A black-haired woman darted out from the edge of the woods and ran ahead, the crack of snapping branches and bushes coming from behind her.
Four adult men in red uniforms caught up with her and clapped her in handcuffs.
"Let go of me!" The woman struggled desperately, but she was no match for the four Team Flare members. All she could do was watch as these unwelcome strangers dragged her away.
Team Flare was capturing people instead of Pokémon???
Xiao Yan, who had been hiding in the bushes, sprang out as soon as the Team Flare members left and quietly followed them.
Rather than running down the middle of the path, Xiao Yan kept to the grass along its edges, which made his footsteps much quieter.
Plants and rocks increasingly obstructed the route. Unless he watched closely, he could easily lose track of his targets' movements.
Meanwhile, the strenuous exercise had torn open Xiao Yan's healed wounds again. Weakened by blood loss, he gradually began to feel his body failing him.
His breathing grew ragged, and his feet slowly began to lose their rhythm.
I absolutely can't lose them...
At first, the Team Flare members had simply moved at a brisk pace without bothering to conceal their tracks. Now their movements suddenly became erratic, veering left one moment and right the next.
Xiao Yan slowed down, and the distance between them gradually widened.
If they discover me here, all that tracking will have been for nothing.
The woodland path ended at a cliff face, where the Team Flare members stopped. Hidden behind a large tree, Xiao Yan watched them with wide eyes, waiting to see what they would do next. Just as his eyes grew sore enough to force him to blink, all five of them suddenly vanished in