Ten minutes remained before the Champion Cup final began, while the arrival of the S.S. Anne would take more than twenty minutes.
That meant Shiro still had to stay in the Galar region for at least another twenty minutes.
After sorting through his thoughts, he looked at Mesprit in front of him and asked, "Mesprit, can you help me with a few things?"
Mesprit's gaze was calm as it nodded. 'Of course.'
* * *
On a reef in the northeast outskirts of Wyndon, close to the sea.
Felix crouched there, holding a Poké Ball, staring quietly at the distant ocean. "Shiro, I thought you would come after the Champion Cup final started."
He stood up and slowly turned around. "You're ten minutes early."
"It's not early."
Shiro walked out from the edge of the forest and hopped lightly onto the reef beside him.
"You should be running right now," Felix said flatly. "At a moment like this, why come see me?"
He did not want to be here. He had been forced here by Macro Cosmos.
What he did not expect was that Shiro would actually show up. No matter how he thought about it, he couldn't figure out the man's reason. Did he still have some secret or treasure worth taking?
Shiro met his gaze, then turned to look at the clear blue sea. "Part of it is what you guessed. I'm drawing the company's attention. The other part is to say goodbye."
"Oh?" Felix curled his lips into a dark smile. "And why is that?"
Shiro extended his hand. "I think we're alike. We're the same kind of people."
Felix laughed out loud, then quickly restrained it after a second. He also reached out to shake hands. Thin shadows crept out from his pale wrist.
"Pff!"
A blur of darkness flashed by and Felix's already pale face turned ashen. His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as his expression froze in place.
Shiro did not turn around. His outstretched hand had already pierced through Felix's chest and emerged from his back.
"Ugh..." Felix vomited blood and slowly raised his head.
He had not reacted at all. He had not even seen it. That hand seemed to teleport straight into his chest.
A dark ghostly aura surged up from the shadows at his feet, only to be sealed instantly by psychic power.
The Poké Ball clenched in his hand shook violently, then went still in an instant.
The Poké Balls at his waist were also locked down by psychic force.
"How is this possible..." His face trembled, drained of all color. He could not accept that he had no way to resist.
The moment they met, he sensed Shiro had come to kill him. He did not care about the reason.
What he could not accept was this. Dying like a worthless dog. No explanation. No chance to bite back.
His consciousness faded along with the blood flowing from his chest. The last traces of hatred dissolved with it.
Shiro cleanly pulled his right hand out. Blood dripped down his arm to his fingertips while Felix's body fell stiffly to the ground like a dead tree trunk, eyes still open.
The sea wind rolled in with the sound of waves. Shiro wiped the blood on Felix's clothes and muttered, "This should be enough."
With Felix dead, when Marnie took his Pokémon, the company could rank her properly as the Spikemuth Gym Leader.
At this time, Mesprit's figure slowly appeared ahead. It stared at Felix's body with a serious expression. Its small hands crossed over its chest in an X.
'Shiro, you killed a human.'
Unown A immediately jumped off Shiro's left shoulder and hurriedly argued, 'It's fine! He was a bad person!'
Unown G jumped off his right shoulder and echoed, 'Bad, bad person…'
Mesprit tilted its head and softly asked, 'Like the people in that building?'
'Yes, yes!' Unown A nodded vigorously.
'That's… right,' Unown G stammered.
Shiro grabbed Felix by the collar and calmly looted him. He took nine Poké Balls and a strange W-shaped alloy.
He placed the Poké Balls into a small black pouch, then dragged the body off the reef to the shore. He called out behind him, "Mesprit, let's go."
* * *
In front of Wyndon Stadium.
Marnie sat on the steps with her arms around her knees. Confusion flickered across her pale face. She still could not understand what Shiro meant by leaving Galar.
Wasn't he a trainer backed by Macro Cosmos? Hadn't he already reached the Champion Cup final?
Seeing her distracted, a female Team Yell member with a crest-like hairstyle waved her hand. "Hey, Miss Marnie, that Shiro just made up an excuse to refuse. Don't overthink it."
She added, "Men are always like that."
"But..." Marnie did not know how to respond.
She had clearly seen him nod in agreement. Was that a lie?
Her thoughts drifted to her father's final words. She murmured, "Spikemuth Gym wasn't really lost. It just went into Felix's hands."
Wasn't Felix her father's own brother? She clenched the hem of her pink skirt with both hands, her mind wandering.
Shiro should already be preparing to battle Leon in the stadium, right? Too bad she could not get inside.
A strange sense of loss filled her chest.
The Team Yell members in front also looked dejected, calculating what property they could take from Spikemuth.
The town was rundown. The people were rough. The buildings were ugly. But it was still their home.
"Sigh…"
As one of them lifted his head to sigh loudly, he suddenly noticed a pink glow in the sky nearby.
"What was that?"
Before he could think further, the space around them twisted. Along with Marnie, their vision flickered.
The vast central plaza of Wyndon abruptly turned into a forest.
"Wha..."
Several Team Yell members' legs shook. They could barely speak.
Marnie was not afraid, only confused. By a sign nearby, she quickly recognized the place.
This was the forest in the northeast corner of Wyndon.
Who brought them here, and why?
She looked around. Nothing stood out.
The forest was quiet and not very dense. Through gaps in the leaves, the sea was faintly visible.
"Miss Marnie. I think I see..." one Team Yell member said and ran in one direction.
The chubby member rushed to a tree, pulled aside some bushes, and dragged out something black underneath.
A body was pulled into view.
He saw the face.
"Ah!"
A shriek as sharp as a soprano cut through the air.
"The Gym Leader! It's Gym Leader Felix!"
He scrambled back in panic.
**
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