Pokémon Detective Case Files.

The detective in black raised his hand from the gap in the tree trunk, holding a Poké Ball whose seal had been broken.

Before Hugo could even pull the switch, the Pokémon inside had already burst out of the ball—it was an Empoleon.

It wasn't in good condition, its body covered in wounds and dust, but its expression remained incredibly stubborn. It seemed oblivious to the pungent smell of the insecticide spray; its eyes, behind the golden crown mask, burned with a thirst for revenge as it stared intently at the Plasma Team's accomplices.

"Emperor Napoleon? And with the 'Competitive' ability? You wouldn't happen to be Mr. Shilan's Pokémon, would you?"

Hugo was slightly surprised, but his hands continued moving without stopping.

The sealing device of the imprisoned Pokémon is like an abyss for the Pokémon inside the Poké Ball, but it is very easy to break through from the outside. It is even easier to unlock than the cheapest universal padlock.

As the detective pulled out new Poké Balls from the tree hole one after another, more than ten powerful Pokémon had already joined the field before Empoleon's Hydro Pump and Absol's Dark Pulse collided head-on.

The outcome of this battle is self-evident. Or rather, from the moment Absol's sneak attack on Hugo failed, the ending was already sealed.

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"The commotion you've caused is truly earth-shattering. Every trainer is indeed a walking terrorist... But, well, I don't have the right to criticize you either."

The detective, who had quietly appeared behind the ninja, remained calm. Before the Dark Trio, who stood as still as statues, Hugo strolled leisurely, brushing off the dry leaves that had clung to his clothes from his journey, and calmly recounted the current situation—

“I’ve found the Poké Balls you’ve hidden. Absol, Agilebug, Cursed Doll, and Bisharp are currently being chased all over the mountains by Pokémon carefully trained by over fifty elite trainers. However, given their abilities, escaping their pursuers and reuniting with you shouldn’t be too difficult for them—it just will take a few more days.”

The leader of the trio frowned deeply: "Aren't you afraid we'll kill you right now?"

"I'm not an obstacle in your mission right now, so you have no reason to attack me." The detective stretched after dusting off the leaves, looking genuinely relieved.

"Then how can you be sure we didn't receive orders to eliminate you?"

“The fact that the Death Coffin’s ‘Will-o’-the-Wisp’ wasn’t aimed at me on the highway is enough to tell the story,” Hugo replied. “Furthermore, the master who commands you doesn’t use assassination to deal with enemies. While Team Plasma is ruthless and cold, it’s also too academic; that person looks down on such methods.”

"Actually, after the Shippo City Museum incident, I investigated the eyewitness reports about you, and the results were very interesting. There is a fact that has been overlooked by the public and the police who are hunting you down for a long time, and that is—as the black gloves of Team Plasma, the ruthless ninjas have committed numerous crimes throughout the United States, but they have never hurt anyone in places unrelated to their missions."

“Because that would be pointless,” Darkness replied.

“Most people spend their whole lives doing meaningless things,” the detective shrugged and replied. “Especially murderers; more than 90% of murders are motivated by a moment of madness or impulsiveness.”

“It seems we belong to the remaining one-tenth,” said Darkness.

“Exactly.” The detective snapped his fingers.

"When I realized the truth, I could hardly believe my own reasoning. I never imagined that I would have been saved because of this reason at the Qibao City Museum."

"Although we failed back then, we don't regret our choice. Compared to insignificant emotions, the mission takes priority," Darkness explained.

“This is it.” Hugo smiled wryly as he faced the Dark Trio.

"Your patron may have molded your image and honed your skills according to the standards of ninjas, but in the end, in the Unova region, in this cultural environment where he was born and raised, the profession of 'ninja' has never truly existed. There is no lineage, it's all just a figment of imagination—that guy's understanding of ninjas stems from his own self-righteous fantasy, and this fantasy, taken to its extreme, is what you are now."

Seeing the darkness shake its head in confusion, the detective continued to explain in detail—

"Unlike N, who wanted to liberate all Pokémon, the one who reigned as the leader of the Seven Sages had always dreamed of building a thousand-year kingdom ruled by himself—and you, as products he had personally nurtured since childhood, were the first citizens of this thousand-year empire. If N was the ideal king he had created, the three of you were the most perfect subjects in his heart. Abandoning individuality, stripping away emotions, absolute rationality and obedience, like perfect machines under the rule of the Sages' Kingdom. Compared to N, you embody more of that person's ambition and ideals."

