Ralts was still asleep across Jun’s lap when the knock came, so Marnie was the one who went to the door.
A broad-shouldered man stood outside wearing a stadium worker’s uniform and a low baseball cap that shadowed his eyes.
A backpack hung from one shoulder, making him look like any other member of the event staff moving equipment around between matches.
“Marnie?
There’s a phone call for you outside.” She studied him for a moment.
“A phone call?
From who?” “Mor?” Morpeko abandoned its food and wandered over to her feet.
“Someone from Spikemuth, I think.” The man scratched the back of his head with an apologetic smile.
“I wasn’t told much more than that.” Spikemuth was enough to get Marnie’s attention, though not enough to erase the doubt from her expression.
She glanced back at Jun, gave him a small nod, then picked up Morpeko and followed the supposed staff member into the corridor.
Jun watched them disappear around the corner.
The man didn’t follow.
He remained outside the open door, motionless now that Marnie’s footsteps had faded away.
Jun’s eyes narrowed.
Ralts’s horn twitched against his leg.
Her eyes snapped open.
The man moved at the same instant, raising the Poké Ball he’d kept concealed in his right hand.
Jun recognized him too late.
The poacher.
After last night’s deal collapsed, he’d found another way to settle his problem.
If he could bring the Shiny Ralts to the buyer himself, he could keep the Wishing Star and offer something far more valuable than a sketch.
The Poké Ball opened.
Nickit exploded into the room in a red-and-black blur.
Jun barely had time to turn before its jaws came down.
He threw his right arm between Nickit and Ralts, and sharp teeth punched through his sleeve and sank into flesh.
Blood splattered across Ralts’s face.
The poacher gave a humorless laugh.
“Saw your matches.
You’ve got good reflexes.” His gaze dropped to Jun’s bleeding arm.
“Still stupid, though.
What kind of Trainer uses his own body to protect a Pokémon?” Nickit hesitated too.
This was the same human who had grabbed it with his bare hands in the forest.
Now he’d willingly put himself between its teeth and another Pokémon.
It didn’t understand him at all.
Training took over where understanding failed.
Nickit’s jaws tightened, this time with enough force to do far worse than leave another bite wound.
Ralts screamed.
“RU-RA!” Disarming Voice burst through the room at point-blank range.
The blast struck Nickit directly across the head.
Its jaw snapped sideways with a sickening crack, forcing its mouth open as it dropped away from Jun’s arm.
The poacher’s expression changed.
“Disarming Voice—” He never finished.
Ralts was already moving.
The soft little Pokémon who had spent the last hour asleep in Jun’s lap was gone.
Her amber eyes had turned frighteningly cold, locked onto Nickit as flames wrapped around one fist.
She stepped in and drove Fire Punch into its stomach.
Nickit folded around the blow.
The hit launched it backward into its Trainer, sending both of them crashing into the corridor wall.
The man doubled over coughing while Nickit hit the floor beside him, blood dripping from its damaged mouth.
Ralts started after them.
“Thunderbolt!” Marnie’s voice came from the far end of the corridor.
Electricity ripped past the open doorway toward the poacher, but he reacted quickly enough to release a second Pokémon.
A squat, orange Trapinch appeared between them, planting itself firmly as the Thunderbolt washed harmlessly over its Ground-type body.
The poacher barely had time to feel relieved.
Ralts flashed past Trapinch.
Fire gathered around her fist as she leapt straight for the man’s chest, and from the angle of the attack Jun doubted she was thinking about tournament rules anymore.
Nickit forced itself upright.
White light flashed around its battered body as Quick Attack propelled it forward, slamming into Ralts before her punch could land.
The impact knocked her sideways, but blue light immediately wrapped around her body as she used Confusion to arrest the fall.
She twisted back before Nickit could escape.
Fire Punch crashed into it again.
This time Ralts didn’t stop there.
Psychic force dragged Nickit with the motion of her strike, trapping it between herself and the poacher as she drove both of them backward.
The punch landed through Nickit and into the man’s chest.
He coughed blood as his back slammed into the wall.
Cracks raced through the plaster before the entire section gave way, sending man and Pokémon tumbling into the room beyond.
For a moment, the corridor filled with dust.
Ralts landed on unsteady feet and sucked in a breath, preparing to charge through the hole and finish what she’d started.
A hand gently touched the top of her head.
She looked up.
The fury in her eyes vanished almost immediately.
Jun had crouched beside her.
His face was pale from blood loss, and his right arm hung uselessly at his side, but he still managed a tired smile.
“Don’t bother.” Ralts frowned and looked toward the shattered wall.
“He’s gone.” Jun pointed with his good hand toward the place where Trapinch had been standing.
Only a dark hole remained in the floor.
Another had appeared beyond the broken wall, large enough for the poacher and Nickit to disappear through.
The whole escape had taken seconds.
Jun shook his head.
“Maybe poachers aren’t great at fighting, but they sure know how to run.” Ralts stared at the empty holes in disbelief before turning back to him.
“Did you get hurt?” Jun asked.
Her eyes dropped to his arm.
Blood had already soaked through what remained of the sleeve, running along his fingers and dripping steadily onto the floor.
Ralts’s nose twitched.
Then her eyes filled.
She punched Jun in the shin.
The tiny fist had none of the force she’d used against Nickit.
It felt closer to being hit with a stuffed toy.
Jun looked down at her, then smiled and gently pinched her cheek with his left hand.
“I’m fine.” That only made the tears spill faster.
“Jun!” Marnie hurried toward them with Morpeko in her arms, her usual neat appearance slightly ruined by the rush back down the corridor.
She took one look at the blood covering Jun’s arm, the broken wall, and Ralts standing beside him in tears.
Whatever she’d expected when she doubled back, it hadn’t been this.
[End of chapter]