Just like that, the group split into two teams and set out on their respective missions.
The first place that the Swoobats led Yuga and his group to was a lakeside. This lake was incredibly vast—so much so that Yuga couldn't even see the end of it at a glance.
According to the Swoobats, this lake was the largest body of water on the entire prairie. One end of the lake connected to the longest river on the prairie.
This river could basically be called the source of life for the entire grassland. It, along with its tributaries, nourished and sustained the land, allowing the grassland to remain so vibrant and full of life.
The source of the river lay at the edge of the grassland, in a range of snow-capped mountains that stretched endlessly into the distance. It was said that countless powerful Pokémon lived there, and it was considered a very frightening place.
However, the Swoobats didn't really know what the truth was, since they had never left the prairie. Because the grassland was so massive, the area they lived in and had experienced was only a tiny corner of the vast grassland.
As for the legends about the far reaches of the grassland, the Swoobats had heard them from Pokémon that migrated through the area every year. But no one truly knew what was fact and what was fiction.
When Yuga and the others arrived at the lakeside, they saw many Swanna and Ducklett floating on the lake's surface, leisurely playing about in a peaceful and harmonious scene.
These Swanna and Ducklett showed almost no reaction to Yuga and the others' arrival. They didn't even glance at them and just carried on as usual.
After an explanation from the Swoobats, Yuga learned that the Swanna had no connection to the lord of the grassland. They were simply an ordinary Pokémon group that resided by the lake.
Although the lord of the grassland had gathered many subordinates across the grassland under the name of the Emboar, not every Pokémon was willing to pay homage to that title.
Take, for example, this group of Swanna and Ducklett.
The lord of the grassland had indeed considered bringing the Swanna group under its banner but had failed. It didn't dare to use force, because the leader of the Swanna group was a Pokémon no weaker than the lord of the grassland.
Every spring, the Swanna group would migrate from the other side of the grassland to this lake to reproduce and raise their offspring. When autumn came and winter approached, they would leave the lake and the grassland, flying toward the legendary snow-covered mountains—taking with them the Ducklett that had grown strong enough to endure the cold. Thus, they never got involved in the grassland's conflicts and focused solely on raising the next generation.
After hearing what the Swoobats said, Yuga indeed gave up the idea of taking action against the Swanna and also stopped General Leo and the others from making a move.
Right now, the lord of the grassland was the main enemy of the Pioneer Army. Taking care of that was the top priority—it was best not to provoke any more adversaries.
After the lord of the grassland was dealt with, the Pioneer Army still needed to remain stationed on this grassland. If they carelessly attacked other major Pokémon tribes, it might spark retaliation from the rest of the grassland's Pokémon groups, which would be no trivial matter.
No one knew how many powerful Pokémon were hidden across the grassland. If they were enraged, the Pioneer Army might not be able to hold their ground here at all.
After Yuga stopped General Leo and the others, a Swanna slowly swam out from within the group.
...
[ Swanna ]
Type: Water, Flying
Ability: Hydration
Gender: Female
Potential: Indigo
Level: 89
Moves: Water Gun, Water Sport, Defog, Wing Attack, Water Pulse, Aerial Ace, Feather Dance, Aqua Ring, Air Slash, Roost, Rain Dance, Hurricane, Double Team, Round, Steel Wing, Scald, Fly, Surf, Aqua Jet, Uproar, Liquidation.
...
It was obvious that this was the leader of the Swanna group—an extremely powerful Pokémon that was very close to the Master level.
The Swoobats had said that this Swanna was about as strong as the lord of the grassland, which meant that the lord of the grassland should also be a Pokémon close to the Master level.
The Swanna leader only gave Yuga and the others a glance, then raised its neck and began to sing loudly while flapping its wings and taking off into the sky.
As soon as the Swanna leader moved, the rest of the Swanna and Ducklett on the lake followed behind it in flight. The sight of hundreds and thousands of Swanna taking off together was truly magnificent.
The Swanna group didn't leave the lake but instead flew to the other side of it, leaving the battlefield to Yuga and his group.
The Swanna leader knew perfectly well what Yuga and the others had come for.
The lord of the grassland had been stirring up trouble for the Pioneer Army recently, even going so far as to gather a large group of subordinates. This wasn't a secret on the prairie, and the Swanna leader certainly knew about it.
None of the local Pokémon groups wanted to take sides, so they simply chose to keep their distance.
Upon seeing this scene, General Chiba laughed heartily and said, "This Swanna bunch really knows how to play it smart."
