Pokémon: Fighting for a Peaceful Life Chapter 94 94: 94: Interference

Watching from a corner, Julian's knuckles turned white as he gripped the marble railing.

He stared at the center of the battlefield, his face pale, his breath shallow.

'How is this possible?' Julian thought, grinding his teeth.

He ca from a lineage of wealthy rchants. He had access to the best tutors, the highest-quality Pokéblocks, and premium TMs. Yet his strongest Pokémon was barely an A-grade Lvl 34 Houndoom.

Julian was an elitist. To see Eric, an orphan with absolutely no background, effortlessly standing at a height he couldn't reach, ignited a poisonous envy in Julian's chest. The fact that Iris, who hadn't given Julian the ti of day, was actively seeking Eric out only twisted the knife deeper.

Julian scowled, turning away from the railing and storming off. He couldn't stomach watching any more of this.

Down on the ground level, Eric recalled Haunter and stepped off the battlefield. As he walked toward the refreshnt area, a familiar voice called out to him.

"Impressive as always, Eric."

Eric turned to see Kai walking toward him, dressed in a sharp, casual blue suit that mirrored his League uniform. His dual-toned black and red hair shifted slightly in the breeze.

"Kai. You're here as well," Eric said, nodding.

"The Williams family invited a few promising rookies from the League Police. I suppose I made the cut," Kai replied with a polite smile. "Though, after seeing your Haunter's energy density just now, I'm starting to think the gap between us has only widened."

"You're too humble. I doubt you've been slacking off since Mount Moon," Eric replied.

He still couldn't quite put his finger on it, but Kai's polite deanor always felt a bit too perfectly constructed. Still, they were acquaintances, and Eric didn't mind the conversation.

"You didn't hold back against the host's daughter," a cool voice interjected.

Iris stepped up beside them, holding a glass of iced water. She offered a brief nod to Kai before looking at Eric.

"Holding back is disrespectful," Eric answered plainly. "Besides, her Pikachu wasn't weak. If I underestimated it, I would have been the one on the ground."

Iris nodded in agreent. The three of them stood together, an unspoken camaraderie forming between them. They were all trainers who valued strength and action over the shallow networking happening around them.

Suddenly, a loud crash echoed from the opposite end of the courtyard, followed by soone shouting at the top of their lungs.

"You dare mock the aesthetic integrity of the Nashville family?!"

Eric, Iris, and Kai turned their heads to see Alister Nashville standing on a toppled table, his pristine white cape billowing as he pointed accusingly at two bewildered heirs from rival families.

"My cape is a symbol of destiny! Wartortle, show these uncultured swines the true aning of high society! Aqua Jet!"

"Wartortle!"

The sunglasses-wearing turtle cloaked itself in a torrent of water and launched itself across the courtyard, smashing into a decorative ice sculpture and sending frozen shards raining down on the shrieking guests.

"My suit!" one of the heirs cried out, throwing a Poké Ball. "Go, Magmar! Burn that stupid cape!"

Absolute chaos erupted. In the background, Sebastian the butler stood perfectly still, closing his eyes and rubbing his temples in deep, silent suffering.

"Idiots," Eric muttered, turning his attention away.

"Indeed," Kai chuckled. "I suppose I should go break that up before soone gets seriously hurt. Excuse , you two."

As Kai walked off to play peacekeeper, Eric's eyes caught sight of soone standing so distance away from him.

Red.

He considered for a mont, then went up to him.

"Wanna go for a rematch?"

"Sure"

The two then walked up to the battlefield and stood opposite to each other.

"Haunter"

"Espeon"

The two Pokémon materialized. Waves of ghostly energy clashed evenly with psychic energy. The air between them warped, creating a heavy, suffocating pressure that made the surrounding grass flatten against the dirt.

"Shadow Domain," Eric commanded instantly.

Haunter grinned maliciously and sank into the ground. The pitch-black, ten-ter artificial shadow expanded rapidly, turning the earth freezing cold.

"Espeon, flood the ground!"

Espeon's eyes flared with a blinding blue light. Instead of taking to the air to avoid the shadow, she slamd her front paws into the dirt. A torrential wave of pure, highly condensed psychic energy injected directly into the earth beneath her.

RUMBLE!

The ground violently shook as the two opposing energies clashed beneath the surface. Haunter's dark shadows fought to consu Espeon, while Espeon's psychic flood actively tracked and disrupted Haunter's movents within his own domain.

It was a dead heat. The sheer quality of their energies was perfectly matched.

"Shadow Ball, from below!"

"Psychic, crush it!"

Just as the two attacks were about to detonate--

CRACK.

It wasn't a sound from the battlefield. It was a sound that seed to echo from the very sky itself, resembling the terrifying sound of thick glass shattering under imnse pressure. Then, an intense wave of energy washed over everyone on the island.

Eric and Red both froze, their instincts screaming at them. Haunter popped out of the ground, looking upward, while Espeon leaped back, the fur on her back standing straight up.

Everyone in the courtyard stopped. Alister halted mid-pose. Julian paused with his glass halfway to his mouth. Belle dropped her ice cream.

High above the island, the clear blue sky was tearing open.

A massive, jagged black fissure ripped through the air, leaking an oppressive, ancient aura that made it difficult to breathe. It looked as if reality itself was being violently peeled apart.

Down in the courtyard, the atmosphere instantly shifted from confusion to absolute terror among the adults. The older chaperones, the veteran bodyguards, and the Quasi-Elite trainers employed by the Williams family turned deathly pale.

"A spatial tear...?" one of the veteran bodyguards muttered, his voice trembling. "No... it can't be!"

High above the chaos, on a secluded balcony overlooking the estate, Seth and Blaire had been talking just monts before.

"You're tense, old man," Blaire had said, popping a bubble.

Seth had acted surprised. "Am I? I thought my cheerful host persona was flawless."

"I'm your daughter. I know when you're faking it," she had replied.

Now, Seth stood at the edge of the balcony, his hands resting lightly on the marble railing as he stared up at the black rift in the sky.

The eccentric, theatrical host was entirely gone.

A deep, quiet lancholy flashed through his eyes as he looked at the spatial tear. It was a look of a man who had lost everything, staring at the ghosts of his past. But within a fraction of a second, that lancholy was swallowed by a dark, bottomless malice.

The air around Seth grew so heavy and terrifying that the marble railing under his hands began to crack.

A faint, cold smile curled on his lips.

"You finally ca."

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