Volcarona and Beartic each went their own way, leaving only Sato and Marshal's two teams behind, creating an awkward atmosphere.
"Although I don't know how you got here, the trial is still ongoing. We'll settle things later," said Marshal, taking the initiative as the team leader.
After speaking, he called Jona and the others and left along the path they came from, never mentioning cooperation or mutual support.
Others might not know, but Marshal was very aware that this underground world was called a hidden stage not just because discovering and unlocking it required some luck, but also because the entrance to the underground could only appear at the location where the Red Flag was obtained.
They had been informed beforehand, which allowed them to take a shortcut to get here.
But Sato and the others clearly couldn't have known the shortcut, so there was only one possibility…
They had found the Red Flag.
Realizing this, Marshal quickened his pace, wanting to get out of the underground as soon as possible.
Having already lost once, he had to turn the tide!
After Marshal and his group left, Sato and the others also lost interest in continuing to explore the underground. They had even met the "king" just now, there probably wasn't anything more worthwhile left to find.
So, Sato and the others also chose to leave, taking the same path back. After all, the trial was still ongoing, and the Mission Flags still needed to be collected.
Perhaps it was because they were carrying the scent of Volcarona and the many powerful wild Pokémon that not a single Pokémon tried to stop them along the way.
This actually left Sato and his team somewhat disappointed. The Pokémon in the underground were generally of high quality; if they had encountered good ones, they wouldn't have minded catching one or two new partners here.
Unfortunately, all the way to the anthill, they didn't encounter any Pokémon they wanted to catch. Phoebe and Ryoko kept complaining that they shouldn't have taken a "wait-and-see attitude" at the beginning; they hadn't even caught a single Cottonee.
Sato and the other two couldn't tell if the girls were really complaining or just pretending to grumble, so they didn't respond and just focused on moving forward.
Gardevoir, still not having reverted to its original form, instantly used Teleport to bring everyone up at once.
Its psychic power was clearly impressive.
"…Toto, I need to rest, I'm exhausted."
"Yeah, thanks for the hard work."
Elite Four level Pokémon were almost immune to weakening and status effects from lower-level Pokémon. At the same time, even Elite level Heal Pulse didn't have much effect on Gardevoir.
So for Gardevoir, sleeping was the fastest way to recover.
"We're finally up. By the way, do you guys know where all the Durant went?" Beside the Durant Cave, Mark looked around as he spoke.
"Maybe you should go ask Volcarona~" Phoebe teased, patting Mark.
"Why don't you say ask Beartic~? Cubchoo is so cute, but none of you dared act up in front of its mom," Mark retorted without backing down.
"Hey, is it because my Chandelure behaves too well? Makes you think I'm easy to bully?" Phoebe glared with wide eyes and growled.
"As if I'm scared of you. Be careful or I'll curse you with bad luck: choke on water when you drink it," Mark said, seemingly possessed, continuing his provocation with a fearless expression.
"I..."
"Mark, even though you're asking for it, this won't be life-threatening," Sato interjected suddenly and casually, instantly silencing the two who had been arguing.
"B-Boss, don't expose me like that! I feel like my fifth partner is about to appear!" Mark shouted in embarrassment.
But Sato and Joseph suddenly turned serious.
"Really?" x2
"Fake... it's probably fake." Seeing Mark stammering, both of them rolled their eyes helplessly.
"I'm such a lady, how could you describe me as giving someone a beating?" Phoebe, oddly focused on something else, turned her head proudly and rolled her eyes at Sato.
"Yes yes yes, at most you'd have Mismagius give Mark a Nightmare, let Chandelure drain his vitality, then have Banette sneak in an Astonish, and finish it off with Gengar's Lick."
"Wow, I hadn't even thought of the last part. That combo is perfect. Mark, wanna give it a try?"
"You-you-you... I-I-I..." Mark pointed at Sato in disbelief, then shook his head frantically at Phoebe.
'I don't want to!'
"Ahem... well, I think maybe we should get going?" Ryoko raised her hand slightly and timidly voiced her opinion.
---
After the joking, everyone adjusted their state of mind and fully rejoined the trial tournament.
Then, they noticed that almost every time they went to seize a Blue Flag, at least one opposing team would show up.
Just like now.
In a small cave, three ape-like Pokémon were already lying on the ground: a Simisage, Simisear, and Simipour.
And beside them, a Blue Flag stood planted in the ground, all alone.
Surrounding the three Pokémon, however, were three different teams; all fighting for that one Blue Flag.
"I've heard you're all geniuses, but in a place like this, strength alone won't win," said a flamboyant young man in a blue-and-white tracksuit, grinning at Sato and his group.
Just as he finished speaking, the ground around the Blue Flag suddenly caved in. An Excadrill sprang up, clutching the Blue Flag, and was about to burrow underground.
Whoosh~ Whoosh~ Whoosh~
Several white strands of Sticky Web fell swiftly from above, instantly binding Excadrill's arms and hoisting it into the air.
"Excaaaa!"
Excadrill's hands were tied up, and the Blue Flag in its grasp clanged as it dropped to the ground.
From the cave ceiling, Sato's Ariados glared down with glowing crimson eyes -Glare activated- completely suppressing the Excadrill below.
Whoosh~ Whoosh~
Two more black shadows flashed past the Blue Flag. The flag swayed slightly, but stayed in place.
A Gengar and a Swoobat appeared beside the other two squads, clearly blocking each other and failing to grab the flag.
But then, another twist.
Tremors suddenly came from the cave, scattering everyone's attention.
The third-party team that had been standing idle -a duo- suddenly charged toward the Blue Flag.
They released a Seismitoad and a Crustle, who used Surf and Rock Tomb to block the other two teams' line of sight.
At that moment, from out of nowhere, a Joltik appeared, bit one edge of the flag, and darted straight toward the wave.
As it broke through, Joltik vanished, and a huge black figure suddenly appeared, taking three swift steps to reach Sato's side.
Sato caught the Blue Flag that had been handed to him, raised it high in the air.
Battle over.