Elf: Re-employment of retired champion of Padiya

Chapter 856 Messenger Birds, Mimikyu, and Darkrai
Let’s go back to one day ago.

Outside Baiyang Town, across a high, suspended bridge, lies a forest bordering vast stretches of wild soil.

A battle that is almost entirely one-sided is underway.

Three men dressed in the Galaxy Team's standard gray-white uniforms spread out in a triangular formation, each with an increasingly grim expression.

At this moment, two Pokémon each had fallen to the ground at their feet.

A large bat, entirely deep blue with bat wings and no eyes, and a raven with jet-black feathers and feathers on its head shaped like a wizard's hat.

They are Zubat, a Poison/Flying type, and Murkrow, a Dark/Flying type.

Obviously.

Their specialty is moving silently in the dark and shadowy forests; they are dispatched as "scouts" to gather intelligence.

However, just as they caught up with the three brats and were trailing far behind, they were struck by an icy blue beam of light that suddenly shot from the side.

The culprit behind all this, a bird Pokémon with red and white feathers, was perched steadily on a thick branch.

A layer of visible icy mist remained around its beak, a trace left after it had used a technique.

The other person's dark eyes calmly swept over the three people who rushed over after hearing the commotion.

"Delibird?" One of the team members frowned, his tone uncertain. "This kind of Pokémon shouldn't be found in the Sinnoh region."

He had just been sent out by his superiors to resist a group that was likely sent to investigate the true strength of their Galactic Team, subordinates of an evil organization from the Johto region.

He recognized it because one of the evil organization's henchmen also had this Pokémon called Delibird.

The other person stared intently at the lingering icy mist around the Delibird's beak, his face ashen: "Even if Ice-type moves are super effective against them, this is still too fast! How could our Team Galactic's uniformly trained and distributed scouting Pokémon be so easily defeated by a mere Delibird?"

The other person's gaze went beyond the messenger bird, looking into the depths of the forest ahead.

—The figures of Ash and his two companions had long since disappeared.

Clearly, this messenger bird was deliberately blocking their way, preventing them from continuing their tracking and mission.

However, the higher-ups meant that—

It was said that only if the whereabouts of those three greenhorn brats were found would Hunter J be willing to continue cooperating with the organization to advance the plan.

That's giving her too much credit. If Team Galactic hadn't intervened, she'd still be working on a sewing machine in the Sinnoh League prison right now!

In other words, Lord Akari always adopted a calm and logical approach to action, unwilling to let such trivial matters affect the progress of the "great cause".

Otherwise, it wouldn't be Hunter J's turn to order around Team Galactic.

However, Hunter J's matter is not important right now.

The important thing is to complete the task first, so the messenger bird in front of us must be eliminated!

The three exchanged glances, each seeing the same thought in the other's eyes.

"A coincidence, it must be a coincidence!" the leader gritted his teeth and said, "They just took advantage of the first strike! These Pokémon generally have low racial strength, how could they possibly be that strong?"

Say it.

Without further hesitation, he threw out the Poké Ball: "Golbat, attack with your wings!"

The other two also simultaneously threw out Poké Balls and gave commands:
"Tank Skunk, Venom Impact!"

"Dong Shi Miao, split it open!"

The giant beak bat emitted a series of irritating ultrasonic waves that sent the messenger bird swooping down, its large wings suddenly gleaming white.

The tank skunk swung its thick tail, spraying out a pungent, toxic liquid from the tip.

The cat then brandished its sharp claws and charged with an agility beyond its size, attacking the messenger bird from the side.

Faced with an attack from three sides, the messenger bird on the branch would naturally not turn a blind eye.

With a flap of its wings, it nimbly leaped backward, perfectly avoiding the wing attack of the Zubat and the venomous impact of the Tank Skunk.

At the same time, its open beak instantly lit up with a dazzling ice-blue light—

call out!
As a condensed beam of frozen light shot out, the surrounding temperature dropped dramatically.

Delibird's Ice Beam wasn't aimed at any Pokémon, but rather struck precisely the grass in front of Meowth's dash.

"Meow?!"

Dong Shi Miao cried out in surprise, her paws stepping onto the instantly frozen, smooth ice surface. Her momentum was immediately disrupted, and her entire body rolled out uncontrollably, crashing heavily into a tree.

The pain in its body made it unable to help but bristle and hiss in frustration.

"ha--!"

