Even death beasts, monstrous as they were, retained some of their animal instincts.
And for any pack-based creature—once their leader died, panic and disarray were inevitable.
The same applied to the Rotmice.
The death of the Rotmouse Queen instantly shattered their momentum, cutting their bloodlust in half!
Trainers still engaged in battle quickly noticed the difference—the Rotmice were suddenly less aggressive, their pressure diminishing significantly.
Though their bloodthirsty nature meant they wouldn't retreat, they clearly lost their edge.
Beside Su Bai, Liu Yunshuang let out a faint sigh of relief.
"Looks like the battle's already decided."
Su Bai nodded, glancing over at Liu Yunlan and Xiao Zhang, who were sprinting toward their Pokémon with antidotes in hand.
This ordeal would hopefully teach Liu Yunlan to rein in her recklessness a bit.
As for Machop's evolution into Machoke—that was a completely unexpected bonus.
And the surprises weren't over.
As the fight raged on, several of the Haihai First High School students' Pokémon—especially those well-trained and nearing evolution—began to evolve too!
The first to shine was the impressive Sandshrew.
After one final Rollout, its spinning body suddenly stopped, and it was enveloped in glowing light.
When the light faded, a fearsome Sandslash stood tall!
Its formerly smooth scales had become rows of tough, brown spines, and its once-small claws had morphed into exaggeratedly large talons.
Its slightly chubby figure had slimmed down into a lean, attack-oriented form—deadly and agile!
Next, a Pidgey, which had just completed a divebomb attack, began to glow mid-air.
It evolved into Pidgeotto, whose wingspan now even rivaled that of a Corvisquire!
With pink head feathers and a striking red-yellow tail plume, this over-a-meter-long bird gave off an aura of power.
With a fierce cry, its wings beat rapidly—and in a flash, a miniature tornado whipped across the battlefield!
Rotmice caught in the vortex were sliced apart by invisible wind blades.
Even the timid Oddish, who had only been peeking out from behind others while launching Acid Spray, underwent transformation.
Now a Gloom, its drooping mouth dribbled nectar that seemed irresistibly enticing to the Rotmice.
As they charged toward it in a frenzy, Gloom shook its head, releasing clouds of Stun Spore into the wind!
The rodents were immediately paralyzed—frozen in place and vulnerable to follow-up attacks from allied Pokémon.
Machoke's evolution had been the signal.
One after another, Pokémon began to glow.
The students' shouts of joy echoed across the battlefield.
Ever since the death beasts began attacking the city, these students had been constantly battling.
Now, they were finally reaping the rewards of their hard work.
Their sweat, training, and unshakable trust in their Pokémon had borne fruit.
Evolution—the ultimate affirmation of their efforts!
Even within the elite A-rank Awakener team, a burst of laughter rang out from Ji Wei.
"He evolved! My Sandile evolved!"
Although the A-rank team hadn't participated directly in order to let the lower-level trainers gain experience, Ji Wei was a special case.
Technically, he wasn't much more experienced as a trainer than the students.
In fact, because he was always out on missions, his Sandile had barely gained any EXP.
But this skirmish—with swarms of C-rank death beasts like the Rotmice—was the perfect grind spot for him.
Since the beginning of the fight, Ji Wei, the powerful A-rank Berserker, had been acting as a shield and guardian for his Pokémon.
And now—his efforts paid off.
The newly evolved Pokémon stood on two legs, arms crossed, radiating an aura of "don't mess with me."
With a cocky smirk, it kicked a Rotmouse flying in a single motion.
Its black body stripes, dual rows of back ridges, and sleek black "eye sockets" that looked like shades made it clear:
This was a Krokorok.
In front of it, a swirling pit of sand—similar to the Sand Tomb move used by Hippopotas earlier—churned ominously.
Any Rotmouse caught in the whirlpool struggled to move and was quickly finished off by allied attacks.
Clearly, Ji Wei had taken inspiration from Wang Tao's Hippopotas, using the same technique to farm EXP.
"This is my first time seeing Pokémon fight… These cute little creatures… how are they this powerful?!"
Zhang Wenhao, the cleric of the team, rubbed his eyes in disbelief.
Not only were Pokémon tough and clever—they actually got stronger mid-battle?
And once they evolved, their strength jumped to a whole new tier!
He was completely speechless.
"I originally thought I didn't have time to raise a Pokémon…"
Shi Ce rubbed his bald head, staring at Ji Wei's smug Krokorok with a face full of envy.
"But now I'm thinking… once this mission's over, I have to get one. Where else can you find such dependable battle partners?"
For Awakeners, it was incredibly difficult to find compatible teammates—due to their jobs, temperaments, and power levels.
Even their A-rank team had only come together after numerous trials.
But with Pokémon, there were no such barriers.
They could complement Awakeners perfectly!
Su Bai chuckled.
"Well then, once we're done here, drop by the Pokémon Center."
Of course, he would've loved to close the sale right then and there—but he couldn't.
His Pokédex had been left behind at the Pokémon Center, and he'd temporarily handed over the summoning and sales permissions to Zhou Xiaofei.
While Su Bai could still use the system to track Pokémon stats and evolution remotely, he couldn't sell any out in the wild.
Even his Ditto and Rotom had been left at the center, helping Zhou Xiaofei—the ever-diligent child laborer—with daily tasks.
For this mission, he'd only brought Meloetta and Diancie.
"Looks like this battle's almost over."
Liu Yunshuang yawned and stretched, then hugged her Wigglytuff tightly.
"Feels nice not needing to step in. These kids really pulled through!"
"Honestly, I thought this mission would be exhausting. Lately, we've been out on assignment way too often…"
She said it casually—but the truth was different.
This mission had been a personal commission from City Lord Zhu Jianyuan, and wasn't even officially classified by the Awakener Guild.
If it had been ranked—it likely would've been a suicide-tier mission.
After all, a human-led counteroffensive against death beasts?
Most would've called it madness.
But Liu Yunshuang and her team had accepted it anyway.
Perhaps because they'd come prepared to die…
"I wonder how things are going over on Lord Zhu's side?"
Ji Wei suddenly looked back and asked, "Weren't all the trainers there rookies?"
Su Bai raised a brow and looked in the direction of the Pokémon military division.
Then he laughed softly.
"Rookies? I wouldn't be so sure about that…"
The contrast between their group of relatively well-raised but undisciplined Pokémon, and the organized, formation-trained military force under Zhu's command...
Which side would finish first?