Chen Shi waved the crude map in his hand.
"Alright, Swampert — bury them."
"Huh!?" Yoshino yelped, panic flaring. "W-What do you mean 'bury'?! I already told you everything! Aren't you supposed to take me to Lusamine!?"
Swampert didn't even look at him.
With one enormous arm, he grabbed the unconscious grunt and began dragging him toward the far scrubline—
as if this kind of cleanup was completely normal.
Steven Stone blinked.
"Shouldn't we hand them over to Looker…?"
Chen Shi snorted.
"Do you seriously believe that?
Hand him to the Alliance today—and he'll be out by tomorrow morning."
Steven Stone opened his mouth to argue…
then stopped.
His father had told him about the Alliance's rot.
Catch-and-release.
Deals behind closed doors.
Corruption hidden under layers of "procedure."
Chen Shi continued quietly.
"There's a girl in Verdant Town—Yuuko. Same age as me.
Her parents were high-ranking Alliance Inspectors who died on a mission."
Steven Stone listened carefully.
"The Alliance promised her a Champion-grade starter and five million Alliance Credits as compensation.
Now guess what she got."
Steven Stone frowned. "They didn't deliver…?"
Chen Shi let out a cold laugh.
"They gave her…
a Caterpie egg."
Steven Stone's eyes widened in disbelief.
"The entire compensation was siphoned away through the hands of corrupt officers and 'processing divisions.'
When my grandfather found out, he took the matter straight to President Miyazaki."
"What happened?" Steven Stone asked in a hard voice.
"They recovered what they could.
She left on a journey. I heard she's in Kalos now."
Steven Stone exhaled slowly.
He finally understood.
The Alliance was not rotten—it was decaying.
Chen Shi looked directly at him.
"Steven Stone, remember this.
Never trust Team Magma or Team Aqua's garbage about 'honorable duels.'
They're criminals. They don't follow rules."
He paused, then spoke more seriously:
"And you…"
His voice lowered.
"You need to hurry and become Champion. Fast."
Steven Stone stiffened.
"Someone has to clean up the Alliance," Chen Shi said, "and I believe you can."
A heavy silence settled, then Steven Stone nodded.
"…I understand."
He was uneasy—but determined.
Planning the Next Move
"So what now?" Steven Stone asked.
Chen Shi eyed the map.
"Their hideout isn't far. Staying here is dangerous."
Steven Stone nodded.
The captured grunts had mentioned strange rocks—
and rocks were exactly what Steven Stone loved.
He was eager.
Chen Shi and Steven Stone exchanged a look.
"Let's go," they said together.
Steven Stone hesitated.
"But that cadre… an Elite-level fighter. How do we deal with him?"
Chen Shi crossed his arms.
"An Elite is a massive gap. One near-Elite with three late-stage pseudo-legendaries could flatten us."
He thought for a moment.
"We'll need a real plan.
Team Magma favors Fire-types—which is bad for you."
Steven Stone grimaced.
Being weak to the enemy's whole typing was… problematic.
Chen Shi continued:
"Team Magma is here for a meteorite. They won't stay inside forever.
Their mid-levels and seniors are likely out hunting.
The base might only have one cadre—Fire-Tree."
Steven Stone nodded.
"Then we strike when the others are out."
Chen Shi glanced at Dragapult, who remained unusually quiet.
The little ghost dragon could sense the danger rising in the air.
Inside Team Magma's Temporary Base
Fire-Tree, a red-haired, middle-aged man, lounged arrogantly in the cavern's center.
He was the Team Magma Cadre in charge of this mission.
Five tiny Poké Balls sat in his hand.
"Five Bagons."
He grinned greedily.
"Even if I don't get the meteorite, these will guarantee my promotion.
Sell two… train one… keep the rest.
Lord Maxie will acknowledge my value for sure."
He laughed greedily, lost in fantasies of power.
Behind him, stones they'd dug up lay piled in a corner.
Magma grunts had tossed aside anything "useless."
They didn't realize several of those "useless rocks" were Mega Stones.
From the shadows, a pair of narrow golden eyes watched silently.
Dragapult.
He melted deeper into the darkness, invisible to the human eye.
Team Magma had unknowingly let a ghost dragon inside.
Dragapult scanned the area:
Three Poké Balls at Fire-Tree's waist pulsed with strong aura.
Too strong for a frontal fight.
The pile of stones contained several rare stones.
Chen Shi wanted "strange stones."
Dragapult acted quietly.
He opened a space pouch Chen Shi had given him.
Then—
one by one—
plop
plop
plop
He discreetly scooped up every "worthless" stone into the bag.
Fire-Tree didn't notice a thing.
He was too absorbed in admiring his Bagons and imagining his future.
Dragapult slipped away silently.
By the time he vanished into the shadows…
The entire stone pile was gone.
Fire-Tree remained completely unaware.
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