Pokémon Detective Case Files.

A dark purple three-headed dragon with six wings soared to the trainer's side. The girl confidently issued her final warning, intimidating the enemy who could no longer hide.

As if the warning had taken effect, the Dark Trio emerged from the shadows and stood side by side.

"We are ninjas..."

"He was never meant to fight..."

"It's all just a means to an end..."

Unlike their previous unanimous responses, this time the three identical white-haired ninjas each spoke a sentence, seamlessly continuing their companion's words in perfect harmony, creating a bizarre and comical scene.

Everything is ready.

"The moment has arrived."

"The time of harvest."

A series of sounds rang out in a well-organized manner.

Alice did not understand the meaning of her opponent's words.

Even if these ninjas were still hiding Pokémon in the dense forest, Hydreigon was guarding her side. With six eyes, Hydreigon could truly see in all directions and would never miss an attack from any direction.

So how could one be in a desperate situation without realizing it?

However, at that very moment, suspicious sounds that made one's teeth ache came from all directions.

The girl looked around in confusion, only to be surprised to find that the wrecked black van and the deep hole that the dragon-headed gopher had first created on the road had somehow disappeared from her sight.

In the heat of battle, she was unknowingly led by the Dark Triangle to a more distant section of the highway. Compared to the section of road chosen as the landing spot by the Salamence, the jungle here was much denser, and the trees on both sides of the road were much thicker and taller.

Now, this even denser forest seems to be slowly being squeezed and compressed by some enormous creature.

The crunching sound of teeth aching continued, and the sky above the girl's head was gradually shrinking, being encroached upon by the branches and leaves of the trees.

The clanging of footsteps echoed again, and a small group of samurai emerged from beneath the trees, returning to the side of the Dark Triangle. Their bladed arms gleamed, reflecting the last faint rays of sunlight.

"Could it be? Did you cut down all the trees around here?"

A guy who can perfectly throw a tree off the top can naturally cut it down horizontally much more easily.

She understood the true source of the strange occurrences in the dense forest—and as she stared wide-eyed at the questioning, Alice had already taken action.

That teeth-grinding sound was the sound of tree trunks falling along the cut surfaces! At this very moment, towering trees, large enough to span the entire road, were crashing down head-on, centered on themselves!

These towering trees, growing freely in the mountains and forests, are massive and heavy, incomparable to the transplanted roadside trees in the city. Even Pokémon skilled in defense would likely be seriously injured if struck head-on by these broken branches. Moreover, judging from the fact that they are almost completely submerging the road, the felled trees clearly extend far beyond the surrounding area!

The forest resembled jagged canines closing from both sides, with massive trees crashing down from both sides of the road in layers like waves. Such traps might not be able to directly defeat Hydreigon and the like, but Alice, as the trainer, did not have such a robust defense and would definitely not be able to withstand the collateral damage caused by the large-scale traps covering the entire area.

Ninjas do not need to kill each other in battle.

Since we have lost our means of transportation, there is no point in keeping the road open.

This was not a battle, but a meticulously planned murder.

At this moment, the closed and compressed forest is a huge trap that the Dark Triangle has created for the girl!

"The three-headed dragon used its 'Exploding Flame' to burn through the forest!"

Alice quickly jumped back, giving her partner the wisest command at that moment.

Without hesitation, the purplish-black three-headed dragon obeyed the command—three flames converged at one point, forming a plum blossom-shaped "大" character of blazing fire that shot out towards the trainer's direction, intending to burn the several large trees that had fallen to this side from root to leaf.

"It's too late to think about escaping now."

The chilling trio began once again.

Before the "Big Flame Burst" hit its target, a huge splash of water was stirred up in a row of drainage ditches beside the highway!

A canal, once blocked at both ends, can be transformed into a respectable water storage tank—a place where fish can swim freely.

Beside the road, the drainage ditch that was once full of fallen leaves had somehow turned into a small river. Just as Hydreigon unleashed its attack, a water-type Pokémon with blue stripes leaped out, baring its sharp teeth and whipping its tail to unleash a blue water-type move.

"Savage Bass, 'Water Flow Tail'."

A ninja issued the order.

When water and fire meet, they immediately transform into a sky full of white mist.

Although the Savage Bass cannot split the ground with the same force as the Azure Blastoise, its current "Water Tail" attack has undoubtedly thwarted Hydreigon's efforts to break through the trap.

With her skills failing, Alice had no time to be discouraged. The dense net woven from the forest above her head was about to press down, and she had to come up with another way to escape immediately.

The savage bass in the canal continued to unleash ranged water-type moves at the Hydreigon, with little effect, but enough to slow down the latter.

