BANG!!
The motorcycle, which had already been started, let out a dull roar under Metang’s psychic power and immediately stalled.
The two men seemed to realize what had happened as well.
After glaring viciously at Daigo and Nathan Hale, they turned and ran into a nearby alley.
Nathan Hale: “??”
Watching the two robbers disappear, Daigo’s expression changed.
He hurriedly said:
“Teacher Nathan Hale, help me!”
“Oh.”
Nathan Hale didn’t refuse.
But his method of “helping” left Daigo dumbfounded.
He calmly pulled out his phone and called the police.
“Hello, Rustboro Police Department.
This is Officer Jenny.”
A serious voice came through the phone.
“Hello, Officer Jenny.
There’s been a robbery on Sixth Street—”
Daigo: “…”
Seeing the two robbers about to disappear, Daigo could no longer afford to wait.
He immediately took Metang and chased after them.
Nathan Hale watched his back and couldn’t help sighing.
“Sigh.
Impulsive, hot-blooded youngsters…”
After all, the Daigo of today was still far from becoming the Hoenn Champion who would one day command the Elite Four, divide his forces, and calmly orchestrate everything from behind the scenes.
Despite saying that, Nathan Hale still reluctantly started running.
He was a teacher, after all.
He couldn’t exactly watch his own student face two robbers alone and do nothing, could he?
There were plenty of people watching.
Quite a few were even holding up their phones.
If a video of him standing by while his student chased armed robbers made its way onto the internet, he’d probably become famous overnight.
The two chased after the robbers into the alley, one following the other.
“Teacher Nathan Hale.”
When Daigo saw Nathan Hale catch up, his expression carried a look of approval that seemed to say, I knew you wouldn’t just stand by.
Nathan Hale ignored him.
Instead, he looked toward the corner where the two robbers had disappeared.
“Gastly.”
“Ko-gee—”
Understanding Nathan Hale’s intention, Gastly immediately floated out from his body, turned into mist, and slipped through the wall.
“Ko-gee!”
Its voice soon came from the other side.
Only then did Nathan Hale fully pick up the pace.
The two quickly reached the corner, only to see the robbers disappear around yet another bend.
And so, the chase continued.
After turning three or four corners…
They had reached a completely unfamiliar area.
Nathan Hale frowned.
His pace gradually slowed.
Noticing this, Daigo looked at him questioningly.
“Didn’t you notice?
They’re deliberately leading us somewhere.”
Daigo froze slightly.
He wasn’t stupid.
After thinking about it, he quickly noticed something strange as well.
Every time they rounded a corner, the robbers would conveniently disappear around another corner.
They never let themselves get caught immediately, but neither did they allow Daigo and Nathan Hale to lose them.
And in this maze of alleys, the robbers were clearly much more familiar with the terrain than they were.
But…
“Why are they leading us here?” Daigo couldn’t help asking.
What’s their objective?
Nathan Hale shot him a sideways glance.
“Us?”
They were probably only trying to lure you here.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Sure enough, faint footsteps could already be heard from the alley behind them.
“Ku!”
Metang immediately floated behind Daigo and Nathan Hale.
But this narrow alley severely restricted Metang’s movements.
Given its size, it could barely maneuver, let alone fight at full strength.
“Go!”
Nathan Hale took a breath and started running again.
This kind of terrain was far too restrictive for Daigo’s Pokémon.
Daigo immediately understood what he meant and ran alongside Metang.
They stopped following the direction in which the robbers had fled and instead ran in the opposite direction at the next intersection.
At the same time—
“Damn it!”
The footsteps behind them became more hurried.
Clearly, the pursuers hadn’t expected to be discovered this quickly.
“Going after the heir of Devon Corporation in Rustboro City…
They’re pretty bold,” Nathan Hale couldn’t help remarking.
Daigo gave an awkward smile.
Devon Corporation wasn’t exactly some local tyrant or crime boss.
Still, he was somewhat puzzled.
From Nathan Hale’s tone, it sounded like the teacher knew who these people were.
After passing through two more alleys, Nathan Hale suddenly stopped.
“They’re here.”
The moment he finished speaking, a voice came from ahead.
