"Tyler Jorron is dead..." Ophelia found it hard to believe after hearing Scott's explanation.
According to Scott, Tyler Jorron had been struck by lightning last night, reduced to a charred corpse on the spot.
Strangely enough, this morning, a young student on his way to school was killed in the exact same manner—struck by lightning, with a death identical to Tyler's.
Houston Corporation manager? A student?
Ophelia frowned, realizing that this was far from a simple coincidence.
At that moment, her phone rang.
"Mr. Andreas, the supplies have all arrived." The caller was none other than her superior, the Vice President of Silp Co.
"Good. The person in charge of the handover is already on site. You can return to Saffron City now." Andreas' steady voice came through the phone.
"Understood." Ophelia hung up.
Moments later, several vehicles drove in, followed by large transport equipment—clearly here to collect the drilling machinery.
"Miss Ophelia, thank you for your hard work. We'll take over from here." A nearly two-meter-tall man with a buzz cut stepped out of the leading vehicle. Dressed in a suit, he produced the Silph Co. delivery receipt for Ophelia to verify.
After carefully reviewing the document and confirming that there were no discrepancies, Ophelia signed off on the handover.
As a seasoned Shadow Ops agent, she only needed a single glance at the man to discern the lethal aura about him—this man had seen many battles, with more than a few lives on his hands.
The suited man took the receipt back to the car, handing it to someone in the back seat.
That woman...
Even through the narrow gap in the car window, Ophelia recognized her instantly—red hair, two golden bar-shaped earrings. There was no mistaking her identity—Ariana, a Rocket Executive and an A-class wanted criminal of the Pokémon League.
Could the true recipient of these supplies be Team Rocket?
Ophelia's mind raced. Given Parasol's power and reach, cooperation with any organization wouldn't be surprising—but Team Rocket was an infamous criminal syndicate. Could the Viridian Gym Leader and Silph Co. President have sanctioned this?
This matter had to be reported to the League immediately.
Turning on her heel, Ophelia prepared to drive away, but an idea crossed her mind. She looked at Scott.
"Interested in switching jobs?"
At the same time, she subtly projected a suggestion of agreement.
As expected, Scott quickly nodded without even asking about the job, climbing into the car with her.
...
"..." Gold stood silently as Suicune and Oliver Doyle approached.
Last night, three Legendary Pokémon had appeared—among them, Raikou had tried to kill him without any explanation.
Gold had never committed any crimes. He'd always done his best to help those around him—both humans and Pokémon. Why would these guardian deities want him dead? The question gnawed at him.
Thankfully, Mr. Doyle had arrived in time, using Dragapult to teleport him away.
"Human, I know you are confused." Suicune spoke first. "You have been tainted by an evil presence. Last night, I attempted to purify you—but I failed."
"Evil presence?" Gold frowned. "I don't feel any different. I've never had any evil intentions."
Oliver suddenly produced a handheld device and scanned Gold. In less than a second, the screen flashed red.
Oliver's expression darkened. "Impossible... When did this happen?"
The device was one of the Pokémon League's prototype virus detectors, modeled after the one Ash had provided. Only a handful existed, deployed in major cities under the League's jurisdiction—Cerulean City being the first, as the virus had surfaced there.
Future batches were planned to be distributed to Pokémon Centers, hospitals, battle facilities, and Gyms in various cities to secretly screen people.
"What is this?" Gold asked, noticing Oliver's grim look.
"Sigh..." Oliver sighed heavily. Although the League had instructed discretion regarding Ash's information to avoid mass panic, Gold was a promising young trainer—now directly involved. After some thought, Oliver decided to reveal the virus's existence.
He immediately realized that if Gold was infected, then both he and the Cerulean Police had been to the same place before the outbreak—the Syndicate's abandoned factory in the southern suburbs.
Syndicate...
"Gold, release all your Pokémon." Oliver's voice was low.
Sensing the gravity of the situation, Gold complied without hesitation.
Out came Exbo the Quilava, Togebo the Togepi, Polibo the Politoed, Aibo the Aipom, Sudobo the Sudowoodo, and Woodo the Treecko—the newest member of his team, caught at the Syndicate base.
Six Pokémon—well-balanced for a variety of situations.
But Oliver's priority was the virus scan. He checked each Pokémon one by one.
The red light flashed again.
Treecko...
Oliver remembered Gold mentioning the Treecko during dinner—the same night they'd escaped from the Syndicate base.
So it was the Syndicate.
Thoughts raced through Oliver's mind. Anyone who had been to the Syndicate base, along with their Pokémon, was infected.
"Suicune, I know Ho-Oh tasked you with purifying the evil presence, but the situation is worse than we feared." Oliver played a video message from the League's high command.
The footage showed the previous night's monster attacks on Mandarin Island and Sunburst Island.
"From the footage, it's clear that the virus isn't limited to Cerulean City—it comes in multiple forms. The League's orders are to eliminate any infected lifeforms on the islands. Cases like Gold's will be observed and studied before any final decisions are made."
Suicune's keen mind quickly grasped the League's limited options—destruction was their only solution.
Though unwilling to cause more deaths, Suicune nodded reluctantly.
"I leave this human in your care." With that, Suicune vanished in a flash of blue light.
It had marked Gold with aurora energy, allowing it to track him at any time.
At the same time, Suicune sensed several fading presences in Cerulean City.
It seemed Entei had failed to stop Raikou.
It began killing humans.
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