At this moment, the Pokémon League's influence over variions was far weaker than it would be twenty years ter.

  City attacks, illegal trades, and inhumane experiments repeatedly shattered the fragile peace between humans and Pokémon.

  This was the sed time that an underground anization had directly attacked a Pokémoer.

  There was no guarahat one of their assassination targets wasn't Nurse Joy herself.

  In a tour battle, Sato ranked among the Top 4—maybe even only the Top 8.But in a fight to the death, he could pletely domihe tour champion.

  Following Nurse Joy allowed him to stay informed about the situation and, at the same time, protect her—something he had to do.

  "Tap… tap… tap… tap…"

  Nurse Joy moved swiftly, arriving at the sed-floor dormitory area. A trail of blood stretched along the corridor, starting from the shattered gss and leading straight to a room.

  "Bang!"

  The door was flung open.

  It was a double dormitory, occupied by one of the four semifinalists from the tour. But now—the room was a wreck.

  Blood covered the floor, and the beds and chairs were destroyed.

  A young man and woman y motionless in pools of blood. The female trainer's eyes remained open, staring lifelessly toward the door.

  Even for someone like Nurse Joy, who had seen her fair share of injuries and bloodshed, the sight was enough to shake her.

  The male trainer, half of his body pressed over his partner, y fag away from the door, equally unmoving.

  Ag on her duty as a healer, Nurse Joy quickly regained her posure. She stepped into the blood, preparing to check if either of them could still be saved.

  "Sis Lily, let me help you."

  Sato spoke lightly, grabbing her wrist effortlessly—yet she couldn't shake free. He then stepped forward, positioning himself between her and the bodies.

  Ign the female trainer, who was clearly beyond saving, Sato reached out toward the man's neck.

  Suddenly, a shift!

  The male trainer's head snapped up, his entire body twisted unnaturally, shifting from fag away to fag forward in an instant!

  His right hand shed out—a bck dagger gleaming in the dim light, lunging straight for Sato's throat!

  Sato didn't move. His extended hand remained pletely unged—to the assassin, it seemed like he hadn't reacted in time.

  But in the moment, the dagger stopped.

  Frozen mid-air, h 20 timeters away from Sato's neatter how hard the assassin tried, it wouldn't move forward even a fra.

  From within Sato's shadow, Gengar emerged halfway, its golden eyes shimmering blue—Psychic power had locked the assassin in pce.

  "Sato! Are you… are you okay?!"

  Lily gasped, her face pale as she instinctively pulled Sato back a few steps. Only then did she finally turn her gaze toward the frozen assassin, dagger in hand.

  "What in the world…?"

  "Crash! Crash!"

  Two more windows shattered, the sound interrupted her words as both Sato and Nurse Joy immediately turheir heads.

  "Crash!"

  A fourth window broke. Sato whipped back around, a Ke had appeared beside the assassin without them notig, freeing him from Gengar's trol!

  Together, they shattered the gss and leaped out of the window!

  "Zor!"

  A shadow streaked past—Zoroark pursued immediately, unleashing Night Daze mid-air! A massive bck sphere engulfed the space within teers—log everything is deadly radius!

  The assassin and Ke were engulfed within the dark explosion.

  A few seds ter, Night Daze dissipated. Zoroark ylishly, flipping midair before toug the ground.

  As for the assassin and Ke—their fate was unknown.

  "Dee-doo! Dee-doo! Dee-doo!"

  The Pokémoer's arm finally bred, jolting everyone awake. One by one, ceiling lights flickered on, illuminating the entire facility.

  Lily's face ale, her hand just releasing the emergency arm button.

  Within moments, the sounds of battle erupted across the Pokémoer. The cshes grew louder and more frequent, eg from various locations ihe facility.

  But by far, the most chaotic area was exactly where they stood—the dormitory se!

  "This is the Mahogany Town Pokémoer! I'm Nurse Joy. The ter is currently utack by an unknown force. There are casualties. Requesting immediate assistance! I repeat, this is—"

  Regaining her posure, Lily quickly picked up the room's telephone, calling the local police statioe the fear and fusion, she kly what o be done.

  "Tauros, I'm ting on you!"

  She released a powerful-looking Tauros, then turo Sato. After a moment of hesitation, she finally gestured for him to follow!

  "e with me!"

  Half of it was because she didn't feel fortable leaving Sato alohe other half was because of his decisiveness earlier, which had given her a strong sense of security.

  Zoroark silently climbed up, following behind them.

  Lily didn't stop ihe dormitory se—it was already in total chaos, a mess far beyond what they could fix alone.

  As soon as they stepped outside, they ran straight into a group of League Trainers.

  They were dressed in pin clothes, clearly having been lying in wait.

  Sato exhaled in relief. If Sen had stationed League forces in advahen at least this time, they were taking the situation seriously.

  The butterfly's wings had already fpped—whatever the oute, it couldn't possibly be worse than what had happened in the previous timeline… right?

  The League Traiore off their disguises, revealing bat uniforms—ensuring that no one mistook them for enemies before rushing into the dormitory, cheg ea one by one.

  "I'm going to help!" Sato told Lily, before immediately turning bad running toward the battle.

  "Sato!"

  Lily called out anxiously, but Sato had already disappeared into the dormitory.

  Realizing that she had her own responsibilities to handle, Lily stomped her foot in frustration before running off......Sato rushed back to the dormitory se.

  Instead of staying with the main group, he quickly climbed to the fifth floor—where another one of the semifinalist teams was staying!

  Having already iigated where all the Top 4 teams were staying, Sato went straight to their room.

  It was pletely silent. Sato frowned aly pushed the door open.

  The lights were off. Despite the bring arms eg throughout the building, the room remained eerily undisturbed.

  No surprises.

  The two trainers inside were already dead. There were no visible wounds on their bodies—but their breathing had stopped.

  Moving up one more floor, Sato finally heard the sounds of battle ing from a room in the middle of the hallway.

  That room beloo the tour champions!

  "Nidoking, hold on! Use Thunderbolt!"

  "Nidoqueen, Ice Beam for cover!"

  The champions were a couple who owned multiple Pokémon pairs, and Nidoking and Nidoqueeheir signature powerhouses—both at Peak Elite level, with formidable strength!

  "You're not getting away! Nidoqueen, Blizzard!"

  A massive surge of iergy exploded from the room, shattering the entire doorway.

  A masked assassin and a Crobat were flung out like trash, their bodies smming into the floor and shattering into pieces.

  Such overwhelming iergy—such brutal execution.

  But the moment Sato saw the Crobat, he turned around without hesitation. His master never owned a Crobat. That meant only two possibilities remained.

  Either his master had already pleted the mission, assassinating the runner-up team before esg—or…

  "Master, where are you?"