In the air of Petalburg Woods.
Light filtered through the layers of the canopy, casting mottled and broken shadows upon the men in the standoff, making their expressions appear dark and indistinct.
Norman had investigated Sen.
This man, from his resume to his reputation, was rotten to the core.
Private reselling of Pokémon, capturing rare wild Pokémon, and even several cases of missing Trainers had his shadow behind them.
It wasn't that no one within the League wanted to move against him; it was just that this guy was as slippery as an eel, always finding a scapegoat to wash his own hands clean.
Norman had always thought Sen was just a greedy parasite, a piece of trash blinded by profit.
But he never imagined this guy's courage could be so great as to defect to the Team Magma.
This was no longer a parasite; this was a traitor.
"Come back, Linoone."
Norman's voice was flat, devoid of emotion, but those who knew him knew this was the precursor to his true rage.
Linoone turned into a beam of red light and was recalled into its ball.
With a flick of his wrist, another Poké Ball was held firmly in his palm.
The red light flashed again.
A massive Slaking appeared on the field; it merely gave a lazy yawn, yet that terrifying sense of oppression made the surrounding air feel several degrees heavier.
Peak Elite Four Candidate level.
This Slaking was the ace Norman relied on for his fame, and his greatest source of confidence in holding his position as Petalburg Gym Leader.
As the Gym Leader of a city, possessing a Pokémon of this level was already an off-the-charts ceiling.
Norman looked at Sen, his eyes as calm as a pool of deep water, but beneath the surface was an undercurrent capable of swallowing everything.
"Today, everyone related to the Team Magma stays here."
He wasn't negotiating, nor was he threatening.
He was simply stating a fact that was about to happen.
Sen's cold sweat broke out instantly.
The self-righteous arrogance and aggressive bluster he had when first meeting Norman were now completely gone.
He was like a duck being squeezed by the neck, his face pale and his breathing rapid.
He could feel that Norman's killing intent was real.
That Slaking didn't even look at him properly, merely scratching its belly with its pinky out of boredom, yet Sen felt as if his heart were being gripped by an invisible giant hand, liable to be crushed at any moment.
The instinct for survival overwhelmed everything else.
"Gym Leader Norman! Save me! I was forced!"
His voice was shrill, nearly cracking, sounding exceptionally ridiculous.
"It was Tabitha! He forced me to do it! I'm just a lowly Gym Trainer, how would I dare oppose the Team Magma! I have elderly parents and young children to support..."
Norman's eyebrows twitched.
To kill a scumbag from the Team Magma, he wouldn't even blink.
But killing a 'coerced victim' was of a completely different nature.
The League has its rules; as a Gym Leader, he was a maintainer of the rules and could not lead the way in breaking them.
"Are you or are you not a member of the Team Magma?"
He asked, his voice carrying a trace of imperceptible hesitation.
Sen saw a hope for survival and no longer cared about Tabitha's gaze, which looked ready to slice him into a thousand pieces.
He scrambled a few steps toward Norman's side and began to tearfully fabricate his tragic encounter, painting himself as an innocent, weak, and pitiful white lotus.
Tabitha watched his performance coldly, a hint of mockery even playing at the corners of his mouth.
Just as Sen's performance reached its climax and Norman's gaze grew increasingly complex.
A voice, neither light nor heavy, yet clearly cutting into this farce, rang out.
"Gym Leader Norman, do not believe this guy's words."
The voice came from the shadows of the woods.
The three of them looked over together.
A figure slowly stepped out from the tree shadows, the sunlight outlining a golden edge around him.
The newcomer was Ariel.
Ariel's expression was calm as he walked over step by step, his feet stepping on withered branches and fallen leaves, making a slight rustling sound.
His gaze first swept over that impressively sized Slaking, inwardly praising it; as expected of Gym Leader Norman, the pressure from this Slaking was stronger than any Pokémon he had encountered before.
Then, his gaze fell upon Sen, who was lying on the ground looking at him in shock.
Everything Ariel had observed from the shadows flashed through his mind.
"Who are you?"
Norman looked at the suddenly appearing youth, his eyes filled with scrutiny.
"Just a passing Trainer."
Ariel's tone was casual, but his gaze was serious,
"However, I happen to have some extraordinary intelligence."
He paused, turning his gaze toward Sen, his mouth curving up slightly into a smile that wasn't exactly kind.
Ariel reached into his clothing pocket, his movements unhurried.
What he took out was not some heavy document, but a small piece of data sealed in a standard League evidence bag.
He didn't hand it directly to Norman, but held it between two fingers and shook it gently.
That small piece of data was like a giant boulder crashing into the already surging waters of the pond.
"Encrypted communication records of internal Team Magma transactions, as well as capital flows,"
Ariel's voice was flat and waveless, as if stating something perfectly ordinary,
"Unfortuately, they all point to Mr. Sen."
Sen's pupils suddenly shrank to the size of pinpricks.
