Pokemon: Reborn as a Pokemon

Chapter 327 327: 327. A Delicate Shift

◉◉◉◉◉

Like two miniature suns hanging above the sky, the two crimson masses slammed violently into each other, sending wave after wave of blistering heat rolling outward.

Kael coated a thin layer of Water-type energy over his blue eyes to protect his vision from the scorching air.

Squinting, he cautiously studied the terrifying newcomers above.

The first was the larger of the two crimson fireballs.

Through the blinding blaze, Kael could just barely make out the shape of a strikingly majestic bird Pokémon inside.

Flame-red feathers, like flowing silk set ablaze, covered its belly and wing tips. Against the backdrop of real fire, they shone with a fierce, dazzling brilliance.

Its cold golden hawk eyes stood out sharply within the flames, and with every beat of its huge wings, those eyes flashed with a blade-like killing intent.

Talonflame.

A powerful and relatively uncommon Pokémon with the dual Fire and Flying types, it had become one of the dominant species in the core region of Molten Season Forest, drawn in by the area's bizarre environment.

But the opponent fighting it in the sky came as a surprise to Kael.

Its deep red face was enclosed within an orange, bubble-like shell, and wave after wave of searing heat poured off it, hot enough to set trees ablaze.

It had no real legs at all. Instead, a cloud-like misty organ beneath its body held it aloft in the air.

"Castform?"

Kael muttered in surprise.

He remembered that species very clearly.

Castform, the Weather Pokémon. In its normal state, it was a plain gray Normal-type.

It had no evolved form, but under special weather conditions like harsh sunlight or hail, it could alter both its appearance and its elemental type in response to its surroundings. It was an extremely unusual Pokémon.

And here, in the fire-saturated core of Molten Season Forest, the Castform above him had naturally shifted into its Fire-type form.

As far as Kael remembered, Castform was a species known more for its strange transformations than for overwhelming combat power.

But the scene in front of him now.

Kael craned his neck upward, staring wide-eyed into the sky.

There, in the vast heavens above, that tiny Castform, barely the size of two cupped hands and not even a quarter of Talonflame's size, was actually pushing the larger Pokémon back.

Scorching flames moved like obedient little serpents, spreading and twisting through the air under Castform's precise control as they bared their deadly fangs at the enemy before it.

And Talonflame, which usually ruled nearly all of Molten Season Forest's airspace, had already lost its usual dominance under that storm-like offensive.

It could only retreat in an increasingly miserable state, its counterattacks weak and ineffective.

Boom! Boom!

Hiss Hiss

The harsh roar of colliding energy and the shriek of rushing air as the two sped closer through the sky made Kael instinctively lower his head, afraid that letting them notice his gaze would bring disaster down on him.

He knew his place well enough.

No matter how the battle above turned out, it was not something his current strength allowed him to interfere in.

Just enduring the aftershocks from their attacks was already exhausting enough. If he were truly dragged into the middle of that fight, he probably would not last even a few seconds before the flames burned him to drifting ash.

So if he wanted to stay alive, his best option right now was obvious.

Keep his head down.

Stay quiet.

Wait for both of them to leave.

Unfortunately.

It was almost as if the soul protected by the system carried some invisible trait that naturally drew trouble to it.

What happened next was nothing like what he had hoped.

The two crimson figures locked in battle above suddenly stopped pressing forward at almost the exact same moment, as if by some strange mutual agreement.

Then both of them plunged straight down toward the open deadwood clearing where Kael stood.

"Damn it."

Kael cursed inwardly, not daring to make a sound. He only lowered his head even further, hoping with all his might that neither of them would notice him.

Under normal circumstances, with Talonflame and Castform locked in such a fierce fight and fully focused on each other, a tiny invisible Sobble with no presence and no apparent threat should have gone completely ignored.

But unfortunately, under the invisible hand of fate, the sort of accident that was both absurd and somehow inevitable still happened.

The aftershocks produced by Talonflame and Castform's battle were made of blistering heat and intensely corrosive Fire-type energy. A devastating burning wind.

And Kael, standing not far from their clash, may have had the Water Stone to help him avoid most of the direct harm.

But the dense layer of water clinging to his skin, the very thing sustaining his camouflage and invisibility, was another matter entirely.

Sizzle Sizzle

The blistering wind swept over Kael like a wave of heat. In an instant, the water covering his body was completely vaporized.

Accompanied by a faint but piercing hiss, visible white steam rose off him in curling strands.

And naturally, the invisible camouflage he had been relying on to avoid stronger enemies vanished with it.

Before Kael could even react, his small blue body had been fully exposed beneath the shade of the trees.

"Uh-oh..."

Kael froze stiff, staring blankly at the two Pokémon before him, suddenly unsure what to do.

And when Talonflame and Castform noticed this Sobble appearing so abruptly on the battlefield, they both stopped fighting and turned to stare at him with equal surprise.

There were always unspoken laws in the natural world.

Rules not written down anywhere, but etched into instinct and blood.

No matter how brutal or intense a battle might be, if a third party entered the scene, someone outside the original conflict, then very often the result was the same.

The two combatants would instinctively cooperate first and eliminate the intruder.

A fierce battle drained stamina and energy. It left living creatures physically weakened and short on any sense of security.

Naturally, they would become hostile toward any third party that might try to steal the fruits of victory.

And Kael, despite his own weakness and despite showing no obvious hostility, had now appeared in exactly the wrong place.

Under exactly the wrong atmosphere.

In this delicate, dangerous moment.

He had clearly become the unwelcome intruder.

◉◉◉◉◉

~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter

◉◉◉◉◉

For early access to advanced chapters on P-atreon:

P-atreon/iamxeno

(Just remove the - hyphen to access normally)

Thank you so much for your support and for reading!