With the invitation refused, everyone could only leave in disappointment.
Hu Yan'er glanced at the Pikachu on her shoulder and smiled. "Come on, Pikachu."
"We can't let Teacher down!"
"Pika-pika!" [Let's go!]
Pikachu clenched its right fist in an encouraging gesture.
The two of them set off, brimming with confidence, heading for the coordinates posted on the notice board.
However—just as the rescue operation at Yunlong Dam was finally starting to run smoothly, things on He Yongsen's side in the Qinling Mountains were looking grim.
...
After parting with Guo Yi that day, He Yongsen followed the instructor and led the Shanghai Pokémon Firefighting Unit in a rapid deployment to support the Qinling Mountains.
And it wasn't just Shanghai.
Nearly every city and town around the Qinling Mountains had dispatched firefighting teams to assist.
Yet—suppression wasn't going nearly as smoothly as they'd hoped.
They weren't only dealing with Fire-type Pokémon that had fled the Secret Realm and were wreaking havoc—they also had to contend with violent gusts that appeared out of nowhere.
To be honest, the rampaging Fire-types didn't worry the firefighters much.
They'd been doing this for years. They had plenty of experience dealing with Fire-type Pokémon.
What truly gave them headaches was that "ominous wind" that could show up anytime, anywhere.
As the saying goes—fire feeds on wind.
For a wildfire, strong winds were the best ally it could ask for, letting it ravage the forest unchecked.
And for a firefighting operation, those winds were one of the biggest obstacles.
A single gale could flip the direction of the flames, shattering the team's deployment in an instant.
Worse, one misstep and it could trap firefighters in a sea of fire.
For the incident commander on site, it was a brutal challenge.
"Yongsen… it's been three full days," one of He Yongsen's comrades said, staring at the flames clawing at the sky, his voice heavy with discouragement.
After grinding for three days with so little to show for it, anyone's morale would take a hit.
He Yongsen patted his shoulder. "Liu, don't judge it by what you see."
"The fire isn't contained yet, but the wild Pokémon around the Qinling Mountains have been relocated safely."
"That's still preventing a disaster—just from another angle."
"Sigh…" Liu let out a breath. "Sure, but putting the fire out is still the priority."
"If we let it run, the damage to the local ecology will be massive."
Their work had made progress.
But if the fire didn't go out, they still hadn't done their job as firefighters.
"Don't worry," He Yongsen said. "Go get some rest. Leave the next stretch to us."
He didn't say more. He just suited up, took Liu's position, and completed the handoff.
Putting out fires was physical work.
Keeping firefighters in fighting shape was crucial.
So even with the blaze raging, the command structure still arranged rest shifts as rationally as possible.
At the same time, the overall incident commander was discussing the next step with Water-type Elite Four Li Bing.
"Elite Four Li—wild Pokémon in the Qinling Mountains area have all been evacuated."
"Isn't it time to use the 'fight fire with fire' strategy?"
Brows knit tight, the commander turned to Li Bing.
With years of wildfire experience, he'd already mapped out the plan long ago.
The only reason they hadn't moved was to evacuate the local wild Pokémon first, preventing a stampede.
At the same time, they'd coordinated with the League's Search Division to track the villain organization's movements.
Because anyone with eyes could tell—this wildfire was burning wrong.
Especially that bizarre "ominous wind."
If there wasn't someone pulling strings behind the scenes, they could eat their helmets.
Li Bing replied, "The Search Division has already picked up Team Galactic's trail."
"But Team Galactic is too slippery. We still haven't found their hideout."
"If we go all-in with 'fight fire with fire' now… isn't that risky?"
They already knew this wildfire was Team Galactic's doing.
But that threat was still out there.
And paired with that "demonic wind" that came and went without warning, launching a full-scale suppression operation now really was a gamble.
But the commander saw it differently.
"Elite Four Li, I see it the other way around."
"Precisely because we can't find Team Galactic's hideout, we need to act now."
"They went to great lengths to start this mountain fire—so they won't let it be extinguished easily."
"When the time comes, they'll have to move. And that's how we find them faster."
Li Bing paused, then said, "But if we do that… it's far too dangerous for the Pokémon firefighters."
The logic was sound.
But if Pokémon firefighters went deep into the fireline and that "ominous wind" reappeared—casualties would be hard to avoid.
