Pokémon Detective Case Files.

The vice president extended his hand, which was covered in a black glove. As his fingertips swept through the air, several bursts of electric sparks suddenly erupted from the ceiling, and all the power to the entire ward was cut off at the same time.

As the power supply system collapsed, the fluorescence of the testing instruments went out one by one like candlelight, and everything was plunged into a thick darkness.

"Damn it! King Yanwu..."

Touko attempted to send out a Pokémon capable of summoning light, but the moment her fingertips touched Emboar's Poké Ball, her body was encased in a transparent gel-like confinement—

The last thing she saw was the dark red stripe of the Cloaked Dragon that flickered as the "Immobilize" move was activated.

It was this move that caused Akroma to fall into an inescapable state of paralysis.

On the other side, Hei Lian noticed his childhood friend's predicament, but just as he was about to lend a helping hand, a strong gust of wind pressure was already approaching his face.

"Giant Pangyan!"

In the critical moment, the young man summoned a giant rock Pokémon to block his way.

The next second, Nargacuga's "Air Blade" struck the thick rock wall, producing a deafening bang.

"Waaaaah! Waaaah!" Hearing the intense explosions around him, Douzi let out a suppressed groan in his throat.

Unlike Akromma, Douzi's nerves, which had not yet been eroded by the "electromagnetic waves," were still frantically sending struggle signals to her muscles. The veins in the girl's neck bulged, and her joints, suppressed by an invisible force, emitted a mournful cry from within.

And the Serperior beside her did not disappoint its trainer's efforts. Before Douzi could give any command, its slender body shot out like an arrow.

The girl's desperate struggle forced the Kecleon to increase the power of its "Immobilize" spell, making it unable to perfectly conceal itself in the darkness any longer—and Serperior didn't miss this opportunity either!

Without a sound, three "magic leaves" with automatic tracking function quietly floated out. The leaves, surrounded by a ghostly light, cut through the darkness in a triangular shape and attacked the faintly visible serrated pattern in the distance.

"Cough... Haa!"

The interference from the cloaked dragon was forced to stop. Like a drowning person taking their first breath after surfacing, Douzi braced herself on the ground and gasped for air. At the same time, the majestic figure of Yanwu King appeared beside her.

Flames ignited, and the firelight finally illuminated the dark hospital room once more.

Beneath the red curtain, Serperior and Kecleon stand facing each other, Blackbeard and his giant rock monster are held back by Natu, and the League vice president who just cut off all the lights in the ward has disappeared at this moment...

The moment the girl saw the situation clearly, alarm bells rang in her mind: "Oh no, their target is still Akromah!"

"Don't worry, my Mongoose Cleaver is still there."

While directing Pangyan Monster to use rock energy to create sharp stones to suppress the Natural Bird, Heilian spoke to Douzi.

As expected, the vice president of the alliance appeared before Akromar's unconscious hospital bed.

Because the "immobilization spell" cast by the cloaked dragon on Akromar had failed, a trace of color finally returned to the patient's face.

Unfortunately, the shadow of death has once again loomed over this scientist.

"Whoosh!"

The Mongoose Slash roared furiously, and relying on the light source provided by the Flame King, it bravely lunged at the vice president's back—but unexpectedly, it played right into the enemy's hands!

The person standing in front of the hospital bed seemed to have eyes in the back of their head. With light stomp of their leather shoes, they bent down just millimeters before the attack hit, nimbly dodging the attack from behind.

“Your presence is too obvious. Although this is probably not the reason why open flames are prohibited in the operating room, since you have already made an exception, I might as well follow suit.”

The "random grab" that was supposed to hit the enemy not only failed to hit the vice president, but also coincidentally severed a wall-mounted oxygen pipeline connected to the hospital bed.

"This was originally a gas pipe for supplying oxygen masks, and I just adjusted its flow valve so that it could output a sufficient concentration of flammable gas. To be honest, I didn't want to make such a fuss, but judging from your posture, I guess you two have no other choice now."

The vice president shook his head regretfully, offering a superfluous and useless explanation of his criminal methods to the enemy. The hissing sound of the billowing gas was as cold as the breath drawn out from the mouth of the bucket.

Then, a bolt of lightning struck down from the ceiling, and a tiny gear flew out from the crack created by the electric current—this must be another Pokémon that the vice president had hidden, and it was this very Pokémon that had previously cut off the lights in the ward.

The electric spark ignited in the high concentration of oxygen, instantly setting the white sheets beneath Akromma ablaze.

"Don't underestimate us!" the girl shouted sharply. "Flame Martial King, 'Hot Water'!"

Upon receiving the order, King Yanwu raised his black eyebrows, and scalding steam rose from his body, as if boiling "hot water" was about to gush out.

