Bang—
Boom! Boom! Boom!
For the first time, a look of horror appeared on Ninetales' face.
A Flame Kick, imbued with sacred fire, sent the elegant and ethereal Ninetales, who had always maintained a graceful posture, crashing to the ground, kicking up a large amount of dust.
Regardless of how much damage this kick inflicted on the Shiny Ninetales, it successfully knocked her out of her pretentious state.
After losing that ethereal, noble, and elegant demeanor, what was left of this Champion-level Shiny Ninetales?
Only her Champion-level strength, right?
Well, she was still Champion-level.
But at this moment, she wasn't the only one with Champion-level strength; the Mega Gengar, who had been waiting below for a long time, also possessed Champion-level strength.
Moreover, Gengar had many companions by its side, while Ninetales was the only Pokémon.
Before the battle began, she cried out to the sky, and Aoki thought she was summoning companions, but now it seemed that was not the case.
However, this Shiny Ninetales was indeed very strong; even in this situation, the counterattacks she launched in resistance still caused considerable damage to Aoki's Pokémon.
Fortunately, with the presence of Florges, as long as the injuries were not too severe, they would eventually recover after some time.
"Woof—"
After a long time, with a whimper from Ninetales, she lost the ability to battle and finally collapsed to the ground.
But the excitement on Aoki's Pokémon's faces had not completely faded; defeating such a Champion-level Pokémon was the best affirmation of their growth to this point.
Although they defeated this Ninetales by ganging up on her, Aoki's Pokémon did not think there was anything wrong with ganging up.
This was originally a world where the strong preyed on the weak; if you had sufficiently powerful companions, that was also a form of strength, and it wasn't necessary to defeat an opponent in a one-on-one battle to prove your strength.
Aoki and Florges slowly walked towards the Shiny Ninetales, who lay on the ground in a comatose state, looking at her fur now covered in dust.
This Ninetales made Aoki hesitate.
Should he catch it or not?
No matter what, this Ninetales was still very strong, and she also had her own unique fighting style and methods, and from the battle just now, it could be seen that she should be a very proud Pokémon with her own ideas.
Aoki was not sure if catching her like this would make her obey his commands.
After a slight hesitation, he still took out an empty Poké Ball and threw it at her; after all, she was a fully-fledged Champion-level Pokémon, and her value was very high; even within Silver Mountain, she was considered a top-tier Pokémon.
Catching her might face some resistance from the Alliance, but as long as she could be caught, even if only used for a period as a buffer, her value would still be very high.
However, when the Poké Ball Aoki threw took her in, the Poké Ball flashed a few times but then opened again, failing to successfully capture her.
And the Ninetales, who reappeared from the Poké Ball, had woken up from her coma, stumbled to her feet, staring intently at Aoki, whimpering incessantly, as if explaining the grievances she had suffered to someone.
Aoki's brows slowly furrowed; he didn't expect this Ninetales to wake up so quickly.
Just as he was about to command his Pokémon to attack again, the Blaziken beside him cried out.
"Blaziken!!!"
Immediately after, the rest of the Pokémon also showed nervous expressions, even more serious and tense than when they first encountered this Ninetales; even Gengar, who had not yet reverted from its Mega Evolution state, had a solemn expression.
On the other hand, a look of relief appeared on Ninetales' face.
The temperature throughout the valley suddenly rose, and Blaziken, being the most sensitive to temperature, was the first to notice the abnormality.
"Screech!!!"
A clear bird cry appeared in the valley, echoing throughout the entire valley, and the previously somewhat dim valley now lit up completely, as if a small sun had appeared in the sky.
Aoki's expression changed, and he suddenly looked up, seeing a Pokémon he didn't want to look directly at.
It was a Moltres!
It was soaring menacingly from the mountaintop towards the valley.
Seeing Moltres appear so openly in the valley, and with such an accusatory demeanor, it was clear without a doubt that it was the Pokémon summoned by the Shiny Ninetales currently opposite them.
Aoki was quite familiar with Pokémon like Moltres, and he had even encountered them up close.
Last time, when Team Rocket wanted to obtain the genes of the Legendary Birds, Aoki also participated in that operation and took a large amount of blood from Moltres while it was unconscious. The energy cubes Blaziken was currently eating contained components of Moltres's blood, which improved Blaziken's affinity for fire and allowed it to use fire better.
He didn't expect to see another Moltres here.
And judging solely from its aura, the strength of this Moltres was incomparable to the Moltres on the Three Legendary Islands, which needed Lugia's protection to survive.
This Moltres, whether from the flames on its wings or the feathers on its body, appeared more majestic and closer to a Legendary Pokémon.
Whoosh—
The entire valley was illuminated by the firelight; the flames on Moltres's body were much stronger than those of Ninetales or Blaziken.
"Screech—"
Moltres let out another long cry and flew to Ninetales' side. Moltres, who already had flames on its body, now had flames blazing in its eyes.
Seeing the clearly heavily injured Ninetales, it knew it had arrived late.
Ninetales, who had always maintained a noble and elegant posture, now appeared pitiful in front of Moltres.
Several black lines appeared on Aoki's forehead again.
Big sis, even if you have such a strong backer, please shout it out before we fight so I know how much force to use, right?
If you had shouted earlier, "My dad is so-and-so," I definitely wouldn't have hit so hard, right?
And speaking of the very beginning, you were the one who attacked first, right?
We were talking to you nicely, and you just threw a Will-O-Wisp in front of me.
Although we ganged up on you, and we even brazenly said that having companions is also a form of strength, it seems a bit inappropriate for you to summon such a strong Moltres so quickly, right?
Aoki's face was filled with unspeakable bitterness, but it seemed the Moltres opposite him didn't care about Aoki's expression.
He saw flames rise from its body, slowly transferring to the Ninetales beside it, helping her recover from her injuries.
At this time, Ninetales' ability had changed back; Moltres's flames, given to the Ninetales with Flash Fire ability, could restore her internal energy to a certain extent.
Although it wouldn't fully recover her, it would at least ensure she didn't fall into a coma again.