"You, you are..."
"I'm the Galar Champion and the newly appointed Professor of the Hoenn region. I received a request for support, so I came here to help clear out the Team Aqua members. Is there a problem?"
Shiro handed the umbrella over and started walking forward.
He knew this Hoenn delinquent, the Elite Four member Sidney. Sometimes the Pokémon League really was amazing. Whether someone was a capitalist or a street thug, a member of a powerful family or someone from an academy, they could all become high-ranking trainers within the League.
The Pokémon League was simply too free. There were countless ways to rise through the ranks, and the room for advancement was enormous. It was enough to make anyone happy.
At that moment, the faint psychic power surrounding him kept all the rain away from his body, leaving a strange ten-centimeter vacuum around him.
Shiro calmly took out a Poké Ball.
In an instant, Team Aqua's executive opposite him, Amber, reacted like a frightened bird. He grabbed Andre beside him and pulled him backward while shouting, "It's the Galar Champion! Everyone, run!"
Turn around, spin, run.
Those three actions had already become muscle memory for the Team Aqua members. They moved so quickly that even they could hardly believe it.
Andre also turned around. He desperately dragged away the small cart filled with the stolen Poké Balls.
He knew about the Galar Champion. Not long ago, every trainer knew his name. He was at least a quasi-Champion level trainer and the League's newly appointed professor.
But why had he suddenly come to Hoenn? Why had he appeared here?
Wasn't that Shiro supposed to be in Sinnoh?
Unfortunately, Team Aqua had no high ranking spies within the League, nor did any of its members have the qualifications to become one. Almost all of them were sailors, and most were pirates. Their appearance and habits alone made them very different from ordinary people.
Naturally, they had no idea that the Galar Champion had just departed from Sinnoh and arrived in Hoenn.
Under the suffocating pressure of Amber's vision and mind, a Poké Ball shot high into the air.
"Corviknight!"
Shiro gave a low shout. With a light step forward, his body instantly moved with his psychic power.
The movement was easy and practiced. After the space twisted for an instant, he appeared directly in front of Amber.
In the sky, Corviknight's pitch-black body blocked out the rain and cast an incredibly dark shadow below. Clamped in its beak was a Golbat that had tried to escape but happened to be caught by the body.
"S—"
Amber had barely managed to utter one word when a hand covered most of his face. The Poké Balls hanging at his waist were instantly locked in place.
Psychic power burst forth.
Team Aqua. The Lilycove City base. Archie. The mission. Kyogre… Scene after scene flashed through Shiro's mind like a movie.
'All three executives are Gym-level trainers. Archie's strength is still unclear, but he can easily take out a Gym-level Kabutops and give it to his subordinates as a reward. He should have some kind of technology that can revive fossil Pokémon.'
Shiro took a deep breath, released Amber's face, and casually removed the Poké Balls from his waist.
Including Golbat, there were three Pokémon in total. All of them were Gym-level. Hopefully, they could fetch a good price at the Hunters Guild after it opened.
With nothing supporting him anymore, Amber rolled his eyes and collapsed backward. After his brain was struck so heavily by psychic power, he would need at least a day before he could recover.
Shiro glanced at the Team Aqua members fleeing several hundred meters away. He had no intention of chasing them. Instead, he looked toward Andre, who was running away with the cart of Poké Balls.
"Corviknight!"
Without needing any further words, Corviknight understood his intentions almost instantly. It spat out the unconscious Golbat, its black feathers trembling as it left behind a string of afterimages.
Like a flash of lightning skimming across the ground beneath the dark clouds, it passed Andre.
Andre didn't even dare to look back. He only felt an inexplicable chill pass through him before his body was tossed aside like a piece of torn cloth.
Corviknight grabbed the cart with both claws and quickly flew back.
Perhaps because there were no Water-type Pokémon left to continue summoning the rain, the rainfall became much lighter. The dark clouds gradually thinned, and a faint white light began to show through.
Behind them, Sidney was still frozen in shock. The drastic change in the situation had left his mind reeling.
Finally, his knees gave way and he fell to the ground. He stared at the fading drizzle and the sky where sunlight was beginning to shine through.
Just as expected, Team Aqua had fled the moment they saw a League trainer. The leader who stayed behind to resist was defeated almost instantly and arrested.
The stolen Poké Balls were also recovered.
Sidney simply could not believe that the gap between himself and Shiro was this huge. It was practically an unbridgeable chasm.
With just one Pokémon, he had captured Team Aqua's highest-ranking executive in an instant and frightened every other member into fleeing.
It was suffocatingly powerful.
Could the difference between a Champion and an Elite Four member really be this great?
Sidney supported himself with both hands on the ground, questioning his entire life.
When the genius who had always existed in old man Drake's stories finally appeared before him, he sadly realized that the gap between their strengths was even greater than Drake had described.
What else could that be except despair?
It was a goal he could never catch up to and an expectation he could never prove himself worthy of.
Perhaps the shock of the past ten or so minutes had been too much. Sidney pouted, lowered his head, and began to sob.
Officer Jenny, who had crossed the barrier behind them, ignored the delinquent. She walked toward Shiro while making a phone call.
"Hello? Is this the Hoenn League headquarters? The Team Aqua disturbance on Road No. 5 in the northeast part of Lilycove City has already been resolved..."
"It wasn't Elite Sidney. It was the Galar Champion, Shiro, who happened to be passing by and came to provide support. He recovered all the stolen Pokémon and also captured a Team Aqua executive."
After finishing the call, Officer Jenny put away her communicator and lightly brushed back her short hair. A delighted smile appeared on her pretty face, her lipstick freshly applied.
"Champion Shiro, nice to meet you. I'll take care of everything that's left here. Would you like to come over for a cup of... coffee..."
As she spoke, psychic power flashed.
The person in front of her merely glanced at her before disappearing.
* * *
"Just in time, right?"
Shiro stood in front of the car with a smile as he asked Sapphire.
She was holding two large ice creams. One was completely untouched while the other was only half finished.
He had calculated the time carefully. The trip had taken just over two minutes. Most of that had been spent walking and talking nonsense, while the ice cream had only just begun to melt.
The efficiency was high. The speed was fast.
"Tsk!"
Sapphire pouted before opening her mouth and swallowing more than half of the untouched ice cream in one go. Her cheeks moved a couple of times before she swallowed it all.
She seemed to be proving that she had only left it untouched because she had deliberately saved the time to eat it later.
Shiro's eyebrow twitched. With a smile, he said, "Little kids shouldn't eat so much ice cream at once. Be careful or you'll get a stomachache..."
As soon as he finished speaking, he opened his hand. The ice cream in Sapphire's hand suddenly flew over by itself and was thrown outside.
Unown A flashed briefly before swallowing it.
Inside the car, Sapphire stuck out her tongue in displeasure. Her cheeks were puffed up, but her eyes were filled with a secretly delighted smile.
**
**
**
Thank you for reading! If you'd like access to extra chapters and want to support my work, you can visit my P@treon:
P@treon/SilverShark769
Vote with Power Stones for Bonus Chapters!
Your support means a lot, thank you!