*Boom—!*
The violent blast shockwave knocked everyone nearby off their feet.
Even Hunter Z wasn’t spared, tumbling helplessly into the murky sewage and rolling several times.
Her hood, which had been hiding her face, flew off in the commotion.
She had never expected her target to have backup.
On the other side, Mishiro emerged mostly unharmed, but the Greninja on his back took the brunt of it.
Already critically injured, Greninja’s body bore the shockwave of another explosion head-on.
If it had been clinging to a single digit of HP earlier, now it was down to decimal points.
“These guys really have no rock bottom…” he cursed under his breath.
Only then did he realize something felt off.
Why hadn’t the fall hurt at all?
“How…
How long are you planning to lay on top of me?!”
“Huh?”
Hearing the embarrassed, indignant voice beneath him, Mishiro snapped back to reality and realized he was pinning someone down, his arm accidentally draped right next to her neck.
Their faces were less than ten centimeters apart.
He could clearly feel her warm breath and smell a subtle scent of lavender.
After receiving a red-faced glare from the girl, he scrambled up in a hurry, supporting Greninja with one hand while pulling Lacey up off the damp ground with the other.
“What are you doing here?”
“I…”
Lacey looked down.
Her clean outfit was soaked through with sewer water from the fall.
A slight germaphobe, she felt a surge of annoyance and was about to scold him, but his question stopped her in her tracks.
She bit her lower lip, embarrassment flashing in her eyes.
How could she possibly explain?
Was she supposed to admit that after seeing him defeat Blue with Excadrill during the exhibition match, she had gotten curious and snuck off without her classmates to challenge his Gym early?
Fortunately, she quickly noticed something and hurriedly changed the subject.
“That person…
she’s getting back up!”
“Hmm?”
Mishiro whipped his head around.
“Innate evil little brats!” Hunter Z spat, forcing herself up from the filthy water.
Seeing this, Mishiro temporarily dropped his questions for Lacey, explaining coldly, “She’s a Pokémon Hunter.
They’re trying to capture Grenig—Holy crap!
She’s so hideous, no wonder she kept her hood on!”
With her hood gone, Hunter Z’s true face was exposed.
It was a face almost impossible to describe in words, covered in scars and botched plastic surgery marks—looking like the twisted “masterpiece” of an unlicensed clinic.
“Is this really the time to focus on that?!”
Despite her annoyance at Mishiro getting her clothes filthy, Lacey knew what took priority.
She quickly hurled a Poké Ball.
In a flash of light, a pink Pokémon with bright yellow markings on its forehead and tail tip appeared.
“Slowpoke, use Heal Pulse!”
“Slooow…”
The Galarian Slowpoke let out a soft cry, releasing gentle healing energy from its body that turned into speckles of green light, raining down onto Greninja like rain.
As the light soaked in, Greninja’s injuries stabilized at a rate visible to the naked eye.
“Thanks.”
Mishiro said sincerely.
Although Heal Pulse could only temporarily stabilize the condition rather than fully cure it, if Lacey hadn’t acted in time, he truly wouldn’t have been confident in getting Greninja out safely.
“Mhm.”
Lacey gave a light nod, her expression earnest.
Earlier, she had witnessed Mishiro fleeing with Greninja on his back, even throwing himself in front of Hydreigon’s attack to shield the Pokémon without a second thought.
Nobody who didn’t truly love Pokémon could ever go that far.
Even if her first impression of Mishiro wasn’t great—
A person willing to risk his life to protect a Pokémon deserved her respect.
“Let’s deal with this hideous freak first.” Lacey instructed Slowpoke to keep tending to Greninja, then turned sideways, facing Hydreigon alongside Whimsicott.
Hearing that, Mishiro took a remarkably decisive step back, placing Lacey in front of him.
“No problem, I’m counting on you.”
“???”
“I only brought Excadrill, and it’s back there holding off her minions…”
“Aren’t you a Gym Leader?!”
“Which is why I haven’t officially opened yet!
Haha…”
Lacey: “…”
*This guy is unbelievable!*
Hearing the two chatter back and forth while mocking her looks, Hunter Z completely snapped.
Clenching her fists, she roared, “I didn’t want to make a big scene, but you’ve thoroughly pissed me off!
You two lovebirds can be buried right here and die together!
Hydreigon, Dragon Rush!”
“Who are you calling lovebirds?!”
Although she had lost to the mysterious Blue before, she was still the second-ranked trainer at Blueberry Academy.
Even without participating in a League Conference, she had fought Nimbasa City Gym Leader Elesa with all her strength three months ago, losing only by a narrow margin to Elesa’s final Zebstrika.
Today, she felt confident she could win that match in a rematch.
So right here, right now, she believed she definitely wouldn’t lose!
Seeing Lacey prepare to order Whimsicott to retaliate with Moonblast, Mishiro shouted frantically from behind her, “Dummy, use Protect!”
“Huh?”
Lacey froze, failing to catch his meaning.
The next second, a terrifying Dragon-type aura erupted around Hydreigon, morphing into a massive, dark-purple dragon of energy.
The violent shockwave sent tremors through the entire sewer.
Only then did Lacey realize: Hunter Z had no intention of engaging in a fair battle against Whimsicott!
She was a Pokémon Hunter, not an honorable trainer.
In the adult underworld, people fought dirty.
Her real goal was to use Dragon Rush to collapse the sewer ceiling and bury them alive in this wretched place!
*She was not going to die in a sewer!!!*
“What do we do?!”
“This is exactly what Blue was talking about…” Mishiro sighed, slapping a hand to his forehead.
These academy-bred trainers were far too rigid in their thinking, utterly failing to realize that outside sanctioned arenas, nobody followed the rules.
*Rumble—!*
Debris began to shower down as the roof hit directly by Dragon Rush finally caved in.
Even if Lacey ordered Whimsicott to use Protect now, it was too late.
She could only watch helplessly as rebar and chunks of concrete rained down.
“Squishy!”
Shielding Greninja behind him, Mishiro reached into his pocket.
In this crisis, he had no choice but to gamble on Squishy’s power.
However, Squishy hadn’t fully mastered power gathering yet, and even Mishiro didn’t know what consequences forcing it would bring.
Just as Squishy poked its head out of his pocket, a silhouette darted past them.
Simultaneously, several columns of water erupted in the sewer, rapidly shaping into shuriken in midair before spinning at blistering speed to smash into the falling debris.
Thanks to the precious second bought for them, Whimsicott successfully deployed Protect.
A shimmering energy barrier expanded rapidly, deflecting all falling rocks.
Mishiro and Lacey seized the opening to scramble clear of the collapse zone.
Glancing back, Mishiro saw Greninja forcing its body upright, standing tall once more.
He couldn’t help muttering softly.
“The sewers…
really are a safe zone, huh…”