As the chain of explosions lit up the night sky, Ramil couldn't help but feel a strange sense of reassurance—Ghost Fox had followed through, even though Ramil himself was no longer of any use. The plan had proceeded exactly as discussed.
And yet… Ramil was anxious.
What if Ghost Fox had decided to silence him? Tie up loose ends? In his current condition, he was completely defenseless. If the mercenary came for him, there'd be no chance to resist—only death.
But dawn came quietly. No shadows moved in the night. No one came for his life.
Unbeknownst to Ramil, after eliminating Hideki Kusaka, Ghost Fox—real name Jack—had already left Green Town, vanishing along a carefully mapped escape route.
Meanwhile, when the police chief saw Hideki Kusaka's mangled body, he knew one thing for certain:
The Kusaka family was about to become a pack of rabid dogs.
Whether for revenge, or to demonstrate to the rest of the region that the Kusaka name still held power, they would never let this go quietly.
Elsewhere, an aging informant named Old Hard was startled awake by a buzzing phone.
Grumbling under his breath about whoever dared to wake him, he unlocked the device—only to see a message from Ghost Fox.
Instantly, his blood ran cold. His nightwear clung to his skin, soaked in sweat.
Hard didn't stop to question why Ghost Fox had turned on the Kusaka family. He just knew he needed to run. Now.
He packed everything he could carry and fled.
For years, Old Hard had survived by being cautious, laying low, and avoiding the attention of big players. The League had never bothered to throw real resources at tracking him down. He was small-time.
But that had changed.
Ghost Fox had just assassinated the heir of one of the most powerful families in Kanto.
And Hard… had worked for him.
Even if he betrayed Jack and handed over every scrap of intel he had, it wouldn't matter. He knew how these families worked—he'd be tortured, discarded, maybe buried alive just to make an example.
So Hard ran. And as he did, his fear of Jack grew.
Only a madman would strike at the Kusaka family head-on.
That same night, Kusaka Masaru, patriarch of the Kusaka family, was abruptly woken by his guards. Annoyed at first, he prepared to scold them—until he heard the news.
His youngest son, Hideki, was dead.
"What did you say!?"
The composure he was known for shattered. Rage flooded through him like an inferno.
He had pinned his hopes on Hideki. Unlike his other two sons, Hideki was a rare blend of political savvy and Pokémon talent. He wasn't perfect in either domain—but he had potential. He was balanced.
His eldest son, Toshisuke, was a capable politician but a complete disappointment as a trainer. No spark. No battle instincts.
His second son, Takeo, was the opposite—a powerful trainer with top-tier potential. But Takeo was loyal to Lance, one of the League's Four Heavenly Kings and an open opponent of family dynasties.
Masaru had always feared that if Takeo inherited the family, the Kusakas would become pawns in Lance's anti-aristocracy crusade.
Hideki was his compromise. His future.
And now, some no-name mercenary had taken that future away.
"Find him. Alive," Masaru ordered coldly, releasing his grip on his guard's collar.
"Yes, my lord!"
As his men scattered, Kusaka Masaru slumped into his chair, wrestling with the fallout. The family needed a clear line of succession.
He saw two paths forward: either raise a new heir from scratch—or force Toshisuke and Takeo to cooperate in a power-sharing arrangement. He decided to pursue both, hedging his bets. One way or another, the Kusaka family would stay under his control.
As the Kusaka family began to mobilize, the ripple effects spread across the Kanto region like wildfire.
No one wanted to get in the Kusakas' way. But they were watching.
To most factions and organizations, this was merely intel: a warning that a new mercenary named Ghost Fox had emerged—one who had just killed the Kusaka heir.
As long as the main branches of the family stayed strong, few expected real instability.
But Lance, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, had a different perspective.
Because of his ties to Takeo Kusaka, and his own mission to weaken family dynasties in favor of League control, Lance immediately began to consider how this chaos might help him stir dissent within the Kusaka family.
He didn't want to use Takeo—but if it meant tipping the scales, Lance would play the villain.
Meanwhile, dozens of smaller families and syndicates across the region began making moves of their own. Some wanted to curry favor with the Kusakas by helping track down Ghost Fox.
Others wanted to cash in.
Jack had just completed a job no one else had dared attempt: taking out the Kusaka family's third young master. The bounty money floating around him now would be astronomical.
For mid-level outfits and small-time mercs, this was the score of a lifetime.
Ghost Fox had become the most wanted man in Kanto—not just because of his crime…
…but because of the profit.