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Boom… boom…
Shrill cries and the thunder of countless wings fused.
What had once been ordinary bird calls and flapping sounds, multiplied beyond measure, underwent a terrifying transformation.
The noise became a living storm.
A colossal roar that shook the sky itself.
Fran.
Quark.
The remaining League personnel.
Even Rapidash and Roserade.
All of them stood frozen, stripped of thought by the overwhelming spectacle.
Fear had limits.
A dark road at night.
A rope bridge swaying over a cliff.
Those could terrify a person, but still allow room for calculation and choice.
But replace them with an ocean-high tsunami.
With a hurricane that split mountains and tore the sky apart.
And fear ceased to exist in any human sense.
What remained was not terror.
But awe.
Submission.
Reverence before something too vast to resist.
Once, long ago, Kael had felt the same way when facing Groudon's Precipice Blades.
Not hatred.
Not panic.
Only a trembling admiration for power beyond comprehension.
Now, the League squad stood in the same state.
One Nightmare Pokémon alone had been enough to put them on full alert.
Before this endless sea of wings, their minds simply… stopped.
Then.
Cold surged up Quark's spine.
Pure survival instinct tore him free from paralysis.
The shadow of death wrapped around his heart.
Without thinking, he spun toward Fran and screamed.
"RUN!!!"
Rapidash snorted violently and reared.
Flames erupted along its hooves as it lunged sideways, positioning itself beside Fran, ready to lift her onto its back.
As a fully evolved Pokémon, Rapidash possessed intelligence rivaling a human's.
In crises, its judgment surpassed most Trainers.
Quark was too far away.
If Rapidash tried to reach him, they would lose precious seconds.
Against creatures that ruled the sky, seconds meant extinction.
The optimal choice was brutal.
Abandon its own Trainer.
Save Fran.
As long as one survivor escaped, the League would learn what had happened here.
In better times, Pokémon abandoning their Trainers was nearly unheard of.
In this dying era, preserving even a single life mattered more than loyalty.
Flames flared brighter.
Muscles tensed.
Rapidash completed its charge preparation.
The instant Fran mounted, it would sprint with everything it had.
But.
No weight settled onto its back.
"Snrrt."
Rapidash twisted its head in alarm.
Why was she not climbing on?
What it met instead were Fran's pale eyes.
Still frightened.
But steady.
Clear.
Somehow calm.
She had recovered faster than anyone.
Even faster than Quark.
Because she had already panicked once today.
And learned from it.
She shook her head.
Hard.
No.
Leaving Quark meant death anyway.
Rapidash was fast.
But flight owned the sky.
Running would only stretch out the massacre.
The only chance they had.
The only one.
Was to stand and fight.
With Rapidash.
With Roserade.
With two elite Pokémon and two Trainers coordinating at full strength.
Right hand slammed against Rapidash's flank.
Her left arm pointed sharply toward Quark, sprinting back toward them.
The meaning was unmistakable.
Quark froze.
Then understood.
His jaw tightened.
"So… this is it."
No retreat.
Only resistance.
He turned and roared.
"Flamethrower!!!"
Trust burned deeper than fire.
Rapidash abandoned the escape plan instantly.
Energy surged through its throat.
Sparks detonated in violent clusters.
"WHOOOOOM!"
A pillar of crimson flame erupted skyward like a molten spear, ripping straight into the advancing flock.
"Petal Blizzard!"
Fran's voice rang out beside it.
Perfume flooded the air.
A storm of luminous pink petals burst upward, slashing into the dark mass like a floral hurricane.
Fire.
Petals.
Heat.
Steel-sharp energy.
Dozens.
Hundreds.
Pidgey and Pidgeotto rained from the sky in burning, broken spirals.
But compared to what remained.
It was nothing.
The Nightmare flock screeched.
Their eyes glowed with mad crimson hunger.
The slaughter only enraged them further.
Wings beat harder.
The black tide accelerated.
Wind howled across the road, flattening grass and tearing dust into the air.
Fran's silver hair whipped violently behind her.
"…It's over."
Her voice barely carried.
Above them.
The feather sea descended.
Quark spread his arms.
As if flesh could shield against a hurricane.
Absurd.
Yet heartbreakingly sincere.
His eyes, steady and burning, never left Fran.
In that gaze.
Fear vanished.
Only resolve remained.
Then.
In the instant when death was certain.
When wings were about to blot out the world.
Something changed.
A presence.
A pressure.
A distortion that did not belong.
The air rippled.
Reality bent.
And with the arrival of a strange, unfamiliar aura—
The anomaly began.
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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