Chapter 62. Chaos

"Bah!"

Butterfree flew in front of Cyan and blocked his way.

Cyan asked in confusion: "What's wrong, Butterfree?"

Butterfree pointed to other corners in the cave, and Cyan looked around.

"How could it be possible? We are surrounded?!"

Cyan opened his eyes wide and looked at the Ekans that appeared from nowhere, all spitting out their tongues and staring at them with hostility.

Then, all the Ekans fired their Poison Stings at them.

In desperation, Cyan quickly ordered: "Butterfree, use Gust and spin around to block the Poison Stings. Ponyta, use Ember and Leer with those seductive eyes!"

Fortunately, Butterfree's wind skill was highly proficient, and the Gust it fanned successfully formed a circular wind field, protecting everyone in the middle. Otherwise, it would be difficult to block all the Poison Stings from all directions.

The combination of Ember and Leer instantly knocked out the two Arbok that appeared behind Cyan, rendering them unable to fight.

Now, there was finally a safe direction.

But at this moment, the Ekans that had just left returned, and alongside them was a very ferocious-looking Pokémon, the evolved form of Ekans—Arbok!

"It seems that this Arbok is the leader of this group of Ekans. Butterfree, use Psychic! Ponyta and Sableye, deal with the rest of the Ekans first!"

Flames rose from Ponyta's body, and it sprayed flames fiercely at the Ekans on the left. Not to be outdone, Sableye used a Shadow Sneak attack on the Ekans on the right.

During this period of fighting, coupled with the improvement in level, Sableye's Shadow Sneak became the second skill after Shadow Claw to reach 50% proficiency!

Both attacks successfully knocked down an Ekans.

But it also angered the remaining Ekans. Some Ekans showed their fangs and twisted their bodies to get closer to Cyan, while some of the Ekans widened their eyes with a stern look.

It's Bite and Leer from the Ekans!

"Ponyta, close your eyes quickly and use Scary Face!"

Ponyta's strength was similar to that of the Ekans. If it got caught in their stare, it could easily fall into a state of paralysis due to fear.

Sableye, however, was different. As a Ghost-type, it was immune to the Ekans' Leer, but the Ekans were not immune to the fright from Scary Face. More than five Ekans cowered from the effect.

Seeing the opportunity, Cyan commanded: "Ponyta, use Flamethrower in front of you!"

The cowering Ekans couldn't react, losing their ability to fight after being attacked.

Meanwhile, Butterfree and Arbok were in an intense battle. Arbok only had one long-range skill, Poison Sting. Butterfree was flying in the sky, and as long as it avoided the Poison Stings, it wasn't afraid of being attacked.

Butterfree, with its variety of long-range skills, especially Psychic, which was super effective against Arbok, caused heavy damage to it.

Victory seemed certain for Butterfree.

Soon, Arbok was so enraged that it let out a loud scream!

It was Screech!

Before, it hadn't used this move because it didn't want to affect the Ekans. But now, feeling like it would be worn down if the fight continued, it chose to use Screech to disable Butterfree, even if it affected its allies.

The piercing sound was so strong that everyone, including Cyan, covered their ears to relieve the pain. Butterfree had to hover in the air.

Arbok saw the opportunity, quickly moved to a nearby wall, and then electricity sparked on its fangs.

Thunder Fang!

Arbok leaped from the wall, aiming to attack Butterfree. If Butterfree got hit by Thunder Fang, it would suffer severe damage and might even lose the ability to fight.

"Sableye, use Shadow Sneak to intercept the Arbok!"

Cyan was the first to react, commanding Sableye to block the attack. Shadow Sneak, a priority move, hit Arbok before it could reach Butterfree, knocking it down from the air.

Butterfree recovered and immediately followed up with Psychic. Meanwhile, Sableye stepped in, using Shadow Claw to attack from the other side.

Arbok couldn't handle the pressure and collapsed, losing the ability to fight.

"Don't get careless. Knock out all the other Ekans first!"

The Ekans had recovered from Screech, but before they could help Arbok block the attack, they were overwhelmed by the two Pokémon and lost the ability to fight, falling to the ground.

Cyan took out Poké Balls one by one and captured the Ekans. These were needed as proof of mission completion for the Pokémon League.

Of course, they would also reimburse the cost of the Poké Balls.

Fortunately, Cyan had stocked up on Poké Balls before arriving, or he might not have been able to catch all the Ekans. (The Poké Balls obtained from kamuri had been processed and couldn't be handed over to the League.)

Counting carefully, there were 28 Ekans in total, plus an Arbok.

Cyan put away all the Poké Balls and called his three Pokémon over to check for injuries, giving them some energy cubes to restore their strength.

Ten minutes later, Cyan stood up and said: "No other Ekans or Arbok have shown up. It seems like we've dealt with them. But why did these Ekans gather here?"

Cyan felt that the answer must lie deeper in the cave, so he decided to explore further.

With all the Ekans taken care of, he no longer had to be as cautious as before and quickened his pace.

Soon, an underground pool appeared before Cyan.

On a large rock in the center of the pool, an Arbok that was much larger than the previous one lay sleeping.

At the same time, Cyan noticed the mutilated body of a Golbat in its mouth!

"So the one earlier wasn't the leader. The real leader is sleeping here!"

But why hadn't this Arbok reacted to the earlier noise and come to help?

Cyan couldn't understand it, but it didn't stop him from targeting the sleeping Arbok.

"Butterfree, use Psychic and let's see how deep its sleep is!"

The pink energy of Psychic struck Arbok, causing only a slight twitch in its face, but it didn't wake up.

"If that's the case, I won't be polite. Butterfree, keep up the Psychic! Sableye, use Shadow Sneak! Ponyta, use Flamethrower!"

The three attacks hit at the same time, finally waking Arbok. It roared angrily, and its aura expanded instantly.

Only now did Cyan realize that this Arbok was similar to the Seviper he had encountered earlier—it was at the verge of a breakthrough.

Cyan understood that this Arbok had been gathering energy, preparing to break through a bottleneck. This wasn't the sudden breakthrough like with Seviper but a gradual process of accumulation.

But now was its critical moment, and it couldn't afford to be disturbed, which explained why it hadn't come out to fight earlier.

A wicked smile flashed across Cyan's face as his eyes gleamed: "Such a perfect opportunity—why not give you a hand!"

If the Arbok could speak, it would probably scream:

"Stay away from me!"