'I hope the mission will go smoothly,' thought Hisoka.
While his eyes were closed, he slowly moved his hand toward his belt and lightly tapped one of the Pokeballs.
'How is it? Did you get them?' he thought in his mind.
'Yes. There are quite a few people still staring at you secretly.'
Suddenly, Kirlia's voice rang in his mind.
'Never mind them. Just tell me which one is hostile to me,' he said secretly.
'Okay!'
Using Kirlia's telepathic ability, he could connect with her even if she was in her Pokeball. This way, no one would know that Hisoka was also spying on them, especially those that looked at him maliciously just now.
While Kirlia was watching other people, he turned back his attention to the current mission. The mission was to solve the mysterious Pokemon that was wandering inside one of the mines in Stone Town. That meant he and the other hunters would have to go deep under the earth.
He wasn't that afraid of other hunters. What worried him the most was the reckless ones among them.
He had met this kind of person a lot. Hell, he even met one during the S.S. Anne attack. What's worst is that the guy wasn't even from Team Rocket. He still remembered how the trainer accidentally destroyed one of the engines using his Pokemon. If he wasn't prepared, he might even die that day.
Squeak!
The door was pushed open slowly. Then, a man wearing a white shirt and blue pants entered the room. He had dark blue hair styled to look like fins. Following him closely was the butler of the mansion, Carl.
"Sorry for keeping you all waiting."
The man with dark blue hair looked at everyone with a smile.
"My name is Rainer. I'm sorry, but my brother, Sparky, is busy with something else. So, I'll have to take over for him."
He clapped his hand, getting everyone's attention.
"Alright, now that's over with. I'm sure everyone already knew about the mission, right? I won't go into the details about that. The mission will start tomorrow morning. In the meantime, please do enjoy the party that is being held downstairs. Oh, and by the way, Carl will lead you to your rooms after this. Thank you."
Rainer nodded to everyone and walked out of the room. Then, Karl walked over to him and whispered something in his ear.
"Master Rainer, Mr. Tucker is going to arrive soon. Do you want to see him first?"
"He's here? I'll meet him now. Show these guys to their room, okay? Tell them not to cause any trouble here."
"Yes, Master Rainer," the old butler bowed in respect.
Rainer nodded to him and walked toward the elevator flanked by two bodyguards.
The elevator took Renault and his bodyguards to the rooftop of the mansion. When they walked out of the elevator, they were greeted with the sight of a black helicopter parked quietly on the tarmac.
"He's here."
Rainer put a hand above his eyes and looked at the sky. There was a black spot in the distance. It was flying toward him at high speed.
"Roar!"
A strong wind suddenly hit him, causing him to squint his eyes. The two bodyguards quickly walked to the front, blocking the wind.
Then, an orange, draconic Pokemon with two large wings slowly landed on the roof. It was a Charizard. It was about two meters tall with a well-developed body. There was also a hideous scar at the corner of its left eye, which made it look more fierce.
The two bodyguards became tense as they looked at the formidable Charizard in front of them. They were afraid that this Pokemon would suddenly attack them.
"We're here, Charizard."
A purple-haired man jumped down from the back of the Charizard. He was dressed in a black trenchcoat with a pair of golden bracelets on his arms.
"Hello Rainer and-" he smiled at Rainer and scrutinized two bodyguards in front of him.
"Two scaredy-cats," he nodded slightly to himself as if he was right.
"Watch your mouth!"
One of the bodyguards couldn't help but shout in anger.
Roar!
Charizard snorted disdainfully. Fire flickering from its nose.
The roar suddenly stopped the angry man. He gulped in fear after seeing the warning look on its face.
"Haha!"
Renault laughed heartily as he pushed the two bodyguards aside. Then, he walked toward the newcomer and held out his hand.
"It's been a long time Tucker. Please don't mind my bodyguards. They were just doing their job to protect me."
"It's fine," Tucker shook his hand.
"Let's talk inside the house," Rainer smiled, beckoning his head to the elevator.
Although the two bodyguards were still annoyed, they just pushed it down and followed their master. After all, they were only the bodyguards of Master Rainer. They still knew where their boundaries lay.
Tucker didn't even bother to look at them. His status and strength were much higher than theirs. So why did he need to care about them?
"Come back, Charizard!" he took his Pokeball and aimed at his Pokemon.
Pew!
A red light shot out of the Pokeball and covered his Charizard.
Beep!
"Let's go," he buckled the Pokeball to his belt.
Reception room,
"Rainer, didn't you already spend a lot of money to invite those hunters? Why are you looking for me? I'm pretty sure those guys can handle it."
Tucker was sitting on the sofa while sipping a cup of coffee.
Rayner took a small bite of his cake and looked at him.
"For double insurance. I don't trust those guys at all. If they can't solve it, there's still you, right," he said slowly.
In fact, he and his brothers regretted the decision they made two months ago. At first, they thought it was just some ordinary Pokemon that had occupied the mines.
As long as they spend some money to find a few strong trainers, it will be solved immediately. But no one had expected the situation to escalate and become a massive problem for them.
They had stopped mining for over two months, incurring huge losses in the process. It even put a strain on their current financial situation.
The price for hiring a gold-ranking hunter was only around 500,000 dollars. While inviting a top gold-rank hunter like Tucker would be around one million dollars.
Gold-rank hunters stood at the top of the hunter industry. They possessed great strength and had rich experience in many kinds of missions. Each of them could even be compared to an Elite Four.
Tucker, in particular, was quite famous in Kanto and Johto. Even someone from the Orange Archipelago had heard of him too. In the hunter ranking list of both regions, he was strong enough to rank in the top ten.
