The person controlling Scizor had probably never expected to be exposed so quickly.
They had also probably never imagined that someone could block Scizor's Hyper Beam so easily.
Still, although Scizor was surprised, it immediately attacked again. This time, its target was no longer the Eevee it had chosen first. It switched its focus to the Gengar standing in front of it. This Gengar felt far more dangerous.
Scizor, known as Red Lightning, closed the distance in an instant. It rushed in and used Close Combat, striking at Gengar with both massive claws.
Its claws moved as fast as bullets, raining down hit after hit. In just a short moment, it had already launched dozens of attacks.
Gengar stayed completely calm under the assault. A smug grin remained on its face as it let out a strange laugh. Then it used its ghostly powers to vanish and fade from sight, dodging every blow with ease.
Scizor suddenly changed speed. It chained Metal Claw into rapid Bullet Punch strikes and even altered the angle of its attacks. Even so, Gengar dealt with everything effortlessly.
It was obvious that this so-called Red Lightning had real skill. Otherwise, it would never have defeated so many Trainers or caused such a huge commotion.
But it still could not find any way to deal with Gengar.
It did not matter how arrogant or fierce a Pokémon was. Unless it was some overwhelming Legendary Pokémon or had broken past its physical limits, it could not hope to win. In a one-on-one fight against Natsui's Gengar, which had lived for two thousand years, any opponent would be crushed in the end.
Gengar's moves were powerful, but that was not its greatest strength. Its technique was excellent, but what made it truly terrifying was how unpredictable its attacks were. Defending against it was almost impossible.
So if you tried to fight Gengar like it was an ordinary Pokémon, you were guaranteed to lose.
Clearly, Red Lightning had no idea how serious that was.
Maybe it had never met a worthy opponent before, let alone a truly terrifying one. Scizor was brave, but none of its attacks could touch Gengar. Instead, Gengar toyed with it, and Scizor ended up taking more and more injuries.
Once Gengar had had enough fun, it glanced back at Natsui.
"What should we do with this one? Beat it up properly, or just catch it now?"
Natsui thought for a moment.
Since someone was clearly giving Scizor commands from behind the scenes, punishing only Scizor would solve nothing. He had to catch the person controlling it.
He looked at Gengar, and Gengar immediately understood.
Gengar formed two Shadow Balls and hurled them at Scizor. Scizor focused all of its attention on dealing with them. At that same moment, Gengar vanished. When it reappeared, it was already behind Scizor.
Scizor was a Bug-type Pokémon and had sharp instincts. In that instant, it felt danger crash over it.
It swung its claws and batted away the two Shadow Balls, then spun around at high speed. Its right claw rose, ready to smash down on Gengar.
But it was already too late.
Even if it wanted to stop Gengar, it simply was not strong enough.
A Dark Pulse slammed into Scizor's body, passing right through the gap in its raised claw and striking it directly.
Hit by the Dark Pulse, Scizor dropped to the ground in pain. Its whole body trembled under the impact.
The person controlling it from afar was clearly shocked.
"Scizor! What's wrong with you?"
They had probably never imagined that Scizor would nearly collapse after taking only a single clean hit.
Natsui listened carefully to that voice.
All he could tell was that it sounded like a man in his thirties or forties. But the voice had been distorted electronically.
There were no other clues.
The controller quickly realized they could not win. Unwilling to lose their Pokémon, they immediately ordered Scizor to retreat as soon as it managed to stand up again.
Scizor did not hesitate. It leaped onto a tall tree and then launched itself away.
"Eh? Scizor actually flew!?"
"How is that possible? Even though it has wings, Scizor shouldn't be able to fly like that!"
"It really can't."
"It's using the wind. This city is full of steel and concrete, and the buildings create strong crosswinds. Scizor is using those gusts to glide over long distances, making it look like it's flying. Look, it's landing and jumping again now, isn't it?"
After saying that, Natsui turned to Gengar.
Gengar grinned and floated into the air, chasing after Scizor.
"Let's go."
Natsui watched Gengar disappear, then took out a Poké Ball and released Gardevoir. With Gardevoir there to protect them, he smiled at May.
"Now let's uncover the truth behind this, and meet the real mastermind hiding in the shadows."
Since Gengar was already tailing the target, Natsui was not worried about losing them. There was no need to rush. Gardevoir simply led him in the direction Gengar had gone.
Gardevoir was already very strong. As long as Gengar remained somewhere in the city, she could still sense its position no matter how confusing the streets became.
And Gengar was helping her as well.
Gardevoir's ability to sense things was excellent. But if Gengar truly wanted to hide, even Legendary Pokémon would have trouble finding it.
Natsui and May crossed several side streets. Eventually, they reached a main road and started heading toward the center of the city.
It seemed that Scizor's hideout was there.
That was a little surprising, but at the same time, it made sense.
The Pokémon had been active all over this city, so its nest had to be somewhere within it. The city center was the best possible place. From there, it could move in any direction and keep an eye on everything.
