Darkai's Traces

"Something's not quite right."

Cynthia frowned, a Poké ball had been held between her slender palms.

Aisha's vision was very good, and had clearly seen that Cynthia was holding Lucario's Poké ball.

Indeed, compared to the strongest Garchomp, when faced with this kind of weird event, Lucario, who was equipped with the power of Aura and had developed mobility and detection ability in all aspects, was more suitable to deal with it.

"Indeed..."

Aisha also showed a serious expression.

There was one thing to be said for it, though it was said that people flirted with the idea of Lavender Town being a ghost town all day long.

The urban legends that had been prevalent in this town for decades had also contributed to the fact that Lavender Town did not have a good reputation in the outside world.

However, as a town with Pokémon Tower, a large-scale Pokémon burial site, Lavender Town's influence in the Kanto region was actually no less than that of large-scale cities such as Cerulean City, Fuchsia City, and Vermilion City.

Similarly, medium-sized cities and towns such as Pewter City and Cinnabar Island might not be as famous as Lavender Town if they did not have a gym or gym leader on their signboards.

Lavender Town simply just fell behind super metropolises like Celadon City and Saffron City in the Kanto region.

The economic power of this town is actually not bad at all...

Unlike the industries that other cities relied on, the Pokémon Tower was a place that could never decay.

With the Pokémon Tower, it would be impossible for the Lavender Town's flow of people to be interrupted.

It was considered an alternative popularity.

Although the reputation of this popularity was not good.

Telling these is just to show that Lavender Town is not really a rare place, on the contrary, the residents who live in this town are also a little bit quite a lot, weekdays in the town above the same can not be so cold look, even quite lively.

"The resident population so many towns, big afternoon how can in the main street above a person also have no... Could it be that there is some custom in Lavender Town that when it comes to what time of the day, there can't be any activity on top of the main street?"

Aisha remembered some weird urban legends and horror stories.

If the residents of Lavender Town really had any special customs and precepts, it wasn't incomprehensible to him.

"It shouldn't."

At this time, Cynthia, who knew more about the town's population, opened her mouth.

As the Sinnoh Champion, she was clearly more knowledgeable about the laws and precepts that the various regional leagues allowed to be enacted on top of the towns compared to Aisha, who was new to the area.

"If Lavender Town is a small town similar in size to Pallet Town, the existence of the type of precepts you mentioned should indeed be a possible situation." Cynthia's expression was very calm as she quickly analyzed the current situation and Aisha's words, and made a conclusion, saying, "However, as you know, although Lavender Town is not that large in size, its economic level and regional influence is actually not inferior to that of some large towns, so the League would not be able to allow people here to casually promulgate any 'no going out during certain periods of time. 'No Outdoor Activities During Specific Time Periods' law."

"Hmm... I see."

Aisha did not continue to refute Cynthia's words.

He also knew that Cynthia was a professional.

"Instructor Ai."

At the same time, Rotom phone burst out from within Aisha's fanny pack and came between him and Cynthia.

"What's wrong?"

Hearing some strange colors hidden within Rotom phone's tone, Aisha also quickly realized that his Little-Ro classmate was afraid that it had discovered some abnormal situation, so he immediately lowered his voice and sent out an inquiry, saying, "Are you sensing something?"

"Uh-huh."

Rotom phone answered and said: "I've discovered that the signal of Lavender Town is blocked."

"The signal was blocked?"

Cynthia also revealed a surprised expression and said, "What type is blocked?"

Logically speaking, if an entire town's signal had been blocked, the League side should have noticed the abnormality long ago.

How was it possible that there had been no movement until now?

"The other party's way of blocking the signal is very simple..."

After pondering for a bit, Rotom phone explained to Aisha and Cynthia in a simple and easy to understand manner, saying, "The other party simply blocked the signals transmitted outwards from Lavender Town."

Rotom phone gave an example.

"That is to say, if the people who set up the signal blocking were a group of kidnappers, then, even if they have now kidnapped an entire Lavender Town, the residents of Lavender Town do not have the ability to transmit any distress signals towards the outside, and within a short period of time, the outside world will not be able to detect Lavender Town's blocked signals."

"..."

"Tsk."

After listening to Rotom phone's explanation, Aisha and Cynthia were also one silent and the other with a face of displeasure.

Cynthia herself was the Sinnoh Champion, and was cynical.

Now that she had met this type of terrorist attack, it was naturally impossible for her to let it go.

Intervening to try to solve the problem was inevitable.

Aisha, on the other hand, had already realized the identity of the so-called "kidnapper"...

He dared to kidnap the residents of a small town with such fanfare, and had such a subtle and advanced signal shielding device that even the League could not detect for a while, and his business was so skilled and efficient that he hadn't even let the outside world have any knowledge of it until now.

This information already pointed to an organization.

"It should be Team Rocket."

Aisha looked to Cynthia and spoke the name of that organization.

"Team Rocket?"

Cynthia froze for a moment, and then immediately reacted as well.

