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By the time the Iron Cats Gang's cats arrived, the battle had already reached a fever pitch.
The battlefield was divided into four sections.
In one section, Arcanine and Riolu were madly clashing claws, striking each other at speeds the naked eye could barely follow.
To their side and slightly behind them, Incineroar was pounding Houndoom's head with punch after punch, while the latter continuously released yellowish-brown energy waves.
The scene was extremely explosive and shocking, but the other two sections were slightly more bizarre.
First, Weavile swung its blood-red claws, grappling with an invisible opponent. Strange crimson lightning frequently erupted around them, racing across the ground and kicking up dust with consecutive explosions.
Occasionally, icy-blue and reddish-brown lights would collide.
Elsewhere, Honchkrow flew in circles around several stone pillars as if evading something, its wings glowing white and a breeze swirling around its body.
Its cold eyes vigilantly scanned its surroundings.
Clearly, two invisible opponents were attacking them.
"This is...?"
Pyroar scanned the area, taking in the Savage Hounds members watching them warily from a distance. The situation wasn't what it had imagined.
It shouldn't have been Incineroar and its friends surrounded and in mortal peril, with their group swooping in like heroes on rainbow clouds to save them, repaying their previous kindness, leading to friendly coexistence and ending with Incineroar moved to tears, willingly joining the Iron Claw—
Ahem, ahem, ahem.
Getting a bit ahead of itself there, Pyroar felt slightly embarrassed. Looking at the four battlefields not far away, it wasn't sure whether to intervene or not.
If they intervened, it was a one-on-one duel; interfering would be against the rules and could easily escalate into a brawl.
If they didn't intervene, it would make their earlier promise to have Incineroar's back seem like empty cat fart, completely useless.
But then again, they really hadn't misjudged Incineroar and its crew. They could actually fight Houndoom's group to a standstill!
"Brother Pyroar, what should we do?"
Luxray asked quietly, "Should we intervene in a situation like this?"
"... Tsk, tough call."
Pyroar's meager brain couldn't think of a solution.
As the third-in-command, it usually just echoed others with "Yeah, me too."
It really didn't have much experience making big decisions like this.
Around them, members of other gangs had gathered.
"Whoa! Who are these guys? Never seen them before!"
The speaker's voice was coarse and hoarse. It was a purple-blue all over, extremely ferocious-looking giant scorpion with arms growing from the sides of its face—Drapion.
Behind it were several Centiskorch with four flame-like eyebrows floating on their faces and bodies blazing red and orange-yellow like fire.
And what looked like a robot-like large ladybug, whether it was its head or its body—Orbeetle.
Its whirlpool-like eyes glowed blue as it scrutinized the areas around Weavile and Honchkrow.
These guys were members of the Bug Horde.
The leading Drapion was the vice-leader, a seemingly crude but actually meticulous fellow.
"Ha! Of course you fake bugs came too! I love watching cats and dogs fight! So exciting!"
The one saying this was a Obstagoon standing upright, its body black and white with a bit of fluffy gray fur and a honey badger-like head, its tongue hanging out.
Beside it was a Excadrill with three scar-like red marks on its body and a head like one-third of a drill bit, its fur brown-black.
Also, a Typhlosion with flames burning around its neck, black back and yellow belly—a giant weasel. And a seeming delicate and weak Cinccino with white fluffy fur on its body—a gray squirrel.
These were the members of the Vile Rats Gang, another major force besides the Iron Cats Gang and the Savage Hounds. They were once subordinates of the Iron Cats Gang.
But over a decade ago, led by the third-generation leader Morpeko, they achieved the great feat of completely unifying Mist City's underground, and managed to make Plusle and Minun win the favor of the Director Grandpa, leading to their independence.
Now, relying on their huge rodent population base, they had grown to a point where no Pokémon dared look down on them.
This was also the confidence that allowed them to come spectate.
Pyroar was already annoyed. Seeing these ambiguous onlookers, it couldn't help but flare up with anger, growling lowly, "This has nothing to do with you! Don't butt in!"
After saying that, it let out a thunderous roar, and the other Pyroar behind it joined in roaring!
For a moment, it felt like thunder had swept across the field!
Among the Iron Cats Gang's big shots, Pyroar was definitely the most reckless and had the worst temper—after all, it was a Fire type.
Once it got angry, the Pokémon who had suffered before couldn't help but step back and swallow nervously.
"We can't even watch?"
"Yeah, right!"
Drapion and Obstagoon retorted one after another. With their underlings around, they couldn't afford to back down.
"If you want to watch, then shut up!"
Pyroar roared, looking at the four divided battlefields, already preparing to intervene.
No matter what, the Iron Cats Gang's face had to be saved. People live for their dignity, trees live for their bark—Pokémon need face too!
At worst, it'd just get thrown in solitary confinement!
However, just as it was about to intervene, a voice suddenly rang out.
The voice came from the air.
"It's fine. These guys all know their limits. They won't fight too seriously; they'll stop soon."
Light and shadow swirled, and a dark ninja frog with a swaying red scarf appeared in the center of the three small gangs.
All the Pokémon were startled!
Because none of them had noticed when this guy appeared!
This included Orbeetle with its Frisk ability and the cats and dogs with their keen sense of smell!
It was as if it had appeared out of thin air.
"What are you doing here!?"
Luxray stared dumbfounded at Greninja. Wasn't this guy supposed to be fighting Weavile and them under the effects of Camouflage?