With his thoughts racing, he quickly threw out another Poké Ball, which contained the Excadrill that had appeared earlier.

"Dragon Gopher, quickly use 'Dig' to create cover!"

But just as Excadrill emerged from the ball and was about to transform into a spiral drill and plunge into the ground, another burst of fire appeared behind Alice—and it wasn't Hydreigon that unleashed the attack!

The ninja's sinister voice echoed in my ears, like a vengeful spirit haunting me—

“As I said before, everything is ready.”

On the road where they had fought before, a larval head covered in white fur emerged from the crater left by Excadrill's movement—it was this larva that silently used "Flamethrower" on Excadrill's back.

Excadrill was already badly injured from the previous battle, and this "Flamethrower" attack, which it couldn't dodge in time, became the final straw. Unable to use its "Dig" move, Excadrill was ambushed and stunned, losing its ability to fight.

“This is a gift from the Sage Jogs, said to be the offspring of a priest of a desert temple.”

The ninjas had already disappeared into the distance, leaving only meaningless words echoing among the crumbling trees.

At this moment, Alice no longer had time to send out a third Pokémon from her Poké Ball to stop the collapsing forest... and even if she had the chance to send out a third Pokémon, she couldn't predict whether the Dark Trio still had a third trick up their sleeve on this narrow road.

While he was engrossed in the Pokémon battle on the field, his opponent had already laid out a deadly move to target him.

...Pokémon battles are different from real battles. Real battles have their own unique fervor and cruelty, and sometimes you even have to face the shadow of death.

The admonition of Grandpa Shaka, the other museum owner in Twin Dragons City who raised Alice, finally came to mind for the young girl.

"Before I can even challenge Mr. Ardek's Volcarona, I'm going to be defeated by a Flamebug..."

Under the now pitch-black sky, Alice returned Excadrill and Hydreigon to their Poké Balls and sighed in despair.

.

"I didn't expect that little girl to be so strong. Even the King of Lingzhi in Qibao City back then might not have been this troublesome, right?"

Running like a ghost through the now-barren forest, Darkness couldn't help but say to its companion.

"Lingju had already signed an agreement with us before that. It was just an act then; she didn't use her full strength at all. How could the Heavenly King's true strength be inferior to that of a little girl?"

Another darkness frowned in rebuttal.

"But when I battled her, I could still feel the pressure from trainers at the Elite Four level. Don't you guys feel that way too?"

“We are the Dark Trinity, so of course we can know how you feel.” The second darkness hesitated for a moment before answering frankly, “If we hadn’t instinctively sensed that oppressive force, why would we have all started setting traps based on our own failures?”

"Doesn't this prove that the little girl possesses strength comparable to a Dark-type Champion?"

"You can't say that... at least I don't think the three of us together can defeat that Heavenly King." Darkness felt that something was amiss.

The Dark Trio is, after all, a team that works in the shadows. So far, the only top-tier expert they have faced is Yueju, who held back. Therefore, they cannot make an objective assessment of Alice's strength.

"But don't those people in the league only care about Pokémon battles within the rules?" Darkness continued to ask persistently.

"That makes sense, but what's the point of discussing this now? Why are you so fixated on proving that little girl possesses the strength of a Heavenly King?"

“Look…” Darkness tugged at the ninja mask covering his mouth and nose, and said—

"If that little girl can defeat the Heavenly King, then if we cooperate to defeat her, wouldn't we also have the strength of a League of Heavenly Kings?"

"That's enough." The dark figure running in front turned around and glared fiercely at his companion behind him.

"One person's strength does not prove another's weakness, and vice versa. Focus on the task at hand," the leader said sternly. "The little girl has been dealt with; now only the detective remains."

"You can't really say it was resolved, can you?" another dark figure behind him started nitpicking again.

"It's as if we killed her. We haven't even confirmed her final fate yet—although she'll most likely be fatally injured by the falling trees, and even if she doesn't die, the elves we left nearby will finish her off for us."

“But whether that person is alive or dead, she can no longer catch up. A disabled person cannot hinder our mission,” the leader of the dark forces replied solemnly.

The only remaining obstacle is the detective.

Kill him, take the three hundred Poké Balls hidden in the tree trunk, return to Team Plasma's base, and release all the Pokémon from the Poké Balls—only after completing all of the above can this order, personally issued by the King of Team Plasma, be considered complete.

"Is the air here a little strange?"

Darkness, who had previously been educated by darkness, suddenly stopped and asked his two companions in front of him.

He pulled off his mask and took a deep sniff.

