Chapter 144: Arrest, Hunter J

A piercing blizzard raged, while the crashing spaceship, internally ablaze and continuously exploding, plummeted from the sky; countless figures descended amidst the chaos, some equipped with emergency landing gear, others relying on their Pokémon, all set against a world of white snow made starkly conspicuous by thick black smoke.

Such an absurd scene was unfolding above Frostveil Mountain.

At the Frostveil Mountain Gym, Grusha, bundled in thick clothing, looked up at the sky, his expression shifting abruptly—a change that only occurred during battles: "No way... they actually came, even though Interpol's boasted monitoring system didn't register a single reaction."

The report of an officer reached his ears.

"Gym Leader Grusha, the interception team is in position!"

"Good." Grusha touched his scarf, nodded slightly, and said to the Pokémon beside him, "Let's go, Altaria!"

"Qixi!"

The beautiful blue bird, with wings like clouds, nodded in response.

Meanwhile, other officers scattered across Frostveil Mountain, disregarding the blocking wind and snow, surged toward the locations of the crashing poachers under the command of their respective leaders.

Even Looker, inside Iceberg Town, after ordering his subordinates to evacuate the Pokémon in the projected crash zone of the spaceship, put on his gloves and spoke to the Pokémon beside him: "Croagunk, we're going in too."

Somewhere on Frostveil Mountain, Hunter J, who had barely managed to board her Salamence and escape the plummeting spaceship at the last critical moment, panted heavily, her expression exceedingly gloomy.

She had not yet recovered her composure, feeling only that everything had happened far too quickly.

From detecting the high-energy reaction, to engaging, to failing to lock on, and finally having her aerial propulsion and cloaking systems destroyed—it had all taken merely about a minute.

It was as if the opponent knew everything, catching them completely off guard.

"Damn it... Don't let me find out who you are, just you wait!"

Hunter J gritted her teeth; the spaceship she had spent years of assets building was destroyed just like that. The incident was so sudden that the only equipment she had was the petrification beam she carried on her person.

Thinking that she had to start all over again, Hunter J, recalling the final image captured by the spaceship's surveillance system—that young man riding a Dragonite—felt an overwhelming desire to tear him limb from limb.

However, anger aside, Hunter J still retained a certain level of rationality; this was ultimately a dangerous place, and she had to get away as soon as possible.

After all, her usual Pokémon were with her, a sum of money remained in her private accounts, the spaceship happened to be carrying no cargo, and henchmen could simply be recruited again; sooner or later, she would make a comeback.

Hunter J snorted coldly and immediately intended to urge the Salamence beneath her to fly away from Frostveil Mountain stealthily.

At that moment, a voice suddenly rang out.

"Where do you think you're going?"

A gust of wild wind swept over instantly, cold sweat drenching Hunter J's back in an instant; looking back, she saw a young man, also riding a Dragonite, watching her with amusement.

Although his posture was casual, Luo Mu was not the least bit careless, staring fixedly at Hunter J.

Before he had completely pierced through the spaceship's propulsion system, this cold-hearted woman, Hunter J, had without hesitation abandoned her subordinates and the ship, breaking through a window to escape.

This had forced him and Dragonite to pursue immediately without even a moment to rest.

Hunter J's Salamence had once clashed with Regice, Regirock, Registeel, and the revived Regigigas belonging to Brandon in the anime, and had even captured the three Lake Guardians; its strength was not to be underestimated.

One could not relax until the very last moment.

Looking coldly at Luo Mu, Hunter J knew that unless she fought today, she would not be able to leave.

Hunter J immediately threw out four Poké Balls, and a powerful Drapion, Ariados, Hydreigon, and Tyranitar appeared upon the snowy ground.

She did not have many Pokémon; usually, she relied on her Salamence and technological weapons, having no intention of capturing too many Pokémon.

But just these Pokémon alone indicated that Hunter J's strength was by no means simple.

Even Luo Mu raised an eyebrow slightly, his gaze falling on the Hydreigon and Tyranitar; Hunter J had never used these Pokémon in the anime.

However, although they were strong, their power was merely so, not constituting any real threat.

Hunter J extended her hand and ordered, "Go, teach them a good lesson!"

