"Your Serperior has the Contrary ability. Quite impressive," Feng Che remarked with a casual clap of his hands. "Now, let's have my Decidueye finish this."
With a snap of his fingers, Decidueye unleashed a barrage of sharpened quill-feathers. The Serperior twisted its body into a flexible S-shape, narrowly weaving through the projectiles. It missed being pinned to the earth by a fraction of a second.
"Serperior, Acid! Aim directly at the trainer!" the Snake Ninja barked, pointing at Feng Che.
Serperior's throat convulsed as it spat a stream of corrosive acid. Feng Che simply waved a hand, and the liquid froze mid-air, held by an invisible psychic wall.
"You really shouldn't underestimate me. I'm a high-level Psychic," Feng Che said. "It's impolite not to return a gift, so take your acid back."
He snapped his fingers, and the acid shot back toward Serperior like a volley of arrows. The snake's pupils shrank; it instinctively used Dig, diving into the earth to evade. The acid splashed onto the ground behind it, sizzling into foul-smelling white smoke and carving deep pits into the soil.
"Clever snake, knowing to hide underground," Feng Che mused. "But the Scorpion Ninja's team wasn't so lucky."
The ninjas looked over to see Gliscor and Drapion riddled with green quill-feathers, completely incapacitated. Seviper, having evaded the worst of it, stood shaky with only a few feathers grazing its scales.
"You're good, I'll give you that," the Snake Ninja sneered. "But have you noticed your breathing getting heavy? My Serperior released a micro-molecular toxin into the air. It enters your bloodstream through your skin and capillaries, specifically targeting the heart. Soon, you'll find yourself too weak to move before your heart simply stops."
"Serperior, Leaf Blade!"
The snake erupted from the ground, its tail glowing with a green edge as it slashed at Decidueye's branch. The tree shattered, but Decidueye had already vanished.
"Stay alert! Don't let it slip into your shadow!" the ninjas warned each other, leaning back-to-back. "Seviper, use Poison Sting on the trainer! Force that owl out!"
Seviper remained motionless. A second later, it slumped forward. A single green feather was buried deep in its forehead, right between its eyes. It twitched spasmodically, its pupils unfocused.
"Serperior, Frenzy Plant!"
Massive, thorny vines erupted from the earth. Decidueye responded with a rapid-fire volley, pinning the Frenzy Plant vines to the ground with Spirit Shackle.
"Decidueye, Shadow Sneak."
Decidueye dissolved into a pool of shadow, moving across the floor with untraceable speed. Serperior's eyes couldn't track it. A whistle of wind was the only warning before a feather-arrow appeared in Serperior's forehead as well. The noble snake collapsed, suffering the same neurological shock as Seviper.
"We hit a wall... he's too strong," the Snake Ninja gasped. One Decidueye had dismantled their entire Elite-level roster.
Feng Che snapped his fingers, and the two ninjas were plunged into a psychic-induced darkness. "Their crimes will be judged by the World League," he told Mewtwo, placing the psychically restrained ninjas into his storage space.
The Cure
Feng Che moved through the brush to find Norman. Norman's Vigoroth was looking ghastly, a sickly blue-gray color with cold sweat pouring from its brow. Nearby, several Toxicroak and Salazzle lay defeated.
"It's no use! My poisons have no antidote!" the Lizard Ninja cackled from the ground. "Watch your Pokémon's insides melt. It will die screaming."
Feng Che appeared and instantly silenced the two ninjas, turning them into restrained "statues" like the others.
"Feng Che, can you help? Vigoroth is in a bad way!" Norman cried, his voice trembling with rare panic.
"Stay calm, let me see." Feng Che scanned the Pokémon with his Aura. "Severe neurotoxin and corrosive elements. It's attacking the internal organs. But we caught it early."
Feng Che pulled out a surgical blade. He shaved a small patch of fur and made a precise incision near a major artery. Black, fouled blood spurted out, but Feng Che used his telekinesis to catch it in the air, preventing a mess.
"Here, Vigoroth, eat this." He handed it a high-concentration Revive-extract and a blood-replenishing tonic. The Vigoroth, still semi-conscious, swallowed the medicine. Its pale face immediately regained some color.
"Will it be okay?" Norman asked.
"I just need to synthesize a specific neutralizing agent based on the toxin's properties." Feng Che pulled out a variety of rare berries and herbs, grinding them into a blue liquid. "Drink this, then sleep. You'll be back to normal by morning."
As the last of the toxic blood was drained and the antidote took hold, Vigoroth's tremors subsided. It drank the medicine, let out a long sigh, and fell into a deep, healing sleep.