It was only at this point that he truly realized—he had been poisoned.
And the only thing that could have poisoned him was the beef he had secretly eaten.
Enduring the pain wracking his body, Kelly crawled out from his tent and spoke up.
As soon as he finished, he lost consciousness.
Nathan jogged over to Kelly's side. Seeing his purplish complexion, his face filled with anger.
Kelly had been poisoned—and without a doubt, it was because of him.
The poison in the food was clearly meant for him.
But because Kelly had eaten a little in advance, he discovered the problem.
If not for that, the one poisoned would've been him!
In other words, Kelly had eaten the poisoned food for him.
Without hesitation, he quickly purchased an antidote from the system store and shoved it directly into Kelly's mouth.
Now was not the time to worry about being rough or polite—curing the poison came first.
After swallowing the antidote, Kelly's pain-distorted face slowly began to relax.
It seemed to be working.
Just then, Captain Burks arrived with a doctor.
With the combined efforts of the antidote and the medical treatment, Kelly's condition gradually stabilized.
"Damn it, just wait! I will get an explanation from the World Championship officials!"
Captain Burks slapped his thigh, ready to storm off and confront the tournament organizers.
He clearly remembered that this batch of beef had been delivered as part of the supplies from the World Championship officials.
"Wait a minute!"
Nathan barked sharply, stopping Captain Burks in his tracks.
"Until I return, no one is to leave this island without my permission."
This matter definitely needed to be investigated—but not in the way Captain Burks was thinking.
Sometimes, a Pokémon's abilities were more useful than any human method.
"But..."
Captain Burks still wanted to argue, but Nathan had already walked away.
Watching him leave, he could only sigh and return to the camp.
Meanwhile, Mary looked at the poisoned Kelly and the unharmed Nathan, her heart sinking in disappointment.
She had failed once again.
But she still hadn't realized the severity of the situation—nor how terrifying Nathan could be when truly enraged.
…
About ten minutes later, Nathan returned to the camp.
He walked straight over to Mary.
"Tell me, what other plans does your Dark Organization have?"
Nathan's tone was calm and cold.
Mary's pupils shrank. She chuckled awkwardly. "What are you talking about? What Dark Organization?"
Had she been exposed?
She had made sure there was no one around when she poisoned the food—both on the ship and on the island.
Was Nathan bluffing her?
Regardless, Mary was already gripping her mount's Poké Ball, ready to flee at the first sign of danger.
"Still pretending?" Nathan sneered. "Mary—or should I say, Black Dew?"
The moment she heard that name, Black Dew didn't hesitate.
She tossed out her mount's Poké Ball and leapt onto it, trying to escape.
But she had underestimated how terrifying Nathan was.
The instant she mounted her Pokémon, she realized—neither she nor the Pokémon could move a single inch.
"You still don't understand your current situation," Nathan said calmly.
After leaving the camp earlier, Nathan had summoned Entei—not to fight, but to read information.
That's right. As legendary Pokémon, Entei, Suicune, and Raikou all had the ability to read minds.
When Entei heard Nathan's request, he immediately helped.
With Entei's aid, it had taken Nathan only a few minutes to find out who had poisoned the food.
He also learned Mary's real name—Black Dew—and her true identity.
However, since Black Dew hadn't been thinking about Chiyou's future plans, Entei couldn't see beyond the poisoning plot.
"You think you can escape? Without my permission, you're not leaving this island," Nathan said, slowly walking toward Black Dew.
At that moment, Mewtwo and Metagross flew out from the shadows.
Both were Psychic-type Pokémon—and with their strength, it was laughably easy for them to restrain Black Dew and her mount.
"Do what you want, kill me if you must! I won't say a word!"
Black Dew shouted, defiant now that she was in Nathan's grasp.
Nathan waved his hand, signaling Mewtwo and Metagross to release her.
Black Dew was stunned to feel control of her body returning.
"Kill you? That never even crossed my mind. You're just a pawn—dead or alive, it makes no difference."
"Go back and tell your boss: once this World Championship is over, he'd better wash his neck clean.
I'm coming for him."
With that, Nathan turned to leave.
Black Dew stared at Nathan in disbelief.
She had thought she was dead for sure, but instead, she'd been let go—only to deliver a message.
As she was about to flee, Nathan spoke again.
"Oh, one more thing—stay put during the World Championship.
Because legendary Pokémon... aren't something you lot can deal with."
A chill ran down Black Dew's spine.
Had this monster already captured a legendary Pokémon?
Or had one of his Pokémon reach the legendary level?
Or maybe someone else in the tournament had a legendary Pokémon?
Of course, it was also possible that Nathan was bluffing to keep them from interfering so he could win the championship undisturbed.
But that last possibility seemed unlikely.
Black Dew left.
Her identity was exposed, and there was no point in staying any longer.
It was better to report back and relay Nathan's message to the boss.
When Nathan returned to Kelly's tent, he saw that Kelly was awake.
"You okay?"
Nathan asked, seeing Kelly sitting up.
"I'm fine. Just a bit of poison. And you gave me the antidote, right?"
Kelly patted his chest, but no matter how much he tried to act tough, he still looked quite drained.
Still, if he was already trying to joke around, it meant he was on the mend.
As long as he was okay, that was what mattered.
"Did you find the one who poisoned the food?"
Kelly asked seriously.
More than anything, he was concerned about that.
This time, he had managed to take the poisoned food first.
But what about next time?
If they didn't find the culprit, incidents like this would only keep happening.
"Don't worry. It was the Dark Organization, Chiyou. The one who poisoned the food was Mary," Nathan said with a smile.
But beneath that smile, his fury was seething.
"What did you say? Chiyou...?"
Kelly tensed up the moment he heard that name. He tried to get up—but as soon as he bent his knees, he blacked out and fell to the ground.
Nathan rushed to help him lie back down.
People recovering from illness never stayed put.
"Don't worry. I'll be fine. But when we return home, I'll need you to coordinate with the higher-ups."
Nathan then laid out his plan:
He would storm Chiyou's base himself and destroy it completely.
Kelly, meanwhile, would handle things on the domestic side—eliminating any remnants of the organization to prevent them from resurging in the future.
After explaining things to Kelly for about ten minutes, Nathan went to Captain Burks and briefly told him about Mary's real identity.
He also instructed Captain Burks to keep everyone else quiet about it.
To be fair, Chiyou had picked their timing well—striking right during the World Championship.
If it had been any other time, Nathan would've already flown off on his Flygon to destroy their base.
After Nathan finished, Captain Burks immediately led a team to inspect all the food supplies—to make sure nothing else was poisoned.
That night, officials from the World Championship arrived.
They weren't there to investigate, though—they had simply come to deliver an invitation to the opening ceremony.
Even though the venue was remote, the ceremony would still go ahead as planned.
The invitation clearly stated that there would be exhibition battles during the event.
Nathan took a deep breath, setting aside all the frustration in his heart.
"Looks like I need to attend this opening ceremony.
Might even get to see some interesting people in action," he muttered as he looked at the invitation.
The next evening, the championship officials returned with a boat to pick them up.
Nathan boarded, heading off to the ceremony.
Once on board, he saw a familiar face—Samuel Light.
Only this time, Samuel wasn't accompanied by anyone else.
(End of Chapter)