Gritting his teeth, Taishi Utsunomiya hurried to Gu Yuan's side.
"Find a way to notify the others; I'll stay here and hold him off!"
"Fine!"
Nodding, Taishi Utsunomiya turned and left, seemingly going to call for backup.
In the next second, the man suddenly intensified his assault, leaving Gu Yuan without a moment for distraction. Alakazam and Sylveon simultaneously unleashed moves to provide support.
Seizing this opportunity, Taishi Utsunomiya released his Dragonite. The moment it appeared, the Dragonite used Aerial Ace to manifest directly behind Gu Yuan.
However, Gu Yuan used Teleport, instantly moving himself along with Alakazam and Sylveon away from the spot. Immediately after, Ceruledge emerged from behind Taishi Utsunomiya and knocked him unconscious with a single blow.
Seeing its trainer captured, Dragonite was wary of causing harm and didn't dare to attack again. It could only watch as Gu Yuan retrieved a Poké Ball to recall and lock it away.
During this interval, the mysterious man gained the upper hand on the main battlefield. Because the situation had escalated so quickly, Gu Yuan had no time to let Annihilape charge the power of Rage Fist to its limit. Consequently, even with Annihilape and Ditto working together, they were no match for the Dusknoir.
Previously, they had managed to maintain a stalemate only because of support from Sylveon and Alakazam. Now, without that aid, the opponent seized the opening to launch a fierce attack on Ditto. Fortunately, Alakazam stepped in just in time to barely hold the line.
Seeing that he could not take Gu Yuan down quickly, the man appeared somewhat anxious but remained helpless. The earlier Teleport had proven that Gu Yuan was now a Middle-tier Psychic. Furthermore, with those Ghost-type Pokémon hidden away, if the man sent his Mismagius into the fray, Gu Yuan would easily spot a fatal opening.
Thinking of this, the man looked at Taishi Utsunomiya with a hint of contempt. Some genius—he couldn't even last one move. Otherwise, Gu Yuan would be dead by now.
Sensing that more people were approaching, the man dared not stay any longer. Gengar, Sableye, and Dusknoir launched a sudden, violent surge of attacks to force Gu Yuan's Pokémon back before immediately retreating with the man.
One should not pursue a desperate foe, especially since the opponent was stronger than him. Gu Yuan rationally chose to stay put and wait for the others to arrive. He quickly hurried over to Akatsuka's side.
"Wake up, Akatsuka! Are you okay?"
As he spoke, Gu Yuan released Hattrem, intending for her to give Akatsuka some initial treatment. Hearing Gu Yuan's voice, Akatsuka slowly opened his eyes. Seeing that Gu Yuan had saved him, a slight smile appeared at the corner of Akatsuka's mouth.
In the next instant, a sharp dagger thrust out, aiming straight for Gu Yuan's heart. The movement was so fast that Gu Yuan had no chance to react. But just as the dagger was about to pierce him, Akatsuka's movements stopped. Psychic power surged from Alakazam, halting Akatsuka's action at the very last moment.
"Why?" Gu Yuan asked, his voice tinged with sadness as he let go of Akatsuka.
"I'm sorry... I was raised by my family. If the family needs it, I must contribute my strength."
As he spoke, black blood trickled from the corner of Akatsuka's mouth. While he was making his move, Akatsuka had already crushed a poison capsule in his mouth. This meant that whether Akatsuka succeeded or failed, he could not escape death.
By doing this, the family behind Akatsuka could push all responsibility away and keep themselves clean. Compared to the family suffering a heavy blow, sacrificing only Akatsuka was undoubtedly a smaller loss. This was the way such families survived.
As Gu Yuan was immersed in grief, the Jubilife City police arrived. They glanced at the unconscious Taishi Utsunomiya and the deceased Akatsuka before turning their gaze toward Gu Yuan. However, due to the Leader Rank strength of his Charizard, they didn't dare act out of line.
Moreover, they had recognized that this was the Kanto region captain who had displayed such great power in the Regional Battle Tournament! In this situation, it was highly likely he had been ambushed. Thinking about how the Hoenn region had been treated previously, the group felt their scalps go numb.
When the situation fell into a strange stalemate, Dar and Yoshino rushed over. Notably, the scent of perfume had not yet faded from their bodies.
"This is an internal matter of our League. Please let us handle it ourselves. I guarantee this incident will not affect the Sinnoh region," Dar said slowly upon seeing Gu Yuan was unharmed, yet his tone left no room for Yoshino to refuse.
"No problem. I guarantee no one else will come, and this matter will not be leaked," Yoshino nodded and led his people away.
"I didn't think they would actually dare to make a move here. What exactly happened?" Dar asked Gu Yuan after the others had left.
With no hidden threats remaining, Gu Yuan informed Dar of everything that had transpired.
"I understand. Go back and rest. Leave the rest to me."
"Alright."
As soon as he finished speaking, Gu Yuan had Alakazam teleport him away. Once Gu Yuan disappeared, Dar's eyes instantly filled with fury. Dar had imagined that those family members might strike at Gu Yuan, but he hadn't expected them to go this far. Especially since they had even contacted the Sinnoh League!
That's right—the reason Dar had gone to relax with Yoshino tonight was precisely to lure these people out. This was why Dar and Yoshino were able to arrive so quickly after the incident. Now that these people had crossed the line, they naturally needed to be prepared for the retaliation that would follow.
Thinking of this, Dar began contacting the Kanto League to have them take action. While speaking, Dar slowly walked over to Taishi Utsunomiya. He then stepped on the boy's throat and began to apply constant pressure. Faced with a threat to his life, Taishi Utsunomiya couldn't help but struggle.
Unfortunately, in the Pokémon world, besides those with special powers, people could also train their physiques in various ways to become stronger, even to the point of fighting Pokémon. These people were known as martial artists. Dar was one of them, and a top-tier one at that.
With a sudden burst of force from Dar, Taishi Utsunomiya was crushed to death like an ant.
"Pleasure doing business with you."
After saying this softly, Gu Yuan hung up the phone and deleted the call log.
In tonight's ambush, whether it was Taishi Utsunomiya and Akatsuka or the families behind them, all were sacrifices. The only winner was Gu Yuan, along with Agatha and the Fukuda family behind him.
From the moment he saw that note, Gu Yuan had already guessed the Fukuda family's plan: to use the pretext of an assassination attempt on him to eliminate the families behind Taishi Utsunomiya and Akatsuka. As for how much profit could be carved up, that would depend on their respective methods.
Fortunately, Gu Yuan was a smart man who could quickly understand the Fukuda family's intentions and cooperate with their performance. Most importantly, Gu Yuan had enough strength to become one of the winners; otherwise, the Fukuda family wouldn't have minded truly getting rid of him!