"Hey!" Another figure in the darkness interrupted the darkness's actions, rubbing his forehead with a dark expression. "Sometimes I wonder if you're the ninja among us who got hit on the head by the iron ball... What were you thinking? What if you inhaled the poison gas?"

"It doesn't quite feel like poison gas," Darkness replied. "It's more like an insect repellent spray used to repel wild Pokémon, but the smell is way too strong..."

“This could be a trace left by the detective using a tool,” the leader of the group in the dark said definitively. “We’ll proceed from the outside along the trail of lingering scent. We must be careful and be wary of the possibility that this is bait left by the detective.”

“No, boss, wait a minute,” another shadow suggested. “I think I have a vague recollection of this place.”

"Come to think of it, this place looks familiar... If we keep going in this direction..."

The leader, Dark, suddenly widened his eyes: "You mean, that person has already been found?"

The triplets, who share the same name, stared at each other in bewilderment.

On the verge of panic—

"You're having a lively chat; it sounds like you're looking for me?"

A familiar greeting suddenly drifted over from behind the three of them.

Chapter 231 The End of Patience is Heaven

While Alice was outwitting and outmaneuvering the Trinity of ninjas, a battle also broke out at the location where the Dark Trio was hiding their Poké Balls.

However, the battle lasted for less than a few seconds...

Just as Hugo was distracted by the three elves surrounding him and turned his back to the tree trunk, the last "mechanism" left behind by the Dark Triangle was suddenly activated.

An Absol covered in white fur activated its skill through the fragile tree trunk, unleashing the "Ambush on Vital Points" move at the detective who was right in front of it.

However, the Pokémon that could foretell disasters missed its target.

As if cursed by a real calamity, the gray-blue claws failed to strike Hugo's unsuspecting back—because he wasn't even there.

"A feint attack is indeed a very effective tactic. But you guys have used this trick so many times in one day, so I, as an observer, am bound to be a little wary."

Alice uses herself as bait to make the oncoming car ignore the threat from beneath the ground; the ninja known as Darkness uses the magnificent coffin of the Grim Reaper as bait to make the girl ignore the eerie blue "will-o'-the-wisps" emerging from behind her...

Having witnessed firsthand the cunning and scheming between allies and the enemy, how could Hugo not guess the Dark Triangle's intentions? Moreover, this place was the ninjas' most crucial hiding place, and it was entirely possible that it had become a trap set against them.

Even before approaching the large tree, the detective was already on high alert, ready to dodge at the slightest disturbance.

However, the enemy was more patient than he had imagined—it wasn't until the three left-behind Pokémon, the Slashing Commander, and the Cursed Doll, which were clearly there to distract him, appeared behind him that he was certain that the real enemy was hiding inside the tree trunk.

Once you've guessed the enemy's trump card, the rest of the work becomes incredibly easy.

The detective took two steps as he turned around.

The first time, he turned around on the spot, deliberately stomping on the fallen leaves and weeds to make a clear sound; the second time, he took another step to the side, moving a foot's distance silently without making any footsteps, while covering up his second step with a loud and then soft muttering to himself.

In this way, the Pokémon in the tree trunk can be perfectly misled, making it think that it is just turning around in place and that the change in volume is only due to the direction it is facing.

And as expected, the opponent fell for the trap.

The consequences are not as simple as the attack being dodged.

The claws grazed Hugo's side by a hair's breadth. Absol, having leaped too forcefully from the tree trunk, missed its target, but its claws had undeniably touched, cut, and torn something...

A yellowish-orange smoke leaked out. However, for the humans and elves present, their sense of smell detected the anomaly before their sight.

What Absol had cleaved open were six cans of Golden Insect Spray tied together, each still containing about half a bottle of the solution.

The highly concentrated golden insect-repelling spray covered the entire white Pokémon, almost causing it to faint. The immense pressure from the "oppression" vanished instantly.

The scent was completely different from the slow spray; it was pungent even to humans, and incredibly effective on Pokémon. Even the three starter Pokémon that were cautiously surrounding the attackers couldn't help but take a few steps back and return to the Detective's side upon smelling the concentrated insect repellent.

But Absol still did not fall.

It's hard to say whether it's due to its excellent training or its strong will. In any case, this now truly dreaded Pokémon hasn't lost its ability to battle. Instead, it barely manages to turn back towards its target, leading the Bisharp Commander and the others with their complex expressions, ready to continue fulfilling the mission entrusted to it by its trainer.

“As a Pokémon, it’s truly touching that you’ve persevered this far, but it’s too late now,” Hugo said.

"From the moment you broke the tree trunk, this battle was no longer a relentless pursuit of a useless trainer by four powerful Pokémon... What you need to consider is how to survive the counterattack of three hundred elite Pokémon."