“What? Is the Pokémon League really this ‘snobbish’?”

Ariana sneered mockingly, then turned to look at Red with a seductive gaze, her jade-white right hand continuously caressing her alluring face.

“Little brother~ Could you really bear to be enemies with big sister?”

After speaking, Ariana leaned forward slightly and tugged at the cotton coat wrapped around her chest, wanting to let Red, this little guy who had never seen the ‘world,’ experience what big sister’s exclusive benefits were like.

“I’m not like Brock… mmph—”

“Ahem!”

Before Red could react, Lorelei beside him directly grabbed Red’s collar and dragged him behind herself, blocking Red’s line of sight while completely ignoring his bewildered expression.

‘Do I look as perverted as that guy Brock?’ Red wondered.

“Hehehe~ It seems our Miss Lorelei isn’t very confident in her own beauty,” Ariana teased, slowly throwing a Poké Ball from her waist.

As the white light faded, a Pokémon resembling a giant purple cobra appeared. This creature had thin black stripes on its body, triangular eyes, a mouth full of venomous fangs, and neck patterns resembling an angry human face. This Pokémon was Arbok.

“Red, you must not let this woman bewitch you,” Lorelei warned sternly. “Many high-ranking male officials in the Pokémon League have fallen to her seductive methods before. I never expected this person wouldn’t even spare a 10-year-old child—how shameful!”

After speaking, Lorelei shot a disgusted glare at the posturing Ariana. As old opponents, she naturally knew many of Ariana’s inhumane and cruel methods.

As they say, the more seductive the woman, the more terrifying she is!

“Red, please hurry and heal Articuno’s injuries. As for Ariana, you can safely leave her to me.”

Seeing that Lorelei didn’t plan to let him interfere in this battle, Red had no choice but to temporarily instruct Kadabra and Snorlax to stand by, then turn back to continue using Viridian Power to heal Articuno’s not-yet-fully-recovered body.

“Slowbro, use Water Pulse!”

“Arbok, use Ice Fang!”

Water condensed in Slowbro’s mouth, shooting toward Arbok’s position. Arbok slowly opened its cold-emanating, venomous fangs and bit down on the Water Pulse. The frigid energy it emanated directly froze the Water Pulse into an ice ball, which Arbok then easily crushed.

“Articuno won’t be easily handed over to you!” Ariana said coldly, commanding the Murkrow on her shoulder to attack.

Two sharp wind blades crossed together, swiftly striking toward Red’s undefended back.

Seeing this scene, Kadabra’s eyes released azure light as it waved the spoon in its right hand, using Psychic to control the incoming Air Slash and returning it to Murkrow.

Seeing this, Ariana and Murkrow immediately chose to dodge. Then Murkrow left Ariana’s shoulder, using its smaller size to easily hide in the depths of the surrounding ice caves.

Consecutive black rings released from Murkrow’s body—the Dark Pulse instantly arrived in front of Kadabra.

Kadabra’s eyes released azure light, wanting to use Psychic to stop the ring attack, but it discovered that its proud psychic powers had no effect on the rings whatsoever.

Snorlax beside them saw this scene and quickly rushed in front of Kadabra, blocking the Dark Pulse attack for its teammate.

‘Didn’t you notice your psychic powers can’t affect this guy?’ Snorlax said irritably.

‘This is my responsibility!’ Kadabra sincerely lowered its head in apology, actively admitting its mistake.

Kadabra’s sincere attitude couldn’t help but improve Snorlax’s impression of this ‘chuunibyou teenager.’

‘Seems like it’s not impossible to communicate after all…’ Snorlax thought. Initially, it had thought this Kadabra was a difficult child to get along with, but now it seemed Snorlax had been overthinking.

‘You go help Master protect Articuno first. I’ll handle this guy!’ Snorlax said, having Kadabra leave first.

Snorlax understood that with Kadabra’s current strength, its attack moves basically relied on psychic powers, but psychic powers had no effect on Dark-type Murkrow at all. Moreover, Snorlax could vaguely sense something extraordinary about Murkrow’s aura—they absolutely couldn’t underestimate this seemingly full-of-openings Dark Pokémon.

“Arbok, use Poison Sting!”

Arbok opened its mouth wide, continuously releasing venomous needles from its mouth at a speed that left Slowbro unable to react in time.

“Psychic!” Lorelei commanded, looking coldly at Ariana. “Ariana, don’t forget that Arbok is double weak to my Slowbro’s psychic powers.”

“Lorelei, you really are a troublesome opponent!” Ariana stared coldly at the hostility in Lorelei’s eyes, not caring about her gaze at all.

“Snorlax—”

Snorlax continuously pounded the surrounding ice walls with both fists, picking up fallen ice chunks and constantly throwing them at Murkrow flying and dodging in the air above.

Murkrow clearly looked down on Snorlax below, thinking Snorlax’s clumsy body couldn’t possibly touch its agile form.

Two Air Slashes were released again from Murkrow’s wings, crossing into an X-shaped wind blade striking toward Snorlax, even cutting through ice cones above during the attack—one could imagine their sharpness.

Just as the Air Slash was about to hit Snorlax’s body, a Poké Ball suddenly appeared in the center of the field. Then dazzling white light was released, and a massive figure emerged from the Poké Ball. Its silver-glowing Iron Tail struck the Air Slash, completely neutralizing the damage.

‘If you want to hurt my companions, ask for my opinion first, Team Rocket lackey!’

As soon as these words fell, the Blood-Red Gyarados that had appeared let out a fierce roar. The roar echoed through every corner of the deepest ice cave, and its Intimidate ability directly lowered the attack power of both Murkrow and Arbok instantly.

While Murkrow was stunned, Snorlax immediately threw the ice chunk in its hand, skillfully hitting Murkrow’s body, then followed up with a Fire Punch that fiercely struck Murkrow’s chest, making Murkrow cry out in pain.

Arbok, who was battling Slowbro, was also slightly affected by the Blood-Red Gyarados’s Intimidate ability. During its brief moment of confusion, it was hit by Slowbro’s Zen Headbutt, and the super effective damage left Arbok unable to withstand it for a moment.

“If you’re trying to buy time for the drug in Articuno’s body to take effect, I advise you to give up early!” Red said calmly, taking out the black liquid frozen in ice.

Articuno spread its beautiful blue feathers, its red eyes glaring angrily at Ariana ahead.

The recovered Articuno affectionately nuzzled Red’s cheek, surprising Lorelei in the distance. This was one of the few times Lorelei had seen Articuno actively approach a human. Clearly, the Viridian Power Red had just released had completely earned Articuno’s recognition.

“Truly worthy of being the young man the Boss considers his ‘only opponent.’ It seems my luck is bad today~”

Seeing her plan easily seen through by Red, Ariana’s seductive eyes faintly revealed killing intent, but it was hidden by Ariana in an instant. This wasn’t just due to rational restraint, but more because of orders from Giovanni.

Giovanni had clearly stated that Team Rocket’s high-ranking members should try not to appear before Red, and absolutely must not attack Red personally without authorization.

Although some people knew of Red’s terrifying personal strength, more were like Ariana—high-ranking members who harbored doubts, curious about what relationship Red really had with Giovanni.

Could it really just be because they were kindred spirit opponents?!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep