"You're the leader?"
Hunter Z's voice rose sharply as anger surged through him.
"Bullshit!"
It was rare for him to lose his temper enough to curse out loud.
Hunter W actually claimed he was the leader? Who had ever acknowledged him as the leader? And if that guy was the leader, then what was he?
How could someone be so shameless?
Since he was carrying out a mission, Hunter Z had originally planned to observe the situation, slowly win over the other hunters and these unexpected wanted criminals, then identify the League trainers hiding among them.
Now everything had changed. Hunter W had suddenly appeared, disrupted the entire situation, and was even trying to seize control.
Even so, his thoughts became much clearer.
'That's right. If I don't show some real strength, how can these despicable outlaws ever submit?'
"Mismagius!" Hunter Z flicked his wrist and threw out two Poké Balls. "Black Hole Shadow Ball!"
The first Mismagius emerged from the shadow beneath his feet. At the same time, two more Mismagius floated out of the Poké Balls. One was at Elite-level, while the other was Champion-level.
Three Mismagius stood before everyone, Gym, Elite, and Champion-level.
In the blink of an eye, they condensed countless Shadow Balls. They looked like a storm of dark purple rain before strangely merging together in midair, forming a massive sphere that resembled a black hole.
"Interesting." Shiro finally put away his contempt.
Although they were three identical Pokémon, anyone capable of bringing out a Champion-level Pokémon and combining moves like this definitely had an extraordinary background.
Without another word, he casually raised his right hand. In it was an empty Ultra Ball.
"Articuno!"
Unown A opened its lone eye as the psychic power of four Unown gathered overhead. A deep blue glow blossomed around the Ultra Ball.
An icy chill spread like mist while sparkling ice crystals drifted through the air like scattered gems.
A bird Pokémon with long flowing blue tail feathers gradually appeared from within the light.
Under the overwhelming cold, the black hole-like Shadow Ball slowed more and more. The Ghost-type energy flowing across its surface grew weaker until it began freezing like water.
At the Master-level, a Pokémon had mastered its own type energy to absolute perfection. Combined with the natural authority possessed by a Legendary Pokémon, even moves themselves could be frozen.
Click.
A sharp sound echoed through the air as the massive Shadow Ball froze completely over ten meters away from Shiro.
It lasted for only an instant. Then, covered in a thin layer of frost, the enormous Shadow Ball suddenly lost all support and crashed into the battlefield, blasting out a gigantic crater.
Broken rocks and freezing mist spread everywhere. Quite a few unlucky people who had been fleeing were caught in the blast, their bodies frozen into half-solid blocks of ice.
When top-tier trainers fought, the weak always suffered. The Gym-level trainers who cared only about surviving had already been scared out of their minds. They ignored everything else and rushed desperately toward the passage.
Seeing that, Shiro immediately gave another order. "Seal the passage!"
Only one teleportation device above was still operational. Although Unown A's psychic power was guarding it, there was still a slim chance that someone might accidentally find the correct passage.
If that teleportation device were destroyed, there would be no escape route left.
No matter how tiny the possibility was, when lives were on the line, Shiro intended to eliminate it before it could happen.
In an instant, Articuno A spread its wings and walls of solid ice sealed both passages. Some of the unluckiest people had already stepped into the entrance with one foot when the freezing ice spread over their bodies and trapped them where they stood.
So close to the exit, those trainers couldn't help falling into despair.
They had only come to compete for a seated position in the Hunters Guild. Who could have imagined they would run into a Legendary Pokémon?
* * *
"Ar... Articuno?"
Blaine stood there in a daze, completely shocked that one of the Legendary Birds had appeared here.
Articuno was said to have feathers made entirely of ice. It had a crest of three dark blue diamond-shaped feathers, red eyes, a gray beak, long slender legs, and those unmistakable flowing tail feathers that trailed gracefully behind it as it flew.
As someone from Kanto who also worked part-time as a Pokémon Professor, Blaine knew this Legendary Pokémon better than almost anyone.
Judging by its strength, this Articuno had only recently reached the Master-level. Yet the constantly spreading icy mist showed just how terrifying its control over the Ice-type energy truly was.
This was a genuine Legendary that possessed true authority.
"Isn't this power supposed to belong only to the leader of the Articuno flock?" Blaine muttered to himself. "Why is a real Articuno here?"
* * *
"How could a place like this possibly have an Articuno?"
Hunter Z's entire body went stiff as if he had already been frozen by the cold.
Articuno... Hunter W… just who was he?
A Master-level legendary trainer had infiltrated the Hunters Guild. What was he trying to accomplish?
A madman?
He was completely insane.
* * *
[Operation Begins!]
At the very moment chaos was about to erupt, every League trainer received the same message.
It had been sent by the vanguard of the operation, an undercover agent hidden among the Elite-level wanted criminals.
Bertha and Unown G remained calm. Blaine, however, turned pale the moment he saw it.
'Are they crazy? They're still going through with the purge of these dangerous criminals at a time like this?'
A ruthless hunter stood before them with a Master-level Legendary Pokémon. There was no way they could fight someone like that.
If Hunter W noticed that they were League members, they would all be in serious danger.
Taking advantage of the chaos to retreat was still possible.
Thinking that, Blaine stopped worrying about everything else. He immediately took out his communicator and tried to contact Bertha and the others.
The mission had changed. Getting out alive came first.
* * *
Meanwhile, the moment the Elite-level trainers saw Articuno, every last one of them abandoned any thought of competing for the twenty-six seat.
Money meant nothing if they died. The gap in strength was simply too great.
An Elite-level wanted criminal threw a Poké Ball.
"Typhlosion! Flamethrower!"
A large hedgehog-like Pokémon with flames blazing across its back appeared. Standing upright, it was over two metres tall.
After gathering power for a brief moment, Typhlosion opened its mouth full of sharp teeth and unleashed a thick pillar of fire, shooting directly toward the frozen passage behind the hunters.
"It's only a little over a dozen levels stronger. Even if it's an ice wall made by a Legendary Pokémon, it can still be melted!"
Typhlosion's trainer, Soren, shouted to everyone around him.
As a fire specialist and a quasi-Elite level trainer, Typhlosion was his strongest Pokémon at level 53.
"That's right! Everyone help! This has nothing to do with us. Getting out comes first!"
Another tall, broad-shouldered trainer with a flat-top haircut called out from behind.
Soren nodded at him in approval. He recognized the man. Although he had never mentioned which region he came from, his name seemed to be Allen, pronounced the same as Sinnoh's Champion.
Allen rubbed the large, simple-looking nose made of soft clay on his face and returned a calm smile.
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