Pokémon Detective Case Files.

“This is the second mistake we’ve made since winter began.” The leader of the three, also named Darkness, turned around and glared at his trinity partner with a grim expression.

"Don't forget, before we lost to that detective, we had already suffered a great loss due to that evil king's tricks. Don't tell me you don't know the final consequences of that incident."

Over the past two weeks, Group Plasma has been in a state of near collapse. Funding shortages, salary shortfalls, and the collapse of countless affiliated organizations have led to the dissolution of many NGOs that had just begun to gain traction under the banner of "Elf Liberation."

The gambling king was merely sitting and playing a deck of cards when the Plasma Cult, which was once at its zenith in Unova, suffered an unprecedented blow. Not only did its commercial influence regress to the level of five years ago, but even the purple-robed sage Vio resigned his title of one of the Seven Sages because of this incident...

All of this began when the trio hastily accepted Yueju's surrender. They even made a bet with the cheating master at the cost of an exorbitant amount of cash, handing over "startup capital" to Yueju to build the Royal Union gambling ship.

"Okay, okay, boss, you don't always look so angry. Even if you're using anger to disguise your true feelings, this is going too far."

"Speaking of which, that guy named Lingju seems to be in the Tower of Heaven now."

The other Dark One, who had been silent until now, suddenly seemed to remember something. He put down the smoke bomb he was checking and reminded everyone, "After challenging the Unova Champion, shouldn't all his Pokémon be exhausted? If we ambush him on the way to the Pokémon Center, could we get revenge?"

However, Dark's proposal was opposed by the leader, Dark. This time, without turning his head, he succinctly rejected it, saying, "No unnecessary complications are allowed."

“Yes,” Darkness chimed in, speaking through her black mask.

"We are ninjas, and we should despise the interference of emotions such as joy, anger, hatred, and attachment. Without the orders of our servants, we have no reason to act. Tell me, you're not still holding a grudge against that evil-type Heavenly King, are you?"

"No." The darkness that asked the question shook its head. "I'm just a little curious. If we had emotions as rich as ordinary people, wouldn't we also have similar thoughts of wanting revenge?"

"...This seems like an interesting topic." Glancing at the silent leader, Darkness, Darkness seemed to pique his interest and began discussing it with Darkness—

"If I weren't a ninja, but just an ordinary person, I'd probably pray to heaven that the detective in the white jacket who threw the iron ball at me would suddenly appear before us. And then... what would I do then? Beat him up myself? Kill him, or find an iron ball and smash it over his head?"

"If it were just about revenge, wouldn't it be better to smash a ball over someone's head?" The Dark One on the other side also looked deep in thought. "But we don't have any weapons like that."

“Well, most of our ninjas’ offensive equipment consists of sharp weapons, so finding a suitable iron ball to use is indeed not easy. But if we carry such a thing on every mission just for revenge, it will affect our speed when we escape… Not only that, we also have to consider the possibility that the first iron ball will miss. To ensure that our revenge is successful, we have to carry at least three to five iron balls—this is not just affecting our movement, the load capacity is completely over the limit.”

"You might fall if you use the hook rope," Dark thoughtfully added.

"Yes, it's completely a losing proposition." Darkness sighed softly, touching his forehead, and concluded in a final statement.

"Luckily, we're ninjas, so we don't need to worry about the complicated emotions that ordinary people have. We only have our loyal masters and the mission we're carrying out in our eyes. Nothing else matters. That's our way of life... Hey? Boss, why is the car slowing down?"

The car came to a complete stop on the mountain road. Leader Darkness slowly lowered the steering wheel and pulled the handbrake. He then turned around and gazed at Darkness and Darkness chatting casually in the back seat.

Yes, the three members of the Dark Trio were currently riding in a moving vehicle. The reason why the leader, Dark, hadn't spoken to his two companions was because he was focused on driving.

This vehicle was loaded with over three hundred Poké Balls that had been stolen from elite trainers.

This dark trio was none other than the "commanders of the cult sent to liberate the elves" mentioned by N. Due to the green-haired youth's indifference towards humanity, he completely forgot to inform the detective of this important information.

"After listening to so much nonsense from you all, I'm almost starting to doubt your decision-making abilities." Dark scratched his long white hair in frustration and asked the other two members of the Iron Triangle seriously—

"If it weren't for revenge, but rather if we encountered someone we wanted to take revenge on during a mission who tried to obstruct us, what would you do?"

Darkness looked completely bewildered, as did the other Darkness beside her.

"Of course, we'll prioritize the mission. If they still try to block our way, we'll handle it the same way we would with any other person blocking our path."

"Yeah, why not just kill them?"

The two answered directly without the slightest hesitation.

"Alright, now your chance has come."

Darkness spoke to Darkness and Darkness, pointing straight ahead through the windshield.

In the far distance, almost out of sight, a gigantic Salamence coiled in the middle of the road. In front of the dragon, a young man in black clothes and black hair stood side by side with a little girl.

Just as the literal meaning of "blocking the way".

"Do you remember the post-mortem analysis we did after that defeat regarding the museum battle?"

“We underestimated our enemy and let our guard down,” Darkness said.