The black-and-blue big cat couldn't help but look toward Weavile's side, but fighting was clearly still going on over there.
"Falsehoods within truths, truths within falsehoods. How do you know I'm the real one?"
Greninja retorted, but its body remained stiff and unmoving. At most, it could manage one-point-five tasks with dual focus.
Two fighting and one talking was its limit.
Li Xiang was indeed right. Training endurance more would extend the Substitute's action duration.
Injecting a bit more attribute energy would also lengthen the Substitute's action time.
'Oh? Reaching the limit?'
In the distance, two thuds rang out.
Something invisible around Weavile and Honchkrow exploded, and they quickly retreated backward.
And these two explosions seemed to be the signal for the end of the battle.
In the other two battlefields, the fierce clashes also temporarily ceased. Cats and dogs separated by a small distance, panting as they looked at their opponents.
Traces of attribute energy from the explosions lingered on their bodies.
"Stopping?"
Pyroar didn't understand why these guys would just stop fighting when they had seemed like mortal enemies, ready to fight to the death just moments ago.
"Brother Pyroar, we have things to do tomorrow. We can't go too hard."
Greninja spoke very realistically.
No matter how many threats they had exchanged earlier or how angry they had seemed, their minds were always clear.
They knew very well when they should do what.
"This..."
Pyroar opened its mouth, momentarily speechless, unable to keep up with their train of thought.
Elsewhere, Weavile and Honchkrow gathered together, their faces devoid of the earlier anger, expressions serious as they spoke. "That's definitely a Substitute that can move and attack."
"Right. This guy's Substitute isn't like ordinary ones. It's a mutated type." Honchkrow nodded, then irritably pecked at its wing with its beak. "I can't handle this type!"
"Damn right, I can't handle it either! Only Foresight can see its moves! And this guy has long-range attacks!"
Weavile said discontentedly. As a high-speed, fragile physical attacker, it feared Greninja, a high-speed special attacker.
And with the Protean ability? How do you fight that?
This kind of opponent should be left to Arcanine, that guy with keen senses, extremely fast speed, and capable of both close and long-range attacks.
'Damn it. Who has such an annoying opponent?!'
Not far away, Arcanine and Riolu stood about ten meters apart. The former's right eye was swollen like a big steamed bun, its vision blurry.
The latter's left paw hung limply, looking as if it were dislocated and powerless.
One had taken a nearly eye-bursting Sky Uppercut, and the other's arm had almost been bitten off by a Fire Fang.
Both were "close calls."
"Not bad! Your attacks are good! Just not painful enough!"
Arcanine opened its mouth and roared, face full of ferocity. Under the clear moonlight, its right eye began to slowly heal.
"As if you hit me that hard either."
Riolu's body shimmered with watery light, and its numb left paw gradually became agile again.
The two dogs looked at each other, watching their injuries continuously recover.
"Hmph."
Arcanine's expression softened slightly as it closed its eyes and said in a low voice, "You're not bad. Like your trainer, not bad."
Its attitude was very arrogant, like an emperor consoling a subject.
"Then I'll have him pay you another visit tomorrow." Riolu shot back sarcastically. Li Xiang had always liked big, fluffy Pokémon like Arcanine.
[Lots of fur, good for petting.]
That was his classic line.
"Whatever." Arcanine turned around, no longer bothering to argue with Riolu. Only the weak got angry at others' words.
But secretly, it gritted its teeth, thinking this little dog had hit way too hard, with no honor at all. If it wasn't better by morning, it would get an earful from Abby for sure.
Riolu stood in place until Arcanine left, then slowly sat on the ground, letting out a long sigh of relief and rubbing its sore shoulder blade.
That dog really bit down hard.
Two individuals who were clearly in pain but refused to admit defeat were secretly licking their wounds.
Finally, it was the leaders' turn.
These two were in much better condition than the mad dogs.
They were just panting so hard they could barely speak.
"R-really no room for discussion?"
Houndoom stuck out its tongue, feeling dizzy. Incineroar's punches were too heavy; even its metal skull couldn't withstand them.
"In this life, only one person gets to stand on my head."
Incineroar panted heavily, sneering disdainfully as it pulled a cigar from the back of its head, lit it, and took a puff.
"And don't spout that nonsense about sharing the world. What I want, I'll fight for myself! No one else gets to decide for me!"
There is only one godfather in a mafia!
Incineroar was surrounded by smoke, but its eyes grew even brighter.
"Roar? So you plan to get involved too?"
Houndoom glanced at the distant Iron Cats Gang and sneered, "Don't say I didn't warn you. The Iron Cats Gang and the Savage Hounds are not the same thing."
The Savage Hounds was full of internal strife and traitors everywhere, while the Iron Cats Gang was united and determined.
Incineroar didn't need to think hard to understand Houndoom's meaning, but it felt somehow strange, as if something was reversed.
"That's none of your business. I'll do as I please." Incineroar extinguished the cigar and stuffed it back into its mane, walking toward Riolu.
"But you're right. We'll sooner or later be colleagues. So don't worry, I'll only compete with you fairly. I won't play dirty tricks. Just rest assured and do your own thing."
'Well, well! If it didn't know this guy a bit, Houndoom would definitely think it hadn't figured out its own position. To say something like that..'
In other words, it wasn't afraid of Houndoom playing dirty tricks?!
'Damn stinky cat! And it actually makes sense!'
Houndoom helplessly discovered that it really had no way to deal with Incineroar; it could only compete with it fair and square.
Who told their trainers to know each other and have a pretty good relationship?