Fantina froze on the spot.
These young people have no sense of honor!
Using tricks and sneak attacks to fool this veteran Elite Four trainer!
But after all, he was an Elite Four–level Trainer. His mental fortitude was solid.
He quickly steadied himself. Judging from the current situation, he believed he had already predicted Rei Akagi's next command.
It must be an attacking move!
In that case… the advantage is still mine!
"Misdreavus, Suc—"
Fantina suddenly stopped. His voice cut off mid-command.
Rei Akagi smiled.
Gym Leader Fantina's water bottle—90% discount?
Why did the smile disappear? Don't you like smiling anymore?
"Gastly, Shadow Ball."
Under Fantina's stunned gaze, Gastly rapidly rubbed its tongue in front of itself, condensing a pitch-black sphere three times larger than its own body.
Floating high above, it grinned wickedly while staring down at the tearful-looking Misdreavus.
"Myaa~!"
"Stop! Stop right now! I surrender!"
Fantina urgently recalled the already-crying Misdreavus into its Poké Ball and signaled the referee to end the battle.
He had truly lost this match.
Lost completely.
At present, Misdreavus only had three attacking moves: Confusion, Astonish, and Sucker Punch.
Aside from Sucker Punch, the other two dealt very little damage.
Even Astonish, which benefited from type advantage against Ghost-types, only dealt slightly more damage than Confusion—nowhere near enough to threaten Gastly.
Even if Gastly's Shadow Ball hadn't knocked Misdreavus out in one hit, it would only have prolonged the inevitable.
From the moment the stat boosts from Calm Mind were erased by Clear Smog, he had already lost any chance of victory.
Thinking this far, Fantina sighed.
He had completely fallen into Rei Akagi's battle rhythm.
It wasn't an unfair loss.
The younger generation truly is formidable…
The referee stepped forward and announced the result.
"Battle over! Gastly wins!"
"What just happened? Why did Father suddenly stop commanding and surrender? If he had just used Sucker Punch, he would've definitely won—"
Fantinalooked completely confused, but halfway through speaking she was interrupted by Fantina's hand gesture.
"If you're bad, train more. If you can't accept losing, don't play. The past is the past, the present is the present—"
"Ow, ow, ow! Sis! I was wrong! Let go! Let go!"
Seeing Fantinatwist Fantina's ear, Cynthia smiled slightly and explained:
"It was the move Spite. The Spite Gastly used earlier disabled Misdreavus's Sucker Punch, so it couldn't use that move again."
"Spite? Right… I remember now. Doesn't that mean Rei Akagi calculated the outcome from the very beginning of the battle? That's impossible! His battle thinking… that's terrifying!"
Fantinaexclaimed in disbelief.
At the command platform, Rei Akagi nodded politely to Fantina, whose expression was complicated.
Just as he was about to walk back toward Cynthia, he noticed that Gastly had already moved ahead of him, floating over to her on the wind.
"Gastly!"
"That was a wonderful battle. Here's your reward."
Cynthia smiled and gently rubbed Gastly's head before handing it an Pokéblock (Pokéblock).
Gastly didn't stand on ceremony. Flicking it into the air with its tongue, it tossed the cube straight into its mouth and began chewing happily.
Rei Akagi arrived a moment later.
The moment he saw this scene, his anger exploded.
He grabbed Gastly and mercilessly kneaded its cheeks.
"You thick-browed traitor! I never expected you to backstab me like this!"
Seeing Rei Akagi's childish reaction, Cynthia covered her mouth and laughed softly.
"That was flawless tactical command. I look forward to the day we battle each other."
"You're too kind. I still have a long way to go compared to you."
Rei Akagi tucked the dizzy, spiral-eyed Gastly under his arm, looking somewhat embarrassed.
At that moment, Fantina walked over after finally calming the still-sniffling Misdreavus inside its Poké Ball.
He carried two antique wooden boxes and handed one each to Cynthia and Rei Akagi.