At that, the commander showed the steel that defined his profession.
"Elite Four Li, you don't have to worry about that."
"From the moment we put on this uniform, we stopped treating life and death like something to cling to."
Faced with the commander's unwavering expression, Li Bing finally agreed.
"Then we'll use the 'fight fire with fire' strategy."
"Understood. I'll issue the orders immediately."
"Fight fire with fire," also known as a burn-out tactic, was a common approach to dealing with forest fires.
Its strengths were speed and efficiency: less labor-intensive, more thorough, and in emergencies, better for personnel safety.
Normally, the hard part was cutting a firebreak.
In the old world, that could be brutally difficult.
Terrain often prevented heavy machinery from deploying, so firebreaks had to be carved out by hand.
But—in a world where Pokémon were the backbone of labor, cutting a firebreak was almost effortless.
With a single command from the incident commander, Pokémon that had been on standby—Machamp, Hariyama, Conkeldurr, and others—rushed to their assigned positions and began earthwork immediately.
Very quickly, a firebreak began to take shape at a visible pace.
Such a large-scale operation naturally caught Team Galactic's attention in the shadows.
"Lady Mercury, the firefighters are cutting a firebreak."
"If nothing changes, they're planning to use the 'fight fire with fire' tactic to eliminate the wildfire."
A subordinate promptly reported the Pokémon firefighting unit's movements in detail.
"Fight fire with fire" was one of the standard wildfire suppression tactics.
So the moment the firebreak work started, Team Galactic's people could already tell what they were planning.
Hearing this, Mercury wore a contemptuous smile.
"Fight fire with fire?"
"They're going to get burned."
She'd heard of the tactic too.
The idea was to deliberately ignite a controlled burn and let it meet the advancing wildfire. At the junction, the fuel would be consumed ahead of time, the fire would lose momentum, and the main front would die out.
But the problem was—right now, the direction of the fire was under their control.
At that thought, a bold idea flashed through Mercury's mind.
Should we use this chance… to deal Dragon Country's firefighting teams a fatal blow?
Team Galactic's operation had already created three separate disasters.
Fire, earthquake, and flooding.
Of the three, the damage and casualties from the earthquake were real—undeniably so.
But the fire and flooding?
From a certain angle, they were tools—meant to stretch Dragon Country's rescue forces thin.
If they could cripple the firefighters here, turning this wildfire into something truly uncontrollable—wouldn't that be more than completing the mission?
If that happens, Cyrus might value me even more.
After a moment's consideration, Mercury decided to take the risk.
"Pass the order."
"Release every frenzied Fire-type Pokémon in the Secret Realm. And send people to harass the firebreak construction."
"Also prepare to engage Dragon Country's Search Division."
If she wanted the wildfire to spiral out of control and cause mass casualties among the firefighters, she had to draw Li Bing in.
Because as someone who also specialized in Water-types, Mercury understood exactly what Li Bing could do.
If Li Bing was present, no matter how out of hand the blaze became, she could still shield the firefighters.
Even if Mercury's plan succeeded, the result would be heavily blunted.
So Mercury planned to use herself as bait—to tie Li Bing down.
And as for the firefighters—even if some of them had Elite Four Tier battle power, their Pokémon weren't a coordinated unit. Even working together, they couldn't unleash strength beyond Elite Four Tier.
So—that was when Tornadus would fully unleash its power.
"Yes, my lady!"
With Mercury's order, Team Galactic operatives hiding in the dark began moving at once.
...
In the blink of an eye, new fires flared up across multiple areas of the Qinling Mountains.
However, those fires weren't large, and Pokémon firefighters snuffed them out with ease.
At the same time, the construction teams cutting the firebreak came under Team Galactic harassment.
The League's Search Division counterattacked immediately.
"As expected," the incident commander said, a rare smile appearing when he received the report.
"The moment we started cutting the firebreak, Team Galactic couldn't sit still."
The rats in the dark had finally poked their heads out.
Then the commander turned to Li Bing and spoke slowly. "Elite Four Li, I'll leave the rest to you."
---
bonus chaps
100 stones -> 1 chapter
200 stones -> 2 chapters
300 stones -> 3 chapters
and so on
discord.gg/wisetl
patreon.com/wisetl