Hong Meiling Sleepwalks Through the Heavens

Salamence is largely considered one of the stronger Pokémon in the game, being able to overpower many Pokémon through sheer force alone. In addition, J’s own Salamence was proficient in battle, so going head-to-head with it is a futile battle, even if they were as strong as Hong Meiling.

Therefore, to be safe, Meiling shot out Red Cannon immediately towards Salamence.

Although it wasn’t her ultimate move, it is much stronger than her bare fists and legs. She guesses that her striking red fist would be enough to deal with Salamence.

Her fist was imbued a deep red, slamming straight into the oncoming Salamence and sending its entire hulking body miles away.

Salamence’s body drew a red, spark-like arc in the air as it came crashing down onto the ground. Although it didn’t faint, it was very much confused.

Meiling was slightly surprised – not because she was hurt, but because she didn’t expect herself to move about a few meters back from the recoil.

J was speechless, Why was her fist red? Was that Dynamic Punch? It doesn’t look like it…

J gritted her teeth. She needed to kill Meiling immediately.

Laying on the ground, she sneakily stretched out her left hand and pointed the device on her wrist towards Meiling – this device is able to petrify Pokémon to simplify the capturing process, but she didn’t know if it worked on humans (if she was human in the first place).

But do I have any other choice?! If it works, I can turn the tide of battle to my favor!

Although Meiling’s eyes seemed trained on the confused Salamence, she kept track of J’s movements through the corner of her eye. When she saw J fiddling with the device on her wrist, she tensed up, instinctively leaping towards her side and crushing both J’s wrist and her device.

J immediately bellowed in terror, but Meiling showed no sympathy as she gave another stomp to ensure that the device was broken. Although she didn’t know whether the device would have any effect on her, it would basically kill her if it worked.

Salamence saw that its Trainer was injured, and reluctantly stood up despite the excruciating pain, ready to pounce on Meiling again.

“Such a loyal Pokémon for such a horrible person,” Meiling sighed, tossing a ball of concentrated qi towards the Salamence.

This ball of qi was much smaller than the ones she used back in the world of Naruto – she was trying to show mercy. However, it was still enough to complete the final blow onto Salamence, causing it to faint.

Nidoking and Seimistoad tried to attack Meiling while this was happening without J’s instructions, seeing as their Trainer was in danger – Seimistoad spat out mud, while Nidoking spat out venom as a last resort.

Neither the mud or poison would pose any threat to Meiling – the mud would only stain her clothes, and Meiling would cringe and pinch her nose at the venom.

Agh… but my clothes… I can’t let them get dirty!

With a single swipe across the air, a sudden shield of air manifested itself before Meiling, reducing the mud and venom to nothing; with two additional swipes, Nidoking and Seimistoad were seemingly hit by nothing as they fainted immediately.

J, who was watching as she laid on the ground, felt her heart drop.

W-what did she just do to my Pokémon? How did she knock them out from that distance?!

Just as J was trying to put together the pieces of the puzzle, Officer Jenny and Petal arrived at the scene with reinforcements and arrested both J and her men.

J thought she was able to leave scot-free – she would’ve been able to snatch Heatran away before reinforcements came.

Unfortunately, she never expected a human to possess such terrifying power than rivals even the most powerful of Pokémon.

“Uh, what happened here?” Petal asked, with Officer Jenny looking just as confused behind him. The two looked around, seeing J’s unconscious Pokémon that were consistent with the reports of the Pokémon she used.

Although they were glad J was captured, what happened? Salamence is J’s trump card – that they knew, and Nidoking and Seimistoad were also reported to be her Pokémon. Were they all singlehandedly defeated by Heatran? Where is Heatran? Something wasn’t adding up.

Earlier, J’s men were fighting with both Aoki and Tetsuo. All of them were aware of what was happening between J and Meiling, and were understandably shocked by it. However, they were focused on their own battles, and couldn’t pay full attentuon to it.

Aoki and Tetsuo reported back to Officer Jenny and Petal respectively, saying that Meiling had ‘personally defeated Salamence and J’s other Pokémon,’ to which both Petal and Officer Jenny responded, “What on earth are you talking about?”

Personally? How is that possible?

Petal enjoys martial arts, and sometimes fights with his own Pokémon. However, he couldn’t best his Pokémon unless they concede, so even if Meiling was proficient in martial arts, there is no way that she could deal with one, let alone three (including Salamence) Pokémon all on her own.

They could believe it if their subordinates told them that she was fighting side by side with Heatran, but they implied that Heatran was defeated earlier on, and it was Meiling who stepped up to defeat all of them in a one-against-four battle. How could anyone believe this?

Moreover, Aoki and Tetsuo could only give brief accounts, which added further doubt.

Petal and Officer Jenny looked at each other and nodded knowingly, walking up to Meiling to question her.

“Well, I personally dealt with them!” Meiling smiled as she gave a thumbs up. “They’re telling the truth.”

Meiling thought that there was no point in trying to hide her power anymore. Besides, Aoki and Tetsuo more or less seen her in action. She could easily deny it, but she didn’t want Aoki or Tetsuo to get into trouble for her lies.

Hearing her, Officer Jenny and Petal once again looked at each other.

What on earth are the three of them saying?! How is it possible for a human to beat up a Salamence all on her own?!

At this moment, another witness stepped forward – Cyrus, the leader of Team Galactic.

Cyrus’ Pokémon was injured from the battle, but Cyrus decided to stay hidden near the battlefield and hid behind a lamppost to observe the fight.

Team’s Galactic intelligence network is broad, and news travels fast. He immediately knew who J was as soon as she appeared.

Obviously, her target is Meiling’s Heatran, so she paid Cyrus zero attention.

Despite Cyrus’ dark motives, he didn’t want to associate with J either. He knew that, at some point in the future, he might still need to fight J, so he quietly withdrew from the battle arena to observe instead.

Cyrus saw everything, and even his usually calm demeanor was broken from what he saw with his very own eyes.

How did she subdue Pokémon as a human? A Salamence, even?

Cyrus immediately came to a conclusion similar to Cynthia – she must be the child of a human and a Pokémon, or even the descendant of Dialga or Palkia.

It may sound ridiculously outlandish, but how else would you explain what he just saw?

Cyrus couldn’t help but feel interested in Meiling. He wanted her to join Team Galactic, if possible.

Of course, he couldn’t rush her. Not in front of Officer Jenny or Petal – he needs to maintain the image of the city’s leading entrepreneur.

Officer Jenny and Petal were surprised to see somebody like Cyrus walk next to them. Cyrus nodded to the two of them, and begun explaining the entire story, starting from when he challenged Meiling to a battle, and what happened after.

The two were once again speechless when Cyrus confirmed that Meiling subdued the Pokémon with her own hands.

“If you don’t believe me,” Cyrus muttered. “Why don’t you let your Pokémon fight against Meiling to see if I’m telling the truth?”