Charizard's flight speed was extremely fast, with just a slight flap of its wings, it shot forward.
The two people sitting on Charizard's back seemed a bit crowded, as the biting cold wind and howling rain swept over, beating against their faces.
Riding a Flying Pokémon at high speed in the rain is really not a good experience.
"Ugh..."
Weedle crawled over to Natsuhiko's injured right arm, constantly spinning silk and wrapping it around the wound bit by bit.
The wound was large, and the scabs had all cracked open again. If it were to be soaked by the rain, it might get infected.
Bacterial infections, even in this world, are no small trouble.
Weedle looked pained; it wished it was the one injured instead of Natsuhiko.
Every sight of the wound on Natsuhiko's arm was a baptism of sorts for it, strengthening its resolve and goals.
"Natsuhiko..." Lance also noticed Weedle's actions, looking guilty.
"It's fine." Natsuhiko's expression didn't change, the rain pattering on his face, chilling him to the bone.
"So about this time..."
Back to business, Natsuhiko lowered his head to avoid the wind from entering his mouth, took a deep breath, and said slowly, "I work at the Silver Pokémon Battle Club, did you know that?"
"I just found out."
Lance hadn't investigated Natsuhiko's background since there was no need for such twists and turns between friends.
"Our club has a supervisor called Lotto," Natsuhiko said again.
"Lotto?" Lance still looked puzzled.
"Tom Rokicki, take the first and third characters, and swap their order," Natsuhiko explained.
"Roki? Lotto? Is this a coincidence? Just reversing two characters in the name as a disguise?"
Lance wiped the rain from his face.
Flying in such rain, it was his first time experiencing this.
Natsuhiko didn't continue explaining the name because it indeed seemed like a coincidence. He shifted direction, "The photo you showed me, the person in a suit, impeccably dressed, hair slicked back, every detail pristine, that's exactly how my supervisor Lotto dresses."
Hearing this, Lance's brow slowly furrowed.
If a name resemblance was a coincidence, then the second point about attire was not just coincidence.
Especially since a person's behavior and habits are hard to change.
But just attire...isn't it still a bit of a stretch?
Natsuhiko continued, "That's two points, and there's a third. This morning when I went to see Lotto in his office, his usually pristine shoes had some black soil on them, similar to the mud where we just were.
Moreover, he wasn't at the club yesterday, and timeline-wise, it aligns with when the incident happened."
"This..."
One point is a coincidence, two points are still debatable, but when Natsuhiko brought up the third point, it explained a lot.
"The fourth point, the 'Pure Gold Feather' you mentioned, I've often seen Lotto use a pure gold feather as a pen to sign documents."
Another point.
Lance's eyes slowly widened.
Even he couldn't think of anything to refute anymore.
Four points can prove too many things.
Originally, Natsuhiko didn't care much about these. It was hard to link Lotto and Tom Rokicki — they seemed so unrelated.
But the Yujira incident made Natsuhiko pay special attention to this supervisor Lotto.
The task involving Yujira was assigned by Supervisor Lotto; whether intentional or not, he still doesn't know.
Thus, Natsuhiko couldn't help but be more attentive and observant of Supervisor Lotto.
This is why he noticed the dirt on Lotto's shoes.
Such a subtle point that even meticulous Lotto didn't notice, but he did, showing just how focused he was.
And it was this detail,
that made him connect the dots between the muddy site of the incident and the 'Pure Gold Feather' mentioned by Lance.
If Lotto's aim was to use the Pure Gold Feather to summon Zapdos,
then based on this expected outcome, everything prior made sense.
For instance, what was the motive behind the power plant incident and the stolen conversion device?
It was to use the conversion device to activate the Pure Gold Feather, summoning Zapdos.
Another example, who had the power to silently seize control of such a large and important power plant?
Natsuhiko and Lance hypothesized it was the Rocket Team.
And Lotto had once shown the Rocket Team's "R" symbol in front of him.
Moreover, what was in control of the power plant?
Drowzee and Yujira, products of the lab, must have played significant roles, and if Lotto joined the Rocket Team, with his Reserve Elite Four status, he surely had the authorization and capability to deploy such resources.
Don't forget, Drowzee's task was also a task Lotto assigned to Natsuhiko.
Drowzee and Yujira lastly warned him to be wary of "zzz," which likely wasn't just any Electric-type Pokémon, but highly likely Zapdos...
However, Natsuhiko didn't share these with Lance.
Because the previous four points alone spoke volumes; what followed, whether said or not, was the same.
Moreover, the Goldenrod City black market's Electric-type Pokémon's overabundance could also be due to the Pure Gold Feather?
Perhaps Lotto had tried to use the Pure Gold Feather to summon Zapdos but failed for some reason, hence his focus shifted to the power plant or rather its conversion device.
But because of this, many Electric-type Pokémon were drawn towards Goldenrod City.
They were yearning for Zapdos, one of the Legendary Bird Trio, longing for the Thunder of Kanto or beyond, controlled by Zapdos.
They sensed Zapdos's aura.
Connecting these things together, many truths seemingly emerged water-surface.
Natsuhiko's face darkened.
His mind worked rapidly, linking together all the events, large and small details, and all the experiences he noticed during this interaction.
Supervisor Lotto!
He is that Reserve Elite Four who betrayed the League!
His goal is to summon Zapdos!
Returning yesterday, Natsuhiko finds Lotto absent. Now thinking about it, possibly he's gone to retrieve that batch of Mareep wool delivered to Ito Kentaro, the Ito family's first heir.
Mareep wool can store electricity!
These sudden lightning strikes could well indicate that Lotto has already started to act.
"Lance, can it go any faster?"
Currently, what concerns him the most is that Pokémon Egg.
Even though his thought process was meticulous before the conditions of dirt and the Pure Gold Feather, it was indeed impossible to link Lotto and Tom Rokicki together.
The name association is something he just thought of, so the only piece of information he previously had was a photo.
But there are many white-collar workers in Goldenrod City, and people dressed similarly are not uncommon either.
This link-up is quite difficult too.
"Natsuhiko, if it really is Tom Rokicki, we can't handle him alone; I've already notified Mr. Azir and the others," Lance said.
"I left something at the club; it's very important to me. I must retrieve it," Natsuhiko said gravely, "Moreover, Tom Rokicki's attention should currently be entirely focused on the Pure Gold Feather."
With all this electricity in the air, he must be hiding somewhere, waiting for the successful summoning of Zapdos, right?
Even if Lotto is in the club, he still has to return.
He knows he's not a good guy, but once he promised Yujira, he'd follow through.
Just as he promised Weedle to reach greater heights together.
Absolutely not because Yujira's Pokémon Egg is highly valuable.
Yes, absolutely.
His gaze tightly locked onto the club in the distance below, whose outline was slowly coming into view.
The matter of Lotto being Tom Rokicki, he can't and doesn't want to intervene.
By telling Lance this background story, he felt he had done all he could.
All he wanted was to retrieve the Pokémon Egg and then stay far away from Goldenrod City, this place of strife!
Otherwise, would anyone expect him, who's just got a Pokémon for not even a month, to directly confront a Reserve Elite Four?
I mean, not unless they're tired of living, right?
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No more requests for monthly votes, not asking for them! Don't want to release more chapters! Let this month end... we can continue next month, can't we?