"The reason you are probing me now, instead of using darts, is because of this kind of rationality that is completely free of personal feelings."

“Of course that should be the case,” Darkness replied. “Rather than wasting time killing you here, it’s more helpful for us to complete our mission now—to bring those Pokémon controlled by their trainers back to the Order and achieve final liberation.”

"Speaking of which, although there's no way to break the ninja curse that the sage placed on you..." the detective shook his head and said regretfully, "I'll free you from your current mission for now."

After all, it's just a matter of a single sentence.

He parted the bushes behind him, revealing a wire mesh bag containing three hundred empty Poké Balls—now that the sealing device had been removed, Hugo could carry it freely by himself.

"Here, smash these Poké Balls. Don't waste your time. Let's free those three hundred Pokémon right here and now."

Chapter 232 The Reason for Climbing the Tower

"Miss Alice, are you alright?"

"I'm fine... Where are those plasma cluster assassins?"

"Let's try to get rid of them for now. The battle is over, and those self-proclaimed ninjas won't launch another attack until they receive a new mission."

"Detective Hugo." Hearing that the enemy had retreated, the purple-haired girl did not relax; instead, she asked him with concern.

"Those trainers' Pokémon... in the end, were they still stolen by the enemy?"

"In a sense, it was also stolen from us," Hugo said thoughtfully, emphasizing his words.

"The Dark Triangle did take away three hundred Poké Balls, intending to find a secluded place to destroy them. In that respect, their mission was complete... However, those Poké Balls were empty. I found them beforehand and released all the Pokémon inside into the wild."

"So, those bad guys failed to take the elves?" Alice's eyes lit up again.

"Yes, actually stopping those ninjas wasn't difficult at all. It's my fault for not explaining this clearly beforehand on the way here." The detective bowed slightly, apologizing.

“There may be some information gap between us, which has led you to misjudge the purpose of the Dark Triangle’s actions.”

"Misjudgment?"

“Yes, it’s a misunderstanding. In your eyes, those three Plasma Group executives should be no different from ordinary kidnappers, but the reality is not like that,” Hugo explained in detail.

"For kidnappers, stealing Pokémon is just one part of the process; the important part is the extortion that follows, using the stolen Pokémon to make a profit. For those three ninjas from Team Plasma, taking the Pokémon away from their trainers was the ultimate goal—in fact, their real mission was already over when the job was handed to them; everything that followed was just meticulous after-sales service."

"Their objective... Was it because you knew all this that you were able to defeat those three ninjas, Detective?"

"No, no, I don't have the talent for combat. The reason I was able to make them retreat was simply because I created a special condition that forced them to accept my persuasion."

All the Pokémon have emerged from their Poké Balls. Are you prepared to risk a huge failure and an attack from the Fuyu City police who will soon arrive on the scene to carry out this time-consuming and laborious mission to capture them one by one... or will you choose to compromise with your perfectionism?

"It doesn't really matter where you release Pokémon, right? You've already completed the task of releasing the Pokémon back into the wild for the person who issued the order, so just go back and report. Given your king's personality, he definitely won't make things difficult for you." That's how I convinced the Dark Trio. I told them that there's a middle ground between success and failure, where a mission can be 'barely completed'.

The trio of ninjas spent three times as long as an ordinary person pondering this question, and finally nodded in unison, choosing to accept the detective's suggestion.

"However, from another perspective, this can also be considered a remarkable victory," Hugo said to himself.

"Even the deepest gray will cloud the pure darkness. Accepting imperfect success and polluting the minds of that trio with ambiguous ideas might shake their thought processes that rely solely on commands and reason. Perhaps, instead of racking our brains to persuade the stubborn N, this confrontation and exchange with the trio will be more effective in striking at the dark empire that Ghetsis has built through his conspiracy..."

“Detective.” Alice didn’t notice Hugo’s murmured imagination.

"I failed to defeat those three ninjas. I neither persuaded them with words nor outsmarted them. I was defeated by them in the battle in the wild."

That's not how you say it.

Looking at the helpless girl, Hugo did not offer any words of comfort, but instead refuted her words.

