Natsui understood everything now. The girl in front of him was a spoiled brat. She did whatever made her happy and only cared about relieving her own boredom. She completely ignored other people's feelings.
She attacked Trainers all over the city and forced them into battles. To her, it was nothing more than an exciting game. The butler had never told her parents about any of this. He had hidden the truth for her. He could not stop her, so he simply let her do whatever she wanted.
The butler had not directly helped her do bad things, but his behavior still made him an accomplice.
If Luna continued like this, it would eventually lead to a major disaster.
Luna said it was none of his concern. Before Natsui came here, he had no reason to interfere. But Scizor had attacked him. Now the situation was different. This matter involved him too.
At that moment, Scizor prepared another Hyper Beam and fired it at Natsui.
But Gengar did not move this time. Instead, Gardevoir stepped forward and blocked the Hyper Beam with her psychic power.
Luna thought she had found a chance to win.
She was furious that this man was interfering in her business, but she was still wary of that powerful Gengar.
A Gengar that could defeat her Red Lightning so easily was obviously dangerous.
Now that Gengar was not the one fighting, and another Pokémon had taken its place, Luna felt relieved.
She was young, but she was not ignorant.
She had defeated many Trainers throughout this large city. She had seen all kinds of Pokémon. She had plenty of battle experience. On top of that, she came from a rich family and had broad knowledge. She knew a lot about many different Pokémon.
That included Gardevoir.
She knew that Scizor had a very favorable matchup against Gardevoir in close combat. She did not understand why this man was not using Gengar, but she had to seize this chance.
"Red Lightning, use Agility!"
The moment Luna gave the command, Scizor shot toward Gardevoir at high speed. She believed it would win as long as it got close. She wanted it to dodge Gardevoir's attacks and close the distance in one rush. Once Red Lightning got in range, victory would be certain.
She was extremely confident in her Pokémon.
Red Lightning was powerful. It had dominated this city for a long time.
Other Trainers were nowhere near as strong as her Pokémon. She believed this annoying man would lose too.
But her hopes were one thing. Reality was another.
Red Lightning ran into a problem immediately.
Scizor charged toward Gardevoir at tremendous speed, but it had only crossed half the distance before it was stopped.
Gardevoir raised her right hand. She had already predicted where Scizor would move. Her psychic power activated, and Scizor was blown backward as if it had slammed into an invisible wall.
"Red Lightning!!"
Luna screamed. She had not expected this to happen at all.
Fortunately, Scizor got back up quickly and rushed toward Gardevoir again.
Knowing how hard that psychic power was to deal with, Scizor immediately used Double Team.
In an instant, six identical red figures appeared and all rushed toward Gardevoir at once.
Luna smiled.
She was very familiar with this scene.
In the past, weaker opponents had fallen to Hyper Beam. More troublesome ones had lost to Agility and Double Team. Many people had already been defeated by this combination.
She believed the same thing would happen again this time.
But then Gardevoir calmly raised her other hand as well. Psychic power surged once more. With both hands now in motion, she instantly identified the real Scizor and sent it flying backward. The other five illusions vanished at the same time.
"What!?"
Luna was shocked again.
She had never expected this move to be broken so easily too.
Since meeting Natsui, she had gone through one emotional swing after another. Surprise, anger, panic, frustration. Her expression kept changing, and it was almost a show by itself.
Scizor was knocked down again, but it still stood up. This time, it did not try to rush in. Instead, it attacked from a distance with Swift.
But even that made it very hard to hit Gardevoir.
Gardevoir calmly released her psychic power, forming an invisible barrier that blocked every star.
Scizor failed again, and Luna's mood sank even lower.
It felt like an adult casually toying with a small child.
There was a massive gap between her Red Lightning and this Gardevoir.
Luna was actually very smart. If she were not, she would never have defeated so many Trainers. She had talent and she had gained real experience from battle after battle. Her commands and her Scizor were both far above what most children could manage. Even many ordinary Trainers were not as capable as she was.
Luna knew that herself. That was why she had always been so arrogant. She had never been afraid of anyone.
But now, all of her best methods were useless. She had been completely put in her place. The confidence she had built up over such a long time was being crushed.
The butler stepped in front of Natsui again.
"Stop!" he shouted in a stern voice.
"Sir, please leave this place immediately. You are currently trespassing on private property. If you do not leave at once, I will inform her parents and hold you responsible! You probably do not know this yet, but they are famous inventors. They are extremely important figures in this city!"
The old butler was stubborn and unreasonable. He only cared about protecting the family he served.
Even now, he was still trying to threaten Natsui.
It was almost laughable. It did not matter whether Luna's parents were famous inventors or not.
