After bidding farewell to Ash and Delia, Tetsuya left Pallet Town.
He had to speed up his plan to eliminate the Shadow Team. Lately, he had been acting too cautiously, and his recent battles had all been lacking any real stakes.
Although he had fought both Lorelei and Lance, first, they had not been official League matches, and second, they had not involved any conflict of interests, much less a fight to the death. Neither side had fought with their full capacity.
If it had truly been a life-or-death battle, Tetsuya would not have feared either of them!
After returning to a small town near Viridian City, news of Gym Leader Asea's disappearance from Fuchsia City was everywhere. Since she had disappeared from Vermilion City, the entire city had now been placed under lockdown.
Tetsuya could only breathe a sigh of relief inwardly. Fortunately, she had died in the forest between Viridian City and Pallet Town. No matter how hard they searched, they would never imagine that Asea had vanished there without a trace.
However, Asea was a Gym Leader after all, so the League would never give up investigating her disappearance. Back then, killing her had been unavoidable. If he had hesitated for even a moment, he would probably have died at Asea's hands instead.
It is true that the moment he realized he was being followed, he could have simply evaded them with a couple of Teleports; however, the fact that they were specifically targeting him meant someone already had him in their sights. And if he left without resolving the matter, he wasn't willing to spend his time hiding from yet another "attacker".
Now, all he could do was wait and see. Fortunately, he had acted decisively at the time and had not left behind any traces of the battle. Otherwise, there would have been even more clues, and the danger to himself would naturally have increased.
The one million Pokédollars in cash he had taken from Asea was still in his backpack. It was the only thing he had brought back from her. He bought a safe in town, placed the money inside it, and shipped it back to his home in Ecruteak City.
He contacted Madeleine back home and asked her to place the package in the cabinet in his room after it arrived. At the same time, he also sent back some health supplements, hoping to let Madeleine feel a little warmth from her family.
---◓---
After staying one night in the town, he received a phone call from Jessie that evening.
[I'm in Sunnytown~] Jessie said from the other end of the call.
"Sunnytown…? What are you doing there?" Tetsuya asked.
[Heh~ Didn't you read today's headlines?] Jessie asked proudly.
Jessie's question left Tetsuya rather puzzled. He had checked the News today. Then he said, "…Wasn't it about Gym Leader Asea from Fuchsia City going missing?"
Jessie let out a sigh. [That woman's death has nothing to do with me! Take another look. Ahem, 'Construction of the bridge across the river in Sunnytown has been unable to proceed because of interference from Water-type Pokémon.' The League has announced that Giovanni-sama has been sent to resolve the problem with those Pokémon!]
"Oh, I'll take another look," Tetsuya said before hanging up.
After reading through the news again, he indeed found a report beneath the news about Asea's disappearance stating that Giovanni had gone to Sunnytown to deal with the attacks by Pokémon on the bridge construction project. He had completely overlooked it.
It seemed he had been paying too much attention to the news about Asea. After all, he was the one who had killed her, so all he had been thinking about was whether he had left behind any clues. Naturally, Tetsuya had missed this report.
After arriving in Viridian City tomorrow, he would immediately head to Sunnytown. He would definitely be able to meet Giovanni there. When the time came, he would simply have to adapt to the situation.
---◓---
The next day, Tetsuya arrived in Viridian City as usual. Without lingering, he headed straight to the station to buy a ticket to Sunnytown. However, when he got there, he discovered that there were no tickets left.
"How did tickets to Sunnytown become so hard to get?" Tetsuya asked in confusion.
"You didn't know? Our Gym Leader, Giovanni, issued a call to all Pokémon Trainers on the League's official website to join him in Sunnytown and deal with the Pokémon attacking the bridge. All the tickets sold out last night," The ticket clerk explained.
Tetsuya nodded. Giovanni's prestige really was extraordinary. A single call to arms had actually caused all the tickets to sell out.
The earliest direct train from Viridian City to Sunnytown was already sold out until three days later. Left with no other choice, Tetsuya decided to transfer instead. The closest town to Sunnytown was Stone Town, and he managed to catch the last train there before evening.
Stone Town was fairly well known throughout the Kanto region. Its unique geography meant that many Evolutionary stones were hidden in the surrounding mountains, and such items were extremely valuable in the Pokémon world.
The town had risen to prosperity almost overnight. However, many people became wealthy after discovering Evolutionary stones and moved away from Stone Town. As a result, it had gradually become almost a ghost town, inhabited mainly by transients and vendors selling and transporting Evolutionary stones.
It only took half a day to travel from Stone Town to Sunnytown by train. If he had not been pressed for time, Tetsuya would have preferred to travel on foot. Between Stone Town and Sunnytown lay a vast primeval forest. Hidden within the forest stood an ancient castle with a long history, home to a reclusive family renowned for disguise techniques and training Ditto.
Many years later, the famous "The Man of a Thousand Faces", Brodie, would come from that very castle.
Relying on his mastery of disguise, The Man of a Thousand Faces, committed countless major crimes, leaving Leagues across various regions powerless to stop him. Even the Investigators of the International Police could do nothing. In the end, it was only with the assistance of the castle's mistress, Duplica, that the International Police finally brought Brodie to justice.
If Tetsuya could learn the ability to disguise himself anytime and anywhere, it would be like committing misdeeds under an entirely different identity, without damaging his current reputation in the slightest. It's not that he wanted to do anything, but it would undoubtedly be useful at some point.
If he could also learn the family's unique method of training Ditto, that would be even better.
Once the Shadow Team had been eliminated, he would definitely come here to seek an instructor. However, Team Magma in Hoenn had already produced the "Man of a Thousand Faces" who had thrown the entire Hoenn Region into chaos, leaving the Hoenn police completely helpless.
With such a disgraceful student, Tetsuya was worried that the castle's owner might no longer be willing to accept new students. In any case, all of that would have to wait until after the Shadow Team had been eradicated.
By the time he arrived in Stone Town, it was already eight o'clock at night. He conveniently bought a ticket for the next morning's train to Sunnytown at the station, had dinner nearby, and found a hotel. Along the way, the streets were lined with vendors selling Evolution Stones, all enthusiastically trying to promote their goods.
Items like these should always be purchased from the League's official specialty stores. Just by looking at the prices, it was obvious these vendors were selling inferior products. The purity of energy of an Evolution Stone directly affected a Pokémon's strength and potential after evolving.
This was never something worth trying to save money on!
Many Pokémon failed to learn all of their moves before evolving. If they evolved using a low-quality Evolution Stone, their potential and aptitude could actually become worse than before evolving, leaving them unable to learn many moves ever again.
Countless promising Pokémon had been ruined by these unscrupulous vendors.
By the time Tetsuya had washed up and settled into the hotel, it was already past ten o'clock. He enjoyed a peaceful night's sleep, preparing to head to Sunnytown the next day.