"Boom!"
Two Dragon Breath attacks struck Onix's forehead simultaneously.
Onix let out a mournful cry before collapsing in defeat.
Its massive body crashed onto the ice—but the surface didn't even crack.
"Shit!"
When the boss saw Onix go down like that, his expression twisted with fury. He hurled two more Poké Balls.
"Go, Coalossal! Mankey!"
"Flamethrower! Cross Chop!"
Coalossal's Flamethrower came roaring in, but was matched blow-for-blow by Lu Ze's Charizard using the same Flamethrower.
Mankey charged in from the side, only to be sent crashing down even faster by Sui Yan's Charizard's Dragon Rush. It hit the ground and stayed down.
"Charizard, Brick Break!"
The younger brother's opponent was handled, but his own fight wasn't finished yet.
That wouldn't do.
Charizard's eyes narrowed. It gathered power and charged toward Coalossal, using the momentum of the dive to land a devastating Brick Break.
Coalossal tried to struggle and defend itself, but ultimately couldn't withstand the hit.
"Damn it!"
The boss cursed through gritted teeth. He glanced around—his men were all down too,一个个蹲在了地上 in defeat.
"So it was a trap all along..."
He thought grimly, then quickly dropped to his crouch and wrapped his arms around his head.
"So what now?"
With everyone cooperatively蹲在地上, Lu Ze was at a loss. They couldn't exactly kill them all, could they?
"No idea."
Sui Yan and Su Tingxi both shrugged—they hadn't exactly been through this before either.
"Idiots, make them hand over their loot. That's how it works in the Black Zones."
That's when Fugui chimed in, sidling up to the group and whispering his advice.
Having an older brother who's a Champion really did simplify the common-sense stuff.
"Oh! Right!"
Sui Yan nodded dumbly, then stepped forward and bellowed at the kneeling group:
"Hand over all your loot! Everything!"
No sooner had Sui Yan spoken than the bandits went through the motions with practiced ease—backpacks hit the ground first, then they fished small items from their pockets and tossed them onto the pile.
Once the routine was done, they went right back to crouching and hugging their heads, as if the movement hadn't been theirs at all.
"Uh… that was pretty rehearsed."
Sui Yan froze. He hadn't even finished his threatening speech and they were already complying?
It was the Black Mystery Zone's unspoken rule. In the Dragon Kingdom, taking lives was frowned upon even in the Zones—no guns, no killing. The unwritten code was simple: take the loot, leave the person breathing. So bandits developed quick surrender reflexes. Loot was just spoils from Zone battles anyway—nothing special. If they actually scored something good, they wouldn't cause trouble in the first place; they'd find the nearest exit and get out.
Staring at the pile of backpacks, Sui Yan scratched his head. They cooperated so smoothly—what was the next step?
He looked up at Lu Ze and Su Tingxi for guidance.
Lu Ze just shrugged: no clue from him either.
But Su Tingxi's eyes lit up. He stepped forward.
"Tell me—why were you following us? What was the plan?"
"Rob them. You looked like rookies. Figured you were easy pickings."
The boss kept his head low, answering fast.
He made sure not to mention anything about stealing Pokémon—that would minimize the actual loss. Pokémon were everyone's treasure; loot was just pocket change.
Su Tingxi had no follow-up. He turned to Sui Yan and gave a helpless shrug and a laugh.
They'd complied this much—what else could they do?
Sui Yan gritted his teeth and kicked the leader once more in frustration.
"Fine. Get out of here."
"Okay!"
The boss agreed instantly, gathered his men, recalled their Pokémon, and the group scrambled off.
"Let's see the loot."
Sui Yan called out, then ripped open one of the backpacks.
"Nothing much—just some Berries and a few Evolution stones."
He dumped the contents out and shook his head in disappointment.
"Nothing here for me either."
Su Tingxi shook his head.
"Same."
Yuyou Yin, Tang Yunqin, Linling Yin, Fugui, and Lu Ze each opened a backpack—one after another. Pretty much all Berries and Evolution stones. Nothing else.
"Tch—poor bastards!"
Sui Yan opened the last backpack, and it was also just Berries.
He'd had enough. He spat on the ground.
Meanwhile, the fleeing bandits were grumbling just as loudly.
"Tch—poor bastards! They even took the backpacks!"
The boss waited until they'd put real distance between themselves and the group, then let loose.
"Damn it! Who takes the whole backpack? Now what do we do, Boss?"
The boss shot his小弟 a murderous glare, barely resisting the urge to kick him.
"What do we do? Get out! What else?!"
The boss started off toward Crab Island, to the right of Ice Land. They'd discovered a Zone exit over there just a couple of days ago.
"Pfft. Boring."
After transferring the loot into their own bags, Sui Yan tossed the empty backpacks aside and turned to Lu Ze.
"So what's next?"
"Per the plan—we cross Ice Land and head to the Sand Pit. Check if there's an exit there."
"Alright."
With that, they packed up and moved out. The two Charizard led the way, and the group followed behind toward the next stage.
Over in the desert, Soren Li crouched behind a rock formation, carefully observing a group below.
Soren checked the time, then spoke to the Gardevoir beside him:
"The trade time should be starting soon. This one's on you—when they make the exchange, we move. Money doesn't matter—focus on whatever they're trading."
"Ne!"
Gardevoir nodded. She understood the stakes.
The reason they'd entered this Zone in the first place was that Soren had seen a vision of the future.
Gardevoir gave a silent nod and the two fell silent—one person and one Pokémon, watching the group below.
*…*
"Charizard, come back and rest a bit."
Lu Ze and Sui Yan recalled their two lead Charizard simultaneously.
The two Charizard had bulldozed their way to Ice Lake.
Ice Lake sat at the center of Ice Land—a lake that never froze, even in the deepest cold.
"Next up, Electabuzz and Crawdaunt."
Around Ice Lake, the Pokémon were mostly Ice and Water types: Spheal, Hisuian Brav—weapons not very effective against Water-types, and Crawdaunt could actually swim. The perfect opportunity to rest the Charizard.
———
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