Chapter 223

When Logan arrived, he immediately joined the battle.

With an Elite-level trainer joining the fray, the second wave of rampaging Pokémon was quickly subdued.

Only after the crisis was under control did Logan have the chance to speak with Greg.

"Have you figured out the cause of the Pokémon riot?" Logan asked.

Greg shook his head. Ever since they had arrived, they had been busy fending off the attacking Pokémon and hadn't had time to investigate.

"You all stay here and guard the area. I'm going to take a look and see what caused the rampage," Logan said as he released his Pidgeot and prepared to fly out over the sea.

Noticing Logan's arrival, Nathan hurried over.

When Logan saw him, he was momentarily stunned.

"You're here too?"

"I'm here for school," Nathan explained.

Logan had been training daily, focusing entirely on improving his strength, and paid little attention to what was happening online. So, it wasn't surprising that he didn't know Nathan had come to Grace University.

"Perfect. Come with me to check it out."

Without hesitation, Logan decided to bring him along.

It would be a waste not to make use of a national champion—after all, Nathan now had Champion-level Pokémon, and his strength even exceeded that of some Elites.

"Alright. I've been wanting to find out what caused the Pokémon rampage anyway," Nathan agreed, releasing his Flygon.

The two of them mounted their Pokémon and flew out toward the open sea.

After flying a certain distance, they briefly communicated and then split up to search in different directions.

Nathan flew a full circuit on his Flygon but found nothing.

The sea was calm, not even the slightest wave, and there was nothing in sight that could have triggered a Pokémon rampage.

"Let's head back to where we started," Nathan said to his Flygon.

Meanwhile, Logan had flown a distance on his Pidgeot when he spotted a black dot in the distance.

As he approached, he discovered it was a boat.

Onboard, many people were dumping something into the sea.

"So, you're the ones behind the Pokémon rampage!"

Logan glared furiously at the people on the boat.

Apparently noticing him and his Pidgeot flying overhead, the people on the boat immediately tried to escape.

But how could an old, underpowered fishing boat possibly outrun a Pidgeot?

It only took three minutes for Logan to catch up.

"Lower altitude!" he ordered.

"Geot!" Pidgeot screeched and descended. When the height was just right, Logan jumped.

He landed precisely on the deck of the fishing boat.

However, when he got a clear look at the people on board, he frowned.

It wasn't that they didn't have Poké Balls—it's just that none of their Pokémon were high-level.

Their clothes were also ragged and worn—clearly people of meager means.

But why would such people commit an act like this? What exactly were they dumping into the sea that caused the Pokémon to go berserk?

"Who are you?" Logan asked sharply.

The few men clearly feared him, shrinking back until they were up against the railing.

"S-sir, we were just hired to do this… please let us go…"

Although Logan hadn't made a move, they could feel the overwhelming pressure coming from him—and from the Pidgeot hovering above.

They knew very well that this was someone far beyond what they could handle.

"Who hired you? What exactly were you dumping into the sea?" Logan pressed again.

Their earlier claim was likely mostly true—but that alone wasn't enough.

"We don't know either. Someone gave us 500,000 Pokécoins to dump this stuff into the sea. That's all we know," a thin, young man said.

The others nodded repeatedly, confirming the story.

Since they had gone far from shore, they didn't know what was happening back on land.

Seeing that these men genuinely didn't know much, Logan gave up questioning them and instead walked over to one of the barrels.

Inside was a grayish liquid, emitting a strong, pungent stench.

Since he had no idea what it was, he didn't dare touch or taste it.

"Do you understand what you've done? You triggered a Pokémon riot!"

Although Logan still didn't know exactly what the liquid was, he was well aware of the consequences.

If not for the large number of people and the military stationed in Grace City, the city could have been overwhelmed by tens of thousands of Pokémon.

Anger—pure, overwhelming anger.

These people had caused a potential catastrophe for a mere sum of money.

Once the Pokémon Court finished its investigation, these men would be spending a very long time in prison—if they weren't given the death sentence.

When they heard that they were the cause of the riot, the men panicked.

They had thought the materials were just industrial waste, as the employer had claimed. Who could have guessed it would trigger such chaos?

"Start the boat now and return to shore. If you can help us identify the mastermind behind this, your sentences might be reduced," Logan said.

That was all he could do for now.

Nathan, waiting nearby, grew anxious as Logan took longer and longer to return.

So he followed the route he had taken to search for him.

Soon, he spotted Logan and his Pidgeot—and quickly descended onto the old fishing boat.

"What's going on? This is what caused the Pokémon rampage?" he asked.

"Yeah. These people were paid to dump the contents of these barrels into the sea. That's what caused it."

Nathan, who had always treated Pokémon kindly, couldn't help but feel the urge to strike someone.

To harm Pokémon just for money—such people were truly despicable.

"Have you found the person who paid them?"

Although he was furious, Nathan held back when he saw the ragged state of the men.

Logan shook his head. The fishing boat was so small that there were only a few places someone could hide—yet no one else was on board.

According to the men, they had only received part of the payment. The rest was to be given after the job was done.

"Nathan, go back to Grace City and investigate these people. I suspect this is the work of a dark organization," Logan said after some thought.

Nathan nodded. Only a dark Pokémon group would do something so vile.

Aside from those lawless organizations, no one else would bothis doing something so heinous.

Fortunately, they weren't too far from shore, and there was still cell service.

Logan made a call, requesting that researchers from Grace City bring equipment to the shore for analysis.

"I'll go track down that dark organization. What about the Pokémon riot here? Can you handle it alone?" Nathan asked, worried.

"Don't worry. I can hold the line here," Logan assured him.

With that, Nathan boarded his Flygon and headed back toward Grace City.

However, once he returned, he found himself facing a headache—there was no clear place to start.

Grace City was a chaotic city with a large population, and it was massive in size.

Trying to find a few people among a million residents was no easy task.

"Eevee~"

Suddenly, his Eevee popped out of its Poké Ball, hopped onto his shoulder, and pointed toward a direction while letting out a cry.

"You're sure they're that way?" Nathan asked in disbelief.

He truly hadn't expected his Eevee to help in such a crucial moment!

It had to be said—sometimes a Pokémon's abilities could lead to unexpected results.

Following Eevee's guidance, Nathan soon arrived at the airspace above an abandoned construction site.

From the sky, he could see that many thugs were loitering around the area.

It looked like the kind of place where gangs settled scores.

And the dark Pokémon group was most likely hiding there.

Since they might be inside the structure, searching from the air was ineffective.

So Nathan landed and returned to the ground.

The thugs lurking in the shadows looked at his with eyes gleaming with greed.

"Hey, kid. This ain't the place for you. Beat it," one of them barked, stepping up to confront him.

"Come out, Pangoro!"

Nathan summoned his Pangoro—its large, muscular frame suddenly towering in front of the thugs.

"I'll give you one chance. Tell me—who told you to stop me?" he said coldly, staring the man down.

"Y-you…"

The thug could feel the intense pressure emanating from Pangoro—this was a Elite-level aura!

They had just taken some money to stop any outsiders from entering.

They hadn't expected to run into someone this powerful.

An Elite-level Pokémon?! The strongest one among them was only Commander-level at best!

(End of Chapter)