"Kekeke…"
Gengar had handled enough interrogations to know the routine. It woke the man, fixed him with those crimson eyes, and emptied his mind almost instantly.
Reiji crouched in front of him. "Who are you? Who sent you? Why assassinate Senta?"
"I'm with Team Rocket," the man said blankly. "I was planted as a sailor on one of the nearby ships. I received an order from above to hire someone to assassinate the son of that lunatic from Mikan Gym… Senta."
"Team Rocket?"
Reiji frowned. That was not the answer he needed; he could hardly send Cissy's father after Team Rocket itself.
"Who above? Who gave you the mission?"
"It was a secret order from an Elite Four lord. It didn't go through Team Rocket's normal channels. The lord is…"
The moment Reiji heard the name, everything clicked. It was the same Elite Four-tier Trainer who had once helped surround him in the Celebi forest. After coming to the Orange Archipelago, Reiji had even asked Tai to investigate that cousin's family, so by now he knew their Trainers very well.
That settled it. This was not some problem Reiji had created by interfering with events; the family had already intended to kill Senta. Otherwise, in the future he had seen, Cissy's father would never have torn through their entire clan.
Now that Reiji had his answer, he packed the man up with the others. There was no reason to continue hunting for the third person when this one already knew enough.
Instead of returning to the hotel himself, Reiji sent Pelipper to retrieve the two captives he had left there. It was already past six and the sky was beginning to darken, which meant it was finally time to put the next part of the plan into motion.
He brought all three of them into an alley. Their Poké Balls had been locked shut, preventing their Pokémon from coming out, and the sealed bags kept them from hearing anything happening outside.
Reiji found several thorny branches and used them to leave shallow cuts across Senta's skin, then dislocated one of his arms. Senta remained unconscious through it, his face only tightening slightly from the pain, while Reiji tore and dirtied his clothes until he looked as though he had been through something far worse than he actually had.
The other two men did not get off lightly either. Reiji needed Officer Jenny to capture them without a prolonged fight, so one of his Pokémon struck each man heavily in the abdomen, leaving them injured internally and too weak to run once they woke. Their stamina was drained as well, ensuring that neither they nor their Pokémon would be in any condition to resist properly.
The final step was Senta himself. When the time came, Gengar would implant a hypnotic suggestion that made him collapse in front of Officer Jenny and remain unconscious afterward.
For all his terrible appearance, Senta was not in any real danger. His dislocated joints could be reset, the cuts were superficial, and ordinary treatment would deal with them quickly. Even the blood at the corner of his mouth was staged; Reiji had made him bite the inside of his mouth enough to create a few blood blisters and then burst them.
For the sake of a quieter future at Mikan Gym, his future brother-in-law would simply have to suffer a little today. A beating might even teach the brat something useful about wandering around carelessly when people were actively trying to kill him.
Once everything was ready, Reiji released the captives' Pokémon. Gengar put them under hypnosis the moment they appeared, after which their stamina was drained and they were left unconscious alongside their Trainers.
Three humans and several Pokémon now lay scattered through the alley.
Reiji changed clothes, sprayed perfume over himself to obscure his scent, and stepped back onto the street. Night had fallen by then, and the area had grown lively again with evening crowds.
He soon spotted an Officer Jenny patrolling nearby.
Reiji glanced down at Gengar and gave the signal to wake the three captives, then headed toward the officer. Someone beside her was taking out cash to pay at a food stall, giving Reiji exactly the excuse he needed.
He stepped in, snatched the stall owner's money, and ran.
The customer, the stall owner, and Officer Jenny all froze for the same absurd second as they processed what had just happened. Someone had actually robbed a stall directly in front of a police officer.
"Stop! Don't run! Stop right there!"
The instant Jenny shouted, Reiji bolted.
Growlithe took off after him first, with Officer Jenny running behind it. Reiji somehow stayed ahead of both and led the chase straight toward the alley where Gengar had already awakened everyone.
By the time he reached it, Senta and the other two men were conscious. Senta could not stand with his shoulder and lower leg dislocated, so Blastoise had positioned itself protectively in front of him.
The masked young man saw his target and immediately tried to finish the job anyway. He had already drawn a knife and ordered Golem forward to force its way past Blastoise.
The masked sailor was in much worse shape. His chest hurt, his limbs barely responded, and before he could even work out what was happening, a dark figure flashed past him into the alley.
Growlithe charged in immediately afterward, followed by Officer Jenny.
The sailor's first instinct was to run the moment he saw her. If she connected him to the attack on Senta, he was finished, but by then Jenny had already taken in the scene.
She threw her remaining Poké Balls at once, sending her Pokémon to protect the injured boy before moving on the two masked men herself. Both were subdued and handcuffed with almost embarrassing ease because neither their bodies nor their Pokémon had enough stamina left to mount meaningful resistance.
