"Ash?" Gary helped Ash up, then looked at what was left of his house and was too shocked to speak.
"Are you all right, Nurse Joy?" Daisy and Misty helped Yukari up. Her face was streaked with tears, and neither of them knew what had just happened to scare her so badly. They quickly held her and tried to calm her down.
Professor Oak helped Delia to her feet, his expression grave as he looked to her for an explanation.
Delia could only give him a helpless, bitter smile. "If you want to know why, you'll probably have to ask that Nurse Joy."
"Nurse Joy?" Professor Oak turned toward Yukari, then looked back at Dragonite. Dragonite shook its head at him, and Oak understood. He sighed softly.
"The Nurse Joy from Saffron City?" Brock recognized her. The Nurse Joy sitting on the ground was the Nurse Joy from Saffron City. Why was she in such a terrible state, covered in injuries?
"Let's go back to the lab first. We can talk after that." Professor Oak could see that Yukari had been badly shaken. Her mind was probably still in chaos. Trying to question her now would get them nowhere.
Dragonite's shake of the head also meant the people responsible had already left. Even if Oak wanted to chase them, he had no way to do it now. They had to return to the laboratory first.
After that, everyone helped Yukari to Professor Oak's Laboratory.
Pelipper looked back along the road, but there was no sign of Reiji. It followed the group for now and flew to the laboratory. Reiji would contact it later.
Once they reached the lab, Brock arranged food for Pelipper. Pelipper did not stand on ceremony and ate heartily. These last few days had exhausted it.
In the living room, Yukari sat with a blanket over her shoulders and a cup of warm water in front of her. She was still trembling, unable to stop thinking about what had just happened.
If not for Reiji, if not for Pelipper, she would already be dead. She had even laughed at him before for being in such a hurry. Only now did she understand that they had been racing death the entire time.
He had been right. It had only missed by a little. Just a little, and she would have been gone. Just a little, and she would never have seen her grandmother again.
"Nurse Joy. Nurse Joy?"
No one knew what Yukari was thinking. Brock called her several times, and only after the fourth or fifth call did she finally come back to herself. When she saw Brock's bright, toothy smile, she broke down crying again.
"It's all right, you're safe now. Tell us what happened when you're ready." Daisy patted Yukari's back, gently comforting her and trying to help her calm down.
"Cele! Cele!"
Before Yukari could speak, a small, adorable green figure appeared in the living room, shifting from transparent to green as it circled around her.
"Celebi..."
Celebi's sudden appearance startled everyone. Professor Oak was the one who called its name.
"Celebi, you're safe. Thank goodness." When Yukari saw Celebi, she reached out and hugged it tightly. She had thought Celebi had failed to escape and had been captured by Vicious.
"Cele! Cele!" Celebi saw that Yukari was safe too and nuzzled affectionately against her cheek.
"Professor Oak, you've seen Celebi before?" Ash caught onto the odd detail. Everyone else was shocked to see Celebi, but Professor Oak was not. Why?
"Ahem. I saw one when I was young." Professor Oak glanced at Ash with a guilty look. When he was a child, he had encountered Celebi, traveled through time with it, and met the Ash from the future.
He had even saved Celebi with Ash and defeated the Pokémon Hunter Vicious. And the Pokémon Hunter who had attacked Pallet Town tonight was that same Vicious.
Time really was a mysterious thing. Who would have guessed the boomerang would come back around and hit him like this? Truly strange.
"Haha, then I've seen Celebi too!" Ash was so happy to see such a rare Pokémon that he practically danced in place. Then his hand brushed one of his Poké Balls, as if flipping a switch in his brain. He suddenly realized Celebi was a Pokémon too, which meant it might be catchable.
Of course. This was Ash. The first thing he thought when he saw a Pokémon was catching it, no matter what else was going on.
"Sit down. If you keep acting up, you can go home." Delia quickly pulled her son back into his seat. Catch Celebi? Couldn't he see that Celebi was so frightened it had hidden behind Yukari?
"Haha." Ash scratched his head awkwardly after being scolded, then reminded her, "Mom, our house just got blown up."
"Huh?" Delia froze at that. The wooden house really had been destroyed. They had no home now.
"Um... I'll compensate you for the house, including the furniture and your daily necessities."
When Yukari heard that the house had been destroyed, she immediately apologized and offered to pay for it. It was only an ordinary house, so it would not cost too much.
Professor Oak quickly pressed her for the full story. What had happened? Why had those people chased her all the way to Pallet Town? Who were they, and why had they attacked the town?
"It was Vicious. He was capturing Celebi. I saw him and tried to stop him, and then..."
