Chapter 293 — Unfathomable Fate
101 and 102 were not very high-ranking within the cult—only upper-mid tier.
The main reason was that their strengths were not the top among Gym-class Trainers.
101 was an Electric-type Trainer, and not even a fully-equipped Gym-class Trainer.
With an Electric Dragon, Electivire, Electivire-like beast, and Zebstrika, 101 had four Gym-class Electric Pokémon. He was left to cover the rear because Electric attacks deal double damage to Flying types.
But the problem was, Yaoyifei was not a conventional single-type Trainer.
And 102?
He was left behind for a simple reason: he was a Grass-type Trainer and the weakest of the two.
Aside from the Aggron that was killed, 102 only had one Pokémon left—a Trickster Houndour with Grass/Dark typing.
101 ordered his trainers to break through the fire barrier; 102?
As the saying goes, “better the ally die than me,” 101 chose to sell out his teammate.
102 forced himself to command: “Houndour, we’ll charge through too.”
Facing the wall of fire, Houndour fell silent.
Was the Trainer intending to have it die for them?
A fire wall of that magnitude—if it truly charged, survival probability was very low.
But out of loyalty to its Trainer, Houndour carried out the command.
In the second before the flames arrived, Houndour sprinted forward with its Trainer.
Flames wrapped the Houndour completely—the fire wall was thick, nearly a meter.
Mid-charge Houndour found it could not move forward; the flames were too viscous.
Without hesitation, Houndour used the last of its strength to fling its Trainer away.
Exhausted, Houndour collapsed into the fire wall and slowly turned to ash.
The Trainer 102, thrown clear, tumbled on the ground and scrambled up.
Suppressing sobs, 102 tremulously grabbed a Poké Ball and released an Elite-late-stage Exeggutor.
With a cracked voice he shouted, “Exeggutor, use Teleport to take me away!”
Exeggutor stared blankly at 102, then activated Teleport.
Just as 102 thought he might escape, countless vines burst from the earth and swallowed the teleporting Exeggutor.
102 didn’t survive either—vines controlled by Tropius consumed him as well.
Yaoyifei shouted, “Mega Combee—only sing! Stop them from fleeing.”
101 and his Pokémon who had just escaped felt their legs grow heavy as if filled with lead; the farther they ran the slower they became.
“This song… can’t keep going like this.”
After slapping himself hard to wake up, 101 shouted, “Stop running—we must counterattack!”
“Zebstrika, use Protect!”
“Electivire, Thunder Attack the Mega Combee in the sky!”
“And… Railgun the brat!”
Lu Li ordered, “Tropius, use Protect to block the Electric Dragon.”
After dealing with 101, Tropius used Protect to stand before Lu Li.
Seeing Tropius block the attack, 101 frantically shouted, “I was just covering the rear—I only want to live. Let me go and end this fight here, alright?”
Facing three Elite-class Pokémon, 101 saw no hope of victory.
Now he wanted to negotiate; if Lu Li spared him that would be best—if not, at least he could buy time.
Yaoyifei, via Sun Pokémon telepathy, warned, “Lu Li, my Mega Evolution window is almost up.”
Knowing they might be stalling, Lu Li ordered directly, “Tropius! Earthfall!”
Tropius spread its wings, ascended into the clouds, then plummeted like a meteor.
Seeing this, 101’s pupils shrank and he bellowed, “Dragonite, Thunderbolt!”
At 101’s shout, Dragonite’s tail electrodes lit; blue-white arcs tore through the air toward Tropius.
Tropius ignored the blue-white arcs; an energy attack like Thunderbolt couldn’t stop a physical Earthfall.
“Electivire, Protect!” 101 roared.
Boom!!!
Tropius slammed down on the transparent shield; Protect shattered instantly. Lu Li ordered, “Tropius, Dragon Rage!”
Before Lu Li finished speaking, the light orb in Tropius’s mouth hit Dragonite. Dragonite staggered back, its aura plummeting.
Seeing Dragonite wounded, 101 barked, “Electivire! Thunder Shock!”
Electivire charged like a thunder chariot; rocks scorched and cracked where it passed.
Lu Li’s lips curved slightly.
“Tropius, fly!”
Tropius ascended and avoided the rampaging Electivire by flying.
“Flamethrower!”
Heat warped the air to gold; fire pillars collided with electric sparks, explosions softening the ground.
Electivire held barely a moment before being overtaken by Charizard’s Flamethrower.
When the smoke cleared, Electivire’s afterimage trembled faintly; Dragonite lay collapsed, its electrodes dark.
Tropius shook dust from its scales and Charizard beat its wings to disperse the smoke.
“So we can’t win, huh!” 101 sighed.
Meanwhile Yaoyifei had finished off the Dragonite.
Realizing the situation was lost and that resistance was impossible, 101 surrendered: “I surrender—will you spare my Pokémon?”
Yaoyifei did not answer but looked to Lu Li.
If it were only Yaoyifei’s choice, she wouldn’t mind sparing the Pokémon.
In Yaoyifei’s mind, the Pokémon used for evil acts were just tools employed by Trainers; the fault lay with the Trainer who commanded them.
“Okay.” Lu Li nodded—he had always been lenient toward Pokémon.
Hearing this, the two Pokémon on the ground grew excited and forced themselves shakily back to their feet.
“Thunder!” (Trainer, I can still fight!)
“Electro!” (I won’t abandon you, Trainer! Just like you chose me.)
Hearing their cries, 101’s bitterness deepened.
If someone could live, who would choose to die?
Besides… dying one is better than dying three, right?
Lu Li watched this touching scene with some helplessness.
“You act like the big villain here, but the thing is… you’re the bad guys.” Lu Li mentally scoffed at the melodrama.
