"What exactly has been happening lately?"
Himeko's expression was severe as she sat opposite a group of Wintergreen City's top officials. Cradling a teacup, she swept her gaze over everyone and asked.
Feeling the sharp, cutting aura radiating off Himeko, the assembled officials couldn't help but sigh inwardly. It had only been a few months, yet her presence had undergone a complete transformation. Facing her now, even these big shots felt waves of pressure bearing down on them.
"It started roughly after you left Wintergreen City—up to today, over these four months," Kazu reported in full detail. "Psychic-type energy fluctuations have occurred twelve times in total."
"The intensity has grown each time, and the occurrences have become more frequent."
"We conducted extensive investigations, but we still can't find the source of that energy."
"The only lead we have is that once—right after one of the fluctuations ended—we discovered traces of Team Dark members inside the forest."
After listening, Himeko gave a small nod. She took a sip of hot water, lowered her head, and thought slowly.
"Do you have any guesses?" Himeko raised her head and asked again after a moment.
"Yes."
"We have two possibilities. The first is that the fluctuations are being caused by a powerful Psychic-type Pokémon."
"Or the second—there's some kind of underground ruin that contains a massive amount of Psychic-type energy crystals, and that's what's triggering it."
The leading figures of Wintergreen City exchanged looks and nodded.
"But after investigating for so long, we haven't found any evidence to support either guess," Kazu added. That was exactly what baffled them most.
Energy fluctuations of that magnitude couldn't appear for no reason—there had to be a cause. Yet no matter how they searched, they couldn't find it. It was inexplicable.
"My guess is the same as yours." Himeko set down her teacup and looked at them seriously.
Based on her experience, only those two possibilities made sense. But identifying possibilities didn't help much by itself. The key was still to find the powerful Pokémon—or locate the ruins.
"And the Team Dark sightings—are they real?" Himeko pressed.
If this wasn't a false alarm, then the situation was probably even more troublesome than her analysis suggested.
It was entirely possible that Team Dark was the mastermind behind everything.
Maybe they had already found that slumbering Psychic-type powerhouse.
Or maybe they had found the ruins buried within the forest and were researching and developing them.
"Absolutely accurate! I saw it with my own eyes!" Kazu answered without hesitation, regret showing on his face. "That guy was too slippery—he vanished into the forest in an instant."
If he'd caught him back then, they might've gotten a lot of useful information out of him.
"Then let's do this. Today, I'll go with Captain Kazu. We'll bring the City Defense Forces' flying division and do a thorough sweep again," Himeko proposed.
Hearing that, everyone present thought for a moment, then nodded seriously.
As an investigator dispatched by the Military—and a peak Gym Leader-level Trainer—Himeko's words carried weight.
Wintergreen City also wanted the matter resolved as soon as possible, so naturally there were no objections.
Once the plan was arranged and a decision made, the meeting that had lasted three or four hours was temporarily concluded.
Just as everyone was preparing to leave, Kazu's communicator suddenly rang.
"Hello? What? Hold on—hang in there! I'll bring people right away!"
Kazu's calm expression instantly tightened, turning tense. The message coming through the communicator clearly made him deeply uneasy.
"What happened?" Himeko demanded.
"Something's happened!"
"Team Dark has been found in Wintergreen Forest! They're attacking the City Defense Forces unit stationed inside the forest!"
"The one leading them looks like a peak Gym Leader-level Trainer!"
The moment Kazu finished, the atmosphere in the room snapped taut.
Peak Gym Leader-level!
In Wintergreen City, a Trainer at that level was unquestionably top-tier. Among all these important figures, only Captain Kazu of the City Defense Forces was at that level.
No wonder his subordinates couldn't hold and had to call for reinforcements.
And thinking about it—within Team Dark, a peak Gym Leader-level Trainer would count as a high-ranking leader.
That made it even clearer: the strange events in the forest really were connected to them!
"I'm going with you." Seeing Kazu about to rush out for the rescue, Himeko immediately followed and spoke.
"Good. Then I'll be counting on you," Kazu said. He knew this wasn't the time for polite refusal. One more person meant one more measure of strength, and greater certainty that they could resolve this incident.
They rushed out the villa's front door. Kazu threw a Poké Ball.
"First squad and flying division, assemble immediately—head to Wintergreen Forest and provide support."
As he issued orders through the communicator, Kazu swung up onto the back of his Staraptor, ready to take off.
On Himeko's side, she released her Pidgeot—used as her flying mount—and climbed onto it.
Both Pokémon beat their wings and soared. In the blink of an eye, they shrank into two black dots in the sky.
They crossed over Wintergreen City's urban area and flew along the edge of Wintergreen Forest for a stretch.
"Over there!" Himeko immediately noticed the chaotic commotion below.
With her gaze sweeping down, she saw two sides locked in a melee.
One side wore tight black combat suits—Team Dark.