"These are badge cases for Champion Cynthia and for you, Brother Bai. Inside is the Hearthome Gym Badge. Please accept them."
He still couldn't figure it out.
Cynthia winning made sense—but how did Rei Akagi win?
Sure, he had underestimated him.
Sure, he hadn't expected Gastly to be so tricky.
Sure, he had wanted to show off a little in front of his children.
Sure—
Alright, fine. It was definitely his own fault.
"Father, I told you earlier…"
"Boss! I knew you'd win! Dad's nothing special anyway~"
Nothing special?
Tonight I'll show you exactly what "nothing special" means!
The loving words of his children became the final straw.
Without hesitation, Fantina punched Fantina on the head, making the boy crouch down while clutching it in pain.
Still, Fantina was an Elite Four trainer. He had that much dignity.
As far as Rei Akagi was concerned—
He acknowledged him.
Rei Akagi watched the father-son chaos and twitched slightly at the corner of his mouth before silently accepting the badge case.
The Hearthome Gym Badge was shaped like a miniature Ghost Gate.
On the gate pillars were eight engraved characters:
"Fortune upon meeting, peace under heaven."
It really did look quite impressive.
After putting the badge case away, Cynthia turned to Fantina and brought up the real matter.
"Gym Leader Fantina, regarding the local factions in Eterna City, especially any unusual activities recently—how much do you know?"
"This isn't the place to talk. Please follow me."
Fantina's expression became serious as he led Cynthia and Rei Akagi to a classical-style study deep within the Gym.
Inside the study, Cynthia briefly explained the progress of her investigation into the Ghost Energy Tides in Eterna City.
Rei Akagi added his own discoveries and theories from the Ancient King's Tomb distortion world.
Fantina listened carefully, unconsciously tapping the redwood desk with his fingers. After thinking for a moment, he spoke.
"To be honest, Eterna City has excellent public security. The so-called factions here are mostly intertwined interest groups—but they're all legally registered companies, so they can be investigated through official procedures."
He paused, then changed his tone.
"However… about a month ago—right before the Ghost-type energy tides began showing abnormal fluctuations—several mysterious organizations entered Eterna City. I used some private channels to investigate them, but the result was… nothing."
Mysterious organizations…
Rei Akagi tried connecting the clues.
A mysterious group secretly infiltrated the Ancient King's Tomb distortion world → they opened the jade coffin → Gastly accidentally awakened → triggering the Ghost-type energy tides.
But…
What exactly was their objective?
At that moment, a system notification suddenly interrupted his thoughts.
System Notification:
Investigation into the abnormal activity in the Ancient King's Tomb distortion world completed.
Reward: 100 Battle Points
Pokéblock Production Technology Lv.1 acquired.
Immediately afterward, a massive flood of knowledge about Pokéblock production forcefully opened Rei Akagi's mind and poured into it.
This is… power!
Wait.
The mission is already completed?
Rei Akagi froze briefly as he rapidly processed the knowledge.
If the system judged the mission complete, it meant his earlier deduction—that the disturbance originated from the jade coffin being opened—was entirely correct.
That works too?
He couldn't help but feel amused.
After discussing things for a while longer, Fantina eventually brought out a list of companies belonging to the various interest groups.
With that, Rei Akagi and Cynthia prepared to leave.
Their next objective had become much clearer.
Aside from the time it would take, they simply needed to visit each company on the list and conduct investigations.
Just before leaving, Fantina walked up to Rei Akagi.
"Boss, I recorded the battle just now. You don't mind, right?"
"First of all, I'm a law-abiding citizen. Secondly, I don't mind. But you…"
Rei Akagi suddenly stopped mid-sentence and glanced behind Fantina.
Following his gaze, Fantina turned around.
Standing there—
Was Fantina, his face red with anger.
"Fantina! GET OVER HERE AND DIE!"
◇ BONUS & SUPPORT ◇
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 10 reviews — drop a comment!
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ Read 70 chapters ahead on P@treon → patreon.com/Sagamaster789