Lucario's voice reached Salamence's mind directly through the power of Aura, without any delay.
However, Salamence didn't understand what was happening.
Though he trusted Lucario and shifted his body slightly, pain shot through him in the next moment.
"Roar!"
Sharpedo's razor-sharp teeth suddenly clamped down on one of Salamence's claws. The pain was unbearable, forcing a pained cry from him.
Salamence tried to shake his claw free, but Sharpedo's jaws held tight. The Water and Dark-type refused to let go.
Sharpedo knew exactly what he had to do. As long as he could hold down these two Pokémon, his companions would be able to deliver Gardevoir straight into Honchkrow's clutches.
Once Honchkrow had what he wanted, their plan could move forward.
As long as everything went according to plan, what did this small injury matter?
The entire ocean would belong to Sharpedo and his kind!
With this thought, Sharpedo's teeth clamped down even harder.
He absolutely could not let them go!
When Lucario heard Salamence's agonized roar, guilt washed over him.
After all, it was his mistake that had caused Salamence to suffer this way.
Lucario channeled energy into his paws, unleashing Thunder Punch and Power-Up Punch repeatedly against Sharpedo's body.
Sharpedo's rough skin was incredibly tough. Each of Lucario's strikes landed with loud thuds and bangs.
The sounds alone were enough to make anyone cringe.
Yet Sharpedo's willpower proved surprisingly strong. He only released his grip when he was nearly knocked out.
While airborne, Sharpedo had no way to use any other moves besides Bite.
Occasionally, he would twitch his tail fin weakly.
Lucario's relentless punches continued to batter him.
Finally, Sharpedo let go and dropped into the sea with a loud splash.
"Really stubborn..." Lucario thought.
Salamence was in too much pain to respond. He simply flapped his wings and headed toward the beach.
They needed to find Gardevoir quickly.
At least they didn't have to worry about Gardevoir drowning anymore.
After flying a short distance, Lucario spotted a woman standing at the entrance to Vast Poni Canyon.
"Wait, isn't that our Trainer's jacket?" Lucario accidentally spoke his thoughts aloud, earning a knowing look from Salamence.
Lucario waved his paw hastily.
"Don't look at me like that. I don't know anything."
Sure, I believe you, Lucario.
Lucario sighed. It seemed that spending time around certain Pokémon really did rub off on you.
Why did everyone seem to have such strange thought patterns lately?
Salamence slowly descended not far from Caroline.
Poni Island hadn't been invaded by the fog yet, making it easy to spot Caroline's position.
Caroline stood with her foot pressing down on a familiar-looking Pokémon that lay motionless on the ground.
In her arms, she cradled a snow-white Pokémon, holding it protectively.
If that wasn't Gardevoir, who else could it be?
Seeing this, both Salamence and Lucario felt relief wash over them.
After greeting Caroline and confirming that she didn't need their protection, Salamence and Lucario explained that they needed to find their own Trainer.
Caroline had rushed out in such a hurry that she hadn't paid much attention to her surroundings earlier.
Now, she gave the two Pokémon some helpful advice.
"It sounds like there are Murkrow nearby, and quite a few of them," she said.
"Which means there must be a Honchkrow leading them."
"Take down Honchkrow first."
Lucario was impressed that Caroline could identify which Pokémon were present just by listening to their cries.
After thanking Caroline, Salamence quickly carried Lucario into the relatively small Vast Poni Canyon.
You might wonder why Salamence didn't fly in from above.
Wasn't that obvious?
The sky was wide open with no cover whatsoever. If he flew overhead like that, wouldn't he become an easy target?
Salamence wasn't stupid. He flew in through the entrance instead.
Roy could see the exit right in front of him, but dense swarms of Murkrow blocked his path.
Frustration welled up inside him.
Roy reached into his pocket, pulled out a Poké Ball, and threw it onto the ground.
With a flash of blue sparks, a Pokémon emerged from the Poké Ball. The electrical discharge hit several nearby Murkrow.
What a convenient coincidence.
Murkrow happened to be doubly weak to Electric-type moves.
And Electivire had mastered incredible voltage techniques learned from Zekrom himself.
Since emerging from its Poké Ball, Electivire had been releasing continuous streams of blue lightning.
Meanwhile, Ninetales created large-scale group attacks centered on itself, unleashing powerful Blizzards.
Though occasionally a few small chunks of Hail would land near Roy's feet, he paid them no mind. He focused his concentration on using Confusion to drive away the darkness and evil emanating from these corrupted Pokémon.
Mimikyu moved among everyone, taking care of any threats that slipped through the net—those that went unnoticed or that the others had no time to react to.
Even with the three Pokémon and Roy working in perfect coordination, the battle remained evenly matched.
If this war of attrition continued, Roy would be the first to run out of stamina.
Roy gritted his teeth, splitting his focus between tasks. While maintaining his Confusion attacks, his mind raced, desperately searching for a way to break through this stalemate.
"Hurry up..." he muttered.
Honchkrow, who had been circling overhead with steady wing beats, felt surprised.
He hadn't expected this human's Pokémon to be so capable. If capturing Gardevoir didn't work out, catching this human might serve just as well.
Honchkrow observed the situation below calmly, then cawed twice more, summoning additional Murkrow to the battle.
In circumstances like these, even a fool standing in Honchkrow's position wouldn't think he could lose.
But accidents always happen when you least expect them.
As Honchkrow was calling for a third wave of Murkrow reinforcements, he happened to glance down at the scene within Vast Poni Canyon.
To his shock, he discovered that the number of his underlings was dropping rapidly.
Honchkrow's eyes widened in disbelief.
"What's going on?!" he thought.
The number of Murkrow inside Vast Poni Canyon was plummeting at an alarming rate. The encirclement was visibly shrinking, especially near the canyon's exit.
Several layers of Murkrow had vanished!
In the next second, Honchkrow understood what was happening when he was suddenly attacked by a Lycanroc that had somehow positioned itself on the rocks behind him.
The human's reinforcements had arrived.