Kumquat Island.
The sun was setting on the horizon as the sky turned dark. Hisoka sat on Milotic's back, looking out into the distance as the cool sea breeze caressed his face.
The night sky above Kumquat Island was aglow with bright city lights. Looking around, he could see many ships, as well as surfing Pokemon, heading toward the island. As one of the most popular destinations on Orange Islands, the numerous establishment on Kumquat Island remained open throughout the night.
It took him about two hours to reach Kumquat Island from Nurse Joy's home on Milotic's back.
After he reached the shore, he fed some food to Milotic and thanked her. Taking her back to her Pokeball, he quickly made his way toward the Hunter Association headquarters. He wanted to get his bag.
"Damn, Team Aqua!"
Walking on the crowded streets, Hisoka cursed under his breath. He missed his chance to become a gold-ranking hunter due to them. Upgrading his ranking would allow him to get more high-paying missions.
Initially, he planned to build his own laboratory. This was not an easy task. He needed a lot of money to build one. Failing this test wasted his time.
As the saying goes, time is gold. Just thinking about the money missed made him grit his teeth in anger.
A few minutes later, he finally arrived at the Hunter's Association headquarters. Standing at the door, he heard some people arguing inside the building.
One of the voices was familiar to him. It should belong to Miss Suzuki if he recalled correctly.
When he entered the building, the quarrel immediately stopped. Everyone's eyes were fixed on Hisoka, who suddenly appeared.
"Yo!"
He waved his hand in a laid-back manner, putting one of his in his pocket.
"Hisoka!"
A muscular man, Doran, if he wasn't mistaken, suddenly stood up from his chair, shock on his face.
"They said you were dead."
He gave him a deadpan stare, "Who said I was dead?"
Doran's face turned red in embarrassment.
"The staff told us that you had gone missing along with three other people. They sent someone to look for you yesterday but never found you. So we thought you were dead."
"Is that so?"
He looked at Will and Shelly, who was standing next to Doran.
"Yep."
They nodded at the same time.
He shrugged at that. Before he could explain, he saw Miss Suzuki walking toward him.
At present, except for the three missing people, the remaining hunters had gathered in the headquarters, including Hisoka, who had just arrived tonight.
As usual, Miss Suzuki's expression always remained cold.
"Don't say anything now. Please follow me first. Paul is waiting for you on the second floor."
After saying that, she turned around and walked briskly up the stairs that led to the second floor without looking back.
He motioned the others to sit down first and quickly followed after her. The other hunters could only watch the two figures disappear above the stairs.
"Sit down!"
Paul stood up politely and pointed to the chairs in front of him.
He looked at Suzuki and said, "Miss Suzuki, please go down and tell the others to go back first. Also, tell them to come here tomorrow morning. The higher-ups should have made a decision at that time.
Suzuki nodded, "Got it."
After that, she walked out and closed the door behind her.
Paul sat on the office chair, crossing his hands together, scrutinizing Hisoka carefully.
"Mr. Paul, let's get straight to the point. What do you want to know?"
Hisoka said bluntly. He didn't want to waste his time in this room.
"By the way, I left the island voluntarily to deal with something."
"Explain!"
Paul leaned forward slightly, waiting for his explanation. He really wanted to know what happened to him.
Initially, he thought that the four missing hunters were kidnapped by someone. But after checking the scene, he ruled that out. It couldn't be a group of poachers either. Those guys knew better than to mess with Hunter Association.
What was more irritating was the person who was responsible for doing this seemed to have some kind of connections with the League. Somebody had been trying to block them from searching for more information.
"I was the first hunter to land on the island. Later, I met a severely injured Nurse Joy. She was chased by Team Aqua, a criminal organization from Hoenn.
"Team Aqua?"
Paul uttered in shock.
"The infamous Team Aqua? What are they doing in Orange Islands?"
Generally speaking, other criminal organizations rarely acted outside of their sphere of influence. Because this kind of behavior could easily cause misunderstandings.
The local criminal organization wouldn't let them go. Also, the regional League would not sit idly by,
Once the local criminal organization and League worked together, the criminal organization from other regions would quickly fall under their suppression.
Half an hour later, he finally finished telling Paul about everything that had happened in the past two days. He didn't bother to hide it. The Hunter Association would know sooner or later anyway.
After leaving Paul's office, he went to take his bag from the staff. He wasn't worried that his item would go missing. There wasn't anything important inside. He had left all the important items back at his gym. He only brought some change of clothes, his Pokemon food, and some essentials like a portable stove, tent, and the like.
Paul also recounted Hisoka's story to the higher-ups. He also assured Hisoka could still participate in the next assessment even though he left the island without authorization.
He carried his bag and walked down the stairs. At this time, the other hunters had left, leaving only Doran, Shelly, and Will.
As he got closer to them, he heard them complaining about the exam that had been temporarily stopped.
When they saw Hisoka walking toward them, they stood up in excitement. Each of them had a curious look on their face. They really wanted to know what Hisoka had experienced in the past few days.
"Where are the others?"
Hisoka looked at the empty lobby. There wasn't anyone else besides them.
"The others had already gone back."
Shelly replied.
He looked at their gaze and smiled.
"I know. I know. Let's leave first. I will tell you on the way."
They looked at each other and nodded. They picked up their bags and followed Hisoka out of the building.
"You mean Team Aqua from Hoenn is here?"
Doran shouted in surprise.
"Shh! Everyone is looking at you. Be quiet!"
Doran found that many people were watching them because of his outbursts just now.
He frowned at the crowd.
"What are you looking at, huh?" Leave us alone."
Seeing a muscular guy rolling up his sleeve, the crowd immediately dispersed.
"If it's Team Aqua, we can actually tell Team Rocket about this."
Suddenly, the silent Will offered his opinion.
"Team Rocket will not allow other forces to enter their territory."
Since Team Rocket beat the largest criminal organization in Johto, Team Rocket suddenly became the strongest criminal organization in Kanto, Johto, and even Orange Islands.
As the largest criminal organization in Kanto, they obviously couldn't tolerate other organizations encroaching into their territory.
Illegal organizations, including some other organizations, sometimes needed a hunter to complete some jobs for them. Though, most people do it in secret.
Once they were discovered, the Hunter Association would not let them go.
Under the League's rectification, most of the higher-ups of the Hunter Association had fallen to the League side. Only a few still had some connections with Team Rockets.