Off the coast of Iron Island, a group of Water-type Trainers were taking advantage of the clear night to train their Pokémon.
The recent stretch of hurricanes and heavy rain had kept them confined to the waters around the island. Now that the weather had finally cleared up, they couldn't resist heading out into the open sea.
Under their Trainers' commands, a Mantine and a Tentacruel were in the middle of an intense mock battle when they both suddenly stopped.
Tentacruel stared blankly at the Pokémon floating beside it. The newcomer had a silver-white body with blue markings around its eyes and belly. It looked at them curiously for a moment before its expression suddenly turned anxious.
A nearby Chinchou waved its glowing antennae, lighting up the area so the Trainers could finally get a good look at it.
"What Pokémon is that? Does anyone know?"
"I've never seen one before..."
"It lives in the water, and it has wings... The only Pokémon like that I know is Mantine."
"It looks like a baby. Maybe it got separated from its family? Or maybe it belongs to another Trainer who's letting it roam?"
Silver Lugia nudged Tentacruel with her head. When Tentacruel only looked back in confusion, she turned and urgently pushed Chinchou with one wing, desperately trying to explain something.
Very quickly, the Water-type Pokémon around them all changed expressions. They frantically tried to communicate with their Trainers, but they were so panicked that none of the humans could make sense of what they were trying to say.
Before anyone could figure out what was happening, a massive figure burst from the sea not far away. Its cry sent a chill through every Trainer present.
Silver immediately flapped her wings and flew toward the adult Lugia. The Water-type Pokémon grabbed hold of their Trainers and hurriedly dragged them back toward Iron Island.
The warning Silver had been trying to deliver was simple. Another hurricane was coming.
Sensing the approaching storm, Lugia had surfaced with Silver once again. The last time, she had used a great deal of her strength to disperse the storm clouds and save people caught at sea.
This time, she could tell the hurricane wasn't as powerful as the previous one. It was the perfect opportunity for Silver to train.
The waves grew higher, and the wind became fiercer. Silver bobbed helplessly in the water, blowing bubbles as she drifted up and down.
She hated this kind of training. Every time a hurricane approached, Lugia made her rise into the storm, temper herself against the wind and rain, and practice controlling her power. She was always attacking empty air.
Occasionally she managed to find a Water-type Pokémon willing to spar with her, but before long they would all be scared away by Lugia's overwhelming presence.
Lugia understood exactly how Silver felt. Unfortunately, she had no solution. After all, she had grown up training the exact same way.
At the moment, however, confusion filled Lugia's eyes. Two hurricanes had arrived in such a short span of time, each comparable to the last. Something about it felt deeply unnatural.
She herself possessed the power to manipulate the weather, so she knew another powerful Pokémon hadn't summoned this storm. Yet she could also clearly tell that this wasn't a naturally formed hurricane. It felt more like the aftermath of two immense forces colliding.
If such terrifying powers really had clashed... why hadn't she sensed it at all?
"...I'll ask Ho-Oh when I see it."
Lugia turned her gaze toward Eterna City in Sinnoh.
The storm clouds rapidly advanced toward the mainland. Lugia let out a loud cry, startling the still-floating Silver, and hurried into the curtain of pouring rain to begin another round of training.
---
Inside the cave where Oleana and Cyrus had been staying, Steven finished sorting the rocks he had dug up over the past few days.
Oleana simply couldn't understand the hobby. Every leader of the Hodgepodge Organization had gathered at the underground mine base, yet Steven had spent the entire time happily digging up interesting rocks.
'So this is the composure of the Hoenn Champion...' She'd learned something today.
"Cynthia and the others are almost at Hearthome City." Cyrus walked in from outside and tossed his phone to Oleana.
Hearthome City was already very close to Oreburgh City. That meant they would have to move earlier than planned.
The three of them climbed to a high vantage point opposite the cave, overlooking the entrance to the underground base. Just as before, groups of Pokémon controlled by the Amplification Devices wandered around the area, while several members of the Hodgepodge Organization patrolled the outer perimeter.
The thought of finally seeing Evergreen again, of finally getting her revenge, made Oleana tremble with excitement.
"Calm down. Diantha has already arranged an escape route for you. Right now, you need to keep a clear head, "
Oleana cut Cyrus off. The heavy sound of her breathing said everything about her state of mind.
"A clear head?" she snapped. "Do you know how long I've waited for this? Do you know how many years I've spent chasing his trail? How much of my life I've lost? How many precious things were taken from me?"
"You don't. You can't understand. So stop telling me to calm down. I'm already calm enough. If I weren't, I'd have charged in already."
Cyrus let out a quiet sigh and stopped trying to persuade her. She really was showing remarkable restraint; the old Oleana would have rushed straight at Evergreen the moment she heard where he was.
"Steven," Cyrus said, "if you can't bring yourself to do it, leave it to me."
Steven answered calmly, "Cynthia and Diantha can do it. If I can't, that would be pretty embarrassing. I've gone through everything we know about the Hodgepodge Organization, along with all the case files from these past years. Don't worry about me, old man. I've already prepared myself. I'll consider it revenge... for all those Pokémon."
Oleana suddenly tapped both Cyrus and Steven on the shoulders. Following the direction she pointed, they looked toward the entrance of the underground mine base.
A group of people riding Flying-type Pokémon had appeared overhead. The darkness made it difficult to see clearly, but there had to be close to a hundred of them. Instead of entering the base, they gathered around its entrance as though waiting for something.
"...Weren't all twenty-seven leaders already inside?" Cyrus frowned. They had carefully counted before.
"Did we miscount?" Oleana asked grimly. "Or did we mistake one group for another?"
A moment later, the two of them calmed down. The earlier leaders had entered the underground base two days ago, and no other leaders had arrived since then. That could only mean one thing: the last leader had simply shown up late. As long as this final leader entered the base, their plan would remain unchanged.
"This one's making quite an entrance." Steven lowered his binoculars with a whistle. "In the past, a leader arriving at the mine entrance with a few bodyguards and a handful of Pokémon was already considered heavily protected. This one brought nearly a hundred people... and nearly a hundred Pokémon. Could this be the leader in charge of security and personnel?"
Boom!
Boom!
BOOM!
Three deafening explosions erupted one after another, making all three of them instinctively flinch.
Just before the approaching hurricane clouds swallowed the moonlight, an unbelievable sight appeared through their binoculars. Smoke billowed out of the Hodgepodge Organization's underground mine base, and flickers of fire glowed within it.
Oleana swallowed hard. "...The Hodgepodge Organization's mine base..."
"...It exploded?"
(End of Chapter)
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