It had been nearly a month since I’d gotten this assignment: search Route 221 up and down. What was I looking for? Arceus only knows—well, them and the Champion the assignment apparently came from.

  Whoever thought it was a good idea to send out a search party without actually telling them what they were looking for needed to be fired. All they had said was that the route had to be closed off and anyone found should be brought in for questioning.

  Everything else was classified.

  Classified. I let out a snort at the absurdity. I’m a damn A.C.E.—my clearance should be high enough to be told what in the legendaries I’m meant to be looking for, but noooo. Bureaucracy at its finest, I guess.

  Despite my misgivings about its lack of details, I was actually pretty happy with my current assignment. It wasn’t often I got to fly with Zephyr for extended periods like this. An A.C.E.’s time was too valuable to let us fly off whenever we wanted like I had done when I was a trainer.

  Still, searching for signs of disturbance across the forests was starting to get old, and I wouldn’t mind seeing some action soon. I’d only been an A.C.E. for a year now—something exciting, like uncovering a classified whatever, should do wonders for my career.

  Sophie’s musings were interrupted when a wave of Water-type energy slammed into her, forcing her to grab onto Zephyr’s saddle to avoid falling off.

  “What in the legendries was that?” I called out to Zephyr, hoping he had a better read on the source of the attack.

  “Star!”

  “Well, I’d bet my badges that whatever caused it is what we’ve been looking for. Let’s get to tracking.”

  It took Sophie the better part of the day to locate the source of the Water-type energy. Normally she would have managed the task in minutes, not hours, but she was pretty sure someone was masking the source.

  Normally, when people want to hide, they surround themselves in Dark or Ghost-type energy. This had the disadvantage of leaving a blank spot a powerful enough Psychic could pick out with ease. Of course, a powerful Dark type could blend into the surroundings in a much subtler way—but based on how wide that water burst had been, Sophie didn’t think she was dealing with anything of that level.

  If that was the case, they’d have to get one of the true elites out to find them anyway.

  Despite whatever obscuring methods were being used, Sophie eventually spotted the small sea-facing cave she believed the attack had come from. Directing Zephyr downward, she was shocked—and more than a little uncomfortable—by what she found.

  The first thing she noticed was a Kingdra floating in front of the cave entrance, clearly acting as a gatekeeper. Trainers got pretty good at estimating a Pokémon’s strength by the aura they put off—at least the ones who survived long enough did. That is to say, the Kingdra in front of her gave her goosebumps. While she could probably take it in a fight if she released another member of her team… would she even get the chance?

  Releasing more Pokémon now would certainly escalate the situation, almost guaranteeing a fight—something Sophie wished to avoid if possible. They were a good distance away from the nearest Pokémon Center should she need it.

  The next thing she noticed was the naked man standing behind the Kingdra. He looked to be in his early twenties with short sandy-blonde hair, sharp features, and blue eyes. He wasn’t all that tall, standing around 5’10. The most noticeable thing—other than his lack of clothes—was the amount of aura he was letting off.

  Aura users were rare. Only a handful of trainers in the region could control their own aura to a level where it would be visible to her, and even then they didn’t release it in the quantity this man did.

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  Looks like this is going to come down to a fight after all, she thought, schooling her face so she wouldn’t give her thoughts away to what could soon be an enemy combatant.

  The third thing that caught her attention was the Pokémon hiding behind the man’s left leg. Sophie was an A.C.E., an elite. She wasn’t arrogant enough to think she knew every Pokémon out there, but she couldn’t recall the last time she encountered one she knew nothing about—not since her early trainer days, at least.

  If I had to guess, that rare Pokémon is probably the objective of the search. Which means I’ll have to bring them in. Let’s see if I can get them to come quietly.

  “My name is Sophie Ashfell, A.C.E. trainer. This route is currently off limits, and anyone found here is to be brought in for questioning by the League. Please identify yourself,” she called out. Normally she would have added an instruction to identify any other Pokémon without releasing them, but given his state of dress she could clearly see he wasn’t hiding any Poké Balls anywhere.

  “????? ???? ???,” the man called back, looking confused.

  What language was that? Sophie tried to place the strange sounds—it was like nothing she’d ever heard before.

  The man continued talking, though Sophie couldn’t make any sense of it. Eventually, he turned to the Kingdra and spoke to him.

  “My friend here has asked me to translate for him, if you find this acceptable.”

  Sophie grimaced at the psychic voice in her head. All A.C.E.s received some level of psychic-communication training, but only those with a strong Psychic on their team ever got enough practice to avoid the headaches it caused.

  Still, painful communication was better than none—especially if she wanted to avoid turning this into a brawl.

  “That’s fine. Can he tell me who he is?” Sophie called out. The Kingdra looked at the naked man for a moment before turning back to her.

  “His name is Roland. He says he is happy to see another human out here. He also apologizes for his current state of undress and has asked if you have any pants he could borrow.”

  That was a lot more forthcoming than I expected, Sophie mused as she pulled her Silph Co. bag from her back and fished out a spare pair of pants. They wouldn’t be a perfect fit, but A.C.E. equipment used high-end elastic materials that would stretch enough for now.

  Roland lit up at the sight of the clothing and walked forward with one arm stretched out, causing Sophie to instinctively take a step back due to the overwhelming aura.

  Seeing her reaction, Roland frowned, stepped back, and said something in his strange language.

  “He says he did not mean to scare you and apologizes for any insult. He was just excited to be wearing the ‘pants’ again,” Kingdra explained.

  Frowning, I forced myself to reevaluate the situation. Yes, this man was putting off a large amount of aura—suggesting he could be hostile now that I’d discovered him and the rare Pokémon. He also had that monster of a Kingdra floating beside him, though the lack of Poké Balls suggested it might be wild.

  “No, I’m sorry,” I said, tossing the pants to Roland. He quickly put them on, then bent down to pick up the rare Pokémon, holding it in his arms like a baby.

  “I will have to bring you in for questioning,” I stated, keeping my hand near my belt in case of resistance.

  “He says he will happily come with you and that he expected people would have questions for him. He does have a request first.”

  “A request? What does he want?” I asked. Depending on what he tried here, things could get messy.

  “He has asked if he could have two Poké Balls—one for the little one who just hatched and one for my son, who wishes to travel with him.”

  So he doesn’t have any Poké Balls? What was he doing out here naked with none of his Pokémon? Legendries, this is giving me more questions than answers.

  After a moment of contemplation, I finally said, “I only have one spare Poké Ball. He can use it to catch the Horsea and carry the other Pokémon with him. We can look into getting it captured at a later date.”

  This wasn’t true, but letting a stranger capture a rare Pokémon the League clearly had interest in—right in front of me—was a good way to end my career. Thankfully, Roland didn’t question it and was happy to take the Poké Ball, which he used to capture the Horsea. It registered after only one click—a sign the Pokémon trusted him and was being captured willingly.

  That’s something else going in my report.

  Roland said something to Kingdra before giving him a hug and walking out of the cave, Horsea balled and the other Pokémon in his arms. This confirmed her suspicion that the Kingdra was wild.

  I helped Roland get onto Zephyr’s back, clipping him into the saddle with the secure belt loops that were part of all A.C.E. clothing before mounting myself.

  Zephyr wasted no time taking to the skies, heading toward Sandgem Town.