Yukari explained how she had rescued Celebi, how Vicious had chased her, how she had met the mysterious Trainer named Rai, and how she had ridden his Pelipper for two days and nights without proper sleep before finally reaching Pallet Town for help.
That person had told her she would only be truly safe once she reached Pallet Town. He had been completely right. The moment they reached Pallet Town, those people finally backed off and stopped trying to silence her.
They had already gone as far as attacking a town. Yukari honestly did not know what those people would not dare to do. If Professor Oak had not been here, they would definitely have continued the pursuit.
When Professor Oak heard the name Vicious, his eyes drifted slightly. Wasn't this the Pokémon Hunter he and Ash would defeat together in the future, during Ash's journey through Johto?
But Ash had only just finished collecting eight badges. He had not even competed in the Indigo League yet. Johto was still far away. After the Indigo League, Oak still needed Ash to retrieve the GS Ball, which meant Ash would definitely have to go to the Orange Archipelago first.
That future was still a long way off. A long way off.
"That Trainer sounds amazing. He brought you all the way here and escaped from such a powerful Pokémon Hunter. Who is he?"
"Don't ask things like that." Delia quickly tugged at her son. The moment she stopped watching him, he caused trouble for someone else.
Was that the sort of thing he should ask so casually? Wouldn't that bring trouble to the person who helped?
She had already guessed who that person was, but Vicious was far too dangerous. It was better not to drag him into this. If Vicious targeted him, it would not be a joke.
Hadn't their own house just been blown apart? It was best to stay as far away from terrorists like that as possible. Exposing the person's identity now would be rude at best and dangerous at worst.
"Ahem. Mom's right." Ash scratched his head awkwardly. This really was not something he should ask right now. He could ask later.
Yukari did not hide it, though. She still told them what Reiji had said. "He said his name was Rai. He wouldn't give his real name. He had a Pelipper and brought me here on it."
At the mention of Pelipper, Brock turned toward the place where it had been resting. Pelipper was already gone. The window was open, and there was only a small, inconspicuous pebble on the floor.
"Huh? Where's Pelipper?"
"Where did Pelipper go?" Yukari asked the same question.
"Pelipper left," Professor Oak said with a sigh. He had seen Pelipper open the window and leave with his own eyes.
"It left..." For some reason, Yukari felt a little empty. That stranger had saved her and escorted her all the way here. Was he really unwilling to leave even his real name behind?
"Don't overthink it. He's probably afraid Vicious will retaliate against him. This is better for everyone." Professor Oak had seen enough of life to understand Reiji's concerns at a glance. He had never met the boy, but his guess was probably close.
"So that's why?" Yukari's dim eyes brightened for a moment, only to darken again. She still did not know who he was.
She did not notice Ash making faces at Gary. Several times, Ash looked like he wanted to say he probably knew the person, but Delia kept stopping him. Holding it in was clearly painful, so he could only stare at Gary, and Gary stared right back.
Professor Oak noticed the two boys' expressions and looked at Delia, who was holding Ash back. When Delia gave him a slight nod, Oak understood. Delia and the others probably knew this Rai, so he did not ask further.
The situation was already clear enough. This was an extremely serious terrorist attack. They had not only hunted down a League Inspector, but openly attacked a League research facility and a town. Professor Oak needed to make a call. This matter would not be easy to settle.
"You'll stay here tonight. I'll make a call first. Someone will come to pick you up tomorrow."
After Professor Oak left, Daisy also sensed something strange. Everyone's eyes had been shifting around earlier. She would have to be blind not to notice.
When Brock and Misty heard the name Rai, they exchanged a glance. They clearly thought of someone too. After all, they only knew one Rai. They just did not know whether he was the same Rai they knew, though Pelipper and Gyarados matched.
To satisfy her curiosity, Daisy stared at Gary. Gary immediately understood that it was time to sleep and wisely got up to head upstairs.
Once Gary left, Ash had no reason to stay either, so he followed Gary upstairs. The two had been rivals since childhood, after all.
With the two noisy boys gone, Daisy did not disturb Yukari. Instead, she gently pulled Delia out of the living room.
Seeing them leave, Misty and Brock quietly got up as well. The living room fell silent again, with only Celebi's soft cries as it comforted Yukari.
Once everyone was gone and the living room door had closed gently behind them, Daisy pulled Delia far away before asking, "Delia, do you know this Rai?"
"Ahem." Delia had not wanted to say anything, but Daisy was being too clingy and even started acting spoiled. Left with no choice, she explained, "I'm not sure if it's him. The face I saw didn't look the same. I only saw Pelipper and Gyarados."
