"This guy... attacked us without saying a word?"
Rhyperior halted in its tracks as Shiro stepped forward, positioning himself in front of the downed man.
Marvin, Allister, and Nessa moved quickly to encircle the stranger, exchanging puzzled glances.
"Wait a second… isn't this Eldon, the gym leader of Stow-on-Side?" Marvin reached out and tugged down the gray hood, revealing the man's face.
He squinted to be sure. Crew cut, rough stubble, sunken cheeks, sallow complexion—there was no mistaking it. Marvin had seen him before. It was definitely Eldon.
Hearing his name, Eldon slowly opened his eyes and looked at the four people surrounding him.
"You… are you from the League?" he asked, voice trembling as he struggled to speak.
The other three remained silent and turned to look at Shiro. Although they were members of Macro Cosmos and should count as League personnel, in this situation it all came down to their words.
Shiro didn't answer. Instead, he reached down and searched Eldon, pulling a set of Poké Balls from the man's belt. With practiced ease, he found the one containing Machamp, and recalled the Pokémon into it.
"Hmm, all Ultra Balls. And locked up tight too. Doesn't look like any of these were trained by you personally," he remarked as he waved the Poké Ball in front of Eldon before pocketing it.
Marvin and the others had no objections, knowing these were Shiro's battle spoils.
"I…" Eldon's face flushed with shame. He forced his voice into a whisper. "These Pokémon… they belonged to the previous gym leader. Please… sirs of the League, I beg you, show some mercy."
Shiro only chuckled and didn't say anything. He waved for Drakloak to take the restrained man toward Stow-on-Side Gym.
There was no doubt this man was the town's gym leader—but the fight was over, and the spoils were his. If Shiro had been the one defeated, would Eldon have spared him?
"Shiro," Marvin muttered, leaning in close. "He's the Gym Leader. And with things already like this… isn't Bea supposed to be Allister's opponent? Should we…"
He gestured with a slicing motion as if planning to wipe out everyone in the gym.
"Not a good idea," Shiro shook his head after a moment's thought. "Even with the sandstorm, it's not chaotic enough to pull something like that off. Anyone with the ability to kill would be noticed instantly—"
"No! I don't mean to kill anyone!" Marvin protested urgently. "I just mean we should take Bea's Pokémon too. Without them, she can't participate in the Gym Challenge."
Shiro was momentarily stunned, realizing he was too focused on killing.
"Let's check out the gym first," he finally said, steering the conversation away. "Once we understand the situation, we'll decide. And besides, with Allister's strength, we don't need to go that far."
With their path clear, the group pressed forward through the raging sandstorm, escorting the bound Eldon back to Stow-on-Side Gym.
...
Meanwhile, at the Gym's entrance.
After cleaning up the corpses left on the street, Dyson—who had originally meant to follow the gym leader—came scrambling back in a full-blown panic. Gasping for breath, he slammed on the doors, yelling for the people inside to open up. The moment the door cracked, he slipped in.
"It's over... it's all over..." Dyson collapsed against the door, his chest rising and falling rapidly. "Teacher, he—he..."
"What happened?" a few apprentices exchanged confused glances, not understanding the commotion.
Dyson tried to steady himself and stand, but his panic got the better of him—his hands slipped, and he crashed into one of them. Thankfully, the apprentice caught him before he could fall flat.
Tears welled in Dyson's eyes as he recalled the scene—several wilderness trainers taking down Eldon with ease.
He couldn't understand it. Their gym leader had an entire team of Gym-level Pokémon. How could he possibly lose to a few filthy outcasts scurrying around like rats?
And now, in this brutal weather, with no one left to protect them... how was the gym supposed to survive?
"I never should've let teacher leave..." Dyson sobbed. The big man clung to the apprentice who had caught him like a scared little girl, crying as he stumbled into the lounge.
His strange behavior left everyone confused. Unfortunately, Dyson was completely overwhelmed; no matter how they questioned him, he couldn't explain what had happened.
"Miss Bea! Something terrible's happened!" Dyson burst into the training ground, shouting toward Bea who was still in the middle of practice.
She had just kicked the sandbag in front of her. Bewildered, she dodged the returning bag and walked toward the panicked man tumbling across the field.
"What is it?" she asked.
Dyson dropped to his knees, stammering. "T-teacher ... he's been taken hostage."
"What?" Bea grabbed his collar with both hands and yanked him up close. "What did you just say?"
"Teacher Eldon… he..."
Dyson hesitated and stuttered, struggling to get the words out. It took him a moment, but he finally managed to explain what had happened.
At the same time, a group of apprentices ran into the field, shouting over one another.
"Miss! There's a trainer outside! He's captured the Gym Leader!"
Amid the chaos, Bea shoved her way through the crowd with brute strength and marched out of the training ground into the lounge.
There, she saw four figures in cloaks and a floating Pokémon beside them—Drakloak, an Elite-level pseudo-legendary.
"Elite-level..." Bea's eyes locked onto the creature as she muttered under her breath.
Shiro stepped forward, placing himself at the front. With one hand, he lifted the bound Eldon and spoke sharply. "This guy charged in without a word and tried to kill us. Doesn't Stow-on-Side Gym have anything to say about that?"
Bea didn't answer. Her eyes were fixed on her father wrapped in shadowy bindings. The proud, stern man she had always looked up to now hung his head in shame, unable to meet her gaze.
Shiro glanced around the lounge. The place was rugged and bare. For a gym said to have such a long history, it had nothing that showed it. Not even a single piece of fine décor or historic value.
Near the entrance to the training area, a group of apprentices huddled together, peeking out nervously. They were used to picking on weaker challengers, not facing threats like this.
Shiro sighed. He had hoped to find something valuable here, but it was a letdown.
If it had been regular people attacking, he wouldn't have shown any mercy. But he couldn't kill the Gym Leader of the town.
If Eldon died, even if the townsfolk didn't know the truth, the League's higher-ups definitely would. There's no way they'd let someone like that enter the Gym Challenge.
After all, the whole point of their special team's mission was to make a name for themselves—not to pick up bad press before they even started.
So, Shiro took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "Tell me what you have to say."
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