The other side wore City Defense Forces uniforms—the garrison unit stationed in the forest.
That garrison unit of more than fifty people was in a miserable rout.
There was no way around it—Team Dark had far more people. A rough count put their combat personnel at more than seventy.
And the leader—a lean, wiry Team Dark operative—was a peak Gym Leader-level Trainer.
Meanwhile, the City Defense Forces side was being led by a small squad leader who was only at Elite-level.
With such a massive gap, there was no way they could withstand Team Dark's assault.
Kazu didn't waste a word.
Riding Staraptor, he plunged into a dive—like a falling meteor—dropping straight toward the forest below.
A series of shrill sonic booms ripped through the air as he slammed directly into Team Dark's formation.
By the time Team Dark noticed what was above them, it was already too late to dodge.
Staraptor tucked its wings, like a cruising missile, and crashed precisely into the crowd.
Boom!
A massive impact sounded. Dust erupted from the ground, blasting outward and smearing everyone's vision.
The shockwave flung everyone and their Pokémon into the air within the area.
Before the collision, Kazu had already flipped off Staraptor's back and landed firmly on the ground, avoiding friendly fire.
"That's ruthless…" Himeko's eyelid twitched as she watched.
He opened with a reckless, brute-force Brave Bird—an attack that hit like "hurt the enemy by a thousand, hurt yourself by eight hundred."
No wonder he was the City Defense Forces captain. He really was a savage.
The dust slowly dispersed.
Where Staraptor had crashed, a huge crater with a radius of ten meters remained.
Inside it lay numerous Team Dark operatives and Pokémon, knocked unconscious.
That sudden aerial strike—coming out of nowhere—was devastatingly effective.
It instantly wiped out nearly half of Team Dark's remaining fighting strength.
But Staraptor wasn't in good shape either.
Its body was covered in injuries. Just standing upright seemed to take everything it had.
With half their numbers gone, the situation flipped immediately.
The City Defense Forces still capable of fighting now weren't far off from Team Dark's remaining forces.
And with Kazu joining the field—plus that opening blow that surged morale—the City Defense Forces' momentum rose sharply.
"Looks like we won't need to go down and help," Himeko commented from above.
At that moment, Shiko's voice suddenly sounded inside Himeko's mind.
"Don't you think something's off?"
The question jolted Himeko.
Off?
What was off?
Himeko steadied herself and carefully retraced the entire sequence of events. After re-sorting everything in her head, she immediately understood where the problem was.
"It is off."
"Team Dark—those rats who usually hide in the shadows—why would they have the nerve to launch an open attack on the City Defense Forces today?"
"This doesn't fit their style at all!"
Himeko frowned, staring at the chaos below.
Team Dark was hard to eradicate precisely because they operated in secrecy—hidden, cautious, and elusive—leaving the League with no good way to pin them down.
An open assault like this was absolutely not how they normally acted.
When something is abnormal, there's always a reason.
If they were behaving this way, it meant they were hiding some ulterior objective.
"But what exactly is their objective?" Himeko couldn't help sinking deeper into confusion.
Below, the battle had entered its most intense stage.
Kazu and Team Dark's leader were locked in a dead-even clash.
Two peak Gym Leader-level Pokémon colliding created a vacuum zone around them—no one else dared approach, afraid of being caught in the blast.
"Think about it," Shiko reminded her again. "What's the sudden variable that appeared in Wintergreen City?"
Himeko heard that, and it was like electricity ran through her mind.
Instant clarity.
If there was one biggest variable that had appeared in Wintergreen City over these last couple of days—
There was no doubt.
It was herself.
"You mean… they're coming for me? Their target is me?" Himeko's confusion spiked.
"Very likely," Shiko answered, his tone as calm and steady as ever.
Even knowing this could be a trap intended to assassinate them, he didn't seem to care in the slightest.
"Then do we go down?" Himeko asked, unsure, seeking Shiko's opinion.
"Of course."
"But—"
"What are you afraid of? Just stay with me."
"Unless they bring out a powerful Champion-level figure, any scheme they have will be crushed by me."
Shiko's voice carried intense confidence.
Himeko silently nodded.
In the face of absolute strength, any plotting and strategy shattered on contact.
"Alright."
With that decision made, Himeko directed Pidgeot into a dive.
On a tall violet-blue tree, its dense crown nearly covered a quarter of the tree's overall height.
On a thick branch jutting out from within that heavy canopy, a muscular, burly man stood there.
Excited light flowed in his eyes as he watched Himeko diving down on her Pidgeot—his expression brimming with delight.
"Didn't think I'd hook a big fish this fast!"
He let out a nasty chuckle, flashing two rows of white teeth.
When his gaze locked onto the third Poké Ball at Himeko's waist, his grin became even wider.
"I'll gladly accept that Pokémon of yours. Thanks in advance!"
After saying that, he sprang off the branch and dropped down in a single leap.
(End of Chapter)
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