The once fierce sharks found themselves caught in one quicksand trap after another, like flies stuck in a spider's web, helplessly awaiting their demise.
Meanwhile, the sharks soaring through the air were taken care of by other Pokemon.
A flash of pink light streaked through the air as Gardevoir quietly appeared, its elegant eyes glowing with pink spiritual aura.
"Gardevoir!" someone murmured.
Suddenly, a vast wave of pink spiritual aura radiated outward from Gardevoir, spreading like a tide to envelop the sharks.
Their dull yellow skin took on a faint cherry tint under the radiant aura.
But beneath this beautiful aura lay a formidable power, nen, a Psychic ability, ready to control and subdue the sharks with ease.
The sharks that were still diving suddenly froze mid-air, as if time itself had paused.
Wrapped in a soft pink aura of telekinetic aura, they hung suspended, unable to move.
Gardevoir then waved his hands downward gracefully.
Like a pianist playing a calm, deliberate melody.
The sharks plummeted straight down at incredible speed, even faster and more forcefully than before, thanks to Gardevoir's precise control.
But instead of hitting solid ground, they crashed into a long-prepared pit of quicksand.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The sharks hit the surface like missiles, striking the quicksand pit with a series of heavy thuds.
Like arrows aimed at a target, they plunged straight in, but unlike arrows, they didn't just embed; they were swallowed and strangled by the quicksand until they finally succumbed.
The whole sequence unfolded so quickly that before anyone could react, nearly all the sharks were trapped and incapacitated.
All that remained were the stunned onlookers and the struggling sharks sinking helplessly in the quicksand.
"Is it... over?" someone murmured, disbelief hanging in the air.
"I also want to practice my skills," Ging said, watching with a mix of admiration and regret as he observed the incredible processing speed.
"He just picked up two random nen beasts, and they turned out this strong. Only President Larry could pull off something like this."
Pariston glanced over at Gardevoir, an old acquaintance, then shifted his gaze to the fierce Garchomp.
This was a new one to him, or at least the first time Larry had revealed it.
Everyone had grown used to Larry constantly unveiling new nen beasts.
"Nen Beast Master really lives up to the title," Pariston remarked.
Beyond, too, suppressed the surge of emotions within and looked at the striking Garchomp, a spark lighting up his eyes.
Though their voices were low, their words all reached Larry.
He didn't react. After all, what they said was true.
At this point, S-class strength was nothing to him; he could take down several at once, and there were even stronger ones.
Now that the desert Pokemon had been accounted for, there was no need to waste time on the sharks.
Larry had already planned to explore every iconic terrain on the Gatekeeper map. He wouldn't miss a single Pokemon.
The map itself was sparse on details, since the Gatekeeper's location wasn't in this area.
Nearby were the strange Purple Forest at the desert's edge, wetlands home to Nitro Rice, and multiple volcanoes.
These were the borderlands of the Dark Continent, relatively tame terrain compared to what lay deeper inside, where even stranger creatures and landscapes awaited.
After gathering the shark bodies, Larry led the group onward.
Their next destination: the Purple Forest.
It was daytime, and the sun shone brightly over the land, though sunlight didn't reach every corner.
While the desert ahead was bathed in light, this place was almost the opposite, shrouded in darkness.
Towering trees rose from the ground, forming a dense forest.
They differed in size but were generally very tall, with some stretching so high they disappeared into the clouds.
Their branches intertwined tightly, like iron chains blocking the path from the forest floor to the sky.
Even more numerous than the branches were the thick, dense leaves that covered the canopy, casting deep shadows over everything below.
The thick leaves piled on the branches like heavy quilts, so dense that if the branches weren't sturdy enough, they'd probably snap under the weight of all that foliage.
This lush canopy didn't just block the path from bottom to top; it also kept sunlight from piercing through, making it hard to even catch a glimpse of the sky when you were inside the forest.
In fact, it was so dense that it was almost impossible to tell day from night.
But that wasn't the most striking thing about this place.
The forest was known simply as the Purple Forest, a nickname Larry gave it, and it fit perfectly.
Everywhere you looked, the color purple dominated.
The leaves, whether still clinging to the trees or scattered on the ground, glowed with a rich, vibrant purple.
But it wasn't just any purple; the leaves seemed to have a fluorescent quality.
A single leaf might not stand out much, but with so many leaves forming a thick canopy, the whole forest pulsed with an eerie purple light.
Each tree looked like a giant glowing bulb, casting a hazy purple glow all around.
From far away, the entire forest shone like a sea of purple lamps, which was why early explorers saw a mysterious purple light hovering over the Dark Continent.
But there was more to this purple glow than just light; it came with poison.
Lilith took a slow breath of the misty forest air, bathed in that strange purple glow.
Everyone else stood quietly behind her, waiting for her expert judgment.
As the team's poison specialist, Lilith was the one to handle this.
After a long moment, she exhaled gently, her expression serious.
"The purple light does contain toxins," she confirmed. "And it's a type of compound poison I've never encountered before."
"It includes chronic poisons that can be deadly over time, hallucinogens, paralyzing agents, and more. None of these toxins are immediately lethal, but there's a catch, they spread easily. Any area touched by this purple light becomes contaminated with poison."
Lilith frowned slightly as she explained her reasoning to everyone, letting out a sigh at the sheer power of the poison.
She had arrived on the Dark Continent at just the right time, and the poisonous leaves that spread toxins through light truly opened her eyes.
Everyone listening couldn't help but frown, their faces showing varying degrees of surprise and fear.
From Lilith's words alone, they could sense just how dangerous this purple forest was.
"So, you're saying the entire forest is poisonous?" someone asked.
Lilith nodded.
"Anything touched by the purple light becomes infected with toxins. And since there are so many leaves soaking up that light here, almost everything is contaminated."