When he was young, he once studied under Blaine, the gym leader of Cinnabar Gym. And just three years ago, he had participated in the Elite Four competition. Although he lost the challenge, in the end, no one will doubt his strength.
This is Elite Four we're talking about. Each of them is a powerful trainer in their own right.
He had challenged the Ice-Mistress, Lorelei, for the Elite Four seat. But unfortunately, he failed. Even if he had the upper hand against her in terms of Pokemon-type, Lorelei didn't just specialize in Ice-type Pokemon. Many of her Pokemon also had a water type. In a certain respect, she could be regarded as the master of Ice and Water-type Pokemon.
A few days ago, Rainer and his brothers had negotiated with other forces in Stone Town. They must solve the crisis as soon as possible, no matter how much they need to spend. If this dragged on any longer, their loss would be unbearable.
...
Hisoka's room was located on the third floor of the mansion. As soon as he entered his room, he quickly pulled the curtain close. At the same time, he took out a small metal detector from his bag and began to scan the whole room.
With so many hunters on this mission, he wouldn't dare to be careless. This was what he learned back then.
Hunters were generally divided into two types of people. The first one had a certain professional quality to them. They had a much better reputation and would not kill unless in certain circumstances. On the other hand, you had to be aware of the second type of people. These greedy bunch of people would not hesitate to do everything they could to accomplish their objectives.
The metal detector did not find any kinds of bugs or surveillance equipment in the room, making him sigh in relief.
When he pulled the curtains open, he saw many Flying-type Pokemon flying toward the mountain.
Golbat, Pidgeotto, Fearow, Noctowl...
There was no doubt that these Pokemon belonged to the hunters. It was given that they would scout the terrain first before anything else.
Hisoka was a little embarrassed right now as he didn't have any Flying-type Pokemon on hand. Although he could use his drone, it was quite big and had no ability to protect itself. Once he flew it out, there was no doubt it would be attacked by those Pokemon along the way.
That didn't mean he should just sit down, doing nothing. Before he came here, he had used the drone to map the whole area around Stone Town. And after combining it with the map he found on the internet, he had a much better understanding of the area.
Pulling out the map, he sat down on the table and began to look at it carefully. He wanted to study the key points near the several entrances of the mines.
...
Night time,
Hisoka hadn't come out since he entered his room. He only ate the food from his bag. He didn't dare to touch the food provided by the staff. God knows if the food brought by the waiter was added with some laxatives and whatnot.
The other hunters probably ate their own food too. There was nothing wrong with being careful.
At six o'clock in the morning, the sky was just about to rise, but many hunters were already awake. After making some preparations, they walked out of their room and went toward the mountain, either in groups or alone.
Meanwhile, Hisoka didn't leave with the others. He waited for a few hours before walking out of his room. He slowly rode a mountain bike he rented yesterday, heading toward the valley. Two mines were located there.
The mine he was heading to was an old mine thousands of feet below the ground. And the information he got from the mission issuer was too limited. Maybe some of the haunted incidents were true? Who knows if it was exaggerated or even a lie. There was no way he would know.
Although ghost sightings sounded weird in the Pokemon world, he could only accept it bluntly. And Ghost-type Pokemon did exist. At present, they were about ten famous haunted incidents in the Kanto region. Six of them had been confirmed that they were done by Ghost-type Pokemon.
Ghost-type Pokemon were notoriously eccentric and were fond of mischief. Their body structure was completely different from many Pokemon. This made it difficult for them to feel emotion. Sometimes, they could even hurt a person without feeling anything strange. This was why most of them liked to prank other people.
...
Sniff!
"Hmmm... From the footprints, these had been left by a four-legged Pokemon. About the size of a canine Pokemon."
Hisoka crouched on the ground, observing the footprints left on the ground. The entrance into the mine was only a few meters away, but he didn't rush in.
There were more than forty hunters who had joined this mission. Since there were seven mines to check, this meant that at least six hunters were in each mine.
Also, he could feel a light killing intent near the mine's entrance.
'Hisoka!'
'Got it, Kirlia!' he thought as he threw a few small balls into the mine.
Boom!
"What!"
The small balls exploded, releasing a large cloud of red dust into the air. After that, he took a few steps back and quickly put on a gas mask.
Cough!
Cough!
There were several coughs coming from the mine's entrance.
"What the hell is this! It's so hot! I can't even open my eyes!"
"It must be that kid. Let's get out of this place, quick!"
'I already knew you guys were there,' Hisoka thought.
Hearing the screams of pain coming from the mine, the corner of his mouth was raised slightly. Those small balls were smoke bombs. They were made from pepper and vinegar.
Rarf!
Rarf!
Suddenly, several barks were heard from the cave.
Then, two black canine Pokemon with several bone ornaments on their heads, limbs, and backs suddenly ran out of the smoke.
Houndoom!
He recognized the Pokemon at first glance. They were mainly found in Johto.
At this moment, the two Houndoom seemed to have lost their mind. Their eyes were red and teary. The snot kept coming out of their nose non-stop. It choked back in anger as they shook their head desperately. One of them even banged its head on a rock, trying to numb the pain it suffered.
'Oh, no wonder,' he thought in understanding.
Canine Pokemon had a sense of smell fay beyond that of humans. They suffered more pain from the pepper bombs than the humans.
"I'm going to kill him!"
Two figures rushed out from the mine. They were two young men with two balaclavas on their heads. Each of them had a skull logo on their shirt. Their eyes were flushed red with tears coming out.
The one who just roared loudly was the taller young man. He desperately rubbed his eyes with his hands, trying to make himself feel better. But the more he rubbed, the more painful it got. He then slumped to the ground, coughing loudly.
...