After flying from Dragon Valley for three hours, the destination was finally close at hand.
Below, everything was a lush green.
Vast stretches of towering wintergreen trees blanketed the land.
"Pii—!"
Pidgeot let out a clear, high cry. Under Hiko's direction, it circled above Wintergreen Forest for a while.
"Doesn't look like there's any problem."
Lowering the binoculars in her hands, Hiko murmured to herself.
She did a rough check.
Within the part of the forest she could currently see, there didn't seem to be anything unusual.
And she certainly didn't spot any trace of Team Dark.
"Did you notice anything?" Hiko gently stroked the feathers atop Pidgeot's head and asked softly.
This Pidgeot had the Ability Keen Eye.
Besides not having its accuracy lowered in battle, its vision and field of view were also exceptionally broad and sharp.
It was an excellent choice for reconnaissance.
"Pii—!"
Pidgeot called once and shook its head.
It hadn't found anything either.
Everything below looked normal.
"Let's enter the city first. Tomorrow we'll check the situation in the other warlords' territories."
Hiko gave the quiet order.
The sky was already nearing dusk.
A forest at night was full of dangers.
Since nothing special had been found, it would be better to return tomorrow and conduct a more detailed investigation.
As she looked at the silver city connected to that expanse of green, a natural warmth of ho rose within Hiko.
Even though she had only been away for a few months, humans were creatures who longed for their holand.
It was hard not to be moved by familiar sights.
Pidgeot beat its wings and flew like a teor, cutting across the forest.
But when it reached the forest's central region, all of a sudden—
A terrifying storm inexplicably swept through the entire forest.
Like an enormous wave raised without warning, it crashed in with overwhelming force.
This was a pure ntal storm ford from Psychic-type energy!
The surging, vast power that erupted instantly startled every Pokémon in the forest.
"Chiya—"
"Ssss—"
"Karu—"
"..."
Even while flying nearly a hundred ters above the treetops, Hiko could clearly hear the chaos below.
Countless Pokémon were fleeing wildly through the forest.
Large numbers of Flying-type Pokémon flapped up from their roosts in the trees, rising into the air to hover, staring tensely down into the woods.
Pidgeot was also affected by the sudden psychic shock.
Caught completely off guard, its body tilted sharply.
If Hiko hadn't been gripping tightly enough, she would have been thrown off.
Hiko herself was shaken by the abrupt change as well.
After forcing herself to calm down and enduring that fierce, splitting headache, she felt a faint sense of familiarity.
It was like back then—
When she and Shiko had rescued Ralts and used Team Dark's people in a mutual-destruction move, sothing similar had happened once.
Only that ti, while the fluctuation had spread widely—covering this forest and reaching into Wintergreen City—
Its intensity hadn't been that great.
It was nowhere near as violent as this one.
The Psychic-type aura rolling and sweeping through the forest below continued.
Pidgeot instinctively climbed higher, trying to minimize the impact of that energy on itself.
This Psychic-type energy surge lasted a full five minutes.
During those five minutes, Hiko kept trying to locate its source.
But unfortunately—
Her gaze had swept across most of the forest, and she still found nothing.
Moreover, the Poké Ball at her waist that held Gardevoir—
When that powerful wave of aura appeared, it began to tremble restlessly, as if it couldn't stay still.
What was going on?
Was it simply because Gardevoir, also being Psychic-type, felt uncomfortable from the presence and reacted with unease?
Or—
Did this energy wave make Gardevoir rember sothing?
Just as Hiko questioned and analyzed in her mind, the enormous Psychic-type energy that had been raging across the entire forest—
Vanished without a trace, like ripples on water suddenly coming to a dead stop.
It had co abruptly, and it disappeared just as abruptly.
Hiko, seated atop Pidgeot's back, took a mont before she snapped out of her blank stare.
With a grave expression, she cast one last hard look at the forest below.
Then she didn't linger.
She left.
Pidgeot descended at Wintergreen City's gate.
Hiko returned it to its Poké Ball and walked toward the gate.
In the Great Axia Alliance, all city airspace was a no-fly zone, and Wintergreen City was no exception.
Unless you had authorization—
The price of barging into restricted airspace was a year of prison als in the City Defense Forces' cells.
A squad of soldiers guarded the gate.
Anyone coming or going had to be registered.
"Your ID."
After giving Hiko a look, a young City Defense Forces soldier kept a stiff face and held out his hand.
Hiko took out her Military credentials from her pocket and handed them over.
When he saw the three gold-stamped characters—"Hiko"—on it, the guard imdiately recognized her.
"Hiko-san… y-you… you're back?"
He jerked his head up.
His previously strict, official attitude made a complete one-eighty in an instant, turning warm and respectful.
No wonder—
At first he hadn't even realized the person in front of him was Hiko.
"Please, co in, co in! Are you here on official duty this ti?"
With both hands, he respectfully returned the credentials.
"Mm."
Hiko responded softly.
She took back the ID and put it away, her gaze passing through the gate into the city.
The familiar streets and buildings instantly loosened the tension she'd been carrying.
The mont she stepped into Wintergreen City, a hurried unit ca straight toward her.
