"Hurry up, all these mined ores must be transported to the furnace inside."
Inside the steel factory billowing with thick smoke, a stubbled man in a black uniform shouted loudly.
"Hey, you guys go patrol the opposite side of the river channel! Don't let anyone get close to here!"
"Understood."
Staggering past several muscular Machamp carrying ores, a middle-aged man with a crew cut lowered his head slightly, intentionally falling to the very back of the patrol team.
His name was Looker, an International Police officer who actively went undercover here.
"Croa~"
"Good job, Croagunk."
Taking the blueprint from Croagunk, Looker secretly memorized the internal layout of the steel factory, then observed the surroundings calmly, carefully folding and rolling it into a small block and putting it in his pocket.
Total number of people was sixty, also equipped with many Pokémon of considerable strength. The danger level was high; enough police officers were needed to arrest them all.
"Enemy attack, enemy attack—"
Just as this undercover police officer was still pretending to patrol while thinking about how to escape better, the minions also patrolling by the river not far away panicked into a mess.
A Lucario popping out from nowhere, condensing a bone staff single-handedly, actually wanted to break through here directly.
"Honchkrow, Air Cutter!"
Accompanied by the patrol captain's loud command, Honchkrow folded its wings fiercely into the shape of sharp blades—raising its head and crying long, the surrounding air emitted shrieks like breaking glass. Countless transparent air blades condensed in front of it and slashed down fiercely.
But facing this sudden spiral storm, Lucario advanced instead of retreating. Raising the spinning bone staff like a watertight Aura shield, she blocked all the incoming air blades completely.
And the long-accumulated [Aura Sphere] gathered between her claws, swallowing the opponent completely like a falling meteor.
"Detestable, can't even last one move..."
Looking at the wailing Honchkrow flying backward, this man with a scar on his face froze, speaking in disbelief.
However, amidst the shock, he turned his head slightly, seeing the group of patrol minions behind him still standing dumbfounded on the spot, looking scared silly, and raged instantly.
"A bunch of bastards, don't just stand there, release your Pokémon to engage quickly!!!"
Under the captain's reprimand, almost angry enough to split his eyes, these minions woke up from a dream and threw out Poké Balls.
Only two people plus a Lucario opposite; what was there to fear with their numerical advantage!
"Mightyena, use Bite!" "Skuntank, use Sucker Punch!" "..."
"Lucario, maximum power Bone Rush."
At this moment, looking at the minions blasted away and embedded into tree trunks one by one, Looker and Croagunk rushing over froze for a moment.
Given the generally strong physical fitness of Trainers, these patrol minions probably wouldn't lose their lives suffering such attacks, but the severe injuries brought by the fierce impact would still make them unable to move for the next few months.
However, the fighting style of packing away both Pokémon and Trainers together was really too brutal—
Cleanly and efficiently finishing off the blocking patrol minions, Lucario, with stern eyes, also noticed Looker's gaze.
"Luca~"
"Wait, o... one of us!" "Croa?!"
The moment the bone staff hovered, behind was like a typhoon passing through—Aura energy stirring up tide-like wild winds exploded with a boom, destroying all the continuous bushes around completely.
Seeing this, the middle-aged man and Croagunk, raising their hands above their heads subconsciously, couldn't help sweating cold sweat.
"My name is Looker, an International Police officer."
At this moment, Looker swallowed secretly, feeling for the first time that if his self-introduction was a bit slower, the Lucario in front would smash down the bone staff mercilessly, blasting him onto a nearby big tree as well.
And Croagunk, always known for being unruly, braced himself to stand straight, afraid of failing to show the demeanor of a police Pokémon and being swept away by a stick in the end, losing face completely.
"Croa!!!"
Minutes later, looking at the International Police ID handed to the front which didn't look fake, the farm owner and the police officer lady on the side looked at each other.