The four Pokémon immediately charged wildly across the snow; Ariados moved nimbly over the surface, Drapion's arms overflowed with toxins, Hydreigon's three heads radiated dazzling energy light, and Tyranitar trampled the snow, causing countless rocks to rise from the ground.

Luo Mu activated three Poké Balls in his hand, and the figures of Cangyan Cangyan Rengui and Swampert appeared on the snowy ground; without him needing to say more, the two Pokémon charged directly to meet them.

The flames of Pledge of Fire and the wild power of Ten Million Horsepower erupted instantly.

"Sending out only two Pokémon to deal with my elites? Did the success brought by your earlier sneak attack make you overly arrogant, unknown trainer?"

For some reason, Hunter J did not choose to flee while the Pokémon were clashing; instead, she even had the leisure to open her mouth and chat with Luo Mu.

Narrowing his eyes slightly, Luo Mu raised his finger and pointed toward the clash, saying, "Why not try and find out?"

Hunter J followed the direction of his finger and instantly lost her composure.

She saw that merely moments after the clash began, Cangyan Cangyan Rengui, whose figure had suddenly vanished, appeared directly beside Ariados via Phantom Force, and the terrifyingly powerful Pledge of Fire struck down before Ariados could even react.

One-hit knockout!

Meanwhile, Swampert, like a tiger entering a flock of sheep, endured Tyranitar's barrage of rocks, broke through with unstoppable force straight toward Hydreigon, and with its sturdy arms lifted Hydreigon by the neck and slammed it onto the ground.

Judging by this trend, the four Pokémon would not last long.

This scene exceeded Hunter J's expectations; she fell silent for a moment, then said coldly, "Salamence, use Flamethrower!"

Fierce flames spewed from Salamence's mouth; Luo Mu was quite surprised, not expecting Hunter J to actually ignore her STAB moves to play with fire.

However, he did not care; whatever schemes Hunter J had, he would make her understand what futile struggle meant.

"Hydro Pump."

A thick pillar of water instantly extinguished the Flamethrower, and at the same time, Dragonite closed the distance at a speed indistinguishable to the naked eye, its forepaw enveloped in energy striking with Dragon Claw to send Salamence flying directly!

Then, another super-effective Dragon Pulse was spewed out; thrown into extreme disarray by this series of attacks, Hunter J clung tightly to Salamence's back and shouted, "Block it with Hyper Beam!"

A violent energy beam erupted from Salamence's mouth, colliding with the Dragon Pulse and triggering an explosion; amidst the smoke, Salamence panted heavily, its eyes vigilantly scanning the surroundings.

Only it, fighting against Dragonite, knew how great the pressure was; instinct told Salamence to flee, but pride and Hunter J's restraint forced it to continue fighting.

In an exchange of Dragon Claw and Thunder Punch, Salamence was completely unable to resist Dragonite's power and was directly knocked over by a single punch from Dragonite, crashing down onto the snowy ground.

Fortunately, the thick accumulated snow provided a buffer; Hunter J, who had fallen awkwardly to the ground, suffered no serious injuries. She looked up and around, discovering that Cangyan Cangyan Rengui and Swampert, having already finished off the four useless Pokémon, had surrounded them, while Salamence, due to Dragonite's power, had now completely lost the ability to battle.

It had been a complete crushing from start to finish.

At this moment, lying awkwardly on the snow, where was the terrifying aura that once made people tremble at the mere mention of Hunter J? With all her Pokémon having lost the ability to battle, she was now nothing more than a fragile woman who could only surrender—yeah, right.

Seizing the gap when Luo Mu jumped off Dragonite's back, holding silver handcuffs, and walked toward her, Hunter J revealed a ferocious smile, aimed the petrification beam on her right arm directly at Luo Mu, and without hesitation pressed the firing button.

Click—

A pair of giant shadow claws directly crushed the launcher; Hunter J, stunned, gaped her mouth wide, her face filled with disbelief.

When had this Mimikyu appeared beside her?

The next instant, Mimikyu's furious Shadow Claw pinned down Hunter J's body with immense force; Hunter J felt her bones emitting a groaning hum as if about to collapse under the strain.

Luo Mu's snow boots stopped ten centimeters from Hunter J's face; he squatted down and smiled, saying, "Now, isn't this checkmate?"

This plot arc has finally come to a close; after this concluding chapter, it's back to cheerful daily life!

(End of Chapter)