Seeing that Phoebe had already run far ahead, Natsui briefly arranged matters at the shrine before chasing after her with his Pokémon.
Crossing over a dozen shallow craters of varying sizes formed by the intense battle, Natsui quickly arrived at the choke point near the summit.
Phoebe, Misty, and Team Magma had all reached the summit from here, so they'd have to leave the same way.
Before the battle, Phoebe had mentioned that due to the fog and altitude, the summit of Mt. Pyre was actually full of dangers, and this was the only practical route to the summit.
In her original plan, she intended to block this path and not let Team Magma take a single step onto the summit, but ultimately, because of Natsui's suggestion, she changed her strategy.
Although the plan hit Team Magma hard and drove them back quickly, Phoebe couldn't shake the feeling that it had come at a cost.
If not for this matter, she would have been very willing to praise this plan as perfect.
As he approached, the path narrowed. From a distance, he could see a large group of Team Magma's Pokémon blocking the way, making it impossible to pass immediately. Phoebe had used this bottleneck to close the distance.
At this moment, she was launching a strong attack on Team Magma. However, Team Magma wasn't easy to push around; they were unafraid of a battle of attrition. In the narrow pass, both sides traded blows, moves flying all over the sky, and explosions were incessant.
Team Magma relied on having many Pokémon, while Phoebe relied on having fiercer Pokémon. Phoebe held her ground, while Team Magma fell back in a controlled retreat.
At this rate, before long, they'd back down the mountain and slip away.
Just at this time, Natsui arrived beside Phoebe with his Pokémon.
"Stop chasing. Don't forget our mission this time is to protect the Red Orb. Even if we defeat these Team Magma members, what then? We don't have enough manpower to guard them!"
Phoebe didn't even turn her head, saying angrily, "We can't let these guys off easy either! They set my grandparents' house on fire. I definitely won't spare them! At the very least, we must catch Maxie!"
Obviously, Phoebe was already heated, looking as if she wouldn't stop until she caught Maxie.
For this young Elite Four member, 'home' was indeed more important than anything. No matter what, she wouldn't give up on this main culprit.
However, impulse was impulse; Phoebe hadn't completely lost her reason. Sensing the worry in Natsui's tone, she couldn't help but say with full confidence, "Don't worry, there's only this one route up to the summit. Now that these guys have been driven outside by us, they can't do anything to the Red Orb. Besides, didn't you also arrange for Misty to guard there?"
So she had also realized that Misty didn't follow them out.
Looking at it this way, although her heart was filled with anger, Phoebe wasn't the kind of person who disregarded the big picture.
It was just...
Only one route?
Natsui didn't buy it.
She was being too confident.
He had to admit that the thick fog that never seemed to lift made it impossible for flying Pokémon to distinguish directions. It was very easy to crash headfirst into the mountain, so entering from the air wasn't a wise choice.
But this wasn't absolute.
It was a mountain, after all.
If someone flew straight up along the cliff face, they wouldn't need directions at all—they could still reach the summit.
And Team Magma...
Although these guys mainly used Fire-type Pokémon, they actually also had a large number of Pokémon that could fly, like Weezing and Golbat. Although due to their body size they couldn't be ridden by Trainers, using their claws or having a few people hang on to launch a sneak attack from the rear wasn't impossible.
Looking at Phoebe again, Natsui shook his head.
Forget it, let's just follow this Elite Four member's arrangement.
Hopefully, it wouldn't turn out as badly as he feared.
As things stood, a nagging unease lingered—but he wasn't stubborn. He could totally send out a few Legendary Pokémon to guard the Orb. That way, with their powerful strength on display, even if Team Magma's main force pressed in, there would be nothing to fear, truly achieving foolproof security.
But he wanted to see exactly what Maxie was plotting. And he sensed that simply protecting the Orb might not be a good idea; on the contrary, this time was a good opportunity to annihilate Team Magma in one fell swoop!
Rather than being targeted by others constantly, it was better to turn passive into active.
So he let it play out and waited to see what Maxie would do next.
...
In the rear of Team Magma's battle line, Maxie, who was in a safe position, watched Phoebe and Natsui chasing out, and felt a surge of satisfaction.
So what if these two are strong?
Haven't they still fallen for my strategy?
Especially that man mentioned multiple times in the reports—Maxie didn't expect him to be such a simple-minded fellow as well, actually chasing out without even a bit more consideration!
Hmph, even if you chase out, so what?
Can you catch all of us?
In the end, won't you still have to return empty-handed?
Now he understood: Team Magma's previous failures were partly because the opponents were tough, but mostly because his subordinates only knew how to charge straight ahead—they didn't think tactically!
I can't beat you head-on—but you still didn't notice what I set up behind you.
Strategically, I won.
Although there was another orange-haired little girl guarding the Orb, he had also seen just now that the girl's strength wasn't very strong. She merely relied on type advantage to barely manage fighting one against two.
Dealing with elite members was already strenuous for her, let alone facing a Commander!
Compared to the two people in front of him, she wasn't worth worrying about at all.
Looking down at the time, Maxie knew that his previous arrangement should be about to be implemented now.
And just as Maxie was thinking this, a sudden explosion was heard from the rear of the summit!
The explosion came out of nowhere, and amidst the shaking of the earth and mountains, Phoebe's expression changed drastically!
"No—!"
She screamed and hurriedly turned her head to look, but she could only see a large amount of thick smoke rising into the sky from the direction of the shrine!
Only then did it hit her—the shrine had been attacked!
But aren't all of Team Magma's people right in front of our eyes?
Where did they come from?
Phoebe didn't stop to think. She hurriedly led her Pokémon back the way they came. But she wanted to leave, yet how could Team Magma agree?
Under Maxie's order, Team Magma counterattacked in force, commanding their Pokémon to entangle Phoebe at any cost, refusing to let her fall back!
