When the smoke cleared, Jolteon was still standing.
The explosion had looked devastating, but the real danger hadn't been the impact itself. Thick purple smoke lingered around the blast zone, swirling unnaturally as poison spread through the air. Jolteon's fur twitched violently as the toxins entered its body, its muscles tightening from the sudden contamination.
Without hesitation, Jolteon used Quick Attack to escape the smoke cloud and reappeared beside Madam in a streak of yellow light.
Madam reacted instantly.
A Lum Berry appeared in her hand and was fed to Jolteon before the poison could fully settle into its system. Within seconds, the discoloration around Jolteon's body faded and its breathing stabilized.
"So you are the eyes I have been feeling since Arcanine alerted me."
Madam's voice remained calm despite the sudden ambush.
Silas immediately understood what she meant. Back near the mountain caves, when they first encountered the wild Eeveelutions outside the hidden entrance, Madam had sensed something watching them. At the time, they hadn't found anything concrete, but now the answer stood directly in front of them.
The ninjas had been tracking them for quite some time. Madam's expression sharpened slightly.
"Dragonair. Jolteon. Stay close."
The command was immediate and deliberate.
Silas understood the reasoning instantly. The Venomoths were dangerous specifically because of Teleport. A single lapse in awareness could allow them to bypass the battlefield entirely and assassinate either trainer directly.
Electabuzz and Monferno moved closer as well.
The atmosphere around the camp shifted violently. Just moments ago, the area had felt peaceful, almost relaxing after the chaos of the Phoenix Festival. Now the entire space felt suffocating.
Silas's gaze remained fixed on the enemy trainers. He had already realized something important over the past several weeks. Humans were fragile.
No matter how strong a trainer's Pokémon became, most humans themselves remained vulnerable to direct attacks. That weakness became even more dangerous when dealing with assassin-type trainers who specialized in ambush tactics. These men fit that description as ninja.
"Your job in this battle is to target the weakest among them," Madam said quietly.
Silas nodded. He understood immediately.
If an opening appeared, he would take it without hesitation. Earlier in his journey, the idea of deliberately targeting human trainers through their weaker Pokémon or creating lethal openings might have bothered him.
But now? Not so much. Morals had a funny way of disappearing when lives are at stake. Silas was getting tired of people and pokemon trying to kill him.
The ninjas released the rest of their Pokémon.
A scarlet streak whipped across the battlefield as Accelgor skidded into place, its scarf-like carapace snapping sharply in the wind. Ninjask appeared next, arriving as a golden blur that flickered around the clearing several times before finally stopping behind the enemy formation.
Then came Weavile, Bisharp, Skarmory, and finally, Gallade.
The moment Gallade appeared, Silas felt his instincts flare up, he couldn't take his attention away from Galade.
That one was dangerous. Hermes scanned it instantly.
Gallade (M) — Level 68
Ability: Sharpness
Potential: B+
Moves: Rank A Psycho Cut, Rank A Sacred Sword, Rank A Leaf Blade, Rank A Teleport, Rank A Shadow Ball, Rank B Psychic, Rank B Calm Mind, Rank B Swords Dance, Rank B Close Combat, Rank B Mystical Fire, Rank B Hypnosis, Rank B Energy Ball, Rank B Light Screen, Rank B Brick Break, Rank B Fire Punch, Rank B Ice Punch, Rank B Thunder Punch
Silas's eyes narrowed. Gallade knew Teleport. This elevated Gallade into a massive threat.
"That Gallade looks especially dangerous," Silas said carefully. "I'm pretty sure they learn Teleport naturally as Ralts."
He had to phrase things carefully to avoid exposing his system insights through Hermes when speaking with Madam. Still, the warning itself was important.
Teleport on an assassin-oriented battlefield was horrifyingly dangerous. Unlike ordinary movement techniques, Teleport ignored positioning entirely. Combined with Gallade's offensive power and Sharpness ability, it could potentially kill a trainer in a single opening.
Silas quickly evaluated the enemy team.
Skarmory, Gallade, and Bisharp were clearly the strongest Pokémon present. They stood firmly at the peak of the pseudo-elite class, while the remaining three hovered closer to the early pseudo-advanced stage around level 43.
"Take out the weaker team," Madam instructed calmly. "They're slightly stronger than yours overall, but if you exploit the type matchups properly, you can overwhelm them."
Dragonair remained beside Madam and Silas rather than joining the frontline directly.
That decision alone highlighted how dangerous the enemy assassins were. Dragonair couldn't afford to overcommit offensively because one mistake would create an opening for Gallade or Venomoth to bypass the battle entirely.
