"Squirtle, quit playing around and use Hydro Pump! Take it down first!"
Kleavor remained ferocious, displaying extraordinary hostility toward Xin Mu and his companions. With the mysterious cave behind them, they would struggle even to leave without defeating this Kleavor.
Although they generally tried to interfere with wild Pokémon as little as possible on their expeditions, they had already been attacked. They could hardly just stand there and take a beating.
"Squirtle!"
Squirtle suddenly unleashed a thick jet of water that struck Kleavor head-on, its powerful impact sending Kleavor flying.
Kleavor's unusual evolved form gave Scyther special means of defense and attack after evolving, but it also introduced new type weaknesses.
A single Hydro Pump knocked Kleavor out of the fight. Kleavor lay there for quite some time before getting back up.
Realizing these opponents were difficult to handle, Kleavor retreated rather than staying to fight to the bitter end, despite that volatile temper.
This was a characteristic of Pokémon living in the wild. This was no arena, where Nurse Joy would treat them after they lost.
Aside from a few extremely combative Pokémon or conflicts between groups, most Pokémon would turn and flee when things looked bad rather than fight to the death.
Those with gentler temperaments would try even harder to avoid conflict. Even an injury would needlessly increase the risks to their survival.
"Kleavor... The research institutes in Sinnoh have records of this Pokémon, but this species... disappeared long ago..."
After searching his memory, Lü Ming recalled the literature on this Pokémon.
The reason it had seemed unfamiliar was that he had never seen a living Kleavor before, only related fossils and literature.
As for why Kleavor had appeared here, there were only three possible answers.
First, Kleavor had survived here all this time. Alternatively, someone had