While Officer Jenny called for backup, Gengar slipped away unnoticed and placed Senta into a much deeper hypnotic sleep. He would not be waking easily after that.
Once reinforcements arrived, Jenny contacted Cissy's family. They had still been waiting for both Senta and Reiji to return for dinner, and the news sent them rushing straight toward the Pokémon Center.
Reiji was already there.
After fixing his clothes, he had hurried over and started chatting with an acquaintance he pulled in at the last minute, giving himself a perfectly ordinary reason to be around before the family arrived.
"Where were you today?" Cissy came straight to him while her parents went to see Senta. "I couldn't find you or Senta. You didn't even answer your phone."
"You fell asleep, and I felt like battling, so I went nearby for a few matches," Reiji said, spreading his hands helplessly. "I was in a battle and didn't notice the call."
He walked over to Nurse Joy's counter and picked up the Pokémon he had sent in for treatment, using the same ones he had brought out in recent matches. Seeing that he genuinely had Pokémon waiting for him, Cissy finally stopped pressing the issue and went to Senta's room.
Her mother was already sitting beside the bed in tears.
"Senta… wake up, Senta…"
Outside, Cissy's father stood with Officer Jenny while she explained what she had witnessed. Reiji and Cissy remained nearby and heard the account as well.
"I was chasing a thief," Jenny said. "Then I saw three people in the alley. Senta was on the ground, covered in injuries. By the time I subdued the robbers, Senta had already lost consciousness."
"Robbers?" Cissy's father's voice went cold. "You think someone who beat my son like that was only trying to rob him?"
He did not believe that for a second. A robber wanted money, not a corpse, and children were terrible targets in the first place when so many of them were Trainers. Anyone looking for easy prey had countless safer options than attacking a kid who might have Pokémon capable of fighting back.
"I want to question them myself."
Cissy's father was genuinely furious now. He had stayed close to Senta for days, finally decided the tournament was safe enough to relax his guard, and one afternoon had been all it took for this to happen.
Now his eleven-year-old son lay in a hospital bed covered in injuries, with dislocated joints and blood across his face. None of the wounds were life-threatening, but that did nothing to make the sight easier to bear.
"Gym Leader, I can't allow that," Officer Jenny said, moving into his path.
One look at his eyes told her exactly what would happen if she allowed him into a room alone with the prisoners.
Reiji stepped in before the argument went any further. "Officer Jenny, report it if you have to, but don't stand in his way."
The expression on Cissy's father's face said enough. He was not going there for a polite conversation.
"That's not—"
Cissy moved over and stopped Jenny before she could finish, while her father took the opportunity to turn away and leave the Pokémon Center. He headed directly for the station where the two men were being held.
By the time he arrived, both prisoners were lying on the floor and foaming at the mouth.
One glance at them was enough to tell him someone had tried to silence them.
He released Slowking immediately. Psychic power wrapped around both men and forced them to vomit, continuing until bile came up and their condition finally began to stabilize.
"Who touched them?" Cissy's father looked at the scattered food on the floor before turning his gaze on the officers behind him. "Who brought this in?"
For a second, nobody answered. His expression froze the entire room until one officer finally blurted out, "The kitchen. The cooks brought the food."
The officer turned and ran, terrified that every second of delay might allow the culprit to escape.
"If you don't catch whoever poisoned them…"
Cissy's father left the sentence unfinished because he did not need to explain the rest. They were not part of the same chain of command, but he was still a League Gym Leader, and that carried more than enough weight to send the station scrambling.
Once the room had emptied, he opened the cell, took out a recorder, and ordered Slowking to put both prisoners under hypnosis.
That was when he learned the truth.
Senta had not stumbled into a robbery. He had been marked for assassination.
"Team Rocket. A mole. And Kanto too." His voice fell until it was almost unnaturally calm. "Good. Very good."
He pulled out his phone and called the old man back at Mikan Gym.
"What is it, brat?" the old man answered. "Tournament giving you trouble? Or did Senta embarrass himself again?"
"Senta was attacked," Cissy's father said. "Kanto's side did it. He nearly died, and the killers were almost silenced before I got there."
His voice remained steady, but that was not calm. It was rage held down by force. His son had nearly been murdered, and he wanted nothing more than to tear the men responsible apart with his bare hands.
Doing that to the two prisoners would accomplish nothing, though. They were disposable pieces on the board, not the hands moving them.
"What are you going to do?" the old man asked.
"I'm going to Kanto. Find everything you can on that side and send it to me. Come watch over Senta for me."
Cissy's father was already walking back toward the Pokémon Center as he spoke. The cigarette in his hand slipped loose and fell to the ground without him noticing.
"I understand," the old man said. "Wait until I get there. Take Daze with you."
"Good."
The call ended.
Back at Mikan Gym, Cissy's grandfather lowered his fishing rod. Slowking had heard everything, and after the old man exchanged one look with his Pokémon, both vanished from the lakeside.