“Insufficient preparation beforehand forced us into their rhythm,” Darkness said.

“And there’s one more crucial point.” The leader nodded in darkness, adding the final key point, “Someone was knocked down the moment the battle began, disrupting the tacit understanding they had developed over a long period of time, making it impossible for them to take advantage of our trinity.”

"Yes." The two figures in darkness responded in unison, their expressions equally devoid of emotion.

Judging from their current behavior, it's impossible to tell which of the triplets was knocked down by the detective's iron ball at the start of the battle.

As they themselves said, the darkness of the Trinity does not possess the same rich emotions as ordinary people.

Therefore, although they were troubled by the ridicule of others, feelings of guilt did not ripple in the hearts of any of them—the shame had already been evenly divided into three parts and dissolved into the darkness and darkness and darkness.

Chapter 225 A Chance Encounter at 300 Kilometers Per Hour

"Wow! Hugo! That strange constitution you mentioned is actually true!"

Alice slid down the dragon's tail back to the ground like she was on a slide, her face full of surprise.

"Ever since you arrived, we've not only been constantly attacked by wild Flying Pokémon during our flight, but Salamence's condition has also become extremely unstable. How did you manage to do that?"

Despite uttering complaints, the girl was jumping around excitedly. Stretching her body, stiffened from the terrifying flight, she chatted with the detective she was traveling with, like a child who had just finished riding a roller coaster at an amusement park.

Hugo shrugged expressionlessly, unwilling to answer a question he himself didn't know the exact answer to.

Under the indignant gaze of the Salamence, he jumped off its back and went straight to the point, warning Alice—

"Landing directly in the middle of the road is too hasty. Even if you want to fight the enemy directly, you should let me hide somewhere far away first, otherwise it may affect the performance of the Salamence and the others."

"Don't worry, it's just a range of more than five meters. As long as you remember that, it won't get in the way, right?"

The purple-haired girl shook her head dismissively.

"But what about those prisoners? Will they really leave Fukiyo City via the road you mentioned?"

"If they were just shrunken Poké Balls, three hundred could be packed into a sack. But those Poké Balls were forcibly taken from their trainers, so they can't all be in such a convenient form. The total volume of three hundred Poké Balls would be terrifying. In addition, Team Plasma would have to use special devices to lock those Poké Balls, at least using wire mesh bags or something to restrain the Pokémon, otherwise accidents could easily happen during transportation."

Hugo observed his surroundings while explaining the situation to the thugs involved in the operation.

"Carrying such heavy illegal goods would make it impossible to pass through security smoothly, so leaving the city by airport or rail can be basically ruled out. The only remaining long-distance transportation method is by road – the north of Fuki City is the rugged Ross Mountains, and this is the most remote and secluded road among the highways connecting to Fanba City in the south."

"Hmm, that sounds plausible."

Alice pressed her fingers to her cheek: "But in the end, those are all baseless guesses, right? It's entirely possible that the culprit moved the Poké Ball in other ways, risked going through security, or simply left on foot through the Electric Cave."

"Of course, this is a possibility, and I would rather welcome the enemy choosing to act this way. Because those methods are inefficient and risky. If we are dealing with such simple-minded criminals, we don't even need to lift a finger. The police in Fukiyoshi City alone can catch them in half a day. The reason we are standing here is to guard against the worst-case scenario."

"Wow, that sounds kind of cool." Alice's eyes sparkled.

"Although I already know what you're doing standing in the middle of the road, I still want to remind you."

Gazing into the hazy distance, Hugo squinted.

"The worst is about to happen, at a terrifying speed of about 300 kilometers per hour."

The detective's words were still echoing in the air of the dense forest when a gray van appeared at the edge of their line of sight.

The enemy is speeding away.

It felt like my foot was glued to the accelerator.

Their reckless and insane speeding perfectly exemplifies what "violation of traffic rules and speeding" truly means.

The gray van, with its unexpectedly high speed that belies its unassuming appearance, sped along the uneven woodland road with an aura no less impressive than that of a high-end sports car, its rumbling and trembling echoing all the way.

In just a few seconds, the distance between the other party and the detectives had been reduced by more than half.

The car's steel body rapidly grew larger in the field of vision, making it impossible to even think of instinctively dodging it.

In a daze, Hugo could even see the expressionless white-haired ninja behind the windshield.

The Dark Triangle.

It turned out to be those guys—the detective wasn't exactly panicked, but his heart sank; the difficulty of solving the case had increased again.

Defeated opponents are far more troublesome than ordinary opponents.

It seems that the ninjas realized a fact the moment they discovered themselves—if they couldn't completely eliminate this detective blocking their way, their mission would inevitably fail sooner or later. So, they might as well strike first.

Ninjas, when killing, usually rely on adapting to the circumstances. Now that they are sitting in a cargo van, it goes without saying what method they would use to kill two people blocking the middle of the road.

Even if Hugo and his companions left the road to avoid the danger and hid in the dense forest on either side, those reckless drivers could still turn and chase them without regard for the consequences, crushing their prey before their speed was completely neutralized by the bushes.

