Past midnight, Fairchild Island had gone almost completely silent. Even the insects that normally filled the forest with noise seemed to have exhausted themselves.
High above the coast, three Flying-type Pokémon raced inland with riders on their backs.
Riku's sworn brother and his men made no attempt to sneak through the forest. There was no need. They climbed higher and flew directly toward Reiji's camp, intending to hit him hard enough that he would never have the chance to fight back.
One of the three riders broke away before they reached the center of the island. He had another loose end to deal with.
Riku's brother and the first mate continued on.
The moment Reiji's camp came into view below, both Trainers threw their Poké Balls. Four Elite Four-tier Pokémon dropped from the sky, already preparing their attacks before they even touched the ground.
The instant they landed, all four unleashed Hyper Beam.
Four brilliant beams tore through the darkness at once.
Slowking reacted the moment the ground shook beneath the attackers' landing. It grabbed Cissy with one hand and Pikachu with the other, then vanished in a flash of psychic light. By the time the Hyper Beams reached the camp, all three were already on the coast.
Reiji had no intention of trying to block four Elite Four-tier attacks either. The moment he saw the light coming, he recalled Poliwrath and Electivire with the Poké Balls he had kept ready beside him, then drove one foot into the ground.
The earth beneath him collapsed.
Reiji and Umbreon dropped straight through the opening just as the four Hyper Beams slammed into the place where they had been sleeping. The impact tore the clearing apart, blasting soil, stone, and shattered trees into the air.
The collapsing ground followed them into the tunnel, but Reiji had already accounted for that.
After realizing an attack was likely coming, he had spent part of the night having Umbreon quietly dig an escape route beneath the camp. The tunnel curved underground in a broad half-U before connecting to the subterranean river feeding the lake.
Reiji and Umbreon plunged more than twenty meters before hitting the water.
A psychic barrier snapped around them the instant they went under, shielding them from falling debris and the violent churn of the river. Reiji didn't stop to see what was happening above. He let the current carry them deeper into the tunnel and moved toward the lake.
Aboveground, the center of Fairchild Island erupted.
Four Hyper Beams struck almost simultaneously, and the clearing disappeared beneath an explosion bright enough to turn night into day. The blanket and moisture-proof mat vanished outright, trees behind the camp were torn apart, and a huge crater opened where Reiji and Cissy had been lying only moments earlier.
Riku's brother and the first mate had seen Slowking escape with Cissy. That was fine. They knew she possessed a Pokémon capable of Teleport, and getting her away from the battlefield had been one of the reasons they opened with overwhelming force.
Reiji was another matter.
As far as they could tell, he had been caught directly in the blast. The two men stared down through the fading glare, waiting for the smoke and debris to clear. Four Elite Four-tier Hyper Beams had struck the same location. Nothing human should have survived that.
At most, Poliwrath and Electivire might still be alive inside their Poké Balls.
For the moment, Riku's brother allowed himself to believe it was over.
More than twenty kilometers away, the tracker stood on the beach and watched the center of the island flare white.
"Damn…"
Even from the coast, the sight was spectacular. Several seconds later, the shock wave reached him, tearing across the beach and hammering into the treeline. Branches snapped, leaves ripped loose, and sand stung his face hard enough that he had to raise an arm until the worst of it passed.
His job was finished, and more importantly, the final payment had already arrived.
The tracker released Pelipper, climbed onto its back, and prepared to leave Fairchild Island before anyone else came looking for answers.
Pelipper had barely lifted off the beach when a dense barrage of poisonous needles ripped through the darkness.
The Pokémon cried out and dropped, sending its Trainer crashing into the sand beside it.
"What the hell?!"
He rolled over and stared toward the edge of the trees. In the darkness, he could make out only the outline of someone approaching.
A familiar voice answered.
"Take a guess."
The second mate stepped into the moonlight with a smile.
Only then did the tracker notice the dark purple spreading across his own skin. Pelipper was in even worse shape; its wings had gone slack, and it could barely move.
Tentacruel emerged behind the second mate.
An Elite Four-tier Tentacruel didn't need much effort to deal with a utility Pokémon and a human who had never expected to be attacked. One clean Poison Sting barrage had been enough to badly poison both of them.
The tracker finally understood.
"Our contract is finished."
"It is."
"Then what are you doing?"
The second mate laughed. "You really need me to explain?"
The answer was obvious now.
If Reiji and Cissy were both dead, the tracker was one of the few people outside their group who knew exactly what had happened. Keeping him alive meant leaving behind a witness.
Dead men were considerably better at keeping secrets.
"You're cleaning me up too…"
"Finally caught on."
The second mate glanced toward Tentacruel. "Finish him. Then we're heading inland."
The tracker tried to move, but the poison had already robbed most of the strength from his body. Another barrage of Poison Sting tore across the beach before he could do anything.
He had no Pokémon capable of shielding him and no real battle experience. The needles punched into his body, and the poison spread almost immediately. He began convulsing, foam gathering at his mouth before blood followed.
