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Fwish—
Something sliced through the air.
The sound was so faint that even the three battle-hardened dojo Pokémon in the clearing didn't notice it.
Hitmonlee's expression tightened.
Croagunk still wouldn't relax, still wouldn't trust him.
He'd originally wanted to invite Croagunk into their little squad. With how dangerous this Summer Survival Camp had become, an extra fighter, especially a Poison-type, could've helped.
But seeing the way Croagunk stared at him like he was the threat, Hitmonlee's patience wore thin.
"…Forget it," he said, waving a hand. "Whatever. Just go."
"We're not gonna jump you."
Croagunk stared at his brown, lanky silhouette, backing away step by careful step. It didn't dare take its eyes off him for even a second.
And yet…
Something was wrong.
Deep in its chest, its Ability Anticipation was screaming.
Logically, Croagunk knew Hitmonlee and Hariyama wouldn't attack it here. They were from the same Fighting Dojo. Same camp. Same side.
But Anticipation didn't care about logic.
That instinct had saved Croagunk more times than it could count. It wasn't about what it thought was safe. It was about what truly wasn't.
And right now, Anticipation felt like a blaring alarm.
Even if Hitmonlee didn't shoo it away, Croagunk had already decided it was leaving.
"Ghh… ghh…"
The wet, choking sound cut through the tension.
Croagunk's golden pupils flicked toward Hariyama.
The big Pokémon was still wearing that same goofy smile as before… but something about it was wrong.
The smile was frozen literally.
It didn't blink.
It didn't shift its weight.
Its thick arms stayed wrapped around its belly like a statue.
Only that awful, strangled "ghh… ghh…" leaking from its throat proved it was still alive at all.
That's not right.
"What's wrong with you?" Hitmonlee stepped forward, alarmed. He grabbed Hariyama's shoulder and shook it.
No response.
Hariyama didn't move. Didn't even flinch.
It just stood there, smile locked in place, while its throat made that horrible, suffocating noise.
By now, even the slowest thinker would know:
Something had gone terribly, terribly wrong.
"Hariyama, hey! Talk to me!" Hitmonlee's voice wavered. "What happened?!"
He shook the bulky body harder.
Croagunk, halfway to the treeline, froze.
Anticipation burned through its nerves like electricity.
Its pupils contracted to slits.
With its naturally sharp vision, Croagunk finally caught it—the detail it had missed before.
Under the dim, forest-filtered light, something flashed near Hariyama's neck.
At first glance, it looked like a trick of the eye, a tiny glint of metal.
No… that's not light. That's—
Croagunk swallowed hard.
A thread.
A single, impossibly thin strand of silk stretched tight in the air like a piano wire.
It gleamed faintly, like a fishing line made from metal, delicate yet radiating a terrifying sense of tension and strength.
One end vanished into the darkness deeper in the forest.
The other end—
Croagunk's gaze traced it.
And felt its blood run cold.
The thread was buried in Hariyama's thick neck, passing straight through and out the other side.
Like a garrote.
As if sensing Croagunk's stare, the nearly invisible strand quivered.
Zing—
With that tiny vibration, a spray of red shot from both sides of Hariyama's throat.
Hitmonlee finally saw it. His eyes went wide, the world narrowing to that single, glinting wire.
"Who!?" he roared, voice cracking. "Who's there?! Get out of here!!"
He spun toward the shadows, shouting at the trees.
Then he did the only thing that made sense in his panicked mind, He raised one long, clawed leg and kicked at the thread, trying desperately to knock it loose and save his partner.
Clink—
Bone spurs scraped against the silken wire. The sound that rang out was almost pretty, light, and chiming, like a silver bell.
The thread that looked so fragile, so easy to snap… did not break.
Instead, it used Hitmonlee's force.
The vibrations intensified.
Splurt— splurt—
Hot blood erupted from Hariyama's neck in violent pulses.
Hitmonlee froze.
His attack hadn't saved Hariyama.
He'd just made it worse.
"What do I do…?" Hitmonlee whispered, his usually sharp mind blank with terror.
A soft chuckle slipped out of the darkness.
It sounded almost kind. Almost gentle.
Like someone laughing at a child who'd tripped over their own feet.
A slender shape stepped out from the shadows.
Its light yellow body was wrapped in clothing woven from leaves. Two long, sharp leaf-blades served as its arms, and a skirt of fresh green foliage draped over its plump, insectoid abdomen.
Leavanny.
A Bug/Grass-type from the Unova region.
In games and Pokédex entries, it was praised as a nurturing Pokémon using its silk and leaves to sew clothes for its offspring and other small Pokémon in need.
Normally, it was the very picture of a gentle caretaker.
But this Leavanny's eyes were wrong.
Corrupted by something like a [Nightmare Seed], its once soft temperament had twisted into something else entirely something feral, cruel, and delighted by pain.
In its right hand, it held the thread running through Hariyama's throat.
Its left hand covered its mouth in a mock-demure gesture as it giggled at Hitmonlee.
Scarlet pupils burned with contempt, as if Hitmonlee's helplessness was nothing but entertainment.
"AAAAH!"
Hitmonlee snapped.
He didn't think. He didn't plan.
He just charged.
The moment he saw the thing responsible, every emotion he'd been holding back erupted into blinding rage. His legs coiled, then launched him forward like a missile aimed straight at Leavanny's head.
Leavanny tilted its head slightly, amused.
Its fingers tugged the thread lightly, almost lazily.
Shhk—
A red curtain exploded from Hariyama's neck.
The wire, as tough as steel fishing line, coiled around his thick throat several times, tightening in an instant.
The fatty tissue that had made Hariyama so tanky in battle, the muscle that had tanked countless hits before, None of it mattered.
In this thread, it was all as soft as tofu.
Crack—
Bones snapped audibly beneath the pressure.
A fine red line traced itself around his neck.
Then his head slipped free, smile still frozen in place, tumbling to the ground and revealing a perfectly smooth, cleanly sliced stump.
Thud.
The body collapsed.
Blood spread across the dirt in dark, widening petals a grotesque crimson flower blooming in the middle of the forest.
"NOOOOOO!!"
Hitmonlee's scream tore through the trees, raw and animal.
His grief and fury echoed between the trunks, shattering the oppressive silence of the woods.
But Leavanny only watched him.
Its gaze was soft, almost tender. Like a mother looking at a child throwing a tantrum.
Soft.
Patient.
And absolutely merciless.
Gentleness, twisted into cruelty.
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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