With Teleport, crossing the islands was trivial. Three jumps were enough to reach Pummelo Island, taking only a few minutes.
At the Pokémon Center, Reiji saw Cissy's father leave while Cissy stayed beside her mother in Senta's room. He slipped away quietly and had Gengar hypnotize one of the nurse Pokémon, then altered Senta's report.
Possible lifelong paralysis.
May never wake.
Vegetative state.
Prepare the family.
Afterward, Reiji carried two cups of hot water into the hospital room and placed them on the bedside table without saying anything. Then he left again.
Cissy's father returned not long afterward. He gave Reiji a brief nod, softened his steps as he entered the room, and stood silently beside the bed looking down at his son.
A nurse soon approached and called him back outside to hand him the report.
His fingers tightened the instant he read it, crumpling the paper beneath his grip.
May never wake.
Vegetative state.
For a moment, his anger nearly broke through. He wanted to smash something, but this was a hospital, so he forced himself to stand there and swallow it.
A police officer arrived soon afterward and whispered into his ear before leaving. The cook was dead, while the two prisoners had survived. Nobody could guarantee another attempt would not be made, but the police promised proper protection this time and swore they would not repeat the same mistake.
Cissy's grandfather arrived not long after that.
He gave Reiji a brief nod, looked through the doorway at Senta lying unconscious on the bed, and immediately understood how serious the situation appeared. He and his son left the Pokémon Center together and found somewhere private to speak.
"Old man. The report."
Cissy's father handed it over, and this time his hands were visibly shaking. He could not imagine Senta spending the rest of his life trapped in a hospital bed.
"Paralysis. Vegetative state."
The old man gripped the report, drew in a slow breath, and let it out again.
"Do what you need to do," he said. "Take Daze. If anyone tries to stop you…"
"No one will." Cissy's father lit another cigarette and took a long drag. "This is already life or death. Wait for my message, then hand the League every piece of evidence tying them to Team Rocket. If anyone above has a problem with it, tell them to come find me."
The old man did not argue. His son had already made his decision, and as his father, he would stand behind it.
Cissy's father turned toward Slowking. "Daze. We're leaving."
Slowking's eyes glowed, and a moment later they vanished from Pummelo Island on their way to Kanto. With a Champion-tier Slowking handling Teleport, the journey would take roughly half an hour. Where there were no islands to use as stepping stones, they could simply jump above the sea, reappear over open water, and immediately Teleport again until they reached the mainland.
After his son left, Cissy's grandfather returned to Senta's room carrying the report.
He hid it instead of showing it to Cissy or her mother. When Cissy asked where her father had gone, the old man only shook his head. Some things were better kept between the two of them.
Reiji watched the room slowly sink beneath its own grief.
He had hurt Senta and falsified the report; he was not going to pretend otherwise. But if he wanted Mikan Gym to have peace later, he needed them to tear this thorn out now. They could not spend the rest of their lives waiting for the next assassin to appear.
The only real solution was to destroy the problem at its roots.
Reiji had already asked Tai to investigate every member of that cousin's family—the ones tied to Team Rocket, the respectable public side, and any moles hidden inside the League. Once he had the complete list, Spider could deal with whoever remained.
Only then would everyone be able to sleep safely.
Reiji and Cissy still had matches ahead of them, so Cissy's grandfather eventually told both of them to go rest while he remained with Senta. Cissy's mother protested at the idea of leaving an old man alone in the hospital overnight, but he refused to budge.
Only he could deal with what came next.
Cissy's mother understood enough from his tone to know that her husband was hiding something from her.
Neither Reiji nor Cissy spoke on the way back.
Cissy carried Senta's Pokédex in one hand. With him lying unconscious in the hospital, tomorrow's match was obviously impossible. It was unfortunate, but compared with everything else that had happened, the tournament barely mattered anymore.
The entire ordeal had also crushed whatever interest Cissy might have had in questioning Reiji about where he had disappeared earlier.
"Get some sleep," Reiji said when they reached the building beneath the Trainers' Village.
Then he glanced at Umbreon in Cissy's arms. "Umbreon, are you coming back, or are you sleeping with Cissy tonight?"
"Pika, pika!"
Pikachu sat on Cissy's shoulder, wrapped its arms around her, and called at Umbreon as though declaring ownership.
"Bree, bree."
Umbreon immediately snapped back, unimpressed, then jumped onto Reiji's shoulder.
"Pika! Pika!"
"Bree! Bree!"
"All right, enough. Both of you, go sleep."
Reiji waved goodbye and watched Cissy head upstairs before turning toward his own room.
For the first time that night, he finally had the room to himself. He could feed his Pokémon properly and settle in to wait for news from Kanto.
Senta had done his part, whether he knew it or not.
Now Reiji only had to wait.
A clan being wiped out was not the sort of thing that stayed quiet.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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