“Mightyena, Bite!”
“Arrooo—!”
A roar echoed through the alley.
A vicious hound covered in thick black-and-gray fur appeared around the corner, its scarlet eyes glaring fiercely as it charged toward them at incredible speed.
“Metang, Bullet Punch!”
Daigo reacted almost instantly, making the correct decision.
Metang was relatively slow, but the priority granted by Bullet Punch allowed it to strike first.
It rushed toward the ferocious hound.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Mightyena looked vicious, but its raw strength was clearly inferior to Metang’s.
Metang’s fists moved like bullets, repeatedly hammering it and sending it flying backward.
But then—
A noise came from behind them.
“Zangoose, Quick Attack!”
A large feline-like Pokémon with red markings flashed into view.
Wrapped in a silver-white current of air, it charged straight toward them!
However…
The narrow alley restricted Daigo and Metang, but it restricted the enemy’s mobility as well.
Once Zangoose activated Quick Attack, it could only charge straight toward them.
So almost at the exact moment the enemy’s command rang out, Nathan Hale shouted:
“Gastly!”
“Ko-gee!”
A mass of hazy black mist surged out from the wall.
It formed a gigantic ghostly face—hideous and terrifying, with a long crimson tongue shooting toward the streak of white light.
Lick!
There was no denying it.
A gigantic ghost face appearing out of nowhere in a narrow, dark alley was genuinely frightening.
But Quick Attack had already been activated.
Zangoose still slammed directly into the ghostly face.
Puff!
A hole burst through the ghost face.
Yet it didn’t suffer the slightest damage.
The hole quickly closed.
And that long tongue landed directly in front of Zangoose.
Its pupils shrank.
Its fur stood on end.
It almost instinctively cried out.
Flinched?
No.
Normal-type moves couldn’t affect Ghost-type Pokémon, but the reverse was true as well.
Physical effects were ineffective.
But psychological effects?
In this environment, amplified by the sudden appearance, they were another matter entirely.
Nathan Hale looked at Daigo without saying anything.
He didn’t need to.
Daigo had already reacted.
Metang, still swinging its Bullet Punch, quickly passed through the alley and slammed its fist into Zangoose’s face, knocking it unconscious.
“Ko-gee—”
Gastly let out a sinister laugh.
But it didn’t reveal itself.
As the ghostly face faded, it slipped back into the wall.
An alley like this restricted Daigo, Metang, and their opponents alike.
But for Gastly…
This was its territory.
At Nathan Hale’s signal, it had already made a rough assessment of the surrounding terrain.
And it had found the enemy’s weakest point.
“Ko-gee!”
A faint voice reached Nathan Hale’s ears.
His spirits lifted.
“This way.”
He immediately ran in the direction from which Zangoose had attacked.
Daigo didn’t question him.
He clearly trusted Nathan Hale and followed with Metang.
As they passed a corner, Daigo suddenly saw two people sprawled on the ground.
They were foaming at the mouth, their bodies twitching faintly.
One of them appeared to be Zangoose’s trainer.
Daigo: “?!”
“Gahahaha—”
Gastly’s wicked laughter came from inside the wall.
That video wasn’t a waste of time.
That old woman named Agatha really does know what she’s talking about.
What’s the point of fighting Pokémon head-on?
Take out the trainer directly!
Clearly, the enemy had never expected their carefully planned operation against Daigo to be disrupted by such an unexpected troublemaker.
They quickly ran through two more alleys.
The dazzling neon lights of the main street were already visible ahead.
But just then—
A deep, heavy voice rang out behind them.
“Camerupt, Flamethrower!”
In the dark alley, a tiny point of fire suddenly appeared like a star.
The flame flickered.
The hazy boundary between light and darkness swept rapidly across the alley.
As the flames suddenly surged, the entire alley was dyed orange-red.
“Ku!”
Metang’s entire body tensed.
It could sense it.
Compared with the Mightyena and Zangoose from earlier, this Camerupt was far stronger.
Wee-woo!
Wee-woo!
Suddenly—
Police sirens rang out.
The sound caused both the enemy and Camerupt to momentarily freeze.