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Terrifying cold air raged across the mountainside, and the sky gradually darkened with ominous storm clouds. A bone-chilling coldness surged into everyone's hearts like icy daggers, while the goose feather-like snow fell heavier and heavier, blanketing the landscape in an eerie white shroud.
A suffocating, oppressive atmosphere of tension and panic spread throughout the area. Everyone held their breath in fearful anticipation, and fine beads of nervous sweat continuously seeped from their foreheads despite the freezing temperature. The captured poachers nervously looked around in all directions, restless and absolutely terrified of what might emerge from the swirling snow.
The primal fear of death lingered heavily in their hearts, refusing to dissipate no matter how hard they tried to calm themselves.
"Gulp."
Tomas swallowed hard, his throat dry with terror. He could clearly feel the oppressive sensation emanating from the depths of his very soul, along with an ancient, deep malice that seemed to pierce through his being. But until this moment, he hadn't even caught a glimpse of what the mysterious Pokémon that was stalking them actually looked like, which made him extremely fearful. After all, the fear of the unknown is always the most terrifying kind of fear.
What made the situation even more horrifying was that even though they all knew the unknown Pokémon was lurking somewhere nearby and could attack them at any moment to end their lives, they had absolutely no way to stop it or defend themselves properly.
"Roger, quickly release us and return our Pokémon!" Tomas pleaded desperately. "We can split up and escape in different directions, and we can even draw the creature's attention away from you. Otherwise, we're all going to die if this continues!"
Tomas was genuinely terrified now. He didn't want to die in this frozen wasteland - he desperately wanted to live and return to civilization.
Roger completely ignored Tomas's frantic pleas. One was a criminal thief, and the other was an officer from the Patrol Team. How could he possibly release a dangerous poacher like Tomas? Even if he had to risk death himself, he couldn't and wouldn't release such a criminal.
The visibility was getting progressively worse as the blizzard intensified. Roger ignored Tomas's growing anger and desperation, instead vigilantly observing their surroundings with his experienced eyes. He knew instinctively that this unknown Pokémon was somewhere very close by, deliberately toying with everyone present like a skilled hunter, clearly enjoying this deadly cat-and-mouse game.
After several long, terrifying moments of oppressive silence, a massive roar finally shattered the panicked quiet that had settled over the group.
"ROOOAAARRR!"
At some unknown point during the blizzard, a snow-white figure had used the heavy snowfall as perfect cover. It had already darted silently through the deep snow and suddenly lunged forward, appearing directly in front of the terrified poachers.
Before them stood a gigantic leopard-like Pokémon of incredible proportions - nearly three meters tall and almost seven meters in length. Despite its massive size, it walked with surprising lightness across the snow, making absolutely no sound at all as it moved.
Its appearance was like a magnified, supernatural combination of a snow leopard and an ancient saber-toothed tiger. Its two prominent fangs were composed of what appeared to be huge, broken sword fragments, from which emanated a bone-chilling aura of malevolent energy and the unmistakable hatred of vengeful spirits. Various parts of its muscular body bore light blue, diamond-shaped objects that shimmered and glowed like pristine ice crystals in the dim light.
"Chien-Pao!" Roger gasped in recognition.
When Roger first laid eyes upon this legendary creature, his heart was initially startled with shock, but his years of experience allowed him to quickly regain his composure. There had always been ancient legends about Chien-Pao dwelling somewhere within Sky Mountain, so he had long studied and understood the appearance of this mythical Pokémon. He naturally recognized this Calamity Pokémon from the old texts immediately - the legendary creature representing devastating avalanches and frozen death.
Roger also felt the overwhelmingly powerful aura emanating from this particular Chien-Pao. Its strength far exceeded that of any of Roger's Pokémon, and he knew that once they engaged in direct battle, he would have absolutely no chance of victory whatsoever.
The only thing he could realistically hope to do was somehow try to save his own life and perhaps escape with it intact.
"ROOOAAARRR!"
Chien-Pao opened its massive jaws and released a tremendous roar that shook the very mountain itself. The powerful sound wave, infused and mixed with concentrated Ice-type energy, erupted outward like a devastating Ice-type attack. The roar formed razor-sharp Icicle Spears that shot forth with deadly precision, piercing directly into the helpless bodies of the bound poachers.
"Charizard, use Fire Blast!" Roger commanded immediately.
Just a single roar from the legendary beast was like witnessing a powerful area-of-effect move being cast, forcing Roger to rely completely on his trusted Charizard for any hope of defense.
Charizard responded instantly, spewing a tremendous amount of Fire-type energy from its mouth. The flames were forcefully expelled outward to form a distinctive cross-shaped fire attack that flew directly toward the approaching Chien-Pao.
The scorching heat wave arrived with intense force, successfully melting a significant portion of the deadly Icicle Spears that were flying toward Roger's position. The Fire Blast managed to block most of the incoming attack, but unfortunately, a smaller portion of the razor-sharp Icicle Spears still managed to scatter through the air toward their targets.