Within moments, he went limp in the sand.
The second mate walked over and took his backpack.
"Talked too much anyway."
He searched through the man's belongings, found Pelipper's Poké Ball, and recalled the poisoned Pokémon. If it received treatment quickly enough, it might survive, and a healthy Pelipper could always be sold later.
He had just finished collecting anything useful when a woman's shout carried faintly along the shore.
The second mate looked up.
"So she got away."
That had to be Cissy, which meant Riku's brother had successfully separated her from Reiji.
Unfortunately, it also created a new problem. If Cissy made it back to Mikan Gym and brought her father here, they had very little time left on the island.
Farther down the coast, Slowking had already sensed the Elite Four-tier presence approaching from the direction of the tracker's fight.
Cissy, meanwhile, was trying to go back inland.
"Rai's still there! We have to go back!"
Slowking refused.
Cissy argued, pulled against it, and demanded that it Teleport them back to the center of the island. Nothing Slowking did could calm her down, and the hostile presence was getting closer.
Eventually, Slowking made the decision for her.
One light strike to the back of the head knocked Cissy unconscious. Slowking caught her before she fell, grabbed Pikachu, and disappeared in another Teleport.
The second mate reached the area just in time to see all three vanish.
"Teleport…"
There was nothing he could do about that now.
He released his Flying-type Pokémon and immediately headed toward the center of Fairchild Island. Cissy escaping meant the operation had just acquired a time limit. If she reached Mikan Gym and returned with her father, they needed to be gone before he arrived.
The explosion at the center of the island had awakened everything.
Wild Pokémon fled from the blast zone in panic. Some buried themselves in holes, others squeezed into tree hollows, and the Pokémon living around the lake dove beneath the surface. Flocks of sleeping birds burst from the canopy and circled wildly above the forest.
The Rhydon herd and Pidgeot flock reacted differently.
Reiji's Pidgeot woke to see an explosion rising from the exact place where its Trainer had been sleeping and immediately tried to launch itself from the nest.
The flock leader blocked it with one powerful wing.
"Pidgeot!"
Its child fought to get past, but the leader shoved it back into the nest and ordered the others to keep it there. Reiji's Pidgeot was too worked up to think clearly, and the leader had no intention of letting it rush blindly toward four Elite Four-tier attackers.
The leader would go instead.
It called across the cliffs, waking the flock and ordering every weaker Pidgeot to stay behind. Only two Elite Four-tier members joined it, and the three rose together before flying straight toward the blast site.
The Rhydon herd was making the same preparations.
Hanhan stood at the mouth of the herd's cave, staring toward the distant glow with its eyes already red. It tried to charge out, but its father stepped directly into its path.
"Rhy!"
Stay here.
The herd leader moved past its son with two Elite Four-tier Rhydon at its side and several quasi–Elite Four-tier members following behind.
Hanhan could only watch them leave.
The Pidgeot reached the battlefield first.
Riku's brother and the first mate barely heard the rush of wings before three shapes tore out of the darkness. Metallic light flashed across six wings as the Pidgeot swept through in a single pass, slicing across the wings of the Flying-type Pokémon carrying the two men.
Both mounts screamed and lost control.
Riku's brother and the first mate reacted just quickly enough to avoid being cut apart in midair, but neither could stay mounted. They crashed into the ruined clearing while their injured Pokémon went down nearby.
Riku's brother pushed himself upright, one hand pressed against his head.
"What was that?"
The attackers were already climbing back into the sky, moving too quickly for him to get a clear look.
For one instant, he wondered whether Reiji had somehow survived.
Then the first mate shouted.
"Captain! Pidgeot!"
Riku's brother looked up and finally saw them.
Three Elite Four-tier Pidgeot circled overhead.
The rulers of Fairchild Island had entered the fight.
That was the last thing he wanted. Reiji was supposedly dead already; there was no reason to waste time fighting an enraged wild flock.
"Forget them. We're leaving."
The first mate looked toward their injured mounts. "How?"
Riku's brother remained calm.
"We don't need Flying-types."
He threw another Poké Ball.
Slowbro appeared beside him.
The Elite Four-tier Pokémon had been kept hidden specifically for situations like this. Teleport was his emergency escape route, and it was one of the reasons he had been willing to attempt the ambush in the first place.
If Slowbro could get them to the coast—or even directly out to sea—the wild Pidgeot and Rhydon would have a much harder time following.
"Slowbro, get ready to Teleport!"
Riku's brother raised his other Poké Balls and began recalling his three Elite Four-tier Pokémon: Tyranitar, Swampert, and Gyarados.
They had killed Reiji. The mission was finished.
Now they only needed to leave.
Slowbro began gathering psychic power.
Then the ground moved.
At first, it was only a faint vibration beneath their feet. A second later, the entire clearing lurched hard enough to throw both men off balance.
Riku's brother froze.
Something enormous was moving underground.
The rumbling grew louder with every second, rolling beneath the ruined battlefield until the earth itself seemed ready to split open.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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