As an ace organization that had spread across the underground worlds of the Kanto and Johto regions, even though Cynthia's jurisdiction was far away in Sinnoh, she had heard of it - after all, once upon a time, the Rockets, whose scale had swelled to the extreme in these two regions, had also tried to extend their hands to other regions.

Of course, it didn't work out in the end.

"Hmm... I can only think of this organization." Aisha organized his words and said, "This period of time also happens to be the time when Team Rocket is preparing to make a comeback, and the information that Elite Lance gave me explains that they are now carrying out activities in various places, secretly preparing funds as well as some special resources."

"There's nothing wrong with logic if we say that they're eyeing some special things within Lavender Town."

"Oh..."

Between conversations, Aisha and Cynthia had already moved to the back of a house in the shade.

After all, if they stayed at the town's entrance for too long, they were probably afraid that those enemies that might exist wouldn't be able to discover them...

"Instructor Ai, what do you have in mind?"

Cynthia inquired to Aisha.

She was ready to do it herself anyway.

Cynthia's ability to become the Sinnoh Champion was more than just relying on her terrifying strength.

Her righteous mentality was just as important a factor that made her gain the support and admiration of countless people.

Now that she had encountered this type of incident where an evil organization was doing wrong, turning a blind eye to it would not be the style of this Valkyrie.

"I don't mind taking some risks if I can cause trouble for Team Rocket."

Aisha looked at the sky that was already approaching dusk and smiled in response to Cynthia's inquiry.

"Besides."

Instructor reached out and pulled out a badge, showing it to Cynthia.

"I forgot to mention to you that I am also a Dayan Search Officer, and now obtaining the authorization of Elite Summer and Elite Lance, I have the authority to arrest criminals across districts."

"Oh~"

Seeing Aisha's Search Officer Medal, Cynthia was a bit surprised, but she also immediately revealed an expression of "Not bad for you."

Nowadays, in her heart, Aisha's image was close to "all-powerful".

Compared to that, it didn't seem like a big deal for this beautiful boy to harbor the identity of a search officer...

"Hmm."

Aisha also let out a soft smile.

Even if Cynthia, the top combatant, wasn't with him, he was still willing to help save the residents of this town - he hadn't worn the clothes of a search officer for nothing, and even in response to Lance and Summer's care and expectations for him, Aisha was willing to be the hero.

Besides...

He had also said it just now.

Instructor was more than happy to give Team Rocket and Giovanni a hard time if he could.

...

"Team Rocket."

A few kilometers away from Lavender Town, First Generation Mewtwo stood at the top of a large tree, its chilling violet eyes smoothly spanning the distant distance with the assistance of its Psychic power fluctuations, and its sharp line of sight locking onto the Pokémon Tower in the northern part of Lavender Town.

Within the Pokémon Tower, it had detected the aura of a Psychic type Pokémon.

Although it was definitely weak compared to itself.

However, a Pokémon of that level should be irresistibly powerful to the usual humans and trainers.

This type of powerful Psychic type Pokémon usually had some special abilities... For example, hypnosis.

"I see."

First Generation Mewtwo revealed an expression of realization.

It was also already aware of something strange about Lavender Town - the architectural style itself was a bit eerie, and the town was like a ghost when it was empty.

"The Team Rocket cadre used a Pokémon with Psychic attributes to unknowingly hypnotize the residents of that town, and then took control of them afterwards... It's also true that if violent means were used for control, there must be someone in that size of town who could pass information towards the outside world no matter what."

First Generation Mewtwo quickly realized the operation carried out by those at Team Rocket.

Pokémon could accomplish quite a few things that were impossible for humans and technology to do.

For example, hypnotizing a large group of people without anyone knowing or realizing it...

"What are they doing in the Pokémon Tower?"

First Generation Mewtwo's doubt was here.

It also knew about the famous Pokémon Tower in Lavender Town.

The problem is that the Pokémon Tower is really just a place to bury the dead Pokémon - although there were rumors that the dead Marowak turned into Gastly to scare people here, but the Pokémon Tower has not been discovered so far, and it has some special characteristics that can be exploited.

"Could it be that they are eyeing the Pokémon Tower... the Pokémon residing within the Pokémon Tower?"

After thinking about it for a while, First Generation Mewtwo could only come up with this possibility.

Within the Pokémon Tower, there were quite a few Ghost type Pokémon.

Most of them were the Gastly family that was the symbol of the Kanto region, and the Misdreavus family that was common in the Johto region wasn't that rare over here.

Mainly due to the problem of the excessive number of buried Pokémon, some Pokémon with ghost attributes unique to other regions could occasionally be seen in the Pokémon Tower.

No one looked deeply into the reasons for the appearance of these Pokémon.

Ghost attribute itself had a lot of mystery attached to it.

"Hmm."

First Generation Mewtwo's expression looked slightly better.

If it was said that Team Rocket had hypnotized the residents of Lavender Town in order to take in a large number of Ghost type Pokémon from the Pokémon Tower as a battle force supplement, there didn't seem to be any problem in terms of logic.