The carefully disguised, tearful, and tragic expression on his face instantly froze and shattered, leaving only naked horror.
"Impossible! You're lying! This is slander!"
He almost screamed, his voice changing pitch.
His three subordinates were also dazed, looking at each other with eyes full of question marks.
The boss has connections with the Team Magma? How come they didn't know about this?
Was the boss hiding it too deeply, or was this kid making it up out of thin air?
"Hahaha."
Tabitha crossed his arms, pacing forward with great interest, yet his eyes remained locked onto Sen's pale face.
He seemed to have heard the best joke of the year.
"How would you have such a thing?"
He acted surprised as he looked at Ariel, then turned his gaze toward the panicked Sen,
"Hey, how did I tell you to handle things? How did you let someone catch your tail?"
These words were less of a questioning and more like rubbing salt into Sen's wounds and then stepping on them twice for good measure.
Tabitha naturally cooperated with Ariel; watching these League people in-fight made him extremely happy.
Sen was shaking with rage, and nearly fainted as he struggled to catch his breath.
Norman's gaze was as sharp as a hawk's, moving slowly from the data to Ariel's face.
He wasn't blinded by this sudden evidence; years of being a Gym Leader had cultivated a habit of prudence.
This youth appeared too conveniently, and the evidence came too conveniently.
"Your identity?"
Norman asked in a deep voice, every word carrying unquestionable weight.
Ariel met his gaze calmly, reaching into his pocket with his other hand to take out a card.
The card was entirely pitch black with an extraordinary texture, reflecting a deep luster under the sunlight.
In the center of the card, a League emblem outlined with dark gold lines displayed its owner's extraordinary status.
Core League Trainer, Black Gold Card.
"The next challenger of the Petalburg Gym, Ariel."
He handed the card over, his tone still casual, but the content made Norman's eyes narrow,
"As for this evidence, I was entrusted by Gym Leader Wattson of Mauville City; he personally handed it to me."
He brought up Wattson's name.
This move was effectively pulling the rug out from under them.
Ariel had coordinated with Wattson beforehand; this old Gym Leader, who had already defected to the Team Rockets, was the perfect card to play.
Even if Norman were to call Mauville City right now to verify, he would only receive an affirmative answer.
Once this card was played, Ariel's identity, motive, and source of evidence instantly became impeccable.
He was no longer a youth of unknown origin, but an executor representing the will of the League.
Sen's face completely lost all color.
He was finished.
He knew that the things he had done could not withstand an investigation.
Usually, with confidants and a network of connections protecting him, he was naturally worry-free.
But once targeted by the League's top brass, whether that so-called evidence was true or false no longer mattered.
What mattered was that he had already been nailed to the pillar of shame as a traitor.
"You... why are you framing me!"
A low growl like a beast's squeezed out of Sen's throat as he glared at Ariel with bloodshot eyes.
He remembered; back at Meteor Falls, it was this youth, whom he hadn't taken seriously at the time.
He never expected that the ant he could have crushed at will back then would now become his gravedigger.
Ariel looked at him with a calm, waveless gaze and uttered only four words.
"The innocent remain innocent."
These four words were light as a feather, yet they felt like four great mountains crashing down upon Sen's spine.
Indeed, the innocent remain innocent.
But he was not innocent.
"Roar—!"
The previously silent Slaking, at a signal from Norman's eyes, let out a dull roar.
That massive body only moved slightly, yet the ground vibrated faintly. An invisible sense of oppression enveloped the field, and the air became thick.
"In that case, there's nothing more to say."
Norman's voice turned cold; as a Gym Leader of the League, he would never tolerate the existence of such a scumbag.
Battle was imminent.
Just as Slaking was about to act, Ariel suddenly spoke.
"Gym Leader Norman, could you leave this person to me to handle?"
Norman's movement paused, and he looked at him.
Ariel's gaze fell upon Sen, and deep within those calm eyes, a trace of imperceptible coldness surged,
"I have an old score to settle with him. I want to personally bring him to justice."
An old score?
Norman instantly filled in a series of plot points in his head.
Perhaps this youth named Ariel had once been persecuted by Sen, and his family or friends had suffered because of it; now that he had completed his studies, he had come for revenge under the guise of a League mission.
Such things were not uncommon in the world of Trainers.
"Very well."
Norman nodded, agreeing,
"Be careful yourself."
The reason he agreed so readily was not because he was careless.
It was because, before him, there was another even more troublesome enemy.
Norman's gaze slowly turned toward Tabitha, who had been watching the show for a long time.
Compared to a waste like Sen, whose fangs had already been pulled, this Team Magma Executive was the true serious threat.
The atmosphere on the field became subtle at this moment.
An invisible boundary was drawn.
On one side were Norman and his imposing Slaking facing the smiling yet extremely dangerous Tabitha.
On the other side was Ariel, alone facing the now completely crazed Sen, who was like a cornered beast.
Two battles were about to break out simultaneously.