Shiro smiled, patted Sapphire twice on the head, and straightened his collar before turning around. "Let's go, Mr. Cairo."
Cairo also waved for the driver to start the car and said with a smile, "Professor Shiro, your efficiency is ten times faster than that of every trainer in the Hoenn League combined. It would be great if you were the Hoenn Champion."
"That would depend on whether the people of Hoenn agree." Shiro curled his lips slightly with some regret.
* * *
Mt. Chimney
Mt. Chimney is a volcano over 1,500 meters tall in the central northern part of the Hoenn region. Although it had not erupted for many years, the volcanic ash drifting from it was enough to show that it was still a dormant volcano.
However, those who truly understood the situation knew that this was not really a matter of whether the volcano was dormant or not.
At the very least, Team Magma already knew that deep inside this unremarkable volcano slept the deity who had created the continent.
At the foot of the mountain, the branches and leaves of the barren forest had long since withered. They were scattered about like a graveyard of dead trees, making it easy to imagine that this place might be home to certain Ghost-type Pokémon on a cloudy day.
But right now, Team Magma members dressed in red were desperately fleeing in the same direction.
"Executive Blaise! Drake is still chasing us!" one of the Magma grunts shouted in panic. "What should we do now?"
At the front, the long-haired man wearing a red hood gritted his teeth and glanced back at the others before shouting, "You go ahead. I'll stay behind and hold him off!"
He was Blaise, one of Team Magma's top executives, one of the Three Fires, and the man supposedly known for using fire to control "memory." Of course, there was some exaggeration in that title.
At the very least, Blaise was a Gym-level trainer and the only one of that rank in this Team Magma squad.
With a Hoenn Elite Four member hot on their heels, the team's rules required him to help his subordinates escape first.
The problem was that their pursuer was Drake, a current Elite Four member and former Champion. That made Blaise extremely miserable, which was why he had been running at the very front the entire time.
Why couldn't it have been those two rookies, Sidney and Glacia, who came to Mt. Chimney instead?
Could those two rookies have been lucky enough to run into Team Aqua?
Blaise complained wildly in his mind, but his hands never stopped moving. "Come out! Magcargo! Camerupt!"
Two flashes of red light appeared. A black-shelled, red-bodied fire snail over a meter tall and a red-furred camel over two meters tall appeared behind the fleeing Team Magma members. Both stared menacingly toward the sky.
Drake stood on the back of his Salamence and casually sized up the two Fire-type Pokémon before smiling. "Too bad they aren't Ice-types. They're also a whole major rank below my Salamence. You want to challenge across a rank? Fighting two against one is certainly brave."
"Salamence, Draco Meteor!"
Wanting to stop the fleeing Team Magma members, Drake, who was deeply aware of his advancing age, still chose the simplest and most brutal large-area attack with overwhelming power.
"Salaaaaa!"
As Salamence let out a long roar, countless golden-red sparks suddenly appeared across the sky. In the blink of an eye, the sparks rolled and spun before transforming into terrifying meteors several meters in diameter.
This signature Dragon-type move was like divine punishment from a dragon god. Even the sight of the meteors gathering in the sky was enough to leave ordinary people too frightened to resist.
On the ground, Blaise's expression changed again and again. In the end, he gave his teammates behind him a regretful glance before shouting:
"Magcargo, Camerupt, use Lava Plume!"
Lava Plume caused the Pokémon to spew out blazing flames that resembled smoke. The attack struck every Pokémon nearby except the user and could leave opponents burned.
Whoosh!
Flames surged out and quickly formed a flat, round mass of fire, scorching all the dead trees around them.
At that moment, accompanied by the sound of something tearing through the air, one meteor after another came crashing down without any obstruction.
Boom!
The first meteor struck with a deafening explosion, sending waves of dust and volcanic ash rapidly spreading through the area. The ground shook violently, and several Team Magma members who were still running immediately felt the world spinning around them before disappearing completely from sight.
A few minutes later, the Draco Meteor shower finally ended.
Looking at the scene below, where the barren forest had been transformed into a crater filled with volcanic ash and fallen meteors, Drake nodded in satisfaction and shouted, "Salamence, let's go!"
Completing the mission was that simple.
An Elite Four member had neither the need nor the reason to retreat. All he had to do was wipe out those members of the evil organization who deserved to die.
Who would be stupid enough to fight an evil organization fair and square?
On the way to Ever Grande City, Drake casually took out his communicator and called headquarters.
"Hello? Yes, this is Elite Drake. I did find a group of Team Magma members near Mt. Chimney. They've already been wiped out..."
"Oh? Lilycove City actually acted faster than me? Looks like that brat Sidney has improved... So Shiro happened to be passing by and helped out? No wonder the efficiency was so high."
"What kind of trainer development system does that place called Galar have?"
"Damn, such a young Champion, yet his strength and abilities completely surpass all the rookies. Even those few from Kanto can't compare... I'll find some time to ask the people from Galar about it."
"Wait, he's already come to Hoenn to work as a professor? Didn't he consider staying in Hoenn and becoming a Champion as well? Alright, alright, I won't cause any trouble."
"Shiro's people have already gone to the research institute? I understand. I'll find some time to pay them a visit."
After saying that, Drake hung up the communicator.
Salamence increased its speed.
* * *
Lilycove City
On Road No. 5 in the eastern part of Lilycove department store district, Officer Jenny sternly directed Arcanine while commanding the League trainers around her. These League trainers, who were always eager to earn contribution points, had always loved jobs like cleaning up the battlefield.
There was no danger and no fighting.
All that remained were pitiful yet somewhat cute corpses waiting to be carried away so their contribution points could be calculated.
If only Officer Jenny's terrifyingly stern expression and harsh tone were not so unpleasant, the League trainers would have been in a much better mood.
In fact, if not for the battle, Road No. 5 would barely have suffered any damage in the first place, so there would have been no need to clean it up. The battle itself had not been very intense either. Only parts of the ground and a few pillars had been damaged, while some unlucky windows had been shattered.
With the help of Pokémon, cleaning everything up was extremely easy. Once the road and pillars were repaired with some materials, the place would soon be as good as new.
"You two! Hurry up and carry that guy back!" Officer Jenny shouted with obvious displeasure.
The two trainers she pointed at looked helpless at first, but when they saw who she was pointing toward, their helplessness quickly turned into barely concealed delight.
The delinquent lying on the ground, looking as if he had just been dumped and then beaten up, was none other than Hoenn's Elite Four member, Sidney.
Sidney lay face-down on the ground with his fists clenched, looking as though he was barely hanging on to life. Even the Scrafty beside him looked extremely impatient. After raising its middle finger, it took the trainer's belt off him without hesitation and ran toward the Pokémon Center.
**
**
**
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!