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Roy stared silently at the dead thin man, then picked up the Poké Ball from the man's belt and secured the dying Banette inside.
'So this is what it feels like to take a life...'
Although he hadn't done it personally, what difference did it make whether Lucario carried out the act or he did it himself?
While Pokémon possessed their own sense of right and wrong, preferences, and personalities, for most of them, as long as they weren't abandoned—as long as they recognized you—then the most important thing in a Pokémon's heart was always the Trainer they bonded with day and night. If you were wicked, they would willingly become your executioners.
Lucario approached Roy with concern etched across his face.
"I'm fine."
Roy shook his head. He was just momentarily uncomfortable.
This was the psychological process every Trainer inevitably experienced after facing their first true "battle."
If you lacked the fortitude, as Professor Christian had warned, it could cast shadows over your entire life, leading many to abandon their careers as Trainers altogether.
But Roy regained his composure quickly.
"They stole something from Alola's spiritual domain that made the League angry enough to involve even the Russian Federation..."
Roy muttered to himself.
Whatever they'd stolen couldn't be insignificant.
Thinking about it more carefully, it was likely something related to the Ultra Beasts.
The legendary creatures of the Alola Region—could it be Solgaleo, the sun deity? Or Lunala, the moon deity?
Or perhaps Necrozma, the prism deity?
With insufficient information, Roy could only speculate. Just then, a sound caught his attention.
"War~"
Thanks to the Aura's effect, Roy understood its meaning. Someone was approaching Weavile's residence from outside.
Wait...
Roy quickly turned his head, his expression warming as he looked over.
"Who are you?"
He saw an indigo-blue turtle Pokémon with a round head and a pair of feathery ears that resembled wings. Its fangs were visible when it opened its mouth.
—It was a Wartortle.
Roy could sense the familiar Aure signature from it. Moreover, this Wartortle's facial features were remarkably round compared to others of its species, making it instantly recognizable...
Without a doubt, Squirtle had evolved.
But that wasn't the issue.
"How did you evolve by yourself?" Roy asked incredulously.
Shouldn't evolution, such a momentous event, be witnessed and shared with one's Trainer?
Wartortle nodded with a silly grin, seemingly unaware of any problem.
"tortletortle..."
It explained that after the battle, it had felt a surge of power within its body. It had contained this energy the entire time, and upon returning, had found a secluded spot where it secretly evolved.
As it spoke, Wartortle extended its stubby little arm—now slightly longer after evolution—and flexed vigorously. After considerable effort, it managed to produce a small, hillock-shaped muscle. Wartortle then looked at Roy with an unmistakably smug expression.
This was something it had seen on TV—evolving in secret, changing for the better quietly, then surprising everyone with the transformation!
So cool!
Roy must surely be amazed by how cool and impressive it was, thinking his Pokémon was a genius.
Lucario: "..."
"Alright, alright... let's go. We need to check on Senior Ivy first," Roy said.
He didn't want to engage with this silly turtle at the moment, so he recalled it with its Poké Ball.
His current mood was comparable to a father whose child suddenly runs up and announces, "Dad, I've actually been married for a year"—a mixture of pleasant surprise and exasperation.
Typically, Pokémon undergo some personality changes after evolution, but this silly turtle's personality and thought processes remained exactly the same as before.
On the way back, Roy opened the system panel to examine Wartortle's current attributes.
In terms of moves, it had gained two additional skills: 'Whirlpool' and 'Brine'.
Its comprehensive evaluation had improved from B- to B.
When Lucario had evolved, his rating had jumped from B- to B+ in one go.
The boost wasn't as substantial as Lucario's, but that was normal.
Not counting Mega Evolution, Wartortle still had another evolution before reaching its final form, whereas Lucario was already in its final form.
When Wartortle eventually evolved into Blastoise, it would receive another opportunity to upgrade its attributes.
As soon as Roy returned to Weavile's residence, he spotted Senior Ivy with her Ninetales beside her.
This Ninetales was Ivy's ace Pokémon. Perhaps sensing some form of lethal threat from it, Weavile and its family fidgeted nervously.
Seeing Roy return, Senior Ivy looked him up and down with a puzzled expression. "You seem fine, and you're getting along well with the Weavile family... Why did you activate the emergency beacon?"
Roy didn't withhold anything and explained the situation from beginning to end.
"Team Illuminati actually infiltrated this area?" Ivy's face darkened as she immediately stood up. "You need to return to the shelter with me. After something like this, the exam must be suspended... The results of the first test will be determined by the current points."
Considering that Roy had already collected 24 cards, it seemed unfair to terminate the test completely, so Ivy added this qualification.
Initially, she had thought no first-year student could surpass Roy.
Now, that belief was even stronger.
Experiencing a real battle in his freshman year? And emerging victorious?
Although Roy had only faced a low-ranking member of Team Illuminati, Ivy knew well that combat experiences couldn't be judged simply by strength differentials.
In this era of relative peace, especially as China had grown more prosperous in recent years, most Trainers would never encounter a true battle in their lifetime—many would never even see a dead body.
Take Ivy herself—when was the first time she had experienced actual combat?
It was six months after becoming a professional Trainer...
On that occasion, she had also faced a minor attack from a poaching gang. The opponent's strength was far inferior to hers—any of her Pokémon could have overwhelmed them with a single move. But in that life-or-death moment, she had stood frozen, her mind completely blank.
If Ivy hadn't been rescued by her seniors, she would have become just another corpse.
This had nothing to do with strength or gender—only adaptability.
People with high combat adaptability were fighting prodigies, natural-born warriors.
'Not just a Breeder and Pokémon genius, but a fighting genius too...'
Ivy increasingly felt that this young man's potential was limitless. She made a phone call, and soon two Braviary descended from the sky, both equipped with saddles and harnesses for riding.
"These are Flying Pokémon trained at the shelter, specifically for transporting people," she explained.
Roy quickly learned how to ride with simple instructions from Ivy.
Before departing, he left behind the prepared Pokémon food for the Weavile family as promised.
Although Senior Ivy was curious about the contents of the bag, she asked no further questions. More important now was resolving this emergency.
Especially... finding a way to rescue the students who had been kidnapped.