However, it always felt like things weren't that simple...

Capturing some Ghost type Pokémon required a Elite Four level trainer - First Generation Mewtwo had analyzed the strength of that one Psychic Attribute Pokémon that had hypnotized the residents of Lavender Town to be at Elite Four level - to assist?

Strange...

"There must be some other unusual problem."

Because it was Team Rocket's problem, it was said that First Generation Mewtwo was extraordinarily attentive.

Due to Giovanni's problem, it, like Instructor Ai, wished to add a little bit of trouble to Team Rocket.

However, this time it didn't seem to need First Generation Mewtwo to take matters into its own hands.

"What would you do?"

It thought of Aisha.

If that was the one, it wouldn't sit around and do nothing.

"Let me see what you choose."

...

Compared to the quiet Lavender Town, the interior of the Pokémon Tower was bustling instead.

A group of men in black uniforms walked through each floor of the tower, their undisguised footsteps and conversations disturbing the silence that should have been maintained in this place where the undead slept.

The letter R protruding from their uniforms revealed their identities.

Team Rocket soldiers.

These people were all Team Rocket grunts out on operations.

"When do we strike, Captain."

"Hold on."

One of the pawns on the second floor of the Pokémon Tower inquired this to the squad leader who was leading himself and his other companions, while the squad leader signaled him to stay calm and said, "That lord is currently conducting a special investigation at the top of the Pokémon Tower, so we can't make any rash moves until his investigation is over, and we must maintain a certain degree of quiet, and we must not disturb the Pokémon Tower's Pokémon that reside within it at this time."

The young captain, at this point in time, glanced a bit scornfully at the people who were looking around within the second floor at the tombstones, seemingly searching for something.

Those people were wearing uniforms that were clearly different from those of Team Rocket grunts, and were members of the cadre.

"These people will tell us when we can start capturing Pokémon, so that means being honest for now and having a bit of an eye on them."

"Okay."

The pawn also awkwardly returned to his position.

"I wonder what there is to investigate in such a place with so many buried Pokémon..."

As if he was feeling irritated because of the long wait, the little grunt muttered and complained so.

Their mission for this outing was to capture the large number of Ghost type Pokémon inhabiting within the Pokémon Tower.

During this period of time, there were quite a few similar missions to capture Pokémon on a large scale in order to prepare for battle power.

However, because the Pokémon Tower was still essentially part of Lavender Town's premises, and the Pokémon to be captured were Ghost type Pokémon whose combat power was not to be underestimated in comparison, and which were valuable enough to be treasured in their own right, Team Rocket's senior management had made a great deal of effort in response to this time, not only configuring a specialized signal shield, but even arranging for a cadre to be the leader of the team.

The problem was... After this squad arrived at Lavender Town, the cadre didn't order the grunts to immediately launch an operation to capture the Pokémon.

The Cadre just kidnapped an old man before carrying his squad up to the top floor of the Pokémon Tower, not knowing what they were doing.

"Cadre should have a mission that we don't know about."

The squad leader pushed this squad member's shoulder, with a serious face, and said, "Come on, we're just capturing Pokémon combatants anyway, just wait for when the cadre and the others finish their business and give the order and then we'll start moving, don't mind our own business."

"Hey..."

The young soldier scratched his head.

"Understood."

They had already recorded the approximate hiding locations of the Ghost type Pokémon inhabiting within each floor of the Pokémon Tower before this.

At the cadre's command, the capture operation could begin.

On the top floor of the Pokémon Tower, one of the four generals of Team Rocket - Proton stood before a pure white textured tombstone, and his expression was hidden under the shadow of the wide brim of his hat, making it impossible to understand what he was thinking.

"Good."

Proton set down a bouquet of flowers as he muttered to himself.

Above the pure white headstone was engraved the name of Koffing.

"You..."

In the corner, an old man with white hair had a strong rope around his body, even so, he was still struggling to look at Lance, saying, "The Pokémon Tower is the resting place of the deceased Pokémon, your own Pokémon are also buried within the Pokémon Tower, if so why do you want to disturb their slumber. "

The old man's eyes hid anger and disbelief.

It wasn't the first time Team Rocket had targeted the Pokémon Tower...

He didn't know why this organization disturbed Lavender Town again and again.

"Shhh."

Lance raised a finger, signaling the old man to be quiet.

"Mr. Fuji, I have no interest in you."

Lance's wording was very respectful, which was also characteristic of him.

"This time I'm only looking for you because you know something that our chief is very interested in, so that means I hope the old man won't be insensitive and just cooperate with our actions."

"Something of interest..."

The old man froze for a moment.

He and Team Rocket had only crossed paths with one thing before this.

That was a Pokémon research.

"Heh~"

Lance watched Mr. Fuji's expression grow progressively harder, and immediately laughed softly and said, "You probably understand, so in that case I'll cut the crap."

"I also have a more important mission."

He pulled out a photo.

Above the photo, the figure of a black Pokémon was captured in a blur.

"Darkrai... why did it appear in Kanto?"