The heavy, toxic pressure radiating from the Level 41 Arbok washed over the flooded warehouse, carrying the oppressive weight of an Advanced-level predator.
The bald, scar-faced leader of the Arbok Gang stood on the loading dock, looking down at Eric with absolute, murderous intent.
"You think you can just waltz into my base and wipe out my men?!" the boss roared, unlatching two more Poké Balls from his heavy leather belt. "I'll show you the difference between a child playing trainer and a real boss of the underworld!"
Flash! Flash!
Two more massive Pokémon materialized beside him. A heavily scarred Weezing that continually vented thick, purple exhaust, and a large Golbat whose wings spanned over six feet.
Eric's system instantly pulled up their data.
---
Pokémon: Weezing
Level: 40
Type: Poison
Potential: Green
Pokémon: Golbat
Level: 40
Type: Poison/Flying
Potential: Green
---
Three Advanced-level Pokémon. For any Intermediate trainer, facing a lineup like this was a guaranteed death sentence.
But Eric's eyes remained deadpan behind his black mask.
Compared to what he had experienced just a bit over a week ago, this barely got a reaction from him.
"Growlithe, Ralts, return," Eric said softly, recalling the two juniors. They weren't ready to take part in a battlefield like this yet.
He then looked at his remaining three Pokémon, plus Gardevoir.
"Listen carefully," Eric commanded, his tactical mind instantly dissecting the battlefield. "Poliwrath, Fearow, your objective is strictly containment. Hold off the Weezing and the Golbat. Do not engage in direct clashes of power. Rely on your maneuvers to stall them."
"Rrath." Poliwrath nodded, dropping into a fluid, defensive martial arts stance.
"Fearow!" She shrieked, taking to the air with a flurry of her wings.
"Gardevoir," Eric added, turning to the psychic-type. "Support them. Keep the lethal blows off them, but don't overexert your core."
Gardevoir smiled gracefully, her eyes glowing with a faint, pink light as she prepared to weave her psychic energy into the battle.
Eric finally turned to the grinning ghost hovering over his shoulder.
"Haunter. The Arbok is yours. Erase it as quickly as possible, then assist the others."
"Kekeke!" Haunter's red eyes flared with intense, sadistic delight.
"Kill them!" the gang boss screamed. "Gunk Shot! Sludge Bomb! Air Slash!"
The three Advanced-level Pokémon launched their assault. Weezing fired a barrage of highly compressed, toxic sludge bombs at Poliwrath. Golbat whipped its wings, sending razor-sharp blades of air slicing toward Fearow.
And the massive Arbok lunged directly off the loading dock, its jaws dripping with dark-type energy, aiming a brutal Crunch straight at Haunter.
"Shadow Domain," Eric said calmly.
The ground beneath Haunter instantly turned pitch black. Just as Arbok's fangs snapped shut, Haunter dissolved into the darkness, leaving the massive snake to bite empty air.
The Arbok's eyes widened in confusion.
"Will-O-Wisp, then Hex," Eric commanded.
Haunter materialized from the shadow directly behind Arbok's hood. He spat a cluster of eerie, purple flames at the snake that inflicted a painful, searing burn. Arbok hissed violently, turning to strike, but Haunter didn't give it a fraction of a second to recover.
His eyes glowed with a sinister, blinding purple light.
Hex.
The Ghost-type energy latched onto the burn, violently amplifying the damage. Hex was already at the intermediate level. Coupled with the near Grade-5 energy density, its power was no joke, lethal even to an Advanced-level Pokemon.
"ARBOOOK!" the snake shrieked in absolute agony, its massive body slammed into the concrete floor, cracking the foundation.
On the other side of the warehouse, Poliwrath and Fearow were fighting a desperate battle of attrition.
Golbat was terrifyingly fast. It swooped past Fearow's Aerial Ace and looped around, its fangs glowing with a sickly purple light. Cross Poison. It aimed a lethal strike at Fearow's injured wing.
Before the fangs could connect, a shimmering, translucent pink barrier, Reflect, formed perfectly between them.
CRACK!
The barrier shattered under the Advanced-level strike, but it absorbed the vast majority of the kinetic force. Fearow used the momentary pause to execute a sharp barrel roll, blasting the Golbat away with a Peck.
Below them, Poliwrath was dealing with Weezing.
The toxic gas in the air was making it difficult to breathe, but Poliwrath remained perfectly disciplined. He used Rain Dance to clear the smog around him, relying on Swift Swim to dodge a barrage of Sludge Bombs. Whenever a blast got too close, a faint blue psychic aura would subtly nudge the trajectory of the sludge just a few inches to the side, causing it to miss Poliwrath entirely.
The gang boss watched from the catwalk, his face draining of color.
"What are you doing?! It's just a bird and a frog! Kill them!" he roared.
But it was already too late.
"Finish it, Haunter. Point-blank Shadow Ball," Eric said.
The Arbok had barely lifted its head from the Hex when Haunter appeared directly in front of its face. A hyper-condensed orb of dark void slammed into the snake's snout.
BOOM!
The explosion sent the Arbok skidding across the flooded floor, completely unconscious.
The boss stumbled backward, gripping the railing. "My Arbok... taken down in three moves?! By an Intermediate Pokémon?!"
"Switch targets," Eric commanded, his voice cutting through the ringing silence. "Haunter, Flamethrower on the Weezing. Clear the gas."
Haunter zipped across the warehouse. He inhaled deeply and unleashed a beam of fire directly at Weezing.
The intense heat interacted violently with the highly flammable toxic gases constantly leaking from Weezing's pores.
Weezing grunted in pain, and Eric didn't miss this chance.
"Twin Shadow Ball"
Two incredibly powerful spheres of ghost-type energy hit the Weezing, knocking it unconscious.
"Now the bat," Eric pointed.
Golbat, seeing both its partners annihilated, panicked a little.
"Poliwrath, Ice Beam! Pin its wing!"
Poliwrath planted his feet and fired a freezing beam of pure ice-type energy. The attack grazed Golbat's right wing, frosting the membrane and throwing it completely off balance. It spiraled downward.
Haunter didn't even need a command. He materialized directly above the falling Golbat and fired a point-blank Shadow Ball straight into its back, slamming it into the concrete with a sickening crunch.
The warehouse went dead silent.
All thirty of the grunts, and all three of the boss's Advanced-level Pokémon, were completely incapacitated.
Gardevoir elegantly lowered her hands, offering Eric a soft, proud smile before standing down.
Eric walked slowly toward the loading dock. His boots splashed quietly in the shallow water.
The gang boss was on his knees, trembling violently. The arrogant, imposing underworld leader was gone, replaced by a terrified, broken man staring at a ghost that had just dismantled his entire life's work in under five minutes.
"W-Who are you...?" the boss stammered, scrambling backward until his back hit the metal wall. "Are you with the League?"
Eric stopped at the base of the metal stairs.
He didn't take off his mask. He didn't offer a dramatic monologue about vengeance or anything. To Eric, this man wasn't a nemesis. He was just trash that needed to be taken out to the curb.
"Haunter, knock them all out.And make it extra painful for that one over there." Eric said as he pointed at the man who tortured the previous owner of his body.
"kekeke"
Haunter unleashed a wave of ghost-type energy, painfully knocking everyone out. Eric then collected all their belongings, including the leader's, leaving nothing behind.
He then had Gardevoir bind everyone with her psychic powers.
From this day forward, the Arbok gang was done.
Eric walked back toward the heavy steel door he had passed earlier. It was time to free the Pokémon and finally leave Redwood behind for good.
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