High in the sky, a Mandibuzz locked onto Ye Qing and Zhang Tuzhen on the ground.
She adjusted her flight posture, circled once, then aimed at the chubby Zhang Tuzhen and plunged into a high-speed dive!
Ye Qing took out his Poké Balls. "All right, everyone, come back. Gardevoir, hurry and get us out of here."
Several flashes of light passed, leaving Gardevoir as the only Pokémon present besides Ye Qing and Zhang Tuzhen.
The diving Mandibuzz grinned even more broadly, thinking, These people are asking for it. They even put all their Pokémon away.
Five hundred meters, one hundred meters!
Mandibuzz hurtled downward at a hundred meters per second, Zhang Tuzhen growing larger and larger in his eyes.
"Garde."
Gardevoir drew a breath, took hold of Ye Qing and Zhang Tuzhen, and vanished from the spot.
"Aaaah!!!"
Zhang Tuzhen's sudden disappearance left Mandibuzz stunned for a moment. By the time she came to her senses, it was too late to react. With a thump, she plunged headfirst into a snowdrift.
Ye Qing and Zhang Tuzhen quietly appeared in a dense forest.
Gardevoir carried the two of them low through the forest. She sensed that the area was unsafe, so the sooner they left, the better.
As the scenery around them grew increasingly familiar, Zhang Tuzhen whispered excitedly, "Big bro, another ten kilometers or so in this direction and we'll reach Ice and Snow Town!"
"Good. Keep going this way."
After everything that had happened, Ye Qing was no longer in the mood for training. He only wanted to find somewhere safe to rest and recover his energy.
"Garde."
Gardevoir nodded, her long skirt fluttering as she sped up.
As they drew closer to Ice and Snow Town, wild Pokémon became less common, and they occasionally spotted a Trainer or