"Kak!"

  Golbat thrashed wildly. It had been a long time si had experienced su urained battle. Over the years, its trainer had grown older, and those blood-soaked battles of survival had bee rare.

  Now, faced with these ruthless, battle-hardened oppos, Golbat realized—its once razor-sharp fangs had dulled.

  Another relentless assault crashed down on it—Night Ssh, Shadow Ball, Shadow Punch. The brutal onsught left Golbat limp and powerless. Its wings were nearly broken. Blood trickled from its ears, nose, and eyes.

  Sato stepped forward to finish it off. But just as he moved, a powerful gust of wind rushed toward him. There was no time to dodge. His instincts kicked in, and he raised his right arm to shield himself.

  "PAH!"

  A heavy, vicious sh smmed into him. Sato's entire body was flung backward. He instinctively curled himself mid-air to minimize further injury, but the force sent him rolling across the ground.

  Out of the er of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the enemy's new Pokémon.

  Victreebel!

  Sato tumbled several times before stopping. His body ached all over—bruises, scrapes, internal damage. But the worst injury was the direct hit to his right arm.

  It was broken.

  "Zoro!"

  Zoroark roared in fury. A Night Daze erupted from its body, sending shockwaves across the battlefield. Victreebel's vines recoiled, forced back by the sheer power of the attack.

  "Kehehe!"

  Haunter materialized beside Sato, eyes darting around in vigince. But its first was its trainer. It hovered closer, watg him anxiously.

  "You're ruthless for a kid." The older man gritted his teeth in anger. "At first, I thought it'd be a waste to kill you… but now, I've ged my mind."

  He withdrew the badly injured Golbat bato its Poké Ball. The man's face darkened. His rage boiled over.

  "Tch! Would you have spared me if I had acted na?ve?" Sato scoffed coldly.

  His right hand remaiucked behind his back. Dark Energy surged through his fractured bone, f rapid cell regeion.

  Sato khe sequences. If the bone healed incorrectly, he'd have to break it again a it.

  But none of that mattered now.

  This was a fight to the death.

  He lifted his right arm forward. It was still weak—but funal. The older man's face twisted with anger. Being mocked by a child only made his humiliation worse.

  "Vreee!"

  Suddenly, Victreebel let out a pained shriek. A dark aura coiled around its body.

  It had been cursed.

  "Dark Pulse! Shadow Ball!"

  Sato lunged forward. Haunter's Curse had successfully taken hold—now was the perfeent to strike!

  "Venomoth, use fusion!"

  The man released his fourth Pokémon.

  A Venomoth.

  Among Bug-types, Venomoth was sidered a top-tier predator.

  "You won't stop this!"

  Sato whispered under his breath. Dark Energy surged beh his feet.

  Venomoth fpped its violet wings, releasing a powerful psychic wave.

  The air trembled.

  For a brief moment, an invisible force field expanded outward, targeting everything in its range.

  But… it had no effect. Except for Haunter, who hesitated slightly, Sato and Zoroark weren't affected at all.

  "A Dark-type?! But then… why isn't it affeg you?" The older man's expression twisted in shock.

  Psychion were incredibly rare. Even having a Venomoth that could use fusion was something most trainers could only dream of.

  But it was useless!

  "Take a guess!"

  Sato sneered, his entire body accelerating once more. In an instant, he was in front of Venomoth, a gleaming dagger silently appearing in his hand.

  Ssh!

  Venomoth plummeted to the ground, struggling frantically. However, there was no visible wound—only a deep gash across its left wing, throwing off its band rendering it uo fly.

  "Raaah!"

  Victreebel let out a terrified cry. Its extended vine whip trembled as it desperately tried to pull out the dagger embedded in its abdomen. But the more it struggled, the weaker it became!

  "Night Ssh!"

  A bck blur streaked forward—Zoroark, who had been closely following Sato's movements.

  The moment the and was given, it locked onto Victreebel's dagger. It could feel the dense, trated Dark Energy c through the bde!

  For it, that energy recious source of nourishment. But for Victreebel, it was a lethal poison!

  Thud!

  Zoroark pushed the dagger deeper, until the hilt was fully embedded into Victreebel's body.

  "AAARGH!"

  The middle-aged man was pletely enraged—but at the same time, he felt a creeping sense of fear. He had been pletely caught off guard by Sato's sheer ruthlessness.

  The terrifying thing wasn't just the strength of his Pokémon—it was the trainer himself.

  In this battle, Sato was the primary batant. Zoroark and Haunter had bee his support.

  In a sirike, Sato had ralized two Pokémon—crippling Venomoth's wing and gutting Victreebel entirely!

  "Raaah!"

  Victreebel howled in agony once again as the effects of Curse activated.

  The middle-aged man's rage was now shifting into full-blown panic. He had only brought five Pokémon with him today.

  Starmie, Crobat, Victreebel, Venomoth… and now, he realized—he had only o.

  How… how did my Pokémon lose so easily?!

  For a brief moment, his mind bnked out. He was an experienced Elite-level trainer, while the boy before him only had two Pokémon that had barely reached Elite rank!

  "No… you're the real monster here!"

  The middle-aged man pletely abandoned his remaining Pokémon—ign Venomoth, still writhing in pain on the ground, and Victreebel, whose bloodied body y motionless.

  "UrsariHQUAKE! BURY THEM ALIVE!"

  "GRROOOOAHH!"

  A deafening roar echoed through the underground facility as the massive Ursaring blocked the exit tuhe man turned and bolted—fleeing without hesitation.

  "Rooooaaar!"

  For a moment, Ursariated. It g its fallen teammates, then at its esg trainer. Slowly, its expression twisted with fury.

  Ursaring had been with the man sihe beginning. It had followed him through tless battles. And now—when things got tough—he was abandoning them all?

  Still, its body moved on instinct. Obey the and.

  Obey the trainer.

  "ROOOOAHH!"

  Ursaring roared once more, smming both fists into the ground with devastating force. A wave of seismiergy rippled outward, causing the entire underground structure to tremble violently.

  At that moment, Sato kaying behi certaih.

  "RUN! NOW!"

  Hauook the lead. The earthquake's tremors had no effe its intangible body. It effortlessly swatted aside any debris that fell from above.

  "Zoroark!"

  Without hesitation, Zoroark lifted Sato onto its back. Its strong legs shifted from bipedal to quadrupedal stance, allowing it to sprint at full speed, minimizing the effects of the unstable terrain.

  The facility was colpsing.

  Cracks spiderwebbed across the supposedly sturdy crete walls. Large ses of the ceiling caved in, bringiire sbs of debris crashing down.

  Sato cursed under his breath. Damn it! If they wao frame Team Rocket, they should've at least built this pce properly! Now their shoddy struight actually get me killed!

  More and more ses of the facility began g in. The domino effect of colpsing structures left less and less spaaneuver.

  Haunter barely mao deflect the rgest falling debris, while Zoroark's speed was the only thing keeping them alive.

  But at this rate, it was only a matter of time.

  We're trapped.

  "This isn't good… we won't make it out like this!"

  "Hu!"