Coming to forcefully destroy the criminal gang polluting the river, but almost wiping out the undercover police officer conveniently... truly a "flood washing over the Gyarados temple" (idiom: hurting one's own people by mistake)—
"Didn't expect Mr. Looker to be an undercover agent actively lurking here; sorry about just now..."
"Luca~"
Aside from slight awkwardness, Hakuya and Officer Jenny didn't forget the final self-introduction.
"Nice to meet you; my name is Hakuya, a farm owner in Hinata Town."
"Hello Officer Looker, I am Officer Jenny, responsible for the security of Hearthome City in the Sinnoh region..."
Similar to Officer Jenny police stations everywhere, the International Police was also a type of law enforcement agency personnel in the Pokémon world.
But unlike the former mainly maintaining local security and assisting Gym Leaders in necessary town work, the work of International Police was more secretive and dangerous. They were often assigned to major League regions, responsible for investigating local evil organizations and their activities, with extremely high rank.
"It's okay; after all, my attire is indeed the same as theirs..." "Croa~"
Seeing the tension suddenly dissipate, Officer Looker and Croagunk also breathed a sigh of relief in their hearts.
Although they hadn't experienced such dangerous missions together before, facing such powerful move attacks at close range, presumably no normal person could remain expressionless.
After introductions, Hakuya looked at the somewhat familiar crew-cut middle-aged man before him, understanding in his heart.
Looker, codenamed "Handsome."
In the anime and game view of his previous life, whether chasing Team Galactic in the Sinnoh region, arresting all of Team Plasma in the Unova region, or investigating Ultra Beast incidents in the Alola region, this International Police officer's active figure could be seen. He could be called the "top model worker" in the Pokémon world.
"A few hundred meters across this river channel, there is an abandoned factory named Fuego Ironworks. The criminal gang creating river pollution in this area during this time happens to be stationed there."
Looker tied all the unconscious patrol members under a tree trunk with rope, then turned to explain verbally while leading the farm owner and police officer lady behind him towards the river pollution source.
"A week ago, I received relevant intelligence stating that a group of lawbreakers were mining precious ores wantonly at the foot of Mount Coronet, smelting them through this abandoned steel factory, and finally smuggling and selling them to other regions at high prices..."
"Because the situation was still unclear, plus intelligence needed verification and re-collection, I went undercover with Croagunk as new members first, infiltrating inside to collect more information..."
Since the goals were consistent, this crew-cut International Police officer explained the specific situation completely.
"So that's it..."
Hearing this, Hakuya nodded thoughtfully.
After all, unlike games, the real Pokémon world didn't just have large evil organizations like Team Rocket and Team Galactic. More were criminal gangs like Pokémon poachers and mineral smugglers. Cracking down on those hidden and troublesome small gangs was also an important responsibility of these International Police officers.
Due to the illegal ore smelting behavior of these smugglers, a large amount of untreated wastewater was discharged into the river. Coupled with the Muk attracted by the smell, this river became muddy and smelly.
"Officer Looker, we should be almost there ahead, right?"
After crossing the river channel with the help of a hidden bridge concealed in water grass, Officer Jenny walking at the front looked up, keenly noticing several Zubat hanging upside down on the tree tips not far away.
That was a reconnaissance and warning method commonly used by criminals—although these bat Pokémon had poor eyesight, often unable to distinguish objects even a few meters away clearly, they could confirm the surrounding environment through ultrasonic waves emitted from their mouths, and even directly detect and locate enemies thousands of meters away.
Although trees were dense here and the detection range would be greatly reduced, just walking a few steps forward from the river channel would immediately attract the attention of this group of sentries.
At this moment, Hakuya, jumping over the last hidden water grass pile, also took in the scene before him.
"Don't alert the enemy yet. Just relying on the three of us to arrest them all is obviously not quite possible. We need to send dozens of experienced police officers, or even Gym Trainers..."
Looker reached out to stop the farm owner still preparing to step forward, whispering.