However, by using a car, which is meant to be a means of transportation, as a weapon, have they completely disregarded how they plan to transport the goods afterwards?

Hugo was more worried about the enemy before him than about his own safety.

Or perhaps, given the abilities of that ninja trio, even without their car, they could still use their Pokémon to carry all the Poké Balls and travel at high speed to the next city? Although we couldn't see it during their last encounter, since they are ninjas, perhaps they possess some extraordinary physical talent…

The roar of the car engine nearby interrupted the detective's thoughts, so he glanced at Alice beside him.

"Alright, I'm all ready!"

Facing the oncoming vehicle, the purple-haired girl took a step forward, her flat shoes making loud footsteps on the road.

In this world, although Pokémon's defensive capabilities are much more robust than those of humans, there are still limits to this robustness.

Take the bank robbery that once happened in Feiyun City as an example. Although Lucario, sent by the champion of Cynthia, blocked the speeding truck with a punch without even using any moves, this was also due to the use of fighting skills.

Forces are reciprocal. If Lucario hadn't thrown a punch and had instead passively taken the hit from the truck, even the Sinnoh Champion's star player would have been sent flying by the truck's impact.

So, what methods will Alice use to stop the speeding van in front of her?

Faced with the imminent crisis, the girl raised her index finger, and the Salamence behind her flapped its wings to shield its master and the detective—but Alice's command was not given to it.

"Dragon-headed groundhog, 'Straight Drill'!"

Five meters in front of the purple-haired girl and the black-clad detective, just as the ninja-controlled vehicle was about to enter the range of Hugo's aura of doom, the earth trembled.

Unlike the vibration of wheels rolling over the ground at high speed, this time the frequency was higher, the intensity was greater, and the resulting whistling sound was sharper and more piercing.

The white-haired ninja inside the van suddenly looked flustered.

A deafening roar.

The next instant, the front of the car, which was speeding along at high speed, was lifted up completely.

And that teeth-grinding tremor still hasn't stopped.

A huge, oval-shaped creature with sharp angles suddenly appeared from somewhere underground.

The front half of the vehicle, spinning like the eye of a storm, continued to plunge deep into the middle of the van, and in one fell swoop lifted the vehicle into the air before slowly slowing down.

The speeding vehicle, having lost its friction with the ground, was punished. It was pinned in mid-air by a javelin from underground, losing almost all of its kinetic energy, and its four wheels could only spin helplessly in the air.

Beneath it lay the creature from the earth, its rotation now stopped. Its limbs were fully extended, revealing a dark brown body with red markings. Only the sharp, saw-like horns on its head remained, propping up the half-wrecked car, like a knight flaunting the head of an enemy.

It was Iris's other Pokémon in her hand—Excadrill.

Hugo and Alice heard a clattering sound like hail falling from the damaged van. The debris continued to fly forward due to inertia, only to be stopped by the blood-red wings of the Wyvern.

"The mission was successfully completed, right?" The girl wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand and asked the detective.

"On the contrary, we are the ones who are surrounded."

Chapter 226 Triple Slaughter

As a detective who frequently needs to hear testimonies, Hugo disliked ambiguous language.

If it were just two enemies blocking their way from the front and back, it would at most be considered a pincer attack. But he said that he and Alice were "surrounded" by the enemy, which means that in his opinion, there were opponents from at least three directions.

Even before the van suddenly came into view, the detective had sensed something amiss in his surroundings. After a quick mental analysis, he swiftly shared his deduction with Alice—

"The enemy is a trio of ninjas from Team Plasma, whose individual strength is at least enough to overpower the main force of the gym leader. We are surrounded by such a group."

Hugo subtly glanced at his companions, signaling the location of the three ninjas.

"At five o'clock behind us, there's a person hiding near a pile of fallen leaves behind the tree by the roadside. Although he's wearing a raincoat the same color as the leaves, a naturally formed pile of leaves couldn't possibly be that high. At nine o'clock on our left, there's another person hiding in the driveway ditch, their clothing unknown, but behind them, in the dense forest, there's a continuous path through the leaves. And there's more..."

Before he could finish speaking, Hugo stopped, his gaze fixed on the gray van that had been thrown back to the ground by the dragon-headed gopher.

Because at that very moment, a third enemy appeared before them in an incredibly bizarre way.

The large vehicle, intended as a ramming weapon, failed in its mission and is now completely destroyed. In the driver's seat, the ninja driver, who had been grinning maniacally, is gradually being distorted into a strange shape by the airbags.

Its body swelled up, its face lost all color, and in its place were black mist constantly emanating from it, scarlet eyes, and a non-human metallic shell that shone with a golden luster.

As the last wisp of mist dissipated, a Ghost-type Pokémon resembling a magnificent coffin suddenly appeared.

A dark, ghostly mist swirled around its pure gold body, a golden mask, neither crying nor laughing, hovering high above its forehead. This Pokémon floated leisurely through the airbag and emerged from between the shattered windshield.

Coffin Pokémon, Coffin.

“It’s an illusion created by the move ‘Nightmare.’ This ghostly sprite was probably controlling the truck before,” Hugo quickly concluded.

hissing sound —