General Leo gave him a smack in annoyance. "Stop talking nonsense. If you tick them off, a single flap of their wings would be more than enough to deal with you!"
Yuga looked at the Swoobat beside him and saw it fly to the edge of the lake, letting out several high-pitched calls that resembled a signal.
Not long after, ripples began to spread across the surface of the lake.
With a splash, a blue-colored Pokémon burst out of the water, several of its tentacles swaying.
This Pokémon was no stranger to Yuga—it was a Jellicent. There was even one in his Ecopark.
The Jellicent had no idea that the Swoobats had betrayed the lord of the grassland. It thought they were calling for help or something. But as soon as it surfaced and saw the hundreds of humans standing behind the Swoobats, it screamed in shock.
Humans!!!
With that scream, one Jellicent after another and several Frillish burst out of the water, soon covering a large portion of the lake. The mix of pink and pale blue created quite a beautiful scene.
The moment General Chiba saw the Jellicent and Frillish, he shouted out loud.
"It's them!!!"
It was this very group of Jellicent and Frillish that had raided the Pioneer Army's camp at night multiple times, causing severe losses and casualties.
As soon as the Jellicent and Frillish appeared, they started condemning the Swoobats as traitors. But Yuga, General Leo, and the others didn't want to waste time and immediately led the soldiers to launch an attack.
Suddenly, colorful moves flew across the lake in all directions, while the Swanna group and other Pokémon groups watched the battle from afar.
The Jellicent and Frillish had indeed caused the Pioneer Army a lot of trouble in the past, but that was because they had the advantage of attacking under the cover of night. In broad daylight like this, they obviously held no such advantage.
What's more, Yuga's special ability King of Ghost, could suppress the power of enemy Ghost-type Pokémon.
Because of that, the Jellicent and Frillish group were soon defeated.
Realizing they were no match for the humans on the shore, the Jellicent leader immediately commanded its kind to dive underwater and escape.
The lake was vast. If the Jellicent and Frillish managed to dive into the water and escape, Yuga and the others would be unable to do anything.
But Yuga clearly wasn't going to let that happen. Gengar and Mismagius flew out of the shadow space and hovered to Yuga's left and right, floating above his head with their eyes glowing bright red.
Buzzzzz—
A loud humming sound echoed in the air as two enormous, pitch-black eyes appeared in the sky. The eyes stared directly at the Jellicent and Frillish, sending chills through their hearts.
However, the two pairs of eyes vanished as quickly as they appeared, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
But the Jellicent and Frillish soon realized something terrible: when they tried to dive into the water, they found that the lake's surface was like a barrier—they couldn't enter the water no matter what they did.
Not only that, but even if they tried to run farther away, they would be blocked by an invisible force.
With the help of Gengar and Mismagius, Yuga and his group successfully subdued the Frillish and Jellicent group.
However, just as General Leo and the others were about to use Poké Balls to capture the Frillish and Jellicent, countless water arrows suddenly shot out from the surface of the lake.
Seeing that the water arrows were about to hit the soldiers, a Chimecho suddenly teleported above their heads, and one transparent light wall after another rose up in front of the soldiers.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
All the water arrows were blocked by the light walls and turned into droplets that splashed down harmlessly.
Only then did everyone notice that, at some unknown point, a group of Simipour and Panpour had appeared on the lake surface.
Just like how the riverbank wasn't only occupied by Crustle but also by Gigalith, the lake wasn't just inhabited by Frillish—it was also guarded by Simipour and Panpour.
This detail had already been shared by the Swoobats with Yuga and the others, but no one had expected that the Simipour and Panpour would ambush them at that very moment.
Seeing their sneak attack fail, the Simipour and Panpour immediately began dragging the floating Frillish and Jellicent back into the lake, but Gengar and Mismagius wouldn't allow it.
Once again, the black eyes activated, and the Simipour and Panpour were trapped on the lake surface as well.
These water monkeys, realizing they couldn't escape, began squealing in panic—so loudly it was almost unbearable.
However, the Simipour and Panpour tribes were indeed much stronger overall than the Frillish and Jellicent. They were especially skilled at using the terrain to their advantage, manipulating the water currents in the lake to cause considerable trouble for the soldiers.
But it was only trouble—nothing more.
Once Yuga, General Leo, and General Chiba defeated the high-level Pokémon among the monkey group, the remaining low-level monkeys posed no real threat and were soon subdued.
After dealing with both groups, Yuga and the others refrained from provoking any other Pokémon and quietly left the area around the lake.
