"Corviknight!"
At Shiro's call, the steel bird outside the door let out a piercing cry.
"Cooor!"
It had already blocked several Team Yell grunts who tried to escape. For humans, its steel wings were like an unmovable gate. Those who tried to push past were met with its sharp, merciless eyes. None dared to get too close.
They huddled near the door, stuck and helpless. They could not understand why a Gym-level Corviknight would suddenly block their way.
Shiro shared a strong understanding with it, and the bird acted out of caution.
"Good," he muttered, running over. He gave only a brief glance at the few would-be escapees near the door. There was no time to deal with them.
Stopping in front of Corviknight, he ordered calmly, "Guard the main entrance. I'll be back soon."
The bird gave a slight nod, then pointed its beak toward the two still-raging Pokémon inside.
Scrafty and Toxicroak. Both were at Gym-level as well. If they obeyed Marnie or Piers' orders and attacked together, even Corviknight might not be able to hold them off for long. And there could still be communication devices in the gym.
Thinking fast, Shiro called out, "Drakloak!"
A sleek head emerged from the shadows and he immediately relayed his instructions.
In a streak of blue light, Drakloak shot toward the center of the hall. Marnie, still kneeling by her father's body in tears, felt a sudden rush of wind, but nothing seemed to change around her.
Drakloak had snatched the Poké Balls from the dead Silas' belt. Then with a flick of its tail, it tapped two balls. A flash of light drew Scrafty and Toxicroak back inside. The balls locked shut before Drakloak slipped through the walls deeper into the gym.
It tore through every device that looked like it could be used to send signals, destroying the inner circuits. Only when the work was done did it return and drop the Poké Balls at Shiro's feet.
He scooped them up and stuffed them into his pocket. For the investigation, he would keep them with him temporarily…
Just as he turned to leave, a grunt by the door stammered, "Y-you… you took the Gym Leader's Pokémon… what are you going to do with them…"
The man leaning against the wall was trembling, his lips quivering as he spoke.
Shiro frowned. He remembered the others here carried their own Pokémon too, weaker ones, but still a threat. If they kept launching waves of attacks, Corviknight's stamina might wear out.
He turned to Drakloak again, giving another order. The dragon nodded and darted back inside.
Shiro himself slipped through a narrow gap Corviknight left for him, stepping outside to think over the gym's layout.
There was the main door, the busiest entry point. But wasn't there also a back door? Used for taking out trash…
He pulled two Poké Balls from his belt.
"Haunter, Bewear!"
Haunter emerged with a wide grin, spinning once in the air before settling onto the quiet Bewear's shoulder.
"Haunter…" Shiro described the location of the back door in detail, then instructed, "Take Bewear there. Block it. Don't let a single person out."
"Haun! Haun!"
Haunter nodded eagerly, wrapping its arms around Bewear's head as the bear took off, circling around the street toward the rear of Spikemuth Gym.
"Huh…" Shiro let out a slow breath as they left.
There are two things to do: seal off the gym to prevent information leaks, and find the real killer.
The first was more urgent. Any threat to him would come from leaked information inside. Even if he couldn't find the culprit right away, he could just have Unown A use psychic power to put everyone to sleep and erase parts of their memory…
Or he could simply alert the company. If the information stayed contained, they had ways to handle the rest.
After all, this was only a small town in a remote area. It wasn't like Hammerlocke, where crowds moved through the streets every day.
With Silas dead, Macro Cosmos could take over fast. Hide the news, replace the leader... Considering the man had just been punished, claiming he'd taken his own life out of guilt wouldn't raise much suspicion.
While he thought this through, Drakloak came out of the building and nudged him to open his bag. It spat out a pile of Poké Balls.
"You got everyone's?" Shiro asked.
It gave a nod and dove back into the shadows.
"Alright, A," he called, "you've got work to do."
* * *
Moments earlier, inside Spikemuth Gym, in the hallway leading to the main hall.
"How exactly did my dad die?!" Piers shouted at the Team Yell squad leader, Kennya, as he ran beside her.
She wiped spit from her face and repeated, "It was Firth. He suddenly got up from the floor and… attacked the Gym Leader…"
"That's impossible!" Piers snapped, "Just Firth alon—" His voice broke into coughs.
His body was weak to begin with, and today had pushed him to the limit. Now the sudden burst of anger made his heart ache, forcing him to stop and catch his breath.
When he'd first heard the news, he thought the grunts were joking, some twisted way to comfort him. But as they kept repeating and stressing it, the truth sank in.
His father… Spikemuth's Gym Leader… was truly dead.
"What's the exact cause of death?" Piers demanded when he could breathe again. "There were only a handful of people there. Who's the most suspicious?"
"Uh..." Kennya and the others fell silent.
By logic, Shiro from Macro Cosmos was the prime suspect. He was an outsider, and he had come to settle a grudge…
But it didn't make sense. Their leader had already backed down and explained things. If anything, it seemed more likely that Firth knew it was doomed and lashed out desperately.
The real puzzle was, where had Firth found that kind of strength? Enough to pierce the Gym Leader's chest with his bare limbs?
"It's definitely that Shiro!" Piers roared, shoving open the doors to the main hall.
Right then, a flash of blue streaked past them. For a moment they stood frozen, unsure what had just happened, just feeling like something was missing.
What was it?
Before they could figure it out, the light was gone, shooting out of the gym.
Piers patted himself down. Nothing seemed missing, though he had no Pokémon left anyway. His uncle had already taken them all.
"My Pokémon are gone!" Kennya cried, clutching her belt.
The others quickly checked and spoke up.
"Mine too!"
"All the Poké Balls are gone, but everything else is still here..."
"Was it that blue thing just now?"
Piers heard them but didn't care. His eyes were locked on the blood and torn flesh covering the hall floor, the sight burning into his mind.
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