"Articuno... Hunter W..."
Hunter Z stared at Hunter W in the sky, his whole body trembling.
Looking down at him, Shiro spoke. "The Hunters Guild respects strength above all else. I am now the Leader of the Hunters Guild. Z, as long as you work for me obediently, I won't kill you... The same goes for everyone else."
"Work for you?"
Hunter Z let out a quiet chuckle. He slowly pulled back his hood, revealing a head of blue hair. Then he reached up, removed the mask from his face, and exposed a strangely familiar appearance.
Shiro frowned. The face looked familiar, yet he couldn't remember where he had seen it.
"I'm Saturn, one of Team Galactic's commanders… By the boss's orders, I've come to take control of the Hunters Guild once again."
As Saturn spoke, a Poké Ball somehow appeared in his hand. His slightly hoarse voice suddenly roared, "I am the true Leader of the Hunters Guild!"
The moment he finished speaking, Hunters E and H, who had been standing quietly behind him, ripped off their black cloaks. Underneath were Team Galactic's black-and-white uniforms. Both of them raised a Poké Ball and pressed the release button at the same time.
Shiro's eyes narrowed. Without wasting another word, he immediately ordered Unown A to attack.
No matter what tricks they had, freezing them first was always the best choice.
A dazzling icy blue Ice Beam shot toward Saturn and the others. Just then, a faint yellow psychic barrier flashed into existence. Although it looked ready to collapse at any moment, it still managed to block the attack.
A layer of frost quickly spread across the surface of the barrier.
Seeing the familiar psychic power, Shiro clicked his tongue. "Uxie again..."
Team Galactic, the Hunters Guild, and Uxie. They really were everywhere.
That also meant they most likely knew about the Unown. They knew his true identity.
If he wanted to take control of the Hunters Guild, he would first have to separate the guild from Team Galactic. At the very least, he needed to split off branches in Hoenn and other regions before placing his own people in Sinnoh.
Not a single one of these Team Galactic members could be allowed to escape.
Shiro immediately waved his hand and ordered, "Articuno, Sheer Cold!"
"Aaart!"
Articuno A lifted its head with a sharp cry. Brilliant freezing light gathered inside its beak as it unleashed its full strength. Under the influence of its Master-level power and authority over ice, the surrounding temperature dropped at an astonishing speed.
The psychic barrier below had already been pushed to its limits by the previous Ice Beam. There was no way it could survive this attack.
Saturn gritted his teeth. Among all his Pokémon, only four remained. Excluding the three Mismagius that had already lost the ability to fight, all he had left was a Toxicroak that wasn't particularly useful.
He wasn't a special ability user either. The only emergency item he carried was this single Uxie Psychic Crystal.
However, through the crystal's psychic power, Saturn had already seen Articuno's true form: it was four black Unown.
The very Unown his boss had been searching for all this time.
Because Hunter A had always existed, Saturn had never paid much attention to anything related to the Hunters Guild. If the boss hadn't suddenly assigned him this mission, he would never have come here.
Naturally, he wasn't familiar with Hunter W or the Galar Champion, so he hadn't recognized him at first.
But he had at least read the reports. The moment he saw those four Unown, he instantly remembered who the person above really was.
Hunter W? What nonsense. That's clearly the Galar League Champion!
Even after realizing that, Saturn didn't panic much.
After all, this place wasn't just the Hunters Guild's headquarters. It had also once been Team Galactic's headquarters!
* * *
[The operation has been completed.]
Blaine looked at the new message on his communicator and couldn't help grimacing.
He glanced around the dark and chaotic battlefield, but for a moment he couldn't even tell which direction he was facing.
It felt like trainers and Pokémon were everywhere. Corpses and blood covered the ground, seeping into shattered ice and broken rocks. Arguments and angry shouting had become constant background noise, while flashes from Pokémon moves never stopped lighting up the battlefield.
After Articuno sealed off every escape route, everyone had remained relatively calm. Blaine had even been slowly making his way toward Bertha and the others.
But just moments ago, whether out of despair or because they had simply given up, the trainers suddenly erupted into chaos. They vented their anger without holding anything back.
Could it be because of the League's undercover operation?
Blaine didn't know the details. In fact, ever since Articuno took control of the battlefield from the sky and several hunters confronted it, he hadn't seen that Elite-level wanted group again.
The situation was simply too chaotic.
So chaotic that even he, one of Kanto's Elite Four and an Elite-level Fire-type trainer, could only hide in a corner to avoid being caught in the aftermath of Articuno's attacks.
Losing his life here would be a terrible way to go.
Still...
"Where are Bertha and the others?" Blaine looked around as he quietly muttered to himself.
* * *
"We don't need that old coward Blaine anymore. The few of us are enough to complete Chairman Goodshow's mission."
At the edge of the battlefield, Allen rolled his wrist and spoke in a low voice.
Standing before him were Bertha and "Shiro," who had just fought their way through the rioting trainers and successfully regrouped.
Bertha carefully stepped out from behind her Elite-level Golem. Unown G copied her exactly, hiding behind Gengar while constantly glancing around. It looked as if it was terrified that some sneaky bastard might suddenly ambush it.
Even Gengar couldn't help sticking out its tongue in contempt.
"Gen, gengar?" (Seriously? This weird little guy is way too timid.)
The boss is right above us, and everyone down here is weak. Is there really any need to act this scared?
Allen and Vince, however, thought its caution was perfectly reasonable. Together with Unown G, they carefully moved closer to a nearby wall before finally daring to glance up at Articuno again.
"This place is far too dangerous."
As Bertha spoke, she slowly guided Golem toward the wall and counted the bodies Allen had neatly lined up on the ground.
There were seven in total, exactly the number Chairman Goodshow had instructed them to eliminate.
"Don't worry. I've already confirmed every one of them," Allen said as he adjusted the simple mask covering his face. Lowering his voice, he continued, "This place is crawling with wanted criminals. We can take the opportunity to deal with a few more and exceed the Chairman's expectations."
"…." Bertha fell silent for a moment. She pulled her scarf higher and shrank her neck before replying, "In a place like this? Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
She truly couldn't understand what the Sinnoh Champion was thinking.
He was actually trying to hunt wanted criminals right under the nose of a Master-level Legendary Pokémon.
Once the Hunters Guild sorted out the situation in the center of the battlefield, wouldn't they come after everyone else next? Shouldn't escaping be their first priority?
"This is my chance to prove myself to the Chairman, so of course I have to give it everything I've got," Allen said bluntly. There wasn't the slightest trace of arrogance expected from the Sinnoh Champion.
"Whether I get to retire peacefully depends on this mission."
He paused briefly before adding, "At the very least, I can't waste the help Chairman Rose of Galar gave me."
Turning his head, he extended his right hand toward Unown G. "Right, colleague?"
**
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