"Any fight that takes place outside of a formal competition arena, without any rules, can be called an open-world fight. In such fights, no referee will intervene regardless of the methods used by either side, often resulting in incredibly brutal outcomes. However, precisely because the fights are completely unrestricted, the criteria for determining victory become blurred—the fact that you survived the fight unscathed was already beyond the expectations of that trio. Since the enemy failed to achieve their objective, even if you didn't win the fight, you still can't be considered a loser."

Standing in the center of a small hill made up of countless fallen trees, Hugo said this to Alice.

"Survived unscathed?" The purple-haired girl chuckled self-deprecatingly, her expression no longer as cheerful as before.

“Detective, I have exhausted all my last trump cards, and all the spirits on my body are also exhausted. I can no longer achieve my original purpose in coming to Fukiyori City.”

"Is that so?" Hugo said, his expression unchanged.

"I remember you wanted to challenge Mr. Ardek, right? Challenging the champion in your current state is indeed a bit unrealistic. Even if you go back to the Pokémon Center for emergency recovery, it will be a struggle. But if I may be frank, he is, after all, a champion. Even if Miss Iris were at her peak, she probably wouldn't have much hope of defeating him."

Alice bit her lower lip and remained silent.

"Since the outcome is basically the same, there's no need to be fixated on that battle, right? Although you didn't see Alder, you've already achieved your goal of testing your limits through this roundabout way. If you consider it from a trainer's perspective, you should have no regrets now."

Seeing that the purple-haired girl remained standing there silently, the detective had no choice but to continue—

"Or is it that you want to climb the Tower of Heaven where Alder is now in order to become the champion of the Unova region? Therefore, even though you know that your abilities are insufficient and your level is limited, you still want your strength to be noticed by Alder, to stand out from all the losers, and to hope that the champion will step down and hand over the title to you... Please don't have such thoughts, Miss Alice. The League Championship is not a prize for children's games. You should know in your heart that doing this is no different from whining."

Hugo knew he had said something very offensive, but since Alice was a challenger qualified to take the championship, he couldn't treat her like a little girl.

He had an obligation to tell Alice what this meant.

“That’s not why I want to challenge Mr. Ardek.” The girl shook her head, her purple, fluffy hair swaying gently behind her.

“I want to challenge Mr. Ardek because we are his students who have been taught by him and Volcano.”

The subject of Alice's words is "we," which naturally refers to herself and her partner fairy.

Thinking of this, the detective couldn't help but glance at the huge, battered Pokémon standing behind Alice.

"Under their guidance, Axew, no, Double Axe, and I have been able to get to where we are today. We want to show our teachers the fruits of their teachings—fighting, dueling, organizing tactics, unleashing skills, revealing our trump cards, and surprising them with our grown strength... We believe this is the best way to repay their guidance."

"So that's why you've always made Yaya wear the Everstone?"

"We designed a lot of tactics around the warfare that evolved in battle... alas, none of them are useful now."

If you think back to Iris's partner Pokémon, Salamence, Excadrill, and Hydreigon, these are all Pokémon that require a long period of training to complete their final evolution.

In comparison, Tooth, who had been hiding in Alice's hair and seemed to have no presence, appeared very out of place.

Why is it that the closest partner is a baby Pokémon that has no fighting ability?

Hugo noticed the anomaly and saw the Everstone that Fang was wearing. Therefore, he believed that even if the Dark Trio had tried to kill Alice, this purple-haired girl had enough trump cards to defend against the risks.

And reality proved the detective's prediction correct—in order to protect Alice from being crushed by the overwhelming sea of ​​trees, Yaya chose to reveal this trump card prepared for Alderk ahead of time.

Its horizontal canine teeth grew, forming a hard, armor-like skin, thus becoming the Axe-toothed Dragon.

Its teeth transformed into red battle axes, its entire body was covered in armor, and its body became huge and slender, becoming the final evolved form, the Haxorus.

In an instant, Ya Ya completed this change of posture, using its battle axe to cleave the heavy sea of ​​trees falling toward Alice into flying pieces of wood.

"We want the Volcano to be surprised by our unexpected tactics before it dies. Ideally, we'd defeat it and make it proud of the achievement of this top student. That's my goal."

Behind me, the cacophony of sirens gradually rose; it must be the police from Fukiyo City arriving at the scene.

Alice touched the hardened armor that her partner had grown after evolving, and said this with a lonely expression.

Chapter 233 The Night of Ultramarine and Indigo

As the sun sets and night falls, the top of the Tower of Paradise shines brightly, like a lighthouse guiding ships through the mist.

