After flying from Dragon Valley for three hours, the destination was finally close at hand.
Below, everything was a lush green.
Vast stretches of towering wintergreen trees blanketed the land.
"Pii—!"
Pidgeot let out a clear, high cry. Under Himeko's direction, it circled above Wintergreen Forest for a while.
"Doesn't look like there's any problem."
Lowering the binoculars in her hands, Himeko murmured to herself.
She did a rough check.
Within the part of the forest she could currently see, there didn't seem to be anything unusual.
And she certainly didn't spot any trace of Team Dark.
"Did you notice anything?" Himeko gently stroked the feathers atop Pidgeot's head and asked softly.
This Pidgeot had the Ability Keen Eye.
Besides not having its accuracy lowered in battle, its vision and field of view were also exceptionally broad and sharp.
It was an excellent choice for reconnaissance.
"Pii—!"
Pidgeot called once and shook its head.
It hadn't found anything either.
Everything below looked normal.
"Let's enter the city first. Tomorrow we'll check the situation in the other warlords' territories."
Himeko gave the quiet order.
The sky was already nearing dusk.
A forest at night was full of dangers.
Since nothing special had been found, it would be better to return tomorrow and conduct a more detailed investigation.
As she looked at the silver city connected to that expanse of green, a natural warmth of home rose within Himeko.
Even though she had only been away for a few months, humans were creatures who longed for their homeland.
It was hard not to be moved by familiar sights.
Pidgeot beat its wings and flew like a meteor, cutting across the forest.
But when it reached the forest's central region, all of a sudden—
A terrifying storm inexplicably swept through the entire forest.
Like an enormous wave raised without warning, it crashed in with overwhelming force.
This was a pure mental storm formed from Psychic-type energy!
The surging, vast power that erupted instantly startled every Pokémon in the forest.
"Chiya—"
"Ssss—"
"Karu—"
"..."
Even while flying nearly a hundred meters above the treetops, Himeko could clearly hear the chaos below.
Countless Pokémon were fleeing wildly through the forest.
Large numbers of Flying-type Pokémon flapped up from their roosts in the trees, rising into the air to hover, staring tensely down into the woods.
Pidgeot was also affected by the sudden psychic shock.
Caught completely off guard, its body tilted sharply.
If Himeko hadn't been gripping tightly enough, she would have been thrown off.
Himeko herself was shaken by the abrupt change as well.
After forcing herself to calm down and enduring that fierce, splitting headache, she felt a faint sense of familiarity.
It was like back then—
When she and Shiko had rescued Ralts and used Team Dark's people in a mutual-destruction move, something similar had happened once.
Only that time, while the fluctuation had spread widely—covering this forest and reaching into Wintergreen City—
Its intensity hadn't been that great.
It was nowhere near as violent as this one.
The Psychic-type aura rolling and sweeping through the forest below continued.
Pidgeot instinctively climbed higher, trying to minimize the impact of that energy on itself.
This Psychic-type energy surge lasted a full five minutes.
During those five minutes, Himeko kept trying to locate its source.
But unfortunately—
Her gaze had swept across most of the forest, and she still found nothing.
Moreover, the Poké Ball at her waist that held Gardevoir—
When that powerful wave of aura appeared, it began to tremble restlessly, as if it couldn't stay still.
What was going on?
Was it simply because Gardevoir, also being Psychic-type, felt uncomfortable from the presence and reacted with unease?
Or—
Did this energy wave make Gardevoir remember something?
Just as Himeko questioned and analyzed in her mind, the enormous Psychic-type energy that had been raging across the entire forest—
Vanished without a trace, like ripples on water suddenly coming to a dead stop.
It had come abruptly, and it disappeared just as abruptly.
Himeko, seated atop Pidgeot's back, took a moment before she snapped out of her blank stare.
With a grave expression, she cast one last hard look at the forest below.
Then she didn't linger.
She left.
Pidgeot descended at Wintergreen City's gate.
Himeko returned it to its Poké Ball and walked toward the gate.
In the Great Axia Alliance, all city airspace was a no-fly zone, and Wintergreen City was no exception.
Unless you had authorization—
The price of barging into restricted airspace was a year of prison meals in the City Defense Forces' cells.
A squad of soldiers guarded the gate.
Anyone coming or going had to be registered.
"Your ID."
After giving Himeko a look, a young City Defense Forces soldier kept a stiff face and held out his hand.
Himeko took out her Military credentials from her pocket and handed them over.
When he saw the three gold-stamped characters—"Himeko"—on it, the guard immediately recognized her.
"Himeko-san… y-you… you're back?"
He jerked his head up.
His previously strict, official attitude made a complete one-eighty in an instant, turning warm and respectful.
No wonder—
At first he hadn't even realized the person in front of him was Himeko.
"Please, come in, come in! Are you here on official duty this time?"
With both hands, he respectfully returned the credentials.
"Mm."
Himeko responded softly.
She took back the ID and put it away, her gaze passing through the gate into the city.
The familiar streets and buildings instantly loosened the tension she'd been carrying.
The moment she stepped into Wintergreen City, a hurried unit came straight toward her.