"Natural bird, block it!"

The Alliance Leader issued a cold command. The green bird, which was fighting the giant rock monster, suddenly folded its wings and used "Teleport" despite the "Rock Blast" summoned by the giant rock monster.

When it appeared in front of Yanwu King, its once magnificent feathers were now covered with bloodstains from the cracked rocks.

The hot water hit its face, and the bird cried out in distress, its wings showing obvious burn marks. However, its trainer was not angry but rather delighted.

"Now! 'Mind Transfer'!"

A red glow appeared in the bird's eyes as it met the gaze of the Zangoose Claw, which was right in front of it. In an instant, the burn status ailment transferred from its body to the Zangoose Claw's forepaws, causing the latter's attack to falter.

The sheets beside Akromah were burning brighter and brighter, and the fire extinguishing device that was supposed to automatically spray water when a fire broke out did not work at all - it seemed that it had also been damaged beforehand by that gear.

"Vice President, you should know more about combat. Don't forget, the power of 'Endure' is doubled when you're burned."

As the situation unfolded, Hei Lian's gaze swept over the escalating fire in front of the hospital bed, but he showed no panic. Just like countless times during their travels, Douzi's childhood friend made the calmest and most prudent decision of all—

"Zangoose Slash, a frontal assault, use 'Hardline' to finish off Natu. Giant Rock Monster, 'Mud Throw' to extinguish the flames!"

In another battlefield, the Kecleon had already been stunned by the Serperior, and the girl promptly moved this Grass-type partner to the battlefield near the sickbed—

"Monarch Serpent, use 'Vine Whip' to bind the gear. Don't let it hinder the firefighting! Vice President, stop trying to resist, you have no way out!"

"No, quite the opposite, I have already achieved my goal."

Before the sickbed, the flames were extinguished by the falling mud, releasing a white mist. However, once the flames were gone, the reality before them left Douzi and Heilian speechless—

It turns out that during the battle, the vice president of the alliance not only failed to avoid the raging flames, but also used the firelight as cover to jump directly onto the charred bed sheet.

The high-ranking official in a suit ignored his Pokémon partners who were lying unconscious on the ground around him, and with a grim expression, grabbed the slender neck of the Team Plasma scientist—

"I'm not going to barge into a secret room like this guy did, without any precautions."

In a daze, it seemed as if some kind of tremor came from beneath the ward... The next moment, a moss-green rock hand grew out of the ground without warning.

Ignoring the chaos at the scene, amidst the teeth-grinding sound of rocks scraping together, the large hand instantly gripped the entire hospital bed and Akroma and the others lying on it.

It's the Clay Golem's "Sneak Attack"!

"Please allow me to take my leave now, and I hope we will never meet again."

As the intruder bid farewell in the palm of his hand, the rocky hand that carried the conspiracy retreated back into the ground. The hospital bed vanished into thin air, leaving only a blank, clean patch of ground in its place, swaying incessantly in the flames released by the Flame King.

.

"So, the first thing that made me realize something was wrong with Akromah's poisoning symptoms was his posture when he was unconscious."

When the vice president opened his eyes again, what appeared before him was not the large, open window that he had originally planned to open to the outside of the alliance, but another unfamiliar and enclosed room.

"Before losing consciousness, poisoned individuals usually exhibit a painful, curled-up state. Even if they simply fall into a peaceful coma, the body will instinctively seek a stable fulcrum. After all, even when dozing off at a table, people wouldn't be like Akroma when he was found, supporting his head with his palm, resting his elbow on the armrest of the chair, and completely leaning towards his arm while asleep. That center of gravity is too unstable. This deliberate attempt to maintain balance is very much like a dynamic state that has been suddenly frozen. Why would he maintain that posture, lying unconscious alone at the crime scene?"

Influenced by the words in his ear, the vice president realized that Akromah, whom he had been holding in his hand, was gone. Before him stood a black-haired man in a white coat. He recognized him; it seemed they had met during the last discussion about the championship title succession… Wait, so this person was…?

"I truly discovered your 'poisoning method' when I learned about the doctors' treatment of Akromar. I'm incredibly grateful to your colleague, Ms. Gloria, the vice president in charge of the League's security, medical, and logistics departments. Her investigation report was incredibly detailed, recording even details I might have overlooked. Thanks to it, I not only learned that Akromar's condition significantly improved after being treated with the 'Healing Bell' technique, but also about other treatments the doctors had tried without success—such as the psychic healing technique 'Healing Pulse'."

