Chapter 225

The poor Aegislash had barely made a move before everything ended. It only managed to attempt one attack, which Mewtwo easily blocked.

"You said I was a big fish earlier, but it looks like this fish is big enough to swallow your whole ship," Nathan said coldly, glaring at Black Soul.

Black Soul stared back in disbelief. Aegislash was one of his proudest Pokémon, but in Nathan's hands, it was tossed around like a toy, completely unable to retaliate.

"You forced me to do this!" Black Soul shouted, pulling a round object from his pocket.

At first, Nathan thought it was a Poké Ball. But when Black Soul threw it to the ground, Nathan realized too late he had been fooled.

It wasn't a Poké Ball—it was a smoke bomb!

But escaping from Nathan wouldn't be so simple. Outside, Volcarona, Pangoro, and Metagross were waiting. Who could possibly escape?

Nathan quickly rushed down the stairs and out of the building. At that moment, Volcarona was already launching flames at Black Soul and the Mandibuzz he was riding.

Mandibuzz was only level 47—a Gym-level Pokémon. It was no match for Volcarona.

Just a few blasts of flame, and Mandibuzz was shot down from the sky.

As soon as Black Soul and Mandibuzz hit the ground, Metagross and Pangoro immediately subdued them both—man and Pokémon.

"You think you can run from me?" Nathan said calmly, approaching the restrained Black Soul.

This whole battle felt somewhat anticlimactic to Nathan.

He had expected a tough opponent, but the fight was over almost instantly.

Looking at Black Soul pinned to the ground by Pangoro, Nathan clicked his tongue twice and squatted down beside him.

"Be honest. How were you controlling those rampaging Pokémon?" Nathan asked coldly.

"Hmph! You just beat me because you have more Pokémon. I'll never tell you anything," Black Soul snorted, turning his head away.

Nathan laughed at that.

A Dark Organization never played by the rules, and now this guy wanted to talk about fairness? He ambushed a trainer and still dared to claim he was outnumbered?

What a joke. A complete and utter joke.

Nathan said nothing more, simply started searching Black Soul's body.

But after a thorough check, he found nothing—only two Poké Balls. He couldn't tell what Pokémon were inside.

"Zeraora, search this building. See if there's anything suspicious inside," Nathan ordered.

With a flash, Zeraora dashed into the abandoned building where the battle had occurred.

About a minute later, Zeraora's head popped up from the rooftop. It let out two short cries.

"There's something up here," it said.

Nathan immediately made his way to the roof.

There, he saw a strange machine. Judging by its appearance, Nathan was almost certain it was the source of the problem.

The machine had a large canister filled with some unknown red liquid—like blood.

There were seven or eight buttons on the machine, and four of them were glowing.

Nathan studied it for a while but couldn't figure out how it worked or how to shut it down. The buttons were identical, with no labels or instructions.

With no other option, Nathan called Logan.

After briefly explaining the situation and describing the machine and buttons, Logan, who was on the shore fighting off the rampaging Pokémon, began to understand.

From the beginning until now, four waves of rampaging Pokémon had appeared—Advanced, Commander, Gym, and Elite tier Pokémon.

While the first two waves had high numbers, the Gym-level Pokémon only numbered fewer than 20.

Logan had already taken care of them.

As for the Elite-level Pokémon, there were three of them, and although he managed to defeat them, two of his own Pokémon were injured.

"If four buttons are lit, then they must correspond to the four tiers of Pokémon," Logan concluded.

"Try pressing the first glowing button," he instructed after a moment's hesitation.

Nathan pressed it, and it immediately turned off.

"I've pressed the first button. It's off now," he reported.

At that moment, the remaining hundred or so Pokémon from the first wave suddenly stopped.

They looked around in confusion, unsure of where they were or what was going on.

Logan's heart surged with hope.

"Press the remaining three buttons. The Advanced-tier Pokémon here have stopped rampaging," he urged.

Nathan did as instructed, and the moment all four buttons were off, the rampage ceased entirely.

People on the shoreline erupted into cheers.

They had successfully fended off the Pokémon rampage!

This event came and went fast—but it had been extremely dangerous.

Had Nathan not arrived in time, and Black Soul managed to unleash higher-level Pokémon, the city might've been destroyed.

With the threat neutralized, the military began to clean up and eventually withdrew.

Logan, the Elite Guardian member, made his way to the abandoned building, accompanied by researchers from Grace City.

The researchers took the machine for further study.

"Luckily, you moved fast, Nathan. If that guy had activated another button, we'd have been in big trouble," Logan said with lingering fear.

But Nathan shook his head. He had a feeling this wasn't over.

"I don't think that Dark Organization's plan ends here," Nathan said gravely.

Researching something to control Pokémon was no easy feat.

Now that they had mastered this technology, why would they stop at just one city?

Nathan believed Grace City was only the beginning—possibly just a test site.

What worried him most was the possibility that a Dark Organization would go insane and trigger a global rampage of Pokémon.

If that really happened, it would be the end of the world.

"What are you saying?" Logan asked, not fully understanding.

Nathan explained everything he was thinking.

After hearing it all, Logan felt the weight on his shoulders grow even heavier.

If things really escalated the way Nathan predicted, the burden on them as domestic Elite Guardian members would be immense.

"Don't worry. I'll definitely report this to the higher-ups. I'm sure they'll come up with a countermeasure," Logan said, patting his chest confidently.

Though the researchers had left, Black Soul had yet to be taken away.

"You still don't want to talk?" Nathan asked with a smile.

Black Soul only snorted coldly and remained silent.

Nathan didn't bother pressing him further. He stood up and turned his back.

"Elite Grey, once you send this guy in, make sure he gets 'special treatment.' Remember those guys I handed over last time—weren't they all gay?"

While speaking, Nathan kept winking, signaling Logan to play along.

Logan immediately understood.

"Those guys were put in solitary!" he replied.

"Oh no, don't do that again. Bad things can happen when you isolate people. Better to house them together—and make sure this one joins them," Nathan said.

The two of them played off each other perfectly, despite no prior coordination.

Both were sharp enough to improvise on the spot.

Black Soul was stunned.

Wait… was he about to get violated in prison!?

"Even if I've been arrested, I still have human rights!" Black Soul shouted in fear.

He struggled, desperate to escape the nightmare that seemed to be unfolding.

Nathan glanced at him with disdain and ignored his plea.

But he subtly gave Logan a thumbs-up.

Looks like the Elite Guardian master wasn't as stiff and inflexible as the rumors said.

And this Black Soul… for someone good at ambushing others, he sure couldn't tell a joke from a threat.

"All right, you go ahead and take him in. I'll be leaving now," Nathan said, recalling his Pokémon and flying off on his Flygon.

Before leaving, however, he sent a message to Logan.

Once Black Soul confessed, he wanted to be informed immediately.

 

 

(End of Chapter)