"Who!"
Everyone halted. Auron Vale roared, and instantly released his Pokémon.
Snorlax's massive body slammed into the ground, planting itself in front of Auron Vale and the others.
"Baa baa!"
Snorlax wore a grim expression, staring ahead.[Thunder Punch]and[Flame Punch]were already at the ready, poised to strike at any moment.
"Oh, young Auron Vale~ You can't just react like that."
A teasing voice drifted forward. From behind a tree at the intersection ahead, a figure emerged.
Auron Vale's brow furrowed at the sight of the newcomer.
"Li Shuqing? What are you doing here?"
Li Shuqing tossed his hands open and grinned, tilting his head. "Don't be like that. I'm here to help you, after all."
Auron Vale maintained his guard. "Help me?"
"That's right. I saw you all at the clearing in the Beautifly camp, so I thought I'd catch up and see if I could lend a hand."
With that, Li Shuqing shot Auron Vale a wink. "Besides — you're the one I've set my eyes on. Can't have you getting taken out so early, now can I?"
Jace Rowan and the others kept their faces stern. The situation wasn't appropriate, and they still didn't know Li Shuqing's true intentions — otherwise they'd have started teasing already.
Auron Vale's brow creased even deeper. The tone wasn't an issue; Li Shuqing always talked like that. But still…
"You said you saw us at the Beautifly camp clearing. So why are you ahead of us right now?"
"Né~"
"Sylveon?"
Everyone startled, then turned in unison to look at Fugui.
Fugui panicked and waved his hands frantically. "Right, I didn't think to use[Teleport]to make our getaway — my bad,it's my fault."
Only then did everyone turn back. They hadn't expected it either.
But the look of disdain in their eyes before they turned around was clear as day. Fugui felt his very soul receive a direct hit.
"Hey, wait — you didn't expect it either, right? Besides, a single Jynx couldn't have carried all of us anyway."
Auron Vale didn't waste another breath on Fugui. He turned back to Li Shuqing and asked, "Can we trust you?"
Li Shuqing spread his hands. "Why not?"
Sylveon mimicked Li Shuqing, spreading her hands and tilting her little head.
"Né?"
"At the very least, I know you're heading toward the tunnel, right?"
Li Shuqing smiled and continued. "You see? I figured out your route, but I didn't tip anyone off — I came alone. Doesn't that earn a little trust?"
Auron Vale finally relaxed at that. "Fair enough. One person alone really couldn't take all of us."
The moment those words landed, a literal "#" symbol seemed to appear over Li Shuqing's head.
"Hey! I came to help you out, and this is the thanks I get?!"
"Né!"
(That's right, that's right!)
Beside him, Sylveon planted her hands on her hips, cheeks puffed, nodding in emphatic agreement.
"Less talk. Move. They'll be right behind us."
"Fine."
Li Shuqing shot Auron Vale an irritated look, then dashed to the front of the group.
Just getting here had exhausted Sylveon. Even though Li Shuqing had access to psychokinesis too, Sylveon would tire slightly less teleporting him.
But he absolutely would not tell Auron Vale and the others that after teleporting across half the forest, he'd only just caught sight of their group — and that the only reason he'd managed to reach this spot ahead of them was because he'd teleported to this location before they passed through.
Auron Vale's group had barely run for a minute before the sounds of pursuit echoed from behind.
They were coming.
"Don't panic! The tunnel's close — get inside first!"
Auron Vale shouted, steadying his companions. He needed to calm them down.
The truth was, he was terrified too. Two lifetimes of experience, and this was still his first time in a situation like this. Even with the cheat, a racing heart was unavoidable.
But he was the leader. If he panicked, it would only make things worse for everyone — so he forced himself to stay composed.
"Push forward! Can't let them reach the tunnel!"
At this point, Hu Zi had figured out their plan too. They were trying to get into the tunnel!
And once they were inside, there'd be no fighting them. Based on the firepower that group had displayed earlier, all they'd need to do was hold the tunnel entrance — Auron Vale's people and Pokémon combined wouldn't be enough to break through.
The gap between the two sides shrank with every step. Two legs simply couldn't outrun four.
Fortunately, the tunnel entrance finally came into view.
Auron Vale and Jace Rowan exchanged a look, and instantly made their decision.
"Charizard!"
Two Shiny Charizards materialized in the sky, their eyes fixed on the pursuers closing in behind them with undisguised malice.
"Deploy Water-types!"
Hu Zi barked the order on instinct, and everyone in the group with Water-types sent theirs out — a desperate measure against another ambush.
But in that brief window, Auron Vale's group had pulled ahead again.
The two Charizards hadn't made any real moves — they'd just shown themselves in the air before banking to rejoin Auron Vale's group. A Beautifly was blocking the aerial path, keeping them from flying fast. In the end, they'd only just made it through the tunnel entrance ahead of Auron Vale's group.
"Goddamn it!"
Hu Zi and his people had raced after them as hard as they could, but when they saw Auron Vale's group had already disappeared into the tunnel, they were forced to stop outside.
They couldn't. They dared not attempt a direct assault.
Not only would they fail to break through — if they couldn't take the tunnel in a short amount of time, the "oriole behind" that was now behind them would devour them whole.
All they could do now was wheel around and see if they could make the oriole spit out some of what it had swallowed.
After all, in their line of work, everyone outside the team was fair game.
Conveniently, while Hu Zi was nominally in charge, there were five or six other factions in this group.
If they couldn't bring down the big prey, they could at least split the loot from the people who'd just fallen with the oriole — call it making up for losses.
Auron Vale's group was still near the tunnel entrance. After confirming their pursuers had withdrawn, they didn't let their guard down.
"Twenty minutes. If nothing shows up in twenty minutes, Jace Rowan and the two Charizards stay behind to cover our retreat. Sound good?"
Jace Rowan nodded. "No problem."
After a brief exchange, the group settled into silence — waiting to see if the enemy would pull a sudden return.
Time crawled in the heavy stillness. Twenty minutes passed.
Auron Vale rose to his feet.
"You're on. We'll wait for you up ahead. Hold this position for another twenty minutes or so — if nothing comes, catch up with us."
Jace Rowan nodded once more. "Got it."
With that, he directed Coalossal and Arcanine to hide behind a rock, while the two Charizards tucked themselves behind another.
Once everything was arranged, Auron Vale waved the group forward and they disappeared into the tunnel.
Meanwhile, Hu Zi and the oriole group had worked out a deal — splitting the loot from the fallen pursuers. Having done so, they decided to take another look at the tunnel.
———
Please give me Power Stones!
Support me on Patreon @ patreon(dot)com/SorenEclipse
Read 15 Chapters Ahead on Patreon!