The Team Magma members behind Courtney had no objections. They nodded in agreement before promptly turning around and searching the first-floor hall.
Courtney took her Gym-level Weezing and carefully made her way through the second floor alone.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
One after another, the doors were violently blasted open by Weezing. Although Courtney was extremely anxious, she still dared not act carelessly.
The League's reinforcements were definitely already on their way. She also had no way of knowing whether there was an ambush waiting for her inside.
There was no time to waste, so she simply broke through each door. Birch's family could be hiding anywhere, and they might even have Pokémon above the Gym-level protecting them.
Meanwhile, in a guest room not far away, Birch's face was growing paler by the second.
He could only pray that they would somehow miss this room in their haste, become impatient and stop breaking down doors, or that something urgent would happen to the members behind them and force whoever was breaking down the doors to leave.
But then...
Bang!
The door shattered, and a cloud of yellow-green gas poured inside.
At the same time, Courtney caught sight of the figure in the room and immediately tensed. She hurriedly shouted, "Weezing, Protect!"
A green barrier rose for a moment. Courtney quickly retreated into the hallway and pressed herself against the wall to steady her breathing before cautiously peeking inside.
Someone suddenly appearing like this was most likely an ambush.
However...
So much time had passed, yet there wasn't even a sound?
"Weez? Weezing!"
Weezing gave a healthy cry. It was completely unharmed, and the Protect barrier had already disappeared after its duration ended.
Courtney carefully stepped through the doorway and slowly moved closer.
Only when she finally saw the obese figure lying unconscious on the floor after being knocked out by the poisonous gas did her eyes widen.
"Professor Birch!"
The tension in Courtney's heart finally eased. She raised a hand and signaled Weezing to stop using its move before struggling to drag Birch outside.
Coincidentally, several Team Magma members also rushed upstairs and happily reported, "Executive! We found two hostages!"
Courtney turned toward them. The half-conscious people being escorted by three Team Magma members were none other than Soyln and Sapphire.
"Well done!"
She rarely smiled, but she actually praised these foolish subordinates this time. Then she waved her hand and ordered, "Take the Birch family with us! We're leaving!"
Soon, several Team Magma members rushed forward to take turns carrying Birch downstairs.
After leaving the house, they had their Pokémon carry the Birch family to the road west of Littleroot Town.
Once all the Team Magma members had gathered, Courtney took several antidotes from her pocket and fed them to the Birch family one after another.
Soyln was the first to slowly wake up. The moment she saw the Team Magma members, she immediately began cursing them.
"You bastards! If I were a trainer, I'd make sure you—"
Someone beside her reacted quickly and covered her mouth.
When Birch woke up, the first thing he saw was his struggling wife and his daughter, who seemed to be sleeping peacefully beside her.
Courtney walked over without expression and said coldly, "Professor Birch, you don't want anything to happen to your wife and daughter, do you?"
* * *
A few minutes later.
Birch sat limply in the woods, staring blankly and numbly at the sky visible between the leaves.
Sapphire was sleeping quietly in the grass beside him, while Soyln had already hurried home to deal with the disgusting poisonous gas.
Birch knew that he was afraid of death.
He had a wife and an adorable daughter.
Back in Pallet Town, Oak had failed to achieve his goal. Birch was afraid that he would be targeted for revenge on his way home, so he hurriedly entrusted Sapphire to Rowan, whose character he trusted.
Birch then returned to Littleroot Town alone.
If Pallet Town had become famous because of Oak, then Littleroot Town had gradually been overlooked because of Birch.
Birch was only in his early 40s this year, making him one of the younger Pokémon professors. He was only slightly older than Sycamore.
Because he was so absorbed in his research, he had never paid much attention to the responsibilities of running a regional research institute. As a result, quite a few people disliked him.
Perhaps some of it came from a researcher's pride, but more of it came from his cowardice.
Birch was simply too afraid of danger.
In Hoenn, after accidentally discovering the two legendary Pokémon during his research, he didn't dare report it to the League or make it public. Fearing that Team Aqua and Team Magma would come looking for him, he could only hand the project over to his student, Alden, and let him take the lead in researching Groudon and Kyogre.
Who could have known that even after doing all that, Team Magma would still learn that he had secretly kept the Red Orb and chase him all the way to Littleroot Town?
How was that possible?
Only a handful of people in the entire League knew about it.
As for Birch secretly keeping the orb, only three high-ranking League officials were aware of it.
Since he was a Pokémon Professor himself, and the Hoenn League had seen that he had no intention of using the orb for anything, they had temporarily put the matter aside and allowed Birch to keep it for safekeeping.
Unfortunately, the orb was probably gone now.
Team Magma not only knew that he had secretly kept the orb. They even knew that it was hidden in the sea...
Birch had only told Drake about that!
The Red Orb could not release any energy while it was in the ocean. It was absolutely capable of avoiding detection by every instrument in the world at present!
It had definitely been Drake who leaked the information. It had to be that old bastard Drake...
After all these years, he couldn't even completely wipe out a small organization like Team Magma or Team Aqua. Maybe Team Magma was secretly an organization he had raised himself!
Birch thought bitterly.
At that moment, a green dragon-shaped shadow flew across the sky.
It was Drake, who had hurried over.
Since his Salamence had been knocked unconscious by Shiro and had lost its ability to battle, he could only ride a Flygon here.
Unfortunately, Flygon's level and speed were both far inferior to Salamence's.
There was nothing he could do about it. He could only keep urging it to fly faster.
Now, he had finally arrived in Littleroot Town.
Unfortunately...
Drake did not notice Birch in the woods, and Birch paid no attention to the dragon-like Flygon either.
It wasn't until Drake reached the Birch family's house, which was filled with yellow-green poisonous gas, that his expression suddenly turned grim.
Team Magma had been here!
"Elite Drake!"
Soyln's eyes immediately lit up when she spotted her savior.
The Birch family did not keep any Pokémon, so they were having a hard time dealing with the poisonous gas Weezing had sprayed throughout the house.
But now an Elite Four member had arrived!
Drake could definitely have his Pokémon deal with the poisonous gas.
"Elite Drake, please help us! This was left behind by those bastards from Team Magma..."
Seeing this, Drake quickly understood what had happened and immediately asked, "Mrs. Soyln, where is Professor Birch? Was he captured by Team Magma?"
"How could that be?" Soyln sounded somewhat resentful, but she only sighed before pointing toward the woods. "He's over there..."
After hearing this, Drake didn't bother responding to Soyln's request for help with the poisonous gas. He immediately took Flygon and flew toward the direction she had pointed.
**
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