Just now you were chasing me; now the situation is reversed. Do you think you can just run away?
Maxie kept a worried eye on Natsui, wanting to see what this man would do in such a situation.
It should be time to release those Legendary Pokémon of yours, right?
However, what surprised him was that even entangled by Team Magma like this, even with the shrine hit from behind, that man's face remained unchanged, showing no anxiety at all!
Naturally, Natsui also had no intention of sending out those Legendary Pokémon.
What is going on?
They took the Red Orb and set the house on fire—yet you're not even rattled?
Although he didn't know what Natsui was really planning, for Maxie, as long as he dragged them out at this moment and let Tabitha, who had quietly infiltrated the rear, get the Orb, it would be a great victory!
Before they reached the summit, Maxie had arranged exactly this: letting Tabitha quietly spy on the battlefield from the side and look for opportunities after things fell into a stalemate. It was a contingency plan. He didn't expect that by sheer luck, it would actually have a miraculous effect at this moment!
Still, raw power mattered. Even if Team Magma tried to block, they could only hold for so long.
As expected, even with his usual team, under Natsui's command, he and Phoebe still slowly rushed back to the summit.
And with things reaching this point, Team Magma didn't chase anymore, instead retreating completely as well.
On the summit, from very far away, Natsui could already see Phoebe's grandparents' house surrounded by blazing fire, completely swallowed by a sea of flames.
And Misty, who was supposed to be extinguishing the fire, was nowhere to be seen. Only her Starmie remained there spraying Water Gun, fighting a losing battle against the flames.
Phoebe's chest tightened at the sight, but she couldn't care about the fire. Instead, she ran through the house toward the shrine.
When she ran close, she found that the woods and bushes around the shrine were also ignited. The heat hit her like a wall. Before she even got close, she could already feel that suffocating heat!
Thick smoke rolled, and trees crackled as they burned.
Natsui hurriedly searched for Misty's figure. Scanning several times, he finally found Misty outside the circle of fire, protected by Gengar and several Water-type Pokémon.
At this time, Misty looked quite miserable. She was sitting on the ground, covered in mud everywhere on her body. Not only did she look dirty, but there were even several bruises on her knees.
Seeing Natsui and Phoebe rushing back, Misty pointed at the stone shrine surrounded by flames with tears in her eyes and shouted anxiously, "Natsui-nii, they took the Red Orb!"
Hearing her words, Natsui and Phoebe looked up toward the shrine, just in time to see a heavyset man wearing a Team Magma uniform above the shrine, being carried high into the sky by two Weezing!
And that man was clinging to one of the Weezing with one hand, while his other arm was clutching the Red Orb to his chest.
"The Red Orb!"
Phoebe shouted once, and immediately wanted to command her Pokémon to chase, but the fire in front of them suddenly surged high at this moment, coincidentally blocking Phoebe's Pokémon!
And that man in mid-air seemed completely unaffected by the flames. With a triumphant smile on his face, he looked down at the few people below from above, letting the Weezing carry him further and further away.
Their uniforms were heat-resistant, which was why the flames barely slowed him down.
In just this short moment, that man had already vanished into the fog.
Phoebe hurriedly turned her head to Misty, asking urgently, "What exactly happened?"
Supported by Natsui, Misty stood up from the ground, voice shaking: "It was all my carelessness. Just now when I was fighting the fire, that person suddenly darted in front of the shrine and snatched the Red Orb. I wanted to stop him, but several other people attacked me from the side and set fires everywhere. I spent a lot of effort just to run out of the fire. By the time I recovered, that person had already flown into mid-air with the Red Orb..."
No one would blame Misty. After all, she was only one person and couldn't attend to both sides, not to mention she hadn't expected to be sneak-attacked at all.
After all, throughout the whole battle, they were the ones who had laid the ambush.
Natsui also turned his gaze to Gengar at this time.
Gengar shook its head helplessly.
It also lacked the power to be in two places at once...
Just as Misty said, these people appeared too suddenly. It caught Gengar off guard. The moment they appeared, the heavyset man lit fires, cutting off the possibility of Gengar rushing to the shrine immediately.
It still could have rushed to the front of the shrine again to snatch back the Red Orb. But seeing Misty attacked and surrounded by flames, it chose what it believed was right—saving Misty was more important.
That choice wasn't just about the mission—it was about Misty's life. Because of her bond with Natsui, it knew she couldn't be left there to die.
Even though the Red Orb was gone, even if it had to do it again, it would make the same choice.
"This is my fault. I was too impulsive," Phoebe said, voice shaking. "If I hadn't insisted on chasing out, none of this would have happened. We could have fought the fire immediately to reduce losses and also protected the Red Orb."
Phoebe was strong, but she was still young—and she'd let her anger steer the fight. Even so, she'd made it farther than most ever would.
Looking at the two dejected people, Natsui wasn't that pessimistic. On the contrary, he felt slightly disappointed in Maxie.
Is this it?
He thought there would be some brilliant method, but unexpectedly, it was just a simple "lure the tiger from the mountain" strategy.
If Gengar had been even a little closer to the shrine, Team Magma probably wouldn't have pulled it off.
Gengar and Misty had let their guard down, leading to this outcome.
Or if he had just given one more instruction, this result would have been rewritten.
It also showed that sometimes the simpler the method, the more effective it is.
Thinking of this, he scanned the surrounding situation, then immediately arranged quickly: "Now is not the time for self-blame. The home is gone, but can be rebuilt; the Red Orb is gone, but we can get it back. You two stay here, contain the fire, and keep it from spreading. I'm going after Maxie. The thief disappeared into the fog, and I can't track him—but Maxie hasn't gone far. As long as I keep Maxie in sight, the thief will show himself again."
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