But the messenger bird's movements did not stop at all.

Using the momentum of its backward leap, it flapped one wing sharply, sending several sharp ice shards flying like arrows towards the beaked bat in the air.

The giant beak bat hurriedly dodged, but was still hit on the wing by two or three ice shards. It cried out in pain and its flight became unsteady.

Only then did the messenger bird turn its attention to the last tank skunk it had not yet served.

Instead of using ice-type moves, it took a deep breath, gathered a thick, earthy-yellow energy in front of its beak, and manipulated a spinning attack.

In the blink of an eye, the messenger bird transformed into a yellowish-brown spiral drill, elbowing the tank skunk in the kidneys!
Ground-type move - Drill Rush!

The moment it was hit by the incredibly effective attack, the Tank Skunk let out a piercing scream.

But it's not over yet.

Like a skilled acrobat, the messenger bird used the momentum of its recoil to land again on an extended branch of the tree, took out a seemingly harmless white ball of light from its hollow tail pocket, and threw it at the beaked bat that had just regained its footing.

The giant beak-bat instinctively used its wings to block—

boom!
The ball of light exploded instantly, producing a loud bang.

The giant beak bat was immediately caught in the blast wave and fell from the sky with a mournful cry.

Immediately afterwards, an icy light shone again in front of the messenger bird's beak, followed by a merciless beam of freezing light that completely froze the struggling tank skunk.

Finally, it turned to the Dongshi cat, which had just recovered from its dizziness and was trying to launch a sneak attack, and delivered another "Brick Break" that was faster than the other's reaction time.

The Dong Shi cat, struck squarely on the forehead by the incredibly effective "Brick Breaker," froze in mid-air before collapsing straight down.

From the moment the three launched their attack to the moment all three of their highly anticipated main battle Pokémon fell, only a dozen seconds had passed.

The forest fell into a deathly silence.

The three Galaxy Team subordinates stood frozen in place, like three statues.

Their mouths were agape, their eyes wide open, their expressions a mixture of shock, bewilderment, and incomprehension.

They watched as the messenger bird gracefully landed back on the branch, leisurely dusting off non-existent dust with its wings, as if the battle with its various elemental attacks hadn't even been a warm-up for it.

"Impossible, absolutely impossible," a member of Team Galactic muttered to himself, his voice trembling.

The leader of Team Galactic clenched his fists so tightly his knuckles turned white. He stared at the messenger bird, as if trying to find some trace of disguise on it.

For example, it might be a fox spirit that transformed into something else.

"How could a messenger bird be this strong?! The moves it uses, its superb combat experience."

They racked their brains but couldn't understand why a Delibird, which was supposed to be used as a transport tool in other regions and was generally considered weak in combat, possessed such terrifying strength. It could even so easily crush their carefully trained main battle Pokémon!

The messenger bird wouldn't give them answers. It simply watched the three stunned humans with a sense of utter boredom.

—The quality of our opponents this time is still quite average.

To put it bluntly, even the main force of some dojo masters is no match for it now, let alone these few small fry.

He learned a variety of unique skills and abilities from his farmmates.

And there's the combat experience that's been honed.

These are all reasons why it is so powerful.

Among the three seemingly terrified Team Galactic subordinates, the leader was quietly fiddling with something.

A glint flashed in the messenger bird's eyes, and without holding back, it unleashed a blizzard attack with almost no wind-up.

The three people, their Pokémon, and the nearby grass and trees were frozen into ice sculptures.

Having done all this, the messenger bird leisurely landed on the ice.

Delibird isn't some ignorant wild Pokémon; it knows very well how unpredictable and powerful technological weapons can be.

It won't give the opponent a chance to turn the tide.

The messenger bird flew around again to make sure there were no other fish that had escaped before lifting its tail and trying to pull out the "communicator" from inside.

That was a technological creation that Shizuka helped it apply for, capable of sending signals to the nearby Sinnoh League police.

It wasn't meant to call for help, but rather to inform Officer Jenny that they were coming to retrieve the three Galactic Team subordinates who had been frozen into ice sculptures.

After all, following the attack on the Pokémon Center by Team Galactic, Delibird had become quite famous among the Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny families in the Sinnoh region.

When Ash and his friends get lost, this creature, which knows the way, can even fly to a nearby Pokémon Center to mooch a meal while watching a show before flying back.

Anyway, most of Miss Joey recognizes it.

The same goes for Officer Jenny.