The League Vice President glanced into the distance behind the man opposite him. There, his secret trump card, the Clay Giant, lay unconscious on the ground like a broken rag doll, its body covered in scorch marks and teeth marks, half of its body almost completely smashed into rubble—while the two Elite Four members who had committed this atrocity stood with their arms crossed on either side of the only door in the room, watching him from afar. This was truly a situation where escape was impossible…

"The fact that the 'Heal Pulse' move failed indicates that, at least from the perspective of Pokémon energy, Acromima wasn't actually seriously injured—unless special circumstances are considered, this proves that the toxin the doctors initially suspected was actually nonexistent. The fact that 'Heal Bell' still worked suggests that Acromima was affected by some abnormal status beforehand. Excluding potentially harmful poison, burns, and obviously inconsistent states like sleep and freeze, the only remaining explanation is the paralysis caused by the 'Thunder Wave' move."

The Unicron Champion's grey eyes stared at the League Vice President, leaving him feeling utterly hopeless.

"Only Pokémon use moves. Since a Pokémon had used the 'Thunder Wave' move on Acromima, how did this Pokémon enter the room, deceive everyone, and launch a surprise attack while Acromima was engrossed in formulas and calculations? Ghost-type Pokémon like Claydol, which can pass through walls, could certainly do this. Psychic-type Pokémon with telekinesis or 'Teleport' abilities might also be able to, but later type energy investigations refuted this hypothesis. We could have investigated the footprints left at the scene to determine if such an unfamiliar Pokémon existed, but the chaos after the incident completely confused the footprints, breaking this lead. This forced me to consider this question from the perspective of the perpetrator: how can a Pokémon appear like a ghost and disappear like morning mist?"

The prisoner closed his eyes, awaiting his fate.

"If I were the criminal who wanted to murder Acromuma, I might be able to predict the room he would go to by investigating his meeting request to the League. That way, I could simply place a Pokémon there beforehand, avoiding everyone's sight, and let the killer Pokémon appear at the crime scene. After 'poisoning' him, I could also deliberately create chaos, drawing a large number of people to the scene immediately, allowing the Pokémon to disappear into the crowd. But there are two risks: Acromuma might sense something amiss before committing the crime, and the police investigators who flood the scene won't all be blind. They might catch clues about the scheme. I need to find a good way to make the Pokémon appear quietly, commit the murder quietly, and then disappear quietly without triggering psychic powers or ghost energy. Heh, if you look through the entire Pokédex and exclude those almost omnipotent legendary Pokémon, there are very few Pokémon that can do this."

Chapter 344 Detoxification – Eclipse of the Night

Power only favors those who dare to bend down and pick it up.

As the vice president and general manager of the Pokémon League Unova division, Lionel Skolatos had long since learned to use the word "forgotten" to gloss over the power struggle seventeen years ago—at least in public, this statement, like his always impeccably ironed silver-gray suit, was so perfect that not a single flaw could be found.

The contest was procedurally fair, but in retrospect, the outcome seems predetermined.

During the eight-month-long competition, he, in the prime of his life, moved among the neon lights of Flying Cloud City, clinking glasses with corporate sponsors; he delivered impassioned speeches to stubborn League officials, peddling his grand blueprint for digital reform; or he humbly made political promises to his political enemies, trying to win over opponents and grassroots public opinion... Meanwhile, his opponent, that conservative elder who always wore an old-fashioned tailcoat, was quietly updating the trainer allowance terms.

Damn basic benefits—he certainly wanted to include this important prey in his personal achievements, but his rank and seniority were too low at the time, which excluded him from this privilege.

In this world where seniority matters, there are no shortcuts to instant success.

Ultimately, the ambitious young man failed to win the favor of the former president or gain the recognition of the Adeike champion.

Having lost his two largest strongholds, his slogans became nothing more than empty rhetoric, and all his efforts, like bubbles, crashed against the reefs of reality, leaving only the mark of a loser on the vote-counting boards.

On that long table where fate was decided, the former president of the United States pushed the letter of appointment announcing the internal vote results to the other end of the table, while he could only watch helplessly as it all unfolded...

It must be said that adult decency is a honey soaked in poison.

Lionel still remembers the tight curve of his thumb when he clapped, the precise tremor of each syllable in his congratulatory speech, and can even reproduce the perfectly timed smile when he received the letter of appointment as the chief of general affairs.

It wasn't until late at night, when everything had settled down, that he realized with a start that in the empty office, the man reflected in the long black table was gnawing on his knuckles.

Behind him, the Natural Bird belatedly chirped, and the Mutant Dragon revealed its true form from the transparent air, while the Clay Giant looked at him with concern.

People often don't feel sad immediately when they lose something important; they only feel endless regret when they come to their senses.

This setback will ultimately only become a sigh that drifts into the night sky when middle-aged people dream of it.

