"There is no way out, Lt. Spicy Wing, Chestnut, get out! We have a gym battle to defend our lives… and our Kobra badge!"

"Squeak!"

"Chirp! Chirp!"

Chestnut and Spicy Wing jumped out from his jacket pocket. They looked at the enemy in front of them and tilted their heads simultaneously.

"Chirp?"

"Squeak?"

"Y—Yeah, we're fighting that old lady!" Yang Zhang said. "Don't be fooled with her appearance! She is very fierce!"

Lt. Spicy Wing and Chestnut looked eat each other confusedly. They didn't expect they had to fight an old woman.

"Also, what you're fighting is not her, but that thing!"

Yang Zhang pointed at the mutated plant called Vinocious that blocked the door.

"Hrrr…"

"Chirp!"

"Squeak!"

"Oh-ho, now you're finally willing to fight me, young man. Your pets are pretty unique. Did they listen to your command with their own free will?"

…

Yang Zhang zipped his mouth. He refused to say anything to this old woman. She already knew too much, and Yang Zhang just didn't want to take the risk.

The old woman only smiled thin when Yang Zhang refused to speak, "Well, I'll force you to talk once I chop your pets, prepare to die, young man. Vinocious, come here, stand in front of me and fight!"

"Hrrrr!" Vinocious, the big ivy plants slowly walked towards the old woman. It didn't seem to be quick on its feet, but any attack from the vines was definitely deadly.

Now it was Vinocious versus Chestnut and Spicy Wing.

He still had Little Ivy hidden in his sleeve, but he refused to use her because the enemy used knives that could easily cut Little Ivy's vines. It would only hurt the poor plant even more.

So it was down with Spicy Wing and Chestnut again. However, Yang Zhang already knew that he couldn't really use Chestnut here, at least not the electricity, because the vines weren't good electric conductors.

So his only hope was Lt. Spicy Wing gain.

"Well, if you don't want to attack first, then let my Vinocious do it for you, attack his pets!" The old woman commanded Vinocious.

"HRRR!" Vinocious attacked by swinging two vines holding sharp knives towards Lt. Spicy Wing and Chestnut.

"Dodge!"

The pets dodged the attack nimbly, especially Spicy Wing, who had a very agile movement. Yang Zhang decided to make a group attack in this one, and he commanded, "Chestnut, grab one vine and climb it to that plant! Spicy Wing, kick and burn the vines!"

"Chirp!"

"Squeak!"

Lt. Spicy Wing started doing somersault for every attack it evaded and slowly regulating heat around its body, while Chestnut quickly grabbed one vine and started climbing it to reach the big but slow Vinocious.

"Do you think I will allow that? Vinocious, attack that squirrel with your other vines!" Grandma ordered.

"HRRR!"

Vinocious raised two vines with knives and then attacked Chestnut, who was still trying to climb the vines.

"Chestnut, Jump!"

"Squeak!"

Chestnut hopped from the vine to another to avoid the attack, but Vinocious also started to get angry with Chestnut, who kept dodging, so it raised four vines with knives to ensure that Chestnut shouldn't be able to dodge any attack or hop from one vine to another.

"HRRR!"

Yang Zhang counted the number of knives directed at Chestnut. There was no way that his squirrel could dodge so many attacks, no matter how nimble he was.

Yang Huang took a deep breath, he didn't want to do this, but he wouldn't let any of his pets get hurt severely, let alone die terribly.

He raised his right hand and pulled the sleeve up. He pointed his newly obtained gauntlet gun at the vines attacking Chestnut.

He focused his gaze at the vine closest to Chestnut's body and—

BANG!

Yang Zhang pulled the trigger and shot a pebble to the vine. It hit right at the knife and diverted the aim of the knife. Thus, Vinocious, the big vines, missed its attack.

"Oh? That's such a nice weapon, young man," Grandma commented, still with a smile pasted on her face. "You can use it to attack me instead. I'm pretty sure that you can put a hole on my forehead if you use that fancy gun on me."

"Shut up," Yang Zhang said as he kept focusing his gaze on the vines. He had no intention of hurting the old woman because this was a fight between their pets, not them. Besides, he still had enough logic to know that killing her would only put a bounty on his head because she was part of this settlement.

He aimed at another vine that was about to attack Chestnut again and fired the second shot.

BANG!

The pebble hit the knife again, and Chestnut was able to climb half of the long vines towards the body of Vinocious.

"Continue climbing, Chestnut! The only dangerous thing from its body is the vines with knives!" Yang Zhang commanded.

"Squeak"

"Spicy Wing, continue pecking that vine and heat yourself!"

Yang Zhang warily checked on the old woman's expression, seeing if his command would scare her.

But the old lady kept her smile and said nothing, indirectly telling Vinocious to solely focus on Chestnut.

BANG!

BANG!

Yang Zhang continued shooting the pebbles to the knives that were about to attack Chestnut, he tried to aim at the vine instead, but the pebble did nothing when it hit the vine, only causing stagger for a second before Vinocious resumed its attack, proving that Vinocious' vines weren't as fragile as Little Ivy's vines.

Yang Zhang checked on Chestnut and found that the squirrel was close to Vinocious's body. Thus, he commanded, "Jump in, Chestnut! Enter the vines and start biting on everything you can find!"

"Squeak!" Chestnut hopped when the last vine that Yang Zhang missed with the pebble attack was about to hit.

Chestnut landed safely on top of Vinocious, the mutated big ivy. It reminded Yang Zhang of his fight with that bear.

"Grandma, I suggest you surrender before I kill your pet!" Yang Zhang warned this was the last thing he could do to stop the old lady from attacking him relentlessly.