Kashiwagi watched as the Delibird flew off, carrying Otsuka to safety.
He found a spot that was at least marginally cooler and took a short rest. Once the radar's cooldown was nearly up, he began slowly trudging toward the direction of the two remaining "unlucky bastards" from his team.
If he could save them, he had to try.
It wasn't that he felt any deep sense of camaraderie, but he currently had twelve captured Pokémon belonging to his teammates in his possession. If the Trainers survived, he could negotiate a price with them to return their partners once the event was over. If they died, Team Snagem would simply reclaim them at a flat rate of 100,000 Poké Dollars per head.
And you didn't exactly get a choice in the matter.
Naturally, Kashiwagi wanted to earn as much as possible. You don't pick fights with money, and right now, he was strapped for cash.
He was halfway there when—
Beep.
A Drone Rotom descended from the sky. "Participant threshold met. Team-up function unlocked."
Another one down already?
Kashiwagi checked his bracelet. The radar countdown still had half a minute left. He couldn't tell if the person who just got knocked out was an ally or an enemy.
A short while later, he checked the radar. As it turned out, the one who fell was indeed an ally. Originally, there were six red dots (including Kashiwagi); subtracting Ken made it five, and the count remained at five now—scattered across the map like stars.
They unlock the team-up feature but don't mark teammate locations? Stingy.
Fortunately, the nearest enemy was at least a kilometer away, and none were blocking his path to the rescue.
"Hope the teammates can hold their own. If we can finish this without another fight, that'd be ideal. What do you think?" he asked, turning to Lairon.
"Lai Lairon!"
Lairon nodded, noticing the fatigue on Kashiwagi's face. To be honest, it actually wanted to test out its new body properly. During the crisis earlier, its "inner universe" had exploded in a rush of adrenaline, so it hadn't paid much attention. Now, it just felt a little... different.
Its mouth had become huge; it used to eat pellets one by one, but now it could probably inhale half a bowl in one go. Its toes had changed from single nubs to three distinct claws, making its gait much more stable. Even when standing on its hind legs, it didn't wobble like it used to.
And even though it was significantly heavier, its four legs felt more powerful. Its running speed hadn't decreased; if anything, it was faster.
Summed up in three words: It got stronger!
This unprecedented feeling filled Lairon with genuine joy. It was so excited its skin felt itchy, and it was dying to find a Pokémon to scrap with right now.
However, fighting right now would likely result in someone's death. After thinking it over, it decided to follow its Trainer's lead.
"Don't be in such a rush. I know you're happy, and I am too, but everything in due time. You have to learn to stay calm..." Kashiwagi patted its metal head, which was burning hot from the sun. "Besides, you've still got one more evolution to go."
If he remembered correctly, Aggron only required Level 42 or so. If they worked hard, they could meet the level requirement by next month, and then they'd just need to find the right opportunity.
A safe opportunity. Who could handle putting their life on the line every single time?
"Lairon!"
The Pokémon raised its head, its voice deep and resonant like rolling stones. While it wasn't as high-pitched or "cute" as it was when it was an Aron, it was a clear sign of growth.
Evolution was undoubtedly cause for celebration, though it was a bit of a shame that the smooth head Kashiwagi used to polish was gone. This evolution hadn't just made its surface rougher; its head was now shaped like a steel shovel.
Truly a pity.
Over the next half hour, Kashiwagi successfully rescued another semi-conscious teammate and handed them over to a Delibird. Unfortunately, when he finally tracked down the last man, he found the person had been dead for some time.
It appeared a broken rib had punctured an internal organ; the man's chest was completely caved in.
"...Rest in peace," Kashiwagi sighed, reaching out to close the man's eyes. "When you get to the Spirit World, make sure to find Ken and get your revenge."
In the anime world, ghosts were very real, as was the Spirit World—a realm of the dead introduced by a clever screenwriter back in the fourth generation. In most lore, wild Dusknoir were known as the gatekeepers of the Spirit World, preventing the dead from coming out and the living from wandering in.
It sounded spooky, but there was no real need to be afraid. Even in death, humans could rarely beat Pokémon. As long as you overcame the fear in your heart, ghosts were nothing special.
He moved the body to a shaded area. Supposedly, someone would come to collect it after the match, though he didn't know if that was actually true.
At this point, there was barely over an hour left in the competition.
Kashiwagi trekked back to the site of his battle. After confirming that Ken was indeed dead and gone, he finally relaxed and began to rest on the spot.
The east seemed to have become a forbidden zone. The red dots in the west hadn't made a single move toward him the entire time, preferring to stay in their small radius.
What bothered him was that during his rescue mission, another red dot representing an enemy had vanished.
What about his teammates? How many were left?
If the numbers remained equal, the match would undoubtedly end in a draw. Even if they lost, Kashiwagi had taken out four people single-handedly, secured a pile of Pokémon, and earned a fortune in donations. He shouldn't have to shoulder much of the blame...
But I shouldn't take that chance.
Kashiwagi knew the big shots at the top weren't exactly reasonable people. When they looked for a scapegoat, they wouldn't care how much you'd contributed if the overall result was a loss. He began prepping a plan to head west and harvest the remaining enemies.
But just as the radar cooldown finished once more, he opened it to see only two red dots left. One of them grew solid—indicating it had entered a battle.
A minute later, the dot vanished.
Only one lonely red dot remained.
Which one of his "brothers" had suddenly exploded with the combat power of a squad leader?
Ah. Or maybe they had finally teamed up.
Kashiwagi realized what had happened. He watched the last red dot; it seemed to realize the situation was dire and was frantically trying to flee. But the moment the radar countdown hit zero, the dot turned solid.
Half a minute later, the Drone Rotom descended.
"Match concluded. Team Snagem is the victor. Please remain at your current location and wait for staff to arrive."
It's over?
We won.
The teammates were surprisingly effective. This caught Kashiwagi off guard; he had assumed they would be nothing but dead weight, but they were actually quite capable.
He recalled Lairon into its Poké Ball. Within minutes, he saw a hover-truck carrying a large cargo container approaching from the distance. it pulled up right in front of him.
The side door slid open, revealing several faces that went from curious to utterly stunned.
"It's you!"
"It's me. So there are four of you left... wait, where's Watari?"
Kashiwagi stepped into the air-conditioned cargo hold, feeling like he'd been brought back to life. He scanned the room but couldn't see Watari. "He actually lost?"
The four men shook their heads with complex expressions, indicating they didn't know. One of them couldn't help but ask:
"...Did you take out everyone in the East by yourself?"
"Of course not. You're overthinking it. How could I have that much power?" Kashiwagi waved it off. Seeing them look relieved, he continued, "I just got lucky and handled four of them."
"Hiss!"
The group sucked in a breath of cold air. They pressed further: "What about Ken? I caught a glimpse of him earlier! He went East too, didn't he!"
"Got lucky and put him in the dirt. But enough about me—after the team-up started, you guys must have taken out those five together, right?" Kashiwagi didn't want to dwell on it and changed the subject.
The Snagem grunts exchanged looks, their eyes now filled with a healthy dose of fear toward him.
One of them replied, "Yeah... more or less..."
In a normal match, everything usually boiled down to the late-game team-up phase. Whichever side could group up first had the highest chance of winning. Taking people on solo was incredibly difficult; unless you were supremely confident or had terrible luck, few people sought out those kinds of encounters.
And yet.
Kashiwagi had soloed four of them! And one of them was Ken!
How could they not be shaken to their core?