As the night grew deeper, most of the members of the ruins exploration team could no longer resist their drowsiness and gradually drifted off to sleep.
Only Sato and the other Trainer guards remained awake, keeping themselves alert as they patrolled the newly established campsite.
Out of the total force of 322 people, there were 62 Trainers hired specifically as guards, including Sato.
Most of them possessed only Elite Trainer-level strength. Only a small number were pseudo Elite-Four Trainers, while there wasn't a single true Elite-Four Trainer among them.
For sixty-two guards to protect the remaining 260 people in the temporary camp was already a difficult task. Furthermore, patrol duty had to be rotated in shifts, meaning that at any given time only around thirty guards were actually on active duty.
As a result, protecting all 260 civilians became even more challenging.
Fortunately, the guard force had worked together for some time and had become familiar with one another. Combined with Sato's high reputation and his position as captain of the guard force—personally appointed by Brandon—the team's deployment and patrol schedules were well organized.
With the coordination of over thirty guards and their Pokémon, the camp's security was maintained effectively, giving everyone a strong sense of safety.
As the captain of the guard force, Sato was currently sitting cross-legged atop a large piece of machinery in the center of the camp, practicing meditation.
The moon over the desert was exceptionally full tonight, making the effects of his Full Moon Meditation Technique particularly strong.
A pale psychic aura enveloped his body as he floated in midair, giving him an extremely mysterious appearance.
Meditating alongside him were Kadabra and Starmie. Both Psychic-type Pokémon were in the same state as Sato.
However, neither Sato nor the two Psychic Pokémon had entered deep meditation tonight.
Instead, they remained in a shallow meditative state.
Their psychic power continuously spread throughout the camp in subtle waves. Almost every movement occurring in and around the campsite fell within their awareness. Any disturbance, no matter how small, would not escape their notice.
...…..
"Pika pika~"
In the middle of the night, Pikachu woke up because he needed to relieve himself.
Rubbing his sleepy eyes, he let out a long yawn.
Then, out of habit, he floated into the air using Magnet Rise and headed toward an empty patch of sand near the campsite.
After finally relieving the pressure in his bladder, he suddenly heard a strange sound.
His drooping ears instantly perked up.
Curiously, he looked around…. but aside from endless sand, there was nothing there.
Soon, he dismissed his suspicions and his ears drooped once more.
"Pika~"
At that moment, a strange rumbling came from his stomach. A sharp pain quickly followed.
The sudden stomachache immediately drove away most of his remaining sleepiness.
Frowning, Pikachu pressed a paw against his noisy stomach. Apparently, he had eaten too much spicy-and-sour rice noodles earlier that evening, and some of the ingredients clearly hadn't agreed with him.
The delayed-action bomb had finally detonated.
Feeling a powerful force within his body preparing to break through the gates, Pikachu didn't even have time to dig a hole.
Right there on the spot, he began a fierce and glorious battle against the foreign invaders trying to escape from his body.
A short while later, drenched in sweat, Pikachu emerged victorious. After working up such a sweat, he felt refreshed and comfortable all over.
He then prepared to bury the defeated enemy with sand. But just then—
A powerful killing intent suddenly erupted behind him.
Pikachu shivered. Without hesitation, he threw himself forward.
Just in time.
A razor-sharp claw burst out of the sand where he had been standing. The next second, a Lycanroc emerged from beneath the sand.
Its head was soaked and topped with a steaming pile of an unidentified substance.
Driven completely mad, it lunged at the bewildered Pikachu.
"PIKA—CHUUU!"
Any trace of sleepiness instantly vanished.
Faced with the charging Lycanroc, Pikachu immediately recognized it as an enemy.
With a single thought, a powerful electrical current exploded from his body.
Thunderbolt.
The attack struck the crazed Lycanroc head-on.
A dazzling bolt of lightning ripped through the darkness of the desert night.
The Lycanroc collapsed instantly. At the same time, the guards patrolling the camp were all alerted.
Simultaneously, as Pikachu's battle broke out, the desert surrounding the camp suddenly erupted into chaos.
Dozens of adult Lycanroc burst out from beneath the sand. At some point, a large number of Lycanroc had quietly approached the campsite by tunneling through the desert underground.
Unfortunately for them, fate had other plans.
Pikachu's "special combination attack" had enraged one unfortunate Lycanroc to the point of madness.
As a result, the wolves' carefully prepared ambush was exposed, forcing them to launch their assault ahead of schedule.
Dozens of Lycanroc attacked simultaneously, forming a hunting encirclement.
The expressions of the thirty-plus guards on patrol changed dramatically.
Fortunately, they were all experienced Trainers. They also knew powerful reinforcements were present within the camp.
None of them panicked and fled.
Instead, they paired off back-to-back and directed their Pokémon to engage the attacking Lycanroc.
Before long, the people inside the camp were awakened. The off-duty guards who had been sleeping lightly immediately joined the battle.
Meanwhile, Brandon and Cynthia appeared almost instantly. Under their leadership, the panic spreading through the camp was quickly brought under control.
The campers organized themselves and rushed to support the guards battling the wolf pack.
For a time, thanks to everyone's united efforts, the momentum of the Lycanroc assault was completely halted.
"So they've finally come. Now then... where's the Wolf King?"
The moment Pikachu unleashed Thunderbolt, Sato had already awakened.
Using telekinesis, he rose into the air alongside Kadabra and Starmie.
Hovering above the battlefield, he immediately began searching for the Wolf King with his psychic senses.
Because Brandon and Cynthia could not conveniently intervene directly, tonight's leading role naturally fell to him—the Psychic.
Although the Lycanroc Wolf King was cunning, it wasn't impossible to identify. The Wolf King always mixed in among the pack, but as the leader, it rarely fought on the front lines.
It almost never initiated attacks personally. Moreover, it was usually protected by several exceptionally powerful wolf guards.
Therefore, with a good vantage point and sharp observation, there was still a reasonable chance of locating it.
And Sato, possessing wide-range psychic detection, had naturally been appointed by Brandon as the person responsible for finding the Wolf King.
Soon, Sato identified several Lycanroc that fit the criteria. After carefully narrowing down the candidates, his attention finally settled on a Midday Form Lycanroc that was actually smaller than most fully grown adults.
The reason was simple.
Although this Lycanroc wasn't the largest and didn't possess the highest level, the wolf guards surrounding it were all stronger than it was.
Moreover, Sato noticed that these wolf guards ranked among the strongest individuals in the entire pack.
That alone made the smaller Lycanroc highly suspicious.