Su Yiqin hurriedly shouted, "Use Fury Attack!"
Dragging her battered body forward, Swablu jabbed her pointed beak at Ekans's head with all her strength.
Swallowing prey whole was Ekans's instinct. With Swablu delivered right to its mouth, Ekans opened its gaping jaws and engulfed her in an instant!
"Xiao Qing!"
Su Yiqin had never seen anything like this. Staring at the few feathers left drifting in midair, she froze in terror.
"I'll help you!"
Ye Qing gritted his teeth and roared, lunging at Ekans with the torch in his hand and thrusting it straight at the snake's vital spot!
These two Pokémon were the only things keeping him and Su Yiqin alive. If anything happened to them, the two of them would surely die in this dangerous forest!
Ye Qing's charge threw Ekans into a panic. With its mouth and body both occupied, it had no choice but to loosen its coils around Chimchar slightly, raise its tail, and lash it at Ye Qing!
"Now, Chimchar!"
Ye Qing held the wooden stick across his chest to block the snake's tail, shouting urgently as he did.
Watching its Trainer fight desperately to save it, Chimchar felt something ignite deep inside. The next instant, fire blazed in its eyes, the flame on its rear surged, and its claws slashed wildly at Ekans's mouth and head like blades!
Under Chimchar's frenzied assault, the already battered Ekans could hold out no longer. It spat out Swablu, whom it had yet to swallow, and collapsed to the ground with a thud, twitching helplessly.
Seeing Swablu on the ground, flapping her wings to shake off the slime, Ye Qing finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The torch in his hand had snapped in two. Ye Qing shivered. Luckily, Ekans's tail hadn't been long enough. Otherwise, wouldn't it have broken his bones on the spot?
By then, Su Yiqin had rushed over and was holding the injured Swablu, repeatedly spraying her with expensive medicine.
"Great job, Chimchar!"
Ye Qing took out a Pokéblock and fed it to the panting Chimchar. Unless his eyes had deceived him, the move Chimchar had just used was definitely Fury Swipes!
"Is Swablu all right?"
Ye Qing picked up Chimchar and hurried over to Su Yiqin to ask.
Crouching on the ground, Su Yiqin gently stroked Swablu's head with her right hand. "She's fine. I've applied the medicine. She'll recover with some rest."
"Chirp~"
Swablu stretched her neck up, nudging Su Yiqin's palm with her head and chirping to reassure her not to worry so much.
She glanced at her filthy wings and tugged at Su Yiqin's hand, wanting to wash them by the river.
Pokémon: Swablu (Level 9) Potential: C- Status: Weakened Gender: Female Type: Normal/Flying Ability: Cloud Nine (Negates the effects of all weather) Held item: Soothe Bell (Soothes the Pokémon holding it, making it easier to grow close to its Trainer.) Egg moves: Roost, Agility, Haze Basic moves: Peck, Fury Attack, Safeguard Tutored moves: None TMs: None Combination moves: Undeveloped Notes: Swablu is a Pokémon that loves cleanliness. If it sees something dirty, it cleans it with its cotton-like wings. When its wings get dirty, it washes them clean in a river.
C- potential, and a rare Pokémon like Swablu at that. Looking at Su Yiqin's back, Ye Qing felt that her family must be well-off. Otherwise, she could never have gotten this Swablu as her starter Pokémon.
"Chirp, chirp!"
Swablu cried out in pain as the icy river water washed over her wings, rinsing away all the medicine that had just been applied.
"Oh! Sorry, Xiao Qing, I'm so sorry!"
Flustered, Su Yiqin used the blanket wrapped around her to dry Swablu.
"Uh-oh..."
Ye Qing sucked in a sharp breath. Without the blanket covering her, the clothes he had torn earlier slipped straight off Su Yiqin's shoulders.
"Ah!"
Su Yiqin screamed so loudly that the Pidgey in the woods scattered in all directions!
"Ye Qing, what happened to my clothes?!"
Seeing how mortified and furious Su Yiqin was, Ye Qing hurriedly raised both hands and protested his innocence, pointing at the empty medicine bottles on the ground.
Chimchar glanced at Ye Qing, then immediately raised both hands as well to declare its own innocence.
Su Yiqin stamped her feet in anger and pulled the blanket around her exposed skin.
They sat beside the campfire. Hoping to ease the awkwardness, Ye Qing held Chimchar and asked, "We've known each other for a while, but I still don't know what your family does. Did you buy this Swablu?"
Su Yiqin's face was still a little red. She returned Swablu to her Poké Ball to rest and looked down at the campfire. "We're in business. This Swablu is the child of my mom's Pokémon."
Ye Qing nodded, and an awkward silence settled over them again. With nothing else to do, he took out his phone and checked it, but there was still no signal.
"I wonder how Weiwei and the others are doing."
Su Yiqin poked the campfire with a twig, looking worried.
Ye Qing gave Chimchar a swat as it tried to climb onto his face and reassured her, "Don't worry. Both bottles of Pokémon repellent are in their bags. They'll be fine."
"Mm."
Su Yiqin nodded softly. A moment later, she spoke in a voice barely louder than a mosquito's buzz. "Thank you."
"No problem."
Ye Qing waved a hand, thinking that this girl wasn't unreasonable after all.
Su Yiqin hugged her shoulders and looked around. "Should we move somewhere else? We made an awful lot of noise here earlier."
Ye Qing rejected the idea without hesitation. "No. Wandering around this late would be even more dangerous."
"Oo-ah!"
Chimchar nodded along, thoroughly agreeing with Ye Qing.
It could sense more than one dangerous presence lurking in the bushes.
On the front slope of Jinxi Forest, a young man and woman ran out of the dense woods, their clothes in disarray.
"Phew~"
"I'm exhausted! I can't run another step!"
Holding Little Chick, Sun Xiaowei dropped to her knees on the concrete and tilted her head back, gulping down air.
Wang Yao was exhausted too. Glancing at the sinister forest behind them, he bent over to catch his breath, then immediately took out his phone to search for a signal.
"Damn it, why is there still no signal here?!"
Wang Yao cursed, gripping his phone tightly. He and Sun Xiaowei had made it out, but they still had no idea whether Ye Qing and Su Yiqin were alive!
Sun Xiaowei looked puzzled. "That's impossible. How could there be no signal here?"
Fighting his exhaustion, Wang Yao pulled Sun Xiaowei up and said urgently, "Get up. We have to find somewhere with a signal and get someone to rescue them."
"Okay."
Sun Xiaowei was worried about her best friend's safety too. Forcing her aching, weak legs to move, she continued running down the mountain.
More than half an hour later, they finally reached the foot of the mountain, where their phones at last picked up a signal.
"Who are you two? What are you still doing here this late?!"
Just as the two of them were shedding tears of relief, a shout came from the security booth.
"Sir, we got lost in the mountains. We're leaving right away, right away!"
Wang Yao signaled his girlfriend to hurry up and call for help while he stepped forward to intercept the elderly security guard.
The old man scolded them irritably. "Haven't you watched the news? Don't you know members of Team R are active in the mountains? You kids do nothing but make trouble for adults!"
Before you continue