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As a senior League investigator, Loria could read causes of death directly from the shattered remains before him.
Decades of fieldwork had trained him to decipher violence with unnerving accuracy.
Severe burn trauma.
Overwhelming blunt-force impact.
And traces of a high-density energy strike far exceeding normal combat thresholds.
What truly unsettled him wasn't the destruction itself but the precision behind it.
The strength involved was immense, yet controlled.
With the same force and technique, perhaps even the Pokémon partner who had fought beside him for decades could replicate such devastation.
But if someone told him that the scene resembling land swept clean by a raging storm had been caused by a Machoke that had only just evolved mid-battle…
Loria would have dismissed it outright.
And yet—
Every piece of evidence pointed to exactly that conclusion.
The sole eyewitness, a Toxicroak from the Fighting Gym, had already undergone a full League interrogation. Its testimony aligned perfectly with the physical evidence.
Further analysis of the battlefield confirmed it from another angle.
The one who had crushed and annihilated three powerful Nightmare Pokémon, saving competitors from three different Gyms—
Was undeniably a Machoke that had broken through its limits on the battlefield itself.
Loria lowered his head, deep in thought.
Once the Machoke's actions were confirmed, the investigation team immediately accessed the League database to review its background.
Shiny variant.
Unknown origin.
Exceptional natural talent.
Early mastery of Aura.
The more he read, the colder his spine became.
To think such a Pokémon existed within Ignis City…
Had he known earlier, Loria would have exercised his authority to pull it directly under his command.
But now—
It was too late.
According to Toxicroak's testimony, one of the Nightmare Pokémon, Grumpig, had released an enormous psychic surge at the moment of death.
A phenomenon visible across dozens of kilometers.
A final act resembling mutual destruction.
The Shiny Machoke had vanished along with it erased from the battlefield in an instant.
Even someone as emotionally hardened as Loria couldn't suppress a trace of regret.
In these tense times when unseen currents churned beneath the League's surface—
A combatant capable of facing multiple Nightmare Pokémon alone would have been invaluable.
And worse still…
This Machoke wasn't at its peak.
All indicators suggested it was still growing.
With proper guidance, it might one day rival even the Lucario of the Fighting Gym Leader—a level spoken of only in rumors.
"…Damn it."
Loria exhaled softly.
After instructing his subordinates to fully sanitize the site, he turned away without another glance and headed toward the forest exit.
The summer camp incident had been fully resolved.
No additional Nightmare Pokémon were detected.
Aside from the administrative wrap-up, his task here was complete.
Under normal circumstances, someone of Loria's rank wouldn't have come in person. A remote command from his office would have sufficed.
But these were not normal times.
Through sealed briefings and fragmented intelligence, even mid-level officials knew something was wrong.
Any movement involving Nightmare Pokémon now carries the highest priority.
Given the situation, Loria's presence on-site wasn't excessive—
It was necessary.
---
A heavily armored League off-road vehicle reserved for senior officials thundered across the open road, thick metal plating vibrating under acceleration.
Inside, Loria sat with arms crossed, eyes fixed on the dark forest slipping past the window.
Unease weighed heavily in his chest.
Nightmare Pokémon sightings were increasing.
Some of the League's most disturbing internal predictions…
Might soon become reality.
Massive tires churned forward as the steel beast barreled across the plains, like a creature struggling through a mire of mud clinging to its frame, decay closing in.
Beneath it, disaster coiled.
Beside it, death waited.
The night having only just revealed a hint of dawn—
Was swallowed once more by deeper darkness.
---
Chaos.
Emptiness.
Kael was suspended within an ocean of psychic energy, completely unable to move.
Everywhere he looked—
Radiant, swirling pink light.
His powerful limbs drifted gently, swayed by unseen currents flowing through the void.
He had no idea where he was.
Or even what state he was in.
Vast waves of psychic force washed over him, as though he'd been swept into a torrent racing through empty space.
The dense energy wrapped around his body—
A cocoon that both shielded and restrained.
Strangely, Kael felt no fear.
If anything, he observed his surroundings with open curiosity like a child exploring something new.
Ever since his days as a Machop, Kael's perception had been unusually sharp likely influenced by the strange Ghost-type energies lingering within him.
After evolving, that sensitivity had only intensified.
The instant Grumpig's psychic flood engulfed him, a subtle intuition, something beyond language, had surfaced in his mind.
A silent reassurance.
You won't be harmed.
And more than that—
This will lead somewhere beneficial.
Kael welcomed the thought.
After evolving, he'd already planned to leave Ignis City and explore the wider world.
The only problem had been choosing a direction.
Now?
That problem had solved itself.
If Grumpig wished to use its final psychic strength to send him on his way—
Kael saw no reason to resist.
He allowed the vast pink tide to carry him forward, drifting toward an unknown destination.
After a long while, with nothing particularly new revealing itself, Kael thought—
I might as well take stock of my gains.
With a shift of intent—
The system interface hidden at the edge of his vision snapped open.
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