While skillfully pressing the button and waiting for humans to come and clean up the mess, the Delibird didn't immediately follow Ash and his friends' plans; it chose to stay behind.

Firstly, to prevent the three from escaping, and secondly, because Ash and his friends were just ahead of Ash Town, once they entered the town, they wouldn't need his protection for the time being.

The waiting time always feels long.

For some reason, Officer Jenny arrived unusually late today.

After the messenger bird handed over the three Galactic Team subordinates to them, it was almost lunchtime.

The Delibird flapped its wings and flew into the sky, intending to fly to the Pokémon Center in Ashford Town to have its dinner.

—But the outline of Baiyang Town, which was just visible a moment ago, vanished right before its eyes!
All that remained was the mountainside, seemingly half-carved away out of thin air, a testament to the complexity of the matter.

The messenger bird was completely dumbfounded when it saw this.

No, it's such a big town!?
The messenger bird waited from night until dawn, until noon, before witnessing the return of Poplar Town intact.

There was also a familiar aura rushing rapidly towards Baiyang Town from the sky.

The messenger bird remembered that it must have been the scent of Cyndaquil and Garchomp.

It wanted to enter Baiyang Town immediately to see if the three people it was protecting, including Xiaozhi, were still alive.

But plans often go awry, and before the messenger bird could set off, it was forced to stay behind due to unforeseen circumstances.

—Deep in the forest, it discovered traces of Team Galactic again.

The messenger bird was pretty sure that these heavily armed guys were probably not after Ash and his friends.

After all, there's absolutely no need to be so serious about winning over the three of them.

The messenger bird concealed itself deeply within the dense canopy's shadow, hiding its striking red and white feathers.
It silently watched the Team Galactic squad moving below.

This team was completely different from the previous three scattered soldiers.

The group of fifteen people moved in perfect unison, their expressions stern, carrying sophisticated instruments with flashing indicator lights, and steadily advanced toward Baiyang Town.

What makes the messenger birds most troublesome is the three-dimensional defensive network they construct.

Three Houndooms crouched low as they advanced, their nostrils twitching incessantly.

Two cross-bats hovered silently overhead, their four wings making almost no sound.

The team members took turns keeping watch, their fingers constantly resting on the Poké Balls and weapons at their waists.

The entire team was like a taut iron barrel, with almost no weaknesses to be found.

They advanced slowly but very steadily, minimizing the risk of exposure at every step.

The messenger bird silently observed the group of fully armed men.

Even it found this situation difficult to handle.

It's unknown what kind of weapons these people are carrying, and how many Pokémon they haven't discovered yet.

Ultimately, it is fighting alone. Without being able to quickly deal with such a large number of people, rashly going out to play the hero is more likely to lead to danger.

If one is not careful, and is attacked from a blind spot, one can easily fall into an abyss of no return.

Even some legendary Pokémon are easily outmatched by human technology, let alone Delibird, whose strength is not yet at that level.

At that moment, the messenger bird suddenly felt a pang of nostalgia for Luo Mu and his farm companions.

At least when he was around, there was no need to worry about that at all; he could just call out Xeno'jiiva and Dragonite to provide fire support, and that would be enough.

These guys are amazing if they can last even a minute.

Just as the messenger bird was secretly considering whether to go to Poplar Town for support first or continue tracking,

Completely unaware that a shadow was quietly rising from the dappled shadows behind it.

Immediately afterwards, a jet-black claw landed on the messenger bird's shoulder.

The messenger bird was immediately startled.

At that moment, its heart was in its throat.

I've been discovered!?
Thinking it had been exposed, the messenger bird stiffly turned its head, its brain racing as it considered how to fight and find a way to escape.

But when the messenger bird turned around completely, it found a very familiar Pikachu plush toy tilting its head and looking at it with a blank and cute expression.

"Dede li?" (A riddle, a riddle-like hill?)

The messenger bird let out a soft gasp, forcibly controlling its movements to avoid shaking off leaves and attracting the attention of the Galactic Team below.

It looked at Mimikyu with a puzzled expression, not understanding why Mimikyu, which should be in the Padiya region at this time, was here.

Before the messenger bird could voice its question, the puffin, which had been making no attempt to conceal its presence, slowly stepped aside.

There, the pitch-black nightmare god Darkrai floated silently in mid-air, completely unnoticed by the elite members of Team Galactic below.

(End of this chapter)