Silence fell over the group once again. No one could think of a good solution.
After Blaine said the teleportation devices had all been destroyed, Bertha naturally assumed the one she had used earlier was also broken. In everyone's mind, there wasn't a single working device left.
Meanwhile, Unown G quietly glanced toward the entrance of the correct passage. It was still covered by Unown A's psychic power, which remained completely intact.
No one had noticed that passage.
The psychic barrier hiding the correct route was already powerful enough on its own. It was Master-level psychic power, something even Elite-level Psychic-type Pokémon would have difficulty sensing. The Pokémon present were mostly only Gym-level, so none of them could detect the concealed psychic energy.
The path was right there, yet the people who had come here could not even see it.
Unown G gave the League group another quick glance before quietly returning to its usual role of acting like a lifeless decoration.
If anyone asked, it simply shook its head.
It had already reported everything here, but no further instructions had arrived yet.
* * *
"From today onward, I'm the leader of the Hunters Guild."
"Who objects?"
The domineering voice echoed throughout the underground battlefield, yet no one answered.
Hunter J had already escaped, and so had the League trainers. As for the few capable survivors left behind, they were still trembling inside the piles of ice, unable to recover from what they had just witnessed.
Articuno and Moltres, two Legendary Pokémon, had fought each other… and it was already over?
It seemed Hunter W, the one who controlled Articuno, had emerged victorious. It was terrifying.
Hunter W, Hunter J, Legendary Pokémon... everything about them was terrifying.
Hovering in the air, Shiro swept his gaze across the survivors below, quietly judging which of them might still be useful.
Most of the seated hunters had died during the battle. Even the cunning Hunter F had disappeared after being forcibly dragged into the fight. Whether he had died somewhere beneath the ice or was forever buried under it, no one knew.
Unown A casually spread its psychic power across the battlefield, gathering every hunter's corpse into one place. Among them was the old man, Farlen.
"..."
Shiro let out a quiet sigh and had the remaining Poké Balls, identity cards, and communication devices collected from each body and stored away.
'There are still plenty left!' Unown A said cheerfully as it continued using its psychic power to search the corpses for loot. The thrill of scavenging treasures had completely hooked it.
As Poké Balls and backpacks floated into the air one after another, the surviving trainers stared in shock.
Such a massive area of control, combined with that level of precision, had to be at least Champion-level psychic power.
After waiting another dozen seconds, a man wearing a knitted cap finally raised his hand with trembling arms. "Leader, I'm willing to follow your orders."
A smile appeared on Shiro's face as he ordered Articuno A to descend slowly until it stopped in front of the man.
"What's your name?"
"Aktan," the man replied, swallowing hard while forcing himself not to collapse under Articuno A's overwhelming presence.
"Good."
Shiro's voice echoed through the battlefield with the help of psychic power as he looked around at everyone.
"Forget about those who died. The Hunters Guild belongs to those of us who survived. Join the guild now, and every one of you can become one of the Twenty-Six Seats."
Hearing those words, the remaining survivors slowly gathered together. There were only eight of them in total.
None of these lucky survivors were necessarily the strongest, but they were all at least Gym-level. Some were wanted criminals from different regions, while others were independent trainers who had simply come to join the excitement.
Their goal had been to become Ace hunters and claim a large share of the Hunters Guild's Sinnoh headquarters.
That dream had obviously failed. Still, if they could easily become one of the Twenty-Six Seats while the guild was short-handed and most of the previous Ace hunters were dead, they could quickly take control of an entire region, or at least half of one.
That alone would provide enough resources to help them reach the next level as trainers.
Aktan was an ordinary independent trainer from the Unova region with no background or support. He had climbed all the way from the bottom through his own efforts before finally reaching Gym-level and arriving here by pure chance.
His appearance was completely ordinary. Even people who knew him might not recognize him at a glance in a crowd.
That was a huge advantage.
He specialized in Grass-type Pokémon and was especially skilled at healing, which was one of the reasons he had managed to survive until now.
"Aktan, from now on, you'll be Hunter A." Shiro's calm voice caused everyone present to freeze for a moment.
Hunter A… wasn't the previous guild leader only missing?
What if that person came back someday?
Shiro, however, didn't pause for even a second. After asking each person's name, he assigned them the letter that would represent their identity as seated hunters.
He had already received Unown G's report and knew the League trainers were gathered in the meeting hall above.
Although he was confident they would neither notice Unown A's psychic power nor discover the last remaining teleportation device, he still wanted to move quickly.
It was time for his first showdown with the League.
"Your name?"
"Peggy."
"Hunter P."
The red-haired woman became the last person to receive her hunter designation.
Aktan, now Hunter A, hesitated before speaking, "Boss, do you know…"
"Call me Leader," Shiro corrected him before nodding. "Go ahead."
After a brief pause, Aktan asked, "Leader, do you know how we can get out of here?"
His eyesight was sharp. He had noticed several people use their Psychic-type Pokémon's Teleport to cross the ice wall and head to the upper level.
Would those people who got there first really be kind enough to leave a working teleportation device behind for everyone else?
No one who came here could truly be called a good person. Even if they weren't the worst criminals, they would never pass up the chance to take advantage of others.
A faint smile crossed Shiro's face as he beckoned to them. "I spotted a group of League trainers upstairs. Cover your faces a little. We'll be meeting them shortly."
The group immediately grew tense.
Many of them had witnessed a team of trainers hunting people together. Because of those trainers, the wanted criminals trapped here had gradually lost their sanity and turned on their own enemies in a bloody massacre.
Most of them had already guessed who those people were, but they hadn't expected their new leader to identify them as League trainers so easily.
"I might as well tell you," Shiro said calmly while they put on cloaks and masks. "There are two Champions and three Elite Four members upstairs. One of them is even an Elite Four member from the Kanto League."
"Wouldn't that mean there are at least three Elite-level trainers up there?" Peggy, the timid red-haired Hunter P, exclaimed in shock.
Hunter Y, a fat middle-aged man standing beside her, quickly spoke up. "What's there to be afraid of? With our wise and mighty Leader W here, those League trainers are nothing more than Caterpie caught in a bug net or Wishiwashi trapped inside a Wailord's mouth. They have absolutely no chance of escaping us."
**
**
**
Thank you for reading! If you'd like access to extra chapters and want to support my work, you can visit my P@treon:
P@treon/SilverShark769
Vote with Power Stones for Bonus Chapters!
Your support means a lot, thank you!