Chapter 526: Kindred Spirits
The damage to her Poké Balls instantly dampened the little dragonfly's joy of victory. She had paid a heavy price for this battle. Perhaps to others, six Poké Balls that should have been scrapped long ago were worthless, maybe worth a stainless steel basin at a recycling center...
But to the little dragonfly, they were priceless memories! If Arthur, Old Flame, and Specter hadn't returned, she would never have been willing to use them. What others saw as junk, she saw as invaluable treasures.
"Flyy, gon!" — Those wretched enemies! I'll get my revenge next time we meet!
The Sandslash silently wiped sweat from its forehead, offering a moment of silence for the enemies who had fled. They probably wouldn't even know how they had earned such a grudge.
Soothed by the Maractus's gentle bells, the little dragonfly gradually composed herself. Then she called out to the Sandslash.
"Flyy, gon!" — Come on, new doggy, let's go find Master!
Her master had returned; he was her greatest anchor, helping her quickly move past her gloom.
The Sandslash, however, had lines of black forming on its forehead. It waved its claws frantically. "Slash, slash!" — I told you, I'm not your doggy!
The little dragonfly turned around. Stare!
Under the murderous gaze of those compound eyes, the Sandslash hesitated for only two seconds before changing its tune. "Woof..." — Fine, doggy it is. Whatever you say, Big Sister...
The poor Sandslash had even learned a foreign language on the spot. Life is hard, Sandslash sighed...
Meanwhile, on the other side of the desert, after finishing off Kuisqi, Arthur was also communicating with Groudon. He first explained his deduction about the Sinnoh League's plan.
After listening, Groudon fell silent for a long time, feeling a lingering fear. These humans were truly vicious!
Then, it thanked Arthur through their telepathic link, though the gratitude was tinged with a bit of resentment. "Thank you, young man from the Kubfu Alliance. Your courage and strength are admirable. But... you really didn't have to hit me that hard."
Having regained its senses, Groudon quickly exited its battle form. The weather overhead cooled down significantly, and its body shrank from dozens of meters back to its normal size of about thirteen feet.
The only thing that didn't change was that Groudon still had to lie down or sit. Both its legs had been crippled by Arthur's attacks. It probably wouldn't be able to stand on two feet again for a while.
Seeing the mighty Desert King, a major Legendary, beaten to the point where it was complaining and unable to stand, the Seven Chieftains who had come to help were dumbfounded. The Krookodile Chieftain, who had been about to curse all humans, wisely held his tongue and rephrased his criticism to target only the Sinnoh League.
There are good humans among them, the Krookodile nodded with conviction.
Arthur could only spread his hands helplessly. "The situation didn't allow me to hold back. I was forced to do it. Besides, Groudon, can you sense the status of the Seeds now?" He explained briefly and then quickly changed the subject.
Hearing this, Groudon also became serious, closing its eyes to sense its surroundings. After a long while, it communicated with Arthur again. "I can only vaguely sense that they are all in the west. Some of the Seeds are free, but most are still imprisoned."
Some are free? Hearing this, Arthur immediately realized: The little dragonfly must have done something. This finally put his mind at ease. As long as not all the Seeds were in enemy hands, the situation was salvageable. After all, only one Pokémon could succeed the current Groudon. Theoretically, rescuing even a single Seed would foil the enemy's plot!
"That's good," Arthur murmured softly.
But while he was relieved, Groudon was not.
"ROAR!"
It let out an anxious roar. For Groudon, one Seed was obviously not enough. What if the only remaining Seed wasn't compatible or lacked talent? The potential of the next Groudon would be permanently lowered! It couldn't accept that!
"We should still try to rescue as many Seeds as possible!"
The Seven Chieftains nodded in agreement. If the next Legendary was weak and couldn't hold its ground, life in the Ashen Desert would be hard for all of them.
But Arthur just made a helpless shrugging gesture. "That's not something that can be done quickly. And I can't do it all by myself."
Honestly, he was exhausted. He couldn't be expected to rush off to the west immediately, could he? His wounds hadn't even been treated yet; the blood scabs were mixing with the sand into a paste.
Fortunately, at that moment, a jeep sped toward them from the distance. Skarner had arrived.
Celebi became active again, flying high and waving at Skarner. "Hey, driver! Over here! We're over here!"
Since Arthur had already exposed her existence, she no longer bothered hiding.
When the car pulled up, Skarner got out with a complicated expression. Before, he would have argued with Celebi about being called a "driver." He was a five-star mercenary in this desert, a former ace of the scout battalion! But this time, he was surprisingly silent...
After witnessing Arthur's miraculous hour of life-and-death struggle, he suddenly felt that being a driver wasn't such a bad career choice... It definitely wasn't because he was scared. He just felt the job suited him. Gripping the steering wheel seemed to bring him a sense of spiritual peace! (Serious face.jpg)
"Is it over?" he asked, looking at Arthur's injuries with lingering fear.
Arthur recalled his Pokémon and climbed into the car, collapsing onto the back seat. He let out a long breath. "Phase one is over."
"What do we do now?"
"Go back first. I think I can still be saved."
Skarner choked. "Uh... okay."
Groudon and the desert Chieftains grew anxious. "Don't go! Don't leave! There are still so many Seeds to save!"
"Krook!" — Big boss, don't go! We need you!
"Roar!" — Boss, you can't leave! How are we supposed to fight without you?
Skarner, in the driver's seat, was shocked once again. This was the first time he had seen the Seven Chieftains begging a human for help so humbly! Not to mention, the group included the uncrowned king of the desert: the Legendary Groudon!
In comparison, he felt even more strongly that being a driver really suited him. Just drive the car and leave the rest to the big boss...
But Arthur just leaned back lazily and smiled. "I'm going back to heal up first. We'll talk about the rest later."
He just wanted to go back and clean himself up. Besides, he really wanted to see the little dragonfly again. He hoped nothing had gone wrong on her end.
Though separated by thousands of miles, the man and the dragonfly seemed to be kindred spirits, thinking of each other at the same time. Phase one of their respective battles had concluded perfectly. It was time to go back and rest.
Meanwhile, the message Arthur had asked Amani to send had reached the right people immediately.
The Kubfu Alliance had received the news!
Therefore, the conflict in the Ashen Desert was destined not to end anytime soon.
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