Charles had been sitting peacefully in the Grassland Zone, enjoying a pleasant morning, when the Two-Way Mirror lying beside him suddenly lit up.
He immediately picked it up, and the moment he opened it, Hermione's anxious face appeared in the glass.
He had to admit—Hermione was quite adorable as a child, all soft and pink-cheeked. It was just a pity that, in his eyes, she hadn't grown up to match that same cuteness.
Well, perhaps "not cute" wasn't quite right—Charles simply wasn't fond of girls who were too thin.
"Professor!"
"Professor, help us!"
"We're surrounded by a group of strange Pokémon!"
"Wood and the rest of us can't hold them off!"
Although Hermione was frightened and flustered, her mind was still clear. She immediately described her situation. Hearing that, Charles shot to his feet.
As a professor, he had a duty to ensure the safety of his students.
"Hold on. I'll be there right away," Charles said, without even bothering to ask where they were.
In truth, every Two-Way Mirror he'd crafted had a built-in locator enchantment.
"Those little rascals actually ran all the way to the Rocky Desert Region?" After confirming their location, Charles couldn't help but feel a mix of admiration and exasperation. He truly hadn't expected them to travel so far in such a short time.
And of all places, the Rocky Desert Region was among the most dangerous zones—home to some of the strongest Pokémon around.
In the training areas Charles had set up, the Mountain and Rocky Desert Regions contained Pokémon of similar high strength, far tougher than those in the Grassland or Forest Zones.
"Abra, use Teleport."
Without hesitation, Charles summoned an Abra and instructed it.
Abra focused its psychic power, locking onto the image in Charles's mind. Then it reached out, grabbed his arm, and in a flash of light, the two disappeared—reappearing not far from where Harry and the others were fighting.
Abra's Teleport was similar to a wizard's Apparition, but with many advantages.
First, it wasn't limited by Anti-Apparition Wards or similar spells—meaning it could even function within Hogwarts.
Second, it didn't leave one feeling nauseous or disoriented afterward. The sensation of Apparition was… well, anyone who'd experienced it knew. It was like being crammed into a spinning washing machine and twirled hundreds of times.
"So they ran into a group of Houndoom… These Pokémon really are vicious. And that Houndoom—level thirty-eight already!"
Though surprised, Charles didn't intervene right away. Standing atop a wind-carved mushroom-like rock, he observed the battle unfolding below.
As a professor, while ensuring the students' safety, he also wanted them to grow stronger through real combat experience.
Harry and the others were outmatched, but they could still learn a great deal from the fight.
Down below, the group was locked in a desperate struggle with the Houndour pack.
The arrogant Houndoom didn't even bother to attack itself—it merely watched from above, its gaze cold and predatory, as if amused by the prey struggling in its domain.
The Houndour were far weaker than their evolved leader, but still dangerous in numbers.
"Ponyta, use Ember!"
"Pichu, Thunder Shock! Litleo, Ember!"
Hermione and Ron shouted commands while simultaneously waving their wands, casting the few spells they'd mastered.
"Wingardium Leviosa!""Incendio!""Petrificus Totalus!"
Their spells struck several Houndour. The effects weren't overwhelming, but they weren't completely useless either.
Pokémon might possess Special Defense as a stat, granting them some resistance to magic, but that didn't make them invincible—and Houndour had particularly low Special Defense to begin with.
In fact, most magical creatures—and even wizards themselves—had a certain degree of innate magic resistance. It was only a matter of how much.
Wood, being a bit more advanced, knew a wider range of spells. A well-placed Levitation Charm, followed by a sharp Depulso, slammed several Houndour to the ground at once.
He also maintained the group's defenses—his Protego shield frequently flashed in the dark, blocking streams of fire that spewed from their enemies' jaws.
"Ponyta, use Flame Charge!"
"Wait—Ron, Hermione! Don't use Fire-type moves!" Harry called out between spells.
Perhaps because he wasn't the one directly commanding a Pokémon, he was able to observe more clearly—and quickly noticed that Fire-type attacks weren't doing much damage.
Worse still, a few Houndour actually grew stronger after being hit by fire!
Then Harry remembered something from a few days earlier, during the club's in-house dueling tournament—Ron's older brother had lost to a third-year boy whose Pokémon had the Flash Fire ability.
"Some of them have Flash Fire! Fire-type attacks will only power them up!"
"Got it!" Hermione replied. Fortunately, her Litleo knew multiple moves, and its Headbutt packed a decent punch.
Ron, however, realized with dismay that without Fire-type attacks, his Ponyta had only one other usable move—Tackle.
Flame Charge had a base power of fifty, and with the same-type attack bonus, it effectively reached seventy-five. Even against resistance, its strength rivaled Tackle—and it had the added benefit of boosting speed.
And in a real-time battle like this, speed could decide everything.
After all, as the saying went: No spell is unbeatable—except speed itself.
Ron thought for a moment, then made his decision. He'd keep using Flame Charge.
"Harry! Can you tell which ones have Flash Fire?" he shouted, still casting spells between commands.
"What?" Harry blinked, then quickly scanned the battlefield. After a few seconds, he shouted back, "The three on the left and the fifth one—plus the ones in the front right! Why?"
"No reason—just avoiding them. Wingardium Leviosa!"
Ron flicked his wand, lifting Ponyta into the air. Its fiery mane suddenly blazed brighter, the flames swirling into a vortex that enveloped its whole body.
"Flame Charge!"
Ponyta neighed sharply, the fire around it twisting into a blazing wheel. It dove from the sky, a roaring inferno crashing down like a meteor.
It steered clear of the Houndour Harry had identified and plowed straight through the rest, scattering them like bowling pins and carving out a path through the pack.
As it sped up, the fiery wheel became a streak of light darting between the enemies—unstoppable, relentless.
"You're using that move to boost Ponyta's speed?" Hermione caught on quickly.
"Exactly!" Ron nodded with determination. For the first time, he realized that Pokémon battles were actually a lot like wizard's chess.
And as a chess player—well, he was quite good at that.
"Now," he grinned, "it's our turn to strike back!"
(End of Chapter)