Officer Jenny spotted the Garchomp circling in the sky, and the flash of gold on its back.
She remembered the photo she had seen at the Breeding House.
"It... couldn't be, could it?" Jenny muttered to herself.
Victor just nodded.
Jenny instantly broke into a smile.
"You've really got some skills, kid."
With this, Jenny was now completely confident.
"Go on, then," she said, giving Victor an urgent push forward.
If they waited even a second longer, someone else might get hurt.
"Good luck, Gengar!" she added, giving it a cheer.
Gengar grinned.
"Gengar—"
Leave it to me!
Victor led his Pokémon into the cordoned-off area.
From a distance, he could see that the once-tidy road was now covered in craters, and the surrounding trees were toppled and scattered.
The marks of a violent struggle were everywhere.
The Zangoose and Seviper packs had taken opposite sides of the road.
Behind them lay their injured companions.
They were glaring at each other, ready to attack.
Seeing Victor suddenly walk in, both groups of Pokémon fell silent.
Victor calmly released Lilligant from her Poké Ball.
A few of the Zangoose saw Victor and immediately lunged at him.
In the next instant...
A figure wreathed in greyish-purple flames and another in golden electricity slammed into them, sending them flying.
They landed hard on the road between the two packs, knocked out cold.
The Luxio's body crackled with electricity as it lowered its stance.
It despised people and Pokémon who bullied the weak.
The Rapidash felt the same. Having experienced what it had as a Ponyta, it shared the Luxio's sentiment.
Looking at the Luxio and Rapidash standing before him, Victor smiled to himself.
The Breeding House has its own Ghost Riders.
The Staravia stared at them coldly from the sky.
Gengar and Lilligant stood on either side of Victor.
"Everyone, could you please listen to—"
Before he could finish, the Zangoose pack charged at the Seviper pack.
The battle erupted again.
Victor's mouth twitched.
You just want to fight, is that it?
"Gengar. Lilligant. Staravia. Luxio. Rapidash."
Victor called out his Pokémon's names.
At his command, they stood to the side and... began to cheer them on.
Shadow Balls, Energy Balls, Air Cutters, Flamethrowers, and Thunderbolts rained down into the middle of the brawling Pokémon.
Mediation? Victor was very familiar with this.
Just beat them all down, and the problem will be solved.
The Zangoose and Seviper stopped fighting each other and exchanged a look.
Then they both charged at Victor.
Before Gengar and the others could even move...
A sound came from the sky.
A shower of meteors fell, crashing down on the Zangoose and Seviper.
The meteors slammed into the packs. In an instant, only a few of them were left, struggling to get back on their feet.
With a sound of tearing air, Cynthia leaped down from her Garchomp's back and landed beside Victor.
She didn't say anything, just quietly looked at Victor, waiting to see how he would handle it.
Looking at the situation, Victor also had a headache.
Zangoose and Seviper were natural enemies. As long as they met, a fight was inevitable.
It was unrealistic to try and stop them from fighting forever.
But now they knew where each other lived, which meant this was very likely to happen again.
Unable to think of a solution, Victor looked at the few Pokémon that could still move.
"Can you all set aside your feud for now?"
The Seviper glanced at the Zangoose, their eyes glowing red.
Obviously not.
But, wary of Cynthia and her Garchomp, they held back for the moment.
The Zangoose did the same.
Victor observed them for a moment, then checked their status.
He saw that they would, in fact, stand down while he was present.
He nodded, relieved.
Just then, Officer Jenny walked in.
She saw the blonde woman standing next to Victor. Although she had her suspicions, she was still shocked.
"What's the situation?" Jenny asked, walking over to Victor with her Arcanine.
Victor sighed.
"It's temporarily resolved. But what do we do about this?"
Hearing his question, Jenny greeted Cynthia, then looked at the devastated battlefield. She thought for a moment, then said, "Let's get them to the Pokémon Center for treatment first. We can figure out the rest later."
Victor nodded.
She then had the other officers come in and transport all the Zangoose and Seviper to the Pokémon Center. She herself got on her Arcanine and headed back.
...
"So? How does it feel to have the Champion as your backup?" Cynthia suddenly asked, looking at Victor.
Victor smiled. "Not bad?"
"'Not bad?'" Cynthia's eyes narrowed.
"I mean, the Champion is my friend, and friends are supposed to help each other out, right?"
Cynthia nodded.
"Besides, your friends don't seem to be as strong as my friends."
It took Cynthia a moment to understand his meaning.
Then she smiled happily. She liked that.
"But I'm surprised. I thought you would step in and handle this yourself," Victor said.
Cynthia shrugged, an elegant and beautiful motion.
"I'm on my break right now," she said. "If I were here alone, I would have handled it. But since you were here, I left it to you, Owner... Uncle~"
She intentionally drew out the last word. Victor shivered.
"Just talk normally!"
Cynthia couldn't help but laugh, then continued, "If I wasn't satisfied with your results, I would have handled it."
She was back to her normal self.
Victor nodded, satisfied. This was the Cynthia he knew.
He just hadn't expected her to have such a mischievous side.
Shaking his head with a smile, Victor decided not to go back to the Pokémon Center, but to take a walk through the area with Cynthia.
They walked through the two forests. They weren't very large.
At least, they were much smaller than the forest behind the Breeding House.
This was clearly what had led to the two packs meeting.
Victor wondered if it would be possible to move one of them to his forest.
If they didn't meet, this wouldn't happen again.
But they probably wouldn't want to leave their homes.
He was mulling over his options when Jenny and the others returned with the Zangoose and Seviper.
The moment they landed, they were ready to fight again.
But then they saw Victor and Cynthia staring at them.
A Zangoose, in a moment of brilliance (or panic), grabbed a nearby Seviper and hugged it.
The Seviper, its tail glowing, was about to strike.
Victor's eyes narrowed.
The Seviper instead pressed its body against the Zangoose.
"We're... friendly." (It smiled.)
Victor looked at them. "I know you two are hard-wired to fight on sight. I'm not going to say anything about that."
"But today, it wasn't just about you. You hurt other people and Pokémon."
"To prevent this from happening again, I've decided that one of your groups will come back with me to my place."
Victor smiled. "The scenery at our place is much better than here. And, if you want to fight, we have opponents there who are more worthy of you."
Hearing this, the leaders of the Zangoose and Seviper packs exchanged a look.
"Of course, you can refuse," Victor said. "But if this happens again, you know the consequences."
Garchomp, reluctantly cooperating with Victor, let out a roar.
"And," Victor added, "you can get stronger there. Then you can come back for revenge."
First, I'll just trick them into coming. Whether they can ever come back is up to them.
By then, their opponent will be an entire forest.
That was his plan.
Finally, the two leaders looked at each other.
If we can't fight, we might as well go get stronger and come back for revenge later.
The Seviper leader stepped forward, indicating that it and its pack would go with Victor.
Victor nodded and informed Officer Jenny, who had no objections.
He and Cynthia then began to lead the Seviper pack towards the Breeding House.
Before leaving, the Seviper leader looked back at the Zangoose leader.
If you all stop progressing, we'll be back to wipe the floor with you.
The Zangoose leader snorted.
We'll be waiting. And we'll drive you out again.
...
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