"So this is when that little thing becomes useful again..."
Alfred decisively grabbed Anna by her short black hair and yanked her in front of himself. Then he called out, "Bella!"
The woman beside him pulled a sharp knife over ten centimeters long from her pocket.
"W! Lock all your Poké Balls, then take off your backpack and coat and throw them over here! Otherwise, this little thing..."
Alfred stopped midway through the sentence with a savage grin, every bit of his attention fixed on the person before him.
As long as he found even the slightest opening, he could defeat his target and complete the mission. This League Champion was already being dragged down by a burden… it was practically effortless.
Hummm!
A humming sound spread through the entire forest, like the murmur of lake water.
A pale pink psychic crystal glowed in Shiro's hand.
"Didn't expect I'd have to use this so soon."
The sky above the forest had already been completely dyed crimson by psychic power. The forces of the five Unown clashed and intertwined, forming a psychic barrier that slowly spread downward from the sky itself.
But the instant the psychic crystal appeared, the psychic energy flooding the heavens abruptly froze.
"This is..." Alfred's attention was instantly drawn toward it. "A psychic crystal condensed by Mesprit? Then its effect must be..."
To awaken Mesprit?
The thought made his expression change drastically.
Mesprit had only just returned to Lake Verity after more than ten years away. It urgently needed to sleep and restore its connection with Arceus. Why would it hand over an item capable of awakening itself to a human?
Could a mere human matter more than the Lake Guardians' creator?
"Throw it away!"
Alfred's eyes reddened as he roared hoarsely, already beginning to lose control.
If Mesprit woke up, the entire situation would reverse instantly. He and Bella would definitely die here.
"Look at this little thing!" Alfred hurriedly lifted Anna into the air by the back of her collar, his expression bordering on madness. "And the Twinleaf Town below us! If you use that crystal, before Mesprit awakens, Garchomp can turn Twinleaf Town into a desert!"
"..."
Shiro looked at the struggling little girl without replying.
Leave, or stay and fight. Was there truly no other choice?
Unown A shouted with all its might, 'Shiro, don't! Just wait a little longer! Just wait for me...!'
Up in the sky, Unown A was desperately resisting the psychic force of the other two Unown. Perhaps because they were being controlled, the two black Unown were gradually losing ground despite fighting together.
At this rate, Unown A might break free after another ten minutes or so.
"Hesitating now? W, you've already figured it out, haven't you? I'm Hunter A..."
Calming down a bit, Alfred's grin nearly split his face apart as he looked at the indecisive Shiro. "I never expected your Unown to still retain its consciousness. You can't even fully control it. In the end, it'll only drag you down."
He paused, still unsatisfied, then continued mockingly, "I thought we were the same kind of person. But you're actually hesitating. What a joke."
"..."
Shiro clenched his teeth as the pink crystal trembled in his palm.
With the slightest bit of force, he could crush it and instantly teleport to Lake Verity, returning safely to Mesprit's side.
With just a little force... he could escape.
Just a little...
'Shiro!' Unown A sensed his thoughts. Bloodshot veins filled its single eye as it screamed. 'Don't leave!'
"Kekekeke..."
Hunter A curled his lips upward in delight. His laughter mixed together with Anna's sobbing. The psychic shockwaves colliding overhead buzzed like cicadas, drowning out every other sound.
Shiro could not help but think...
If gods truly existed in this world, why did they always force him to make choices like this?
Saving that child before he transmigrated had been the same.
And now it was happening again.
During his early days in the Pokémon world, he often thought back on that moment. Trying to save the child had been the greatest mistake of his life. Dying would have been one thing, but instead he had been thrown into another hell and forced to keep struggling.
He had only just crawled out of a pool of blood, yet now fire and brimstone awaited him.
"I won't leave."
Shiro slowly put the crystal back into his pocket and said in a deep voice, "What do you want?"
"Hahahahaha...!"
Alfred laughed so hard he nearly doubled over. Every bone in his body seemed to melt with pleasure, as though he had just emerged from a hot spring.
He loved seeing submission.
Whether from humans or Pokémon, it did not matter.
What amused him even more was that this opponent he had once regarded highly turned out to be the stupidest kind of person imaginable. No one understood better than him that only idiots suffered misfortune in this world.
"Hand over all your Poké Balls first!" Alfred crooked his fingers with disdain.
Shiro's face remained calm as he raised both hands into the air, showing he had no intention of making unnecessary moves.
"Don't hurt the little girl. I won't move. Come take them yourself."
"Throw them over here!" Alfred barked sharply.
"You know that's impossible," Shiro replied coldly. "Either you come take them yourself, or I use the crystal. Or we waste time here until the situation changes. Your choice."
"Good... very good..."
Alfred slowly exhaled, then the uncontrollable ecstasy returned. His entire face twitched upward with his grin.
The mission was already half complete.
In the sky, Corviknight let out sharp cries while struggling against Chandelure. Drakloak also desperately tried to break through Zweilous' blockade.
At the center of the psychic storm overhead, Unown A squeezed out every last ounce of strength. Its single eye tightened, its black body beginning to bend under the strain.
"Bella!"
Alfred called out as he threw Anna aside. He removed his suit jacket and tossed it away as well. Then he tugged open his shirt collar twice before casually walking toward Shiro, gesturing for the Garchomp in the rear to advance.
Bella pulled the dirt-covered, trembling little girl back up from the ground, wrapped an arm around her throat, pried open one of her hands with her fingers, and stood there holding the knife.
Boom. Boom.
The ground shook twice as Garchomp stepped forward again, drawing closer to Shiro.
Shiro could feel the heavy breaths from Garchomp's nostrils, along with the sand beginning to swirl nearby.
Alfred strode over quickly, but when he was still around ten meters away, he suddenly stopped.
As if he had remembered something, he pulled out another Poké Ball once more.
**
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