"AAAHHH!" The agonized screams began immediately.
The other captured poachers had no Pokémon available to protect them from the assault. As soon as even a single Icicle Spear struck their defenseless bodies, it instantly created a large, gaping hole straight through them. Screams of pure agony rose one after another throughout the battlefield. Facing Chien-Pao's completely indiscriminate attack, more than half of the remaining poachers were either killed outright or critically injured in just that single devastating moment.
The sudden death of multiple poachers did not affect Roger emotionally in any significant way. As far as he was concerned, poachers deserved whatever fate befell them anyway. It didn't particularly matter whose hands or claws they died by, as long as justice was ultimately served.
"We need to run! Charizard, prepare for immediate takeoff!" Roger shouted urgently.
At this critical moment, Roger also felt the very real and immediate threat of death closing in around him. He couldn't afford to care about the remaining poachers behind him any longer and immediately chose to prioritize saving his own life, intending to mount his Charizard and flee the area as quickly as possible.
However, Chien-Pao had no intention of giving him any chance to escape. The legendary beast suddenly released another earth-shaking roar, preparing to unleash yet another devastating Ice-type move.
"Icicle Crash!" the attack seemed to declare itself.
Concentrated Ice-type energy began to rapidly condense high up in the stormy sky above them. Giant, spear-like ice pillars formed almost instantaneously in the air, materializing out of the freezing atmosphere. These massive ice constructs, resembling enormous frozen lances, all turned and aimed directly at Roger's position with deadly intent.
"ROOOAAARRR!"
Accompanied by another of Chien-Pao's bone-chilling roars, the ice pillars suddenly shot toward Roger at incredible high speed, moving like arrows that had just been released from a massive bowstring.
Facing this devastating attack from the legendary Pokémon, Roger's battle-scarred, one-eyed Charizard reacted with lightning-fast reflexes. It immediately let out its own defiant roar toward the approaching Chien-Pao, then courageously positioned itself directly in front of Roger, fully intending to block this potentially fatal blow for its beloved trainer.
"Charizard, use Protect!" Roger commanded desperately.
Charizard immediately chose to employ the defensive Protect technique. Normal-type energy surged outward from the Pokémon's body, and a shimmering barrier of protective light instantly formed in front of both Charizard and Roger.
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"
The massive ice pillars struck the glowing light barrier with tremendous force, producing crisp, ringing sounds like giant bells. Each individual ice pillar that impacted the protective barrier caused it to tremble violently and glow more brightly under the severe stress.
Roger's heart sank as he observed the battle unfolding. Judging by the current situation and the intensity of the assault, he feared that Charizard's Protect technique might not be able to withstand the full power of Chien-Pao's devastating Icicle Crash attack.
"BOOM!"
Just as Roger was frantically considering their options, the protective light barrier, having been continuously bombarded by the relentless ice pillars, gradually began to dim and flicker. It was clearly reaching its absolute limit and appeared ready to shatter completely at any moment. Then, with a sharp, crystalline sound like breaking glass, the protective barrier of the Protect technique finally shattered into countless glimmering fragments.
When facing a direct attack from the legendary Pokémon Chien-Pao, even the typically reliable Protect technique couldn't maintain its defense indefinitely. With the protective light barrier now completely destroyed, the remaining ice pillars continued their deadly flight toward the exposed Charizard.
Roger's one-eyed Charizard quickly formed glowing Dragon Claws around its hands, desperately attempting to deflect and block the incoming ice projectiles. Despite its valiant efforts, several ice pillars still managed to slip through its defenses, piercing through like frozen spears and instantly inflicting severe wounds upon the loyal Fire-type Pokémon.
Meanwhile, facing Chien-Pao's wide-range attack, Tomas and the other remaining poachers, whose Pokémon had all been confiscated earlier, found themselves in an utterly hopeless situation. They had absolutely no means of defense whatsoever, making them as vulnerable as helpless lambs being led to slaughter. They could only stand there helplessly and allow Chien-Pao to eliminate them one by one. In this most recent barrage of deadly ice pillars, several more people were instantly killed or critically wounded.
In what seemed like the blink of an eye, only six or seven survivors remained from the original group of more than twenty poachers.
"Quickly return our Poké Balls and release us!" Tomas pleaded with urgent desperation, his voice cracking with fear.
"Run for your lives!" Roger shouted back, but he couldn't bring himself to care about their demands anymore. Moreover, Roger actually hoped deep down that these evil members of the Dawn Society would meet their end here, so there was absolutely no way he would consider releasing them to potentially escape justice.
Roger directly abandoned the captured poachers without a second thought and immediately mounted his heavily injured but still flight-capable Charizard in order to escape the deadly situation.
As Roger and his wounded Charizard began to flee from the immediate area, Chien-Pao chose not to pursue them aggressively into the distance. Instead, the legendary beast turned its ancient, predatory head to focus its attention on Tomas and the remaining survivors. Its piercing gaze was filled with unmistakable killing intent and the promise of swift, merciless death.