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"SHRAAAK..."
The air split apart like fragile silk beneath the gleaming silver armor, and a thunderous sonic crack burst high above.
Like a miniature fighter jet, Skarmory's streamlined metal body cut through the sky, trails of pale vapor streaming straight behind it from the violent friction with the air.
Driven by powerful Flying-type energy, its speed had nearly reached the limit.
From the ground, all that could be seen was a flash of silver streaking across the horizon.
Skarmory's black eyes looked calm on the surface, almost emotionless.
But beneath that stillness, a cold, hateful killing intent was steadily rising.
The two strange Pokémon that had attacked it earlier may have had the advantage in numbers, but the trouble they caused was nowhere near what that Sobble had done.
It had only needed to spend a little time and a bit of stamina to deal with them, along with the two human Trainers nearby.
But that did not mean Skarmory's anger had faded.
The weak little prey it had once treated as no more than a sweet snack had actually turned around and launched a fierce counterattack against it.
That sharp contrast filled Skarmory with the furious humiliation of being made a fool of.
Today, it was going to tear that hateful Sobble to pieces.
"FWOOOM!"
Its massive dark-red wings beat hard against the air.
As another piercing sonic burst rang out, Skarmory's speed surged once more, shooting toward the direction of the scent it had already locked onto.
Kael's zigzag escape route had, to some extent, done exactly what he intended.
After all, Skarmory was still flying high overhead. If it wanted to catch Kael while he was moving at full speed below, it had to make an extremely precise prediction of his path to time its descent and dive properly.
Kael's twisting route made that far more difficult.
No matter how sharp Skarmory's vision was or how fast it flew, that kind of constant advance prediction still demanded more mental effort than it could maintain for long.
So while the zigzag pattern had slowed Kael down, it had also bought him precious time to escape, raising his chances of survival just a little more.
"Tap-tap... tap-tap..."
His rapid footsteps echoed again and again through the dense forest.
Kael's four slender legs moved frantically across the woodland floor, while his long, broad tail stayed tucked tightly behind him to reduce drag as much as possible.
With his unusually sharp senses, he could clearly feel a cold, violent gaze falling from the sky and locking firmly onto him.
Knowing exactly how dangerous Skarmory was, Kael did not doubt that if not for the cover of the thick canopy above, combined with the deliberate twists in his route, Skarmory would have already crossed the distance and plunged down from above, driving its razor-sharp talons straight through his body.
Then suddenly.
With his mind stretched tight in concentration as he ran, Kael abruptly noticed something strange.
The deep green forest surrounding him seemed to be changing.
Maybe it was just a subtle pattern along the bark.
Maybe only a few scattered leaves hidden in the dense branches.
At first, the changes were so slight they were nearly impossible to notice.
But as Kael pushed forward without realizing how deep he had gone, those tiny signs became more and more obvious.
Dark scorch-like marks began appearing across the rough brown trunks.
The once-thick leaves grew sparse, and their healthy green was slowly replaced by a lifeless yellow-black.
Kael could feel a strange heat entering his lungs with every sharp breath he took.
As a Water-type Pokémon, the sensation made him deeply uncomfortable.
But he had no choice.
Skarmory was still watching from above. Slowing down or changing direction now would only speed up his death, so all he could do was keep going.
What Kael did not notice, however, was that after entering this region of unnaturally heated air, Skarmory's speed in the sky above seemed to be slowing ever so slightly.
In the natural world, whether for breeding, competing for mates, or hunting for food, some creatures instinctively carve out a large territory around the place they live in to satisfy their needs.
That kind of area, defended by an individual or a group, was called a territory.
And in the Pokémon world, territorial behavior was just as common.
Resources were always limited. The richest, most fertile lands, especially those with unusual properties, were often claimed by powerful wild Pokémon groups.
And clearly, the area Kael was now gradually entering belonged to some unusual kind of Pokémon.
The unconscious leakage of energy from that Pokémon group had built up over time, creating a strange effect strong enough to alter the very appearance of the surrounding forest.
When the trees begin to shrink and wither, when the leaves turn yellow and thin out, and when the air fills with tiny drifting ash-like particles...
That means you have entered what might be called the most dangerous region in all of the Molten Season Forest.
Ordinarily, Skarmory, with its advantage in aerial mobility, would never have cared much about the so-called territories of the ground-dwelling Pokémon below. Their territorial claims meant very little to it.
But this time, it hesitated.
The scorching air that now continuously burned against its silver shell as it sped through the sky served as a quiet warning.
It could not go any further.
At the same time, the instinctive alarm born from its fear of death was growing louder and louder inside it.
Feeling the many powerful auras hidden in the dim distance ahead, Skarmory finally backed down.
No matter how furious or unwilling it felt, the creature's instinctive fear of death still forced it to make the best choice.
Stop.
Turn back.
"SKREEEEE!!!"
Its sharp cry echoed across the sky, filled with resentment and unwilling fury.
Kael naturally heard the shrill call from above, along with the disappearance of the gaze that had been locked onto him.
But he still did not dare stop.
The forest blocked his vision just as much as it blocked Skarmory's.
Kael had no way of knowing whether Skarmory had truly left.
For all he knew, it might only be pretending to retreat, waiting for him to relax and slow down so it could strike him dead in a single blow.
He did not dare gamble on that.
What was strange, though, was that perhaps because he was still far too weak, Kael noticed the change in the surrounding heat and scenery, yet failed to sense even the faintest trace of the powerful presences hidden far ahead among the mountains.
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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For early access to advanced chapters on P-atreon:
P-atreon/iamxeno
(Just remove the - hyphen to access normally)
Thank you so much for your support and for reading!