Hearing Axel's words, Lance was stunned for a moment, and then he completely lost it.
'Isn't it said that I am the most vicious villain in Kanto?'
'This guy is ten thousand times more vicious than me!'
"Golbat, use Sludge Bomb on that bastard."
Axel grinned, tightening his grip on Gardevoir's fingers in his palm.
The two of them instantly left the battlefield just now and appeared above Lance.
Gardevoir gently waved her hand, and a beam of pure moonlight fell from the giant moon in the sky, instantly knocking Golbat unconscious.
Before Lance could fall to the ground, a flash of red light appeared in Axel's eyes, and Lance's body was instantly frozen in place in front of Axel.
"You destroyed my Poison Orb, and now you think you're in the right?"
"Now, pick it up, and then tell the Rocket members to stop fighting."
Lance looked at Axel in a daze.
'Is there still any justice in this world?'
'Is there still any law?'
Even Team Rocket had never done something like making someone pick up a Poison Orb with bare hands.
"Are you picking it up or not?", Axel's tone remained calm, but Gardevoir beside him lightly raised her right hand.
"I'll pick it up! I'll pick it up!"
"And also, Rocket members stop fighting right now and let the trainers nearby leave," Lance quickly shouted in response.
He had just seen clearly, this seemingly beautiful Gardevoir had just used a single Moonblast skill to instantly defeat his Golbat.
And his Golbat had double resistance to Fairy type.
If that moonlight had hit him directly, Lance couldn't even imagine what would've become of him.
Compared to that, picking up the Poison Orb gave a stronger sense of safety.
At least, before Apollo and Ariana showed up, he wouldn't die...
Thinking of his two companions, a chilling gleam flashed at the corner of Lance's eyes.
'Just wait, brat. I, Lance, am not alone.'
'Once Apollo and Ariana show up, it'll be your time to die.'
As soon as this thought crossed his mind, he heard two familiar voices coming from behind.
"Why are you all stopping? Just because Lance got caught?"
"As executives of Team Rocket, we already accepted death as a possible outcome of the mission."
"Forget these ordinary trainers! Everyone go, kill the trainer of the Gardevoir who subdued Lance!"
Hearing the passionate words of Apollo and Ariana, Lance was completely stunned, even the pain after picking up the Poison Orb was unconsciously ignored.
'You guys are you guys, don't drag me into this!'
'Damn it, I don't have that kind of resolve!'
'If you act now, I'll be killed!'
Axel glanced at Apollo and Ariana, a slight smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.
This was something they had planned all along, make Team Rocket pretend to attack, but in reality not kill a single trainer, simply using the opportunity to sacrifice Lance.
Only in this way could Apollo, Ariana, and Lance continue to safely hide around Giovanni.
Looking at it now, the plan was perfect.
"Gardevoir, capture Lance. It's time to hand him over to the Kanto League for the bounty."
"Gardevoir!", Gardevoir gently raised her hand, once again "borrowing" a great amount of moonlight from the giant moon overhead, showering it onto Lance.
After taking care of Lance, Gardevoir locked onto Ariana and Apollo, and easily handled them too.
The other trainers present also fought back one after another, knocking down the nearby Rocket grunts and tying them to the ground.
Seeing the invading villains handled, the Clefairy on the altar breathed a sigh of relief and resumed their cheerful dancing...
———
A few minutes later, the Clefairy beside Daisy flashed with a dazzling white light, evolving into Clefable.
This evolution seemed to be a signal, more and more Clefairy bodies began to emit dazzling white light.
The evolving glow almost formed a continuous stream, and even the bright moon in the sky seemed dim and gray in comparison.
The Fairy-type energy on the altar exploded with a loud roar, forming a pink beam of light that shot toward the moon in the sky, dyeing the entire moon pink.
Under the pale pink moonlight, all the Fairy-type Pokémon gazed toward the sky as if in pilgrimage.
The pink moonlight poured down, indiscriminately landing on every Fairy-type Pokémon.
Especially Gardevoir, who had just resolved this crisis, her body was illuminated with moonlight that nearly turned solid.
Guided by the pink full moon, Gardevoir's pink hair fluttered lightly, and she gently let go of Axel's big hand, floating toward the sky like Chang'e flying to the moon.
Her body kept flashing with level-up rings, and the Fairy-type energy around her grew increasingly vast.
Little Blue glanced at her own Pokémon that only leveled up once, and jealously poked Axel's arm.
"Congrats. Gardevoir protected the ritual in front of the Clefairy. She's probably going to gain a lot of levels."
"But... from now on, your pressure as a Pokémon caretaker will be immense."
Axel nodded lightly. What Little Blue said was indeed true.
After a Pokémon's level increased, their consumption would grow exponentially.
A baby Pokémon might survive each day with just one berry, but an elite-level Pokémon had to eat at least dozens or even hundreds of pieces of food daily.
If one wanted to raise Pokémon like Axel did, feeding each one with matching gemstone powder, the daily cost would exceed ten thousand.
Once Gardevoir's level increased as well, this expense would go even higher.
However, for Axel, this wasn't really a problem.
The two giant Moon Stones were extremely valuable. According to Professor Oak's estimate, they could sell for a high price of twenty million.
Once he sold these two Moon Stones, Axel could boldly declare to the rich ladies, ["Let's see who dares say I live off women."]
The pink moonlight came quickly and faded just as fast, soon beginning to dim.
At this moment, a dazzling white light shot into the sky from the altar.
All the Moon Stones in the altar's center vanished, transforming again into dense Fairy-type energy.
This energy surged into the sky, turning into pink moonlight that once again shone upon the Clefairy.
Daisy put away her ocarina, her gaze turning to all the trainers present.
"Everyone, attention. Trainers who want to enhance their Pokémon's strength can now use the Moon Stones."
"The Moon Stones you offered, under the influence of the celebration, can now be perfectly used to enhance your Pokémon. The effect will be far better than in other places."
Hearing Daisy's words, Axel froze for a moment.
No wonder when he asked about the price of Moon Stones, Professor Oak gave him such a wicked grin, so he knew Axel wouldn't be able to sell them?
It wasn't that he was reluctant to let Gardevoir use the Moon Stones. After all, even if sold, the money would be used to enhance his Pokémon's power.
That kind of gradual improvement couldn't compare to the immediate results now.
Axel's confusion was more about why he could never seem to hold onto money.
Could it be that he was fated to rely on women whether he liked it or not?
'Since that's the case, let's see just how far Gardevoir can go.'
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