The older ninja stepped forward slightly.
"So when I cut you down, that Arcanine will fetch a high price on the open market."
The man exploded into laughter afterward, clearly amused by his own words.
Silas frowned slightly. The other guy looked closer to his own age than Madam, maybe only a few years older at most. Madam, however, looked completely unimpressed.
"So you are the lackey of the former rookie queen Jenny."
"Rookie queen? Lackey?" Silas muttered internally, thoroughly confused.
The ninja seemed to be mocking Silas.
"Don't even worry about it," he sneered. "You'll be dining with Arceus tonight."
"Do you think surrounding us with your Pokémon intimidates us?" Madam asked lazily. "You underestimate me."
The next moment, Arcanine vanished. The sheer speed shocked even Silas slightly despite everything he had seen so far.
Arcanine reappeared directly beside Ninjask and clamped down with Crunch before the insect Pokémon could fully react. Its jaws locked onto Ninjask's body mercilessly.
Then Arcanine used Fire Blast at point blank range. The explosion swallowed both Pokémon instantly but when the flames dispersed, Ninjask was gone. Only a blackened exoskeleton remained on the ground.
Silas's eyes sharpened slightly. No time for hesitation or mercy. Madam had identified the speed specialist as the easiest target to eliminate quickly and immediately removed it from the battlefield.
The entire battle exploded into motion afterward.
Skarmory launched itself into the air while Bisharp charged forward alongside Gallade. Venomoth disappeared repeatedly through Teleport, forcing Dragonair and Jolteon to remain hyper-alert around the trainers.
The battlefield quickly descended into chaos.
Arcanine crashed into Bisharp head-on while Dragonair intercepted Gallade's attempt to approach the trainers directly. Psychic attacks, steel slashes, fire blasts, and bursts of electricity erupted across the clearing simultaneously.
Silas focused carefully. The battle was moving too quickly for hesitation.
Before the groups fully separated, Nidoqueen managed to land a perfectly timed Poison Tail on Weavile as it attempted to sneak around Dragonair and target Silas directly.
The attack connected cleanly.
Weavile staggered backward immediately, poison spreading through its body as Nidoqueen followed up with a crushing Earth Power that sent the dark-type skidding across the ground covered in dirt.
That single exchange mattered enormously.
Weavile specialized in assassination tactics. Its speed and lethality made it extremely dangerous against weaker trainers. Poisoning and injuring it early drastically reduced the threat level.
Then the battlefield split.
Madam and Shin became locked in their own brutal engagement while Silas found himself facing the younger ninja directly.
Silas exhaled slowly.
Despite the level gap, he actually felt some confidence in this fight now. The enemy side still had superior levels overall, but Weavile was heavily injured and poisoned while Ninjask was already dead.
That changed the odds considerably.
"Micah!" Shin shouted while exchanging attacks with Madam. "Finish your battle quickly so you can assist me!"
For the first time since the fight started, real frustration appeared in Shin's voice. From start to finish, Madam had completely denied him momentum. Silas noticed that immediately.
Madam wasn't simply surviving against the stronger ninja, she was controlling the pace of battle itself. Shin clearly wanted support because he couldn't overwhelm her directly.
Micah looked visibly annoyed.
"I guess the fun is over before it begins."
His gaze shifted toward Venomoth.
"Venomoth," he ordered coldly. "Do it."
The massive moth vanished instantly. Silas's instincts screamed in warning.
"Dragonair!"
Venomoth reappeared directly above the battlefield.
Three different powders exploded outward simultaneously.
Stun Spore, Sleep Powder, and Poison Powder were all used simultaneously. The attacks spread together into a massive multicolored cloud designed to blanket the battlefield all at once.
Dragonair reacted instantly seeing this. It used Safeguard to protect everyone from the spores.
A shimmering barrier spread outward around Silas's group moments before the powders descended. The spores crashed harmlessly against the protective field, unable to inflict their status effects.
But Venomoth wasn't finished. It vanished again before reappearing directly behind Monferno. Air Slash screamed through the air at point-blank range.
At the exact same moment, Accelgor unleashed Water Shuriken toward the same target from another angle. The timing was flawless but the attempt was doomed to fail.
Electabuzz reacted immediately.
Light Screen materialized before the attacks collided while Electabuzz physically stepped into the trajectory, intercepting both attacks with its own body.
The impact drove Electabuzz backward several feet but he withstood the attack perfectly.
Monferno's eyes widened briefly, then narrowed in focus.
The battle was starting to get serious. Electabuzz and Monferno were acclimating to the enemy Pokémon at a visible rate.