Hoenn’s waters.
A massive maritime base floated on the water like a steel behemoth. Judging from the water stains on its body, this colossus had probably just emerged from the deep sea and had not been exposed to the outside world for long.
Early in the morning, just after daybreak, a helicopter bearing Team Magma’s logo slowly arrived above this maritime base. After the sky and the sea exchanged signals with each other, the helicopter finally began to descend slowly.
“Go get him out.”
Inside the helicopter, Team Magma’s special operations captain, Tabitha, glanced at the heavily bound sack and spoke to his grunts, then turned and left.
“Yes!”
The two members in Team Magma uniforms immediately got to work, untying the bound sack and releasing the person inside.
“Finally out…”
However, what made these two Team Magma grunts turn pale with fright was that inside was not Professor Cozmo at all, but a familiar-looking young man and a cloud of purple ghostly mist circling around him. As that mist took shape, they finally saw clearly that it was the Ghost-type Pokémon Mismagius.
The instant he came out, Terrance suddenly felt that the air outside was so fresh. Although he had not stayed inside for long, being tied up hand and foot while conscious was bound to be uncomfortable.
When Mismagius let out a piercing, terrifying shriek, the two Team Magma grunts standing close to Terrance were instantly shaken out of their wits. They stumbled back a step and collapsed to the ground, their eyes vacant and dazed.
“Who are you?!”
The space inside the helicopter was not large, so the commotion here naturally drew attention at once. Tabitha, who had just stepped into another cabin, immediately took out a Poké Ball and looked at Terrance with an unfriendly expression.
No sooner had he spoken than, after seeing Terrance’s full appearance, his expression immediately turned vicious, and he said in some disbelief, “Elite Four, Terrance.”
“Captain Tabitha, I’ve long heard of you.”
After being recognized by Tabitha, Terrance unhurriedly broke free of the things binding him and stood in front of Mismagius, looking at the other party with amusement.
“I wonder how many points Captain Tabitha would give this little disguise?”
“The Professor Cozmo you went to such great lengths to kidnap turned into Elite Four. You must be very surprised.”
As Terrance smiled, the helicopter had already completed its landing. Tabitha glanced outside the window and said somewhat hesitantly, “It is indeed a fine move, but does Elite Four Terrance really think he’s invincible? Team Magma is not a place just anyone can barge into.”
“Naturally, Captain Tabitha need not worry about that. But before that, I wonder if you could answer a question of mine first. Have you given up on Oldale Ruins?”
After Team Magma’s failure at Oldale Ruins, they had actually not gone back to Oldale Ruins even once, causing both the League’s and Terrance’s arrangements to come to nothing. For Oldale Ruins to remain completely quiet for several months was truly inconceivable. Judging by Team Magma’s style, they did not seem like the sort to give up easily.
“Oldale Ruins?”
Tabitha recalled for a moment, then sneered. With such blatant arrangements in place, if Team Magma still forced their way in, they would be far too stupid. Besides forcing their way in, they had many other methods to investigate the information inside Oldale Ruins. Now that Oldale Ruins had already been judged by Team Magma to have no value whatsoever, they naturally would not walk right into a trap.
Instead of answering Terrance, Tabitha in turn asked a question as well. “If you want to know, then Elite Four Terrance will have to answer my question first. How exactly did you know Team Magma was going to kidnap Professor Cozmo? Could it be that the League has already planted a spy inside Team Magma?”
Naturally, Tabitha did not expect Terrance to answer such a foolish question. Both men had other intentions behind their questions, but what Tabitha never expected was that Terrance actually answered.
“To be honest, that was what I thought at first too. But after I traced the source of the email that warned me, I made quite the discovery,” Terrance said with a smile. “The email came from a small, abandoned factory. After that, the police quickly investigated the place and found something interesting. It seemed to be one of your old enemy Team Aqua’s secret bases. Although it was already empty, quite a few traces had been left behind because they evacuated in a hurry.”
“Team Aqua!”
After freezing for a moment, Tabitha’s expression immediately turned ferocious. If there was any organization that had infiltrated Team Magma the deepest, it definitely would not be the Hoenn League, but Team Aqua. Likewise, the one that had infiltrated Team Aqua the deepest was also Team Magma.
The two great organizations had once shared the same origin, only later splitting apart because of differing ideals. Both sides understood each other very deeply. When Team Magma was experimenting with the Volcano System at Mt. Chimney, Team Aqua’s operations captain, Shelly, had led four squads there to sabotage it. Therefore, Tabitha did not completely disbelieve Terrance’s words. It was just that Team Aqua had actually used the Hoenn League to deal with them—this method truly made Tabitha somewhat underestimate just how low Team Aqua could sink.
At this moment, all the Team Magma members on the helicopter had already gathered beside Tabitha, looking at Terrance with hostile gazes.
Having roughly understood what had happened from Terrance, and sensing movement coming from outside, Tabitha no longer intended to waste words.
“All right, now that the operatives who have learned that an Elite Four has specially come to visit Team Magma’s base are all gathered, may I ask if Mr. Terrance would like to go down and have a cup of tea? I still have many things I would like to ask you.”
“There’s no need for tea. I imagine the location I sent out has already been received by the Hoenn League. When reinforcements arrive, I hope Captain Tabitha will still be this hospitable.”
Hearing this, the smiling Tabitha’s smile immediately vanished. He snorted coldly. Earlier, both sides had shown an unusual tacit understanding and had not attacked first, both with the goal of waiting for their reinforcements to arrive. But it was obvious that Team Magma’s reinforcements were faster. As the helicopter’s various cabin doors were opened, seeing that Terrance had no intention of attacking, the several grunts inside the helicopter, including Tabitha, quickly jumped out.
In the next instant, the helicopter exploded with a boom. Boundless flames engulfed the entire interior, turning into billowing black smoke that rose into the air.
Slowly, after the flames dispersed and the smoke was blown away, Terrance and the other five Pokémon within the diamond domain created by Diancie landed on the ground and looked with some surprise at Team Magma surrounding them.
Dozens of Team Magma grunts wearing combat uniforms each had multiple Mightyena and Golbat following at their sides. The number of Pokémon was well over a hundred. Every Trainer and Pokémon carried the aura of having fought countless battles, which actually made Terrance look at them in a new light. Being surrounded by this sort of organized and disciplined criminal force, Terrance felt a pressure he had never experienced when wiping out those ragtag poachers. It was a novel sensation.
“But do you really think you can deal with me with just a hundred worthless grunts?”
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