Shot! Block the tunnel!"

  White silky threads shot out from the deep greeangur bug, spreading into the surrounding area of the tunnel.

  Though the threads weren’t abundant enough to form a full barrier, it was extremely sticky. The moment someoepped on it, they would be uo break free.

  By spreading the threads widely, the ces of trapping the target would increase.

  “Darmanitan!!”

  Now, Darmanitan’s fmes, dampened by the water spshed over its head, were signifitly reduced. However, its anger intensified and it turs head, r at Drizzile.

  The Pokémon, somewhat frightened, reduced the size of its water jet. Despite its appearance as a small thug, it was timid and had never entered such a fieron before.

  “Don’t be afraid! Drizzile... Damn it! They’re running from the other side! Quickly, chase them!” The chubby security guard was f his Pokémon when he suddenly noticed two figures slipping out from the tunnel, fleeing in opposite dires along the dirt path.

  Both figures were covered in bck cloaks, making it impossible to identify them. The chubby guard couldn’t immediately tell whie was the target.

  However, as long as he caught them all, it didn’t matter.

  “Charjabug! Use String Shot again!” The slim guard immediately ordered as soon as he heard the call. The Bug Pokémon switched from spreading a of silk threads t it toward the targets.

  Shiro and the short-haired boy easily bypassed the thin strands of threads, heading into the woods oher side.

  Charjabug wasn’t slow, but it had to spread its threads to the left and right. Although both of them got some strands on their bodies, slowing them down slightly, they weren’t caught.

  The thin security guard saw this and shouted.

  “We’re after Marvin of Circhester! Noed persoay where you are and take off your cloak!”

  Hearing this, Shiro immediately threw off his bck cloak, but his steps didn't slow down.

  As soon as the cloak fell, the security guard quickly identified the target and anded his Charjabug to attack the dire where the short-haired boy Marvin was running.

  "Fuck!" Marvin turned his head and saw Shiro toss the cloak, cursing aloud.

  His other Pokémon had no bat ability, so he refused to send them out to dey the situation.

  Marvin decided to throw off his bck cloak as well. He then turned and ran toward Shiro.

  His position was off, causing many of Charjabug's threads to miss. Marvin barely dodged the remaining threads as he rushed toward Shiro, who was about to ehe forest.

  "Get the hell away from me!" Shiro cursed, but there was nothing he could do to stop Marvin.

  His Gastly was still not fully recovered, and his Rookidee was hidden in his coat, too weak to be of any help at the moment.

  Releasing Rookidee now to interfere with Marvin or Charjabug would only create a burdeo its weakness.

  Shiro uood that Marvin’s choiake this move meant that he didn’t have any other Pokémon to rely on. But even at his weakest, Marvin was at the novice level, which made him parable in strength to Shiro.

  Helpless, Shiro could only speed up.

  Once he ehe forest, those annoying threads wouldn't have much of an effect.

  “Hey, don't leave me behind!” Marvin shouted as he threw off his outer brown coat, revealing a short-sleeve, mud-smeared shirt and shorts, along with a rge backpack.

  He ran faster than Shiro, but still couldn’t catch up.

  The thin security guard hadn’t expected Marvin to be so fast. Gritting his teeth, he grabbed another Poké Ball.

  “Nuzleaf! Rob!”

  A brown, humanoid Pokémon appeared. It had a green leaf on its head, and its rouilted back as it raised its hands toward the sky.

  Shiro and Marvin immediately felt the ground shake. Soon, several rge rocks emerged from the ground in front of the Nuzleaf. The rocks were suddenly hurled toward Marvin.

  Normally, this move, Rob, would have trapped both of them. However, Nuzleaf, covered in injuries, clearly hadn't fully recovered from a ret battle.

  It struggled to trol the rock-type energy and unch the stones. Si wasn’t using a move of its own type, the force was insuffit.

  The rocks veered off, nding behind Shiro and Marvin.

  Seeing that the two were about to escape into the forest, the thin security guard shouted, "Charjabug, use String Shot! Keep that dirty guy back!"

  Charjabug’s blue eyes lit up as it ses trainer's urgency. Its deep green body wiggled with effort, and the threads it spat out were far more resilient, ndiween Shiro and Marvin.

  Marvin had no choice but to stop, side-stepping and waiting for the white threads to fall to the ground.

  But the rocks didn’t wait for him. They kept ing.

  Marvihe sound of air being split and the overwhelming pressure from behind. His scalp tingled, and with a quick leap and roll, he dove toward the forest edge, nding some distance away from the trees.

  One of the rocks grazed his calf. While it didn’t crush him, it left a rge gash, making it difficult for him to get ba his feet and run.

  Marvin crawled on the ground, struggling. He cast a desperate look at Shiro, who was already at the forest's edge.

  The rocks stopped falling, but the threads tinued, relentlessly advang as Charjabug moved forward.

  Shiro turned, reached down and grabbed Marvin's hand, pulling him into the forest.

  The two rolled sideways, crashing into the tree roots before ing to a halt.

  The security guard’s face turned pale. He ordered his Pokémon to follow, but Shiro had already released his Rookidee.

  "Rookidee! Peck!"

  Rookidee darted forward, targeting several trees on the forest's edge. With a loud crash, the trees fell, kig up a cloud of dust.

  The two of them vanished from the thin security guard’s sight.

  **

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