“These two guys…”

  In front of the tuhe thin security guard reached out to recall the injured Nuzleaf, signaling Charjabug to charge toward the forest, still clouded with dust.

  But halfway through his run, a wave of intense heat suddenly surged from behind.

  The security guard didn’t have time to turn around. His body instinctively rolled forward to dodge.

  When he looked back, Darmanitan had already reached behind him. The fat security guard’s Drizzile y charred on the ground, and the security guard himself was o be seen.

  “Damn!” The thin security guard cursed. He had never imagihe Darmantan could be this strong.

  Even though Darmanitan was a level above Drizzile, with the type adva should have been possible to fight back. Plus, the fat security guard had more than just Drizzile as a Pokémon.

  With little time to think, the thin security guard began running in a panic, Charjabug tet Darmanitan with String Shot.

  Charjabug, desperately trying to cover for his retreating traihrew out white threads with all its might. But as soon as they touched the snowman, they were instantly burned away by the fmes surrounding it.

  Darmanitan slid across the dirt path, leaving a trail of frost behind it.

  The Garian Darmanitan was inally aype, but upoering Zen Mode, it became a dual Fire and Ice-type. In this form, both its Id Fire attacks were signifitly enhanced, and its speed also increased.

  Su Advanced-level Darmanitan could even rival Pokémon of the Gym-level.

  Realizing Charjabug was of no use, the security guard promptly retur to its Poké Ball. As he ran, he pulled out his unication devid dialed a number.

  “Darma!”

  Darmanitan refused to relent. The fmes on its body burned even brighter, yet a chilling aura emanated from its surface.

  As long as it had a target in sight, Darmanitan would chase it to the bitter end.

  “Bzzzt!”

  The moment the security guard’s call ected, a gust of icy wind swept from behind. His uniform jacket stiffened instantly, growing unbearably heavy.

  Pale snowfkes spewed from Darmanitan’s mouth. Ice spread across the security guard’s clothing, expanding rapidly. His voice began to tremble.

  "Rep to the League… We have an escapee at Route 9 Tunnel, and—"

  The security guard's voice trailed off as he lost sciousness, his body crumpling to the ground. Most of his body had frozen solid and his words remained unfinished.

  Oher end of the line, only a fused voice responded.

  "Hello? Is this Route 9 Tunnel security? Hello?"

  The unication device trembled slightly.

  Darmanitan threw its head bad roared.

  “Darmann!!”

  Then, it stomped over the device.

  When no more movement occurred around it, the furious beast gradually reverted into its harmless, quiet form.

  ……

  Night had fallen.

  On Route 7, east of Hammerlocke, ihe northern forest.

  Within this forest, close to the official League road, high-level Pokémon that onihe area had already been cleared. Only novice level young Pokémo for raio catch, remained.

  A deep purple Purrloin flicked its devilish tail, walking gracefully betweerees before nimbly leaping onto one.

  Its eyes shifted, spotting two unfamiliar figures not far away. The Pokémon moved from branch to branch, ing closer and watg the two below.

  Marvin gritted his teeth, clutg his injured leg. His bone was likely fractured, and he wouldn't be able to move for a while.

  "Zzzz..."

  Fmes suddeed in front of Marvin, burning fiercely through a pile of collected dry wood.

  Shiro cleared the leaves around the pile, setting it up as a spark to ighe fire.

  He then sat by a tree nearby, quietly pulling out a Pokéblock from his bag and feeding it to Rookidee in his arms.

  “Hiss!” Marvin gasped, then said, “I hought you’d actually help me back there...”

  “Have you figured it out now?” Shiro looked at Marvin’s rge bag and asked iurn.

  “Ha...” Marvin chuckled, shaking his head, his face covered in dirt.

  When the rocks hit him, he had thought he was done for. If he were in Shiro’s position, even if the other person had valuable resources, he would never have helped in such a dangerous situation.

  Especially sihis person was the source of the crisis.

  Marvin rummaged through his rge backpack, pulling out a bundle of Pokédolrs and tossing them onto the dry leaves about a meter away from the campfire.

  "This is all the cash I have o should be what you want. sider it a pensation for the time lost because of me."

  He held his injured leg, his face calm as he tinued.

  "As for the life I owe you, we’ll talk about that ter."

  Shiro walked over, picked up the money, lightly tapped it ohen stashed it in his own bag.

  The bills were all at least five thousand each, and roughly ting, there were nearly a million Pokédolrs.

  Shiro nodded, satisfied. Saving this wealthy person would earn him a million Pokédolrs —it was worth it.

  He gently stroked Rookidee's feathers and then chuckled softly.

  "Marvin, what if I wao take your life right now? I bet there are still plenty of things in your backpack."

  "You could've killed me a long time ago if you wao. Why wait until now? Tch..." Marvin gritted his teeth, clutg his leg tightly, then added, "Besides, you’re not even sure if I have any more Pokémon on me, right? I know you're very cautious."

  Shiro nodded. Seeing Marvin nearly stumble into a tree from the pain, he pulled out a bone healing medie from his pocket and waved it in front of him:

  "Maybe you his?"

  "Wh..." Marvin barely got a sound out before his eyes locked onto the white bottle of medie in Shiro's hand.

  He quickly asked.

  "Is this a medie from Macro os? Did you buy it from a bck market mert? How much?"

  "If you want it now, otle costs 100,000 Pokédolrs, no tricks." Shiro held up the bottle, raising one finger.

  Selling goods wasn’t about quality, but about whether the er . As long as there was demand, you could charge whatever you wanted. If Marvin wants it, he'll have to buy it with tears.

  "Of course, if you’re short on cash, you trade Pokémon items or something like that." Shiro kindly added.

  But Marvin just casually rummaged through his backpack, pulled out a League card and tossed it directly to Shiro.

  "Anonymous League card, 100,000 Pokédolrs."

  Shiro stood frozen for a few moments before pig up the card, iing it closely. He couldn’t tell the differeween this and a registered League card.

  "Give me the stuff!" Marvin winced in pain, especially knowing the medie was right in front of him, making his leg ache even more.

  "Mm..." Shiro tossed the medie over and pocketed the League card.

  He hadn’t expected Marvin to be so well off. The money on him seemed endless. He couldn’t figure out why he had bee a fugitive, running from something.

  "Ah..."

  After applying the medie, Marvin finally let out a long sigh and said to Shiro.

  "Hey, buddy. Wanna do something big with me?”

  **

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