Feng Che and Bugsy pressed deeper into the heart of the woods. The forest here was a desolate sight, picked clean by the swarms. Clouds of Butterfree and Beedrill descended upon them with frantic aggression.
"Damn it, they're completely out of their minds!" Bugsy gritted his teeth.
Above them, the Butterfree released a chaotic mixture of Poison Powder, Stun Spore, and Sleep Powder. The air shimmered with a lethal haze of gold, silver, and purple. In their frenzy, the Butterfree and Beedrill were even hitting each other, causing dozens of them to tumble from the sky in a drug-induced stupor.
Meanwhile, the Beedrill unleashed a deluge of Pin Missile, raining down like a storm of needles.
"Jumpluff, Cotton Guard!"
Jumpluff's cotton fluff expanded tenfold, wrapping Bugsy in a protective white cocoon. The needles buried themselves deep into the fluff, turning the Jumpluff into a literal pincushion.
Farfetch'd, however, swung its leek with surgical precision, batting away every needle that dared enter Feng Che's vicinity. Feng Che didn't waste the opportunity; he used his telekinesis to launch a barrage of Poké Balls, siphoning the unconscious bugs into his inventory.
Even though these Pokémon were forced into evolution by the sonic device, they'll still net a massive reward at the Bounty Hunter Guild, Feng Che thought.
Suddenly, two streaks of icy blue light lunged from the shadows. Frogadier reacted instantly, exhaling a Icy Wind to parry the strikes.
"Sneasel and Weavile!"
As the two attackers landed on a thick branch, Feng Che knew Pryce was losing his patience.
Sneasel possesses a sleek black body with a red tail and a single red ear. Its silver claws are its primary weapons, capable of scaling trees or shredding prey in a heartbeat. Its evolution, Weavile, looks even more sinister. Crowned with a fan of crimson feathers and sporting a golden gem on its forehead, it is a master of cold, calculated violence.
Sneasel: Green Potential, Level 52. Weavile: Green Potential, Level 58.
Pryce is finally sending out his real team. Is he attacking because his plan is nearing completion, or is he just frustrated? Can he even capture Celebi without a GS Ball? Feng Che wondered.
"Torracat, Frogadier—take them!"
[Sneasel: All intruders must be frozen. No exceptions. I love the look of a trainer turned into a block of ice.][Weavile: Finally, a real fight. Lord Pryce will catch Celebi soon, and then the League will finally feel the cold.]
The two ice-types blurred into dark streaks, lunging at their targets. Sneasel's claws tore through Torracat's flank—but there was no blood. The figure flickered and dissolved. Double Team.
A blast of searing white fire descended from above, nearly engulfing Sneasel in an inferno. Simultaneously, Frogadier unleashed a torrent of Water Pulse, splitting the water into hundreds of needle-thin jets aimed at Weavile.
Weavile countered with a blast of Icy Wind, freezing the water mid-air into a storm of ice shards. It then swung its claws, shattering the frozen needles into harmless dust.
[Frogadier: This Weavile is fast. I need to get serious.]
Frogadier manifested two long whips of water, lashing out at its opponent. Weavile tried to dodge, but the whips coiled around its waist like snakes. With a powerful yank, Frogadier pulled the heavier Weavile off its feet and toward itself.
Weavile hissed, freezing the whips solid with another Icy Wind before shattering them with brute force. It dropped to all fours, eyes narrowed. It began running in a tight circle around Frogadier, launching Ice Shard from every angle.
It's trying to lower the ambient temperature to slow me down, Frogadier realized. Feng Che saw the tiny frost crystals beginning to form on Frogadier's skin.
"Torracat, use Fire Blast on the canopy!"
Torracat looked up and spat a massive, star-shaped ball of white-hot fire. The temperature in the forest skyrocketed. The frost melted instantly, and the ground turned into a muddy slush. The sudden heat wave clearly distressed the two ice Pokémon.
They tried to counter with a combined Ice Beam, but the beam was vaporized by the sheer radiance of the Fire Blast before it even got close.
[Sneasel: How?! Our combined beam was just... gone?]
Torracat didn't give them time to recover. It ignited its own body, becoming a three-meter pillar of flame that resembled a demon from the pits. It lunged forward with Flame Charge, turning into a wheel of fire that slammed directly into Sneasel.
Frogadier, meanwhile, threw an oversized Water Shuriken—charged with the rotation of a spiral—at Weavile. Weavile tried to slice through it with Slash, but the water exploded on contact. The force of the blast sent Weavile crashing into a tree trunk. Before it could recover, Frogadier slammed its palms into the wet ground, freezing the water and trapping Weavile in a block of ice.
At that moment, both Torracat and Frogadier were enveloped in the brilliant white light of evolution. However, both Pokémon gritted their teeth and forcibly suppressed the glow. They knew Feng Che had planned special sites for their final forms; they wouldn't settle for an ordinary evolution here.
Deep Within the Forest
Pryce looked at the empty space where Celebi had just vanished. His knuckles turned white as he slammed his fist into a tree.
"Failed... failed again! How do I capture the Voice of the Forest? Is my dream impossible?"
He was distraught. Even a Master Ball had failed to hold the mythical Pokémon. "No... there must be a way. I need a specialized vessel."
He sensed his Sneasel and Weavile being defeated. "Time to go." He snapped his fingers, and his Delibird tucked the sonic device into its massive sack. "Celebi, we will meet again. I will have your power."
"But first, I need to deal with those nuisances."
Bugsy stood in awe of Feng Che's victory, but his celebration was cut short. A thick, white mist suddenly rolled through the clearing. A masked man emerged from the white void.
"You again," the voice rasped, cold and hollow. "You have interfered with my plans one too many times, boy. I have memorized your scent."
"I am not in a good mood today. I think I will let the forest have you."
Pryce waved a hand dismissively. High in the air, a colossal mountain of ice—hundreds of meters wide—materialized from the mist, hanging precariously over their heads.
"Enjoy my gift. My majesty is not something the likes of you may offend. Hahaha!"
With a cold, echoing laugh, Pryce vanished.
"We have to run!" Bugsy shouted, staring up at the moon-sized glacier about to crush them. "We can't stop something that big!".