Although Hakuya showed amazing combat power earlier, he, always cautious, still thought sending more manpower was safer.
"According to my undercover lurking these days, I have roughly figured out the personnel arrangement inside. This smuggling organization has a total of sixty members. They have a clear division of labor; some are responsible for guarding the gate, some are smelting ores in the internal furnace... As for the top open platform of the steel factory, there are also dozens of Skarmory with considerable strength..."
"There are Skarmory?"
The farm owner skipped the long speech directly, grasping the more critical point.
"That's right; this mineral smuggling gang is not just numerous but can be described as well-trained."
Officer Looker nodded, lowering his voice to explain, "Besides the patrol team across the river channel and the Zubat swarm responsible for detecting and guarding the surroundings, there are also dozens of Skarmory on standby at the top of the steel factory. As long as the situation is slightly wrong, those guys can immediately ride them to escape..."
"Even, their leader is specially equipped with several Golem that know the move Explosion..."
Speaking of this, the crew-cut police officer paused deliberately, his already serious expression becoming even more solemn.
[Explosion] was the Normal-type move with the highest power in the Pokémon world. Using it would not only make oneself fall into a fainting state but also trigger an extremely powerful explosion wave to attack all surrounding Trainers and Pokémon.
Looking at all criminal gang arrest operations, there was no lack of evil elements fighting back desperately with this move—although Trainers' physical fitness wasn't weak, a slight carelessness could easily lead to heavy casualties.
On the side, Officer Jenny, also a police officer, frowned.
For this smuggling criminal organization, if slightly alerted, they would escape; but if forced too tight without being taken down in a short time, it was easy to fall into the danger of criminals becoming ruthless and exploding indiscriminately.
The optimal solution was naturally as Officer Looker said, mobilizing enough police officers, even letting Gym Trainers from nearby towns come together, to arrest this group of criminals safely and efficiently.
However, this police officer lady didn't intend to do so really. Instead, she cast her gaze on the farm owner lost in thought beside her.
She wanted to hear Hakuya's arrangement more now.
On the other side, after pondering for a moment, Hakuya chose to use his unique way to solve it directly.
"Zapdos, use Thunder on the top of the steel factory."
"Roar-chuu~"
Accompanied by a high-pitched bird cry resounding, golden lightning splitting the sky curtain completely fell like a silver dragon.
While the waterfall-like, tide-like silver snake electric arcs spread constantly, they actually illuminated the dim continuous jungle below instantly.
"Mmm... this way they shouldn't be able to escape~"
Watching plumes of thick smoke rising from the top platform of the steel factory, Hakuya nodded with satisfaction.
Although in the arrest operation later, he could also let Zapdos shoot down the escaping criminals one by one, overly powerful lightning could easily cause forest fires around. It was better to wipe out their Skarmory swarm first.
Seeing the goal achieved, he turned his head slightly, asking the dumbfounded International Police officer.
"Officer Looker, you should still remember their appearances, right?"
"This... of course I re-remember..."
The crew-cut police officer swallowed subconsciously.
Influenced by the [Thunder] move, bursts of noisy panic shouts also erupted inside the steel factory not far away. The arrest operation could be said to be at the stage where the arrow had to be released from the string.
And he naturally understood the implication in Hakuya's words, nothing more than not letting go of a single one when counting heads at the end.
But the point shouldn't be this, but...
Looker and Croagunk beside him looked at each other, both seeing shock in each other's eyes.
Zapdos, emitting electric arcs all the time, flapped its wings, hovering over the forest.
Articuno appearing under the blizzard flapped high, stirring up sky-filling ice crystals like surging waves.
And Darkrai, gradually revealing her figure from the farm owner's shadow, had cold eyes. The dim nightmare had already paved a layer of even more terrifying black curtain over half of the shade branches.
Two Legendary Beasts, one Mythical Beast...
No, they have never fought such a wealthy battle in their lives??!!