"A different face is normal. A Ditto could disguise him." Professor Oak returned after finishing his call. The person on the other end had said some things were not convenient to discuss over the phone and would come tomorrow to talk in person. Oak had come out to find Daisy and continued, "Aside from Pelipper, were there any other traits?"
"Besides Pelipper, there was Gyarados. The Rai who came to my house never sent out Gyarados, so I don't know whether he has one."
"What was distinctive about that Gyarados?" Professor Oak pressed. He could keep the information to himself, but he needed to know.
"Distinctive? Does being huge count?" Delia thought for a moment. That Gyarados looked like any other Gyarados. What other trait could it have?
Then she suddenly realized that its size had not been ordinary. It had seemed much larger than a normal Gyarados.
"All right, it's past midnight. You should all go to sleep. Staying up late gives you wrinkles." Professor Oak sent Delia, Daisy, and Misty off to bed, forcibly smothering his granddaughter's curiosity.
Every young woman had a romantic streak, after all. Everyone dreamed of a prince at least once.
"Grandpa is so annoying." Daisy stuck out her tongue, linked arms with Delia, and went back inside with her. The three of them also brought Yukari upstairs to bathe and rest. Yukari was still injured and needed treatment too.
But just then, the living room door opened again. Professor Oak's hand froze with his phone still in it, and he flinched slightly as Yukari called out.
"Professor Oak, please help treat Latias. And please send a Pokémon to look for him. He left Pallet Town because he was being chased. I don't know if they caught up to him."
"All right. I will." Professor Oak lowered his phone, accepted Yukari's Poké Ball, and called to Dragonite. "Dragonite, go search outside town."
"Dra." Dragonite scratched its head. At this point, searching might only mean finding a corpse, but it still went, flying out of town.
"Now, you need to rest. Daisy, help Nurse Joy upstairs." Professor Oak watched the three women leave, his hands trembling with excitement. This was Latias.
Nothing could excite a Pokémon Professor more than studying the Eon Pokémon. Tonight was destined to be sleepless.
"Professor Oak, I'll help. I can assist with treating Pokémon." Seeing Professor Oak leave, Brock quickly followed and offered to help. He felt bad letting an old man work through the night alone.
Of course, the thought that this was Nurse Joy's Pokémon also made him very excited. Being able to help treat Nurse Joy's Pokémon was an honor.
After that, Professor Oak and Brock worked until dawn. With Brock's help, treating the Pokémon did not take long. Oak spent most of the night studying Latias.
Dragonite had returned long before then. As expected, it did not find the person. When Yukari woke up, Oak would tell her the truth and hope that the young man had managed to escape.
While collecting data, Oak also took time to look up Reiji's information. Using clues like a name containing "Rai," a Pelipper and Gyarados, an Orange Archipelago Trainer, and participation in the Indigo League, he actually found him in the database.
He had asked an old friend for access to the electronic identity registry and unlocked Reiji's personal file.
The record showed Reiji, an orphan from Kinnow Island in the Orange Archipelago who had been taken in as an adopted grandson. He was currently a Trainer under Mikan Gym, and among the Pokémon registered under his name was a Gyarados.
Then Oak asked his old friend for a copy of Gym battle footage and saw Reiji's Gyarados. After running a system comparison, he confirmed that the Gyarados was indeed much larger than an ordinary one. The Trainer who had saved Nurse Joy was most likely him.
According to Delia, the face she saw last night had been different, so he had probably used a disguise.
"Hm? Eight badges." Oak scrolled down Reiji's file and saw that he had already earned eight badges. When Ash attended the opening ceremony, Oak could have him introduce them. Once he saw Reiji in person, he would know whether it was him.
Reiji had no idea his identity had already been dug up from top to bottom. If he knew, of course he would deny it.
Only an idiot would admit to something like this. Even if everyone knew he had done it, as long as he did not admit it, it was not him.
Besides, not everyone knew. The only people who had seen that Gyarados were Delia, Ash, Yukari, and Vicious's group.
After tonight, though, Vicious's group would no longer know anything.
Because they were gone.
Elsewhere, Vicious and his people, who had left Pallet Town, finally found the two subordinates who had split off in the forest. Their bodies had been burned beyond recognition. Their Pokémon were the same, reduced entirely to ash.
Bang!
Seeing the aftermath of the fire, Vicious slammed his fist into a tree trunk hard enough to shake loose a shower of leaves.
In the dark, silent forest, no one spoke. The air was strangely still. There were not even insect calls or birdsong. Then a phone suddenly rang.
Ring, ring. Ring, ring.
"Boss..." Vicious answered the call and said the two words no one wanted to hear.
"Don't call me Boss. While you still have time, get out. Any later, and you won't be able to run."
