Pokemon: Reborn Rich Alternate Earth
Chapter 564: Steelix: Smash You All Into Paste

At this moment, the five Volkarian trainers were resting by a lakeside surrounded by blue rocks—exactly as Kate had seen in her vision.

They ate military rations while their Pokémon stood guard around them.

A Crobat hovered nearby, emitting ultrasonic waves in all directions to detect the shapes of surrounding objects or creatures through echolocation.

Its ultrasonic range could reach over twenty kilometers, though the closer the range, the more precise its readings.

Within a certain radius, if the returning waves indicated a humanoid figure, Crobat would immediately alert its trainer.

Crobat's presence significantly boosted the group's security.

However, prolonged use of ultrasonic waves was physically taxing on Crobat as well.

So, there was no such thing as absolute safety—only temporary security.

“Too bad we weren’t able to kill that damn seer,” Anton spat on the ground, his face twisted in frustration. “If we’d taken her out, we would’ve shaken them off long ago.”

Kate’s abilities were no secret. Both she and her family commanded immense respect, not just in Celestria but internationally as well.

While Kate's family might not excel in combat, their divination skills made them even more valuable than battle specialists in certain scenarios.

For many major military operations or missions in Celestria, members of Kate's family were always involved.

Their influence was such that, even without a Champion among them, they held weight comparable to one.

The Volkarians’ primary target in their ambush had been Kate. Unfortunately, she escaped unscathed.

Though they did manage to kill three of the enemies, none of them were as crucial as Kate.

And now that the assassination had failed, any future attempts would be almost impossible.

Right now, their top priority was to shake off the pursuit from the Celestrian and Gallian teams.

“They’re only acting tough because they outnumber us. If our numbers were even, would they dare fight us head-on?” Alexei crushed the paper cup in his hand.

As members of the "Fighting Nation," they weren’t used to being on the defensive. They were the hunters, not the hunted—this humiliation stung.

“We’ll rest for another half hour and then move out.”

The speaker was the team captain, Sophia. From the name alone, one could tell she was a woman. In Volkaria, the name "Sophia" was synonymous with wisdom.

Female trainers were rare to begin with, let alone one leading a Volkarian squad. That alone spoke volumes about her strength.

They couldn’t afford to linger here for long.

“I wonder if this underground cavern has another exit. If it’s a dead end, we’ll turn around and fight them head-on and give them hell, hahaha.”

Anton burst into laughter at the end of his remark.

Although they had discovered this underground cavern first, they hadn’t had the time to explore it before accidentally stumbling upon the Celestrian and Gallian teams—leading to the ambush.

After the attack, they fled into the cavern. The entrance was very well concealed and they themselves had only found it by sheer luck.

Without Kate’s divination, the Celestrian team might have searched for half a year and still missed it.

If the cavern truly had no exit, their only way out would be the original entrance.

As for digging their way out with Pokémon? While that sounded like a nice idea in theory, it was nearly impossible in practice. The risk of cave-ins was too high. If that happened, the Pokémon might survive, but the trainers would certainly be crushed.

So tunneling to escape was a last resort, a desperate move.

Rather than risk dying inside a collapsing tunnel, Anton would rather turn around and fight it out with the Celestrians.

“If only our friends from Drakoria were here,” Alexei muttered.

“We’ve already searched the entire island. The Drakorian team isn’t here—we just had bad luck,” Sophia said with a bitter smile.

The Celestrians were only bold enough to chase them because they had the Gallian team on their side, giving them a numbers advantage.

This just showed how crucial allies were when the strength of both sides was evenly matched.

Half an hour later, after erasing traces of their presence, they prepared to leave.

Rumble—!!

Suddenly, a loud rumble echoed from ahead, and the ground trembled slightly.

Crobat’s echolocation immediately picked up a massive Pokémon approaching.

“Of all times, why now…” Sophia frowned. While they weren’t afraid of this wild Pokémon, getting into a fight would inevitably waste precious time.

A few seconds later, a Steelix appeared before them.

Steelix: 'Humans. These are the ones my trainer is looking for.'

Julian had previously shown Steelix photos of the Volkarian team, so it recognized them at a glance.

“Pyroar!” Anton called out.

A mid-stage Elite Pyroar emerged in front of Steelix and unleashed a Flamethrower without hesitation.

Caught off guard, Steelix took the hit head-on and was left momentarily stunned.

'Wait… didn’t my trainer say these people were allies? Why are they attacking me?'

Anton smirked: “All done.”

He had full confidence in his Pyroar’s power. Since Steelix wasn’t even an Elite-level opponent, it should’ve been a one-hit KO.

But the moment he spoke, Steelix’s Iron Tail came swinging straight at them.

From Steelix’s point of view—anyone who attacked it couldn’t be an ally. As for why they looked like the ones in the photo—well, it must have remembered wrong.

'Attacking me? Then don’t blame me for hitting back.'

The sharp whistle of Iron Tail cutting through the air sent a jolt of alarm through Anton’s heart.

Pyroar, however, had already reacted, nimbly dodging the attack.

BOOM—!!

The Iron Tail slammed into the ground with force comparable to a localized earthquake, sending violent tremors through the Volkarians. The shockwave rattled their organs, leaving them dizzy and disoriented.

They had underestimated Steelix and weren’t prepared for a counterattack.

Even Sophia had assumed that Pyroar’s Flamethrower would finish it in one hit, so she hadn’t paid much attention.

Who knew this Steelix would be so monstrous?

The shockwave from Iron Tail left all five of them injured to varying degrees, making an already bad situation worse.

Humans simply couldn’t compare to Pokémon when it came to physical resilience. Once injured, it could take humans dozens or even hundreds of times longer to recover than Pokémon.

Sophia, with her naturally weaker physique, coughed up blood from the internal shock, her vision swimming. The other four, though not bleeding, were in rough shape.

The biggest mistake was underestimating Steelix. None of them had expected a pseudo-Elite Steelix to take a direct hit from a mid-stage Elite Pyroar’s Flamethrower and not only survive—but retaliate.

Underestimating an opponent always came with a brutal price.

And the commotion they just caused would definitely alert the Celestrians.

Steelix: 'I’m gonna smash you all into paste…'

*****

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