Lionel is not an arrogant person. Having spent years navigating the intricate web of relationships within the league, his sharp edges have long been worn down by the daily grind.

But those nights filled with setbacks constantly reminded him that some failures only need to be experienced once in a lifetime.

.

"Tell me, when was the last time you met with Quixote?"

Hugo looked down at Lionel Sklatos, who was lying on his back, his gaze sweeping over the man's gray suit, which was scorched by flames.

When the newly crowned Unova champion caught a glimpse of the shirt badge peeking out from under the vice president's tattered suit, a look of realization dawned on his face.

“Scolatos…that’s certainly a rare surname.” He bent down on one knee.

"Let me guess, did that Plasma Sage bewitch you with the rhetoric of 'restoring the glory of the family'? Forgive my bluntness, but it's foolish to gamble your life on the bloodline theory of Ghettos—glory and dignity don't flow in your veins and heart, and even he himself doesn't believe that rhetoric."

Lionel's lips remained tightly pressed together, but a vein throbbed slightly at the temple. Seeing this, Hugo stood up, deliberately drawing out his words—

“I say, Mr. Vice President, in my opinion, your choice is really unwise. If I were in your position, rather than hoping that the revival of the ancient dynasty can realize your political ambitions, you would be better off sticking to the position of Vice President of the Alliance for a few more years or so—with your qualifications, you might actually be able to climb to the position of President of the Alliance.”

"Ha... seniority."

As if unable to bear it any longer, the middle-aged man suddenly let out a sneer. His knowing attitude had already admitted that he had colluded with Quixote.

"In this white castle built by the Alliance bureaucrats, all the gears operate according to rank and seniority. We look at this seemingly solid world and assume that such rules can continue to function eternally. But you newcomers simply don't understand—only those who built the castle know just how fragile these rules that keep the Alliance running are."

He struggled to prop himself up—

"Perhaps, at some point, someone will kick a crucial part, and the entire building will collapse like a child's sandcastle... Today is the 123rd year of the Alliance calendar, right? One hundred and twenty-three years is an age near death for humanity. This is enough time for any institution to develop cancerous tissue. While you are busy painting over the rotten beams and pillars, someone has already prepared the blueprint for demolition and reconstruction."

"Please don't glorify cowardice as foresight," Hugo said with a disdainful sneer.

"Talking about 'buildings and sandcastles' is nothing more than sitting on the fence between the Plasma Group and the Alliance. The interrogators will settle your concerns about hedging your bets later. My question to you now is—"

Hugo suddenly lowered his voice.

"Did that Quixote know about the murder you committed here? I believe that by now, you have no reason to continue hiding your motives."

“You’re right, then I’ll tell you the truth.” Lionel’s Adam’s apple bobbed, and he finally nodded obediently.

"This murder was indeed ordered by Quigish, and he taught me the poisoning method. He wanted me to eliminate Akromar because the scientific ideas that man brought might shake the foundation of the Plasma Group's rule in the future, and it had to be nipped in the bud. The reason for choosing to commit the crime inside the Alliance Building was to smear the United States Alliance... and you, the new champion."

"Sigh, you may not know my profession before I became a champion, but you don't have to make up such a clumsy lie, do you?"

Hugo shook his head and raised his hand in a pause gesture.

"Leaving aside Akromar's importance, given Ghetsis's power within the Plasma Group, why would he need to use someone else to eliminate an internal member? Nor would he expose a high-ranking member of the Alliance for this purpose. Only a leader familiar with the internal structure of the Alliance and the operational patterns of its personnel could devise such a deadly method of poisoning."

The detective's fingertips traced an invisible blueprint in the air: "Within the entire alliance, only you, who is in charge of the General Affairs Department, have the authority and knowledge to this extent. All the evidence points to this crime being a one-act play that you wrote and directed from beginning to end."

"No! Quixote is deliberately trying to slander the Alliance! Someone like me is completely insignificant to him! As for the inside information needed to plan the poisoning, I was the one who gave it to him!"

Lionel suddenly became excited and almost pounced on the champion, which made Hugo glad that he had kept his distance from the criminal beforehand.

"Besides, if everything were as you say, what reason would I have to risk my reputation to murder Akromar, who is also an ally of Team Plasma?"

The vice president's tone was almost pleading.

“You know the truth yourself,” Hugo said calmly, looking the other person into the eyes.

"But since you insist, I won't pry any further. After all, everyone has an untouchable abyss in their heart."

The Unova Champion seemed to have come only to confirm something. Having ascertained that the secret Lionel wanted to protect was unrelated to his purpose, he didn't linger and left the room with the two Elite Four members. Before leaving, the two Elite Four members also confiscated Lionel's clay golem.

The door slammed shut.