If they continued fighting like this, they would eventually fail—that much was certain!
So Roy was desperate to leave. Mimikyu and Ninetales naturally understood this truth. They became determined and wanted to exit Vast Poni Canyon quickly while the Murkrow were still some distance away from them.
At this point, it was as if the situation was trying to verify Roy's concerns.
Large swathes of "black clouds" covered what little sunshine remained in the canyon.
Another group of Murkrow—and far more than before!
Such a dramatic change naturally attracted the attention of other Pokemon on Poni Island.
The first to notice this were, of course, the wild Pokemon in Vast Poni Canyon.
Their eyes were alert, and when they heard Honchkrow's cry, they turned their heads toward Honchkrow's direction almost simultaneously.
They naturally saw the countless Murkrow.
They understood that a flock of nearly a hundred Murkrow was better left alone.
Golbat and Dugtrio in the cave looked at each other and stopped fighting. One returned to the deepest part of the cave, while the other continued burrowing down into the sand.
Instinct told them it was better not to get involved in whatever was coming next.
The Pokemon in the water were fairly sensible. Magikarp opened its mouth wide and moved a bit farther from the position of Vast Poni Canyon.
In the Mightyena pack's camp, most of the injured had recovered, and this was largely thanks to the Oran Berries distributed by Roy.
A Mightyena who had looked distracted after returning from the canyon that day—as if the leader was thinking about something—was quietly gossiping with the Mightyena next to it.
"I heard that human from last time got blocked by the darkness this time."
There weren't many events in the pack. Aside from hunting, under normal circumstances, no other wild Pokemon were willing to swagger into such a large population.
So whenever gossip was being shared, many Mightyena would quietly gather around.
"Really?"
"Then he must be in trouble. Murkrow and their kind really hold grudges."
"Speaking of which, the sun hasn't set yet, so why are they out now?"
A Mightyena shrugged, indicating it didn't know either.
"Who knows."
"But I've heard they've been sneaking around in Poni Meadow..."
Slowly, a figure appeared from behind their gossip circle, scaring some young Mightyena into trembling.
"Chief, Chief!"
The leader of the Mightyena pack seemed very interested in their gossip, gesturing with a paw for the Mightyena who had been talking the most to come over.
"Tell me more carefully."
"Yes, yes!"
The battle on the sea was still ongoing.
Rather than calling it a battle, it was more accurate to say that Salamence was unilaterally hunting Sharpedo in the sea with Lucario's guidance.
For some reason, Sharpedo insisted on carrying Gardevoir, seemingly keeping her alive.
Obviously, if he had sunk into the sea, he could have avoided Salamence's attacks.
However, in order to ensure the unconscious Gardevoir could breathe, he had to surface from time to time.
Lucario would use these opportunities to direct Salamence to quickly locate Sharpedo and retrieve Gardevoir.
But Sharpedo was still in his element in the water, and his speed was as fast as ever.
Sometimes he even disappeared without a trace before Lucario could locate him.
Fortunately, Lucario had released his Aura power at the position where the first Sharpedo had come ashore.
For some reason, these Sharpedo seemed compelled to come ashore from that specific position, which gave them many chances to catch them.
This time, a few bubbles appeared on the water's surface, and Lucario quietly relayed the location coordinates to Salamence.
And Salamence also pretended not to notice, but was actually already prepared.
The moment Sharpedo emerged from the sea, Salamence swooped down to that position with lightning speed.
Salamence swung his claws quickly, trying to restrain Sharpedo.
"Something's wrong!"
Because Lucario could see through the fog here, he was also the first to notice the problem.
"His speed has slowed down considerably!"
"He's doing this on purpose!"
Combining the scene changes from moments ago, Lucario immediately discovered that there had originally been two Sharpedo, but now there was only one.
Because Sharpedo wasn't a Pokemon species Lucario was very familiar with, it was difficult to distinguish the slight differences between Sharpedo of the same pod.
And the Sharpedo had taken advantage of this. At the beginning, the Sharpedo carrying Gardevoir had kept attracting the attention of Lucario and Salamence.
But the other Sharpedo had already been quietly hidden beneath the sea.
After multiple rounds of probing, they had learned that Lucario probably possessed something that detected changes at the landing point.
So one Sharpedo had waited early at the nearest landing point, but hadn't touched it, keeping himself hidden.
Then, the Sharpedo who was carrying Gardevoir on his back had thrown Gardevoir to his partner's position in the sea during one of the confrontations with Lucario and Salamence, then slowly surfaced with apparent vulnerabilities.
At the same time, the other Sharpedo had brought Gardevoir ashore to hide her.
Lucario hadn't thought through all this clearly yet, but he understood that the Sharpedo might have escaped the detection range of his Aura power one after another.
In fact, the Sharpedo hadn't evaded it at all.
Instead, their coordination was extremely perfect—two things happening simultaneously, and Lucario's attention would definitely be drawn to the more immediate matter, causing him to subconsciously overlook the distant changes.
And the Sharpedo had taken advantage of this, transporting Gardevoir ashore and rushing toward the entrance of the great canyon at top speed.
But Sharpedo didn't feel any excitement at this moment because he knew these small tricks would be easily seen through.
And there wasn't much time left for him.
Sharpedo's speed would be greatly reduced after coming ashore again...
"Just get to the canyon and leave it to them."
Sharpedo held onto this belief and put all his effort into increasing his speed.
And the Sharpedo on the water's surface also knew he might be exposed the moment he surfaced.
So he very cleverly chose to emit some bubbles to attract Lucario's attention, then leaped out of the sea when Salamence approached him.
Salamence couldn't see what it was through the fog.
But by instinct, he could sense the danger approaching.
The airflow also became extremely strange, as if something was rushing toward him through the air.
"Get out of the way!"