The second location the Swoobats led Yuga and his group to was a vast, flat grassland. Stationed here were a group of Bisharp and a group of Mienshao.
These two groups were considered the strongest under the lord of the grassland's command, so the Swoobats were especially cautious while leading Yuga's group here.
However, to everyone's surprise, the grassland was completely empty—there wasn't a single Pokémon in sight.
"Did they get word ahead of time and flee?" General Chiba asked.
General Leo shook his head and said, "Impossible."
Yuga, however, didn't dwell on it. If they weren't here, then they weren't here.
"We should hurry and move on to the next location. Right now, time is of the essence. If we attract their attention and they unite against us, it won't be so easy next time."
General Leo agreed. "Mr. Shimizu is right. Let's move to the next target quickly."
What Yuga didn't know was that the Bisharp and Mienshao from this area were currently being led by the lord of the grassland to wait and ambush him at the entrance to the labyrinth cave.
"Do you think that human is still trapped in there and can't get out?"
At the entrance of the labyrinth cave, the lord of the grassland turned to the Bisharp leader beside it and asked.
The Bisharp leader shook its head, indicating it wasn't sure, but since the human went in on his own, he must have some way of getting out.
Humans had always possessed all kinds of strange and mysterious means. Maybe they had some way to navigate inside the labyrinth cave.
The Bisharp leader shared this thought with the lord of the grassland.
"You make a good point. Then let's… wait a little longer."
The Mienshao leader was lying to the side, utterly bored. Upon hearing the conversation between the lord of the rgrassland and the Bisharp leader, it lazily lifted its eyelids, then shifted to a more comfortable position and closed its eyes again.
At this moment, the lord of the grassland still had no idea that its home base was already being infiltrated.
The third location that Yuga and his team went to was a ring-shaped valley. Stationed here was a tribe composed of Venipede, Whirlipede, and Scolipede.
This valley was home to this one single group only, with no second tribe sharing the space, because the Scolipede group was a large and powerful one—its overall size was even greater than the combined numbers of the Jellicent and Simipour groups previously encountered.
Moreover, they were the lord of the grassland's main force in the offensive against the Pioneer Army.
When General Chiba saw this group, he clenched his teeth so hard they almost shattered, as countless soldiers under his command had been wounded by the Scolipedes.
These Bug-type Pokémon were truly poisonous. A single scratch from them could make you writhe in pain on the ground.
Yuga and the others snuck quietly into the ring-shaped valley, and as soon as they entered, they saw the valley crawling with Venipede. It was utterly dense with them.
Anyone with trypophobia (fear of clusters of small holes or patterns) would probably faint on the spot just from seeing the scene.
The sound of countless Venipede crawling and scraping against the ground made one's scalp tingle with discomfort.
Yuga's team had no intention of charging in head-on, because there were simply too many Venipede.
Due to the seasonal changes, the grass in this valley had already begun to dry and yellow. So Yuga and the others spread out around the valley's perimeter and began setting fires in a circle around the valley.
The grass inside the valley was thick and lush, and with the dry weather, the flames quickly caught and spread.
The fire spread rapidly, frightening the Venipede who began to scurry in all directions, all fleeing toward the depths of the valley. Before long, a number of Scolipede burst out from the valley's inner depths.
There were sources of water nearby, but unfortunately, the Scolipedes had no means of transporting water. So they resorted to spraying their own venom continuously in an attempt to extinguish the flames.
Seeing this, the Venipede and Whirlipede began to imitate the Scolipedes, trying to use their own poisonous sprays to put out the fire.
The Venipede, being low-level, had very little venom stored in their bodies, so before long they collapsed from exhaustion.
The Whirlipede held on a bit longer, but they too soon followed the same fate as the Venipede.
In the end, it was the Scolipedes who managed to extinguish the flames, but by the time the fire was out, they were all drained dry and lay weakly on the ground, completely spent.
That was when Yuga and his team revealed themselves.
Upon seeing Yuga and the others, the Scolipedes immediately understood what was going on. But because they had sprayed so much venom, they were now too weak to even get up, let alone fight.
Despicable... despicable humans!
The higher-level Scolipedes still had a bit of strength left to resist, but their numbers were small, and they were no match for Yuga, General Leo, and the others. So they were easily subdued.
Seeing the pitiful state of the Scolipedes, General Chiba felt thoroughly satisfied.
With the fall of the Scolipede group, more than half of the lord of the grassland's forces had been effectively dismantled.