"Brother, wait for me to get reinforcements!"
Lycanroc A lay with its head weakly pressed against the ground.
Great. Will I even still be alive when you get back?
For a moment, Lycanroc A looked at Roy with despair in its eyes.
The two Lycanroc were extremely fast and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Roy approached the fallen Lycanroc step by step. The injured Pokémon struggled to stand up despite the pain in its abdomen, but for some reason, its limbs simply had no strength.
It collapsed to the ground again with a heavy thud.
Roy continued walking forward.
Seeing the human getting closer and closer, the Lycanroc couldn't help but retract its head into the fur on its chest.
Its eyes squeezed tightly shut, not daring to imagine what would happen next.
The Lycanroc's heavy panting grew more labored as the footsteps approached. It could almost feel its life force draining away.
Wait...
The Lycanroc suddenly raised its head.
The footsteps seemed to be getting... farther away?
Lycanroc's amber eyes reflected Roy's figure growing more distant, filled with confusion.
Then another shadow approached.
The Lycanroc trembled even harder when it saw the large group of powerful Pokémon passing by.
Fortunately, none of them gave it a second glance.
The Lycanroc let out a quiet breath of relief but still didn't dare move, only hoping they would leave quickly.
That's what this Lycanroc thought, but its packmates probably had different ideas.
Roy stopped in his tracks, looking at the group of Lycanroc that had blocked the only path through the Vast Poni Canyon ahead, and sighed.
"I didn't expect to run into this situation," he muttered.
"Alright everyone, come out. We've got a tough battle ahead."
The Pokémon who had been following Roy all this time were no longer relaxed and playful. All of them wore stern expressions, looking very serious.
Their battle-ready demeanor made Roy chuckle.
"Okay, you don't need to be so tense."
Information about Lycanroc flashed through Roy's mind.
He'd already decided which Pokémon would participate in this small team battle.
Lucario, a Fighting-type, and Blastoise, a Water-type Pokémon.
Roy thought it over. Originally, he'd wanted to use this opportunity to improve the coordination between different team combinations.
But looking at the Lycanroc with varying levels of strength ahead, Roy ultimately gave up on his original plan to field three Pokémon.
In the end, he chose Lucario and Blastoise—the pair with the highest level of coordination.
Lucario and Blastoise were the veterans of his team, naturally making them the duo with the strongest understanding of each other.
Most of their usual training and battles had been conducted with single Pokémon.
Now, with his Pokémon's individual combat abilities improving, Roy needed to start thinking about team battle capabilities.
Even though his Pokémon had excellent rapport thanks to his Aura powers, tactical coordination could sometimes create conflicts during battle.
This weakness might not be visible at their current level, but when facing more powerful Pokémon or opponents later, it would become a glaring shortcoming.
It would be very easy for an experienced Pokémon Trainer to identify such a fundamental flaw and exploit it to defeat them one by one.
Even Roy himself, with the right Pokémon at his disposal, could devise countless strategies to exploit such weaknesses.
Therefore, developing better coordination between team members was definitely not something that could be overlooked.
Both Lucario and Blastoise were thrilled to be chosen.
However, their reactions were completely different.
Lucario stepped forward, placing one paw over its chest.
"I won't let you down!"
Blastoise, still carrying Mimikyu on its shoulder, excitedly threw a series of practice punches into the air.
So this is what it feels like to be counted on!
Leave it to me, Trainer!
Roy found himself completely, one hundred percent, one thousand percent speechless.
"Setting aside Blastoise for now... Lucario, where did you learn such dramatic behavior?"
Lucario scratched its head sheepishly.
"I usually watch TV with everyone..."
Roy's gaze immediately shifted to Blastoise.
Of course, it's you again!
Blastoise blinked innocently, indicating it had done nothing wrong.
At that moment, the lead Lycanroc looked around and caught a faint scent of blood in the air.
The smell was very faint and not easily noticed by most.
But for Pokémon like Lycanroc, the scent of blood was the most familiar thing in the world.
Right now, they had gathered because their packmate had been attacked, and the Pokémon before them showed no signs of injury.
Perhaps thinking of a certain possibility, the crimson pupils of the lead Lycanroc instantly filled with murderous intent.
The Lycanroc's emotional shift was dramatic, and it was directed entirely at Roy himself.
Roy's Aura powers immediately conveyed this change in emotion to him.
Roy was momentarily taken aback. He didn't know what had triggered these initially rational Pokémon.
"They've gone berserk."
Due to the presence of two Legendary Pokémon on Poni Island, the ferocity of wild Pokémon on the island had decreased significantly.
But this wasn't a permanent solution, so it was reasonable that the Lycanroc had re-entered their violent state due to certain triggers.
"Awoooo—"
The lead Lycanroc was in its Midnight Form.
Compared to the Midday Form and Dusk Form Lycanroc around it, the Midnight Form walked upright on its two hind legs.
This made it appear a head taller than the other forms, and its presence was far more intimidating.
The Midnight Form Lycanroc's fur was primarily red, with a ring of long white fur around the middle of its neck. Its short tail and the front portions of its limbs were also white.
In contrast, both the Midday and Dusk Form Lycanroc had long tails—quite a noticeable difference.
Roy narrowed his eyes, watching as the red Lycanroc in the distance stood completely upright. This was probably the battle stance it adopted when preparing to attack.
"Everyone else, fall back for now. Lucario and Blastoise, prepare for battle."
The other Pokémon responded and all took several steps backward.
Mimikyu obediently vanished from Blastoise's shoulder in an instant.
In the next second, it reappeared beside Electivire.
Energy gathered in Lucario's paws, while Blastoise positioned itself behind Lucario, channeling two massive streams of water for Hydro Pump from the cannons on its shell.
Blastoise gave Lucario an enthusiastic thumbs up.