Under everyone's astonished gazes, an enormous black mechanical spider with four steel claw-arms crawled out of the cave.
Because they were too far away, Xia You and the others could only make out a blurry figure operating the mechanical spider's controls. But even without seeing his face clearly, they knew without having to think that this had to be Vicious!
Sure enough, there was no escaping what was coming!
It seemed that, unable to find a way out, Vicious had actually created a new route himself!
All they could say was that, as expected of Team Rocket's highest-ranking executive, he certainly had his own distinctive way of doing things!
Worse still, behind the mechanical spider, more than a dozen Team Rocket members in black uniforms and carrying special firearms jumped out of the cave one after another.
The Elder frowned and said gravely, "Go, quickly. You must protect the peace of the Dragon's Sacred Land! I'm old now and can no longer keep fighting as I once did. All I can do now is rely on you!"
"Please rest assured. Leave this to us!"
Lance nodded solemnly to the Dragon Elder, then turned to Xia You and Clair.
As the oldest, most experienced, and most levelheaded of the Pokémon Trainers present, he naturally took charge of the mission. Without any hesitation, he instructed Xia You and Clair, "I didn't expect so many of them to come. We'll split into two groups. I'll deal with Vicious, while you two take care of those Team Rocket members first. We absolutely cannot let them reach the heart of the sacred land!"
Hearing that she was only being assigned to deal with those small fry, Clair said urgently, "No, I want to help take on that Pokémon Hunter too!"
"Don't be rash." Lance waved