After carefully reading through the delivered report once more, Goodshow paced back and forth in front of his desk deep in thought.
The Hunters Guild headquarters was somewhere in Sinnoh, but its exact location remained unknown.
Even after deploying psychic detection devices throughout Sinnoh using directly controlled investigators, they could only confirm whether Hunter A had appeared. They still could not pinpoint his location.
Hunter A had been silent for two years. If he had appeared this time, then it was probably a major operation.
"Which Legendary Pokémon is it this time..." Goodshow could not help sighing.
For the League, the best outcome was for those Legendary Pokémon to stay quietly asleep.
Otherwise, even a slight aftershock from battle could affect half a city.
But the Sinnoh Elite Four and Champion were unreliable. Kanto's own Elite Four members would still need to be dispatched to clean up the mess.
A suitable candidate immediately came to mind. He picked up the phone.
"Hello? Investigator Lance? There's an emergency. Suspend the current Team Rocket suppression operation and head to Sinnoh... Also transfer several International Police officers there as well."
The call ended quickly.
Goodshow frowned and lightly slapped his forehead as another person suddenly came to mind. He immediately dialed another number.
"That kid from Galar is also a Champion, right? I think he returned to Sinnoh with Rowan?"
* * *
Western outskirts of Jubilife City.
"Handsome guy, are you really getting off here?"
The driver looked around at the barren land. Only a lonely concrete road stretched out from the city toward this place.
Farther ahead, the road abruptly ended and disappeared into a patch of grass.
"Yeah, this is fine."
Shiro handed over a bill.
The driver accepted it with two fingers and stuffed it into his pocket before helplessly shrugging. "If you need me, I can wait here for at most an hour."
"No need. Thanks."
Shiro stepped out of the car and closed the door.
After walking to the end of the concrete road, he took out a Poké Ball.
"Corviknight!"
As the red light faded, Corviknight appeared beside the road.
Shiro leaped onto its back in one motion and Corviknight swiftly rose into the wind, flying westward.
"So he's a trainer..."
The driver removed his sunglasses and stared at the distant Corviknight without blinking, unable to hide the envy in his eyes.
'Someone this young with such a powerful Pokémon... his family must be incredibly wealthy.'
Thinking that, he sighed helplessly. After Corviknight disappeared into the horizon, he put his sunglasses back on and turned the steering wheel to head back along the road.
"Sigh... I can't even afford to become a trainer after driving taxis for a whole year."
* * *
Lake Verity was located in the southwestern region of Sinnoh.
Corviknight carried Shiro westward the entire way.
Ahead of them, endless green mountains were already visible along with a crystal-blue lake in the center, like a drop of morning dew embedded among rocky flowers.
Sinnoh's three lakes were separated from each other. They were respectively located in the southwest, far north, and southeast.
"The town closest to Lake Verity is Twinleaf Town..."
At a glance, Shiro spotted the small town south of Lake Verity.
Just then, the communication device rang.
Ring, ring, ring~
Shiro answered the call. On the other end was Rowan.
"Shiro! Chairman Goodshow just sent urgent news... A top-level wanted criminal, Hunter A, whose danger ranking is second only to the Team Rocket boss and the Team Galactic boss, has appeared in Sinnoh. It's suspected..."
Rowan roughly explained the situation. The meaning was simple: the Hunters Guild might be planning something, and Hunter A had likely set his sights on one of Sinnoh's Legendary Pokémon.
"Hunter A?"
Shiro went silent for a moment.
He had just met Hunter A not long ago… And after he left, Hunter A immediately took action?
Could the target possibly be… Mesprit?
Rowan continued, "The Chairman wants me to inform you that if you discover Hunter A's whereabouts, hold him off and immediately send word back. League reinforcements will arrive very quickly."
"Because Hunter A is an extremely vicious wanted criminal. His strength is at least quasi-Champion level trainer rank. Ordinary Elite Four members are no match for him. A criminal like that could easily endanger Sinnoh's residents..."
Shiro quickly had Corviknight descend first.
After saying that, Rowan suddenly sounded a little confused. "By the way, what did you head out for this morning? I was planning to invite you to dinner in Jubilife City..."
"I had something to deal with." Shiro smoothly changed the subject. "I'll be back in at most two days. We can talk then."
"Alright."
Rowan hung up.
Corviknight circled downward. Below them was a small plain surrounded by green mountains, dotted with many wooden houses topped with green roofs.
Twinleaf Town.
This was the starting town of the Sinnoh region. It was also the hometown of Rowan's assistant Rei and the birthplace of Dawn and Lucas.
Nearby, only hopping Bidoof, resting Kricketot, and scattered wooden houses could be seen. Human figures were rare. Like Pallet Town in Kanto, it was remote and sparsely populated.
On the ground, tiny grass sprouts barely poked through the soil. Thin green grass blanketed the land while the muddy trails pressed into the earth clearly showed how often the roads were used.
"Cooorv!"
With a deep cry, Corviknight steadily landed at the edge of town before being recalled by red light.
"The Hunters Guild's operation..."
Standing at the dirt crossroads, Shiro took out the tablet-like device he had obtained from the Hunters Guild earlier. It was used for communication and accepting missions.
After fumbling with it for a while and fully understanding how to use it, he began reviewing the missions one by one.
The Hunters Guild's missions were roughly divided into four categories: capturing Pokémon, assassinations, acquiring items, and ordinary tasks.
There was nothing special to explain about capturing Pokémon or assassinations. Everything depended on the employer's requirements. Some employers only wanted certain organs from the captured Pokémon, meaning delivering just the organs was enough. Assassination missions were similar. Some employers wanted heads while others only required certain limbs. Everything was negotiable.
Item retrieval missions were ranked by difficulty. Ordinary tasks mostly involved bodyguard work, transportation, and similar jobs... Some people even posted requests to find lost Stoutland. Overall, most of them were relatively low-risk.
As for missions involving Legendary Pokémon, the twenty-six seat hunters definitely had to mobilize.
Most of the time, multiple highest-seat hunters acted together. Preparations had to be made beforehand, and even then success was not guaranteed.
These were basically mandatory group missions for all highest-seat hunters.
"Nothing..."
Shiro could not find any group missions. In fact, missions involving Legendary Pokémon were pitifully rare on the task board.
Yet the League headquarters had already detected Hunter A's movements and even suspected it was connected to a Legendary Pokémon.
'They moved immediately after I left. Could it be… their target really is Mesprit?'
That was currently the most likely possibility.
But how did Hunter A know it was Mesprit?
Had his actions inside the Hunters Guild headquarters exposed him? Or had they discovered something while he used the teleportation device...
No matter what, given the Hunters Guild's methods, if they intended to capture a Legendary Pokémon, they would definitely make preparations in advance.
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