At this thought, a chill ran through Kate's entire body, reaching the top of her head. She shivered involuntarily, and her face turned pale at a speed visible to the naked eye.
'A conspiracy—this is a conspiracy.'
The Drakorian trainers had somehow arrived on this island without their knowledge and made contact with the Volkarian team they'd been pursuing. Together, they'd laid a trap.
If not for her earlier decision to track the Volkarian team's movements—which had kept her from rejoining the main group—she might've already been caught in their trap.
But even so, the other side had sent someone to hunt her down.
The roles of hunter and prey seemed to have reversed in an instant.
Though she couldn't be sure whether the threat was coming from a Volkarian trainer or a Drakorian trainer, one thing was certain—they were stronger than her, and they had the ability to kill her.
Otherwise, the sense of danger wouldn't be so overwhelming.
Listening to the distant sounds of battle, Kate hesitated.
Should she go over there and warn them?
But rushing in now wouldn't save Phil and the others. More likely, she'd just be throwing her own life away.
Her expression twisted with conflict before finally settling into resignation. "Phil... if I get the chance, I'll avenge you," she whispered.
She wanted to live. So she chose to abandon them.
"I hope I'm wrong about all of this," Kate muttered.
Perhaps she said that to ease her own guilt.
If she was wrong, and the Drakorian trainers hadn't come, then Phil and the others could handle the Volkarians themselves—and whether she went or not wouldn't matter.
Actually, the best solution was to perform a divination on Phil's fate. That way, she could know how things would turn out.
But her current mental state was too poor—there was no way she could perform such a reading.
Besides, divining someone's fate required a quiet environment and someone to protect her during the process.
In a situation like this… never mind a reading—whether she could avoid being caught by the person chasing her was still unknown.
Meanwhile…
"Damn it, don't tell me I really went the wrong way?"
After over an hour of fruitless searching, Julian signaled Dragonite to stop. Along the way, he had changed directions multiple times, but he still hadn't run into Kate.
Either he had gone the wrong way from the beginning, or Kate's divination ability had sensed something and she was evading him.
Either way, finding her wasn't going to be something he could do quickly.
"Dragonite, let's head back."
After thinking for a moment, Julian gave up on the search.
Compared to one stray target, the clash between the Celestrians and Volkarians was the real priority. Once they dealt with that, they'd have all the time in the world to hunt Kate down.
At this moment, Sophia and her team had already been fighting the Celestrian and Gallian trainers for over an hour, and the battle was extremely brutal.
Sophia's side had already lost three Elite-level Pokémon, while the Celestrian team had only lost one.
Outnumbered in both trainers and Pokémon, the disadvantage only grew as time passed—unless something unexpected happened or the enemy made a mistake, their advantage would keep snowballing.
Phil from the Celestrian side had adopted a steady, methodical approach. Now that they had gained the upper hand, he chose to slowly wear down the Volkarian team.
If they had launched an all-out attack from the start and forced the Volkarian team into a desperate last stand, their own side would have suffered heavier casualties.
However, what puzzled him was—why hadn't Kate shown up yet?
If she had been here, perhaps that Victreebel just now wouldn't have fallen.
The two sides continued fighting for another half an hour.
By then, Sophia's team was struggling even more. Despite being guarded by their Pokémon, two trainers had sustained injuries.
And while none of their Pokémon had died, three more had been knocked out of the fight.
The Celestrian and Gallian teams, on the other hand, remained unharmed. Their Pokémon were battered but still capable of fighting.
With their advantage widening, Phil finally allowed himself to relax just a bit. If things went on like this for another hour, they should be able to wipe out the Volkarian team.
The only concern now was preventing their opponents from resorting to last-ditch moves like Self-Destruct or Explosion.
The battle between both sides had already affected the entire Melemele Island. Especially in the central area where they were fighting—within a fifty-kilometer radius, there was almost no intact ground left.
Some wild Pokémon that hadn't escaped in time had been killed by the aftermath of the attacks.
"Chandelure—Will-O-Wisp!"
Phil never took his eyes off his ace Pokémon. Although he had deployed four Pokémon in total, most of his focus was on Chandelure.
Rather than splitting his attention between all his Pokémon, it was better to concentrate on commanding his strongest fighter.
Chandelure had been locked in combat with Sophia's Aerodactyl the entire time. The former was at the peak of Elite rank, while the latter was late-stage Elite.
Even after Mega Evolving, pushing Aerodactyl to pseudo-Champion level, it still couldn't finish off Chandelure—because several other Pokémon kept disrupting its attacks.
As a result, Mega Aerodactyl still hadn't defeated Chandelure.
But Sophia's Mega Evolution could only last five minutes—a duration already considered excellent. Most trainers could only maintain Mega Evolution for around three minutes, so five was impressive.
Now, however, her stamina and focus were spent. With a exhausted sigh, Mega Aerodactyl reverted to its normal form.
Seizing the opportunity, Phil's Chandelure and several other Pokémon launched a coordinated assault on the now-reverted Aerodactyl.
"The battle's over, Sophia."
Phil declared, confidence gleaming in his eyes. As long as Aerodactyl was taken down, Sophia would lose her strongest ace—her remaining Pokémon wouldn't stand a chance against Chandelure.
At that point, the tide of battle would become completely one-sided.
But just as he was thinking about the victory—
"NOW!"
Sophia roared.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Five Poké Balls burst open at her command.
A piercing cry echoed across the battlefield, followed by a surge of crimson flames.
A searing Flamethrower shot out and engulfed Chandelure, its blistering heat drawing agonized shrieks from the ghostly lantern.
"Regii—!"
Regirock locked onto Lickilicky with a whirring click before blasting it with a point-blank Zap Cannon.
"Ken!"
Blaziken's leg ignited with raging flames as it delivered a devastating kick right into a Hydreigon, sending the Pokémon flying.
ROAR!
Salamence soared high into the sky, unleashing a torrent of draconic energy that blanketed three of Gallian team's Pokémon below.
And in a flash of icy brilliance, Abomasnow's Ice Beam froze Hydreigon mid-air, instantly taking down the Pokémon that had just been kicked by Blaziken.
Moltres, Regirock, Blaziken, Salamence, and Abomasnow—five powerful Pokémon had entered the fray in a way Phil never anticipated.
In mere seconds, every advantage his team had painstakingly built—was annihilated.
*****
Upto 30 chapters ahead on patreon :-
patreon.com/ReduxMagister