Chapter 29

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I ran like the Devil was after me.

I sprinted down the street faster than I had ever ran before. Faster than the time I almost got trampled by a herd of Tauros. Faster than when we were outrunning the Galarian Meowth in Wyndon. Even faster than the one time I outran four angry Gyrados on a rampage. Well, technically, I outswam them, but the important part was that I got away.

I was running as hard as I could, but no matter how much distance I thought I was putting between myself and the residents of Spikemuth, they always seemed to be growing closer and closer. Tossing out a luxury ball I yelled, "Espeon, use Psychic and knock over the boxes in the streets! It should buy us time!"

She complied, throwing everything to the side of us in the path of our enemies. I could hear grunts, crashes and curses coming from behind us, and I said a silent thank you to whatever thing had given Team Yell the inability to dodge debris.

After a few minutes of throwing trash in the path of our enemies, the voices grew dimmer and dimmer. Then, just as I thought we'd lost them, we came across a huge barrier made of metal shipping containers, cardboard boxes and littered with broken glass and trash of all kinds. "Oh, come on," I wailed. The shouts of angry Spikemuthians (Spikemuthers? Spikemuthees?) were becoming louder by the second. I was running out of time.

Bright lights caught my right eye, and I turned to see a deserted little area inside a building I could only assume was a clubhouse of some sort. The giant poster of Team Yell's logo in the back was a pretty dead giveaway. It looped around inside the building, and an exit could be seen on the other side of the mountain of debris. Unfortunately, there were a few people inside, and they started to hear the shouts of their fellow teammates.

Without thinking, I ran for the barrier. Jumping and pushing off a platform of metal sticking out, I leapt up the summit of trash like a goat would a mountain, using the little footholds like a ladder to jump up and over. Just as I cleared the summit, I leapt over the edge without looking down...

...and landed right on top of a napping Zigzagoon trio with their Linoone leader.

Jolting awake with a start, the quartet clamored around in confusion, until all their eyes focused on me. Growling and snarling, they came closer to me, closing in on all sides and forcing my back against the barrier of metal. "Meowsie! Can't you use Attract on these guys and make them back off?!"

"Well, yes, but what would it do?!"
"Just make them stop attacking us!!!" Meowsie let out a low note in the form of a meow, the sound echoing around the area. The Zigzagoon and Linoone perked up their ears in response, slowly relaxing as the sound droned on, delicately securing Meowsie's grip on their minds.

"Okay, good," I said, backing around the Zigzagoon and Linoone that were fixated on Meowsie, perched on my shoulder. "Now tell them that if they want you to stay, they'll have to do what I tell them to." Team Yell was just on the other side of the roadblock, now. I could hear Piers and Marnie shouting and struggling to get around it.

"Espeon, drag a huge box into the doorway of the building to buy us some time!" Espeon complied, shoving a huge wooden crate into the frame of the entrance to the hideout. As the grunts started beating down the wooden box, I scrambled to arrange the Zigzagoon into a basic phalanx formation around me. Then, just as the grunts beat down our defenses, I shouted out a command.

"Alright, Zigzagoon, all three of you, use Snarl!" As the yells of the Zigzagoon formed dark energy to knock back the ranks of Team Yell flooding into the street, I focused my attention on the Galarian Linoone next. "Zigzagoon, keep up the Snarl attacks! Linoone, take the time to use Hone Claws to boost your power, then use Fury Swipes! Go for the big, stupid Linoone first!"

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