Chapter 247: Why Fight One-on-One When You Can Gang Up?

The video continued playing.

Mawile led the three girls through a dense stretch of bushes before suddenly stopping.

It raised one little hand, signaling for everyone to stop moving.

Hoopa immediately translated.

"Mawile says the core area is right ahead. This is where it started feeling weak the last time it came here."

The heart of the forest really did look completely different from the outskirts.

A faint grayish-white mist covered the surface of every tree.

The mist slowly crawled along the bark as though it were sucking the life out of them.

Squishy jumped out of Bonnie’s arms and began bouncing forward.

Its Core emitted a gentle green glow, clearly reacting strongly to whatever was deeper inside.

"Squishy!"

Bonnie hurried after it.

The three followed Squishy through the thickest part of the mist.

Then—

The scenery suddenly opened up before them.

In the middle of a circular clearing nearly a hundred meters across, two Pokémon stood facing each other across a completely withered patch of bushes.

Yveltal and Xerneas.

Both were covered in wounds of varying severity.

They had clearly already fought a fierce battle.

"They’re locked in a standoff."

Ruri lowered her voice.

"It looks like this has been going on for quite a while. Both sides are forcing themselves to hold out."

Squishy didn’t stop.

It continued bouncing forward.

The green glow from its Core grew brighter and brighter, and every time it landed, it left a tiny dent in the dead grass.

"Squishy!"

Bonnie reached out to grab it.

But Squishy was too fast.

It traced an arc through the air—

And the instant it landed, its entire body began to glow.

Countless green points of light simultaneously appeared throughout the forest.

They were Zygarde Cells scattered across the entire area.

Now, in response to the Core’s call, they began converging from every direction.

Cell after Cell merged into Squishy’s body.

Its size rapidly expanded before their eyes.

When the light finally faded—Zygarde 50% Forme appeared.

Its enormous serpentine body coiled across the clearing, placing itself directly between the two Legendary Pokémon.

The honeycomb-like structures across its head stared toward Yveltal and Xerneas.

"Squishy!"

Bonnie was about to rush forward.

She had barely taken a single step when Ruri grabbed the back of her collar and yanked her to a stop.

"Wait."

Ruri’s voice remained calm.

"If you run over there right now, Squishy will have to fight while also worrying about protecting you."

"Are you going over there to help—or to make things harder for it?"

Bonnie opened her mouth.

In the end, she quietly pulled her foot back.

[VIP Chat Group]

[Diantha]: Three children standing in the middle of a confrontation between two Legendary Pokémon... isn’t that a little too dangerous?

[Skyla]: Hoopa’s there, so they’ll definitely be fine! Even if they can’t win, they can just run away!

[Diantha]: I know... but whenever I see something like this, I still can’t control how worried I get.

[Misty]: We’ve all been through that.

[Cynthia]: You’ll get used to it.

[Asher]: Don’t worry. Nothing serious will happen.

[Steven]: Exactly! Brother Asher said it’ll be fine, so it’ll definitely be fine!

[Lucian]: Steven really has to insert himself even at a time like this...

[Wallace]: That’s normal. Hasn’t he always been like this?

The video continued playing.

Minute after minute passed.

The clashes of energy across the clearing finally began to weaken.

Three of Kalos’s most powerful Legendary Pokémon now looked like three cats that had just finished a huge fight, each lying in its own corner and panting heavily.

"Squishy!"

Bonnie had already rushed over.

She carefully picked Squishy up from the ground.

Squishy weakly responded from her palms, while the glow from its Core had dimmed considerably.

Just then—

An incredibly theatrical round of applause came from deep within the forest.

Clap—clap—clap—

Several figures emerged from the mist.

They wore matching dark-gray uniforms.

At the front was a tall, skinny man wearing a monocle, with more than a dozen masked lackeys following behind him.

"What a wonderful performance."

The monocled man pushed his glasses higher, a faint smile hanging from the corner of his mouth.

"We were originally just following three little girls around to see if we could pick up some easy profits."

"Never expected to stumble onto something this spectacular."

"Who are you?"

Ruri frowned.

"And when did you start following us?"

"You don’t need to know who we are."

The monocled man sneered.

"All you need to know is that those three Pokémon over there...belong to us now."

More than a dozen of his subordinates simultaneously pulled out Poké Balls.

Red light erupted one after another.

Houndoom, Mightyena, Liepard, Drapion, Toxicroak, Weavile...

Nearly twenty Dark- and Poison-type Pokémon blocked every exit from the clearing, surrounding the three girls and the injured Legendary Pokémon.

"Hoopa!"

Hoopa floated up from Elaria’s head, already rubbing its little hands together and preparing a ring.

"Hoopa can summon good friends to help!"

"The Green Dragon, the Chubby Fish, and the one who can’t fly—"

"Don’t mess around."

Elaria reached up and pressed Hoopa’s little head back down onto her own.

"What if you summon them and they destroy Allearth Forest?"

"Fine. Same plan as usual, then."

Ruri pulled out Metagross’s Poké Ball.

"Elaria, Bonnie. We’ll each take one side."

Bonnie nodded.

"No problem."

The three girls threw their Poké Balls together.

Red light continuously erupted across the clearing.

Kirlia immediately created a psychic barrier around Elaria and the others while the rest of their Pokémon moved forward to intercept anything that tried to approach.

But there were simply too many enemies.

The moment one wave of attacks was blocked, another came crashing in immediately afterward.

There was almost no pause between them.

For the moment, Elaria’s side couldn’t find any opportunity to break through.

"This isn’t working!"

Ruri frowned.

"If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve brought more Pokémon with me."

Hoopa reached through one of its rings and pulled out a tiny megaphone.

It aimed it toward the monocled man.

"You villains! What kind of skill is ganging up on people when you outnumber them?!"

"If you’ve got the guts, fight Hoopa one-on-one!"

The monocled man burst out laughing.

"Little thing, are you trying to make me laugh?"

"Why would I fight one-on-one when I can gang up on you?"

"If you can summon a whole army of Pokémon and wipe us out instantly, then I’ll accept it too!"

The moment he finished speaking...

The lackeys behind him threw out another dozen or so Poké Balls.

A massive barrage of moves immediately came crashing toward Elaria’s group.

Kirlia brought both hands together in front of its chest.

A pale-blue psychic barrier expanded before everyone.

Countless attacks slammed into the barrier—

Then exploded in every direction.

Kirlia’s body visibly swayed.

Maintaining the psychic barrier continuously had already consumed far too much of its strength. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Its hands began trembling.

Cracks spread across the barrier—

More and more.

Denser and denser.

Attack after attack continued hammering against it.

Until finally—

CRASH!

The psychic barrier shattered like glass into countless fragments.

A Venoshock grazed Kirlia’s shoulder and blasted it backward.

"Kirlia!"

Elaria immediately rushed forward and caught her.

Kirlia raised her head and looked at Elaria.

There was no fear of pain in those orange eyes.

Only an unwavering determination that left no room for argument.

She would never allow Elaria to be hurt.

Because Elaria was the most important person in the world to her.

...

TL: Damn, these guys knows what they are doing.