Seeing their uniform, neat attire, Hiko recognized them—
This was also a City Defense Forces team.
And the leader at the front was soone she knew.
It was Wintergreen City's City Defense Forces commander: Kazu.
"Hiko-san?"
Kazu lifted his head and saw Hiko walking toward him.
He froze for a beat, then imdiately recognized her.
"Kazu-taichō."
Hiko nodded and greeted him politely.
"The Military sent you, right?"
One look at how she was dressed and Kazu guessed the reason.
The matter in Wintergreen Forest was sothing their City Defense Forces had reported to the Northern Military Division.
The Northern Military Division had also responded—
They would send soone to assist with the investigation.
Now that Hiko had arrived, there was a high chance she was the person assigned from above.
Kazu's thoughts raced, and he quickly pieced it all together.
Once he understood, a faint shock and surprise rose in his heart.
Anyone dispatched by the Military to handle things independently—
At the very least, they had to be at the high end of Gym-level.
And how long had it even been?
Only a few months!
The scene of Hiko winning the championship was still vivid in his mind!
In such a short ti—
She had already advanced to this level?
It was almost unimaginable.
A Gym-level figure, in a small city like this, was already considered upper-tier.
So after realizing this, Kazu quietly reined in that elder-to-junior attitude he'd once used with her.
Almost unconsciously, he beca more cautious and respectful.
"Mm. I'm here to help with the investigation. And you all are…?"
Hiko nodded and asked.
From their posture, it was obvious they were heading out.
"Of course we're going back into Wintergreen Forest to investigate again."
"Ever since that first Psychic-type energy sweep a few months ago, similar incidents have been happening more and more frequently."
"In the last three months, it's happened ten tis!"
"Especially this month—counting today, this makes the fifth ti!"
"The Psychic-type energy has been getting stronger and stronger, and it's already seriously affecting the daily lives of the people in the city."
Kazu explained.
They had headaches over it too.
They'd gone into Wintergreen Forest multiple tis to investigate, but they never found much.
The only useful lead was that they had once again spotted Team Dark's presence in the forest.
And precisely because of that, they had linked these repeated incidents to Team Dark and requested Military assistance.
"I'll go with you."
Hiko nodded.
"Ah—no, no, no!"
"Please stay in the city and wait for news!"
"I'm guessing this investigation will be the sa as before—nothing to show for it. If there's any real information, I'll notify you imdiately."
Kazu hurriedly shook his head and refused.
For Hiko to fly here from the Northern Military Division took at least four to five hours.
That already counted as hard travel.
In that state, it was better for her to rest properly first.
They could discuss the details tomorrow.
Besides, based on their past results, there was a very high chance this trip wouldn't turn up anything useful either.
"Alright."
Seeing how firm Kazu was, Hiko didn't insist.
She watched as he led his team out through the city gate, their figures disappearing into the glow of the setting sun, before she continued walking toward her ho.
Back at the familiar villa, the first thing Hiko did was release her three Pokémon so they could breathe so fresh air.
The mont Lopunny and Gardevoir saw Shiko, their faces brightened like flowers in bloom as they rushed over to him.
Shiko also looked at the two of them with a smile.
The familiar atmosphere and environnt gave him a strange sense of reassurance.
Dinner that night was sothing she hadn't made in a long ti—
Pokéblocks personally prepared by Hiko.
Compared to the dragon-scale fruit in Dragon Valley, the taste was simply on a completely different level.
After eating and drinking his fill, Shiko lay down stiffly on the long carpet in the living room.
Completely satisfied, he fell into a deep sleep.
And at this very mont—
Inside Wintergreen Forest, Kazu led his squad of City Defense Forces soldiers through a careful search of large areas of the woods.
Just as he'd said, the inspection yielded nothing.
They still didn't find anything unusual.
"Let's go back."
Kazu waved a hand.
With a cold expression, he turned away. The City Defense Forces around him stayed silent.
After this round of searching, it was already extrely dark.
Luckily, the moonlight was good tonight.
And they had brought plenty of Pokémon that could use Flash.
That was the only reason they managed to complete the search.
When they reached the forest outskirts, Kazu suddenly seed to hear sothing.
He whipped his head around.
His gaze pierced layers of canopy.
In the forest, he could only faintly hear Pokémon cries—
And see vague, indistinct silhouettes moving in the darkness.
Was it just his imagination?
Kazu frowned, then led the team back into Wintergreen City.
Not long after he left—
Within the thick shadows beneath the trees, a human figure slowly erged.
A sharp, grating laugh sounded.
Under the moonlight, the owner of the voice beca clearer and clearer.
It was unmistakably a Team Dark mber in uniform.
He narrowed his eyes, coldly staring in the direction Kazu had departed.
With one hand, he casually tossed a Poké Ball up and down without stopping.
"Gotta hurry back to base and report this. The Military sent soone."
After muttering that, his gaze shifted to the Poké Ball in his hand.
"But what a sha. These people reacted way too slowly!"
"Trying to stop it now is already too late!"
With a cold sneer, his figure vanished into the darkness in an instant.
(End of Chapter)
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