"Hyper Beam!"
With the commander's order, the people below directed their Nidoking and Nidoqueen to use Hyper Beam.
Thick white pillars instantly bombarded the mountainside, producing massive explosions.
"Again!"
After a brief rest, Nidoking and Nidoqueen attacked the mountainside once more.
Two collective attacks had already blown a large hole in the mountain, but they were still some distance from seeing Hoopa.
At the same time, the massive sound produced by Hyper Beam not only attracted Ashen and the others, but also drew the attention of Auron and the Pokémon in the valley.
Auron looked at Hoopa curiously. "What's going on?"
Hoopa also looked bewildered.
"Mew~"
"Someone's attacking the valley, Hoopa~?"
"Mew~"
After Mew spoke again, Hoopa finally turned to Auron and said: "Mew says there's a group of people attacking the valley from outside, Hoopa~"
"Attacking the valley?" Auron froze. Could it be Dad?
"Let's go take a look?"
The moment Auron finished speaking, Darkrai—who'd been eating—disappeared into the shadows with a grim expression.
"Uh, Darkrai, wait for me!"
As Auron spoke, he hurriedly recalled Snorlax, Crobat, and the others into their Poké Balls and ran toward the passage he'd exited through earlier.
Though the passage led in a different direction from where the explosion came from, right now this was the only way Auron could get out.
"You all stay put here. I'll go out and see what's happening."
After instructing Hoopa, Victini, and the others, Auron ran outside in a panic.
What if he went out late and Darkrai and Dad ended up fighting?
At the same time, on the other side of the valley, Ashen and the others flying at high speed through the air also heard the explosion.
Ashen furrowed his brow and directly commanded Salamence to fly toward the source of the explosion.
Ashen flew in front, with Su Qianyan following close behind. He also changed direction to follow Salamence.
As for Dax and Jace, they trailed far behind.
Dax's Corviknight wasn't flying fast to begin with, but it couldn't beat Jace's Charizard being even slower.
Dax had no choice but to watch the flight path of the two in front from afar while ensuring he stayed in Jace's line of sight to prevent him from getting lost.
"An energy barrier!?"
"Hahahahaha!"
Seeing the energy barrier exposed in the mountainside, the cardinal immediately burst into laughter. The appearance of this energy barrier meant his hypothesis was correct.
"Gather quickly—I've found the energy barrier!" After speaking into his radio, the cardinal directly released his Pokémon.
"Typhlosion, Aura Sphere!"
"Conkeldurr, Aura Sphere!"
"Sandslash, Aura Sphere!"
Three Pokémon appeared on the ground, simultaneously began charging power, and blasted toward the energy barrier ahead.
"Again!"
The corner of the cardinal's mouth curved upward. "Hmph, you can't block me. As expected, you also have an upper limit." The cardinal said with a cold laugh, watching the ripples spreading across the energy barrier.
"Psychic!"
"Hyper Beam!"
Invisible psychic waves swept toward Typhlosion, Sandslash, and Conkeldurr. Arriving at the same time was a white beam rapidly cutting across the ground toward them.
"Who?!"
The cardinal whipped around. He wanted to see who was sabotaging him.
"Your grandpa!"
Ashen controlled Salamence to fly above the cardinal's head, looking down at him and his three fallen Pokémon beside him.
"Ashen Vale?!"
The cardinal's heart jumped, then a smile appeared on his face.
"Hahaha, what a pleasant surprise! You old fossil actually appearing outside Dragon Nation's borders? Looks like today's my day for merit!"
Ashen sneered. "Merit? You must be dreaming. Hurry up and hand over the person!"
When Ashen saw the Church people, he knew something was wrong. He knew it—Auron wouldn't disappear for no reason. It had to be the Church's doing.
"Person?" The cardinal's eyes shifted, then he waved his hand to signal his subordinates to attack.
"Person? Though I don't know what's going on, capturing you first and interrogating you properly works too." The cardinal laughed maniacally in his heart. Merit delivered to my doorstep!
"Gallade, Wide Guard!"
Liu Xiangjun quickly threw out a Poké Ball. Gallade appeared directly on Salamence's back, then deployed a massive energy wall that perfectly blocked the Flamethrowers from Nidoking and Nidoqueen.
The power gap was too great. This group of Nidoking and Nidoqueen—who couldn't even be considered high-rank Pokémon—facing Elite Four-level Gallade, couldn't break through Gallade's Wide Guard at all.
"Haxorus! Earthquake!"
After one exchange of offense and defense, Su Qianyan—who hadn't been far away—also arrived.
Seeing the group of Nidoking and Nidoqueen gathered together, Su Qianyan was immediately delighted. He released Haxorus and used Earthquake.
The Earthquake's shock waves swept through. All the Nidoking and Nidoqueen lost their ability to battle.
Including the Church's green-robed instructors and blue-robed believers standing on the ground—all were knocked down by the shock waves.
"Julio Quintana—long time no see. Still doing sneaky, underhanded things?"
After seeing all the Nidoking and Nidoqueen fall, Su Qianyan turned to look at the leading cardinal.
Not looking was fine, but one look—hey, an acquaintance!
"Su Qianyan! You again!"
The instant the cardinal saw Haxorus, fear flashed in his eyes. But soon, it was covered by thick hatred.
Su Qianyan glanced at the three fallen Pokémon beside Julio Quintana and couldn't help but sneer. "Seems the Church doesn't value you much—only prepared Pokémon of this level for you?"
Cardinal Quintana choked, but still stubbornly glared at Su Qianyan. "What's it to you? My current state—isn't it all your doing?!"
"Unrepentant. I should have hunted you down to the death last time!" Su Qianyan's eyes turned cold. Without saying more, he directly commanded Xatu to attack Julio Quintana.
Ashen and Liu Xiangjun also struck without hesitation.
"Psychic!"
"Flamethrower!"
"Earthquake!"
Four Pokémon's Psychic combined with Salamence's Flamethrower and Haxorus's Earthquake simultaneously rushed toward Julio Quintana.
Cardinal Quintana's eyes were instantly filled with fear. No longer caring about his hatred for Su Qianyan, he hurriedly threw out his remaining Poké Balls.