Seeing their uniform, neat attire, Himeko recognized them—
This was also a City Defense Forces team.
And the leader at the front was someone she knew.
It was Wintergreen City's City Defense Forces commander: Kazu.
"Himeko-san?"
Kazu lifted his head and saw Himeko walking toward him.
He froze for a beat, then immediately recognized her.
"Kazu-taichō."
Himeko nodded and greeted him politely.
"The Military sent you, right?"
One look at how she was dressed and Kazu guessed the reason.
The matter in Wintergreen Forest was something their City Defense Forces had reported to the Northern Military Division.
The Northern Military Division had also responded—
They would send someone to assist with the investigation.
Now that Himeko had arrived, there was a high chance she was the person assigned from above.
Kazu's thoughts raced, and he quickly pieced it all together.
Once he understood, a faint shock and surprise rose in his heart.
Anyone dispatched by the Military to handle things independently—
At the very least, they had to be at the high end of Gym-level.
And how long had it even been?
Only a few months!
The scene of Himeko winning the championship was still vivid in his mind!
In such a short time—
She had already advanced to this level?
It was almost unimaginable.
A Gym-level figure, in a small city like this, was already considered upper-tier.
So after realizing this, Kazu quietly reined in that elder-to-junior attitude he'd once used with her.
Almost unconsciously, he became more cautious and respectful.
"Mm. I'm here to help with the investigation. And you all are…?"
Himeko nodded and asked.
From their posture, it was obvious they were heading out.
"Of course we're going back into Wintergreen Forest to investigate again."
"Ever since that first Psychic-type energy sweep a few months ago, similar incidents have been happening more and more frequently."
"In the last three months, it's happened ten times!"
"Especially this month—counting today, this makes the fifth time!"
"The Psychic-type energy has been getting stronger and stronger, and it's already seriously affecting the daily lives of the people in the city."
Kazu explained.
They had headaches over it too.
They'd gone into Wintergreen Forest multiple times to investigate, but they never found much.
The only useful lead was that they had once again spotted Team Dark's presence in the forest.
And precisely because of that, they had linked these repeated incidents to Team Dark and requested Military assistance.
"I'll go with you."
Himeko nodded.
"Ah—no, no, no!"
"Please stay in the city and wait for news!"
"I'm guessing this investigation will be the same as before—nothing to show for it. If there's any real information, I'll notify you immediately."
Kazu hurriedly shook his head and refused.
For Himeko to fly here from the Northern Military Division took at least four to five hours.
That already counted as hard travel.
In that state, it was better for her to rest properly first.
They could discuss the details tomorrow.
Besides, based on their past results, there was a very high chance this trip wouldn't turn up anything useful either.
"Alright."
Seeing how firm Kazu was, Himeko didn't insist.
She watched as he led his team out through the city gate, their figures disappearing into the glow of the setting sun, before she continued walking toward her home.
Back at the familiar villa, the first thing Himeko did was release her three Pokémon so they could breathe some fresh air.
The moment Lopunny and Gardevoir saw Shiko, their faces brightened like flowers in bloom as they rushed over to him.
Shiko also looked at the two of them with a smile.
The familiar atmosphere and environment gave him a strange sense of reassurance.
Dinner that night was something she hadn't made in a long time—
Pokéblocks personally prepared by Himeko.
Compared to the dragon-scale fruit in Dragon Valley, the taste was simply on a completely different level.
After eating and drinking his fill, Shiko lay down stiffly on the long carpet in the living room.
Completely satisfied, he fell into a deep sleep.
And at this very moment—
Inside Wintergreen Forest, Kazu led his squad of City Defense Forces soldiers through a careful search of large areas of the woods.
Just as he'd said, the inspection yielded nothing.
They still didn't find anything unusual.
"Let's go back."
Kazu waved a hand.
With a cold expression, he turned away. The City Defense Forces around him stayed silent.
After this round of searching, it was already extremely dark.
Luckily, the moonlight was good tonight.
And they had brought plenty of Pokémon that could use Flash.
That was the only reason they managed to complete the search.
When they reached the forest outskirts, Kazu suddenly seemed to hear something.
He whipped his head around.
His gaze pierced layers of canopy.
In the forest, he could only faintly hear Pokémon cries—
And see vague, indistinct silhouettes moving in the darkness.
Was it just his imagination?
Kazu frowned, then led the team back into Wintergreen City.
Not long after he left—
Within the thick shadows beneath the trees, a human figure slowly emerged.
A sharp, grating laugh sounded.
Under the moonlight, the owner of the voice became clearer and clearer.
It was unmistakably a Team Dark member in uniform.
He narrowed his eyes, coldly staring in the direction Kazu had departed.
With one hand, he casually tossed a Poké Ball up and down without stopping.
"Gotta hurry back to base and report this. The Military sent someone."
After muttering that, his gaze shifted to the Poké Ball in his hand.
"But what a shame. These people reacted way too slowly!"
"Trying to stop it now is already too late!"
With a cold sneer, his figure vanished into the darkness in an instant.
(End of Chapter)
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