Aldak leaned against the square window of the Tower of Heaven, silently gazing at his partner's burning red insect wings, seemingly contemplating the future or reminiscing about the past.

"Speaking of which, apart from you and that old man in the blue robe, not a single trainer has come to challenge me to climb the tower today."

Perhaps out of sheer boredom, Adek suddenly turned his head and began to complain to the novelist in the dark corner across the floor.

The novelist, one of the Four Heavenly Kings responsible for staying up all night, pushed up his glasses and closed his notebook, which was halfway through writing.

"There's nothing we can do about it. All the trainers who came to challenge the champion were injured and hospitalized by that Landorus. If it weren't for Ms. Iris helping out from the sidelines, Team Plasma would have had to release their Pokémon by now."

"Hmm." Adek pondered, scratching his red hair.

"That Landorus was indeed ridiculously powerful. If I hadn't happened to be fighting it in this enclosed tower top, I really wouldn't have been able to defeat that legendary Pokémon that could soar through the sky like a cloud. It's understandable that the trainers all lost to it... But I wish I could have had such a glorious opportunity to show off my Volcarona."

As he spoke, the flames behind the champion flickered slightly.

Instead of feeling indignant about the villain's brutality, do you feel envious?

Wanlong smiled wryly and waved the notebook in his hand—

"I think Mr. Alder's record of defeating four Elite Four members in a row, plus that mysterious legendary Pokémon, is impressive enough. If this battle log recorded today were to circulate outside the League, I wonder what kind of sensation it would cause in the competitive gaming world."

During the daytime rounds, following the defeat of four champion mainstays by Cattleya, the discovery of Volcarona's true strength by Blueberry, and the mutual destruction with Volcarona by Yoggs, Elite Four member Wanlong and Elite Four member Lianwu also launched challenges against the Ardek champion.

The result was, naturally, a crushing defeat.

After Alderman sent out his most trusted partner, the intensity of the battle immediately escalated. Even at the end of her life, Volcarona still taught the two young Elite Four members a lesson with her resolute flames.

Of course, even if Volcarona seems to have an infinite life force to burn, Mr. Alderman would not agree to let his old partner fight to the end in two consecutive all-out battles against the Elite Four. Naturally, he would rotate and switch defensively depending on the situation during the game.

While Alder's other Pokémon were equally powerful, they were still no match for the aged Volcarona, whose strength was now surpassing its peak. After a fierce battle, Elite Four member and Wanlong finally defeated Alder's five handheld Pokémon. The Fighting Elite Four member defeated three, and the Ghost Elite Four member defeated two.

“Speaking of daytime battles, Wanlong,” Adek said, winking mischievously at the novelist who was full of energy in the dead of night.

"You didn't use your full strength, did you?"

"Huh?" Wanlong looked like she had been hit by a "startled" move, and almost dropped the battle notes in her hand.

"Leaving aside the Yueju, which was wiped out because it went all out to fight targets with unfavorable attributes, Wanlong, you should be the worst performer among the Four Heavenly Kings, right?"

Adek examined the lines on his palm and spoke calmly, as if discussing something unrelated to himself.

"How can the quality of a battle be measured by the number of Pokémon defeated?"

Having quickly prepared his words, the Ghost King spoke again with conviction.

"Historically, there have been instances of a single, heavily injured Pokémon staging a comeback to defeat the entire opposing team. There are also various tactics that utilize moves like 'Baton Pass' and 'Trick Room,' relying on the strategic deployment of the preceding Pokémon to pave the way for the subsequent Pokémon's attack… You should also understand that the results of a single skirmish are of no value; Pokémon battles are only about the final outcome. If you cannot win, no matter how many of your Pokémon defeat you, it will be in vain."

From this perspective, whether it's Wanlong, Lianwu, or Gadria, those who failed to win were all defeated opponents of equal caliber. However, Yueju and the intruding Team Plasma sage realized the true focus of this battle early on… but they, too, had misjudged the situation.

"No, that's not what I meant." The Unova Champion waved his hand. "Do you remember that evening when I entrusted Lianwu with the six Pokémon to take back to the Pokémon Center to recover their strength?"

For this tower climb, Aldak brought a total of twelve powerful championship-caliber aces.

After a day of intense battles, ten of the Pokémon were defeated one after another.