101 quickly re-captured his two Pokémon into Poké Balls.
After healing and packing the three disabled Pokémon with healing balls, 101 threw his Poké Ball belt aside.
“Go on… you probably don’t have time to delay me.” 101 knelt and resigned himself to death.
“An Elite at 16… this world is really unfair,” 101 thought bitterly.
If he had known Lu Li was secretly an Elite, they would never have raided the Lu residence.
But it’s impossible to buy hindsight.
“By the way… the one you burned just now was Wu Yong. His father was killed by your people—Old Wu. I hope you’ll honor this news and keep your promise.”
Lu Li didn’t speak; he flipped and sent a Golden Needle through 101’s skull.
101 collapsed.
Yaoyifei anxiously asked, “What now? Can Baobao be found?”
Lu Li didn’t answer. He silently brought out his divination set.
Previously he couldn’t locate the cult because a Psychic-type Pokémon had been shielding them.
But the cult took Baobao, and Baobao carried a curse mark Lu Li had left. Through that mark Lu Li could accurately pinpoint Baobao’s location.
As the three ancient coins fell, Lu Li kept calculating.
Moments later, Lu Li exhaled heavily, sweat on his brow.
He said in disbelief, “Baobao has already left the Jiuzhou region.”
If he hadn’t been confident in his own skill, Lu Li would have doubted his divination.
Yaoyifei frowned: “So soon? How did they bypass the border defenses?”
“The cult is everywhere. There must be cult members along Jiuzhou’s borders, otherwise they couldn’t come and go freely.” Lu Li sneered.
Yaoyifei worriedly asked, “What do we do now? With our strength we can’t go rescue someone in the Golden Triangle.”
She felt guilty, thinking she’d failed to protect Baobao.
“Relax. The divination shows Baobao is not in immediate danger.” Lu Li reassured her.
Baobao’s hexagram was absurdly favorable. In short, Baobao will encounter a benefactor—something like a blessing in misfortune that benefits her rise.
This hexagram was interesting.
First, Baobao will gain greatly from being captured—gains across the board: personal strength and her Pokémon’s power will increase.
Second, she will meet a benefactor.
Lu Li could not see who that benefactor was; he guessed it might be a deity.
In a world where mythical beasts can be gods, there were many divine beasts.
Lastly, this would benefit the one Baobao swears allegiance to—which, unsurprisingly, is likely Lu Li himself.
As for the exact benefit, the hexagram did not show. There were two possibilities; whichever came true, it would be good for him.
Thinking this, Lu Li put away his turtle shell and coins.
“Let’s go home first—Wei is still waiting there.”
Still worried about Baobao, Yaoyifei anxiously asked, “Then what about Baobao?”
“This matter must be handled long-term. If necessary, we’ll have to trouble that person.” Lu Li said helplessly.
Yaoyifei knew exactly who he meant and relaxed.
……
Golden Triangle cult headquarters.
A Trainer codenamed Poison Frog, an Elite, respectfully handed a box to the white-haired Professor Futo: “Dr. Futo, this is the DNA of the Rainbow Hero.”
Taking the box, Professor Futo asked curiously, “The Rainbow Hero isn’t simple—how did you obtain DNA?”
“It’s strange. When we raided the Lu place we found nothing, but in the villa’s basement we discovered an abandoned yellow paper with the Rainbow Hero’s blood on it,” Poison Frog briefly explained the DNA’s origin.
“You were lucky.” Futo nodded, then glanced at Baobao tucked under Poison Frog’s arm and asked, “Since when did our cult start kidnapping children as a side job?”
Poison Frog grinned: “This isn’t an ordinary child. Don’t you have a psychic detector, Professor? You can test her power.”
Futo, intrigued, pulled a phone-like device from his pocket.
Scanning Baobao, various data appeared on the screen.
Futo’s pupils constricted as he exclaimed, “Impossible!”
“A Psychic ability approaching Elite late-stage? How old is this child?” Futo asked excitedly.
“Twelve!” Poison Frog answered triumphantly.
Seeing the smug Poison Frog, Futo’s eyes flashed and he ordered, “We didn’t expect such a surprise. Keep the girl in the lab. If all goes well, the beast we create will be Psychic-type—this girl might prove useful.”
A glint lit Poison Frog’s eyes; he reminded, meaningfully: “This is my spoil. Not even His Holiness the Saint Prince can take my spoil without reason.”
“Here—take this.” Futo, seeing the implication, impatiently tossed Poison Frog a Poké Ball.
“It contains the legendary Ultimate Exotic Poisonbaby—consider it yours.”
Poison Frog’s eyes brightened as he gratefully accepted the ball.
“Thanks, Professor!”
He handed Baobao to Futo.
Futo cradled Baobao like a treasure and murmured, “What a talented child!”
Poison Frog nodded in agreement: had the cult leader seen the girl, the cult might have gained a saintess.
“Just her luck’s not great,” Poison Frog sighed.
Futo glared and scolded, “If you’re done talking, be quiet.”
Poison Frog shut up; the benefit was secured—no point provoking the cult’s chief scientist.
“I won’t stay. Task complete—I’ll go collect my reward from the leader.” Cheerful, Poison Frog waved and left the lab.
Futo likewise gestured impatiently for him to go.
……
In the Mind World.
Pretending to be profound, Taire Bagoss cryptically asked, “Do you feel it? The fluctuation of fate.”
Groudon snorted and adjusted to lie more comfortably.
Without a Fate Scepter, he had no right to feel fate’s shifts—Groudon thought Taire Bagoss was showing off.
Seeing Groudon unmoved, Taire Bagoss, miffed at his own posturing, added, “A human god will be born.”
Groudon became slightly interested.
“What sort of god?” Groudon asked.
(End of chapter)
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