"Where am I supposed to go?" Vicious smiled helplessly. He had known this would be the result.
"Anywhere. Just get moving."
Giovanni's voice roared from the other end. He had clearly received some news and called to warn his top enforcer. In the end, it was only a phone call.
"Yes, Boss." Vicious respectfully ended the call and looked at the text message that followed. It contained only a few words.
League kill order. Dead or alive.
He threw the phone into the fire and turned toward the men behind him. These were subordinates he had carefully chosen and trained, his own people, and now all of them would be lost here.
"The League has issued a kill order. Run. Head out by sea. Run as far as you can and don't let the League catch you. Hide for three or five years, then we'll meet again."
"Boss..."
"Boss, we..."
"Don't say anything. Run. I'm the main target. The League will focus on me, so the Trainers sent after you won't be as strong."
Vicious could not bear to watch these old brothers of his cry, so he turned away and waved them off, cursing at them. "Get out! Why are you still here? I don't want to see you."
"Boss..."
Seeing him like that, his subordinates could only turn away with tears in their eyes and scatter, each fleeing for his life as far as he could.
Vicious stood beside the fire for more than half an hour. Once his men had fled far enough, the grief on his face vanished instantly. He took out a tracking display covered in red dots spreading in different directions.
After confirming they were far enough away, he tossed the display onto the grass to draw the League's attention. There was no way the League would fail to notice it.
Then he stripped off all his clothes and threw them into the fire too. Still dissatisfied with the strength of the flames, he tossed in a bottle of gasoline, and the fire roared up at once.
Only after the flames swallowed every trace did he finally nod in satisfaction. He sent out a Flying-type Pokémon and rode it to Viridian City, arriving at the Viridian Gym. Once back in the staff dormitory, he shaved off all his hair, grew out a thick beard, changed into a Viridian Gym work uniform, and put on a baseball cap to hide his bald head.
After the disguise, he walked out openly and began cleaning the Viridian Gym battlefield. Giovanni sat on the second floor above the field, one leg crossed over the other. In his hand was a wineglass filled with deep red liquor, and he silently watched Vicious cleaning below.
The reason he was keeping Vicious around was simple: Mewtwo had escaped. In the end, Mewtwo had still broken free from its armor and vanished without a trace. Giovanni had underestimated Mewtwo's strength, badly underestimated it.
Mewtwo was gone, and Latias had not been captured either. Fortunately, his people had brought him one piece of good news: another Mythical Pokémon was with a certain boy, waiting for him to capture.
That hidden dark aura had better not disappoint him.
At the seaside, Reiji lay spread-eagled on the sand. The last few days of running had worn him down completely.
As for the two men who had chased him at the end, there was nothing much to say. They had no idea he had Darkrai, so the moment they entered the forest, they were caught by Dark Void.
After that came the full cremation package. He did not take anything, not even the held items from their Pokémon. There was no time. He killed every Pokémon, gathered them together, and burned them all.
Then he had Scyther carry him and ran wildly through the forest. Only after reaching the beach did he finally catch his breath and wait for Pelipper to come.
He had already sent Darkrai to notify Pelipper. Darkrai tossed a small pebble from the shadows, hitting near Pelipper's beak, and Pelipper understood immediately.
Pelipper quietly opened the window and left with Darkrai, flying toward the coast. It did not take long to find Reiji, since Pallet Town was not far from the sea.
"Peli! Peli!" Pelipper landed on the sand, and Darkrai slipped back into Reiji's shadow.
Reiji reached out and stroked Pelipper's messy feathers. Pelipper had worked hard during this escape. They had not had time to clean its feathers for days, and its whole body looked disheveled.
He recalled Pelipper into its Poké Ball and let it rest properly. Then he took Poliwhirl and headed toward the city nearby.
If he remembered correctly, this city was called Acapulco. Another resort town. There was a famous Pokémon Land nearby, with mechanical giant Pokémon all over the island as a tourist attraction. It was Giovanni's money-making paradise.
Wow. On Kanto soil, there really was no escaping Team Rocket. They might as well be growing straight out of the ground. Lesson learned. The Orange Archipelago was much easier to deal with. At least half of it was not Team Rocket.
This coastal city was east of Pallet Town. Seafoam Island, which he had mentioned before, was south of Pallet Town. The two seaside cities were in completely different directions. Since he had shaken off the pursuit for now, he planned to rest in this city for a while.
By the time he entered the city, dawn was almost here. He did not dare stay at a hotel, so he registered at the Pokémon Center, opened a private room, fed his Pokémon breakfast, took a quick shower, and collapsed into bed.
His Pokémon could forget about lunch. He could barely worry about feeding himself right now. They could all eat once he woke up.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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