Since that was the case...
Natsui was still confused.
The trouble had been going on for quite a while already. So why had Officer Jenny and the other Trainers still not found anything?
A bright red Pokémon should have been easy to spot in a city like this.
It had also committed plenty of incidents already. It should have been impossible for it to leave no clues at all.
Were Scizor and its controller just that good at hiding, or was there some other reason?
He still did not understand it, but that no longer mattered.
They had provoked him, so he was going to solve this mystery today.
As they entered the city center, there were many more cars and people around them.
Quite a few people looked at Gardevoir curiously. Since it was not a Pokémon native to Kanto, it naturally drew attention.
That made Natsui and May slow down.
With so many people watching, they could not do anything unusual. Drawing too much attention would only cause trouble.
At that point, Natsui finally understood why Officer Jenny and the others had struggled so much.
They must have had the same concern.
Fortunately, that situation did not last long. Soon they turned into another alley where there was no one around, and they could move freely again.
Gardevoir came to a stop and pointed toward the top of an extremely tall nearby building.
Then Gengar floated down from above and landed in front of them.
"You two took your time."
"Up there is Red Lightning's nest. I've got to say, rich people really do live differently."
At first, Natsui did not understand why Gengar was sighing like that. But the moment Gardevoir used Teleport to bring him and May to the rooftop, he understood immediately.
The building was nearly thirty stories tall, and yet on top of it stood an enormous manor.
The main house was a large three-story villa with a tower. In front of it were fountains, grass, and even trees.
The entire rooftop had been turned into a private estate.
"That really is the life of the rich..."
"I've only ever seen a house like this on TV. This is my first time seeing one in real life!"
Natsui could not help being impressed by the owner's wealth and audacity.
He knew the owner had to possess the entire building. Otherwise, there was no way a manor like this could have been built here.
"So that's how it is. Hiding here really would make them much harder to find. Even if the police became suspicious, they'd have to act carefully. Just as I thought, attacking Trainers and drawing ghost faces on their Pokémon sounds exactly like the kind of nasty hobby a spoiled rich kid would have. Maybe the one behind this is actually just a child."
Gengar looked surprised by that conclusion.
"Hm? How do you know the mastermind is really a kid?"
"Right after I followed that Scizor here, I saw it talking to a little girl."
"A little girl?"
"I thought it might have been a boy at first, but that part doesn't really matter. The prank itself was the bigger clue. After all, aside from children, what adult would bother doing this kind of thing to a Pokémon's face?"
Natsui had no intention of hiding. He simply walked toward the manor with May and his Pokémon.
At this point, the one who should be nervous was the mastermind.
The owner noticed them approaching almost immediately.
As soon as they reached the villa's front door, a little girl appeared together with the same Scizor from before.
She was young, a little younger than May. She wore a red dress and had brown hair tied into twin pigtails. She was pretty, carried herself with confidence, and clearly looked like someone from a wealthy family.
Even so, the moment she saw Natsui and the others, worry flashed across her face.
"You actually followed us here! How did you find us!?"
Her real voice did not sound like the electronic one from before, but the way she spoke was the same. Natsui immediately understood that she was the one controlling Scizor.
"Was finding you supposed to be difficult?"
"You just never ran into a real Trainer before. Beating up beginners isn't skill."
The girl became angry the moment Natsui exposed her.
"What? Are you seriously that upset over my prank!?"
"Prank?"
"I didn't see every case myself, but plenty of people in this city have been seriously troubled by what you call a prank. A lot of Pokémon were injured badly enough to need treatment at the Pokémon Center. What you did goes far beyond a simple prank. And just now, you even tried to attack me directly. I think it's fair to call that intentional assault, don't you?"
The girl's expression changed. Maybe it was fear, maybe anger. Her whole face turned red as she shouted.
"What I do is none of your business!"
At that moment, May finally spoke up.
"Why are you doing this?"
Luna lifted her chin proudly.
"Because it's fun, obviously!"
May stared at her in disbelief.
"Just... just for a reason like that?"
"Of course. How many times do I have to say it? What I do is none of your business. You broke into my home, so now you'll pay for it. Red Lightning, use Hyper Beam!"
Just then, another person came running over in a hurry.
"Please wait a moment!"
Natsui turned his head and saw an elderly man dressed like a butler.
He was breathing hard, but the moment he arrived, he immediately addressed Natsui.
"Sir, please wait!"
"Is something wrong?"
Since Natsui had not attacked yet, the butler visibly relaxed. He quickly bowed to them.
"Please forgive Miss Luna for her recklessness. As for this prank... I also know it has gone too far. So please, I beg you, be merciful and pretend this never happened."
Natsui raised an eyebrow.
"So you knew about all the attacks on Trainers and Pokémon too?"
"This..."
"Master and Madam don't know anything about it. I'm the only one who knows about Miss Luna..."
The girl cut him off immediately.
"Stop talking. My affairs are none of your concern!"