Their work had clearly mattered more to them than raising their daughter properly.
Natsui shook his head. He had no interest in arguing with the butler anymore. He pulled out his ID and showed it.
"Look carefully. This is my identification. I didn't just break in here for no reason. I pursued a criminal and tracked them all the way to this place."
Natsui had not wanted to use that identity.
But once again, the name of the International Police proved useful.
The butler stared at the ID. His old eyes were not clear, but he could still read the words. The moment he understood what he was looking at, his face changed in shock.
An International Police Special Investigator?
And he had just called the young lady a criminal?
This was bad.
The butler immediately realized this was no longer something he could handle. He hurriedly took out his phone to call Luna's parents.
But by then, it was already too late.
Gardevoir moved first. She stopped Scizor, restrained Luna with psychic power, and then used Teleport to take them away.
Natsui released Dragonite, took May with him, and left right after them.
In the blink of an eye, the rooftop was empty. Only the anxious butler remained behind.
...
Gardevoir, Luna, and Scizor appeared inside the local police station. A few seconds later, Natsui and May arrived on Dragonite.
Natsui had already seen this police station earlier. He had Gardevoir mark its location in advance for exactly this kind of situation.
The people inside the station were stunned. They quickly gathered around, and Natsui explained the entire story to them.
The officers were deeply shocked.
They had never imagined that the so-called Red Lightning was actually a Scizor. They were even more stunned that the one behind everything was only an eight- or nine-year-old girl.
The officers brought Luna and Scizor inside the station and contacted their superiors, as well as Luna's parents.
Once the handover was complete, Natsui considered the matter finished.
He was not simply being cruel to the little girl.
This had become a serious issue. A simple apology from Luna was not enough.
Even if Natsui forgave her, the other Trainers would not.
Drawing on Pokémon faces was one thing.
But Scizor had already injured many Pokémon. Their Trainers had gone to the Pokémon Center in distress and worry.
That was why Natsui had handled it this way.
He wanted to teach that brat a lesson.
As for what happened afterward, he did not care. He did not care about the police response. He did not care about her parents' apologies. He did not care whether Luna truly learned anything from this.
His part in it was over. He could finally put the whole matter behind him.
The two of them walked out of the police station. Natsui glanced at May and saw that she looked like she wanted to say something. He let out a quiet sigh.
"What? Do you think what I did was wrong?"
May first shook her head, then nodded after hesitating.
She stayed silent for a moment before finally speaking. "I think there had to be a better way. Maybe... maybe there was no need to send her to the police station. If we had explained things to her properly first, maybe we could have guided her back onto the right path."
She was still too naive.
Natsui smiled faintly. "Is that so? Maybe. But I think the most correct choice was to leave it to professionals. We're only travelers. We judge what happened, not who the person is. When someone does something wrong, you can't just pretend nothing happened because they're a child, or because they come from a rich family."
He saw that she still wanted to argue, so he continued.
"Think about it another way. If she hadn't met us today, who knows how many more people she and that Scizor would have attacked? And in the end, we're just passing through. How could we possibly spend our time and energy trying to guide someone like that back onto the right path?"
May seemed to understand that now. She still had mixed feelings, but she nodded.
Natsui looked up at the blue sky.
"By handling it this way, we're not trying to punish her. We just want this matter to end, and to give those Trainers an explanation."
...
The two of them continued traveling toward the Battle Tower.
After camping for one night, they arrived in Gardenia Town the next day around noon.
At last, May was finally able to enter the Pokémon Contest she had been hoping for.
But something else surprised her as well. At the Pokémon Center, they unexpectedly ran into Ash's group again.
It really was a coincidence. Since May was no longer traveling with them, Ash did not need to stay and watch Contests anymore. Even so, they had still met here again. It really did feel like fate.
Ash and the others were not especially surprised to see them.
"See?" Ash said proudly to Brock and Max. "I told you I had a feeling we'd run into Natsui and May here! Looks like I was right!"
Ash ran straight over to Natsui.
"Natsui, how many Symbols do you have now?"
"I already have five. I'm just missing the Symbol from the Battle Tower now. After that, I can challenge the final facility. What about you?"
"Heh." Ash opened his Symbol Case and showed Natsui the Symbols inside. "I've got four too! Next, I'm heading to Metallica Island!"
Ash and Natsui had only met by chance. After Metallica Island, Ash still had a long trip ahead of him. He would also have to reach the Battle Tower for his next Symbol.
Ash really was moving quickly through the Battle Frontier.
He still got lost sometimes and still ran into trouble now and then. But without May traveling with him, he no longer had to stop for Pokémon Contests. That made his journey much smoother and faster.