The chatter in the Spikemuth Gym's main hall stopped the moment Shiro stepped inside.
Silas stood in the middle, dressed in a black traditional outfit resembling a kimono. The Team Yell members who had been speaking earlier quickly backed away. Some slipped behind the hall's pillars while others hid directly behind him.
Shiro scanned the room. Hardly any faces here looked familiar.
When Silas spotted his daughter following behind Shiro, his expression eased a little. He assumed this was just a friend of hers, here for a casual visit.
Although Piers spent his days fooling around with Team Yell and never did anything useful, Marnie was still a sensible girl. She must have realized her brother had become useless after losing his battle and was trying to win Shiro over early.
With that thought, Silas' face broke into a smile.
"Shiro," he said warmly, "what brings you here to see your uncle? Want to come in and sit for a while?"
Shiro was taken aback and studied the Spikemuth Gym Leader in front of him closely.
The man's long black hair was tied neatly at the back. His complexion was sallow, his frame thin, and his eyes narrow. He didn't look much like Piers at all.
Shiro couldn't figure out what this man was thinking. The cluster of Team Yell members behind him clearly understood that he wasn't here with good intentions, yet Silas was acting friendly and even called himself "uncle."
If his scheming ran this deep, would Piers's earlier battle have ended in such a pathetic way? Could it be that they weren't even related by blood?
Shiro's thoughts tangled for a moment, then he got to the point. "I'm here for my father's killer. I assume you've been expecting me?"
As soon as he spoke, Corviknight waiting outside the gym spread its wings slightly and let out a deep, menacing cry.
"Cooorv!"
The sound sent a jolt through the Team Yell members in the hall. They shrank further into the corners, a few looked like they might bolt.
Some knew they wouldn't get away, but most just wanted to avoid being dragged into something that had nothing to do with them.
Silas froze, his mind flashing to the team leaders and squad leaders within Team Yell.
The group's structure was simple. At the bottom were regular members, then came the team leaders, and above those the squad leaders. Squad leaders were already core personnel; there were only eight of them. Team leaders numbered over twenty.
Most missions like catching Pokémon or robbing passing trainers were usually handled by team leaders.
'Shiro's father… wasn't he a team leader? Didn't he die with two of his men during a mission because they weren't strong enough? Was there more to the story? So this boy had come for revenge?'
Silas hesitated a bit, then glanced around at his men before answering in a low voice, "Shiro… Team Yell's report said your father died in an accident during a mission. I don't know the exact details, but we did send you Pokémon and resources afterward. If you hadn't insisted on leaving Spikemuth—"
"Resources? What a joke!" Shiro cut him off sharply. "After my father died, your people came every day to take our things. They nearly beat me to death! Cut the crap and hand over the person responsible, now!"
Silas's expression darkened. Seeing his daughter watching silently from the side, he felt his authority slipping. His voice turned cold. "Nonsense. The rules here are set by me. What you're saying—"
Shiro didn't let him finish. Already impatient, he waved a hand behind him.
Corviknight let out a piercing screech, its wings fully spreading until they almost blocked the entire entrance of Spikemuth Gym. A powerful gust surged through the hall as it beat its wings, the air swirling violently inside.
Shiro's loose black cloak whipped in the wind. Silas, standing directly in its path, had to raise an arm to shield his face. Several of the weaker grunts behind him were knocked to the floor. Others crouched behind stone pillars.
Marnie braced herself against the doorway to avoid falling.
The blast lasted only a few seconds but felt like a fierce battle. When the steel bird finally folded its wings, the gale died down.
This wasn't even an attack, just a simple gust.
Silas breathed heavily. The wind had been cold, and though he had worked hard to keep his footing, sweat had gathered across his back. He looked at Shiro, who had stood in the center of the gale without moving an inch, and felt a flicker of shock.
Corviknight's wind hadn't avoided him. In fact, he had taken it head-on. But apart from his clothes flapping, he hadn't even shifted his stance.
'This kid's strength is that high?'
The surprise helped him regain his composure.
They were in Spikemuth, inside his own gym. If things escalated into a fight, whether he could win or not was one thing, but his place would be wrecked, and plenty of his people would scatter.
That was one concern. The other was that he'd actually been thinking of befriending Shiro. They had no real grudge, and if throwing a few useless people under the bus could smooth things over, so be it.
He smiled again and praised, "This Corviknight is impressive. To have such power without even using a move… you've trained it well, Shiro. Talented at such a young age, truly the pride of Spikemuth."
Then he turned toward the men behind him who had just struggled to their feet and barked, "Well? What happened? How did Shiro's father die? Speak!"
Three Team Yell members stood there, two men and a woman. All were squad leaders, people he normally relied on. The men were opposites in build, one fat and one thin, both with tall, strange red mohawk hairstyles.
Hearing his question, they all shivered. Against a Gym-level trainer like Silas—yes, he used legacy Pokémon, but his strength was still at that level—their own strongest partners were only at the Advanced-level. The gap in strength meant his authority here was absolute.
Though none of them spoke, the thin man and the woman both glanced instinctively toward the fat one, giving away the truth.
"Firth!" Silas roared. He hadn't expected the culprit was right here in the gym, standing behind him.
"Talk! Firth! What happened?"
The fat man's lips trembled. His face was painted with odd gray eyeshadow, and his swollen cheeks made his head look like a round squash.
When Firth stayed silent, Silas sneered coldly and looked at the woman instead. "Kennya. You tell me."
At this point, there was no reason to hide anything. She gave Firth a quick look, then answered, "Shiro's father was about to be promoted to squad leader for his contributions. But Firth wanted his own man, Rabby, to get the position. They ambushed his team in the northern forest, killed all three of them, and staged it to look like a mission failure."
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