"Ah..." Goodshow sighed, his brows knitted together.
Bertha acted as though she hadn't heard him and continued with her routine report, "But Hunter A's fate is still unknown. He's probably not going to show up again for a long time. Now that this mission has failed, I'm afraid the Hunters Guild is going to fall into some internal turmoil. Chairman, what are your orders?"
Goodshow thought for a moment before replying, "The Hunters Guild is like a stubborn skin disease. Those people will probably fight each other to seize control. For now, focus on wiping them out. After all, the League can never truly control them. Give Sinnoh a subtle hint about this."
"I understand."
After saying that, Bertha hung up.
Goodshow slowly rose and walked to the window. He wasn't even in the mood to pay attention to his beloved Delibird. Instead, he picked up the phone and made another call.
Buzz!
The call connected.
A steady voice came from the other end. "Chairman, our work here is mostly wrapped up. Elite Lance has also flown back to Kanto."
Goodshow nodded. "I see... Report the situation to me one more time."
Looker calmly summarized everything that had happened. However, he deliberately left out any mention of the Unown and the mutated Ditto.
After comparing Looker's report with Bertha's earlier one, Goodshow found no inconsistencies. He hesitated for a few moments before asking, "836... did you notice any unusual Psychic-type Pokémon?"
"Psychic-type Pokémon?" Looker paused before answering. "Would Solrock count? Former Sinnoh Champion Jan has one. It's a very rare Pokémon."
Goodshow continued, "During the battle, did Hunter A display any unusual psychic abilities?"
"Yes, Chairman Goodshow."
Looker explained the battle details he had gathered, specifically mentioning Hunter A's several uses of Teleport. He also made it clear that he hadn't witnessed any of it himself.
"However, Hunter A has a Champion-level Claydol. Galar Champion Shiro fought him personally, so it's most likely Claydol's ability."
"Very well. Get back to your work."
Unable to learn anything useful, Goodshow ended the call with a headache brewing.
Just then, another elderly man burst through the door with a file in hand. It was Vice Chairman Abbot.
"Chairman, Team Rocket has gone completely out of control!" Abbot exclaimed, pretending to be furious. "They're openly trying to capture Mew and the three Legendary Birds! They must be plotting something again!"
Goodshow accepted the file, adjusted his glasses, and looked at him quietly. "I've heard that the pirates in the southern seas of Sinnoh were recently wiped out by an unknown trainer. The survivors had no choice but to flee toward the waters near Hoenn."
"That trainer deserves a public commendation from the Sinnoh League!" Abbot replied with a straight face.
"I also heard those pirates have joined Team Aqua," Goodshow added.
"Team Aqua? Then we should send more reinforcements to Hoenn..." Halfway through, Abbot suddenly changed his tone. "Don't worry. If anything unexpected happens in Hoenn, I'll personally handle it."
Only then did Goodshow lower his head and begin reading the report.
* * *
At Rowan Research Institute.
"A secret mission from the League Headquarters? That's way too dangerous!" Rowan gasped in shock. He rushed out of his research room all the way to the lobby upon receiving the news.
"It's fine. It's already over." Shiro waved his hand wearily and collapsed onto the sofa.
Rei walked over carrying a teapot and several cups. After pouring everyone some tea, he asked worriedly, "I heard it involved a battle between Champion-level trainers. Were there many casualties?"
Shiro paused for a few moments before answering, "In Twinleaf Town, quite a few berry orchards owned by the locals were destroyed during the fighting. The League has already sent compensation."
"Other than a young girl who was taken hostage, there were no civilian casualties. The wild Pokémon suffered quite a bit, though."
After hearing that, Rowan let out a sigh of relief and patted his chest. "That's good. Incidents like this are the worst when they happen in major cities. Snowpoint City in Sinnoh was attacked by the Hunters Guild once before."
Shiro had just taken a sip of tea. Hearing that, he immediately asked, "Snowpoint City was attacked by the Hunters Guild? What happened exactly?"
"I think it had something to do with Snowpoint Temple, right?" Rei scratched his head.
Rowan knew quite a bit about what had happened. After sitting down on the sofa, he lowered his voice and slowly explained, "Sinnoh has always been known as the land of origins, so there are countless records about Legendary Pokémon. It's said that Snowpoint Temple safeguarded a relic connected to one of them."
"A Legendary Pokémon?" Rei asked in surprise.
Shiro also became interested.
In the games, the deepest chamber of Snowpoint Temple was where the Legendary Pokémon Regigigas slumbered.
According to legend, after creating several Pokémon in its own image from different materials, Regigigas used ropes to drag entire continents into place, creating the land of Hisui.
The giant that moved continents!
Could the Hunters Guild have been trying to capture Regigigas?
"It was the head priest of the Snowpoint Temple at the time," Rowan recalled. "He willingly sold the information his temple had preserved for generations to the Hunters Guild, including everything related to that Legendary Pokémon. That attack was carried out so they could seize the artifact capable of awakening the legend."
Shiro asked, "What happened in the end?"
"The Hunters Guild deployed more than a dozen people. Even the weakest among them was a Gym-level trainer. Since so many Gym-level and stronger trainers and Pokémon took part in the battle, several thousand people were killed or injured on the northern side of Snowpoint City."
"As for the wild Pokémon, there were too many deaths and injuries to count. They reproduce quickly anyway."
"With the head priest acting as their inside man, the Hunters Guild ultimately succeeded in taking the artifact. The priest committed suicide afterward."
Rowan stroked his beard with a sigh.
The head priest of such a grand temple had turned traitor just like that. Back then, the League hadn't realized just how powerful the Hunters Guild really was.
Being able to mobilize more than ten Gym-level trainers, along with five Elite-level trainers and a Champion-level trainer in such a short time… With that kind of strength and the advantage of surprise, they could have swept through half of an ordinary region.
"Since they stole the artifact, did the Hunters Guild..." Shiro began to ask.
"Of course they tried to awaken the Legendary Pokémon." Rowan spread his hands helplessly. "Unfortunately, they failed. But they seemed to learn something incredibly important afterward. Since then, they've never attempted anything like that again. As for the details, I don't know either."
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