Ten minutes later.
As Xinhai's group was about to cross this relatively open stretch of ground, Gardevoir suddenly stopped.
Her red eyes flickered slightly, and invisible psychic power spread outward like a disturbed lake before swiftly drawing back in.
The next second, Telepathy rang out in Xinhai's mind with unprecedented urgency:
A flash gleamed in her red eyes, and the voice transmitted through Telepathy carried a trace of gravity:
"Xinhai! They're coming from four directions ahead! They're less than a thousand meters away and closing in fast!"
The moment her words fell, two figures beside Xinhai instinctively moved.
Eevee's large brown eyes turned incomparably sharp, and a layer of gentle yet solid white light spread over her body.
Zigzagoon met Eevee's gaze for an instant, and milky-white energy surged from both Pokémon at the same time.
The energy formed two white Energy Balls and merged into the crimson figure ahead!
Blaziken's crimson body trembled slightly, and its originally mountain-steady Presence began to rise at a visible pace!
Its muscles swelled, the flames around its body burned even more fiercely, and its blue eyes shone brilliantly!
Strength, speed, defense... all of them began soaring at an incredible rate within that single second!
Xinhai swept his gaze over the scene, a smile curling at the corner of his lips.
He took out the Poké Balls at his waist. Amid flashing red light, Krokorok, Charmander, Axew, and Weedle were precisely recalled into their Poké Balls.
"They're finally here," Xinhai said. "There are probably people behind us too. Let's charge!"
"Go!"
Xinhai took the lead, charging fiercely toward the dense forest to the right ahead!
Blaziken followed close behind. It suddenly exerted force beneath its feet, cracking the hard dirt road with several spiderweb-like fractures as its entire body became a crimson streak of