"Pii~ Pichu~"
Pichu closed its eyes and swayed its ears, its little paws pointing toward the southeast.
"You're saying there's a large mass of electric energy not far off in that direction?"
After understanding Pichu's meaning, Caster paused, taken aback.
Pichu's ability was Lightning Rod, which gave it enhanced perception and guidance over Electric-type energy.
It just so happened that earlier today it had consumed an ability candy, causing its Lightning Rod ability to break through and thus vaguely sense something.
"Tonight the moon is bright and the stars are few. There shouldn't be any thunderclouds nearby, right?"
Caster looked out across the ocean. Though sea breezes occasionally swept past, overall the waters were calm.
"Could it be..."
Suddenly, a thought struck Caster.
A large mass of electric energy didn't only mean thunderclouds.
If a large group of Electric-type Pokémon gathered together, wouldn't that also be possible?
"The illegal trawler might be right over there!"
Caster's eyes gleamed as an internal struggle waged within him.
Reason told Caster he shouldn't wade into these murky waters.
Because on an illegal trawler, there would most likely be criminals, and once encountered, conflict was highly probable.
There might even be danger to his life.
But emotion told Caster that if he turned a blind eye, then more Lanturn would be injured, crippled, or even killed.
After a brief mental battle between logic and feeling, emotion won out over reason. Caster decided to go take a look.
But deep down, Caster kept reminding himself: "I'll just take a quick look from far away.
Once I confirm the illegal trawler's location, I'll immediately contact the police."
After establishing this bottom line for his actions, Caster released Gyarados and climbed aboard, with little Pichu perched on his shoulder.
"Gyarados, let's go check that area out! Remember, stay quiet!"
Caster patted both Pokémon, warning them: "Sneak over there quietly, take a few looks from far away. No fighting."
Gyarados nodded and began manipulating air currents, gently and slowly ascending.
Only after flying several hundred meters into the sky, having become a mere speck, did it fly toward the direction Pichu had indicated.
Fortunately, with the Float Stone equipped, Gyarados's weight was greatly reduced, so even with Caster riding, it could still fly at a decent speed.
However, Gyarados was still too weak in terms of agility, and combined with its large size, it was practically comparable to a hot air balloon.
After flying dozens of nautical miles, Blue Point Isle was reduced to a faint outline.
And at this point, Caster finally spotted a suspicious vessel.
The ship was dozens of meters long, equipped with massive nets, as well as specialized equipment like winches and net frames.
On the deck, several crew members could be seen directing Pokémon to work.
Clack clack clack!
The trawler was hauling in its nets.
As the nets were continuously pulled back, enormous lights began flashing beneath the sea surface, flickering like the glow from firefly tails.
Before long, a large group of Lanturn were hoisted up.
Some were still struggling, constantly using Electric-type moves to attack the nets.
Unfortunately, this net was clearly specially made with excellent electrical insulation, so all the Lanturn's efforts were futile, nothing but wasted struggle.
As the large net opened, the group of Lanturn were simply dropped from several meters in the air, falling into the ship's hold.
The hold was filled with a large amount of seawater, but it seemed to contain drugs that made Pokémon drowsy.
After the Lanturn fell into the hold, they quickly lost the ability to resist and passed out.
"This haul's pretty good! Should be over a hundred Lanturn. At minimum we'll get five or six Deep Sea Scales. With good luck, maybe even ten."
On deck, a burly, fierce-looking middle-aged man laughed heartily, then rallied the crew: "Everyone work harder!
Let's process this batch of Lanturn as fast as we can, then try to pull a few more nets before dawn.
Once we sell the Deep Sea Scales, we'll all split the money."
"Yeah! Let's pull more nets!"
The several crew members working on deck responded in unison, each one full of energy.
Because for people like them doing illegal trawling, the profit margins were very high and extremely lucrative.
Of course, the prerequisite was not getting caught.
Once caught, they were completely screwed.
"Mm~"
Watching the bustling deck, the middle-aged captain was very satisfied.
Behind the captain stood a Pokémon that looked similar to Poliwhirl but had stronger arms, like a personal bodyguard.
It was the Water and Fighting-type Pokémon, Poliwrath!
In midair, Caster witnessed everything and dialed the police station again.
But just then, a machine on the trawler suddenly lit up with red light and emitted a "beep-beep-beep" sound.
In the bridge, a crew member in a sailor uniform's expression changed drastically: "There's a phone signal!!!"
This machine was their alarm system. Not only could it block phone signals within several kilometers, it could also provide warning alerts.
The crew member first glanced at the radar and found nothing unusual on the sea surface.
"The radar's not reacting? That means they're probably coming from the sky!"
The crew member's gaze sharpened as he looked toward the sky.
Not far away were several thick clouds, but what was hidden behind them, no one could know.
So he hurriedly ran to the top of the bridge, only to find a Skarmory dozing off.
"I told you to keep watch here, and you're slacking off instead?"
The crew member was furious and wanted to give Skarmory a hard kick.
But remembering that Skarmory was the captain's Pokémon, the crew member could only suppress his anger and wake it up.
"Skaa~"
Skarmory came to, and under the crew member's direction, reluctantly looked toward the nearby clouds.
Bird Pokémon naturally had excellent vision, and this Skarmory's ability was Keen Eye, making its eyesight even better.
The mere water vapor of clouds couldn't block its reconnaissance at all.
"Skaa~"
Skarmory cried out strangely and immediately took flight.
"So there really is someone!"
The crew member knew things were bad.
And when the captain on deck learned of the situation, his expression also darkened like water.
Sneaking around hidden in the sky and sending out a phone signal, whether the other party was friend or foe basically didn't need guessing.
"Everyone don't panic, keep trawling. I'll go deal with them!"
The captain first steadied the sailors before looking up toward Caster's direction, his eyes full of killing intent: "Dare to ruin my business? Then I'll take your life!"
Recalling the Poliwrath behind him, the captain threw out two new Poké Balls.
Red light flashed, and one black and one gray Pokémon appeared.
The black Pokémon was a large bird, entirely black with white feathers on its face and chest, red feathers on the inside of its wings, and wearing a large gentleman's hat on its head.
The gray Pokémon was composed of three identical parts, with multiple horseshoe-shaped magnet-like sections on its body.
The captain leaped up, mounting Skarmory and shooting into the sky, snarling viciously: "Honchkrow! Magneton! We're going in for the kill!"
Upon hearing this, the three Pokémon immediately surged toward the sky where Caster was, murderous intent blazing.
"This sea area has absolutely no signal?"
In midair, Caster's face showed unwillingness.
He had no idea the trawler had signal-blocking devices. He only knew his phone call simply wouldn't go through.
And when Caster lowered his phone, he immediately saw three Pokémon rapidly attacking from the ship.
"Oh no! We've been spotted!"
Caster's expression changed drastically, as if plunged into an icy abyss.
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~ Push the story forward with your Power Stones